This is a must listen. I love how Henry Abbott crusades to debunk the myth that Kobe always comes through in the clutch. Instead, he shows that the only thing Kobe always does in the clutch is ignore his teammates and chuck it.

CP3 on the other hand makes his TEAM elite in the clutch.

Story has some quotes from our very own John Raffo! Did you do an interview with them?

For any sneakerheads out there, this is a pretty entertaining article put together with CP3's sneakers and some of his best crossovers in those sneakers.

I hope the Clips get on this and make it happen. The Ric Flair 'WOOOOO!!" is classic and was a great little signature for CP3.

ESPN sources: Clippers and NBA-owned Hornets have agreed to Chris Paul deal in principle. Gordon, Kaman, Aminu and Minnesota pick to Hornets
23 seconds ago

ESPNSteinLine Marc Stein
ESPN sources say NBA approval to be issued by night's end to seal CP3 and 2 future 2nd-rounders to Clips for Gordon/Kaman/Aminu/Sota first
40 seconds ago

Doesn't say too much but I totally agree with the general sentiment of the article. It's a critical time and Olshey needs to play his cards right.

There's always a small window for teams to seize their potential and take a leap. It comes crashing down fast with some bad luck and a few bad moves.

Pretty interesting and at least worth reading to understand where we are right now.

Truehoop had a today analyzing payroll and draft success as they correlate to competitive balance.

Basically, the draft matters a WHOLE LOT more than team salaries. And no surprise, the Clips rank dead last in draft value.

It's really sad how poorly this team has done in the draft over the past decade. Elgin was just awful at his job. But it also shows that despite Donald Sterling, if Neil Olshey turns out to be good at identifying young talent and drafting well, this team is far more likely to do better (of course based on this analysis, you probably shouldn't be trading first rounders).

I really believe that next year's draft will be critical. If they use the two first rounders (Clips and Minny) wisely, I believe Blake will stay and this team will be a contender. If they botch those picks, we'll have missed a great and rare opportunity.

So where are all those people around here who are so adamant that the players don't care about being in the Lakers' shadow and having to play in the Lakers' arena?

As I've always said, the Clips should have moved to Anaheim back in the day. I understand financially why Sterling didn't, but in terms of team identity, it would have been much better.

Awesome.

This was great to read. Especially the quotes from Rhino, who many have been suggesting as the most likely candidate as an "enforcer."

I've been BEGGING someone on this team to step up and defend Blake. It was great to see Baron get in Odumb's face, but I want to see more of that, and I want to see more of the bigs lay some hard fouls on opposing players.

Pretty interesting breakdown of how Blake seems to expend all his energy in the first half, leaving him to be less productive in the second half.

Also compares his production to EJ and how their respective production complements each other.

I liked this quote in particular:

"Once [the Clippers] learn to play together, it will be more of a story. But he’s fabulous. You guys know I don’t give it up to anybody, but I’m giving it up to that young fella."

More just rhetoric than anything else. I think if Baron came back in the next game, he would definitely start.

But let's just say Baron misses the next 5 games and Bled continues to improve and does so dramatically. If he starts putting up 18 and 10 the next 5 games, then what?

Much ado about nothing.

"Team USA announces it cuts Celtics guard Rajon Rondo from World Championship roster. Rondo didn't play in last exhibition in Spain."

Awesome. Way to go Tokowitz...ya schmuck!

10. Baron Davis(notes), Los Angeles Clippers (last year: 21st)

A jump from 21st to 10th shouldn't really give anyone room for pause. It has less to do with how improved Baron was in 2009-10 (though he was) than how ruddy awful he was in 2008-09. Last season, the man's defense came and went, his shot selection from behind the arc (3.9 attempts per game while shooting just 27.7 percent) was terrible, and he still seemed to coast when the Clippers needed him most. Still, 15.3 points and eight assists and why did I rank him this high, again? Blake Griffin's(notes) in town, Baron, let's get this together.

He's going to NY.

Great news!

DraftExpress

Rookie SF Marqus Blakely is signing a two year partially guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, his agent Sam Porter tells us.

LAT update: It is expected that FA guard Randy Foye will be going to the Clippers. Earlier talk had been about Wizards' guard Mike Miller.

Not a bad signing assuming it's for very cheap. The Clips need depth at the 2. I guess Willie Warren will be cut.

Sources say one team that all but eliminated itself with James in the presentation process was the New York Knicks. James’ inner-circle has described New York’s presentation as lacking preparedness and organization. James’ camp also found it to be redundant to much of the New Jersey Nets’ far sharper, edgier presentation on James’ earning power.

Sources say that James is dubious his mere presence on the Knicks will be worth that much more to him in endorsements. The appearance of Knicks GM Donnie Walsh in a wheelchair due to a neck problem and the frumpy, unimpressive Jim Dolan didn’t provide James with an image of vibrancy.

Clipper Country

At least they can welcome back Blake Griffin to their returning core. They can spend 2010-11 rolling out a version of what last season's team should have looked like.

DTS wants VDN b/c he's owed $2 mil by the Bulls. Awesome.

I definitely don't think I need to pitch anyone on the benefits that Los Angeles has to offer. Everybody knows its one of the best places in the world. And when it comes down to it, it shouldn't be about the city anyway, its about what you want to accomplish. If you truly are passionate about the game of basketball and want to accept the challenge, come join us. We have a young nucleus that has the tools to compete every night, and I can't name another franchise whose fans have kept faith and supported their team like Clipper Nation has supported us.

I like the quotes here, especially this one:

General manager Neil Olshey was even more declarative: "We're going to spend the money," he said. "And we're going to spend it on the right kind of players.

"We want guys in here that can play the right way. The key here is players that want to be here, that want to be here for the right reasons, that want to play every night. We want to have a team that's playing as hard on April 14 as they are on November 14."

8th for the 17th and Deng.

That would shore up the 3 and we could pick a PG with 17.

Gotta say though, I'd be a little disappointed that we'd be totally out of the Lebron race this early.

Is Deng too good to say no? I'm skeptical. Plus, is Deng really way better than Aminu might be in a few years?