#consider this a soft launch before i come back for good and do an overhaul of this blog

[pidgeyatto]

Arceus, he's exhausted. Who'd have known practically being your city's person in charge would be so busy? If you see Falkner on a bench with his face in his hands, don't worry about him. He's fine! He just needs a breather.

[donutloverxo]

A Royal Scandal 2

Modern royalty au

(Image from Pinterest)

Cowritten with @lizzygal

I'm so sorry! I made a mistake while posting this yesterday so I'm reposting it now. Hope y'all enjoy💖

Note - Since y'all liked it so much we've decided to post this fic on both ao3 and my tumblr! There will be no taglists for this however💖 You can subscribe to the ao3 story to receive updates!

Please note that my stories are not to be stolen or reposted on any other site. Reblogs are welcome. This blog and this story is 18+. Do not read, follow or interact if you are not 18+.

Summary - Modern ruler, His Majesty King Steven G Rogers, is on a quest to make his long term secret relationship the real thing. He is a man in love and wants his lover and partner to be his queen.

Warnings - Smut (m/f), dub con/non con, sex tape, scandals, mentions of past domestic abuse, soft dark Steve, possessive Steve, spanking, power imbalance, Mentions of previous domestic abuse.

Pairing - King!Steve x reader

Word count - 8k

To be fair, Steven could understand why his mother was so upset after watching the entire footage from the royal steam rooms. He had a far better understanding after having seen the footage in question. The one that had led to his mother’s reaction that very morning.

Seated beside Carol on the ride back, he slipped in his wireless earbuds and pulled up the first video he found online on his phone.

A separate car had been sent for you for whenever your meeting completed. However, he had a whole series of his own back at the palace before his day could be considered over in the administrative offices. Days were never really over for him. Should anything happen somewhere in his nation, he would be informed. As was expected for a ruler.

Until then, he had fifteen or so minutes to kill till he arrived back at the royal palace, depending on city traffic.

Which was how he found himself watching what was obviously some sort of hidden camera. As the royal banya did not have CCTV cameras. Steve found himself making a mental note to himself to ask Carol about it.

After he watched the video.

He had the feeling that this would not be going away anytime soon. Therefore, he needed to know what was on there if he was going to have to defend his actions, or even speak about it.

It was somewhat surreal watching himself walk into view wearing nothing. Not even a towel. Talking with someone who was obviously you.

Based on where the camera was located, Steve could tell it was somewhere in the hallway that led from the steam rooms into either the showers or locker room. Thank all the saints above your back was to the camera. Half of it anyway. You were standing at a turn in the hallway, leaning against the wall. Half of you hidden. A towel wrapped around your body.

Thanking those saints above still that there was no sound, Steve watched on as a voice narrated the video, some celebrity blogger dissecting the footage as if it were a pivotal moment in some sporting event.

Steve watched himself turn to face you, facing the camera too and exposing his entire self to the world.

Not that he was ashamed. He had nothing to be ashamed about. Steve was built tall and powerful like his father and mother’s father. He kept himself in shape and as for the manhood that hung heavy between his thighs, he refused to be embarrassed by that either. The blogger however did have several opinions about what she referred to as, the royal sword.

She also seemed to be very opinionated when Steve watched himself kneel down in front of you. He’d never watched himself go down on you before and found himself transfixed, easily able to ignore the blogger’s excited rambling.

For once, Steve watched your hands sink into his hair as he sank between your legs. He watched your pleasure grow and grow, he watched you sag back into the wall and reach up, grabbing at it like a cat stretching out in the hot sun.

Seeing it happen like this? Steve felt like a voyeur. He felt like he was doing something wrong. And then, he watched you climax on his face. He watched your hands tighten up against the corner of the walls meeting. He watched himself stand and no longer noticed the commentary as he sheathed himself between your legs and proceeded to pound you into the wall without mercy.

His attention caught on one little inconsequential thing. Watching one of your legs that wound over his thigh bounce wildly each time.

Quickly he exited out of the video and blog. Unwilling to watch more. Pulling a bud from his ear, he glanced over at Carol who was watching the city fly by her window.

“Have you inquired as to if the palace guard has looked into how the video was taken in the royal banya?”

Blonde hair dusted her shoulders as she looked at her king. Carol answered without a second of hesitation. “Already done Your Majesty. The camera was found this morning. A webcam of some type. It’s been sent away for fingerprints and I have the best IT professional I know looking into it, to determine if we can track down who it belongs to. The royal guard has also launched an investigation into all palace employees.”

“Thank you,” he answered her with complete sincerity.

Captain Danvers had been at his side since he assumed the throne and had proven herself hundreds of times over. She was his confidant. She was his bodyguard. She was his closest thing to a friend, if Steve could say he had such a thing. He could tell Carol anything. He had told Carol about you. Carol had told him about her sick mother and in return, Steve have given her a cottage on palace grounds while providing a nurse. So that Carol would be able to spend as much time as possible with her mother in her final days. Carol still lived on the palace grounds in that cottage down by the gardens.

“I’ll let you know when I know something,” she assured him.

***

Your return to the palace felt like it took forever. Mostly because your panties were very obviously damp from leakage and you were greatly concerned about a wet stain. The modern equivalent of a scarlet letter. Letting everyone know what you’d done.

Twice you’d checked in a bathroom along with every mirrored surface you came across.

Alas, it seemed you were in luck.

No one would know that you’d had inappropriate contact on a workday, or think you’d had an accident. Granted if someone would have noticed you planned on blaming your monthlies.

By the grace of the many women who came before you, you managed to get back to the palace without being caught and were about to go change your panties when a familiar face popped into your office.

“Hey! You’re coming! I’m not taking no for an answer!”

Wanda.

Bright red hair and a brighter red dress that was far from office appropriate appeared in your office, leaping in like an acrobat leaping onto a stage. Making you look up from where you stood behind your desk, digging through your handbag.

A bunch of different thoughts buzzed through your head.

What was Wanda talking about? Where did she want you to go? Did Wanda wear that mini-dress to work? Cause it was about five inches too short and did downright sinful things to the girls. Wanda could always pull off anything. She looked amazing in clubwear, sweats and those tea-party dresses that Jackie O was always wearing.

“Coming?” Fell from your lips in a valiant attempt to stall till you could make sense of what was happening. “What are you not taking no for an answer for this time?”

In your roommate swept like a hurricane.

“It’s practically six!” She declared, as if that was supposed to mean something to you. It had you staring at her and waiting for more information. Hands paused in their hunt for clean panties and a pantyliner in your bag’o’stuff. “No more talk of this fake boyfriend. You and me are going to go have dinner. We’re going to hit the bars to pre-game and then to the clubs! Everyone is going so you are too!”

Such news had you freezing in your patent leather pumps.

Pre-gaming? Dinner? Clubs? Everyone?

How?

It was only Thursday and then you remembered.

