As the October night wore on, Clippers players, coaches and executives took turns standing and addressing the gathering in the private room at a Beverly Hills steakhouse. Some used the occasion of the team's annual preseason dinner to speak about the most important influences on their lives. Others kept the mood light.

When it came time for assistant coach John Welch to stand and share, he noted what he saw as uncanny similarities between the Clippers and the 2012-13 Denver Nuggets, for whom he served as an assistant coach. Like the Clippers, that Nuggets team operated without a big-name star yet won 57 games, the most since the franchise joined the NBA 36 years before, because of a roster defined by its unselfishness.