SH Blog: TMZ: Sterling made racist comments to get Stiviano to have sex with him, Hibbert says consistency hasn’t been his friend

Donald Sterling is still trying to convince the world that he’s not racist.

Somehow, someway, a recent conversation he had with a friend was once again leaked to the public. In this particular recording, Sterling poured his heart about how he’s not racist and more importantly, emphasized that the league cannot force him to sell what belongs to him. Radar Online has details:

“You think I’m a racist?” Sterling angrily asks a long-time friend in the recorded phone conversation. “You think I have anything in the world but love for everybody? You don’t think that! You know I’m not a racist!”

“I grew up in East L.A …” Sterling explains. “I was the president of the high school there. I mean, and I’m a Jew! And 50% of the people there were black and 40% were hispanic. … So I mean, people must have a good feeling for me.”

But when asked whether he had spoken to mixed race Clippers player Blake Griffin since his racial slurs were released, Sterling insists, “I didn’t talk to anybody! I’m in my house in Beverly Hills.”

“I mean, how could you think I’m a racist knowing me all these years?” he asks his friend. “How can you be in this business and be a racist? Do you think I tell the coach to get white players? Or to get the best player he can get?”

Referencing the Instagram photo of Stiviano with Magic Johnson that sparked the whole brouhaha, a defeated Sterling said, “It breaks my heart that Magic Johnson, a guy that I respect so much, wouldn’t stand up and say, ‘Well let’s get the facts. Let’s get him and talk to him.’ Nobody tried. Nobody!”

But Radar’s tape reveals that Sterling is adamant he won’t back down. “You can’t force someone to sell property in America!” he rages. “I’m a lawyer, that’s my opinion.”

Sterling doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that no matter what he does or says at this point in any recording, he has forever lost the public’s trust on this matter. Whatever he says at this point about his beliefs is irrelevant. What really matters is how he’s going to go about selling the team – something he will not do without a major fight.

Oh, and there is also word on why he said the things he did to get himself into this mess in the first place. Apparently… just read this, from TMZ:

“Donald Sterling is telling friends … he only made racist comments to V. Stiviano because he thought it would persuade her to have sex with him … TMZ Sports has learned.It sounds crazy … but we’re told Sterling is adamant the comments he made to V. during the rant posted on TMZ Sports were supposed to act as some kind of aphrodisiac to get her in the mood. Safe to say the plan backfired … in a big way. Sterling is telling friends … he was so desperate to bang Stiviano, he was willing to say ANYTHING to get her to consent to some old man humpin’ … and no man should be judged by what he says to get laid. As for Stiviano, she insists she NEVER had a sexual relationship with Sterling.”

And we’re done here. Well, almost. His wife, who really isn’t any much better than he is, will look to keep her ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, from The AP:

An attorney representing the estranged wife of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling said Thursday that she will fight to retain her 50 percent ownership stake in the team. “She will not agree to a forced or involuntary seizure of her interest,” said Shelly Sterling’s attorney, Pierce O’Donnell. “As her lawyers we will fight vigorously to defend her property rights.” O’Donnell also told The Associated Press that Shelly Sterling has been separated from her husband for the last year and is considering divorce.

O’Donnell said Mrs. Sterling “abhors” the comments and that Silver had “exonerated” Mrs. Sterling in his statement last week by saying there was no decision made about other members of the family. O’Donnell said he spoke with NBA officials Thursday morning but declined to elaborate. He said Mrs. Sterling has been working cooperatively with Silver and his staff and supported his announcement seeking a new chief executive officer and the NBA’s decision to place longtime team President Andy Roeser on leave.”

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:

• Doc Rivers was critical of the way his team lost focus in Game 2, from Arash Markazi of ESPN LA: “Long before Donald Sterling made racist remarks that ended up online and earned the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner a lifetime ban from the NBA, Doc Rivers warned his team about “emotional hijacks.”… When Rivers watched film of the Clippers after arriving in Los Angeles last June, the one thing he noticed time after time was the Clippers letting one bad call or one bad play stick with them. They would waste the next few plays complaining to officials about a bad call or they would bicker at one another, and suddenly they were out of the game. “The playoffs are a single-possession game,” Rivers said. “Every single possession, you have to have great focus and you have to be locked in. Today we were not. I thought it was because of all the clutter today. We were upset at the officials, we were upset at everything, instead of turning our anger toward the opponent and focus. Tonight we just didn’t have it, but I’ve got to give them credit. I don’t know if we didn’t have it or they took it from us. I thought they were very good tonight. They were physical, they moved the ball, so give them a lot of credit.”