It was a long weekend. The winning of some great victory over the Germans from the big war that you only kinda remembered hearing about. Mostly because you’d been busy with the border issue and the education overhaul. You’d known that it was coming up and the entire four-day weekend would be spent celebrating.

Wanda saw your face. She saw what you were thinking. She was practically a mind reader. Which led her to pointing at you scoldingly. “No! No no no! No checking emails or messages. No more work. No! We’re going out tonight and we are going to have fun! You remember what fun is? Right?”

But…you really did have emails and messages to check. You actually did have a ton of work to do. Granted you always had emails and messages to check, plus work piling up. It was the nature of your job. Helping in the running of a country was a 24/7 gig.

“Wanda…”

“Nope!” She declared, marching on into your office and behind your desk to chase you out. Shooing you. Literally making you hop away and grab your handbag because you just knew Wanda wasn’t letting you back near your desk. That much was for sure.

Like a sheepdog, she herded you around your messy desk as you attempted to protest, to get her to listen, to inform her that you really really did have a good bit of work to do.

“Wait…hold on…wait, Wanda…just one second…gah!”

“No more protests! I’m not going to hear it anymore! I refuse to let you hide behind work or the fake boyfriend.”

More protests came from you. You tried. You really really did. But Wanda was shoving and pushing and hip bumping you out into a hallway that did not look like an office building, instead, it was very obviously a palace.

Your heels clicked on polished white marble that shone. Walls were cream and had priceless art hung around, gold gilded borders ran up along where the ceiling met the walls. Light fixtures were old, bronze and cut glass. Furniture that belonged in Sotheby’s was sparsely decorated around the halls.

Door were old and creaky up and down the halls, wooden with locks that required big iron keys.

It was unlike any other place you’d ever worked.

You could feel and see and even smell the smokey history oozing from the walls.

A few people were hurrying out of their offices and locking the doors behind them, which Wanda didn’t even let you do as she went on indignantly. “No! Nope! Clint from Tinder will not wait forever! He digs foreigners and he has a job and he loves to dance!”

At mention of Tinder, your gut lurched.

Dear god not this again.

Why had you ever agreed to let Wanda make you a Tinder profile? At the time it seemed so reasonable. Let her make the profile and she’d get off your ass about your alleged imaginary boyfriend. Problem solved! How on earth were you to know she’d be on the damn app making matches for you?

“Why don’t you go out with Clint from Tinder,” you wanted to know, earning yourself a roll of Wanda’s eyes as you were dragged down along the hallway to the massive marble stairs. Looking as if they’d been carved from one piece, smoothly curling down a floor to the ground floor. Large chandeliers hung with cut glass that threw light everywhere. A massive painting hung up on the large wall of a long dead large royal family in the palace of past.

“He’s not my type. But he is absolutely your type.”

Somehow you doubted that.

Sighing deeply and focusing on not snapping your ankle on the stairs and in your heels, you followed Wanda down, mixing in with the few stragglers who were leaving work and making mental notes to text Steve and let him know you’d be late coming back to the palace that night. You were then planning when you could check your work emails and work-phone messages. That had to be done in a quiet place where no one could overhear. Maybe you could go out to the club and feign a tummy ache? Then sneak away from Clint? It’d probably be much easily to sneak away from Clint than Wanda.

Click. Click. Click.

With every step you maneuvered down your heels were noisy. You’d managed to fling your sizable bag over your shoulder and just knew Steve was going to be annoyed with you. But he was an adult. Being adults meant the two of you would have to do things that you didn’t want.

“So help me, if it kills the both of us, you and I will be going out tonight and having a fun time! This is a celebratory weekend! There are festivities going on all over the city!” Wanda went on, yanking you along behind her upon reaching the bottom step and heading in the general direction of the ground floor exits.

Hurrying along behind her, you followed but you weren’t happy about it.

God did you have so much work to do and you really really wanted to spend the night with Steve. And maybe if you gave in to Wanda, she’d get off your ass about your fake boyfriend? Wait, no, your secret boyfriend, because Steve was very real, you just didn’t want to be eviscerated all over the internet and tabloids for dating a king.

You’d seen what happened when a pretty actress had dated then married a prince who didn’t rule his country. The only thing you had going for you was Steve’s country was still looked at with some serious side-eye from the world, due to past events and rulers. Plus, he wasn’t a young prince that had grown up before the eyes of the world. He was a son of a tyrant, a citizen of a sizable nation the world still viewed suspiciously with a questionable human rights record.

“You’re going to love the club! It’s totally new and they open at ten. Meaning we can have plenty of time with the girls!”

Girls?

As in plural?

Because of course this would be a group event. Wanda never half-assed anything.

“Wanda…” you began.

Before Wanda could turn her attention on you, loud shrill lady screams came and you were greeted to the sight of Maria, Okoye and Pepper. All three threw up their arms and grabbed Wanda in a big hug, yanking her away from you and freeing you from her grip.

Loud girl screeches followed.

There was group hopping and hugs and laughter.

It should have made you realize that it’d been so long since you had a fun girls night. It should have reminded you that you were young and your life shouldn’t be all about work and sneaking off with your boyfriend whenever the two of you were able to.

Your heart should have been warmed by the sight of your palace coworkers who were clearly part of the aforementioned Girls.

How long had it been since you had fun?

How long had it been since you’d had a night out on the town?

What were you doing?

Were you jumping and screeching and hugging too?

No.

You were digging into your handbag so you could text Steve real quick. To let him know about your change in plans before he began to think you’d bailed because you were a coward and got cold feet.

Just as your fingers touched the smooth surface of your iPhone…

A noise caught your attention.

Movement.

Peering up to the side at the wall, or what you’d assumed was a hallway wall since you were in another hallway nearly identical to the one upstairs. All while the hugfest continued. You noticed that the wall was at a weird angle. As if it were opening up on a hinge and by the time you realized that the wall was actually an opening to a hidden passageway, a hand grabbed your elbow and yanked you in.

No more than a soft squeak came from you.

In you tumbled.

Into a dimly lit hallway that was actually a passageway you found yourself. With a metal sounding click the wall slid back into place and a big hand fell over your mouth. Making you immediately panic, immediately reach up to grab the hand that was silencing you. Making an arm band around your chest and pull you flush back against a broad muscular body.

“Did you honestly think for one moment that I would allow you to go get drunk with Wanda? Or go to a club with a man that she met for you on Tinder?”

Steve.

It was Steve.

His faint aftershave still burnt your nose but paired with the masculine scent that was him, you relaxed only a little bit, just a smidge.

How the hell did he know all of that? Had he bugged your office? Was he following you?

Deep in your chest your heart pounded wildly. Your skin was on fire. Even though it was dimly lit, you swore you could see each nail and groove in the wooden walls of the hidden passage.

Steve’s shoes were soft on the carpeted floor. Yours however never reached. Your legs dangled. Desperately you stretched out to try and reach your toes down, but alas, Steve was holding you up and was simply that much taller than you. Easily holding you up as he carried you.

