Hey, didja hear the one about the NBA franchise that never wins, can't attract players, coaches or fans, is pretty much dissed by its home city and has had on more than one occasion the flattering term "worst franchise in history" applied to it?

	Clippers forward Lamar Odom never played at UNLV, but payments allegedly made to him by a UNLV booster led to Bill Bayno's dismissal.

Yes, these are your father's Los Angeles Clippers. And therein lies the problem.

The Clippers are a joke, but they do exist and we do have to cover them. At least we think they exist. David Stern admits the Clippers are in the league. He announces with a straight face their next rookie star at the draft every year, then watches the kids leave town and flourish somewhere else a few years later. The fancy store outside the Staples Center owns up to the Clips. It has a few pieces of Clipper merchandise in it, though it's in a small corner with the Arena League stuff. But it is there.

Anyway, we're going to try to look at the positive side of the Clippers (when we find such material, of course) as we give you our 12th offseason team spotlight, the Los Angeles Clippers. As always, we have our opinions, which are below, but we also thank you for your thoughts. Click on the right and check out what ESPN.com users were thinking about the team.

Why the Clippers were 15-67: Because somebody made a mistake and brought some talent in, thus almost forcing the team to win once in a while (or in reality, twice a month). Or maybe it happened by accident. Should owner Donald Sterling be commended, not ripped, for the way he handles his prized NBA possession? Remember when we looked at former Cowboys coach Tom Landry on the sidelines and couldn't tell whether the team was winning or losing. That's Sterling! He still throws lavish parties and spends more on having fun than he does on his point guards. However, Clipper fans come and go, but the Donald is still around. That's more than can be said for the talent.

While we're risking our credibility by admitting this, the Clippers do have talent, they're just horribly run. In fact, this is an organization that has had accomplished players and coaches over the years. But the only phone number Clipper people need to have in their speed-dial is U-Haul. The Clips have had four players win Rookie of the Year (this includes the San Diego and Buffalo Braves days), one win league MVP (Bob McAdoo), seven go to an All-Star game and five make the league's All-Interview team. McAdoo and Randy Smith played here. So did World B. Free, Adrian Dantley, Dominique Wilkins, Terry Cummings, Norm Nixon, Marques Johnson and Tom Chambers. Of course, they all left soon after they arrived.

So how do the Clippers keep that next generation of soon-to-be-stars? Turn back the clock to April, when the Clippers knocked off the playoff-bound Sonics on the season's final day, earning win No. 17 and ending a 17-game losing streak. Lamar Odom scored a season-high 33 points that night, Michael Olowokandi contributed a double-double and Derek Anderson and Maurice Taylor refused to play. These are all significant things and part of the plan (or non-plan) for this year.

Odom and Olowokandi are part of the future, if for no other reason than they are young and bound to their contracts. If Odom and Olowokandi were Nuggets, we'd be talking about a nice future in Denver. But nobody ever says that about the Clippers. Anderson and Taylor are gone, talented players sick of losing and now willing to play for a winner for free. Let the malcontents leave town and get youngsters who want to play. As for Jim Todd, the poor assistant coach who did nothing wrong but still was punished, um, promoted to head coach when Chris Ford was let go, he figured the best way to be invited back was to never win. He came close, losing 33 of 37 contests. Hopefully Todd will find work elsewhere. To new coach Alvin Gentry, we have these words: God bless you.

Some might ask not why the Clippers were 15-67, but how they managed to win that many games? Surprisingly, the Clips did some of their best work against playoff teams. Of the 15 wins, three came against the equally terrible Warriors. The Wizards, Grizzlies, Celtics, Nets, Hawks and Nuggets also fell to the Clips. And then the 76ers, Wolves, Knicks, Kings, Pacers and Sonics -- six playoff teams -- suffered that same embarrassment. By the way, 15 wins ain't so bad. The club record was 12.

Or if you want an easy answer, the Clips lost 67 times because they are the Clips. And no other explanation is really needed.

	Current projected top 6
	PG	Keyon Dooling
	SG	Quentin Richardson
	SF	Lamar Odom
	PF	Derek Strong
	C	Michael Olowokandi
	6th	Darius Miles

Team MVP: Had his team won more than twice a month, Odom may have garnered momentum for Rookie of the Year. Team LVP: In our previous Spotlight, the Pacers, we noted in this spot: "This team went to the Finals. Hard to find negative things to say." With the Clips, we don't know where to begin. Really, last year was so bad, why get into it. But we'll nominate bad apples Anderson and Taylor. Surprise! A former No. 1 pick, Olowokandi is still closer to stardom than, say, LaRue Martin, but the Big O hasn't done real well. Odom shows star quality, Olowokandi doesn't rebound enough and shot .437 from the field, .651 from the line. Up and comer: Half the team is going to get better. The only question is if that will happen with this franchise or elsewhere. Of all the kids here, we still say Odom has the highest ceiling. And Quentin Richardson, he's going to fit in as well.

