L.A. Clippers 09/10: De luto (Mayo 2008 - Marzo 2011) Zona de consulta para conocer cómo éramos antes Moderador: Louis de Funès

[Mr. Cátering]

Está más que cantado que va a venir, aunque hay otras franquicias (sobre todo los Rockets) interesadas en él, y que han llamado a Olshey para preguntar por su situación. Si al final, como parece, llega Big Sofo, se larga Craig Smith, jugador al cual, personalmente, prefiero antes que al griego, y que sale como agente libre me parece un PF más que apetecible.

[carmelomvp]

Pues yo creo que lo puede hacer bien, a priori es complementario con Griffin (movilidad) y un buen suplente para Kaman y dar así sus 15-20 minutos de rotación. Lo que quiero ver es lo que pasará con el tema físico, tal y como está en Europa (con poca movilidad y poquísima resistencia a pesar de marcar diferencias) en NBA pocos equipos estarían dispuestos a pagarle, allí son mucho más estrictos y no van a dejar que Sofo haga lo que le salga del culo como lo hizo por épocas en Olympiacos y convertirse así en Curry 2.0.

[Mr. Cátering]

Pues yo creo que lo puede hacer bien, a priori es complementario con Griffin (movilidad) y un buen suplente para Kaman y dar así sus 15-20 minutos de rotación. Lo que quiero ver es lo que pasará con el tema físico, tal y como está en Europa (con poca movilidad y poquísima resistencia a pesar de marcar diferencias) en NBA pocos equipos estarían dispuestos a pagarle, allí son mucho más estrictos y no van a dejar que Sofo haga lo que le salga del culo como lo hizo por épocas en Olympiacos y convertirse así en Curry 2.0.

Lo veo más como PF, sobre todo porque habrá de darle minutos de una santa vez a Deandre Jordan. Como center lo veo más en ocasiones puntuales, sobre todo ante centers no muy altos.

[carmelomvp]

Pues yo creo que lo puede hacer bien, a priori es complementario con Griffin (movilidad) y un buen suplente para Kaman y dar así sus 15-20 minutos de rotación. Lo que quiero ver es lo que pasará con el tema físico, tal y como está en Europa (con poca movilidad y poquísima resistencia a pesar de marcar diferencias) en NBA pocos equipos estarían dispuestos a pagarle, allí son mucho más estrictos y no van a dejar que Sofo haga lo que le salga del culo como lo hizo por épocas en Olympiacos y convertirse así en Curry 2.0.

Lo veo más como PF, sobre todo porque habrá de darle minutos de una santa vez a Deandre Jordan. Como center lo veo más en ocasiones puntuales, sobre todo ante centers no muy altos.

¿Como 4? ¿Con que condiciones? un 4 necesita movilidad, condiciones y eso Sofo no lo tiene. Como 5 turrando en la pintura es su posición, yo ni lo dudo.

[Mr. Cátering]

Hombre, al lado de Kaman podría. Hay que recordar que Kaman se abre muchas veces para tirar de 5 metros, y también es un jugador con movilidad.

A mi es que me genera muchas dudas en la NBA.

[Mr. Cátering]

Over the course of an 82-game season, it’s perfectly normal to build a unique one-sided relationship with the players on your favorite team. Like any other relationship, these players can sometimes put you through the emotional ringer. You cheer and boo them, love and hate them, sing their praises one day and slam them the very next. As Clippers fans, most of the relationships we embark on are short lived. We endure a year of the Rick Brunson’s of the world, laugh about it, and flee the scene as quickly as possible so we can dream about next year. When I look back on the 2009-2010 Clippers, yeah, I’ll remember knee injuries and water-main breaks, but I’ll also remember talking to Craig Smith for the first time.

It was my first time covering an NBA game live, and as such, my first foray into an NBA locker room. When I approached Baron Davis with the other members of the media, I felt like a sheep wondering into the wolf den. This was Baron freaking Davis. I was genuinely frightened to look at the man, let alone brave enough to ask him a question. Thankfully, a few members of the media eventually broke off from Baron and moved over to Craig Smith’s locker. With a giant ice pack wrapped around his elbow from another night of banging with men much larger than him, Craig Smith held court and entertained all our questions. Smith spoke in a calm, quiet voice, laughed and joked graciously, and even talked about his pickup basketball prowess while lamenting on his imagined squad of himself, Sebastian Telfair, and Baron Davis. Even after only a few minutes with the man they call “Rhino”, you came away with the impression that he just loved to play basketball. After a relatively meaningless game in a losing season, that certainly wasn’t the easiest vibe to give off, but Smith did it.

