PLAYA VISTA, Calif. -- You know things have changed in Clipperland when team president Andy Roeser spends most of Media Day greeting and talking with reporters -- some of whom made his life miserable on a daily basis.
When the Clippers were being ridiculed by the national media prior to their recent run of success, it was owner Donald T. Sterling who was usually the target of the barbs and insults. But while Sterling also took a thumping locally, he had frequent company in his team president, Roeser.
Roeser sat down with Joe McDonnell for The Joe McDonnell Podcast (click here to listen) and discussed the new-look Clippers, his time with the team and what he wants his legacy to be.
The Michigan native was once the subject of a four-hour sports talk show -- a referendum of sorts on his ability to run an NBA franchise. It certainly wasn't pretty as a former Clipper player even called in to talk about Roeser's management style. Surprisingly, though, the Clippers' boss was on the very same sports talk show a week later to tried and explain his side of the story.
"You have to be able to figure what's personal and what's not," he said at the Clippers' training facility on Monday. "And I learned that most of it wasn't personal. So I didn't take it personally."
Which is probably the smartest thing you can do if you want to make it as a sports executive in Los Angeles.
Now 29 years after accepting a job with the franchise that has to compete with the Laker legacy every time it steps onto the court, Roeser is somewhat of an elder statesman among NBA executives. With the Clippers turnabout of the past three seasons -- on and off the court -- Roeser has begun to receive some of the accolades that he must have craved at many points in his tenure.
"Well," he said, "it's nice for people to say good things about you. But it's more important for the team to become a consistent winner. If we do that, I'll be happy with what we've done here."
