HoopsHype.com Rumors

Clippers owner Donald Sterling said before the team's Monday night game against the New Orleans Hornets that he hasn't given any thought to making a coaching change. And he sees no reason why Vinny Del Negro won't be the team's coach for the remainder of the season. "I like him," said Sterling. "I usually follow the advice of my people, and I think they care for him, like him and want him to succeed. And I think he will." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Vinny Del Negro, Coaching, Donald Sterling 

An Internet report that suggested Del Negro "has lost the team" and players no longer "want to play hard for him" sparked speculation the coach was another loss or two from being fired. "I don't know where all these stories are coming from; nobody talked to me," Sterling said. "Everything is good. "Would I like more wins? I'd like more. I'd like the players to develop more; I'd like to play better. But then I have great expectations, and to a certain extent they've been realized. To some extent they haven't, but I'm a patient guy." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Vinny Del Negro, Coaching, Donald Sterling 

Olshey indicated that owner Sterling has yet to reject any of his recommendations. “Sometimes the yes were the wrong yes, because we recommended the wrong thing and endorsed them and they clearly were mistakes,” said Olshey. “All the way back to the offer to Elton Brand, signing Baron Davis. That moving on to trading a first round pick to move Baron’s contract to give us the cap flexibility which allowed us to go get Caron Butler and Chris Paul this summer. We’ve used every exception available to us. We used the [room exception], we used the minimum. We’ll do it again next summer. Mr. Sterling wants to win.” HoopsWorld

Los Angeles Clippers, Neil Olshey, Donald Sterling 

Castro, who was a past acquaintance of the NBA owner, included this characterization of her relationship with Sterling in her 2003 statement: “During our relationship, Mr. Sterling consulted me on issues he was considering almost every day including, among others, whether he should hire Alvin Gentry to coach the Los Angeles Clippers (although I had no experience in such matters), how he should respond to requests by players for the Los Angeles Clippers for increases in their compensation (Mr. Sterling and I often had dinner at the Arena Club with agents for a number of players) … “ Sports by Brooks

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling 

In the same case United States Attorneys also submitted a deposition of attorney Raymond Hersh, a founding partner of Los Angeles law firm Hersh, Mannis & Bogen who formerly represented Castro. His sworn testimony included the following about Castro’s relationship with Sterling: “They had a relationship where she cooked, drove, cleaned, was consulted on remodeling apartments, who went to dinner with agents, who should be hired — she didn’t make the decision, she said, but she was consulted about who to hire in the Clipper organization and what should be done, what he was thinking.” Sports by Brooks

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling 

So who is Alexandra Castro and why was Donald Sterling soliciting her opinions on player salaries and his next head coach hire for the Clippers? In a 2003 sworn deposition, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling described Alexandra Castro under oath as .. “.. a prostitute … she was a total freak and a piece of trash … “ Sports by Brooks

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling 

In the same deposition Sterling described, while under penalty of perjury, his relationship with Castro .. “It was purely sex for money, money for sex, sex for money, money for sex. The girl was providing sex for money.” “I probably didn’t tell my wife .. maybe I did something morally wrong.” Sports by Brooks

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling 

Two sources told SI.com early Sunday that the Clippers and Hornets had re-engaged in discussions, and a source close to Clippers second-year guard Eric Bledsoe said late Sunday night that he was under the impression a deal had been agreed upon and that he would likely be traded to the Hornets. When reached by phone late Sunday night and asked if an agreement in principle had been reached, Clippers team president Andy Roeser declined comment to SI.com. According to the L.A. Times , the Hornets would receive Bledsoe, center Chris Kaman, second-year forward Al-Farouq Aminu and the Clippers' unprotected, 2012 first-round draft pick that New Orleans general manager Dell Demps has coveted all along. The deal must still be approved by Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and the NBA, which owns the Hornets. The L.A Times claims the league will likely review the deal on Monday. SI.com

Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Hornets, Draft, Trade, Eric Bledsoe, Al-Farouq Aminu, Dell Demps, Chris Kaman, Donald Sterling 

When another fan said that NBA owners don't care about fans, Arison tweeted, "Wrong, we care a lot." Asked for his thoughts on Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, he simply replied, "lol." CBSSports.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, CBA, Micky Arison, Lockout, NBPA, Donald Sterling, Owners 

Nevertheless, Garnett had every right to interject himself into the process. This is a stars league, and the NBA will need those stars to sell it again. To end this lockout with the best players in the league feeling left out of the discussion, left silent, everyone’s asking for trouble, because it will not be Donald Sterling and Robert Sarver and James Dolan bringing the NBA back in the public eye. It will be the best players. Whenever this ends, they had to be a part of the fight, the debate and, ultimately, the resolution. “We can’t have completely poisoned waters here when this is over,” one front-office executive said. “Stern gets that, but I’m not sure all of our owners do. We have to have these guys on board, or where are we as a league?” Yahoo! Sports