I’ve yet to come across a single type of fan who couldn’t appreciate Craig Smith. The armchair quarterbacks (for lack of a better term) love him because Smith plays the game the way they always thought they would: hard. He bangs, he scraps for every inch, and he hits everything that moves. The average fan can’t fathom leaping from the foul line and throwing down a jam, but everyone can relate to sticking a shoulder into someone’s chest. The statheads can appreciate him all the same. Smith shot 56.9% from the field this season, had the second highest adjusted +/- number on the team, had a PER rating of 16.9, was the best offensive rebounder on the team, and posted the second best defensive rating of all Clippers.

Even the most casual of Clippers fans could appreciate one thing about Craig Smith: He always seemed to play well against the Lakers. In the four hallway rivalry games, Smith averaged 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds on 61% percent shooting in limited minutes. Smith served as the primary fourth quarter scoring option in what you would call the “biggest” games of the year, despite going against a Lakers frontline that all the way across was six to seven inches taller than him. For those brief moments he was our very own David sticking it to Goliath, and we loved him for it.

Craig Smith is an unrestricted free agent this Summer, and it’s unclear whether he fits into the Clippers plans for the future. Sofo Schortsanitis has been rumored to finally come overseas from Greece, which would seem to occupy the backup low post scoring big man role that Craig Smith held last season. But no matter what happens, it’s almost certain that Craig Smith will be a bargain for someone.

Even though he’ll be available for cheap, Smith will likely be overlooked for much of free agency. Teams will be scared off by his height like usual, and will be mostly unimpressed by the lack of diversity his skill set has to offer. They’ll worry about him fouling, and they’ll worry about him on the defensive end. They’ll conclude (perhaps correctly) that Smith is primarily a low post scorer and offensive rebounder and not much more. They’ll declare him as limited.

But what they may not conclude is that Craig Smith is a good basketball player because he’s aware of those limitations. He’s not the most talented guy in the world, but he maximizes what he has to work with. There’s a common trait all great teams share — they’re filled with self-aware players who play within themselves. You can blame Dunleavy for not assigning roles or getting guys to buy into them, or you can blame players like Baron Davis who routinely tried to do things outside of their capabilities, but either way there’s no arguing that the 2009-2010 Clippers were a team without an identity that lacked any real cohesiveness.

Craig Smith knew his role and performed it well, but he was just one part of a puzzle that was missing more than a few pieces. Like so many of the Clipper relationships in the past, this pairing was nothing more than a case of wrong place, wrong time.

[Mr. Cátering]

Noticia del Chicago Tribune:

In the first 24 hours after the Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers on Thursday, the Bulls sold more than 500 new full season tickets and a team official estimated incoming call volume to their sales office stood roughly 50 times normal levels.

The question now is whether the allure of LeBron James will have a similar effect on Bulls management.

League sources said Sunday that noted NBA power broker William Wesley continues to work back channels to sell John Calipari and James as a package deal to franchises such as the Bulls, Nets and Clippers with coaching vacancies and salary cap room.

Another league source confirmed that an unknown Calipari connection contacted Bulls management over the weekend. This not only once again renders the coach's vows to remain at Kentucky hollow, it underscores the juggling act general manager Gar Forman and senior vice president John Paxson must navigate as they tackle a coaching search while planning for free agency, which begins July 1.

Kevin Arnovitz en ESPN:

Once the assignment of blame for the Cavaliers' calamity is over and a nation of career counselors and sports psychologists return to their day jobs, LeBron James will make the most important decision of his career -- where to peddle his basketball wares for the next several years.

James shares some culpability for Cleveland's embarrassing Eastern Conference semifinals loss to Boston, but James didn't fail a test of character nor did he fall victim to a civic curse. The loss to Boston was a basketball failure. If James wants to remedy that, he'll look at the candidates for his services and make a quantitative basketball decision based with a single question in mind: Which team has the best supporting cast to maximize his talents?

The Chicago Bulls are this week's sexy frontrunners, with point guard Derrick Rose and center Joakim Noah being heralded as the small-big combo to work with James.

The New York Knicks have oodles of cap space and can offer the biggest stage for James' ongoing branding exercise.

The Miami Heat would allow James and guard Dwyane Wade to re-create the synergy they showcased with Team USA and at the All-Star Game in Dallas.

The fabulously wealthy new owner of the New Jersey Nets likes to party with European models and will be moving the team to Brooklyn, a borough that leads the world in cultural cache at the moment.

If the Los Angeles Lakers falter over the next few weeks, rumblings of a sign and trade for James will surface again.