His voice an angry snarl, a seething whisp against your ear. “That is so disappointing my love. A failure on both our parts,” came his angry voice. Walking with sure footing and a quick pace through the only barely lit halls.

Turning here and there, quickly and suddenly, until you were very much lost.

A protest came from behind his palm that was crushed against your mouth. Your blood heating with every passing second till it felt as if it were boiling. All that sudden fear was turning into anger at this treatment.

“I’ve clearly failed you if you’re unable to announce with nothing but the utmost certainty that you’re both in a relationship and have no desire to go out clubbing with whomever Clint from Tinder is.” The word clubbing was spat out, as if Steve found it vile on his tongue. “As for you? Yesterday we were discussing where to go for your birthday and today, you refused to answer one of my calls! You have work to do tonight to make up to me your behavior today!”

Further down the hidden passageway you were unceremoniously carried pulled to his front. Your brain racing at warp speed.

You had work to do? You had to make up for your behavior?

Had he lost his damn mind?

Had he not seen the video of his naked nether-regions all over the internet? Or the sex that made the footage a sex tape? The two of you were now amateur porn stars and he was mad that you? Because you were trying to be lowkey until the entire situation blew over? Steve was mad because you were being reasonable?

A most valiant attempt was made to free yourself.

You struggled. You kicked. You flailed and shrilled behind the hand over your mouth. No longer taken by surprise or frightened. Now you were growing angry.

On top of being terrified of being found out in that footage and ridiculed by the world, or worse, chased out of this country by a horde of angry people who didn’t agree with you being the kings choice as not only a foreigner, but one from pretty humble roots. You were upset that the world saw such an intimate moment between the two of you and even if Steve didn’t care that his junk was all over the internet, you cared. You cared a great deal. The royal junk was your junk. It was bad enough you had to know he’d dated women before you who’d seen him nude and were intimate with him, but now the world? It was simply too much for you to comprehend.

Steve slowed and turned, using his elbow he made something pop and a slight crack of light where there was obviously another hidden door in the wall appeared.

Using his broad shoulder, Steve pushed the door open and stepped out into a hallway that led down to the royal chambers and split off.

With his knee, he shoved the hidden panel shut and tightening his grip on you, Steve hurried down that hallway.

A completely different one from where the administrative offices were located.

Rich wooden paneling covered the walls. Making everything appear warmer, lusher. An amber haze hung in the air.

Thick carpet was underfoot. Furniture spoke to its age but had been made with a quality that endured. Like this palace. Built when his land was called something else but had stood through time in proof of his claim to the throne.

Generations before him had ruled, claimed spouses and lovers in these halls, grown old and made history and now it was his turn.

Merely that knowledge had him growing excited in his slacks for a second time that day. All of your thrashing and struggling didn’t help. If anything, it sparked a part of his brain that insisted he ravish and conquer you in his royal bed.

Mouth pressed to your ear, till he felt amber and diamonds press against his lips. “I swear, I will spend the rest of tonight inside of you until things are as they were yesterday. Until you remember that when I speak to you in any manner, you answer. Considering how thoroughly you’ve consumed every last part of me, it is only fair.”

And then, in his slowed pace down the hall ever closer to the door that would lead into Steve’s Royal Apartment, he saw a portrait up on the wall that made him pause.

It was him.

Or his portrait from when he’d turned thirty.

There he stood looking down at you both. Dressed ceremonially in his crown, holding the traditional ruling scepter and wearing the robes from kings of past. Fur, jeweled toned fabric that he’d easily filled out with gold adornments, amber buttons and pipping on his shoulders.

What was most striking about this portrait compared to all the others of Steven throughout the palace, was he was alone in it and unlike all the others, at the time, he’d not been single.

Further making that internal fire burn hotter.

Making him stop and force you to look up at it with him. Framed in a gilded bronze heirloom. Up where he had to look at it to be reminded of what could have been.

“Look! Look!”

You stopped struggling and looked, were well aware of his mouth against your hair.

“See? See it? You could have been there with me. At my side. Wearing my crown. Wearing the robes and jewels of my grandmothers. My queen.”

And indeed you saw.

When you’d seen the finished portrait, you had been blown away at how your body reacted to the sight of your lover in his traditional uniform he only pulled out for big special events. How powerful he looked. How sexy he was wearing a crown, holding a golden scepter with an eagle on the end clutching a piece of amber the size of an egg.

The arm around your chest fell so he could point at the empty space in the picture beside him. “Look. Right there. That is where you would have been. Right there. At my side.”

His hand over your mouth still held you flush against him. Pulled tight against him.

That thought, that entire notion of you painted on a portrait, up there with Steve at his side. It was so surreal to you.

When it was just you and Steve it was fire and gold and everything was amazing. When it was King Steve and his Chief of Staff it was stimulating and exciting. You still weren’t sure about being queen. A queen! That wasn’t like being a princess or a duchess. A queen was different. Even the word felt different.

It made your heart start to pound wildly in your chest again. It made you breathe hard against the back of his hand. It made you have a physiological reaction.

***

This was not how Carol intended to spend her night.

It was not how she wished to start her off-time. Having given Val the update on all things that had transpired for the day as she handed off command of the Royal Guard to her fellow captain.

No sooner had she told Val everything, did one of the messengers from communications come hurrying in. A slip of paper in her hand. A note that changed everything for that night, that week and even that month.

It had left Carol walking through the royal apartments towards the Queen Mother’s rooms.

As she knew exactly what King Steven was doing and quite frankly, she wanted no part in disturbing that unless she absolutely had to.

Besides. The message that had been sent to the palace via royal envoy was meant for Her Majesty. It was best Her Majesty the Queen Mother figured out how best to deal with this coming…situation.

Compared to His Majesty’s Private Rooms, Sarah’s were all light and brightness. White marble and ornate touches. Colorful priceless paintings and large bouquets of fresh flowers in crystal vases. Soft plush furniture held little personal touches. A white chenille throw draped over her couch by a fireplace. Pink slippers sat on the floor. Books both new and ancient with various markers holding her place were scattered about. Fresh flowers. She loved fresh flowers. They were everywhere.

As expected, the door to the Queen Mother’s apartments were open.

Carol still paused outside of it to knock gently.

“Your Majesty?” She called out, looking at her watch to see that it was nearing seven. Around seven was when the queen took her dinner meal privately. Of course she’d leave the door open for kitchen staff to bring up food as usual. It wasn’t one of the nights that was reserved for Steve and his mother to have their dinners together.

After the death of her husband the former king, Sarah had effectively thrown open all the doors that he had imprisoned her with.

Her soft voice drifted out.

Delicate and gentle.

The Queen Mother sat in a large chair by a big window overlooking the city. Her pale hair pulled back at the nape of her neck. A string of pearls tightened and loosened around her fingers as she lowered the book she’d been reading. A pleasant smile came over her soft features.

Upon seeing the stone of Carol’s face, the queen frowned. “What is it? What is wrong?”

