This time, it is Chad Ford.  In his article titled Winners and losers of the NBA's offseason (so far), Ford describes the Clippers as offseason losers:

Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers once held the coveted title of most dysfunctional franchise in the league and they made a lot of strides toward reclaiming it this summer.

Everything started off so well. They shocked many by quickly coming to terms with Warriors free agent Baron Davis -- filling a big need at the point. Pairing Davis with Elton Brand was supposed to put the Clippers on a course back to the playoffs in the West. Unfortunately, the team then inexplicably lost Brand to the Sixers a week later. Brand's people say the Clippers mishandled the negotiations. The Clippers point the finger at Brand's agent, David Falk.

Suddenly, the Clippers' dream team was a nightmare. At this point in his career, Davis making $65 million stretches credulity, even if he's motivated. An unmotivated Davis playing on a cellar dweller? Ugh.

The Clippers also lost Corey Maggette and tried to minimize all the damage by bringing in Marcus Camby and Ricky Davis. But I don't think they're a playoff team in the West with that crew.

I find nothing wrong with his stating that the Clippers are probably not a playoff team.  I have my own doubts.  But to bash the team, and, oddly, bash Baron Davis exactly one paragraph after praising him, is flawed analysis, and a bit absurd.   

Is Ford saying that the value of the Davis signing was contingent on whether Brand remained a Clipper?   If looked at in terms of a trade, I can't imagine too many people would regard the Brand for Davis "swap" as being a bad deal for the Clippers. 

Would the Clippers have made his latest column's winner's column had they simply held on to Brand and Maggette, sans Davis, fielding the essentially the same team of the past three seasons, minus Sam Cassell, Shaun Livingston or anything else resembling a PG?  That is doubtful. 

Here is what Ford wrote about the team atop his Winners column:

Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers landed the biggest free-agent coup of the summer when they stole Elton Brand from the Clippers. Brand fills the biggest need of a team that played solid basketball in the second half of last season.

Now the team has two veterans at key positions -- Brand anchoring the paint and Andre Miller running the point -- and a slew of talented young studs like Thaddeus Young, Louis Williams, Samuel Dalembert and first-round pick Marreese Speights.

If the Sixers get Andre Iguodala locked up in the next few weeks, they should be one of the top three of four teams in the East. 

So there you have it.  The team that loses Brand is the loser, while the team that signs him is the big winner.  High praise for a player who has been to the playoffs exactly one time in his 9 year career. 

Signing Brand was obviously a great move for the Sixers.  But was it any better than the Clippers signing Davis?  According to Chad Ford, it was much better. 

By the way, Ford contradicts himself once more when he calls the Warriors losers for signing Maggette:

After trying and failing to lure Elton Brand and Gilbert Arenas to Golden State, the Warriors spent way too much on Corey Maggette, a guy who duplicates many of their strengths and addresses none of their weaknesses.

I think I'm starting to catch on.  You are a loser if you sign Maggette, as did the Warriors, and a loser if you don't sign him, as the Clippers did not.  Got it.  No matter though.  The Warriors were doomed to be offseason losers in Ford's eyes from the start, for they, too, like the Clippers, failed to sign Elton Brand, the true measure of a winning offseason. 

Overall, this was a poor piece of work by Chad Ford, and I regret that I spent any time  trying to navigate thru all of the drivel.  Can't wait until Hollinger's pre-season report.  Should be Clipper-bashing at it's finest. 

UPDATE:  Here is what ClipShow said perfectly in the comments section below. 

I love how Ford calls Thad Young, Lou Williams and Sam D “talented young studs”...but when it comes to the Clips, apparently Al Thorton (better than either Thad or Lou) and Chris Kaman (>>> Sam D.) are chopped liver. No mention that the last time FElton played with AMiller, they failed miserably. No mention that FElton is coming back from a major injury. No mention that the Sixers has a LOSING record last year. And no mention that FElton has been in the playoffs a grand total of ONCE in his career.

Clippers.com

The Los Angeles Clippers today announced that the team and forward Nick Fazekas have agreed to the withdrawal of the teams qualifying offer dated June 25, making Fazekas an unrestricted free agent.

The Clippers roster now stands at 12 players after the most recent signing of forward Brian Skinner on July 31, as Los Angeles has revamped its roster by adding a total of eight new players for the 2008-09 season.

Not at all sure what to make of this.  Do they plan to re-sign him?  Wouldn't make much sense.  I do know that this move is bound to shatter some citizens of The Nation.

Silly move, if you ask me.

If you thought Dunleavy and Maggette butted heads, just wait until Ricky Davis gets here.

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Josh Childress may join Carlos Del Fino and Brandon Jennings in Europe

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First, some history.

One could definitely say that Marcus Camby has had quite an interesting career arc.  After winning the Wooden and Naismith awards as a Junior at UMass, Camby was the 2nd pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors.  Allen Iverson was chosen #1. 

Camby's highest ever scoring average came in his rookie year, 14.8 ppg.  It also happens to be his worst rebounding year in a season in which he averaged more than 30 MPG.  He was thinner then than he is now, so the rebounding trouble is understandable.  Overall, his two years in Toronto were forgettable.  He played exactly 63 games in each season.  He was traded to a retooled Knicks team in exchange for Charles Oakley. 

His Knicks career began quite unremarkably as well.  His first season was the year of the lockout.   Incidentally, his teammate, Patrick Ewing, was a major player in that whole fiasco as Active Players President.  I was in New York during those years, and can remember, quite well, thinking that such a good college player should be having a more productive career.  He was the primary back up for an aging Ewing, and was joined in the lineup by Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and Chris "Bust" Childs, all of whom were signed on the same day of free agency in 1996.  One could say that that day was the beginning of the Knicks current woes.  They were joined by Kurt Thomas, Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, and Clipper favorite, Rick Brunson.  Last but not least was the reinstated strangler, Latrell Sprewell, making his first "comeback". 

