The Clippers probably won't (and shouldn't!) include the Minny pick unless CP3 agrees to an extention or commits (verbally, non binding, but he and his agent would be total jackasses if the spurned the Clips) to sign a max-deal after the season.

Since it's not in CP's interest to sign the extension now (unless he believes in the Clipper Curse that will crush his knee SkinnyLiv-style), is it legal to make a deal like this?:

The Clippers get Paul (and maybe Okafor) for Kaman, Bledsoe and Aminu (and maybe Mo) and the CONDITIONAL Minny Pick. The condition being: the Hornets will get the Minny pick if Paul resigns after the season. If Paul bolts, the Clippers keep the pick. Off course the Clippers and Hornets will have to mutually agree on the chosen prospect, since the draft takes place before the FA-season.

This would seem the only way both teams get aqual value in the long term, as it protects the Clippers from CP bolting, leaving the Clippers empty handed.

This is just insane.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2864045

Bill Simmons and Chad Ford discuss the draftprospects and about halfway up, Bill asks Chad to predict who's going to win the lottery. Not only does Chad not laugh at this suggestion (I mean, it's a lottery with statistics and everything, anybody would pick the team with the most pingpong balls, right?), but  surfs to the ESPN lottery machine and runs it. The Cavs come up, with the Clippers' pick.

As it turns out, this is exactly what Bill Simmons has discussed with a friend of his (I don't think this an act between Bill and Chad), that it would be so funny it has to happen (you know Bill has this love/hate relationship with the Clips).

So, in a show dedicated to the upcoming draft and lottery, two (three) guys come up with the top pick going to the Cavs, via Clippers. To add a 'Magnolia'-reference here: it's about to rain frogs

Very off-topic, but how dysfunctional is the front-office of the Grizzlies? I know the Clippers don't have the best track record, but come on...

They draft Hasheem Thabeet 2nd overall, knowing he's a project, only to trade him for a few months of Shane Battier.

Then, if the Hornets hadn't nixed the deal, they almost traded OJ Mayo, their 'prized talent'  (3rd pick) for Josh McRoberts and a pick (projected 15th as of now). Talk about buying high and (almost) selling low.... (BTW is that the NBA's new strategy, buying a team that Memphis want's to deal with in order to nix the deal? They should have bought the Lakers before the Pau Gasol trade)

Their high picks before that: Rudy Gay and Mike Conley are paid rediculous amounts of money, hampering their ability to resign Marc Gasol. (Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for your Memphis Grizzlies starting center: Hameeeeed Haaadaaaadiiiiii..........)

How long before Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay engage in bare-fisted combat?

I wanted to post this a few days ago and didn't, but Kyle Montgomery made me regret it in last night's top plays.

A few days ago he had a great line on Jrue Holliday's awkward And-one (#9 in the top plays): "You know, a lot of travel hapens on hollydays" , which took away some of my anger towards the refs.

In the most recent edition, he describes JR Smith's dunk (which was Blake-esque btw) as: "He makes Gary... Neal, litteraly".

As I live in Europe, most Clipper games are being playing while I'm vast asleep (I experience third quarter collapses in my dreams though, so in a way I feel your pain) Kyle Montgomery is my gateway to the NBA. He's soooo much better than the other NBA.com announcer ("We love defense here at nba.com" yet only show the showboat blocks or the fast-break steals. And if that other guy says "with the southpaw spike" one more time for a left-handed player I'm hiring a hitman). Sorry, got a little distracted...

But, hooray for Kyle Montgomery!!!

Last year in the Greek league Sofo had 1 block per 36 minutes and in Euroleague 1 per 79 minutes. I've seen some of Olympiacos' games and to me Sofo was more of a clogger than a blocker, never getting much lift.

In summerleague Sofo has 4 blocks in his  53 minutes (4 games) (= 1 per 13,25 minutes). At least 3 of those blocks were highlight material where Sofo denied a guy going up for the dunk (I don't recall seeing his block in the 1st game, so i doubt it was Jam-Jammer as well). Although the samplesize is really small, I'm coming to think Sofo is actually a pretty good shot blocker. The euro games are far more of a passing/jump-shooting game, then a dribble/slash game, hence less oportunities to deny guys at the rim. Perhaps Sofo's game is more suited for the NBA than I originally thought.

So as to Sofo's nickname (he has so much options): "The Bouncer", as he denies access and because he looks like one. Though I still like ManBearPig as a nickname (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ManBearPig) ( "ManBearPig is a scary monster who is half man, half bear, and half pig and roams the Earth and attacks humans for no reason at all")

I realy like kaman, but so do a lot of teams. The Clippers could use him as a trading chip to avoid a free-agent letdown. For example to trade him for Andre Iguadala and Samuel Dalembert. Iggy was reportedly on the block all of last (this?) season, but I can't imagine the Sixers will just dump him. By trading Kaman the Sixers will be fairly compensated.

