Baron Davis (photo. Tim Tadder)Today’s San Francisco Chronicle describes the Golden State Warriors‘ free agent drama over the last few weeks as an “embarrassment.” They lost Baron Davis, were spurned by Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand despite throwing enormous amounts of cash their way, and their consolation prize was “the second best free agent from a Clippers team that didn’t make the playoffs.” That’s not to mention other issues that need to be addressed immediately.
And then there’s this:
But [Brand] also made it clear that he and Davis had been doing some Southern California dreaming as they decided to opt out of their contracts. In other words, the Clippers weren’t getting the wrong message when they signed Davis, thinking that Brand would re-up at a slight pay cut after they brought another proven star on board.
Brand said he talked with Davis again after the Warriors offered him a reported five-year, $90 million deal, or at least $15 million more than the Clippers could afford. He said Davis gave him his blessing, even though it meant trashing their dream team in L.A. “Go get your money,” Brand said Davis told him.
You have to wonder what else Davis might have said, because you can read a lot between the line “Go get your money” and the bottom line that Brand accepted. Something told him to leave millions on the table and not come here. Maybe it wasn’t anything that needed to be said aloud. It might have been that obvious.
If you’re a Warriors fan, that has to hurt.
But my thing is this: It came out yesterday on Philly sports talk radio that supposedly Elton had been discussing a potential move to the Sixers well before this week’s “shocking” deal. We’re going back before Ed Stefanski was named GM, back into the Billy King era. Brand had apparently made it known to many people, not just Sixers execs, that moving back east was something that had been on his mind for a ling time. The move east to a team he could make an instant, real playoff threat shouldn’t have been a huge shock to anyone.
Source: SF Chronicle
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July 10th, 2008 at 10:24 am
yallallreadyknow says:
i would have like eltons chances better with the clips than with the 76ers:
clips
baron davis
cuttino mobley/eric gordon
al thornton
elton brand
chris kaman
philly
andre miller
willie green/lou williams
andre iguodala
elton brand
sam dalembert
clips lineup looks better to me. and looks like they could have done more…yup, even in the west. where next year dont expect denver or golden state to make the playoffs. maybe still not even portland.
it dont bother me none that he went to philly, but what was the deciding factor in making him believe philly is a better overall fit than la?
July 10th, 2008 at 10:33 am
doc says:
Iggy gonna be the 2 and Thad Young the 3.Willie Green is back where he belong.B-diddy probaly told him get your money but GS fucked up so get it somewhere else.
July 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am
speedcat says:
i love baron, but really miller is alot mroe effective at the point ina pure sense….whihc will be a ton of help for iggy and brand..but next year they need to look inot getting a young passing 1.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Kobeef says:
NEWS: Lakers offering Odom to Kings for Artest.
This is a good move for the Lakers. Odom and Gasol play the same position and one needs to go. Sactown would need to include another player as Odom makes twice what Artest makes - maybe if LA takes one of Sactown’s bad contracts (Kenny Thomas, Shareef) they could make it happen.
Artest brings some toughness to a lakers lineup that was exposed as soft in the finals.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
kobeef–
what is the full offer?
and to dime: smush parker, ya boy, was just renounced by the la clips
July 10th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Meica says:
@ y’all
I agree completely. That would have been a great team. If I were the Clips I would be throwing money at Josh Smith right about now.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Lee says:
What is Deng’s situation .. I could see him playing well with baron but he’s not a 4.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
BubbaChuck4President says:
Brand is a 5-7 year All Star if he had been in the East rather than the West. Coming to the Sixers is a no-brainer. He can have a real chance of playing in June with a team that has real fan support. If he was to stay in LA not only is his team an after thought, but he isn’t even secured to play in the post season. Then to make matters worse, he would be playing with a shoot first pg who prefers unscripted offense. In Philly he gets a veteran pg with a high bball IQ, who looks to get others involved always. The team is young and has serious potential. The Clips and W’s could never offer that.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Lee says:
Like I’ve said before, Brand and Miller played for the clippers together, didn’t work out there.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
K Dizzle says:
that’s cool that they’ve played together but so did Clyde and the Dream in college so what does that mean? Really nothin. It’s the Eastern Conference. You bring Denver out east and they a top 3 team
July 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
jace says:
wouldve been nice paired up together in la. but theres more opportunities for him in philly. watch the press conference, he named a couple. some might say that the clippers starting lineup looks better.. but when ur talkin bout depth too.. philly has that battle locked down. plus most of them are up and comers.. so it looks like theyre all going to get better. clippers been needin some young heart in there for a while. now with livingston outta the picture, all they got are gordon and thornton.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Buffalo Brave says:
The clippers with brand would shit on the sixers with brand and that’s WITHOUT maggette.
July 10th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Lee says:
Dream and glide won a chip in college .. they won one in the pros .. tells me alot
July 10th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
doc says:
Clipper would NOT shit on the Sixers what games you be watching dog.Keem and them got one in college?who they beat I remember them losing to the buzzer-beater.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
word says:
can’t wait to see philly in action, damn AI lost, he’s on a team that has no chance of winning a ring ever and if the 6ers won one without him, that would be jokes
July 10th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
word says:
dream didn’t win in college they got to finals twice but lost to tar heels and hoyas
i think anyway
July 10th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Ding Dong We Got Danilo Gallinari? says:
Let’s put the “6ers winning a ring” conversation in deep freeze for the moment,shall we? That is as fruitful as talking about the knicks doing the same.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:16 am
Cammy Z says:
I don’t see why BDavis would say that. That just puts their chances of making the playoffs in complete jeopardy (at least for the near future).