Beckoning the real Olshey

Olshey was leaning toward hiring Casey but Sterling was too gun ho to talk down.

History of free agents under previous mgt’s (Dunleavy’s) watch; BD comes back to hometown with mediocre results. Cassell near the end of his career, and Mobley who was probably “overpaid” for based on results.

Previous and current management pointed towards this summer to take a shot at a big name FA but the big three pulled a fast one and joined up, while 2nd tier options stayed home for a ton of money, and while there were creative possibilities to upgrade the team nothing materialized other than the draft day trade to snag Bledsoe.

None of the signings seemed out of order save for Brian Cook which no one seems to be able to explain.

Still much too early to grade Olshey with the current cap flexibility and the fact that there’s a lot of talent never to have played in a single game including a 1st and an 8th overall.

Opinions differ on why a few mild mannered citizens are so quick to judge the new GM in such against type fashion. It could be that after years of trying to support Dunleavy when he was under fire, they’re enjoying their hand in playing the other side. I for one never had a big issue with Dunleavy as a GM, he may have screwed us over with the Randolph trade, but he was able to bail himself out.

It’s baffling both elected one year deals with the Clippers. This is great news for us for two reasons:

1) Players already acquired through traded actually CHOSE to stay here in favor of others teams. With the way contracts were handed out, I am CERTAIN both players could have gotten if not better, certainly longer deals.

2) The franchise still has its eyes toward the future. This year will be what last year should have been: showcasing Griffin to attract a top flight small forward.

Carmelo, at least for the moment, is still looming.

I’m not sure how I feel about free-agency this offseason. I don’t think the Clips came up with much but… it might not be that bad.
I also won’t blame the hiring of Del Negro on Neil Olshey. It seems that he may have been over-ruled. And perhaps VDN will be the centerpiece of a perfect storm. The success of the 2010 Clippers is entirely on him and Baron Davis. If it doesn’t work it all blows up and we can move on without either partner. But that opinion smells of schadenfreude, and frankly I don’t want to be that guy.
But there’s another thing that concerns me. It hasn’t yet become fashionable to be a Mike Dunleavy fan, but, as far as MD-GM, I guess I am one. When he drafted Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, and even Al Thornton, I knew Dun was on the ground, working those guys out, and I had a very positive feeling about his ability. I do not feel that way about NO. After Summer League, an imperfect test to be sure, I’m completely baffled by the trade of a future number one pick (Protected? Not protected? Who knows.) for Eric Bledsoe, who looks like a way-undersized two guard. Mix that in with the smurfish prospect of Bledsoe playing next to Eric Gordon and it looks like a terrible misfit to me. Then there’s Al-Farouq Aminu who looks like a long-term project who might not be the long-desired piece to slot in at small forward. In fact, he might really be a perfect power forward in the NBA. He’s only nineteen, not hard at all to see him getting a little thicker, adding muscle. He’s really not much smaller than Blake Griffin.
The position of General Manager of the Clippers is fraught with pitfalls: Getting the rest of the league to take you seriously, dealing with your owner are perhaps the hardest details, but then there’s the everyday stuff, like choosing a coach and building a roster of interlocking parts.
I hope I’m wrong, but so far, I’m not feeling it.

It seemed like everyone (at least on espn.com) that wrote about the Clippers probable offseason anticipated that they would miss out on LeBron and then overpay for Rudy Gay or Joe Johnson. I think the Clippers showed some shrewdness this offseason. No we didn’t get LeBron or Dwayne Wade, but we also didn’t sign any bad contracts (Brian Cook could be considered one I guess, but the guy is probably getting paid about a million or two a year). Childress would’ve been interesting and okay, but not great, and I’m okay not having him on the team for the next five years. If the Clippers are ever going to be truly relevant, they’re going to need a superstar player, and I’d rather to try to get one again next year rather than sign a bunch of okay guys to long deals and strive for mediocrity.

They barely had room this year but the multiple year contracts of Gomes and Foye cut into that. The Hoopshype article referenced shows how much cap space the Clippers would have if they let Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon leave. So the Clippers would have to trade someone to get the max under the current collective bargaining agreement. Of course the entire salary cap structure could change or there could be a lockout next summer but as of right now they would be well short of offering a max contract.

Let’s say Boozer. Forget about Gomes and Foye, there’s no more money left for them, but we did resign Rhino and Rasual.

Our roster would be:
Baron, EJ, Blake, Kaman, DJ
Boozer, Rhino, Rasual
Aminu, Bledsoe, Warren, Blakely

And say, we got 2 more guys for the minimum to get us to a 14-man roster.

I know there would be overlap with Griffin and Boozer, but is it really that big a deal that they share the same position? The Lakers somehow make it work…why couldn’t this work? Blake or Boozer could always play together when Kaman sits – with one of them guarding the 5 (which isn’t really a big deal since there aren’t many legitimate post scorers).

How many teams in the league could field a potential game-breaking smash-mouth lineup featuring Baron, EJ, Griffin, Boozer and Kaman? Only the Lakers (Fish, Kobe, Lamar, Pau, Bynum) by my count. Sure Griffin isn’t a three and so that lineup wouldn’t work all the time or anything…but in terms of high % opportunities with Boozer and Kaman, and then Griffin for cleanup? Sick! Defense would allow one shot each possesion – no offensive rebounds allowed.

Just a thought I had a while back during the Lebron mania….

The system and teammates means more in my opinion. Some examples come to mind, like James Posey during Boston’s most recent championship. He was huge for that team off the bench and significantly less well known. Speaking of Boston, you could also throw Leon Poe into that category. Ultimately, the success/failure of Vinny and the new staff could mean more than the individual play of Gomes and Foye (role players at best). The way I see it, an above average Gomes or Foye is still a 3rd scoring option at best.

Lets view them for what they are: pieces.