Clippers to Brand: "take-it-or-leave-it"

by mikey p on Jul 8, 2008 7:33 PM PDT Comment 27 comments

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ajvkwr09ePHlOJJ_3PvxkaU5nYcB?slug=aw-brandsixers070708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

In a dramatic ending to a whirlwind courtship, Elton Brand is on the brink of spurning the Los Angeles Clippers and signing a five-year, $80 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

Brand can’t officially sign with 76ers until 12:01 EST on Wednesday, but Sixers officials are privately telling peers around that league that Brand has convinced them he’s coming to play in Philadelphia.

The Los Angeles Times first reported Brand had made a verbal commitment to sign on Tuesday night.

As Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday afternoon, Brand had been swayed the 76ers’ way on Tuesday and dismissed a late push by the Clippers to return to his Eastern roots. After angering Brand by refusing to raise its initial offer upon his opt-out last week, Philadelphia GM Ed Stefanski deftly created more cap space to accommodate the Sixers’ offer.

Now, Brand, one of the league’s elite power forwards, joins Sam Dalembert and Andre Iguodala to give Philadelphia a formidable frontline. The Sixers are suddenly candidates to move into the upper echelon of the conference. As for the Clippers, this turned out to be one more disaster in a history of them.

So much for the Baron and Brand Show. So much for the Clippers returning to relevance in Los Angeles.

Brand, 29, had been expected to return to the Clippers after opting out of $16.4 million in the final year of his contract, especially once Golden State’s Baron Davis agreed to join him in Los Angeles. Yet, Brand waited for Stefanski to create more cap space for him – which he did on Monday night by dumping two contracts on Minnesota – and it wasn’t long until the Sixers were confident they could lure Brand.

What had come to hurt the Clippers’ chances of retaining Brand has been the organization’s refusal to offer anything but a "take-it-or-leave-it" deal since Golden State made its $90-plus million offer. People close to Brand say that "it pissed him off," and made him question his original desire to stay a Clipper.

This is a devastating blow to the Clippers, who had believed Brand when he said he would stay for less money should they bring a talented teammate to join him. Golden State has offered the most money, but Brand, who missed all but eight games a year ago with a knee injury, had been intrigued with returning to his Eastern roots. Now, it appears he’ll do just that.

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We will find out in the coming days if this is true

by mikey p on Jul 8, 2008 7:36 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Take or leave what?

I dont understand what they are referring to?...

by Clip Show on Jul 8, 2008 7:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

This is probably what he means

As Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday afternoon, Brand had been swayed the 76ers’ way on Tuesday and dismissed a late push by the Clippers to return to his Eastern roots. After angering Brand by refusing to raise its initial offer upon his opt-out last week, Philadelphia GM Ed Stefanski deftly created more cap space to accommodate the Sixers’ offer

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jul 8, 2008 7:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks...

but I thought these guys were grown men. $$ is $$..no matter how you get it. EB said all the right things…..and then bolts….coward.

by Clip Show on Jul 8, 2008 7:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd be saying much worse if I was a Clipps fan

Much much much worse.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jul 8, 2008 7:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sigh

Typical Clippers. Lowballing the best player in Clippers history, practically sending him to another franchise. Good thing I waited on buying the season tickets to see how it played out. I think I’m going to be a Blazers fan. If I jump on the bandwagon now I have 10 years of prosperity ahead.

Everyone should cancel their season tickets in protest, teach the Don a lesson and tell him to GTFO of the owner’s box.

by ClipperChuck on Jul 8, 2008 7:47 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I disagree

Bad things happen to the Clippers, no doubt about that. But I really don’t the Clippers were “lowballing” Brand by any means. They took him at his word. They made the best deal they could with Davis. They reserved a little money, perhaps, to be able to sign a player like Livingston-in whom they have invested millions-but the idea was to build a team that could win. Perhaps they should have scrambled to find a way to trade Knight (a necessary backup pg), to get some more money.

All signs point to the idea that EB wanted them to go and get somebody like Davis. They did it. They could have just offered EB a big deal, more than he got from the Sixers, and made a deal with Maggette as well. But they took the first step to build a competitive team.

And Elton punked them.

And if Elton didn’t want a max offer from the Clips, and he didn’t want to be there, they could have made a deal for them.

I just don’t see any way that the Great Elton Brand comes out of this as anything besides the greedy, selfish excellent athlete like all the rest.

In EB We Trust—no more.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 8, 2008 8:07 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can we really blame him if this is true?

Sometimes we all make rash decisions. Brand perhaps made one…but if he was indeed “insulted” by the Clips, there we can’t blame him too much. After all, the Clips should have done everything in their path to keep the guy, instead they were trying to play games just to save a little money and cap space. BAD IDEA. As i’ve said in the main blog comments, Elgin baylor and VP Andy Rosseur need to be canned. Baylor has been GM for 20 years, enough is enough. DTS needs to come to his senses and hire a younger, more practical GM. One that wouldn’t nix trades for Udrih, Terry and Iverson.

I love LAC.

by oasisman on Jul 8, 2008 8:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

They did everything to please Brand and he just left. 99% of the blame goes directly to Brand.

Brand didn’t want a sign & trade because it would take away talent from the team that he would be going to.

