Seemingly lost in the shuffle of Brett Favre’s sandy vagina and last night’s All Star Game was a trade between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. Just a few days after being slighted by Elton Brand, the Clippers seemingly picked up a steal in acquiring shot-blocking extraordinare Marcus Camby for a future exchange of 2nd round picks. While this move can help offset the loss of Elton Brand, it’s also a questionable use of their salary cap cushion.

For the Nuggets, we know what this trade is all about. With a salary cap situation that would make Isiah Thomas blush, the Nugs are dumping salary in order to make a long term commitment to J.R. Smith, who is a restricted free agent. With Camby gone and Allen Iverson on the chopping block, Denver is ready to commit to rebuilding this team around Smith, Carmelo Anthony and young Linas Kleiza. In the meantime, the Nuggets are without any resemblance of interior defense and will probably allow 130 points a game.

While the fragile Camby is an automatic boost to any defense, I still think the Clippers panicked here. Camby is nearly 35 years old and has a history of injuries longer than Ron Jeremy. With $20 million tied up in Camby for the next two years, the Clippers will be unable to afford a contract offer to restricted free agents Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor, Luol Deng and Andre Igoudala. Smith and Igoudala are likely going to have their contracts matched, but Okafor could have been a very distinct possibility.

In the end, this appears to be typical Clippers. Camby is a hell of a player, but the Clips rushed into this acquisition, essentially wasting all of their salary cap cushion. What looked like such a promising offseason will likely conclude with the Clippers ending up with two older, injury-prone veterans. Nice job, Sterling.

“It means I’m a free agent, but my intentions are to stay with the Clippers. That’s always been my intention. I think with the pieces we have, we can do some damage.”

How quickly it all changes, doesn’t it? Elton Brand, no longer a Clipper, now a 76er. Los Angeles Clipper fans, dreaming of a Hollywood combo of Baron Davis and Brand, are trying to wake up from this nightmare.

There’s been a lot of “he said, he said” going around about how Brand believed he was disrespected by the Clippers’ take it or leave it offer of 5 years, $70 million. About how David Falk orchestrated this entire coup and screwed the Clippers. About how Brand was disingenuous about staying, pretty much cementing him as a Judas in the long history of the Clippers.

But I don’t blame him for leaving. In fact, I applaud him for leaving. After all, he already left before. But the Clippers couldn’t match an offer sheet this time.

Logically, it makes sense for Brand to leave.

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With just about 24 hours to go until the 2008 NBA Draft, we can safely assume that the Chicago Bulls will make Derrick Rose the top overall selection. However, unlike last year with Kevin Durant, the #2 pick is becoming more and more of a toss-up. Michael Beasley, thought to be a lock to the Miami Heat for weeks, could see his stock slip tomorrow night. But why?

When it comes to the top overall selection, I’ve made my opinion very clear: Derrick Rose is the man that can take the Bulls back to glory. The playoff success of young point guards like Chris Paul, Deron Williams and even Rajon Rondo show the importance of a great floor general. Reports say the Miami Heat, concerned about Beasley’s character, are looking for a point guard to play alongside Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion.

How in the world can the Heat and Pat Riley be concerned about Beasley’s character, but ignorant of the same concerns that have plagued USC’s O.J. Mayo and Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless? Also, while both should be dynamite scorers in the league, both are relatively untested at the point guard position. If you’re not going to take the incredible scoring ability of Beasley, can you really entrust your franchise in a guy that didn’t even run the point in college?

Perhaps these rumors are all last minute bluffs by NBA teams the night before the draft. But rumors of trade-ups by New York and Milwaukee (for Mayo and West Virginia’s Joe Alexander, respectively) mean Beasley could be sitting in the green room much longer than first thought.

Hosts: Sonny, Ryan, Rich and Kevin

In this episode, the entire Sportable staff discussed the dream NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, which tips off tonight in Beantown. Can Kobe Bryant complete his MVP season with his first ring without Shaquille O’Neal. Or will Boston’s Big Three win their first ring? Also, how in the world is Doc Rivers going to outcoach Phil Jackson?

 

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I’ve seen LeBron James do some remarkable things in his five year NBA career. Last season, he led an awful Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals and this season, LBJ won his first scoring title and brought the Cavs within a game of the Eastern Conference Finals. If you missed James’ miraculous 45 point effort yesterday, you missed what we’ve known all along. LeBron James has historic ability and arguably the most pathetic supporting cast in the NBA. To aid the Cavs in building a championship team around #23, I offer a few offseason pointers for general manager Danny Ferry.

Look Into Replacing Mike Brown: Ideally, the Cavs could have crashed out in the 1st round, allowing them to enter into discussions with Mike D’Antoni. Brown’s IQ is right up there with the backboard at Quicken Loans Arena. After James’ dominating 1st half, Brown began the first half by calling several consecutive plays for gumpy center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Imagine James in an up-tempo system with a true point guard. He’s one of the strongest finishers we’ve ever seen, but he’s probably playing at about 75% of his true ability because of Brown’s awful system.

Take out the trash: This is made difficult because of the contracts some of these guys have. Hacks like Ben Wallace (signed through 2010), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (2010) Wally Szcerbiak (2009) have large, inflexible contracts that are nearly impossible to move. A friend of mine made an incredible point during yesterday’s game. The Cavs have over $20 million tied up in defensive “specialists” Wallace and Anderson Varejao…but simply cannot have them on the court at the same time.

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The Lakers and the Celtics will both have golden opportunities to oust their opponents and advance to the conference finals tonight in their respective game six’s. Given that the the home team has now run a record of 20-1 in this round of the playoffs, however, we should probably just be praying that the C’s or the Lakers don’t get shanked by double digits.

It’s entirely possible that the Celtics could run the table and win the NBA title sans a road victory in the playoffs. Doesn’t that bother you? I’m not suggesting a rule change or anything because trying to think of something like that would make my head explode, but don’t you expect a little more from a champion? Lets face it, there’s been a handful of games in this round of the playoffs that have been close while most of the games have turned out like the 99-80 smack down that the Spurs laid on the Hornets last night.

Predictability is the name of the game in this round of the playoffs. Give me an attempt at a road victory. That’s all I ask. Quicken Loans isn’t like Cameron Indoor, the Cavs (not LeBron) are beatable there. The Jazz have created a fortress at Energy Solutions Arena, I get that. The Lakers, however, are one of four teams that have beat the Jazz at home. Lets see it happen again tonight. Someone step up and prove that they’re worthy of being called a true champion.