Wednesday, July 9, 2008

OMG!!! What the hell was that, Brand?

Ok, so I thought that none of the Big names this year would be talked about that much on this space. Well I was wrong. This is my Sad-Angry-Brand Rant. Ever since before he entered the league, in '99, I loved to watch Elton Brand Play. I never wanted Duke to win so bad. When Chicago picked him, I kind of secretly rooted for Chicago. He's just a great player and a nice guy and he's fun to watch, and he clearly wants nothing more than to win. That's why, when the Clippers Drafted Tyson Chandler and promptly traded him for Elton Brand, I was ecstatic! More than ecstatic, I was in near Nirvana.

When we came one Tim Thomas 3 pointer away from an L.A. - L.A. Hallway Series in the Playoffs a couple of years ago, I cheered my heart out for a player who was everything that, historically, the franchise was not. Even when he missed about 65 games in a season, but came back for the last 10 or so, I was impressed to no end. I mean, who has a guaranteed contract and still does that? There was no way the team was going to win a Championship - Hell, they were 20 games out of the playoffs with 10 to play. Three teams' entire rosters would have had to have fallen off the face of the earth simultaneously to even consider putting them in the playoffs. But There was Elton Brand, Second Game of his season, playing like it was game 7 of the NBA Finals.

And if that wasn't enough to make me love him, when he opted out of his contract on June 30th, he and his agent played it to everyone like it was an act of charity (presumably, Brand was going to give up about 2-4 million dollars in order to provide the team the financial flexibility to bring in Baron Davis. See, Baron Davis also opted out of his contract unexpectedly on June 30th, then quickly committed to a verbal agreement with the Clippers on July 1st. All I saw were pictures of Baron and Elton together (they are both friends and movie producers who it would make sense to have together in Los Angeles). I even told several people myself, "Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Baron Davis, Al Thornton... The Clippers are going to make some noise next year." It was that much of a slam dunk. But there was one thing that I forgot. The Clippers are the Kwame Browns of NBA Franchises. The Ryan Leafs of the sports world. Even a slam dunk can clang off the back of the rim and bounce 3000 miles away.

See, I understood when he signed that offer sheet with Miami in 2003. It made sense then. The Clippers said that they would match any offer, but who really believed them? Their entire history had been a business school lesson on running an NBA Franchise - Successful Failure 101: How to make money without winning, EVER. But then the unthinkable happened. They matched offers for two players resulting in the spending over 130 million dollars that summer. Now they were for real! Now, they were going to matter! Now, they had one of the best low-post presences in Basketball locked up for 5 years!!! And they continued their commitment to trying to WIN through this summer by letting Maggette go ONLY so that they could add Baron Davis to the bunch. What could go wrong?

But the player who played just for the sake of playing; the player who almost added "Generous" to a list of adjectives to describe him that already included "Ferocious", "intense", "Committed" and "Hard-Working"; the player who made us all believe it was possible for a Clippers team to be good; he left. Why? Because Philadelphia offered him more money. Considerably more money than the Clippers could after agreeing to terms with Davis. And I understand all of this. Hell, if somebody offered me an extra 2 dollars an hour right now, I would put in my two weeks notice tomorrow morning. But it's about the way that he left. Players leave all the time. Lamar Odom Did it a few years ago when he signed with Miami and told the organization "Please don't match the offer". Maggette is probably signing a contract with the Warriors as I type this. I understand all of this and wished them both the best when they left. But this... This is Carlos-Boozer-esque.

The problem isn't that he left. It's about HOW he left. I was content before he came loving the Clippers from a distance, unconditionally, no matter how many games they lost. I was happy content having something to root for in the lottery every year. But then he came and made me think that something speacial was going to happen. That there was a chance. I don't remember a summer since he got here when I thought "The Clippers are going to be Really bad next year"... until he left and toook the franchise's hopes and dreams with him.

I never thought that I would or could ever feel like this, but I want Elton Brand to Lose. A LOT. I wish he weren't going to Philly. That's a respectable franchise. That's the franchise of Allen Iverson, Charles Barkeley and so many others. I wish he were going to Oklahoma where they have no franchise to sit around and not even exist for the next 5 years. I don't wish any particular harm as far as his well being, but as far as his basketball career goes, I wish him no good. None whatsoever.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Dark Day in Washington State

Today, Seattle is a little grungier, a little rainier, and just that much more depressing. Kurt Cobain could never have written a song tumultuous enough, nor sang it with enough angst to truly capture the spirit of the Seattle Supersonic fan on July 2nd, 2008. This day will go down in infamy as one of the darkest in American Basketball history.

In a stunning, unbelievable turn of events today, Seattle Mayor, Greg Nickels signed a settlement agreement with Clay "Son of Satan" Bennett in the amount of forty-five million dollars up front with a possible additional 30 million dollars to come. A total of $75,000,000.00 was enough to get the mayor to part with the team that has come to symbolize Seattle culture for almost half a century.

My only question is, how much did Nickel get under the table for this deal? Today, a Seattle area judge was supposed to come out and tell Clay "I Have Too Many Consonants in my name" Bennett "Screw you and the $350,000,000.00 horse you rode in on. You can't have my team!!! Instead, that Judge went home tonight knowing that it was officially out of her hands. The team that she grew up watching, cheering for and eventually loving was going away - hijacked from the city by a billionaire and his buddies (read: David Stern) and delivered, as he originally intended, to his hometown of Oklahoma City.

