LOS ANGELES IS already showing its weatherly excellence only a few minutes after 6:30 a.m. on a Monday in late September. With night finally revealing light, the temperature is hovering in the low 70s. The doors to the L.A. Clippers practice facility have been left open to let the cool dawn stream in.
Today’s breakfast isn’t about taste. It’s about the other senses. It’s a gourmet meal of aromas and of sights and of sounds. Hoop heaven is in here, made by high level basketball artisans. That familiar smell of the hardwood bombards the nose. Memories of early childhood morning practices are both comforting and jarring at the same time, when touching the hardwood’s baseline on countless suicides was a necessity. But unlike those dusty gyms most of us had to play in, this is the premium hardwood. Manically maintained, painted in blue and red, it’s of the highest quality.
Extra rims are stacked in a corner close to the entrance. They must go through rims quickly around here with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George punching dunks. A long-stretching dresser constructed for giants covers an entire wall, holding well-worn official NBA balls. Staccato dribbles randomly echo through the still
