The LA Clippers are perhaps the NBA’s least likeable team, something center DeAndre Jordan readily acknowledges.
The big fella just can’t figure out why this is the case.
Jordan says his squad embraces the hate.
Per GQ:
Watching the games this year, there seems to be a sense in the league that a lot of teams are at least annoyed by the Clippers if not have outward anger towards you guys…
Yeah. I don’t know why. A lot of people hate us and I have no idea why. Shit we haven’t won a championship and that’s the only reason I’d hate a team. But we’re okay with it. We embrace it. It’s cool.
So what are the biggest misconceptions that people have about the famous “hostage night” where you changed your mind after agreeing to sign with Dallas, and decided to return to the Clippers?
People think there was this huge excitement where things were crazy and I got tied up… Wait that sounds weird. [Laughs] But seriously, it was quite boring to be honest. There wasn’t a lot going on. We had a couple hour conversation, then I said I was going back to the Clippers and then I had to wait there until I signed my contract. But not much was going on. People took naps. We ate. We watched TV. It wasn’t exciting at all. It was boring. I couldn’t wait for Doc [Rivers] and Ballmer to leave my house, so I could enjoy some alone time. I mean my bosses were at my house all day. It’s hard to have fun with your friends with your bosses around.
Obviously there’s been a lot of controversy around the team this year, what with Blake (Griffin’s) injury and the fight and everything. But your record has been pretty amazing during that stretch. So much so, in fact, some people think you guys might be better off without Blake. It seems like you guys have banded together over all the craziness that’s happened. Is that the case?
Not really. Honestly, I think it’s been the same. Obviously when you lose guys—we lost Blake and Austin (Rivers) for a period of time—so when you lose guys that are vital keys to both your first and second units, it really forces other guys step up and forces us to rely on each other even more. And I feel like we’ve been playing well, because people know they have to. And then when guys come back, we always get better. We got better when Austin came back, and once Blake comes back we’ll be even stronger.