Let me say that I am not upset with the people of Oklahoma City. It is understandable that you would want an NBA Franchise. Nothing can really compare to the product the NBA offers. I understand it. We Angelinos love it enough for TWO NBA Teams. And after having Chris Paul in your city for most of two season, I certainly feel for you. But this was simply not the right way to do this. If Clay "Middle-aged-Dennis-the-Menace" Bennett really wanted to own an NBA franchise, he should have done one of two things: petition for an expansion team, or buy and move a team that didn't have the kind of support and history that the Seattle Supersonics have - er, had. Toronto is a choice. They've had some good players and currently have a pretty nice roster, but they aren't, historically, what Toronto is about. Honestly, you could have just tried to buy the Hornets when they were already playing in Oklahoma City. Heck, Memphis hasn't even been in Memphis for a decade yet! I'm sure the fans there aren't THAT attached to Darko and Kwame. As much as I would hate to admit it, Los Angeles doesn't treat the Clippers right when they aren't winning... even they - with almost 30 years in Los Angeles - would have been a better choice than Seattle.

Instead, you buy a team and say all the right things, "I want to stay here in Seattle", "We're in WASU for the long haul"... while secretly emailing things like "It might take a year or two, but we'll get them to Oklahoma.

...


...I can't even think about the levels of treachery right now. I'm so upset with my NBA team owners for approving the move! I can't even stand it. So now the Sonics have the option of getting the next expansion team or pulling the Grizzlies to Seattle when they get sold. At least they get to keep the name, colors and logo for the next franchise in the Pacific Northwest. And speaking of the Pacific Northwest, you know what would be cool? If Greg Oden won the Rookie of the Year next year and had a 18 year grudge match with Interstate-5 rival Kevin Durant (this year's winner) and it resuscitated the league like Bird-Magic and the fact that they're so close and naturally rivals played into... oh wait, that will NEVER HAPPEN NOW!!!

I officially renew my vow to never, EVER, acknowledge the existence of the Oklahoma City Dusty Tumbleweeds, or whatever they're going to be called, except to make disparaging remarks about Clay "I Steal Babies From Church" Bennett. And if you didn't read my previous postings on the subject, this includes missing Lakers Games, even in the playoffs, if necessary.

The one, last hope is that Howard Shultz, the Coffee guy, can regain ownership through his lawsuit. Read about it in the first link. I'll keep you all posted as I find out more information.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

And they're off!!!

Free Agency starts today in the NBA and teams are already clamoring to capture the biggest names and the best players, hoping to make a Kevin-Garnett-esque addition to their team this year and compete for a title.

Well, everyone knows about Baron Davis and Elton Brown. Most people know about Kirk Luol Deng and Monta Ellis. But what really makes a successful off-season is the depth chart.

Last year, This year's two finals teams looked much different than they did as they matched up against each other this June. And while most people will point to Boston's off-season acquisition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and Los Angeles' mid-season trade to bring in Pau Gasol, those moves only tell a small part of the story.


Last year, when Kevin Garnet moved to Boston, his Gargantuan Contract displaced four other players. Add that to the earlier departure of Ray Allen to the Sonics for three players and a draft pick, and you've litterally erased Half of Boston's Team. What's more, two key players from lat year's team didn't return for other reasons (And just as I was getting so anxious to revel in the confusion of Ray Allen and Allan Ray playing on the same team!!!) What's important to note, then, is that after the acquisition of KG, Boston didn't just rest on its Laurels. Instead, they went out and got James Posey (the guy Shaq said "We definitely wouldn't have been able to win a championship with out him" about), Eddie "I can play any style of basketball for 48-minutes-a-night" House, and, later, Sam "The-Anti-Rondo" Cassell. No one will ever know for sure whether or not the Celtics would have won without these key off-season pickups, but what we do know is that they won the Championship WITH them.

The Lakers, meanwhile, went a different route. Last year this time, it was just coming out how miserably ineffective Kobe would be as a GM ("Andrew Bynum? Are you kidding me? This is Jason Kidd! Trade his ass"). For the Lakers, they were thinking "Stability", moreso than shaking up the entire roster. They wanted to convince Kobe to stay and that meant stability. So they turned to an old friend, Derek Fisher. A self described "33 year old Point Guard who just averaged 3 assists per game", but someone who has always been a voice of reason and rationality, a calming hand and a steady ball handler. By the time Andrew Bynum Got injured, the Lakers, with essentially the same squad as a year before, but with Derek Fisher taking the place of Smush Parker, were number 1 in the conference. I'm not making this up. Check the standings from that day. The Lakers had a better record than San Antonio, New Orleans and, yes even Phoenix.

The Addition of Gasol definitely helped them out, but it was Derek who helped them change team around first.

So I said all of this to say that if your team doesn't get Gilbert Arenas or Antawn Jamison or Baron Davis or Elton Brown this Summer, don't feel bad. You never know. Janero Pargo might just be the cog that makes your team's machine run. Stay tuned for all of the pertinent information as I see it.

-'Till next time, folks!