Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said he 'hated' seeing Paul George leave on a personal level, but made it clear he believes the retooled roster surrounding Kawhi Leonard and James Harden can contend as the team enter its new home this season.
Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade. He joined ESPNNewYork.com after working at the New York Daily News for almost 12 years and is a graduate of Michigan State University.Ballmer -- who gave reporters a final preview of the Intuit Dome and the first glimpse of the double-sided halo display called"The Halo Board" -- said he likes the Clippers' new roster.
"From a basketball perspective, Paul is a fantastic player, future Hall of Famer. But we knew we needed to continue to get better. And with the new CBA, what tools, what flexibility , we made Paul what I consider a great offer. But it was a great offer in terms of us thinking about how to win championships. It wasn't what Paul wanted."that the Clippers started negotiations with a low offer before inching their way up in talks during the season.
"He wanted to go and I respect him for that," Ballmer said of George."Basketball players don't have that many years in their lives to really make money, et cetera. I wish he was here and I wish him well. We got a lot of great players we added that we wouldn't have been able to add otherwise. So I'm happy about that too.""I think we're going to be a very, very good team," Ballmer said.
Ballmer, who was just ranked as the sixth-richest person in the world according to Fortune, said other teams will soon have to make the kind of tough decisions the Clippers had to make with George due to the restrictive CBA.
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