Basketball: Los Angeles Clippers

What do you guys think of the Clippers?

I think they were the most disappointing team in the league this past season. Last year (2001 to 2002), they had a great 2nd half and just missed a chance to get to the playoffs and this year they just totally collapsed.

It's so hard to play well knowing that your team probably won't re-sign you at the end of the season. I think I remember hearing that the Clips have roughly 10 (!) free agents this summer.

Given that the owner of the team, Donald Sterling, has a habit of getting good draft picks, raising them in a farm like system, and selling them off at the end of their contracts, I dont think they will be competitive again, or ever, until the owner leaves.

Is that the Clippers problem, the owner? I have always wondered how they get a lottery draft pick every year and never have a good season. They did show some improvement this year, maybe next year the playoffs? It's hard to imagine the NBA playoffs with the Clippers in it.

Originally posted by ProudAmerican:

Is that the Clippers problem, the owner?

Yeah it's him.

Sterling is such a cheap skate. He's set to make $30 million off the Clippers this season just because he keeps his team salary low.

Yes, and he's going to keep doing that forever it seems. Ever since he owned the team when it was in San Diego still 20 years ago, hes told a crap story that he truly wants to make the team good every once in a while and then goes ahead and does what hes been doing...milking his team for all its worth.

Yeah I feel so sorry for the Clippers' fans (not that there are a lot out there, hehe).

Thanks goodness I'm not one.

It must be torture to follow this team.

I found a good article thet points out Sterling's ineffectiveness as an owner.

"But here's another constant in the world of Donald Sterling: he never pays his players. Ever! In the 21 years Sterling has owned the team, only two players (two!) have been with the team longer than five years. Take a bow, Gary Grant (6 years) and Loy Vaught (7 years). Apparently Sterling has a thing for Wolverines. This does not bode well for the latest group of soon-to-be ex-Clippers. This is a team with a $25 million payroll, $10 million under the cap, and that's just the way Sterling likes it."

"Sterling belongs in Los Angeles with all the great snake-oil salesmen, from P.T. Barnum to John Tetzel, sellers of false hope to pack the circus, fill the churches or seat the luxury boxes. Perhaps the only way this promising team can get off the ground is if he convinced some sucker owner to buy now, right before the payroll bills start coming in."

www.sportsnet.ca...

dont forget Eric Piatkowski, he's still with them for about 10 years now.

I am sad that they were so disappointing...i liked the players on the team alot, maggette is awesome

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers retained shooting guard Corey Maggette on Tuesday, matching the offer sheet he signed July 14 with the Utah Jazz.

The Clippers previously kept forward Elton Brand by matching the offer sheet he signed with the Miami Heat, and have until Wednesday to decide whether they'll match the offer sheet point guard Andre Miller signed with Denver.

Maggette signed a six-year offer sheet with Utah believed to be worth $42 million. He is now under contract for those terms with the Clippers.

Brand's contract is believed to be worth $83 million over six years while the offer sheet Miller signed with Denver is for six years for more than $51 million.

hard to tell what Donald Sterling is thinking now, is he sending a message that he actually WANTS to retain his good, expensive players? Perhaps even build a GOOD team? amazing.

Originally posted by Cannon
hard to tell what Donald Sterling is thinking now, is he sending a message that he actually WANTS to retain his good, expensive players? Perhaps even build a GOOD team? amazing.

haha it IS shocking aint it!

Well Sterling has matched Brand and Maggette.

Do you guys think he'll match Lamar Odom?

Originally posted by Fox Mulder
Well Sterling has matched Brand and Maggette.

Do you guys think he'll match Lamar Odom?

Hard to read this guys mind, but I think it would be in his best interest to retain Odom, he is a young, exciting player. Is Sterling finally going to try and field a competitive team?

BTW, who was the Clips 1st round pick?

Originally posted by ProudAmerican:

BTW, who was the Clips 1st round pick?

Chris Kaman, picked 6th overall out of Central Michigan.

Originally posted by Fox Mulder
Chris Kaman, picked 6th overall out of Central Michigan.

Hmmm, not familiar with Kaman, from the pic he looks like a small forward. I think the Clips should match Odom's offer, they could actually have a decent team. I d dont know if they are ready for the playoffs but it's a start. Is Piatkowski going to be their starting center?

Originally posted by ProudAmerican

Originally posted by Fox Mulder
Chris Kaman, picked 6th overall out of Central Michigan.

Hmmm, not familiar with Kaman, from the pic he looks like a small forward. I think the Clips should match Odom's offer, they could actually have a decent team. I d dont know if they are ready for the playoffs but it's a start. Is Piatkowski going to be their starting center?

kaman is a center. He is a very very skilled shot blocker, and a damn good overall player.

Originally posted by ProudAmerican:

Is Piatkowski going to be their starting center?

Yeah, Kaman actually will replace Michael Olowokandi (who signed with Minnesota this Summer) as their starting Center. I'm guessing that's the idea anyways.

Lamar Odom is free to join the Miami Heat after the Los Angeles Clippers refused Monday to match the Heat's $65 million offer.

After more than two decades without signing a high-priced free agent or retaining a marquee player, Clippers owner Donald Sterling has committed $124 million this off-season by matching offers to restricted free agents Elton Brand (six years, $82 million from Miami) and Corey Maggette (six years, $42 million from Utah).

Letting Odom go to Miami represented significant savings for Sterling, but it made Odom the fourth significant L.A. free agent this summer -- along with center Michael Olowokandi, point guard Andre Miller and sharpshooter Eric Piatkowski -- to leave the club without compensation.

sports.espn.go.com...

Oh well, no Odom for the Clippers. I didnt realize Piatkowski left for the Rockets, and as Mulder mentioned Olowokandi to the TWolves, so does that leave the Kaman kid to start at center or will they put Brand in the middle?

Anybody see highlights of the Mavericks at Clippers' game last night?

Mavericks up by 1. Clippers with the final possession. They miss a couple of initial shots and then Michael Finley tips it out hoping time runs out and it goes right to Glen Rice for the game-winning buzzer beater!

That was just like Divac and Horry at the end of Kings-Lakers, Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, heh.