Boston Celtics, CBA, James Dolan, David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, Robert Sarver, NBPA, Kevin Garnett, Donald Sterling, Owners 

So one of the things I've noticed in the last year or so is people kind of openly going after your owner. I've never met the man. Do you feel defensive of him? Have you noticed what I'm talking about? Blake Griffin: I definitely have noticed. It's a product of what's happened over the past however many years. It happens. To be honest, I don't what to say. Honestly I can't really sit and defend him, just because I don't know what has gone on. I know from the outside looking in. But for me right now I like the way the team is headed, and I like the things we've done. To me, that's the focus, what's happening from here on out, not what's happened over the past however-many years. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, Donald Sterling 

Whenever the next NBA season starts, it won't cost any more to see the Los Angeles Clippers' reigning Rookie of the Year, Blake Griffin. For the fourth consecutive year, the Clippers declined to raise their season-ticket prices despite a 7.9 percent jump in attendance that can be largely correlated with Griffin's arrival and dominant rookie season. The team declined comment. However, ESPNLosAngeles.com obtained ticket information that confirms the prices of Clippers' season-ticket packages remain unchanged. The most expensive courtside seats ran $48,400 for a full 41-game home season. The cheapest full-season seats in the third level of Staples Center ran $396. The Clippers averaged 17,742 fans in 2010-11, a 7.9 percent increase from the 16,343 they averaged in 2009-10. According to Team Marketing Research's annual fan cost index report for the 2009-10 season, the Clippers' average ticket cost $51.47, well above the league average of $47.66 but well below the Los Angeles Lakers' $95.25 average ticket, highest in the NBA. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, Donald Sterling 

After being asked about fining Cavs owner Dan Gilbert for his actions after LeBron left Cleveland, Stern was asked about not fining Clippers owner Donald Sterling for heckling his own players: David Stern: “Oh, he’s just a fan at that point, and he promised he wouldn’t do it again.” Sports Radio Interviews

Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Dan Gilbert, David Stern, Donald Sterling 

But there was a conversation with Sterling about it, right? David Stern: “Yes, there’s always a conversation with everybody. You know, the best way to describe it is to say that how you deal with something that has passed you, is that you say ‘I assume you didn’t do it, if you did it it was an accident, that you didn’t mean to do it, and if you did do it, you’re not going to do it again. Right?’ Right, okay. Let’s move on.” Sports Radio Interviews

Los Angeles Clippers, David Stern, Donald Sterling 

Buss reportedly stands to lose 10 percent of his team's Time Warner television deal that sources have indicated is potentially worth $5 billion over 25 years, meaning as much as $500 million in losses. It's not the sort of tone you'd think Stern wants to set going into this most pivotal of summers, with a likely lockout on the horizon and a push for improved revenue sharing that would be easier to execute with Buss' support and access to his coffer. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, meanwhile, doesn't garner the same (or any) respect but is always ready and willing to sue when someone goes for his wallet. SI.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Jerry Buss, Donald Sterling, Anaheim 

Thirteen months and counting. That's how long it has been since Mike Dunleavy was fired as the Clippers' general manager and, not so coincidentally, that was the last time he was paid by the team. His long and winding case finally will be heard in arbitration, starting Monday before Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services in Santa Monica. Proceedings are expected to last several days with additional briefs filed afterward, and the judge could issue a decision by June. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Mike Dunleavy, Donald Sterling 

There is $6.75 million in unpaid salary remaining on Dunleavy's contract. He had been the team's general manager and coach and resigned as coach Feb. 4, 2010. The team fired him as general manager March 8, issuing the news when the Clippers were in the middle of a game at Orlando. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Mike Dunleavy, Donald Sterling 

A Los Angeles County jury Wednesday declined to award damages to NBA great Elgin Baylor, rejecting his lawsuit against the Clippers for unlawful termination based on age discrimination. By a 12-0 vote, the seven-man, five-woman jury informed Judge Kenneth R. Freeman that neither the team nor owner Donald T. Sterling or president Andy Roeser presided over a hostile workplace in which alleged harassment occurred. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Lisa Dillman: Follow @latimespugmire for additional coverage and reaction from the courthouse after Elgin Baylor's lawsuit was rejected, 12-0. Twitter

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Lisa Dillman: Just got word from source --OK, Lance Pugmire:-) -- that the verdict in the Baylor case is in. LP making his way to court. #puffofsmoke Twitter

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor