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.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a minor story but it involves a player that I hate. The Clippers have decided they like Doug Christie so much, they’re signing him to another 10 day contract. What’s this do for Los Angeles’ other team? I suppose it gives them some defensive help off the bench. But it also unleashes a monster on the entire city of Los Angeles.

Doug and his wife star in a BET reality show called Committed: The Christies. Have I watched it? Absolutely not. But apparently, it’s a few episodes deep. Staying in Los Angeles might be good for promoting the show (Thursdays at 10 PM, Sundays at 11 PM). But having Christie’s estranged wife in your city is never good for tourism.

With few exceptions, Doug Christie does not look at other women, avoiding dialogue or even eye contact. “Every conversation I’ve ever had with a woman since we’ve been married besides my wife she knows about,” he said. “She’s been there. But what are we talking about? Banking? Mortgage? Other than that, I don’t have anything to say to anybody. It’s taking up my time and my time is limited to basketball and my family.”

Jackie Christie arrives before games with her husband and leaves with him afterward. She sends him a note in the locker room before each game, taken there by a team attendant. He writes a reply and sends it back. Sometimes on the road, Jackie will ride in a car behind the team bus, talking to Doug on his cellphone until he arrives at the hotel or arena.

The Greater Los Angeles Area, comprised of Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernadino, Riverside, and Ventura counties, has a population of 18 million people. I’ll assume at least 9 million people are women. That means there’s about 9 million vaginas to tempt Christie with seduction and evil. Translation? Jackie Christie is going to have to work a lot harder than she did in Sacramento to keep her husband in line.

Over the next month until opening night on October 31, I?ll be previewing one NBA team a day. Starting in the Eastern Conference, I?ll be starting with my lowest ranked team and continuing to the best, then switching conferences. Enjoy.

Move over Lakers, LA Has a New Winner
Last year’s emergence by the Los Angeles Clippers was one of my highlights from last season. This was a franchise that defined losing. One of the biggest guarantees in sports always used to be poor play from the Clippers. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the Clippers organization is about winning. Mike Dunleavy, Elgin Baylor, and Donald Sterling seem committed to making this playoff thing more than a one time occurance. The Clippers had 47 wins last year and could see an improvement to that total.

Overview
The most important offseason move was resigning Sam Cassell. Aside from ugliness, Cassell brought 17 points and 6 assists every night but more importantly, he had experience of playing for a winner. Cassell has won NBA titles and nearly led teams in Milwaukee and Minnesota to the finals as well. Chris Kaman was also signed to a five year extension this weekend. The Clips did lose Vladimir Radmanovic to their rivals across the hallway, the Lakers. But they responded by signing Tim Thomas from Phoenix. It’s definitely weird to say but the Clippers have enough talent and depth to seriously make a run to the NBA Finals. I’ll repeat that. The Clippers have enough talent and depth to seriously make a run to the NBA Finals. Read the rest of this entry »