For reasons that range from the historical to the theoretical, the Los Angeles Clippers have been removed from the list by most observers. Yet, the Clippers' primary assets -- a strong foundation at four positions and the financial flexibility -- have never been more relevant to the discussion of James' future. We've learned that James is human, that if surrounded by mediocre talent, his team will produce less-than-desired results. For James to win a championship, a few essential ingredients on the floor are required. From a basketball standpoint, the Clippers can give James what he needs.

A savvy point guard

Baron Davis has been savaged since his arrival from Golden State, but when you break down the components of Davis' games, the strengths and weaknesses come into clear focus.

Davis' shortcomings can be boiled down to a single factor: He launches too many long jumpers off the dribble. Examine the rest of Davis' résumé and you'll find a point guard who is still a plus defender, a good rebounder, a solid post-up option and, most important, knows how to deliver the basketball.

How dynamic is Davis as a distributor? In March, Tom Haberstroh looked at which guards generated the best assists -- the ones who put teammates in the best position to score. Davis topped that list.

Anyone who watched Cleveland's flameout saw a team that couldn't get James good looks. When sizing up his next collection of teammates, James can stick with Mo Williams, or cast his lot with Toney Douglas, Devin Harris, Mario Chalmers or Rose (who ranked 56th out of 67 eligible point guards in assist rate). Or he can go with one of the best pure passers in the game whose most glaring weakness -- too many jump shots -- is certain to diminish playing alongside a guy who will put the ball up 25 times a game.

A dance partner

The pick-and-roll makes up a sizeable chunk of James' offensive game. Other than Wade, no non-point guard was involved in more pick-and-roll situations as a ball-handler than James -- and he was ninth in the league overall.

Anyone who caught a glimpse of redshirt rookie forward Blake Griffin at the 2009 Summer League in the exhibition season last October saw the most explosive roll man to land in the NBA since Amare Stoudemire. Griffin's ability to paste defenders on screens with his hard frame, catch the ball on the move with his sticky mitts and finish at will would create the most devastating pick-and-roll tandem in the game.

You can indict a franchise for its ownership and lackluster history -- but all the ridicule in the world won't help you defend that. As a second option, you can do a lot worse than Chris Kaman, who can screen, then pop or roll with proficiency.

A dependable scorer on the kickout

The prevailing defensive strategy against James is to throw a battalion of defenders at him, something the Celtics did effectively against the Cavs.

LeBron's counter to that pressure is his supernatural court vision and the precision of his passing game. Those skills are squandered, though, if there isn't a recipient on the weak side who can catch that pass and make the most of the opportunity.

Enter Eric Gordon, top five in the league among starting 2-guards in true shooting percentage. Gordon isn't without flaws, but he has three attributes you want as James' wing counterpart.

First, Gordon can fill it up from beyond the arc, where he drained 250 shots during his first two seasons in the league. If a defender closes too quickly on the catch, Gordon will use a ferocious first step to attack the rim, usually finishing or drawing contact.

Finally, Gordon can defend the marquee wings, something we saw when he contained Brandon Roy, Kobe Bryant, then Wade in three consecutive Clippers wins to start 2010. Apart from Wade in Miami, neither James' existing team nor any of the other suitors can offer James a better two-way guard as a wingmate.

A team that fulfills every role

No other team in pursuit of James has a better 2-through-5 set at the four other spots on the floor.

James' four teammates would include two guys younger than him in Griffin and Gordon, and two older veterans in Davis and Kaman. James would be the true fulcrum of a complete starting unit that can dominate on the glass, guard the perimeter (and excel defensively overall under the right coach), run in transition and pick defenses apart in the half court both inside and out.

Behind that starting five, the Clippers will have another top-10 draft pick and curio DeAndre Jordan in development, along with a few vets who will happily accept the minimum to play in Los Angeles behind James.

The most important question a Clippers team composed of James, Davis, Gordon, Griffin and Kaman will pose to opposing coaches is this: Who are you going to leave to help on LeBron?

James' addition would allow Kaman to return to the low block, where he's most efficient. Opponents have to guard James so tightly on the perimeter that Kaman will pick up a couple of opportunities per game just by being under the glass or along the baseline inside of 15 feet.

Gordon won't have to force the issue, as he started doing when the Clips desperately needed a bucket last season, which was often. Instead, the third-year guard can settle into being a lethal weak side threat alongside two phenomenal passers who know where to find him.

