That Empty Feeling

It’s spring, when a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love and Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling’s to alternative sites.

Sterling’s team is completing its 14th season, playing before mostly empty seats in the Sports Arena. He has an option to leave that comes up every year at this time.

In past springs, he considered moving to the Arrowhead Pond, but now, with the Staples Center scheduled to open in the fall of 1999, he may have a second option, to go to or not to go to. In Clipperdom, that is always the question.

Meanwhile, back at home, the house ain’t a-rocking.

Bargain though they may be--no traffic jams, no lines at the concession stands and there’s a wide selection of price ranges--even with eight games in Anaheim, the Clippers’ average is an NBA-low 10,080. Subtracting the dates at the Pond where they averaged 12,071, the official number at the Sports Arena is 9,330.

The NBA does not require teams to give turnstile counts or disclose how many fans paid to get in, or they might be down around the 5,000 mark.

In a league that plays to more than 90% of capacity, they’re announcing 56% in their own arena. The Denver Nuggets, who spent the season flirting with the worst season in NBA history, are outdrawing them at home by 2,346 a game.

To be a Clipper is to know that even if there are a lot of people in your house, most of them probably aren’t there to cheer you on, like the 16,199 who came to see the Chicago Bulls, the 16,067 who came to see the Lakers or the 15,570 expatriate New Yorkers who came to see the Knicks.

Not that it’s a new development.

“We once played the Knicks here and the crowd cheered louder for them than for us,” says Bob Weiss, who coached the Clippers in the 1993-94 season.

“When we went to our huddle, Danny Manning said, ‘OK guys, let’s get off to a good start so we can take the crowd out of the game.’ ”

Clippers are required to act in a matter-of-fact manner about playing in front of smaller crowds than they’ve seen since high school, or, in some cases, grammar school. Of course, the record shows they leave as soon as their contracts are up. If voting with their feet counts, it looks like 100% of them didn’t like something here.

“It’s there,” concedes Coach Bill Fitch. “The old stand-by is, if you win, they’ll fill that place. But which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

“It’s a problem in recruiting. We know that. Take the old Boston Garden [where Fitch coached in the ‘80s]. We won championships there. We had people coming in, 15,320 every night. But you couldn’t pay the salaries today [with small crowds]. If you don’t have those [luxury] boxes, you don’t get the kind of money to pay Michael Jordan.”

And that’s the optimistic view.

For another perspective, we asked some Clippers, former Clippers and others, who were gracious enough not to terminate their interviews with a derisive, “What do you think?”

MARK JACKSON, Indiana Pacers

(a Clipper for two seasons)

“No question, you feel the difference ‘cause there’s nothing like having a packed house, people going crazy. Because sometimes during the course of the season, you need that to get you over the hump. Not because you’re half-stepping but just because we play for that. You know, that means a lot, the fans are a big part of it and when you have an empty house or just a couple of thousand, it makes it tougher. You have to find another place to get that energy.”

When did he play before crowds like that before, in college? High school?

“Well, not the big games,” Jackson says, grinning, “because in high school, we drew better.”

NATE McMILLAN

Seattle SuperSonics

“Most of the years I’ve been in Seattle, we’ve sold out our games, but even if we didn’t, it was enough of a crowd to make it seem there was a sellout. When you can’t even fill up your lower level, it must be difficult to play in an arena like that. . . .

“It must be tough on the guys. Every night, you come into your arena, you have what, 5-6,000 people there. And you’re losing, you’re not winning. I guess it makes it more frustrating to come out and play and prepare yourself. Especially the guys who have been there for years like Loy Vaught and those guys. I just can’t imagine playing in an atmosphere like that. . . .

“It still surprises me, the fact they have such a low attendance and they’re still there. They haven’t built an arena to try and bring more people in. Or they haven’t moved the club. The club hasn’t been successful, and I don’t understand. Most teams in that situation either move or build an arena to try and draw people. And they haven’t done anything. Everything has stayed the same. Have they even changed their uniforms? [No.]

