Does anybody think Dunleavy is still pissed?

Wow. That guy is tough, not afraid to get angry, and not afraid to get even.

Nice.

As much as Dunleavy’s stubborn nature was a detriment in dealing with Wilcox and Maggette, neither of whom were brought in by him, his belief, support and loyalty to the guys that he evaluates and decides to bring on is impressive. It doesn’t really apply to 2nd round picks, but you can see it with Cassell, Mobley, Ross and others, and he has been extremely patient and then some with Kaman.

My guess is that he’s going to figure out with Baron Davis exactly how he wants to run the team-Davis has never played on a team with this kind of rebounding and defensive presence-and he’s going to mold them into a very tough group that does not give up any easy baskets. One of the best things about Baron’s creativity and offensive firepower is that it functions in both the full and the half court. With the rebounding of Camby and Kaman, Davis will be able to get out and run with Thornton and Gordon, but Davis is also a strong, penetrating PG who gets lots of points on his own and easy baskets for others.

Baron’s team looks very good, and his coach is pretty geeked up and angry.

Part of the domino effect of the Clips finding their 5th starter is that all of the RFAs out there have to be pretty bummed out now. Suddenly, there’s literally no market for them to establish their value and to see if their teams will match. There appears to be real money on the table from their teams, but the question is how happy they are in those markets (Okafor in Charlotte) and with those coaches (Smith made a comment about Woodson), or with the money being offered (Iggy, Ellis, Biedrins).

It seems like some of them will take a qualifying offer and become UFAs, right?

That’s part of the genius of the Camby trade, which was called “one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history” somewhere. Not only do the Clips get a highly productive and completely complementary player, but Camby’s deal fits very neatly into the Clips’ emerging expiring contract picture. The Clips are competitive right now, and they will be just as competitive or more so in the near future.

You can work out the scenarios for players like Smith, Okafor, Carlos Boozer or others if they choose to become UFAs. I happen to like Baron-Kaman-Camby-Thornton-Gordon better than any of them, right now. But at some point over the next year, if the Clips see an available UFA that they like, the Clips can trade Mobley, Thomas, and/or Camby to teams looking for 2010 capspace. Still they could easily be better off with what they have and then go shopping themselves in 2010.

The timing of the contract situation in this deal is one of the best parts of it. Starting to look like FElton might have done us a favor. Not ready to like him again yet, and the wound between the shoulder blades is just starting to heal, but definitely feeling better now.

I wonder if Davis will be able to bring the best out of everyone like Paul does in NO. I would like to see Camby get the cheap and easy buckets that Chandler does for NO. Maybe Kaman can get the easy post game like West does in NO. I’m excited by the opportunities. I hope/think that Dunleavy will gameplan around BD in order to keep BD happy/involved. If that is the case, let’s go slow half-court or even semi fast break. Whatever BD wants as far as I’m concerned.

Our starting lineup looks pretty solid on paper. We probably just need one more solid vet and we are a very very good team.

Breakdown of our team vs. the rest of the Western Conf. Playoff Teams.

PG – Baron’s as talented as any PG in the league. He’s much bigger and stronger than Tony Parker and Chris Paul, much quicker than Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, better than any PG the Rockets and Lakers have to offer. The only guy who matches up well with Baron is Deron Williams. I think we have the edge in PG play against all except Deron and Paul (maybe Nash, but he can’t play D).

SG – Our weakest position but Mobley is still serviceable. He needs to play solid D and spread the court and I think he can still do that as long as its at the 4th or 5th option.

C – Kaman 2.0 is better than all but a handful of centers. He can stand to improve his passing out of double teams but should only get better in this department. He is at least the equal of Chandler, Bynum, Okur, Oden and Old Shaq. Only clear cut guy above him is a healthy Yao Ming.

PF – Camby is a terrific defender who will make us one of the better defensive teams in the league. He’s not as good as Gasol, Duncan, Dirk, David West, Boozer, Amare or even LaMarcus Aldridge but he should be able to make them earn their baskets and limit their 2nd chance opportunities.

SF – Thornton is a solid player who can be a solid offensive and defensive player. SF is one of the weaker positions in the West, he should be able to hang with Peja, Kirilenko, Diaw and even Josh Howard. The Rockets have an advantage with TMac but we could probably double him pretty effectively and leave their PF open. I definitely take Al over the Lakers SF choices and an ancient Bruce Bowen.

Bench – Brevin Knight, Tim Thomas and Eric Gordon pretty much make up the entire bench. Anything Taylor and Jordan give us is just gravy. We could use a solid backup big and a big swing man (a Trevor Ariza type) for extra depth.