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. That was never part of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer's vision when he put shovel to dirt and began building the NBA's newest state-of-the-art arena over three years ago with hopes of Leonard and George raising a championship banner. But that was before a stricter collective bargaining agreement severely hampered the ability to build for the future if high-spending teams repeatedly exceed the luxury tax and the more restrictive second apron.
Leonard and the Clippers returned to Hawai'i for their annual training camp in October, this time without George. Leonard was not able to practice with his teammates in camp and remains out as he tries to overcome the inflammation in his knee."Yes, things change, players are gone," Leonard told ESPN at Clippers camp in Hawai'i last month.
"We wanted Paul back," Ballmer said."We made him a big offer. We really wanted him here.
We just wanted to not put ourselves in a position where we can't consistently be good. We offered them the max for three years and Philly offered them the max for four years. OK, I get it.
But in terms of our trajectory and staying really good, it was really going to be an issue for us.Those players won't replace George's 23.0 points, 6.
0 reboun.