Griffin is a natural force and a much better option for James than a stretch-4 who can't stretch or guard. Stoudemire was the right fit for the Cavs at the deadline. James would get many of Stoudemire's assets with Griffin, a dedicated kid who will be eager and willing to sculpt his game around James and defend as if his life depends on it.

Skeptics might ask what about Davis? Is he willing to sublimate his ego to become the second (or even third) banana? Davis has already tacitly recognized that, on the other side of 30, he's no longer a No. 1 option for a successful NBA team. He moderated his shot selection somewhat in 2009-10, an adjustment that lifted his efficiency numbers even as his usage rate dropped to its lowest level since 2002-03. He'd love nothing more than to graduate into a Jason Kidd-like role provided he has a closer he can pass to.

The loss to Boston taught James and the rest of us that breadth and depth of talent are far more important to a team's success than anything else. That doesn't mean James and his advisors are wrong to consider things like endorsement potential, livability, the voraciousness of the local press corps, proximity to Akron, ownership or a franchise's historical legacy in the decision-making process.

But if James is truly interested in surrounding himself with four teammates who have a full range of talents to complement his game and embody a smart mix of youth and experience, he'd be short-sighted not to give the Clippers a very, very close look.

[The G Apple]

Gracias por el titulo y el apoyo...el anti-Lacustrismo une aficiones llenas de mala suerte como pueden ser los Clippers y los Suns. Que si lesiones, que si años si deciones arbitrales dudosas, que si cosas raras en Play-Off (los Suns somos el equipo que mas veces ha jugado Play-Off...sin ganar un misero anillo) . En fin, un saludo Clippers y especialmente para vuestro ENORME base, Don Baron Davis, que nos ha estado apoyando por Twitter desde que empezamos el Play-Off

Un BEAT L.A. (Lakers) para todos

[Mr. Cátering]

Gracias por el titulo y el apoyo...el anti-Lacustrismo une aficiones llenas de mala suerte como pueden ser los Clippers y los Suns. Que si lesiones, que si años si deciones arbitrales dudosas, que si cosas raras en Play-Off (los Suns somos el equipo que mas veces ha jugado Play-Off...sin ganar un misero anillo) . En fin, un saludo Clippers y especialmente para vuestro ENORME base, Don Baron Davis, que nos ha estado apoyando por Twitter desde que empezamos el Play-Off

Un BEAT L.A. (Lakers) para todos

Y Griffin apoyando a su hermano Taylor.

Se desea por Clipperland que os folléis a los Lakers a parte de ser vuestro rival los Lakers por el enorme cariño que se le tiene a Alvin Gentry. Él era el entrenador de la franquicia cuando Odom, Richardson, Brand y compañía enamoraron a la NBA con su juego (otra cosa son los resultados que se consiguieran).

[Mr. Cátering]

Artículo de Clippernation acerca de Lebron y las posibilidades de venir a LA:

The conventional wisdom this season has been that in order for the Cavs to re-sign LeBron James they needed to win a championship. Or more accurately, that the odds of him leaving Cleveland would increase substantially if they did not win a ring. Well, guess what? They didn't win.

It doesn't mean that LeBron is gone - but you could hardly tell from the way everyone has reacted. It certainly didn't help that his final game in Cleveland this year (possibly his final game as a Cavalier) was a 32 point blowout in which he was booed in the fourth quarter. He might want to get used to that - If he signs elsewhere that's all he's going to hear on trips back to Cuyahoga County.

It's not hard to see why everyone thinks that LeBron is LeGone. This Cavs team was built to win now - and they didn't. If he stays in Cleveland, he's stuck with Antawn Jamison, Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao (and the $30M combined they'll make next season) as his supporting cast. The center position is currently empty, with both Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas being free agents, and both of those guys are on their last legs even if you wanted to re-sign them. In a particularly bitter twist, the Cavs don't have a single draft pick in this draft, with the first rounder going to the Wizards as part of the Jamison deal and the second rounder going to the Suns in the Shaq trade. In other words, Shaq and Jamison were acquired to win now, they didn't, and the second half of the 'win now' equation is 'lose later.'



In fact, if LeBron does indeed leave, the Cavs could have one of the biggest backslides in league history. After having the best record in the league in 2009-2010, how bad would they be without LeBron next season? Only the post-Jordan Bulls come to mind as a comparable riches-to-rags story.

There are other reasons to believe that he'll be leaving Cleveland, above and beyond the immediate problem that the Cavs didn't win the title. His every word between now and July will be parsed for hidden meaning and I think for the most part people are making mountains out of grammatical molehills (for instance referring to his time in Cleveland in the past tense makes sense, given that his time there to this point is, you know, in the past). Having said that, one quote did catch my eye. When he said that "me and my team have a plan" (and by 'team' he meant "Team LeBron", not the Cleveland Cavaliers), that said a lot to me. And it didn't say "I'm staying in Ohio."