Only confirming that something was wrong, Carol shut the door and locked it.

Dinner had been brought up. Smells emanated from the queens private dining room off to the left. It reminded Carol that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning. It had been that kind of a day.

Clasping her hands before her, she rocked back on her heels. “A message was sent by Her Highness Janet Van Dyne. She and her daughter will be at the palace tomorrow…”

Janet and Hope Van Dyne?

Steven’s former fiancée and her mother?

Two golden eyebrows rose, making Carol press on. “Her Highness is under the impression that they’ll be staying here? In the palace?”

All of this was new to Sarah.

She had not heard from Janet since Steve’s coronation. When she and her husband had been in attendance. Earlier that particular year, Hope had broken her engagement with Steven to run away with a Maharaja.

It’d been all over the tabloids.

A young princess of the Netherlands had broken her engagement to the crown prince of an incredibly traditional nation to follow her heart. Hope had spent many years splashed across tabloids and blogs with a handsome charismatic Asian Prince. She’d lost her royal title and gave tell-all interviews about how her family had forbade her from running away and how she’d never marry a man from infamous Rogers Royal Line. And then, oddly, she was back home with her family this year.

Sarah had found it unusual. Alas, she was a busy woman with a life of her own to keep her busy.

“Was anything else in the message,” Sarah wanted to know.

Carol shook her head.

It had been a simple message that was very to the point.

Sighing in a most un-Sarah-like sort of way. She set her book down on the arm of her chair and rose. Tall. Willowy. Pursing her lips. Her dress fell around her in a gauzy cloud.

“Do you want me to tell His Majesty?”

Pausing, the older women considered the question. Dare she tell her son? He deserved to know. Nothing good would come from this visit.

If it were Janet alone? Sarah would not be so suspicious. But Janet and Hope? And that they would come so last minute? After the release of this video footage from the royal sauna?

“Is my son with her?”

Silence.

Carol was quiet.

A noise came from the Queen Mother. A clicking of her tongue. Stepping into her slippers, she pulled the hem of her dress up. “I suppose I should not be surprised that you would keep this from me.”

More quiet came.

“I won’t ask. I’ll find out my own way and leave him be for now. Janet and Hope won’t be here tonight. This can be a problem for tomorrow, today has been difficult enough for us all. Let tomorrow be tomorrow.”

Let tomorrow be tomorrow.

On her other hand was her wedding band. A treasure itself. Now on the widow’s finger. It was so symbolic of the cage she’d lived in for the duration of her marriage.

Absentmindedly, she twisted the rings. “Have you eaten yet?” Pulling them up and down her hand. “I had hoped you would come. I had the kitchen bring up extra.” Off slipped the rings that she had to wear in public. In her hand they jingled until she set them down on a smoothly polished table.

With two heavy clicks, they bounced on the wood by a vase full of peonies. Freeing her for the time being.

“I missed you while you were away.”

A blush bloomed over her porcelain complexion at Carol’s words.

As she watched Carol lock the door to her chambers, a warmth bloomed within her chest. Such words were so simple. So honest. They were words she had not heard before in her life. In this new chapter however, in this new time in her life, she had become accustomed to kind words and compassion.

“I missed you as well.” She confessed, stepping closer and still keeping space between them. As some habits died hard. “Stay with me? Tonight?”

“There is nothing I want more, Sarah.”

***

As it turned out, now you were ready to talk.

However.

Unfortunately.

Steve was now past that point and was on a whole other page.

You found yourself protesting when he carried you into his bedroom like some manner of caveman would carry a slab of meat. Shrilling out when he yanked and ripped and tore at your dress, forcing it over your head after ripping fabric and popping buttons, till it was an unsalvageable heap of material and threads.

Which was an absolute tragedy.

You loved that dress.

You even pointed out that fact to him somewhere between the threshold of his bedroom and his massive bed that really was fit for a king.

It was so big!

A headboard wider than Wanda’s itty-bitty car was long. An elaborate collection of regal flourishes and shapes. Dark sheets so soft they were slippery awaited you as you screeched and hollered, letting out an outraged sound when your bra was popped then yanked roughly from you.

“Steven!” You admonished your king, toes digging deep into the thick carpet as you’d lost your shoes back in the hallway leading to his quarters.

This whole evening was going off the rails for you. There was no other way to put it.

Dim sconces on the wall lit the way. Highly effective mood lighting if you ever saw it. Allowing you to see the set in Steve’s face, the firm line of his mouth.

His fingers wrapped around the back of your neck so he could hold you close, ground out for your benefit. “All day long I tried. Calls. Messages. Texts. Did you want to talk? No. You ignored me. Now I do not wish to talk either.”

Pushing you forward, you found yourself stumbling but knew if you didn’t walk on your own, Steve would merely toss you up on his bed. Up on the sea of pillows. Framed by gilded silver and dark curtains that came down from above to allow for privacy.

“All day long you denied me. I’ll remind you what is mine until you’re thinking clearly again. Until we’re back where we were yesterday!”

“I’m ready to talk now! I’m in a place where I can discuss this with you! I am thinking clearly!”

Words were not needed.

Oh no.

Not when the king grabbed your hand, pulled your arm back and pressed your palm against his straining erection. Hot to the touch. Shockingly hard. Painfully so even you were willing to bet.

Your knees hit the bed and you were pushed forward till you fell over, till you wound up on the expanse of bedding in a tangle of hands and knees and that silky smooth material.

A big explosion came from Steve. Feeling like and you were flailing on your stomach, trapped beneath his oppressive weight and the bed. Fighting. Wiggling. Trying to get free from beneath him but bigger stronger arms had your wrists.

Something was being wrapped around your wrists that you couldn’t see, as your vision was impeded by the broad chest in your face. Right there. Blocking your line of sight. Pinning you down to the sea of grey until finally, finally, he was up and you were once more struggling, wiggling, jerking and finding that you were tied to the headboard.

You were tied to the headboard. You were naked and bound to his bed.

Silky fabric that was Steve’s tie bound your wrists snugly together and wove into the headboard, securing you there most soundly.

It was outrageous! It was absurd!

You were tied to his headboard!

It was a first for you.

When your gaze returned to your boyfriend and even that was now a bit questionable, you were greeted to the sight of Steve shedding his suit. Yanking off each garment without pause or care. A few tears were heard and he was far rougher than need be. A button or two may have flown off.

“You cannot be serious! That’s your plan? You’re going to take what’s yours? Are you serious? This is not the dark ages!”

Ignoring you, Steve shoved his slacks down his long legs. Allowing his rigid cock to bob obscenely. Causing an eyeroll to immediately come from you. A hint of something dark on his hip caught your eye. But it was only a flash and as he was moving, yanking off his suit jacket and fiercely ripping open buttons on his shirt, you couldn’t get a good look.

Was it a bruise? A tattoo?

Somehow you doubted kings were even allowed to have tattoos. Or that Steve even had the time to get himself permanently inked. When the hell did he get that bruise?