Camby played about 20 minutes per game in reserve duty for the 46 regular season games.  The Knicks finished 27-23, good enough for the 7th seed in the days when a plus .500 record was needed in the East.  (I think 27 wins still gets you close now, even with a full 82 game season.)

Tied 2-2 in their first round best of five series with their hated rivals, the Miami Heat, the Knicks were able to pull off game 5 in Miami (game 4 was the Mourning-Johnson fight in which Jeff Van Gundy clung to Alonzo's leg in an attempt to stop him.)  Camby's contributions in the series were modest. 

After sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the 2nd Rd., the Knicks faced the Pacers in the Conference Finals.  Ewing went down with a wrist injury in game 2.   Chris Dudley was named the starter, but Camby played the bulk of the minutes at center for the rest of the series.  Finally, in game 3 of the NBA finals vs. the Spurs, with the Knicks down 2-0, Camby was named the starter.  The Knicks won game 3, but dropped the next two, losing the series in 5.  That was the beginning of Camby becoming a respectable NBA player.

Over the next few seasons, Camby went on to become one of the NBA's top rebounders.  He was later traded to the Nuggets for Antonio McDyess.  He was productive throughout his Nuggets career, but especially so after George Karl took over at the midway point of the 04/05 season.  From that point on, he has averaged over 3 blks per game, and his rebound totals have been in the 12-13 RPG range.

So, after all of that, I was wondering...is Camby truly getting better with age?  Or did George Karl's up-tempo system have an impact on inflating his stats?

His rebounding numbers are interesting in and of themselves.  One would expect his offensive rebounds to be exceedingly high given all of the "chuckers" he has played with in Denver.  But it is his defensive rebounding numbers that make up the bulk of his totals, with an average of over 10 per game. 

Meanwhile, his shot blocking totals continue to increase.  This is probably a sign of experience.  Unlike FElton, who tended to record his blocks while guarding his own man, Camby gets the majority of his from the weak side.  This I think is a good thing, and is what makes him such an elite help defender.  Also, whereas FElton was able to "rebound" a lot of his blocks, Camby sends a lot of his out of bounds.  He is more of a swatter.  But it can't have been too many, because Denver was the leading fast break team for many years.  A lot of them began with either a Camby block or DReb.

I am expecting similar results from Camby as a member of the Clippers, but one never knows.  As ClipperSteve said, it will be interesting having two of the NBA's top three rebounders and shot blockers on the same team.

Camby is very versatile and athletic.  I think a shift to PF will give him some opportunities to score.  I would bet that his point average increases to the 13-14ppg range.  He runs the floor well, and is more than capable of leading the fast break.

Thursday on Damashek, Denholm and Long, Hour 1.

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On ESPN 360. 

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Marc Stein spoke with Mike Dunleavy for his piece on ESPN.com , and asked him about the Brand/Maggette for Davis/Camby "trade".

Coach Mike Dunleavy:

"We've been able to get ourselves a big-time point guard, which is probably the toughest position in the league to attain," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "So on that basis alone, you'd probably say you have to do that deal."

No question we were put into scramble mode by Elton leaving," Dunleavy said.

"You jump on the sure thing for sure," Dunleavy continued, explaining why they didn't hesitate to capitalize on the Denver Nuggets' desperation to shed salary as opposed to signing one of the A-list restricted free agents ."

"I think [Camby and Kaman] can play as well as Elton Brand and Kaman played together. Maybe there's times when [other teams] will decide to go smaller, but both guys are very mobile bigs. It wasn't even a thought."

Stein added his thoughts as well:

...one certainly can argue that the Clippers are in a better spot now than they were when free agency began.

Brand and Maggette for Davis and Camby? Agreed.  ...The Los Angeles Clippers basically just did … and I like it a lot more than I don't.

The question I keep hearing from some of their rivals: Aren't Camby and Chris Kaman too similar (and offensively challenged) to play together?

Plugged-in sources say Smith thought he was on the verge of getting an offer sheet from the Clippers before the Camby deal moved along so quickly. Rumblings persist that Smith would prefer to relocate in spite of his Georgia roots.

Here.  Perhaps John R. can expand on this.

At first glance it looks like the Clippers are suddenly quite good.  The team already signed Baron Davis (11.8 Wins Produced and 0.177 WP48 last season).  And Chris Kaman (10.1 Wins Produced as 0.233 WP48 last season) is returning.  With Camby (21 wins) on board, the top three players on the Clippers in 2008-09 produced 42.9 wins last season.

To put that number in perspective, the three most productive players in Boston in 2007-08 - Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo - produced 41.6 wins

if the Clippers supporting cast could follow the dictates of the Pareto Principle (the top three players produce 80% of a team’s wins ), and Camby, Davis, and Kaman maintained their production from 2007-08, the Clippers could expect to win about 54 games and contend for a playoff spot. 

But it doesn’t look like the Clippers have heard of Vilfredo Pareto.  Unlike the Celtics, after the top three the Clippers have basically nothing.

With little help from the draft or the supporting cast, it looks like the Clippers are going to be relying primarily on Camby, Kaman, and Davis to produce their wins.  And if these players give what they gave last season, this team can expect to win about 42 games.  

There is also this study suggesting that the Clippers rookies will not likely produce much. 

Of course, we have no idea if Al Thornton will be an adequete replacement for Corey Maggette, who produced about 7 wins. 

Camby told the LA Daily News:  "The Clippers have some talent. They have Baron (Davis). Chris Kaman had a tremendous year. Al Thornton is going to be a good player."

By the way, last week was an article called "The Brand Value" which projects Philly to have a pretty good year.