I have to say it would require more crack to think the trade would have happened versus the signing. it looks like to me that Fegan/Brand wanted 7yrs from Sterling, and he simply said no, go get your 6yr max offer and I'll match it. Now, Sterling has a big fish and could trade him for a very high lottery pick any time in the next 6yrs to go back to a low salary with a huge lotto pick. I don't see why that seemed like an impossibility to everyone. I just think people used the Sterling angle to dream up silly trades. Letting Brand go for anything other than a big star or a huge lottery pick just never seemed possible to me...even if he doesn't care as much about winning as other owners.
"The trade" was a pipe dream many of us lusted over. Who wouldn't want Brand on the Rocks? But to think that Sterling would open his wallet for Elton and now, according to reports, for Arenas... not to mention possibly signing some of the others... astonishes me.
It didn't me, and I commented on my reasoning well before he did this. Brand is an huge asset that Sterling as never had. Just because he signs him doesnt' really have to go against the Sterling theory that he'll never go over the cap. What it can end up being down the road is Sterling merely investing in a valued asset to cash in on him later for a very hyped #1-3 player in a future draft. Thus, he goes back down in salary and back to having only rookie scale players. bottomline: I never thought he'd be stupid enough to let his first real big fish get away for nothing.
I understand your reasoning. I just have never seen Sterling as being reasonable when it come to doing anything that involves paying large contracts. Juan Valdez has a nice post in the Arenas thread that sums up what I think about Sterling better than I could. Is Brand a terrific trading chip in the future? No question. Does Sterling care about winning even remotely like he does about staying as far under the cap as the League allows? I think he's answered that question many times. Mike D. has his work cut out for him.
I responded to JV to point out that Sterling was over the cap from 1991-1997 (except for one year), and had the 10th highest salary in 1994. Had Manning never gotten injured, this may all be different...Larry Brown might have stayed and Sterling might have kept complementary players. But the piss poor draft picks of the Clippers and Manning getting injured had Sterling facing longterm mediocrity, and he chose to purge that for rebuilding through top draft picks.
