Posted: 2:57 am
October 10, 2008
FOR some strange reason, Elgin Baylor's unforeseen exodus from the Clippers after 22 years of service in their executive branch has provoked a bombardment of wonderful, inspiring and melancholy written stories about his radiant accomplishments during a 14-season NBA odyssey.
For a minute there I almost thought I'd heard wrong and that Baylor actually had died at age 74 rather than "resigned" from a frequently reviled franchise he never played for.
Spray what you want about Donald Sterling, but it was the Paper Clips' oddball owner who brought Baylor back into the league after he had retired, not Lakers landlord Dr. Jerry Buss.
I'm not saying the only organization Baylor ever suited up for was under any obligation to give him a job/handout.
Unlike today when a team's front office comprises a president, capologist, GM, assistant GM, personnel director, head scout and a horde of underlings, management included a layer or two at most.
In 1971, when a hurting Baylor, having played a mere two games the previous season due to injury, called it a career nine games into what turned out to be an immortal championship season, there was room for Fred Schaus, who was LA's lone decision-maker aside from owner Jack Kent Cooke. Bill Sharman followed and next was Jerry West.
What I am saying is, Sterling understood the importance of recruiting a recognizable face with immaculate character to magnetize fans who couldn't afford good Lakers tickets. Nobody's suggesting Sterling's motive for hiring Baylor was humanitarian. First and foremost he's a businessman.
The fact remains, Sterling put Baylor back in the limelight when every other owner in the league, especially Buss, gave no thought to finding room at the top for him. That relationship has endured over two decades. Without a doubt, Baylor has been the league's lowest paid VP of basketball operations each and every year. At the same time, the salary hasn't been all that shabby (400G per for quite some time) and deposits were steady.
What executive wouldn't like to be in that position? How many last anywhere near that long with the same team? In the NBA there's Red Auerbach, Jerry Colangelo (before buying the Suns), Stan Kasten, Donnie Walsh. Who, if anybody else, am I missing? How many executives get blamed and fired after one losing season? Baylor owned a customized lottery seat in Secaucus.
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