There are some things that you just don’t do in life. You don’t watch a Steven Seagal movie, you don’t buy pills with an ‘X’ in the name, and you don’t bet the Clippers have a winning season. They picked Mobley and Cassell, so will this year be any different for the Clippers?

They traded Marko Jaric for Sam Cassell to try to build a veteran leadership on a team that clearly has none. Besides him, the most experienced player in the league is Cuttino Mobley, who has played 6 years. On paper, the starting lineup looks good for LA: Cassell, Mobley, Maggette, Brand and Chris Kaman. However, all of his scorers are one-on-one players, who will be forever on the perimeter trying to find a shot. Hopefully Cassell can fix that, although Cassell isn’t exactly a point guard who passes the first and last shots.

His bench with Wilcox and Shaun Livingston is shallow to say the least. Cassell has more years on him than the entire Clippers bench. The Clippers have always had a pretty decent roster, but lack of experience has always been their weakness. The year they had Brand, Odom, Maggette, Richardson, and Andre Miller was the year we all thought they’d make the playoffs. The Cassell trade may honestly be the first time the Clippers have traded for an All-Star in their 10th or more seasons.

Since becoming the Clippers in 1978, LA has made the playoffs 3 times in 27 years. I know it’s hard to be the second worst team in your own city, but Donald Sterling needs to get up and lead the team. An outsider would think Elgin Baylor owns the team, as often as they see him. This season does not seem to be any different. Thanks to their owner’s total lack of atmosphere and enthusiasm, and the fact that there is a more interesting NBA team in their own town, the Clippers should be saving themselves for another losing season. As a company in Tahiti, the Clippers are not going anywhere.