Looks Like Fazekas and Williams Will Be Back

Marcus Williams! He’s the key man—the tip off that shows that the Clippers are making the bold play. Look at this roster:

PG: Davis, Livingston, Knight (Taylor)
SG: Gordon, Mobley
SF: Thornton, Thomas
PF: Brand, Powell, (Thomas), Fazekas
C: Kaman, Jordan (Fazekas)

That (shockingly good) roster leaves the Clips thin at SF. MD has played Tim Thomas virtually no minutes at SF as a Clipper, Mobley can play some SF (not ideal), and Livingston might fit in there as well, if he can play basketball. But why do you give Williams a deal so quickly unless you are prepared to renounce Maggette, you’re not giving Ross a deal, and you need a competent backup who is cheap and something of a known quantity? And you make the offer to Fazekas because you might be able to get him to sign for less than you would have to offer to Davis.

That roster still leaves a couple of spots. They still might try to sign a backup PG, maybe even Udrih, and put the burden on Taylor to make the roster. And Davis might be able to play his way to a roster spot as well, though they could be pinching pennies.

In actuality it probably doesn’t mean much, but the fact that the Clips made Williams an offer shows that he must have been doing something to impress the Clips, even though he didn’t spend much time on the court.

Most of the news is the same as what was out there late last night. The biggest wrinkle is Bay Area coverage of the reaction by the Warriors, who are using some of BD’s money to go after Arenas, although the problem has always been that they still have to work on Ellis and Biedrins. This makes it seem like the GSW bridge has been severely scorched if not completely burned by Davis. And the domino involved in that is the fact that Davis has to go somewhere, and all of a sudden the Clippers, with the capspace freed up by EB and Maggs, seem like the most logical fit by far, especially when you see it as BD’s King of LA coronation, and a virtual fait accompli.

One potential sticking point might be convincing DTS that he has to renounce Maggette. My sense is that Brand has served this up on a platter, but it has to blindside Maggs at least somewhat, and there was a report that DTS spoke to Maggs last week to say that he was going to make him a good offer and keep him. This might have prompted Maggs to have the confidence to opt out, thinking that even though there were limited options for him, he could still get his 9-10 million from the Clippers. But at the same time BD was reaching his own decision and Brand (and Falk) were hatching a new plan. With all of the quick hits, it’s possible that no one told DTS that he would have to renounce the rights to Maggs in order to make it work. This is exactly the type of little gray area where things go wrong for the Clips.

It raises the question of the midlevel. In one scenario the Clips still offer it to Udrih to become a backup. But resigning with Sacramento as a starter might now seem more attractive than being a backup on the Clips, and we’ve seen all week that there are a number of teams looking for a PG. If Livingston comes back healthy Udrih could quickly be deeply buried on the bench. But just as easily, Liv might not play and BD could be banged up, and Udrih would be a good insurance and would eventually see playing time with a deal that has roughly the same length as BD’s. It’s a quandary.

As I mentioned late last night, the thin spot for the Clips all of a sudden becomes SF, where Thornton is exciting but still just a 2nd year player and Tim Thomas is the next guy on the depth chart. A second ago Clip Show asked about giving Michael Pietrus the mid-level. All of this is said with the knowledge that there are steps to be taken before the Clips get there, but things should be moving fast now.

And I wonder, while Brand is talking about putting a team together and guys making sacrifices, and he and BD are both potentially leaving 2 mil/year on the table, if this might be a message that gets through to Maggette. The Clips have already renounced the rights to Liv with the intention of signing him at a low and manageable number. Maggette has to look at his new options, and if someone out there is going to give him 5 yrs/50 mil he has to take it, and he would probably take a little bit less. But if the bigger offers aren’t there, and he’s looking at teams offering the mid-level, is there any way that he turns around and takes the MLE from the Clips on a short term deal, possibly just one year? It would be a classic example of sacrifice to stack a team and try to win a title, he could be a free agent again next year—when the Clips could dump the expiring contracts of Mobley and Thomas and sign him to the deal he wants. It all sounds like a lot of bending over backwards, but there are worse things than taking cues from Brand, and the Clips might need some sort of scenario that is palatable to DTS.

Citizens have to figure out for themselves how to wait out this critical juncture. Above, John R takes the prudent path of cynicism, and no one has ever felt badly by discounting their hopes for the Clippers. Our fearless leader, CS, has apparently decided to lay low and let the noise flow by, but we all know he’s got to be a little edgy right now.

As a charter member of Club Optimism I’m trying to skate past the pools of doubt and look forward to a Brand announcement coming soon and a Baron Davis announcement shortly thereafter. The timing may involve MD’s return to LA—let’s not forget that he was hanging out with Beno Udrih in NYC 14 hours ago, and I don’t think that he’s traveling back on a private jet.

Where do we think we might get the news? Where’s the best place to watch for it?

As far as coverage is concerned, I take it as a good sign that Baron and EB have been up side-by-side on the NBA front page for a long time now, with the Marc Stein story running underneath them.

It’s kind of amusing that TrueHoop posted a pro-Miami Heat email, as if this is all still going to go Miami’s way. That all seems very last week. Wouldn’t people want to start figuring out the most likely place for BD to go? And this comes after TrueHoop ran a piece by ClipperBlog about seeing a screening of the documentary BD produced. Hmmm. What do BD and EB have in common? Oh yeah, they’re movie producers.

Wait a second, so am I!

Zhiv announces Brand-Davis Production Deal…

Zhiv Studios today announced that EB and BD have signed a lucrative production deal as an adjunct to their recent signings with the Los Angeles Clippers. Brand and Davis are hiring heretofore unknown exec “CS” to run the new venture, and they have signed Davis croney Jessica Alba to star in the romantic comedy “ClipperWidow.”

I think the Heat may have some game here. If the Clips can’t make something happen, I can see EB pushing for a S&T to Miami in a deal that would include Beasley. I’m not sure what else the Clippers could get. Perhaps some expiring paper? Haslem & Blount for the 2010 LeBron run?

Marion would stay with the Heat in this scenario. This could be the dream team that EB is dreaming of.

The best part would be watching Riley wiggle his way back onto the sidelines.

has been brought up in the bd sweepstakes, there’s another team that i’m sure is interested also. that’s the lakers. odom makes approx.14mil. throw in farmar .you think buss/kupchak might be discussing this?

referring to bd to the lakers for odom /farmar im sure kobe would be all for it.