A gym of their own

7:37 PM, September 28, 2008

Actually, it's a lot more than a gym for the Clippers.

Took a tour of the Clippers' shiny new training facility last week in Playa Vista -- a few jump shots from LAX -- with Andy Roeser, the team's executive vice president, who is proud of the estimated $50-million project, and rightly so.

No longer will the lack of their own home hurt the Clippers, who formerly used the Spectrum Club South Bay in El Segundo for training purposes. Now this is no cheap shot at the Spectrum Club -- I'm fairly sure it's a lot nicer than my modest health club -- but the Clippers were guests, not owners.

And if you think that sort of thing doesn't matter to players, well, it does. Just take a look at former Clipper Corey Maggette's comments at the Warriors' media day Friday.

Maggette was asked about making the transition from the Clippers to the Warriors and his first answer was about the lack of 24-hour access to the gym.

Sure sounds like he got tired of waiting in line for the Stair Master and blowing past middle-aged accountants in pickup games.

(Maggette had a lot more to say about the Clippers and Baron Davis, but we'll save that for the Clippers' media day Monday when they'll have a chance to respond.)

The two-level facility houses the basketball staff and the video/Internet operation on the upper level while the downstairs is devoted to the players and includes two courts and state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment.

Maggette's other comments -- in the blog of my former Times colleague and current San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami -- included complaints about watching film in his Clippers days for "45 minutes before practice." That made me chuckle after having spotted the showpiece theater room (pictured above) in the Clippers' new home last week.

There's a big screen and 25 comfortable seats. All that's missing is the popcorn.

"Where Mike [Dunleavy] does his teaching, sits down, breaks down film and goes over it with players," Roeser said. "This was where he wanted to have a place where he could teach players right off the court."

Sadly, just one season too late for Maggette.

-- Lisa Dillman

Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers