you have to take wade if you can get him.
imagine how good he’d be if he could save some energy by having other players that can carry the load

D-Wade will be 29 years old in Jan of next season. He has had injury problems that have kept him out for very long periods of time, 62 games missed in the 06-07 and 07-08 seasons. He is a below average 3 point shooter (28.8% for his career, and 17.7% in 05-06). For his career (3.7 turnovers a game, and 4.4 turnovers a game in 07-08) he turns the ball over even more than EJ.

I know that Wade is a top 10 NBA player, but will he be able to hold up for five years as a Clipper and what about when he is 34 years old? Also, the 21 year old Gordon has yet to scratch the surface. We see glimpses of what he can do on a nightly basis, but before it is all said and done, who is to say that EJ can’t post 20+ points, 4+ rebounds, and 4+ assists a night?

You would rather have Blake at 15 Mil a year??? What?!?!?!

Moreover baron can not make it through a whole season, NO WAY?!?!?!

Mark your works?

I’m kinda waiting for a Madglove comment on this…. I really am….

He’s a known quantity, a better team will pick him up. Rhino is good, but his size limits him. I’d honestly go with Steve Blake and Rasual Butler/Travis Outlaw. Hard to pick between those two, but Outlaw is far younger. Either would be good, but I’m leaning towards Trout.

would be Gooden and Outlaw.

It’s one thing to use plus/minus for guys on the same team, its absurd to do it for guys on two different teams (especially 1 team was the 3 seed in the playoffs and the other won 19 games.)

No. But bad posts sometimes get all the comments as we recoil in disgust :)

And (huge disclaimer: small sample size) in the games that he has played with Gooden and Outlaw, his shot attempts are only 10 and 8 respectively compared to 13.6 per game he has averaged this year. Obviously its way too early to make that claim, but its something to keep an eye on for the rest of the year. Baron could argue that the team for most of the year was absent major offensive weapons which forced him to take more shots. Once more talent was added to the roster, including a PF who can score in the paint, his shot attempts went down. If that holds through the rest of the year, no reason to believe that Baron won’t be the facilitator you want him to be once he has more talent. Blake on the other had will always keep his shot attempts down because he is not good at it. Whether there are plenty of options on the floor or none, Blake will always need to pass to a better player. Blake requires assistance, but there is no reason to believe Baron won’t turn in a pass first PG particularly as he ages.

As for consistency, I’d like you to point out why you think Blake is more consistent than Baron. All players have bad games, especially the mediocre ones. Blake has looked great so far, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more than 4 games to say he is more consistent than Baron. Keep in mind, its not just that Portland traded Blake for Camby (which makes sense since Portland needed a big) in the offseason they felt Blake lacked the skills at PG to get the team to the next level and looked to Andre Miller for an upgrade. Unless the talent coming in next year is actually LBJ (at that point I don’t care who the PG is) chances are LAC will ne a starting PG who possesses more than Blake has to offer. Blake is a backup.

Depending on who the Clippers get next year, I think Blake is the better point guard. IF we just resign the guys we have right now, then we keep Baron as the starter, but if we sign Gay, Lebron, or another SF, I think we should sign Blake and trade Baron any way possible.

Baron does play better defense, but he cannot run an offense in a half-court set. He has a game that is better in a run and gun type offense like Golden State.

I do agree with what others are saying as well. Baron has way too many wasted possessions. He forces up bad 3 point attempts, he pushes the ball when there isn’t an advantage, and he takes too many fade away jumpers.

Where does this notion that the team has SOOOO many scoring weapons that the team can forgo a scoring point guard come from? The team scores 95.5 points per game which is good for 27th out of 30 teams in the NBA. I like Kaman, but I think you’ve gotten this year about as much as you’ll get out of him. He’s a 20 ppg scorer (which is great mind you, I’m not complaining.) And you are hoping that EJ starts scoring more. I hope that too. But perhaps its not a good idea to forsake the PG who can actually score when necessary for the guy who can’t, until we actually KNOW that EJ can carry the scoring load. Butler is streaky and may not even be back, Gooden is a nice addition but we can’t be sure he’ll be back. And of all the great reports I’ve read about Griffin, he was never expected to come into the league and be able to score at will. He lacks the post game for that and a lot of his points will likely come from put backs and hustle plays. You don’t need to change your PG to better play into that offensive scheme.

And that’s what a lot of people seem to be ignoring. Blake is a fun player to watch. He pushes the ball, shoots when necessary and always looks to pass. He also weighs like 90 lbs. and is not quick laterally. The guy is a liability on defense.

Anyone who’s watched Clipper games knows that often times EJ guards the shorter, quicker PGs while Baron guards the bigger SGs. Not all the time, but often enough. Sometimes that’s because EJ is better at chasing around the quicker PGs, but the team can do that because Baron is strong enough to do a credible job guarding 2s. They did a similar thing in Golden State with Monta Ellis (though it could be argued that nobody on GSW guarded anybody).

If Blake is your starting PG, he clearly can’t stay in front of the quicker PGs. So you put EJ on them. Then Blake is guarding a 6-6, 205 lb SG who will just eat him up.

Plus, it’s a reach to say that this team doesn’t need a scoring point. The Clips rank 27th in points. Clearly we need more scoring. EJ’s opportunities aren’t lacking because of Baron. They’re lacking because EJ’s too passive. As he develops he has to learn to be more assertive. Baron ran one of the most productive scoring teams in the league in Golden State. He’s not the reason people can’t score.

This whole line of thinking lately is patently absurd. I understand that people are frustrated with Baron because he gets paid to be an elite star and he hasn’t been that star. But saying a guy like Blake is a better PG is crazy and saying Blake is a better fit is a stretch as well. A better fit for what? This team could look completely different next year.

If the Knicks strike out, Baron running the D’Antoni offense might look pretty good.

Baron would have a longer face than seabiscuit if they asked him to come off the bench

I think he could adapt, unlike Iverson, but then again, that’s not what Donald and Mike had in mind when they signed him, so no worries, no bench for Baron :)

The team doesn’t need BD. When healthy we have plenty of scoring options (Gordon, Kaman, Griffin, Butler, Outlaw, etc…). It will be interesting next year, as we should have a pretty nasty group of players. I think of it like this, the Grizzlies have Mayo, Gay, Randolph, and Gasol. Their pg is Conley. Conley only takes 9 shots a game, compared to baron’s 14 shots a game. One reason and one reason only for that number. Conley has other options on the team. I think the Grizzlies are the closest team to compare with the Clipper. (Gordon-Mayo, Butler-Gay, Gooden/Griffin-Randolph, Gasol-Kaman) I truly believe that is we had Blake all year long we would be at or above .500 and right there with the Grizzlies.