According to RealGM, and I know this is not the best site, but they say Brand has be offered a 5 year 65 mil deal. http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap.php
I sometimes wonder why would a player of the quality, with the upside of Brand even consider staying with the Clippers. Ya they can offer him boat loads of money, but signing with the Clippers for 5 years is pretty much saying that on the basketball court he will be a loser for the next five years of his life. Why would he do that when other teams, teams with potential, teams that make the playoffs, can offer him not that much, bnut still enough for him to still be swimming in money for the rest of his life. AC
Maybe the Clippers are trying to turn things around? Brand is realy the first player the Clippers have had in the last 10 years that is worth signing long term. I don't think I would sign Odom, he is just to injury prone. Signing Brand long term is a good move for the Clippers if they are going to try and turn things around.
They're still signing Brand to a year or two less than he could command. Poor guy is faced with, Do I sign long-term now, or do I risk injury and wait out the year to become a free agent and possibly sign with Charlotte next year (or ANY other team).
Okay so the Clippers stink. But that isn't the worse place to play in the NBA. You will never win a title, but L.A. is a pretty decent place to live and he will get paid handsomely to do so.
Uhhhhhh... no. I suppose it is within the realm of possibility, but I jus couldn't bring myself to believe it. Not only does it run counter to history, but Sterling pretty much closed the door a year ago when he didn't extend everyone. I can't believe he didn't offer a 7-year deal to Brand. He's a fool. And Brand would be a fool to accept it. If you're going to doom yourself to being a Clipper for 5 years, you may as well do 7 and get your money. If I were Brand, I'd take the hard line: demand a sign-and-trade.
Yeah Sterling is a cheapskate, but who should he have paid out the a$$ for in the last few years??? Mo Taylor wanted close to the max, as did Derek Anderson!! Maybe we should have followed their lead by not giving him all that dough!! I think if the Clippers Retain Brand, Odom and maybe Maggette or Q at reasonable prices, they will be dangerous for years to come. I don't think Odom or Maggette deserve the Max based on potential. Odom has been drug and injury prone, and its questionable whether he will overcome either problem. Its a great lure to stay in LA, and play with each other if Elgin and Sterling pay 7-8 for Odom and 6-7 for Maggette or Q. They will then have Kaman Ely Brand Wilcox Odom Maggette Jaric Thats a fantastic lineup. Even if Jaric isn't a great point, Odom can play point forward very well. I personally hope that Andre Miller goes to Utah Brand goes back East!! Maggette goes to Denver!! Odom goes to Rehab! Because that Clippers team would be competetive as hell and could jepordize our playoff position in the years to come. Fortunately, Utah WILL be out of the mix next year w/ Stock and Malone out.
But none of that will happen. If Sterling wanted to pay/keep his players, he would have locked up these guys a year ago, but he wants to play this game of restricted free agency, forcing the guys to stay one last year before losing them, and thus continuing the endless cycle of high draft picks/low monied players.
smells fishy to me. it almost seems like he's making an offer that he knows won't be to brand's satisfaction, yet will make him look like less of a cheapskate in the process. if he really wanted to keep brand, he'd offer the max over 7 years...which is what brand's market value is.
If I was Brand, I would take the qualifying offer and wait until next season to sign somewhere else. Five years in the NBA's gulag archipelago is not worth any amount of dough Sterling would throw at him. That said, I still don't think Brand is worth the max. In fact, I think only four or five players in the whole league are worth that kind of dough. I just think the Clips will never improve unless: A. trade for some veterans/or B. use some of that cap space (fat chance!) They are locked into a perpetual cycle of their team getting younger and younger, with no veteran leadership. I guess they thought Andre Miller would be that leadership, but he was a bust. Can't believe he thought he was a max-contract guy last year! So Elton, don't sign that offer. You're getting lowballed. You're not worth a max deal, but at least get a seven year deal.
I haven't seen the exact salary cap figure yet- I've seen between 41 mill and 42.5 mill. As a 4 year year vet, Brand can earn 25% of the salary cap, and using the numbers I've shown above, his max would be between 10.25m and 10.625m. Your 10.4m fit pretty well; I'm sure the 65 mill is more or less an estimation, and I doubt they'd squabble over a difference of 200K in the base year. verse- I find the 5 year number odd. It's not a short term deal that would allow Brand to analyze his situation (a la the Duncan contract), and it's not as long as possible (7 years). Keep in mind, it's only one year short of the max another team could offer him though. Based on the fact that Brand can only one more year at worse raises from another team, I think this assures Sterling will match offers for Brand, even the max if San Antonio or Denver were to give him the offer sheet. I'm still waiting to see what he does with the others. Sterling has always been about business- Brand is his stud, but will he shell out dollars for other players? I think the Clips are prepared to go with a Jaric-Richardson backcourt (plus Dooling, and bring back Pike?), so I only see them signing Maggette or Odom for the SF slot. With Brand, their frontcourt is actually pretty deep even with losing Kandi: Brand, Wilcox, Ely, Kaman, Zhi-Zhi, and Rooks/Parks.
That's not the max for 6 years, assuming a cap between $40 to 42 mil. I believe that's the max for 5 years. Sterling's just dicking Brand around. From what I understand, if Brand takes the qualifying offer then he's untradeable for next year...and then he's unrestricted. I doubt that Sterling would do a sign and trade for Brand now. He's probably prepared to get one more year out of Brand and then let him walk. With this BS offer he can make it look like he tried to retain Brand and that Brand was too greedy.
Actually, a smaller yr deal makes more sense. In 5 yrs brand would be 28 or 29 yrs old. If i were Brand, i would do a 4 yr deal that way I'm not stuck if the team sux. Brand should also wait to see if they offer someone else money like Odom or Magette. If they don't offer Magette, they still have Q. If the Clipps offer Odom decent number for say 4 or 5 yrs, he and brand should get together, talk about it and sign the contracts. Brand and Odom is nice along with who ever else they have. I don't think he'll sgn it right now because no one else have been offered anything.
So....Brand is returning. Maggette maybe to Nuggets. Odom probably will return...no one has the money to sign him...and the ones who do don't need him... Andre Miller gone to Nuggets or Jazz...or maybe returns. Piatkowski is gone...maybe returns...he's been with them his whole career. Olowokandi not goin to Spurs...but not going back to Clippers. The Clippers could have won the championship last year with this team...don't know what went wrong.
Uh, yeah. Do you the first 2 lines of the first post in the thread? "they say Brand has be offered a 5 year 65 mil deal. " This is going to be an interesting case for Brand. Sterling reportedly has already offered up 5 years of max, and I'd guess he'd match if someone gave him an offer sheet with a 6th year. So what if he's unrestricted next year? If he cuts ties with Sterling, Sterling won't sign trade him (and he wouldn't have much take back ~10 mill in salary anyhow). How many teams in the league will have cap room next year? Probably not many more than this. And those that do will be ogling Kobe and Garnett, first and foremost, not Brand. I'm not sure Brand will be able to get a big contract anywhere but LA, and if you're Brand- do you take that risk? Sure doesn't look like the Q-Offer thing is working for Kandi.
I thought Sterling might have figured Brand would grudgingly take a 5-year because, at 12.5% raises it'd be worth as much as a 6-year elsewhere at 10% raises. But, that's just not true. A 6-year deal starting at $10.4 million and increasing by $1.3 million each year (10%), is worth $78 million. In fact, the difference between 10% and 12.5% isn't as big as I'd expect, even after 5 years: $3.6 million total.