What they need: All joking aside, the Clippers may have left Minneapolis on June 28 with one of the best nights in draft history. Sure, the Bulls selecting Michael Jordan was pretty good, too. But the Clips leaving the party with Darius Miles, Richardson, Keyon Dooling, Marko Jaric, Derek Strong and Corey Maggette without giving anything up is significant, especially for them. If only two of these guys can play, combined with Odom, the Clips will win some more games.

Looking back at last season, the Clips had two major problems that they still may not have solved. One is rebounding. Olowokandi underachieved at center, but he's not a major problem. He's good for double digits in scoring and rebounding on good nights, but remains inconsistent and hopelessly foul prone. One would have to think he will get better. Taylor, who led the team in scoring, didn't rebound nearly enough, often showing no passion or interest in the defensive end. That's a big deal. The other nightmare was at point guard, where Troy Hudson, Eric Murdock, Jeff McInnis and others made fans long for Gary Grant. And we don't mean the Grant circa 1990, but the one still hanging around with Portland at age 35.

So how does Gentry mesh this college All-Star team together? Figure Olowokandi and Odom set at center and small forward, though Odom can play any position. Strong, a nine-year veteran of six teams, has always been able to rebound the ball and score a little. He has low-post moves and right now is all the Clips have at the four-spot. Brian Skinner had some huge rebounding nights (four double-doubles in limited action) and just needs some offensive moves and he earns more time.

Richardson is a natural shooting guard who crashes the boards and has NBA game right now, which separates him from Miles, also a future star but too young to play 30 minutes a night. Hey, the guy just went to his senior prom. Maggette isn't exactly old, either, though he has had one NBA season and one year at Duke, which makes him a legit veteran here. Maggette is raw, but if we were running this show we'd make Maggette the first choice off the bench at the two or three spots. Maybe Maggette starts at small forward and Odom at power forward. Who knows. And Dooling is your point guard, for better or worse. Like all Clips, he was good in college. We imagine he'll need some time to adjust to guys like Steve Francis, though.

There's more, actually. Dunking swingman Tyrone Nesby was so well-thought of that the Spurs were willing to send big bucks his way before last season. He averaged better than 13 points a game. Keith Closs is 7-3 and at worst could turn into Shawn Bradley, and Eric Piatkowski was a free agent and actually re-signed, figuring what better place to get playing time. So goodbye, Maurice and Derek. We can lose 67 games just fine without you. Or maybe we'll surprise you.....

What the plan is: The first thing the Clippers needed to do was hire a coach. This got embarrassing. It's August. Every other team had a coach months ago. Sure, we know what Bob Huggins did to the Clips. Gentry has been a coach before and figured that leading the Clips was better than possibly earning a ring on the bench with the Spurs. Hey, he's in a no-lose situation. This is the only job that doesn't come with expectations.

Gentry should just let the track meet begin. There's enough youth here to run other teams out of the building, so why not try it. For all the Clipper jokes the last 30 years, remember that Larry Brown found a way to get the team into the playoffs twice in the 1990s and Bill Fitch did it once. It's not that hard to make the playoffs. If the Clips can do it, any team can.

These kids want to be here, or at least some of them do. Richardson and Miles are pals who worked out together before the draft and actually cheered for each other when they were drafted. Maybe they didn't know any better, or maybe it's time we revise our thinking on this franchise. Elgin Baylor might not seem to know a point guard from a center, but he has put a bunch of talent together. Winning and money are the things that make players happy. In terms of Xs and Os, the Clips should just worry about being competitive for now. If Gentry can be this year's Doc Rivers, who knows. If there was a winning feeling here -- even without the wins -- it would make a big difference. As Olowokandi noted the night the season officially ended (because it really ended with a brutal November), "We have more talent than some teams that won a lot more games. We have to get a winning attitude." Amen.

Direction heading: We'll go out on a limb and say the Clips are going to get better, though the playoffs are still a world away. Young players play with energy and make lots of mistakes. Some nights the Clips will be just horrible. They'll probably find a way to win at least 10 more games.