While I disagree with all of it, I'll only argue this point at the moment: I'm sick of people referring to Mike Bibby's playof performance. He had a good series. Yes. Will he ever play that well again? Maybe, maybe not. He never had before. Why would he again? Is he a clutch performer? Maybe. Is Austin Croshere? No. But he had a series in which he elevating his game as much or more than Bibby. What about Charles Barkley? He looked great against Seattle... terrible against Utah. Bibby looked great when being guarded by the Lakers pathetic points. When guarded by Bryant, he looked good, not great. When guarded by a point who can actually D up... well, we've all seen that Mike Bibby. In fact, we've seen him for years. And now one fricking playoff series has erased the image of 4 years.
Not really. he can hit the wide-open mid-range jumper pretty good, but that's about it. He's an absolutely dreaful 3-point shooter, he can't create his own shot, and he shoots flat-footed.
So he's the second coming of Jason Kidd with less rebounds. Miller has a pretty good post up game though.
All I can say is Lamar Odom is going to have to improve quite a bit before he even comes close to being as good as Shawn Marion. They aren't even close right now in my opinion. Marion's a better 3-point shooter, better rebounder, better defender, better slasher, better free-throw shooter, and better dunker. The only thing Marion doesn't do as good as Odom is get assists and get turnovers. I think Marion was worth every penny of that max deal he just signed. Odom might be worth about half that. As far as Rashard Lewis, Odom and Rashard our completely different players. Now that the Clippers have Andre Miller they don't really need the only thing that Odom really has going for him - his playmaking ability. Rashard would be better for the Clippers right now because he's somebody Miller can find, who can knock down outside shot. I can tell you right now that Odom is going to have his worst NBA season this year.
DcKid: You are right that Shawn Marion is a lil better than Lamar Odom, but to say "Now that the Clippers have Andre Miller they don't really need the only thing that Odom really has going for him - his playmaking ability." doesn't make sense. I don't recall any team that thinks playmaking can ever be too much, the best offensive teams like the Kings often averages lots of assists. Also, Lewis can't dribble and doesn't play much defense, he's a better 3 point shooter, but he can't create for others. I will definitely take Odom over Lewis without the pot issue.
True, but if we're talking about having a well-rounded team, the Clippers need Lewis' shooting ability more than they need Odom's playmaking ability now that they have Andre Miller. I don't think Odom's strength will be needed very much. In my opinion the Clippers would have been better off trading Odom than Miles, assuming Miles continues to develop. Miles can run the floor better and attack the basket better than Lamar Odom, which would provide Andre Miller with a better fastbreak running partner, kind of like Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin. The Clippers would still have a problem with outside shooting, but I think Miles would be a better beneficiary of Miller's assists than Odom. All Miller would have to do is throw the ball up near the basket and Miles would go up and get it. And I wanted to add that I think Marion is a MUCH better player than Lamar Odom right now, not just a little better.
Count me in also as one of the people who doesn't believe in Olowokandi. After sucking for years, he finally got to the point where he was not a complete liability and now everyone thinks he's among the elite big men in the league. NOT! He's certainly not worth a huge contract after a short period of decent play ... or have we forgotten the lesson we learned from Cato? Honestly, I don't see anyone on the Clippers roster that is worth a MAX contract. Brand is probably their best player, but the Clips probably think Wilcox could fill in there in time. Likewise, maybe Ely can take Olowokandi's place. If this were baseball, instead of complaining about Sterling we would be labelling him as a Billy Beane-type genius: that is, instead of tying himself to ridiculous MAX contracts, like the one GSW gave to Antawn Jamison (on the theory that you have to give one to somebody), he is trying to look honestly at the talent he has without caving in to popular sentiment. Or, OTOH, he could just be a miserly jerk. Did I really just defend Donald Sterling as a fiscal genius?
Sterling is a cheap skate plain and simple. Have they resigned any palyer in the last 5-10yrs? Ron Harper, gone. Derrick Anderson, gone. Charles Smith, gone. Mo Taylor gone and the list goes on and on. Are these the gretaest palyers ever? No, but there comes a time when a team needs to build around a player or two and give them the chance to succeed and Sterling refuses to do that. Wilcox could replace Brand, but in 4yrs when his contract is up, he'll be gone as well. The same thing w/ Ely. Its just STerling's MO. He's percfectly content w/ being the Laker's JV as long as he makes money and can tell people he owns a professional sports franchise. They've finished in the bottom 5 in team payroll at least 5 years in a row. That is not how you build a winner.
Brand and KandiMan will get a a similiar deal that will be 75 mill with both making around 8 - 9 mill per year. Odom and Miller will get a lesser deals in 60 mill range 6-7 mill a year.
Bibby is 6'1" and had to play against Bryant at 6'7" (and one of the league's better defenders), it was a feat to still score. He's one of the better PGs in the league and deserves to get paid. I doubted Brand when he first came out, being undersized at PF. He put up awesome numbers in his years at Chicago. Then when he was traded, I thought he wouldn't get the same numbers since he had talent around him. He still put up numbers and showed he could dominate if necessary. Brand deserves the max as much as Webber. And unfortunately, like Webber, he isn't clutch and doesn't have the ability to create and hit the game winning shots like a Kobe or T-Mac.