Why this deal would benefit the Clippers:

The clippers get their jack-of-all-trades small forward and replace Kaman with a center who rebounded better than Kaman in far less minutes. Both players haven't missed a game in 3 years (let that sink for just a minute...). The Clippers avoid a free-agent letdown and still have some money to buy a bench. Dalembert is a solid center (on D) and his contract lasts untill 2011.

Why this deal would benefit the Sixers:

They get a true low-post threat who has played well with FElton in the past. Now they can switch High-Low as well (trust me, FElton can still play if given consisted minutes and a role. Not sure if i like that or not).. Add speights to that and they will have one of the best big-man rotations in the league.

Thoughts?

As clipper fans we're all used to the constant jokes of NBA writers. The Blake Griffin injury just gives them some new fuel. I can deal with most of those jokes (some are even funny. Bill Simmons regularly is). What annoys me though, is the staggering lack of knowledge or effort in the work of some writers.

Here's a piece on ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=4823032) that somewhat upset me:

"Danny Manning played just 26 games in his rookie season in 1988-89 after tearing his knee ligament and undergoing surgery, though he eventually became an All-Star before fleeing town. Michael Olowokandi, the top pick in 1998, played only 45 games in his rookie season, and he wasn't much help even when healthy during five underachieving seasons."

Although the Kandiman didn't develop as much as we all hoped, I don't see the bad in playing in 45 of the possible 50 games in his lockout shortened rookie season. In fact, if you add the games he played for Real Barcelona that year, he might even have played the most games of all the rookies that year. Olowokandi actually played in 97% of the possible games in his first 4 seasons as a Clipper (and even played decent, though not as well as some of his draftmates.

If the Nike people are smart (which they probably are, they make cheap shoes and sell them for a lot to willing suckers like me), they will use the "alleged" Crawford-on-LeBron-dunk and make it into a commercial. This whole incident has gotten so much hype, the should milk it. Instead of making LeBron look like a total loser and crybaby, they could improve James' image by letting the world see (true or not) thar he doensn't take himself too seriously.

So lets hope for a LePoster-ad. With the Xavier basketball program getting a piece of the profit.

http://www.nbadraft.net/node/8379 names Deonte Christmas one of the best undrafted FA's.

"Perhaps the biggest surprise here. Christmas, a 6-foot-5 lights-out shooter, was projected as an early-second round prospect. His lack of athleticism was probably the thing that knocked him off the draft board, but there is likely still a place for him on an NBA roster. He's got an unorthodox release (but then again so does Michael Redd) which may have concerned teams. He also has great length, elevates well on his jumpshot and, after three years as a starter at Temple, is as ready for the NBA as any second-rounder. The (local - Temple) Sixers recently signed him to their summer league squad."

He's also playing with the Clippers though (after he's done with the SIxers in Orlando), but maybe he'll cancel if the Sixers offer him a guarateed deal.

On a side note: Yaric (you know the guy w/t Bugs Bunny Tie: former Clipper Hope Yaroslav Korolev) is on the Knicks roster (Along with Skeeta and Sene, it's quite the Bust-fest over there). I'm still rooting for the guy. It's not his fault Dunleavy Sr. likened him to his son and drafted him over Danny 'Supposed Knee issues" Granger. I see Korolev as a poor man's Turkoglu (as in Sudan-poor, not "I can only afford 2 IPODs-poor").

I almost forgot it, but the Clippers had a pretty decent 'glue guy' signed last year in Kelenna Azubuike, before the W's matched his contract. If we want to bring him in (this time for real), and add some role players to boot, here's how i'd do it:

Step1: Clippers trade Camby and Ricky Davis (who won't opt out after a dismall season) tot the Nets for Yi, Dooling, Najera, Trenton Hassell and a 2010 draft pick (the highest among their own or Dallas's).

Step 2: Clippers trade Yi to the Warriors for Azubuike.

Why this deal works for all teams:

Clippers:Get rid of a malcontent Davis, clear the logjam up front and add hard working versatile veterans at the 1, 2 and 3 and Azubuike (=Pietrus 2.0).  The Nets draft pick gives the Clippers 3 first rounders next year, thus enormous (trade) potential to move up or add depth. The Clippers trade in cap flexibilty in 2010 (which they hadn't in the first place) for a lot of flexability in 2011 (Z-BO, Dooling, Najera...)

Nets: Get rid of a couple of guys signed beyond 2010. This open the door for LeBron to join Devin Harris, Vince Carter (for 1 year), and Brook Lopez in Brooklyn. Yi hasn't proved to be a star in this league and is well worth to give up for the chance to get LeBron. Camby gives the a guy who can play alongside Lopez and learn him a thing or two about weak-side help (Lopez appears to have post defense down pat already).

Warriors: Add a player with huge markiting abillity in Chinatown who is also a Nelson type of player (a 7 footer who likes the 3). Azuibuike has been nice for them, but duplicates what Maggette and Stephen Jackson (can) bring them.

Thoughts?