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Can Clips transformed into a new team with new looks?

Tue Jun 03, 2003 2:49 pm

Starters:
Michael Olowokandi $6,061,213 2002-03
Elton Brand $4,895,656 2002-03
Eric Piatkowski $3,300,000 2002-03
Lamar Odom $3,557,585 2002-03
Melvin Ely $1,262,600 2005-06
Bench:
Tremaine Fowlkes $512,435 2002-03
Marko Jaric $1,250,000 2005-06
Cherokee Parks $824,935 2002-03
Zhizhi Wang $1,000,000 2004-05
Sean Rooks $2,640,000 2002-03
Keyon Dooling $1,769,760 2003-04
Corey Maggette $2,069,764 2003-04
Quentin Richardson $1,174,080 2003-04
Chris Wilcox $1,922,520 2005-06
Andre Miller $2,460,709 2002-03

As you can see A. Miller, Rooks, Parks, Fowlkes, Odom, Piatkowski, Brand and Olowokandi will be all free agents (Player option or unrestricted or Team option) and in total, they earned $24252533 in 2002-03 season.
Assume that Brand , Odom, Olowokandi, A. Miller and Piatkowski resigned then they can be traded to other teams. Eg: Brand to Utah for K. Malone. Payton for A.Miller and Piatkowski. Olowokandi for Mourning. Odom for G. Arenas from Golden States. That left with Rooks, Parks, Fowlkes salary total of $4000000. They can use 4million to sign someone ... like...either Coleman, Juwan Howard or Pippen.
Then...Clips new lineup will look like this:
Starter Bench
C Mourning Zhizhi Wang
PF Malone Melvin Ely Chris Wilcox
SF Maggette, or Pippen(Coleman or Juwan Howard)
SG G. Arenas or Q. Richardson Marko Jaric
PG Gary Payton Keyon Dooling
Anyone think that would actually possible?

salary source from http://jazzhoops.net/salary.htm

Tue Jun 03, 2003 3:09 pm

I don't think it's likely that the Clippers will improve this offseason. Knowing Donald Sterling, four fifths of their starting lineup will leave without compensation, keeping costs down but leaving their roster severely depleted.

If they did want to attempt to get something in return for their free agents, they could put together a decent team for a year or two. But until the Clippers realise they need some stability in their coaching staff and roster (and that it will cost money), they're going to remain the team that every so often has an exciting player, but never really wins anything.

Tue Jun 03, 2003 6:59 pm

Hey, if they lose Kandi- man and don't get no premier center than does that mean- MORE GAMETIME FOR WANG!! YEAHHH!!!

Tue Jun 03, 2003 9:02 pm

The Clippers will sail into futility for the next few years maybe until beyond until they are commit themselves to winning. The owner is just plain cheap and it will continue until a new ownership begins some time.

Wed Jun 04, 2003 2:16 pm

What Andrew and Jonas said.

Clipps will draft TJ Ford, Ford will play great for three years, Clipps will trade Ford for cheap-no-talent scrub, Clippers will continue to suck.

Man it's damn hard to be a Clipps fan. :cry:

I hear Rick Carlise is interviewing for the vacant Clippers coaching position. I wish him well.

Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:40 am

Anyone think that would actually possible?

No, it's not possible, it violates the CBA and logic six ways to Sunday...

But...if Sterling opened his wallet and payed big bucks back in 98 this would be where the Clippers spent millions:

Lamond Murray - broken
Maurice Taylor - broken
Loy Vaught - broken
Malik Sealy - broken
Lorenzen Wright - good backup center
Derek Anderson - oft broken, but talented
Charles Outlaw - broken, useless now
Rodney Rogers - not worth the cash he was asking for, but quality backup

So they'd have one oft broken player who could start and a bunch of broken bench pieces they are paying $50+ million...

Kandi is barely worth the mid-level exception...Miller has fallen apart and Utah's overpaying him with the max...Brand and Odom want to stay and reports say neither will command the max (Brand is too nice, Odom knows he can't get it)...Maggette is wavering, hopefully he will stay...they draft Ford, deal Richardson and get Mike Batiste (sp? not bothering to look up) back and this team is in a good position for the future...

C- Ely/Wang/Wilcox
F- Brand/Wilcox
F- Odom/Batiste/Fowlkes
G- Maggette/Piatkoswki/Jaric
G- Ford/Dooling/Jaric

in two years they can ditch the bulk of the bench that isn't working, while keeping the core of Brand/Odom/Maggette who...do not infringe on each other offensively especially once contracts are settled and Ford is set in...

Thu Jun 05, 2003 7:34 pm

Those are good points. I guess the real problem with those players is that the Clippers failed to get anything substantial in return. If I remember rightly, Lamond Murray was traded for Derek Anderson - the Clippers now have neither.

The same mistakes could be repeated this year. Andre Miller didn't have an impressive season to say the least, but he could still be a valuable commodity. If the Clippers could work out some sort of sign and trade that would benefit the team without making other moves impossible, then they should go for it.

Now, that's easier said than done, but it's questionable whether the Clippers would actually take such an opportunity if it were to somehow present itself.

I'm going to disagree about Olowokandi - these days, a centre who will play in the post, score 12 ppg while grabbing 9 rpg and adding a couple of blocks is nothing to get too excited about, but shouldn't be quickly dismissed either. At 7'0" 270, he is at the very least a legitimate centre who is capable of decent numbers. He missed 46 games this season, but it's a rare player who doesn't have at least one season hampered by injury.

Is Olowokandi worth the maximum? Of course not. But I think he's worth more than the MLE. Continued improvement would help his case for significantly more money. I guess we'll find out what some team thinks he's worth this offseason.

Elton Brand and Lamar Odom...probably not worth the maximum, but will the Clippers offer a "fair" amount? Obviously, anything in the multi-millions just for playing the game of basketball sounds like a pretty fair deal, but as far as NBA salaries go, Brand and Odom could have fairly high price tags.

Even if Brand and Odom want to stay, how low will they go? How flexible will they be? Sterling could refuse to meet them halfway, and let them walk without compensation. Sure, they both might turn out like other ex-Clippers, shadows of their former selves. But there's a good chance both could go elsewhere and prove to be great losses to the team that wouldn't take a chance and spend a "few" extra dollars.

At some point, keeping the payroll low is going to come back and haunt the Clippers. Whether or not it's this offseason is yet to be seen, but if they let Kandi, Miller, Brand, Odom and Maggette go without compensation...that's a whole starting lineup gone without adequate replacements. Eventually, the Clippers are going to have to take a risk with a player who is worth taking a risk on.
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