Yes, his Los Angeles Clippers may have advanced to the playoffs this past season, but Steve Ballmer still has no idea what he’s doing as an NBA franchise owner.
That’s at least according to Bill Simmons, the sports media star who will soon launch a new TV show and podcast at HBO after cutting ties with ESPN in May.
Ballmer bought the Clippers for a record $2 billion in 2014, replacing Donald Sterling, the 81-year-old who was ultimately banned by the NBA after making racist comments that surfaced online.
While the Clippers beat a talented San Antonio squad and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals this past postseason, Simmons said today on Twitter that the Clippers are a “disaster.”
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Simmons’ tweetstorm comes just after the NBA fined the Clippers for violating rules that prohibit teams from offering players unauthorized business or investment opportunities. That punishment was connected to the free agency fiasco earlier this summer involving Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who backed out of a verbal agreement he had to sign with Dallas Mavericks and re-signed with Los Angeles at the last second after Ballmer and a group of Clippers players and executives traveled to his house in Houston.
Given some of Ballmer’s decisions as CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2013, some longtime Microsoft followers may not be surprised with Simmons’ statements.
While Ballmer grew the company’s revenue from $25 billion to $70 billion during his tenure, he also put together questionable partnerships and acquisitions. The 59-year-old also oversaw what was largely an unsuccessful rollout of the Windows 8 operating system and was slow to push forward smartphone innovation in the footsteps of Apple and Google, once famously saying in 2007 that the iPhone had “no chance” to gain market share.
However, some respected Ballmer’s leadership style, which was filled with intense passion and optimism. That has certainly carried over to the basketball court, for better or worse.