It's about their coach and the rest of their team. Monta Ellis absolutely thrives in their current style. They want to keep Biedrins as a big man for that style. They've built most of their team around it.. and their coach is gonna run it.. They could shift style certainly. But then that throws other guys' games off, imo..
This is a nice big F U to the clippers from the warriors organization lol. I like it! Brand could add some toughness to that team. It'll put Harrington back at the PF position. Only question is are they still planning on keeping Brandon Wright?
Why the hell wouldn't Brand be able to play uptempo. He can run. He's a much better fit a center than Harrington and they've been using him there quite a bit. Brand is a great post player, great shot blocker, and he's fast. I don't get it, what's wrong with this move? If anything it makes Biedrins less important because he really doesn't have much skill. I'm tired of seeing guys like him, Chandler, and Dalembert get these huge paydays when they only play one side of the ball.
1st, reports seems to suggest Brand will return to Clips. That said I think it is good move by the Warriors. What are their two biggest weaknesses? Defense and rebounding. I think a healthy Brand every bit counteracts the loss of Davis considering all phases of the game. And IF Ellis can be OK in the PG role, GS could get better overall. Ellis doesn't have a bad A/TO at all considering he mostly has played SG and next to Davis, and his PER as a PG when he plays it isn't bad. If Tony Parker can work himself into being decent in running a team even though his natural inclination is more penetration/scoring than distributing, I don't see what Ellis couldn't. With Brand and with a few things falling right (maybe they could get Maggette too), GS could be back between #8 and #10 in the West.
Their team is built in large part around Baron Davis. Regardless of getting Brand, they'll have to reconfigure what they're doing.
But Ellis can get his own shot. Jackson can get his own shot. Brand can get quality shots versus most defenders. They still could be uptempo chuckers who happen to play much better defense and rebound much better. Sure they lose a lot on offense, but I would hardly call them an inept offense, and they gain much in other areas. Net effect may not be too bad.
Maybe I would think differently if put in the position but it's not like one team offers him 2 million and the other 22 million. 70 or 90? If he's not a complete idiot, he won't even notice the difference.
I don't think adding him makes all that much of a difference to a frontcourt of Tyrus,Noah,Nocioni,Deng. I do think that there a possibility of it happening if GS approaches the Bulls.
I think in GS is marketing ability would improve, among other things. With the Clips you are always with the step child organization for that city and playing for owner always more attuned to cash than winning. And though on paper the Clips look better than the Warriors with Baron's switch (taking Brand out of the equation), but the Warrior organization has more vision and some young talent so I not sure that last's long. So I can think of a lot of reasons for Brand to go to GS.
If all the Clips could offer was 75 mil max I dont know why the Warriors would offer so much for Brand. He's aging and inury prone. The only thing I think of is they're jacking up the price hoping someone else takes him higher and thus leaving the Clips high and dry. Without Brand, even with Davis, I see the Clippers being the Clippers again.
brand is 29 not that old at all still has a lot of all-star level ball in him. he never was a super athletic big, but an athletic one sort of like McDyess who has had several productive seasons after his major knee injury. Also I dont ever remember seeing Brand having major injury problems outside of the one last year. i am almost sure brand is back with the clippers he has a loyal follwing in LA and seems to be really loyal to the fans. he only played the last few homes games in LA for the fans otherwise he would have just not played the entire season last year. also i tihnk its illegal for team officials/gm etc to talk to other team players about contracts etc. it would be hard for the league to find out/enforce players from talking to each other. many of these guys have been friends since high school days and its probably just natural to talk about ball and other things. and what if it was baron who thought of the idea anyway? then what? maybe he asked brand to take less money so he could come on as well (taking less money too) now if davis went to the clips for the MLE or if brand signed for the MLE then i would think something was up and the league probably would try to investigate
the carlos boozer and brand situations aren't exactly analogous. brand has already cashed in on his talent for millions of dollars, boozer was still playing on a meager contract when he bailed on the cavaliers.
The Clippers will be forced to add another year or he's gone IMO. It's just too much money to turn down.
Long Marc Stein article on Brand: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=FA-notes-080707
