Wow. What the hell is going on in Clipperland? Are they actually serious about winning? Let's see if the retain Odom. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/story?id=1587095 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. "Through consistent hard work and effort, Corey has improved his game each year he has been in the league, and there is no reason to believe he won't continue to get even better," Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor said in a statement. "We're really glad that he will be back for the long term." The 6-foot-6 Maggette is coming off his best season, averaging 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 31.3 minutes in 64 games. He ranked second on the team in scoring, increasing his average by 5.4 points over the previous season. The 23-year-old Maggette has averaged 11.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 23.3 minutes in 273 career games over four seasons. "I am very excited about the opportunity to coach Corey," new Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Obviously, I have followed him closely since his days at Duke. He has done a terrific job of developing his all-around game and I look forward to being a part of his continued development." Maggette played one season at Duke before making himself available for the NBA draft. He was a first-round pick of Seattle in 1999 - the 13th overall selection - before being traded to Orlando. He averaged 8.4 points in his one season with the Magic and 10.0 points and 11.4 points in his first two years with the Clippers. The Clippers' decision to match Utah's offer sheet was another blow to the Jazz. John Stockton retired following last season, and Karl Malone signed with the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this month as a free agent. In addition, Utah struck out in its attempts to sign Andre Miller to an offer sheet, and Brad Miller to a free-agent contract. The Jazz have about $20 million to spend under the salary cap of $43.84 million announced by the NBA earlier this month.
Now Miami will offer $48 mill to Odom, and that would put the Clips over the cap. Odom will be in Miami next season.
Finn- I'd wait and see. I was rather surprised that Odom left Miami without an offer sheet. Odom reportedly wants an average of 10 mill per year.
True. I suppose he could sign a 1 year deal with the Clips and become an unrestricted FA next season.
The Clips could do a little salary dumping (Jazz, Denver -- Wilcox, Richardson) and match an Odom offer...
damn, the Jazz are screwed for sure. But at least with all that cap space, they could trade for some folks on teams looking to dump some expensive salaries.
Time to get Utah on the phone and offer Taylor/Moochie to replace Stockton/Malone. All eyes on Odom, now.
So we WEREN'T planning a sign and trade of Maggette and Miller for Moochie and Rice? What happened?!?
sucks to be Utah. Their best player is Kirilenko (not a shabby player mind you) and Matt Harpring....not trying to be racial but when your best 2 players are white and not named Bird or McHale....you're in for a lot of hurtin.
What about Nash/Nowitzki? (yes I know they have Finley, but just disproving your point...) I really like AK-47's game. They will probably go through a massive rebuilding this year unless they get a nice FA to complement Kirilenko and Harpring, preferably either a post presence or a PG. Still, they've got a good young core, and now that Karla has left town and Flopton has retired, we can stop hating the Jazz. Besides, I think they would take Taylor/Mooch for Deshawn Stevenson and Calbert Cheaney or something to that effect. Maybe even Mark Jackson?
Not to rile people up, but the Rockets are trying to trade Mobley, Utah needs a good, you SG, you don't think that Utah will be calling the Rockets soon do you? Utah's not giving up Harpring, the guy's a talented player and a favorite down there, but I could see the Jazz offering the Rocks Stevenson and Cheaney, and probably a draft pick for Mobley. I don't want the Rockets to trade Mobley at all, they need to keep the team together, but if they're going to get rid of him Utah's going to come calling.
We are? Lets see, franchise center? Check. Franchise PG? check. 20 ppg SG? Check. Talented PF core? Check. Good bench? Check. Good shooters? Check. You're right, we're left with nothing!
Smart move for the Clips. I am pretty sure they will not offer or match big money for Odom, I think they decided Maggette was the more solid SF to go with for a number of reasons (Maggette seems on the up and Odom hasn't improved since is his first year and half in the league, Odom has been less durable, fewer character questions for Maggette, similar age, and similar total talent even if each excells in different things). In sum, like Kandi last year (very similar situation--underachiver with lots of talent wanted too much money and potentiall creating headaches)--I think Odom's days in LAC are numbered. Personally, if I am the Clips I try to work a S&T for Odom. If my goal is winning I'd try for a center, if my goal is being cheap but competitive they should try to S&T (Maggette size, like 7 mil a year average) to a team like Miami for no salary, rookie contracts, cheap contracts, and/or future draft picks. Now Miami can just hedge its bets Sterling won't match (say 6/45 mil)--or just negotiate with LAC to get Odom for a little less say 5/35 by throwing in a 1st round pick. Odom would be foolish to turn down a S&T that pays him a mil or two more than the MLE. Sterling isn't as dumb as many thought--he is protecting the players he should (Brand, Maggette) and not caving in to guys wanting too much for what they can do (Kandi, most probably Dre, probably Odom).
They lost the all-time assist and steals leader to retirement, and the 2nd all time scorer just went west. We might lose James Posey and Terrence Morris. If you read some posts, you may think James Posey and Terrence Morris are about the equivalent of Stockton to Malone. The latest is, they plan to sign Jason Terry to an offer sheet...uh, shouldn't they have done that BEFORE Atlanta cleared an extra 11 mill off their books with the Glen Robinson trade? I'd be very surprised if they don't get thwarted again. Heck, have they even made a signing bigger than Eric Piatkowski yet? According to the numbers I've seen, I think the Clips actually may still be a shade under the minimum salary, or barely above it.
you've said this before. where are these numbers. the minimum is technically 11 times the league minimum salary. In reality, it is the sum of your committed contracts plus the minimum salary times the number of remaining roster spots. So, the Clippers minimum would raise upon every newly signed contract and would always be a "shade under the minimum salary" for as long as they have open roster spots. However, this is true for every team.