Clippers could still play hardball. They could offer Iguodala max money to make life hard for the 76ers. I am guessing that they could even potentially engineer a competing trade with Minnesota to prevent the Carney trade from going through, so that Brand would have to take even less money. But I don’t think the Clippers will stoop to that level.

by bballanalyst on Jul 8, 2008 8:21 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

One possible way to go is to save the cap space

And only keep a minimum amount of salary for the next 2 seasons until you get commitment’s from players you want to pursue.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jul 8, 2008 8:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like that idea

We may lose in life but maybe we should drag other franchises down with us. Let’s be the official CB of the NBA.

Let’s go after every restricted FA and jack up the price for them. Lets go make a decent offer to Gordon, Deng, Igoudala, Josh and JR Smith, Monta Ellis.

Let’s trade for guys with expiring contracts and get back some draft picks.

Let’s be like the Grizzlies and send out our best players at the deadline to CB our rivals. Miami needs a C to compete? Chris Kaman for Blount and Haslem, why not. Will make life more difficult for the 76ers. Need some veteran leadership and outside threats? Mobley for a couple of matinee movie tickets and a secret decoder ring.

Let’s be that “guy” in the league. The ones others whisper about being a total $x%x#ing ^#&$block. Hide the women and children, the Clippers are in the room.

by ClipperChuck on Jul 8, 2008 8:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Monta Elllis and Eric Gordon would be one interesting backcourt

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jul 8, 2008 8:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually

Iggy is now worth more than Brand in my book, so I would be fine if they threw a ton of money at Iggy and he became a Clipper. He is a budding star, and he can shut down players like Kobe with his defense.

by bballanalyst on Jul 8, 2008 8:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Philly phirst

Make the offer to Iggy, even though it makes no sense. He’s not the guy that the Clippers need, but at least show him the money. The Clips are free now: when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. Make the Sixers match, so that Iggy and EB can be looking around at Andre Miller (hey Andre, how’s that Honda!) and a bunch of young guys who can’t close out that they can’t resign.

But Ellis is pretty intriguing. It’s not a Monta Ellis and Eric Gordon backcourt. It’s a Baron Davis-Monta Ellis backcourt, with Chris Kaman and Al Thornton and Eric Gordon coming off the bench.

If you’re the Clips, do you show the money to Ellis or Biedrins?

by citizen zhiv on Jul 8, 2008 9:05 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Iggy has a lot of future value

but if they intend to cripple a team, it may as well be a conference rival.

So they should shell some money at both Ellis and Bierdrins. Raise the prices.

Careful on Bierdins, though. They will probably let him walk.

by mikey p on Jul 8, 2008 9:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's not a disaster, Biedrins is secretly a stud

If you want Biedrins, just go get him.

I’d do 10 per for the max years.

You would be snatching the Warriors 2 most productive players and they get Corey Maggette as a consolation prize…

by John R on Jul 8, 2008 9:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

You may be right

But knowing the Clippers, they will go after Josh Smith, but not all out. Atlanta will match. Elgin will say how they really made an effort yada yada yada.

At that point they may try to pony up on Iggy if he isn’t signed yet, or Deng. Not sure, but I do think they will panic.

Not hopeful. Can Bierdiens play the 4?

by mikey p on Jul 8, 2008 9:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No on Biedrins

The guy has no offensive game and he’s foul prone. The Clips should focus on Okafor and Josh Smith. Okafor could be had for 12 million (the Bobcats might match though). We would then still have a few million to sign some depth.

by ClipperChuck on Jul 8, 2008 9:36 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Kaman goes to the 4

I intend to sleep on this. I saw him hit a shot with his foot on the line this year.

It’s certainly not impossible.

by John R on Jul 8, 2008 9:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There you go

That’s what I’ve been saying! C’mon John R—it can happen!

Put Kaman next to a rebounder, hustler, and defender like Biedrens, and the Clips are in decent shape. I like Okafor a little better, but you get the drift.

Going to sleep tonight, we have to pray that Deandre Jordan is the saviour. Or maybe the fat greek kid.

I gotta say, it’s been a rough day, and we’re in pretty bad shape.

by citizen zhiv on Jul 8, 2008 9:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Biedrins and Kaman cannot play together

I can’t believe I’m wasting the time it takes to post this

by Jax on Jul 9, 2008 12:32 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Kaman is NOT a 4. Just like Thornton/Maggette aren’t 2s.

by supac on Jul 9, 2008 1:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

ya..

but mullin has publicly said he would match any offers for monta and biedrins, the future of our franchise. Plus, we would easily give them 10 mil per year.

by 15thefuture8 on Jul 8, 2008 9:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Each?

You are creeping up on that luxury tax Warrior Fan. That would be $30M just today for Maggette, Biedrins and Ellis. That’s over $60M for only 8 players…

You sure they will pay the luxury tax when they wouldn’t pay to keep their best player?

by John R on Jul 8, 2008 9:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

asdf

The difference between investing in Monta and Biedrins is different then Baron. Mullin and Co probably didn’t want to give a ton of money to an aging point guard with bad knees and an attitude problem. Of course our solution was to give a player the same age with an attitude problem $50 million :). But if you were to push the prices on both of them, I would definitely hold on to Monta and let you take Biedrins.

by 15thefuture8 on Jul 8, 2008 10:21 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs