Elgin Baylor, NBA Exec Of The Year. This Year, They Mean.

This has to be considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history. If, one year ago, you'd have suggested that it was even possible for Clippers GM Elgin Baylor to one day be considered for the NBA's Executive of the Year award, Jerry West and Joe Dumars would've shown up at your door to take turns punching you in the face.

But, it's happening. Elgin Baylor was hired in 1986, the Clippers finally made it to the playoffs just 20 short years later. Someone once called him "a veteran of the lottery process." The franchise he's presided over had been a complete laughingstock, regarded as the most futile in sports, for 20 years. And he's winning an award.

So there's hope for all of us. If you work at McDonalds, and every single day that you work there, you drop your wristwatch into the fryer and roll all of the Chicken McNuggets around on the bathroom floor before serving them, you're still just one good month away from getting your picture up on that Employee of Month plaque. The message here: you stay on the grind, Isiah. Your day is coming.

Now, I don't begrudge Elgin Baylor the award or the recognition. He has certainly, well, let's say... perservered. And you can't argue that these Clippers aren't a well-constructed squad. It's not that I'm skeptical or anything, but can we put some sort of provision on it that says if he dismanted the roster this off-season, that he has to give the trophy back?

Rewarding 20 Years Of Incompetence [Sports Frog] Baylor to Receive Executive-of-Year Award [LA Times]