There was an NBA team playing in Charlotte Saturday night that was long considered a joke.
For that squad, there was always another pro team in town that got all the attention. Their own team was irrelevant. An afterthought.
No, I'm not talking about the Charlotte Bobcats being overshadowed by the Carolina Panthers and limping to the NBA's worst record (3-24) this season. I'm talking about the team the Bobcats would one day love to become - the L.A. Clippers, who whipped the Bobcats 111-86 Saturday night and sent Charlotte spiraling to a franchise-record 14th straight loss.
The Clippers are a thrill ride, a club that features Chris Paul on the "alley" and Blake Griffin on the "oop." Griffin had four monster dunks Saturday and one missed slam that was even more spectacular - he drove the ball off the back rim with such force that it landed in the third row.
Paul, the former Wake Forest star and an object of desire for Bobcats' fans for years, controlled the game like a puppeteer. He had 18 points and 14 assists in front of what he estimated was a "couple of hundred" family and friends.
Because of those two and the way they have made the Clippers cool, a February home game in Charlotte featuring a horrid Bobcats team was legitimately sold out.
Yet the Clippers were all but forgotten for decades by an L.A. community enamored by the Lakers. The Clippers once had three winning seasons in a 32-year stretch. Now they've got No.3 (Paul) and No.32 (Griffin) and it's the Lakers and Kobe Bryant who must grudgingly play second fiddle.
"It's fun for me," Paul said. "Sometimes I get in trouble and I know all I have to do is throw the ball up to the rafters and Blake will get it."
Two great players can change everything in basketball. It's not like football, where you not only need an elite quarterback but you also must have a half-dozen very good players.
In the NBA, you can win the draft lottery, make a fine trade or grab a big-time free agent and you're in the playoffs. That's what the Clippers did. They chose Griffin No.1 in the 2009 NBA draft and acquired Paul in a trade with New Orleans two months ago.
Now the Clippers (17-8) are not only a playoff team, but they also have surrounded Paul and Griffin with enough complementary players to go deep in the postseason.
The Bobcats would love to use that blueprint. If they keep the worst record in the NBA, they are guaranteed not to pick worse than fourth in the 2012 NBA draft and will have a decent shot at grabbing the No.1 selection.
Maybe player No.2 is on the roster already. That's very iffy - someone would have to make a Griffin-sized leap -- although Paul gave an endorsement to Bobcat rookie Kemba Walker after the game.
"They've just got to keep working," Paul said of the Bobcats. "Kemba is a great young talent. When you've got a starting point guard like that, you'll have an opportunity."
At some point, though, Michael Jordan's luck on big-time free-agent signings has to change. Doesn't it?
The Bobcats could have had Paul - in 2005, with the No.3 overall pick if they had given up their No.5 and No.13 picks to get him. They didn't.
And Paul, never would have been a Clipper had NBA commissioner David Stern not vetoed a trade by the league-owned Hornets to send Paul to the Lakers in early December (but six days later approved the deal to the Clippers).
Now the Clippers are a "SportsCenter" episode.
In the getting worse to get better path, the Bobcats have the "worse" part down pat. The Clippers seemed to be on auto-pilot for a large part of Saturday's game and still won by 25.
As for the "better" part?
Ask the Clippers - it's only two players away.
