Los Angeles, CA— As the NBA season draws near, basketball fans and clipper nation faithful were able to see the Los Angeles Clippers hold an open practice at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center as the team prepared for their 2018-2019 season campaign.
There was an estimated 5,000 fans in attendance for the event that RSVP’d to be a part of the festivities, however, it seemed that many fans were unable to attend due to LA traffic.
Yet, one person who made sure to be in attendance was the Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. It was an honor to be in the same gym as an individual who has donated millions to renovate almost 350 courts around the city within three years.
In addition, the Clippers dancers were also in attendance along with mascot “Chuck the Condor”.
Practice started off with head coach Doc Rivers having his four rookies come to the middle of the floor and introduce themselves. Then, one-by-one each player introduced their teammates and where their teammates went to school. If they got any wrong, they were threatened to do 1,000 pushups. Luckily, the rookies were spared from the pushup punishment as they got all the teammates and coaches information correct.
From there, Rivers announced there would be three things covered during practice: one shooting drill, one defensive drill, and a scrimmage. The drills were simple but effective and mainly used for entertainment until we could watch the real action happen. The scrimmage included a halftime where there was game-like entertainment. In addition, fans were engaged by Coach Rivers’ humor and erupted in laughter when he used his down to Earth humor on the microphone.
Clippers drills during practice
It was refreshing to see a group that has chemistry and works hard at the same time. One of the main focal points that was mentioned was having good set shooters at the three-point line. On media day, the Clippers already discussed how stacked the team is at the guard position. With an abundance of guards, the Clippers have many offensive threats and shouldn’t have any problems with creating and scoring off-the-dribble, or hitting the long-range shot.
Clippers fans should be excited about this season because this team looks as if they’re going to make some noise in this town once again. However, once the season begins and we get a much better look at this team, we’ll see how much noise they make.
The Los Angeles Clippers will begin their season at home against the Denver Nuggets on Oct. 17.
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