“Everything is still the same with the team. . . . I think their GM and everybody has remained the same. Only people who have changed are the players and the coaches. It’s a strange organization.”

JON BARRY, Lakers

(brother of former Clipper Brent)

“It would be very difficult to come out and see 4-5,000 people--if that’s what it is. I think sometimes they announce a couple thousand more than is actually in there. I think it’s tough enough to get up for 82 games, you know, coming off a back-to-back or whatever the situation might be. And to get the motivation to play and not have anyone in the building. And when those people are in the building, most of them aren’t rooting for you anyway. . . .

“It’s not a problem to get booed on the road. I think it inspires you. But when you get booed at home, it can be a little bothersome. . . . I guess I look at it as the L.A. Sports Arena. Everything I’ve seen in the L.A. Sports Arena, seems like there’s nothing in there. USC never has anybody at their games. It’s just sort of a gloomy building, it’s so old and everything about it seems to be dull. . . .

“That [Anaheim] would be the move, but I guess the owner wants to stay in L.A. I don’t know what the reasoning is there. He doesn’t need money. If it was an owner that was trying to make money in this business, then they’d be gone a long time ago, but since it doesn’t matter to him, he just wants to stay in L.A.”

STANLEY ROBERTS, Minnesota Timberwolves

(a Clipper for five seasons)

“That’s what I appreciate about the Minnesota Timberwolves. In our arena, we pretty much pack it every night. We have our fans who help us with uplift over the big teams such as Chicago, New York. It gives us that extra sixth man. Here you can’t get that. They’re either booing you--from my years of experience here--or there’s nobody here. It’s hard for them to play through that. . . .

“I was counting the days to get out of here. Far as I know, Danny was, Mark was, all the players I played with in the past were counting the days till they could leave here. I mean, Loy Vaught was the only player that really found a firm home here. Everybody else is happy to be where they’re at now.”

POOH RICHARDSON, Clippers

“You gotta play. You got to play for each other. You got to play to win and do the best you can, under the circumstances. The few fans that do come, they’re here all the time, so you kind of get to be more or less on the intimate side with them. You know who’s who, you see ‘em all the time, they talk to you all the time.”

IKE AUSTIN, Clippers

(a free agent this summer)

“I know it’s hard. Everybody wants to play in front of people but still, people aren’t going to come and watch you if you aren’t going to win, you know what I’m saying? That’s in all sports. You got two teams here in L.A., they’re going to support the one that’s winning. . . .

“I knew how bad it was. I just go along with it. I’m not worrying about how many fans come and everything like that. I’m just trying to go out and be successful every night on the floor. . . . Everybody has talked about this organization. You just try to change it, hope it gets better.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Crowded Conditions

Average NBA attendance (through Thursday’s games) *--*

Team Avg. Att. Capacity Pct Chicago 23,979 21,711 110.0% Washington 19,453 18,756 103.7% Houston 16,285 16,285 100% New York 19,763 19,763 100% Phoenix 19,023 19,023 100% Seattle 17,072 17,072 100% Utah 19,901 19,911 99.9% Orlando 17,110 17,248 99.2% Miami 14,981 15,200 98.6% Boston 18,079 18,624 97.1% Charlotte 23,353 24,042 97.1% Lakers 16,828 17,505 96.1% Portland 20,504 21,538 95.2% Indiana 15,720 16,530 95.1% Minnesota 17,900 19,006 94.2% San Antonio 18,706 20,557 91.0% NBA Avg. 17,061 19,022 89.7% Detroit 19,241 21,454 89.7% New Jersey 17,473 20,049 87.2% Sacramento 14,721 17,317 85.0% Vancouver 16,060 19,193 83.7% Toronto 16,593 20,125 82.4% Cleveland 16,914 20,562 82.2% Milwaukee 15,546 18,717 83.1% Atlanta 17,493 21,570 81.1% Philadelphia 15,853 20,444 77.5% Dallas 13,071 18,042 72.4% Denver 11,732 17,171 68.3% At Pond 12,071 18,021 67.0% Golden State 11,927 19,200 62.1% At Sports Arena 9,330 16,021 58.2%

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