The more I follow the Clippers the more I feel the problem is Head Coach Mike Dunleavy. Mike seems to have been infected with Coach's Disease, that arrogant quality they get the more they coach(see Phil Jackson)and read their notices.

The press has not covered the Clipper story very well, they tease us, they promise the details of lockerroom problems but they never reveal them or what's really going on. So we are left to read stories from sportswriters from around the country who don't know the team and write about the Clippers based on history and Sterling's past performance not on any inside current knowledge. I've often caught them making things up out of thin air about the Clips cause it's easier then doing the research.

Corey Maggette has been in a coach's doghouse longer then any player I can remember, well over a year, since the injury last season that kept him out for a lengthy time. That's when Dunleavy tried to trade him for Artest. Wonder why Corey's unhappy? Did they ever make up after that insult.

And thanks LA Times writer Jason Reed For exacerbating that problem daily.

All we hear is that supposedly Corey is a bad defender and sometimes plays out of control. Gee who was the last player we heard that complaint about? Rather then list the names individually  it's much easier to say EVERYBODY in the league. So that's no answer or excuse.

Without better info from the press(their job) it sure seems like Dunleavy is obsessed with coaching his son even though he poo poo's it in interviews as a terrible idea, he has pushed for it long and hard.

Dunleavy Junior while a nice knowledgeable, under control, somewhat limited player ala Luke Walton, can't carry Maggette's jock. What he'd bring to the Clips is not the explosive contributions and power that Clipper fans have seen from Maggette almost since he got here, but thats who he wants to trade him for.

The other night Junior had a rare big game against the Clippers, afterward to the press Coach Dunleavy seemed almost psychotic in a rant defending his son, who that night didn't need his fathers protection. Over protective father, thats so sweet. Note that in the few days after Junior was traded out of his hands to Indiana the Clips made a little run. Maybe with his obsession snatched away from him he actually did his job for a few games.

The fact that Kamen and Livingston have not yet performed as expected this season must reflect on him. Their development is his job. The misuse of Singleton since last seasons preseason and limited use of Daniel Ewing, very questionable. And of course what's the deal with Korolev? Another Dunleavy stroke of genius. It seems like the team would like to hide him under a rock. By the way, how much did his presence on the roster influence the fatal trip to Russia which supposedly the Clippers pursued and seems to have gone a long way in destroying this Clipper season.

Now we're stuck with Dunleavy for another four years.

None of the deals we've seen for Corey make sense and thank God or I guess Sterling for not trading him for some lame journeyman or aging out of control star to satisfy Dunleavy.

If he has trouble handling Maggette who has always been a good guy, team guy, hard worker how in hell would Mike Dunleavy be able to handle Artest or Iverson after the first few well behaved months?

Over the years as we get close to the playoffs we've gotten used to coaches saying, I'm narrowing my bench so that I'm planning to use only eight players. A couple of years ago we had a failed Clipper coach saying early in the season that he was upset because he already wanted to shorten the bench, it was stupid because for that team to win he needed almost every player.

Now we have a supposedly great coach who has purposely shortened the bench from day one - does that make any sense early in the season?

I hate Donald Rumsfeld. He said many, many stupid thing in his disasterous run as Secretary of Defense. One famous quote had him responding to a press question that "You go to war with the army you have". An absolutely dumb response in his situation but the perfect directions for Head Coach Mike Dunleavy. You have 15 players available to you on an NBA team not 135,000 so no matter your off season moves when the season starts you have to go to war with the players you have. Use them all as necessary and don't tie the teams hands behind it's back because your "theory" is to use just eight guys.

Somebody tell Mike to grow up and use his resources which are probably the best and most professional that the Clippers have ever had.
We want to see the Clippers win and not see the results of a coach's long term amateurish arrogent snit.