Momentarily distracted by him climbing up on the bed, you looked up to give your bindings a good hard yank.

No luck.

Steve’s weight was pushing you down. Shoving you into the bed. Pinning you down as you protested, implored and began to plea. Which was exactly what he wanted. After everything you had put him through today? You would beg. You would plead. You would forget all about that video.

“Open your mouth.”

It was an order.

It could be nothing less.

An absolute command that had your lips slowly parting as your eyes widened in surprise at the sudden treatment, this roughness. Steve held his painful erection in hand and pushed his tip to your lips. Pushed the red end of his cock sticky with precum past your lips. Till you were forced to open your mouth wider and wider for him. To take him deeper and deeper into your mouth.

Steve held your gaze and pushed his member in further. Straddling your chest and gripping his headboard in one hand, till it dug into his fingers. While his other hand grabbed your face to hold it tight.

You’d never be able to take all of him. He knew this. You’d never been able to no matter how much you’d tried. But he wanted to see how much he could fit in your mouth tonight.

“Don’t swallow. Don’t let me down again.”

Your mouth was so warm closing around him. Wet. Sacred. It made him want to close his eyes to sink in deep but Steve would not. He would do that soon enough. He would lose himself in your cunt soon enough.

A few small movements from his hips sank his cock deeper into your mouth. Filling your cheeks as you struggled. Until you found a motion of moving up and down his length, running your tongue along his sides. Wetting up his shaft till sloppy noises started to fill his ears and a small little dribble began to moisten the corners of your mouth.

Those blue eyes remained set on your own. Never once showing you mercy.

“Tomorrow. In the future. If I call or text, you will answer.”

There was no follow-up. Nor was it a question.

Long fingers that belonged on an artist or musician sank into your hair tightly.

All you could do was nod as drool rolled down your chin and you suckled his cock like you would a popsicle, without swallowing, sucking on his sensitive flesh as he liked and without the aid of your own hands to steady his member.

It was glorious and Steve could only slightly appreciate it. As the words that fell from his mouth were more important, more vital.

Feeling how wet your mouth was getting was fantastic. Absolutely. Your nimble tongue was a gift. No one had ever sucked his cock like you.

However…he was still frustrated, still angry, still hurt even.

He’d not worked his way through those feelings as of yet.

Perhaps? In your body?

Those feelings teased and taunted him with his unworthiness. Of how you hadn’t been firmer with your roommate. How you had allowed her to drag you down the stairs for a night out with possibly another man? It infuriated him. It sent his hips rocking into your mouth. It had his cock rubbing up along the back of your throat and made your eyes water.

No.

Steve would not lose you. He loved you too much to even entertain such a notion. No. Infact, he would make sure that he ruined you. By the end of the night, he would make certain that you’d never even amused the notion of being set up. He would be completely sure that when you left his chambers come morning, you would never be doubted when you told Wanda or anyone that you had a partner.

“I want to start publicly courting you. I want to be engaged this year. I do not want to hide any longer. When people look at you, I want them to know that you belong to me.”

Noises came around his cock that Steve knew were words and he did not care.

“Look at yourself.” Steve stilled, his words harsh, bitter even. “You have my cock in your mouth and I am completely at your mercy. Tied to the bed of kings because I cannot go one night without dreaming of you, fantasizing about your tight cunt and smooth skin. I would give you the world and all you want is nothing. You are the worst type of infuriating.”

As if to prove his point, he steadily pumped his pelvis up into your mouth. Each slide in pushed saliva and pre-ejaculate out, making it ooze from the seal of your lips around his erection. Against your throat his wet balls bounced. His ass rested on your chest and he could not get enough. More. He wanted more. He needed more. Craved more.

The urge to go harder was strong.

Steve wanted so badly to fuck you. To make you feel how much you drove him mad. How you caused him physical pain from longing alone.

With drool smeared down your chin and neck, never looking more beautiful in his opinion, Steve pulled his dick out. Done with your mouth for now. Needing more. Needing to grab your tits and to be closer to your face, looking closer into your eyes.

In a familiar sort of way, your throat bobbed.

“Did you just swallow when I specifically told you not to?”

A moment of hesitation followed from you that had Steve gripping your face, easing his body down yours but holding your slippery chin tight in his grip. Your eyes were wide. Again, probably without even realizing, you swallowed in nervousness.

“I’m…I’m sorry…”

“I’m sorry what,” he demanded, leaning down closer, licking the wetness from your chin and earning from you a most satisfying shiver that wracked your body.

“S-s-sorry, Your Majesty.”

His tongue was hot and wet on your chin. His body was heavy and hot on your own. Skin on skin contact made your brain short circuit. It was a miracle you could string those syllables together. With your hands bound so snugly to the bed. All you could do was take it. Take what he gave you.

Feeling him push your thighs open and position himself between your hips made you gasp. Words failed you.

And then words didn’t even matter because he was pushing into you. Claiming you. Taking what was his because you did belong to him. You belonged to him in every possible way.

A scream exploded out of you when he dove right in. Sank in till his crown was pressed up against the wall of your cervix. Deeper than anyone had ever been before. Hands were grabbing your ankles and spreading you wide. Spearing you on his cock. Stretching your body taut.

“So wet. You were made to take me. Made to take your king.” He whispered more to himself even though you heard. You would have heard a pin drop. You could hear your heart pound and blood rush through your ears, each gasp your lungs took. You could feel every last inch of him deep inside your core. Painfully stretching you open like this. Burning. Tingling. Twisting.

Hands tightened on your ankles till you looked up at Steve. Hovering over you like a pillaging warlord about to ravish his prize.

“You have till Monday to decide how you wish us to become public. I will not wait a day longer.”

Seeing you like this before him. Splayed out. Your pussy curled around his member, plump from being filled with your breasts round puddles up on your chest. It set his hips into a frenzy. Powerful thrusts were sent into your tight walls that made Steve grunt every time from the power behind his motions, from the sight of his cock vanishing up into you. Watching your pussy take him so hungrily as you cried out beneath him each time. Breasts swaying. Skin slapping on skin with the contact. Your hips jiggled, his headboard creaked, his balls slapped soundly against you both.

“Say it. Say the words to me. Say them!” Steve commanded you. Pieces of his hair falling and sticking to his sweaty forehead as he sank in to the very depths of you then pulled out, revealing a glistening shaft before slamming his member right back in where it belonged.

“Yes…yes…yes…yes…” you chanted, over and over, again and again with every thrust in, every withdraw that was like heaven and hell, your body needing him to complete this circuit only the two of you could create. “…yes…yes…my king…yes my king…”

Those words. They were a song to his ears and had your ankles slapped together. Those words had the backs of your thighs slapped wetly against his chest, your feet touching his shoulder as Steve continued to pound into you.

Pumping into your now closed thighs, into your tighter walls at this angle.

“Look!”

Dimly your eyes fluttered, you looked into his burning blue eyes.

