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clips no respect

Posted by: Mairen06 on Dec 31, 2007 - 01:13 AM
Clipper_Blog

well first time doing this thing well i been a clipper fans since i was 11 im 19 and its been a roller coaster ride being a clipper fan in LA were lakers dominate well i just read this article and it got me so mad i cant believe some one would write such nonsense

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Why ... the Clippers should just blow it all up
By Kelly Dwyer

Friday, Dec 28, 2007 8:19 am EST
It's one of the lamer gimmicks in the sportswriting world, but I'm moving ahead with it anyway.

Mike? You're just going to have to deal with it.
On Thursday night, the Clippers were skunked at home by the Phoenix Suns, down by 36 at one point, and finally losing by 20.

19 months ago, the Los Angeles Clippers played the Phoenix Suns nearly to a hilt in the Western Conference semifinals. The Clippers outscored Phoenix by seven combined points in the seven-game series, one of the most entertaining second-rounders of the last 20 years, and one that gave the Clippers legitimate title hopes entering the 2006-07 season.

This was dependent on, of course, Elton Brand replicating his 2005-06 career year, Shaun Livingston showing exponential growth in his third NBA season, Sam Cassell holding serve and staying relatively healthy for the season, and rotation types like Chris Kaman, Cuttino Mobley, Corey Maggette, and Tim Thomas offering consistent production. Throw in wing defenders like Quinton Ross and James Singleton, and you had all the makings of a deep, versatile team that could win in a number of ways, and should have held serve with the Spurs, Mavs, and Suns.

Instead, Brand's body fell apart, Livingston's growth stagnated (assuming that he was making great strides to begin with, which is debatable), Cassell turned up lame, and the rotation types couldn't be counted on to keep things competitive (though, for someone like Maggette, as we'll discuss later, this was hardly his fault). 2007-08's outcome was more or less set in stone when Brand tore his Achilles last September; and despite improved play from Kaman on the interior, this is a team out of time.

So, on the heels of a 20-point home loss to a team they nearly conquered just over a year and a half ago, it seems more than obvious to suggest that the Clips blow things up and start over.

(Of course, we should point out that we're working under the pretense that assumes the Clippers will act like a normal NBA organization. They're not. The team only recently started going after free agents, spending money to make money, and working toward the postseason. How they handle the breakup of the Brand-Cassell-Maggette triptych will say a lot about whether or not the Clips are a typical NBA team looking to win given a competitive price, or another money-making operation for owner Donald Sterling.)

The rebuilding process will commence once the Los Angeles braintrust (personnel guys Andy Roeser and Elgin Baylor) figure out how to deal with Elton Brand, who has a player option for about $16.4-million next season. Though that sort of money is an outright bargain for the Elton we saw in 2005-06, and a series of NBA players have returned from Achilles tears to contribute at the same level (or better) than they had before the injury, the Clippers should go out of their way to encourage EB to opt-out, telling him that the organization is about to undergo a rebuilding process that won't come to fruition until Brand is past his prime.

At the very least, they should encourage sign-and-trade options for their All-Star power forward. The Bulls would seem a likely destination: would Los Angeles mind taking on the final two years of Ben Wallace's contract if it meant netting them Tyrus Thomas, a signed-and-traded Ben Gordon (making about eight-million a year), while dumping Brand and Cuttino Mobley (owed nearly 18-million over two years following this season)?

If not, the Clippers should look into prying Thomas, Andres Nocioni, a future first-rounder, and free agent to-be Joe Smith from Chicago in exchange for a signed-and-traded Brand.

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this guy is an idiot he has to be the most moronic writer he showed that he has no clue in what he is talking about either he is plain retarted or know nothing about basketball elton for overated thomas, gordon and ben wallace r u kidding me and corey for kwame brown? he needs to stop writting nonsence . prob a bulls fan
or laker fan