“You Believed”
Terry Sterner
Oklahoma City Thunder
October 21st, 2043
Terry Sterner
Oklahoma City Thunder
October 21st, 2043
Though I am beginning this with a blank word document, I have read enough of these articles to know how The Player’s Tribune formats these things. On the top of my words will be my handsome face on top of the team name. In this case it will read “Oklahoma City Thunder”, and even just thinking about my future self reading those words, I already feel strange. Don’t get it twisted, I have mad respect for the Thunder organization and I am quite excited to be getting going, and showing off the chemistry with Z, M-squared and Charlie H that we’ve quickly been building. The fans have been welcoming and passionate, and it has just been a joy of an experience so far.
But this isn’t about them.
No matter what heights we may reach this season, regardless where my career may take me after this season, my heart will always belong to Los Angeles and Clipper Nation. I spent eight of my eleven previous years in this league wearing that uniform, in front of those fans, and it will likely always feel like home.
As anyone reading this will already know, the Clippers were not my first team. Or second. Or third. Way back in that 2032-2033 draft, the Dallas Mavericks decided to take a chance and draft a young guard from Temple with the #11 overall pick. I’d love to be able to say that I used being drafted at eleven as motivation and I have had a chip on my shoulder because of being passed over (that would be far more interesting), but really? Look at that damn draft class! We were stacked, man!
Here’s the rundown:
1. James Wiseman
2. William Pearman
3. Chadwick Dangerfield
4. Richard Hunt
5. Ronald Jordan
6. Carlton Glasser
7. Michael Morley
8. Jules Harms
9. Ronnie Reynolds
10. Corey Brooks
There’s multiple All-Stars, All-League, championships and borderline MVP-level players on that list. I understand why I lasted where I did in that draft. I never felt that chip weighing me down, and was just really excited about getting into Dallas, learning and honing my game and, hopefully, helping the franchise get to a championship.
Unfortunately, I could feel pretty early that I was just being looked at as a trade chip for them. I am sure that I showed up, though very eager and willing to engage and learn, INCREDIBLY raw. I just wasn’t quite ready for the speed and physicality of the game. The Mavericks wanted to add wins and not have to babysit, so I was in Dallas only a couple of months before being shipped off to Chicago. I was thrilled with this move because the Bulls are a championship organization and as the old cliché goes, iron sharpens iron and I was ready to be sharpened. I did learn a lot of nuances in the game while with the Bulls, but I ended up being a casualty of their quest for rings and got moved after a season of not playing at all to Orlando for a win-now piece.
Much like my move to Chicago, I was really excited about getting to Florida, since at that point in my career we were fresh off of seeing the Magic dominate the league and I had no reason to believe that they could not claw themselves back to the top again in short order. My hard work met opportunity as well and I started getting minutes for the Magic. Only did spot duty in the starting lineup, but I was getting roughly 25 minutes per game and 10 points per game in two straight seasons with them. Orlando, much like Chicago, just wasn’t the place where young guys were allowed to fully develop. They want rings and they want them NOW! I respect it, but it meant that I would get sent out again in the deal that brought Big Boban back to Orlando after a championship run in Los Angeles.
(I really have been fortunate to play for organizations with championship pedigree, huh?)
In my previous stops in Dallas, Chicago and Orlando, I felt a bit out of place. Especially in Dallas, where I felt mostly like a pawn, but even with the other two I never felt at peace or at-home. Some of that might be because my head was always spinning in the early years and so I could never just relax. Whatever it was, I just felt like I was on a layover to some unknown final destination.
When I got to Los Angeles, I knew I was home.
Coach Durant and Mr. Abitua were so welcoming, embracing me into the Clipper family with open arms. It helped that Zeke (Nnaji) came over with me in the deal from Orlando and perhaps even more than that, Glen Sabo was in-charge of the locker room at that point since Boban was sent out and while he was all business, he was not some arrogant asshole that you often find when a guy is THAT good. He cared about the guys on the roster and wanted you to be the best for you and the team.
Most importantly, I had never been coached as hard as I was from day one with the Clippers. Maybe a couple seasons earlier I would have been thrown off by such laser focus on my training, but I loved it. After three other teams where I couldn’t feel completely comfortable and was counting down the days that the team could flip me for someone “better”, it was exciting to feel like an organization wanted to put the time, effort and resources into building me up to help the team, instead of using me to get another guy to help the team.
The Clippers believed in me and in turn, made me believe in myself.
That is a gift that there is no price tag for. That belief made me want to squeeze every bit of juice out that I could. Every single time I stepped on that court, I wanted to leave nothing in the tank. If I left a game not feeling completely winded, I didn’t give enough. The fans deserved more. Management and coaches deserved better. My teammates deserved my best. And I hope that all of you feel like you got that from me, because I did all that I could to give it.
Eight years later and I am extremely proud of my accomplishments.
I started 643 out of a possible 656 regular season games. We made the playoffs every season. We made a Finals. Won the most games multiple times. Individually, I have to be the sneakiest player in the history of this franchise. My proudest personal accomplishment is being the franchise leader in assists. I did not come into this league ready to run an offense but getting such intensive coaching AND getting to play with other great distributors (Love ya Gary and Blakey), I learned the value of learning my teammates. Where to give them the ball (Zeke and that left block, Nik from the right corner, but get the ball to him at the belly) led to getting my offenses going to a level I could never have dreamt of, even though I have very rarely played the Point Guard spot directly.
My only regret?
No championships.
For everything that this organization gave to me, I wanted nothing more than to hang another championship banner in this arena for the Lakers to stare at with envy in their hearts. I don’t care about season awards or All-Stars (easy for the guy who never has sniffed those, amirite!?), but it is painful to not bring home the trophy for these fans. Especially since we came so damn close these past few seasons.
I’ll never forgive Delmar Lopez or Cassius Winston, if you want to know the truth!
I just want all of you to understand that we left no stone unturned in our quest to get the ring though. Blood, sweat and tears were only the down payment of what we gave of ourselves to make that dream a reality. We Fryeing tried! Which is more than a lot of organizations do, let me tell you that. Gary and I have been haunted by the numbers 0-19 every single moment since we lost Game 7 against the 76ers last season, though the pain of that championship Game 7 loss will sting forever. Both of those games being in front of our own fans makes it an even tougher pill to swallow.
I’m sorry for letting you down!
Overall though, I would not take back any of my time in Clipper Nation. I’ve grown, I’ve learned, I’ve fought and clawed and become the best version of myself that I could have ever hoped to be. I will dearly miss the fans, the community, the coaches and management, and my teammates. You all made coming to work special.
Oklahoma City has a lot to live up to now!
Los Angeles, Thank You for accepting me. For embracing me. Thank you for just letting me be me.
To quote Whitney Houston, I’ll always love you.
Signed,
Scary Terry Sterner
Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
just posted it with my phone