“Look. Here.”

You followed his gaze to where he pointed, looking down at his pelvis, where his hip met his abdomen in that hard cut of muscle that was visible above his beltline. The one you loved to lick.

He did have a tattoo.

It took you a second to realize what you were looking at and focus, as his thrusts continued without mercy, pounding away, slamming into you without mercy. Shaking and pushing you into his bed.

Your writing was inked into his skin. Your very own signature.

Your name was forever scrawled into Steve’s skin and then, it hit you. Your climax took you by complete surprise. Your entire body went stiff. A pained noise came from you and you shattered all around his cock. Fingernails dug into your palm and you stared at your name in cruel ecstasy.

Steve fell too. You could tell from his thrusts getting wild, falling out of sync. You could tell because he swore out, clenched his face and held your thighs tight to his chest.

Pumping deeply into you while your body milked him for everything he had to give.

Making him merely a man in that moment with you.

Up on his headboard, you were tightly secured and would soon have bruises from arching up against the silk tie restraining you. Unable to do anything but feel and accept what your king was giving you. On your back. In a bed that past kings had slept in.

None of which was lost on you.

Not as your body felt leaden, filled with molten hot lava. Limp. Your secret garden continued to suck him in, clench around him and spasm, making your eyes roll up in your head, your body dig into his bed and words fall from your mouth.

In a most dignified sort of manner, your king humped into your body like a jack rabbit, chasing the last vestiges of his climax with coral wet lips and dark honey hair now damp with sweat.

A sight for your satiated eyes.

“Let me call my mother in the morning.” You breathed out slowly, as if figuring out how your lungs worked once more after a marathon. Your words making Steve still above you. Though your cunt did not. It twitched around his royal girth and you met his gaze from on his pillows. “Tomorrow you can have Maria release a statement saying whatever you want. Just let me tell my parents myself. They should hear from me that I’m not coming home.”

Whatever wind that may have held up his sails had clearly been withdrawn.

Almost tenderly now, Steve leaned forward to quickly loosen the silk around your wrists and free your hands from his headboard. Stretching out his long powerful body above you. Flushed red now. Glistening. Though he left his tie there. He remained inside of you too. Filling you and stretching you full.

Gently, he pushed your legs down until they wrapped around him and he was able to rest his weight most carefully on top of you. Pressing wet kisses to your nose, your cheeks and chin. Worshipping your face with delicate touches and caresses.

“I’ll fly them out here whenever you want. When we get back from Switzerland, I’ll have them waiting for you.”

Softly you answered, reveling in his softness now that your body had been given her reward, her treat, her pleasure from his roughness. Smelling the musk of his sweat and feeling the wet glide between your bodies.

Leisurely, your hands found their way up his muscular arms to his shoulders. “You know what I mean. I won’t ever be their daughter again. I won’t ever be Wanda’s roommate. I’ll have to quit my job. Nothing will ever be the same.”

Those words, well, they settled uncomfortably in him.

All of them were true.

You would be giving up so much. He would have to make sure to take care of you even more so, keep a closer eye on you. He would need to have a talk with his mother come morning.

“That’s true,” Steve softly conceded, rubbing his nose along your own. Barely grazing his lips over yours. A hint of a tongue touched you before his breath danced over your mouth. “We would be together though. Finally together. You. Me. Not hiding anymore.”

Speaking of hiding.

That word alone had you pulling away from his mouth to lean to the side, to get a look down at his Adonis belt. At the alluring groove that led down to his pubes where your name was now in black.

Nay, your signature.

As if sensing what you were after, your boyfriend tilted up a smidge. Enough for you to see but not enough for him to leave your body. Pray tell that couldn’t happen.

“When did you do this?”

“Do you like it,” Steve asked, as if your opinion mattered. Which was laughable considering how permanent it was.

He’d literally took your signature and had it tattooed on his body.

“Of course I love it. Now you have a part of me on you all the time.” An incredibly modern take on Steve’s royal jewel gift thing, but in reverse you thought. Then grinned as it sank in. “I can’t believe you did it though.”

Why wouldn’t he have done it?

Steve hadn’t thought twice when Maria had gone on about getting her late mother’s writing tattooed on her side, in a lasting forever tribute. Having your writing on him at all times had been an idea that hadn’t left him. Not until he’d had a tattoo artist praised for their work brought to the palace late the other night.

He wasn’t even going to lie, king or not, there was something downright satisfying about having something like this hidden on his body from all. Known only by you and him. A secret only for you two.

Bringing him right back to the thought that the biggest secret the two of you shared would soon be out.

Soon it would be public knowledge and that had Steve brushing his fingertips over your cheeks, kissing the swell of your cheekbone and moving ever just so to make a small moan come from you. “You’ll never regret this. I’ll love you for the rest of my life. I’ll devote myself to making you happy. You’ll never regret becoming my queen.”

[flauntpage]

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he's the organization's sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc's job security isn't great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he’s the organization’s sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc’s job security isn’t great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[touristguidebuzz]

Hyatt CEO Interview: We’re Looking Beyond Hotels to Serve Evolving Needs of Guests

Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian at the Andaz Tokyo. Hoplamazian sees 2017 being a pivotal year for Hyatt in terms of its growth and continued efforts to develop stronger ties between the company and its guests. Hyatt Corporation

Skift Take: Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian knows the key to managing disruption and challenges involves a returning focus on the basics: the customer, and the people serving them.

— Deanna Ting

This year will be a pivotal one for Chicago-based Hyatt.

In 2016, the company debuted a new soft brand, the The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, formally launched discounted loyalty member rates, and announced plans to completely overhaul its loyalty program.

This is the year when all of those efforts will ultimately converge: The Unbound Collection by Hyatt will turn one year old in just a few weeks, and Hyatt’s direct bookings push, as Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian noted, will continue this year and for many years to come. And in March, the new World of Hyatt will replace Hyatt Gold Passport.

Reception for the new loyalty program hasn’t necessarily been the most laudatory — and a very awkward Reddit Ask Me Anything session in November didn’t help. Nevertheless, Hoplamazian thinks World of Hyatt represents the kind of loyalty shift in travel that’s completely necessary, especially as consumer needs and wants continue to evolve.

Hoplamazian also hinted at some possible new ventures he may launch this year as part of the company’s desire to expand in “adjacent spaces” like food and beverage, wellness, and alternative accommodations. Hyatt previously invested in luxury alternative accommodations provider onefinestay before it was acquired for $168 million by AccorHotels in the spring of 2016. Hoplamazian also disclosed that the company is exploring various business models that would enable it to get back into the sharing economy space.

And as Hoplamazian noted last spring, there could be more deals to come from Hyatt, which was rumored to have considered buying onefinestay before AccorHotels swooped in. Hyatt was also reportedly very close to purchasing Starwood Hotels & Resorts before Marriott made its move. Could this be the year that Hyatt makes its own move to get bigger? Hoplamazian didn’t confirm anything, but he also didn’t rule anything out.

