Showing posts with label Sam Cassell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sam Cassell. Show all posts

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Staying put

14 total trades. 4 Blockbusters. 24 teams adquired new players somehow. Yeap, there were lots of movement around the league. For a more complete analysis go read Holllinger's piece about all those 14 trades.

There's always the other side of the coin. Those teams that didn't make any real moves, those players that didn't get a fresh start and that all are looking for next summer to a needed "shake up". Here are some of those teams and players




Mike Miller:Heat, Spurs, Rockets, Hornets, Magic, etc. They all were trying to get Miller. He's a great shooter, can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot and has a decent contract. As we all know Memphis is cutting lose of every contract they can but they were asking for high draft picks and most of the teams looking to get Miller were contenders, hence, low draft picks.


Ron Artest: Apparently the trade to Denver didn't went through 'cause the Nuggets didn't want to give Linas Kleiza. Why would Denver go after Artest? What's the point? The guy is crazy. He really is out there. Any team the appreciates locker room peace and chemistry and stuff like that should stay apart of Artest. For real. You know what, I'd really like to see Artest on New York. Don't know why. It would be fun.


Sam Cassell: Trade him! Buy him out! Do something with this guy. Why would the Clippers keep him? They could easily get at least a draft pick. They maybe holding him for next year when Livingston and Brand get back, but it will be far cheaper for them to sign a cheap back up for Livingston that having Cassell around.


Vince Carter: Are the Nets in rebuilding mode 'cause they traded their franchise player? I don't think so, Kidd wanted out all year long and one of the reason was Vince Carter. When the guy is not motivated (Because millions of dollars doesn't motivate him) he can really be a pain to his team and teammates. This is the reason why the Nets are trying to trade him to anywhere. Rumored deals to New York and Indiana never got rolling.


Jermaine O'neal: It is me or JO have like 2 more seasons in the tank. Seriously, since the brawl neither Jermaine nor the Pacers have been the same. Any team trading for O'neal have to had a Boston-Celtics-win-now approach.


Al Harrington and Mickael Pietrus: Both of this poor souls are in Don Nelson's doghouse since his comeback to Golden State. They are good players and should be quite effective in the right scheme. Harrington was linked to Chicago, Cleveland and New Jersey among other. Pietrus was courted by San Antonio, the Lakers, Rockets and Mavs.


New York Knicks: They had to do something. They needed to separte Randolph and Curry. They needed to get a real point guard. They needed to decide what to do with Quentin Richardson. Isiah Thomas is pretty sure that if they "keep working hard" everything would be a'right and the championship would surely follow them


Orlando Magic: They still need a enforcer to play alongside Howard and a veteran point guard never hurts. JJ Redick have been crying for a while to get traded and he could be useful for a team that actually plays him.


Toronto Raptors: Perhaps the biggest looser of the trading frenzy. They practically did nothing and their closer competitor, Lebron, got lot's of help. The team doesn't look hungry enough to make some real noice


Sunday, August 5, 2007

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.