Steve Ballmer Giving A Vintage Pump Up Speech In Seattle Was Yet Another Example Of Why He's One Of The Best Owners In Sports
God do I love Steve Ballmer. There may not be a more electric person on the planet. If you want to get pumped up, just give Ballmer the mic and let him work his magic. With the Clippers and Blazers facing off for their preseason debut in Seattle, of course we were going to hear from the local guy and by all accounts this was another vintage Ballmer pump up speech. You guys have seen his speeches from his Microsoft days right?
When he brought in both Kawhi and Paul George, it was more of the same
It's impossible to not love the guy. There's a reason players love to play for him that goes beyond his willingness to spend whatever it takes to build a contender. He's an owner that truly cares.
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Which brings me to the topic of Seattle. There is more and more smoke surrounding the idea that it's only a matter of time before the NBA expands to both Vegas and Seattle. The talent pool is there, the money the league would make is in the billions, and it feels like everyone wants it. Whenever the topic comes up you don't exactly hear people opposing expansion, especially to Seattle. I think we can all agree they've deserved to have a team again for a LONG time. We've all missed the Sonics
and hearing Ballmer talk about how it's a basketball city, I don't think this can be overlooked. He's a powerful owner. His support to bringing basketball back to Seattle probably has a ton of weight with other owners/Adam Silver. If Ballmer wasn't so obsessed with making the Clippers the #1 team in LA I would say he was a lock to relocate to Seattle, but him throwing his support behind the idea is probably good enough to get us over the finish line and an NBA team back to the Emerald City. He's already a legend for the most part, but if he helps play a role in bringing the Sonics back? Just build the guy a statue.
In terms of the Clippers, last night was also the debut of Kawhi Leonard after 476 days and all things considered, I'd say he looks like the same old Kawhi
which is great news for the Clippers and bad news for the rest of the West/NBA. This Clippers team is so freaking deep it doesn't even make sense, and now that Kawhi and Paul George are back and healthy maybe this is the year we'll finally see this team reach their potential.