And at the heart of it all, he said, brands should be focused on bringing humanity back into travel, a theme echoed by Skift’s own Megatrends for 2017, too. (We promise we didn’t ask him to say that, either.)

Skift spoke to Hoplamazian in December, shortly before the holidays, to get his thoughts on the future of hospitality in 2017 and beyond. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.

Skift: If you had to sum up 2016, how would you describe it in terms of Hyatt’s business, and the overall hospitality and travel industry?

Hoplamazian: 2016 was actually a tremendous year in many ways. It’s, for us, a record year. Based on the earnings guidance that we provided during our Investor Day in November, we’re on track to have record earnings as a company. Associated with that record revenue, we will open more hotels this year than we ever have in the past, so I would say it’s been a year of positive momentum and, in our eyes, setting new records.

We launched a new brand early in the year, the Unbound Collection by Hyatt, so we’re very excited about the quality of the properties that we’ve started off with and seeing good momentum for the brand across the world. We’re also seeing an acceleration of growth in a brand that we launched last year, in 2015, called Hyatt Centric. For us it’s really been an exciting time for new growth and new markets and new brands.

Some of the most important things over the course of the year have had to do with people, since we are first and foremost and fundamentally a people business. I’m happy to say that we were ranked as one of the great places to work and amongst the world’s best multinational workplaces. We also rolled out a new family leave policy internally, which was really met with great positive feedback, and I added to my team. I’ve got two new members of my team on board now from outside of the company: Pat Grismer as our CFO and Anne-Marie Law as our chief human resources officer.

I would say the last area that we’ve been really focused on is how we can really extend the practice of empathy and fulfill our purpose as a company, which is that we care for people so they can be their best. Through the application of some technology that’s actually designed to enhance the guest experience, but also to really improve the lives of our colleagues, we want to make their lives a little easier as they do what they are doing to serve and care for our guests. We’ve launched a few new platforms that we are now rolling out across the globe. It’s been a very busy year and one of positive momentum.

Skift: What do you think 2017 will be like for the hotel industry and for Hyatt’s business in particular?

Hoplamazian: Well our expectation is that we’ll see continued growth in our business. A lot of that is driven by the fact that there’s continued growth in travel. It’s also true that there are continued disruptive forces afoot that really relate to how consumers are changing and how attitudes are changing and buying behaviors are changing. I think in that kind of environment we tend to focus very much on making sure that we stay close to and fulfill our purpose as a company. We define our purpose as care, caring for people so they can be their best. In this kind of an environment, focusing on a core customer base is important to us, which is the high-end traveler, and that’s one area of focus that’s critical.

Another area of focus is ensuring that we’re delivering experiences, not just a place to stay, in all of our interactions with our guests.

Finally, as we think about the disruptive forces that we see in the marketplace, making sure that we are paying attention to how we might extend the Hyatt brand experience beyond just hotel spaces into other areas over time is also a big focus. As we head into the new year, we think it’ll be a year of growth in a somewhat disrupted environment and we think that focus is the key.

Skift: Could you elaborate more on expanding the guest experience beyond just the hotel? Were you hinting at that when you spoke about adjacent spaces during Hyatt’s recent Investor Day event in November?

Hoplamazian: Yes, so our strategy really is formed first and foremost around a focus on the high-end traveler. The key thing that we will do for high-end travelers is deliver experiences that really resonate with them, and that matter to them. A lot of that will be recognizing what their desires happen to be and to make sure that we can help to fulfill those desires, and I would say that we are open-minded in increasing the aperture through which we think about serving our guests to include, of course, hotel stays, but also extend beyond hotel stays.

The way we refer to that has been to talk about moving into spaces that might be adjacent to our core hotel business, but still relate to things that people might do when they’re traveling and as they experience life. We’re very much thinking about extending the Hyatt brand to be able to serve more types of travel and more options for our core customer base. All of it ultimately is around serving and activating our purpose as a company, so it’s really about caring for those people and making sure that, to the extent that they’ve got all the things that they’re interested in doing, we can figure out a great way to deliver that in a high-quality way.

Skift: Would a Hyatt cruise or a Hyatt tour be in the works in the near future?

Hoplamazian: Possibly. I think that what we are looking around some key areas that we already have some familiarity with through our hotel operations. So, one long-time lineage at Hyatt has been food-and-beverage excellence and we have a great deal of pride in that capability. We’re looking at different ways now in which we can extend and expand that capability to include things that might be outside of our hotels.

Another area that is very clearly in demand and an increasing desire amongst our customers is a more holistic and perhaps a more in-depth approach to wellness. Maybe a more mindful approach to wellness, but wellness extends across a number of different areas, so it could be nutrition, it could be fitness, or it might be spa-related.

I would say, overall, we’re very much focused on making sure that we can help people achieve what they want to when they’re traveling with their families. I think a lot of the guests that we serve currently are business travelers and ultimately the deeply fulfilling times for them often relate to family travel, not just their business travel. So we want to extend and expand the alternatives that we can offer to them while they’re traveling for vacations and that would be, of course, extending and expanding our resort portfolio but also looking past hotels. Because in a lot of instances, it’s very clear that our guests are looking for alternatives to hotel stays when they’re traveling with their families for vacation.

Skift: Would Hyatt be willing to invest in another part of the sharing economy going forward?

Hoplamazian: Yes, I guess what I would say is that our approach in learning about the platform that onefinestay had was really about understanding how that platform could work, but also understanding the use cases. We learned a lot through that process because we ran various pilots with onefinestay to see how we might integrate it into our hotel business. We recognized that it is a very different option to stay and that a lot of those guests are not really looking for alternatives across hotels, but rather alternatives across apartments or houses or villas. We learned a lot, and we were interested in delivering something that really reflects our brand, is a fulfillment of our purpose as a company, and is a commercial model that really will work for us. It might include something that looks like a sharing economy platform, but it might take a different form as well. We’re evaluating a number of different models, but I think that it’s clearly a use case that would be sensible for us to move into.

Skift: When it comes to business travelers, we know a big point of interest for them is the loyalty program for a hotel, and Hyatt definitely made a lot of news lately with the announcement that the company will be replacing the current Hyatt Gold Passport Loyalty program and putting forth the new World of Hyatt in March. What prompted Hyatt to launch this new program?

Hoplamazian: Well, the Hyatt Gold Passport program has been around for almost 30 years and it was an award-winning program. It actually was very well-received and well-functioning, and inherently it was focused on the framework that many loyalty programs currently are focused on, which is a process by which the earning of points and awards and rewards ends up extending to our best guests.

What we recognized is that as the world has evolved, customer attitudes have evolved and changed. We’ve recognized that a lot of what I described earlier — that is a focus on the high-end traveler, a focus on experiences and a focus on extending our brands beyond just hotel stays — all of that pointed to a different approach to how we might engage with our best guests. We really conceived of the World of Hyatt as an engagement platform first and foremost. We as a company, we refer to everyone who works at Hyatt as members of the Hyatt family, and one of the realities of the Hyatt family is that there are deep and close connections that are mostly emotional ties that exist. It’s not a transactional environment in which we live at Hyatt; it’s very much an emotional environment, with emotional ties.