• Roy Hibbert says he had been making a lot of excuses over the last few months, from Brian Windhorst of ESPN: “”My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in my sweet spot and believing in me,” Hibbert said. “I wanted to return the favor.”… “I put a lot of pressure on myself to get going,” Hibbert said. “I feel I was making a lot of excuses over the second half of the season. I decided to take it into my own hands.”… It’s hard to see this type of game playing out again. What has the possibility to sustain, though, is Hibbert. He’s one giant variable in this series. Perhaps this was the start of a new consciousness by which he’ll rediscover the form that was so vital in making the Pacers the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. Or perhaps not. “I’m just going to try to control the things I can control,” Hibbert said. “Consistency hasn’t been my biggest friend this year.”

• Stan Van Gundy finally broke silence about the possibility of coaching the Golden State Warriors, from Josh Robbins of Orlando Sentinel: “Asked Thursday morning on 740 AM’s “Open Mike” show if he’s talked with the Warriors about their vacant head-coaching job, Van Gundy answered, “I have not met with them or anything else. There have been calls to gauge interest, and until you get a chance to actually talk to somebody, it’s even hard to say if they’re interested or if I would be [interested]. So we’re not at that point of even sitting down and talking yet.”… On Thursday morning, Van Gundy was asked whether he wants to return to coaching. “Part of me does, and part of me doesn’t,” Van Gundy answered. “Look, we’re so happy in Central Florida. It would really have to be a great situation for me to get back in. I miss a lot of it. I really do. I miss the competition. I miss the challenge. I miss the camaraderie of it. But I also like the time that I’ve had, so we’ll just have to see what happens. You weigh every situation.”

• Mark Jackson believes coaching is in his future, from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: “Jackson said on ESPN New York 98.7 FM’s “The Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco Show” that he believes “coaching is in my future.” “There are some great jobs available,” said Jackson, who was fired by the Warriors on Tuesday. “… I am exited about the next chapter in my life and what lies ahead. We’ll see what happens.”… “There’s not a question anymore, can I coach,” Jackson said. “That’s been proven. I’m grateful for the opportunity and we’ll see what lies ahead.”

• The Nuggets expect to pay Kenneth Faried this summer, from Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post: “The Nuggets plan to make Kenneth Faried a long-term fixture of their future by opening contract extension talks with the power forward and his agent, Thad Foucher, this summer. “We’ll talk to his representation,” Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly told the Post. ” I think Kenneth is happy here. I think he’s really embraced what (Coach) Brian (Shaw) is trying to instill. Those are the type of guys that deserve to get paid.”…  “I definitely want to have him back and expect to have him back,” Shaw said. Faried is going into the final year of his rookie-scale contract, which will pay him $2.2 million next season. Contract extension talks cannot begin until the July moratorium ends, and they can continue through Oct. 31. Faried should be in line for a huge contract, probably under the $14-22 million a year the game’s top power forwards make, but more than say, the $9.5 million of a player such as Atlanta’s Paul Milsap.”

• This year’s Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford opened up about how his mother almost never had him and why he feared Los Angeles, from Dan Woike of The OC Register: “There almost wasn’t a Jamal Crawford. His mother, Venora, already had two children. She was 13 when her first, Lisa, was born. Then came Lori, and for the next 12 years Verona wasn’t sure she wanted another one. “My mom was kind of done after those two,” Jamal said. Luckily, Lori wanted a baby brother. “I begged her, ‘Please, please, please. I will get up in the middle of the night with the baby. I will do everything,’” Lori said. “I promised. And every time he cried at night, I jumped up.” On March 20, 1980, Jamal was born in Seattle, a city he’s loved since. Soon, Lori was watching her 3-year-old baby brother drain jumpshots at the local high school… “He was miserable,” Lori said. “He was scared of L.A.” The fear came from a very real place. The summer before Crawford started at Dorsey High, he got robbed. “I didn’t understand the whole situation with colors. I was from Seattle, I didn’t understand what you could and couldn’t wear,” Crawford said. “I had on the wrong color for where I was at. The guy asked me where I was from. In L.A., it means what gang are you from. I answered, ‘I’m from Seattle.’ They were like, ‘He doesn’t really know what’s going on.’ He just took what I had and left me.”

• Greg Oden says he’s happy just to be a benchwarmer these days and knows he is one of the biggest busts in NBA history, from Mark Titus of Grantland: ““Are you kidding? I was a professional rehab/workout guy for four years. I wasn’t even a basketball player — just a guy who got paid to exercise. I spent four years trying to get back on an NBA court. Now that I’ve done that, it’s not fair to myself to complain about minutes. I knew coming into this that I wasn’t going to be the player I once was. I just wanted to get healthy and then help out any way I could.”… I’m over all of that. I know I’m one of the biggest busts in NBA history and I know that it’ll only get worse as Kevin Durant continues doing big things … It’s frustrating that my body can’t do what my mind wants it to do sometimes. But worrying or complaining about it isn’t going to fix anything … I wish the circumstances would let me play more, but I certainly don’t regret coming back, and I don’t regret signing with the Heat.”
• http://www.slamonline.com/online/the-magazine/features/2014/05/kevin-durant-mvp-slam-178/

James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.