“Short of a comprehensive long-term rebuilding plan–which we all know would be impossible for the Clippers”

This is what gets me- why is this impossible? It’s not like a few losing seasons would threaten their long pedigree of success or ruin their reputation….

If it’s simply that they’re not competent to do so, I honestly wonder- have they ever tried? So far as I can ascertain, the majority of their moves over the years have been designed to look busy and achieve nothing while siphoning off the league’s shared revenue streams and letting the franchise value appreciate.

My perspective as a fan is that if a team isn’t seriously attempting to build a title winner, it’s pointless; there’s more to be celebrated about a team in the depths of rebuilding (like, say, the Nets right now) than there is in a team which is content to be mediocre, year after year. YMMV, but that’s just the perspective I work from.

“On paper, they’re as good or better than the BEST TEAM IN CLIPPERS’ HISTORY. Not saying much, but definitely news worthy.”

I’m not saying at all that it’s not newsworthy, but this actually captures my issues with it- that so many years of being so heinous have set that bar at a level with their fanbase that any sign of a heartbeat might be acceptable. This is the sports equivalent of tossing an extra fish to the dolphin at Seaworld- tasty, meaningless, and sure to be eliminated soon. If they go on a Celics-style crash course from here and add another major star to the mix and then some quality roles players I’ll change my tune, but right now I think this is just another way of pretending to try for the sake of appearances. A semi-star who loves LA fell into their laps, and that’s great for them, but I think it’s much more an accident of fate than any sign that they want to compete now.

Here’s a fun fact: by PER, the difference between Elton Brand’s year on that 47 win team and his next best year is 2.9; the difference between Baron Davis last year and Sam Cassell on that 47 win team is 1.3. If Brand, at 29 coming off a blown knee, actually puts up a performance equal to his second-best year ever, the Clips on paper are slightly worse in their top two players with 29 year old Brand and a Davis equal to last year.

James Jones opted out of his 3mil contract. It was a player option not a team option. I thought that was a mistake, I don’t think he’ll get paid that much on the free agent market which makes some team who’s willing to give him 2.5mil very attractive.

“Q Rich out and out sucks!”
IS, he was never that great to begin with, but Q had a good year in 06-07. He was horrible in 07-08, but if the Knicks are around .500 and he’s leading the NBA in made 3-pointers (at a 34% or so clip) I have a feeling you’ll be singing his praises.

If Marbury is leading the league in assists, gets the NBA sportmanship award, get voted most popular New Yorker and Knick among players and fans, etc…. I’ll be singing his praises too. LOL

Seriously, IMO, Qrich was never much of a player. He was the far and away the weakest link on the Knicks last year and he’s not going to get any better.

“Guys like Lee, Gallinari, Crawford, and even Curry etc…. have the types of personalities that the Knicks are currently interested in.”
Curry? Curry? Curry? Curry? Curry? are we going for the competitive eating championship? is the goal to lead the league in uncontested layups allowed (we might have that one already)? you need to watch at least a hundred more Knicks games before posting here anymore, dude.

LMAO.

I wasn’t talking about his self motivation etc…

I was talking about his maturity, qualities as a person etc… Curry is a genuinely nice guy of high character.

One question I have though, is whether he opted out of $3 mill or the Blazers didn’t pick up his option…

Jones opted out. he’s a nice role player on a good team, but we shouldn’t sign him, Balkman and Chandler need all the minutes they can.

IS, he was never that great to begin with, but Q had a good year in 06-07. He was horrible in 07-08, but if the Knicks are around .500 and he’s leading the NBA in made 3-pointers (at a 34% or so clip) I have a feeling you’ll be singing his praises.

the odds of that happening again at this point are about as likely as my swimming the Atlantic successfully, but I guess July is the time for optimism.

No idea what your blog was, but what did you expect out of the Clippers? Short of a comprehensive long-term rebuilding plan–which we all know would be impossible for the Clippers (they’ve already used the #7 pick on Eric Gordon this offseason)–they were more or less faced with the option of losing their best player or keeping their best player happy my adding what is now their second best player. They’re not likely to be a contender, but come on they’re the Clippers… they’ve been to the playoffs 4 times in their 30 seasons since changing their name and moving west.

They were a 47 win team in 05-06 with a rotation that included Brand, Cassell, Mobley, Kaman, Maggette (who played 32 games that season), Livingston, Radmanovic/Wilcox, Daniel Ewing and Quinton Ross. The Clipps have basically replaced Cassell with Baron Davis, 32 games of Maggette with Al Thornton, Radmonovic with Tim Thomas, Ewing with Smush Parker/Dan Dickau/Brevin Knight/whoever, and may replace Livingston (if he leaves) with a young player like Marcus Williams or Eric Gordon. They’ve also got some decent young frontcourt prospects in Fazekas and DeAndre Jordan. On paper, they’re as good or better than the BEST TEAM IN CLIPPERS’ HISTORY. Not saying much, but definitely news worthy.

“They have virtually no effective role players,”

As I said, on paper I think they’ve comparable to their 47 win team, which, of course, wouldn’t have gotten them into the playoffs last season. This is interseting though. That season they were the 8th best defense in the NBA and the 18th best offense. I think Brand, Kaman, the addition of Baron plus unefficient scorers like Mobley, Thornton, Gordon, and Tim Thomas should get them into the top 20, maybe top 15 offensively. The real question to me is do holdovers like Brand, Kaman, and Mobley plus replacing 32 games of Maggette (plus the minutes Ross or whoever played because Maggette was out) with Thornton, Wilcox/Radman with Thomas, and Cassell with Davis get Dunleavy back into the top 10 defensively? The Clippers have been a defensive team, and should worry about that side of the ball for the remainder of the offseason after an offensive upgrade in Baron Davis, although replacing one of their inefficient scorers with an efficient scorer would help, too.

You’ve made my week!

Dave,

James Jones would be a good signing for the Knicks. Plus he’s played for D’Anotni before so A. he knows what D’Antoni wants and B. if the Knicks sign it it likely means he impressed D’Antoni somewhat in Phoenix.

One question I have though, is whether he opted out of $3 mill or the Blazers didn’t pick up his option…

“Q Rich out and out sucks!”

IS, he was never that great to begin with, but Q had a good year in 06-07. He was horrible in 07-08, but if the Knicks are around .500 and he’s leading the NBA in made 3-pointers (at a 34% or so clip) I have a feeling you’ll be singing his praises.

PORTLAND. they’re adding Oden, Fernandez, and Bayless to a really young and deep team that went 41-41 last year.