We thought that a powerful way to really engage our guests and our customers would be through extending the same principles of the Hyatt family to our guests and really extending that sense of family. That really goes to building a community of people who want to be a part of that and feel fulfilled by that, so that’s really the idea of it. It’s an engagement platform to build community.

We have made some changes, a few key changes to the structure of the program to support that. We expect that we will continue to extend that platform to be able to include many different types of experiences and to allow us to have a much higher level of engagement with our guests. That was really the idea behind it; it was driven by insights that we have from our customers and from consumer behavioral changes overall, but very much linked to our purpose and our culture as a company.

Skift: What’s the public perception been like to World of Hyatt thus far? I know that there was a bit of a challenging Reddit AMA with the head of the loyalty program recently, but what kind of feedback have you been receiving for the new program?

Hoplamazian: I think that the feedback overall has been quite positive. I have an expression that I use all the time at Hyatt, which is that “feedback is a gift.” I mean that very sincerely. My view is that getting feedback of all types, both positive and negative, is essential to our future because without feedback we don’t know what we need to focus on to improve.

The level of engagement was extremely high during the feedback sessions that we have held. You made reference to one of them, which was a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, but we’ve had many other opportunities to engage with our guests and with people who are interested in the World of Hyatt.

We’ve learned a lot through that and I think it was great evidence that people really cared because they have such strong feelings about the brand and I think that’s actually a great sign. The key is that we need to practice empathy in a very deep way, and make sure that we’re understanding where people are coming from and how that relates to what our goals are for the program and for fulfillment of our commitment to our guests and making sure that we’re responsive to what we hear. I would say it’s a great practice of empathy and listening and we are going to continue to do that.

Skift: Can you put this loyalty program into the context of larger loyalty shifts that we are seeing in the travel industry? Does this tie into Hyatt’s efforts to drive more direct bookings as well?

Hoplamazian: I think that for a long time we have been thinking about the ultimate goal of what it is that we’re doing, applying ourselves to, and we define it around this concept of irrational loyalty. Irrational loyalty is not achieved by transactional means; it’s achieved through an emotional connectivity. I would say, first and foremost, that’s true, and that will remain our focus with respect to World of Hyatt.

It is also true that the ability to connect with, directly connect with our best guests, is really important to us because we want to be able to have our best guests have a fully holistic Hyatt experience, digitally and physically, when they’re with us, and the digital part is increasingly important. The incidence of the use of mobile devices in researching, booking and purchasing stays or hotel nights, is increasing.

So as we think about direct booking for example, which you asked about, we think about the ability to have a direct connection with our best guests and we’ve provided a path for our best guests, our loyalty program members, to book directly with us and in that channel, to offer them a unique discount, a unique benefit for the purpose of actually pulling them into the Hyatt environment, so to speak. What we found was that it’s been very productive for us because first, we’ve attracted a number of new members. About a third of the total engagement that we’ve had through the member discount program has been with people who are signing up afresh. About 40 percent of the bookings that we’ve seen through the channel have been made by previously inactive members, so we’re attracting people back into the Hyatt family.

Then the remainder are bookings that are made by existing members, so first we’re extending and expanding the number of people that we have regular contact with, which I think is really essential to us. Then the second element to this is to make sure that, as an owner of brands and a manager of hotels, that this is actually productive and constructive for our hotels themselves and for the hotel owners, and we’ve also found that because we’ve maintained expansion of RevPAR [revenue per available room] index and expansion of our rate index in the hotels that have been participating in the member discount program. So, a majority of hotels are expanding their share. That really is a key measure for us, we want to make sure that we are both serving our core customer base, first and foremost, and then derivatively, by way of serving them better, and ensuring that they have great experience digitally in their booking path, that we are also serving our hotel owners as well, so far it’s been very constructive and very productive for us and we expect to continue to do it.

Skift: The year 2016 seemed to be characterized very much by the so-called direct booking wars being waged between hotels and online travel agencies. Do you think that in 2017 the industry as a whole will have moved beyond the direct booking wars, and that direct bookings will simply be an ongoing push for hotels?

Hoplamazian: I don’t know that I see it the same way that you described it. I’m not sure that 2016 would be, for us at least, be characterized as sort of the year of the direct booking initiative. For us, we actually prototyped and piloted the direct booking idea in a number of hotels. I think we were in eight different markets for almost a year before we actually extended and expanded it this year, so we were in the market in 2015 for a lot of the year.

We’ve been actually in this mode for some time and I think it’s also clear that as things continue to evolve, as consumer behavior continues to evolve and attitudes continue to evolve, so too do we. I guess what I would just say is that if you’re not on the mode of a constant evolution of how you’re refining how you want to interact with and engage with your guests, then you’re not doing what you need to do. I would say I’m not sure that it’s defined by way of the chapter of direct booking moving onto something else. I think it’s a constant evolution for us.

Skift: Going into 2017, what do you identify as the most disruptive force, or the biggest threats or challenges, to the traditional hospitality industry?

Hoplamazian: Maybe the best way for me to characterize it is not so much as the biggest threat or challenge, but really maybe the most important things are those derived from the changes that we can see in the marketplace, not just in the hotel industry, but across consumers generally, and that is that there’s this unambiguous, very clear draw, or pull toward authentic human connection.

I think it’s a big issue that we see unfolding and manifesting in many, many different ways and so our hyper-focus around care as the central principle for, our central purpose and central principle for what we do is really on topic to that major force that we see. The way we define it is empathy plus action equals care, so you have to practice empathy and get to know someone in order to be able to care for them.

Having gotten to know them, you have to do something about it, otherwise all you’ve done is elevated your understanding without doing anything about it. If you apply yourself to engage in empathy and apply action, then you actually are caring for someone. I think travel in itself is experiential, which is very important and I think it’s great for the whole industry, but I think that the core fundamental reality, which is this draw toward humanity, toward authentic human engagement, is really the key big issue. I think staying focused around how you actually serve that and be a part of that and engage in that is really the key issue.

There is another megatrend that we see across the globe and that is that there is a very significant increase in the number of people traveling. A lot of that’s driven by significant increases in what we call the consuming class or the commercial class in China and in India. China in particular has significant growth in the number of people who are able to and are interested in traveling outside of China and so I think that will also be a very, very important trend as we head into next year.

I would say, stay human and be highly engaged and in our experience, it’s the extension of care, and paying attention to what’s going on globally. Those are the two key themes for this coming year, in my opinion.

[flauntpage]

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he's the organization's sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc's job security isn't great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[flauntpage]

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he's the organization's sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc's job security isn't great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[flauntpage]

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he's the organization's sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc's job security isn't great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he's the organization's sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc's job security isn't great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”

Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv