Draft, Free Agency and Old Stuff

Finally I got dtoxed from all the NBA playoffs and finals posts. I missed posting about the entire draft and pretty much the enture free Agency. I have my reasons and they are not cool or fun so I'm not sharing them! I would share a couple of thoughts that had pop up in my head during this postless time:

• I love the beach
• My work is so boring!
• One can't really compare what Elton Brand did with what Boozer did like 3 year ago to Cleveland. It was brand option to opt out of his contract. He said thing that point to him returning to the Clippers. The signing of Baron Davis was partly because of him and coach Dunleay might got a little ahead of himself. Elton Brand just said the right things every important free agent have to say he was giving his own team a better chance to sign him but other team came with more money and a better oportunity (Think about it. The Clippers with Brand and Davis might be a 50 win team and be a 7th to 9th seed in the West. They'd be out in the first round. Philly now is a 47- 52 win team with home court advantage in a conference with 2 quality teams and Lebron James. Where is the best option?) Baron Davis is also a movie producer so I don't think he needed a lot of brain washing to get him in a LA team. This was just bad luck. Philly got the better of the Clippers.
• For a lot of people what Corey Maggete did was another example of what's wrong with sports. A young athlete going for the money instead of taking a better shot at a championship. I think this could go either way. Maggette opted out of his last contract year leaving 7 millions on the table. The Spurs where offering a contract starting with the 5,5 million middle exception. That's a lot of money for anybody. The Warrios offering him a 50 million contract for 5 years. That's more money that most of us would ever see. Maggette is about to turn 31 meaning he has 2 maybe 3 years at his current level this one just might be his last contract so it makes sense he went for the fatter one. In the other hand he is already a millionare and his married to Brandy so I don't think they are cutting cost anywhere and helping the Spurs squeeze another championship or two from Tim Duncan wouln't be that bad.
• I'm glad Chicago picked Rose. I don't really follow the NCAA tournament so whatI know is what DraftExpress and nbadraft.net told me. Beasly is the better offensive option a true weapon in the low post with good size and good hands. Rose is apparently the leader with the quickness and the outside shot. "A Jason Kidd with a shooting touch" somebody said that. Chicago has plenty of talented players with lost potential but due to Kirk Hinrich dissapearing act last season, Skiles firing and Big Ben trade they didn't have a voice to follow. Now the WILL have. I don't think Rose can do much this upcoming season speacially considering that Chicago's roster is going to change considerably and they might have two selfish and uncomfortable seasons (again) from Deng and Gordon. But in the long run I think Chicago made the right choice.
• Josh Childress went to Greece. Now that was a shocker I totally expected those rumors to be a bluff with Childress' agent but it wasn't. Americans might not give this a lot of importance but it is a big deal. European basketball is very competitive. They don't only have their local leagues but they have a yearly continental tournament wich level is very similar to NBA basketball. Now European team can offer better monetarial conditions to NBA players that for whatever reason can get true value in the NBA. So when Atlanta was just waiting to some team to offer Childress some crappy contract and then they could match it he went overseas. That wasn't an option before. When Mr Childress was packing his things Atlanta came with this 35 million contract but the harm was already done. See, I have to agree with Hollinger on this one you need to show some love to your free agent players it's not only about waiting and waiting and in the 11th hour throw some numbers at the guy. He might be in a plane to another continent before you know it.

Joy to the League. Part II

Indiana Pacers: Jamaal Tinsley is still alive and they are 15-13 playing in the Eastern conference.

New Jersey Nets: Richard Jefferson is becoming a scoring machine thanks in part to the way Jason Kidd is playing (11.3 ppg, 10.3 apg, 8.8 rpg, 1.8 spg). They got back Marcus Williams this past month.

Seattle Supersonics: Kevin Durant. Jeff Green. They're going to be in rebuilding mode for the next 3 years at least but Durant ofensive proweness will help the cause, on an off the court.

Philadelphia Sixers: Billy King is out. Andre Miller's still playing for them so there is hope that once they trade him they probabbly get something good and valuable in return.

Houston Rockets: Yao Ming generates them lots of money. They are pretty good team when TMac is healthy.

L.A. Clippers: Chris Kaman will give them some comfort in case Elton Brand leaves. Rebuilding using a big man of the 2003 class as centerpiece is not that bad.

Sacramento Kings: Ron Artest hasn't gone wild yet. They are winning a fair amount of (11 -15) games without Bibby, Martin and Shareff

Washington Wizards: Caron Butler is playing more and more like a true star which is a very good thing because they need somebody to care more on winning games than self promoting his own ass (Sorry Gilbert the Basketball Gods are huge fans of your blog and your antics and everything you do, including your game, but they do know which is you priority)

Memphis Grizzlies: New coach, new system, new star. Rudy Gay is leading the team in points (19.6 ppg ) and showing some true leadership skills. Mike Miller have also been a bright spot this season. And Gasol is happy playing with his buddy Calderon.

Chicago Bulls: They had a shot at greatness for the second time in franchise history. Now they've fired their coach and their GM likes to give gifts to everybody around the league.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson and the rest of the team play hard night after night and they seem like a close team.

Charlotte Bobcats: Michael Jordan called out Felton and the rest of the team. They responded with 2 straight wins. That's the best thing MJ have done for a basketball team since 1998

Miami Heat: Wade appears to be headed to the All Star game and Riley still haven't abandoned the ship.

New York Knicks: Their fans can be very organized

Brand Done

Welcome to the Clippers world!! It sucks, it certainly sucks. Elton Brand blew out his Achilles tendon (if you don’t know how bad this is, Clipperblog explains you) at some point last week, leaving him on the shell until February, maybe later, maybe next year, maybe never, we just never know with this Clips.

Two years ago this team won 47, got to the second round of the playoffs, gave a good fight against the Suns with an injured Sam Cassell. Last years, Cassell started showing his age, Chris Kaman was too happy with his money to be bother by stuff like earning it by playing, Elton Brand didn’t have enough leadership and Livingston knee quit. So, they watched the playoffs from their respective mansions praying to the basketball gods for better fortune this year. Their response? - Blowing their star Achilles tendon. Fun, right?

Seriously, it sucks, I love this Clippers team, with the exception of Corey Maggette. Elton Brand is a work horse (whatever that means), Cassell is always fun to watch, Livingston have/had a great upside. But now, we are facing a team that luckily could win 30 games, look, I ain’t being dramatic, before the Brand thing I thought this team could win 40 games, at best, leaving them with a beautiful 11 seed in the western conference (that could be the seventh seed in the east). Hence, this really doesn’t changes the landscape of the west, but is shows how much the basketball gods hate the Clippers.