Because, let's face it, staying and playing for the hometown team would be a personal decision, not a team decision. The reasons to stay in Cleveland all tend toward the personal - loyalty, family, that sort of thing. Individuals care about that sort of thing. Teams of agents and lawyers and marketers care about things like maximizing exposure, global branding opportunities and multi-media cross over appeal. The 'team' wants him the hell out of Ohio.

If he does bolt, where will he end up? I have no idea, but neither does anyone else. How do I know? The 'LeBron and Calipari to the Bulls' rumor got so much traction, so quickly, it obviously was rushing in to fill a vacuum of LeBron info. Now, I don't pretend to understand the power of Worldwide Wes and Sonny Vaccaro, but I do know that Calipari isn't even looking for a job and has gone out of his way at this point to say that he will be coaching at Kentucky next season. (At least Vaccaro had the Clippers high on the list of potential destinations, for what it's worth.) How do rumors like this get started? Again, I don't know, but if John Calipari were making $10M in the NBA next season instead of $4M in Kentucky, someone else would stand to be making a lot more money also (like for instance his agent). But there's absolutely no reason for Calipari to get on Twitter and say he's coaching the Wildcats next season if he's not, so the red-hot rumor from this morning is done this afternoon. (It doesn't mean that LeBron wouldn't go to Chicago without Calipari of course, but the whole idea of that rumor was Calipari and his pals Rose and LeBron together in the Windy City, so it all looks like so much wind at this point.)

Even if no one knows where he will end up, everyone seems pretty certain about where he WON'T be - in LA with the Clippers. The Clippers don't even enter the conversation. Chris Sheridan handicaps the four favorites (New York, Miami, Chicago and Cleveland) and even throws a darkhorse into the race in New Jersey - with nary a mention of LA. You know it's a big sports story when they cover it on NPR, and Stefan Fatsis on "All Things Considered" today went through the same list, again omitting LA. Of course, those who do mention the Clippers usually conclude that, despite a lot of concrete reasons that LBJ should consider the Clippers, he won't because of the most concrete reason of all - "It's the Clippers." Solid reasoning.

Of course, "It's the Clippers" is really just code for the real reason - "It's the Donald" - and I happen to concur with that conclusion. LeBron has a lot of options, and wherever he goes there won't be a long list of people that can adversely affect him. Coaches can be fired, teammates can traded. But a bad owner? Even LeBron would have difficulty transcending that.

If we ignore that little problem just for the moment, you can certainly make a strong case for LeBron as a Clipper. Start by asking yourself why he would leave Cleveland. The reasons boil down to two that are head and shoulders above the rest -

the size of the market (and the opportunity to be an even bigger marketing brand that goes with it) and
the quality of the team.
There are other potential factors of course. Things like weather and taxes and nightlife. But it seems obvious that those factors are not significant as compared to the first two.

This is why omitting the Clippers from the conversation is so depressing, because based on these requirements LA is an obvious potential destination. LA is the second biggest market in the country, and it also happens to be the location of the movie industry. The reality is that LeBron was a plenty big marketing force in the relative backwater of Cleveland. But if you're looking for the things that one city might be able to provide to a global icon that another city could not, movie studios would be high on the list.

As for talent, most anybody who bothers to analyze the potential destination rosters tends to agree that the Clippers are a great choice, if not the best choice. If he joins the Knicks, he's joining a 29 win team that is losing their all star center and doesn't have a first round draft pick. Assuming they add a second major free agent, how much better will he be then David Lee? Maybe it will even be David Lee. In the best case scenario in New York, who's the starting point guard? Who's playing in the backcourt at all? After the free agent money is spent, the Knicks are still missing two starters.

If he joins the Nets, he's joining the team with the worst record in the league last year. Are Brooke Lopez and Devin Harris nice players? Sure. Did I mention that the Nets had the worst record in the league last year?

Chicago has a claim to most talented suitor, but I'm not convinced LeBron would want to be there. For one thing, if the driving force is to get to a bigger market, Chicago is certainly bigger than Cleveland, but it sure ain't New York or LA. I'm also not convinced that he's a good fit with Derrick Rose, who has to have the ball in his hands to be effective.

Miami's pitch is predicated completely on the guys they'll sign this summer (and yes, they have a ton of cap space), so it's hard to say what they look like. But there's a bigger problem with the Heat - Miami is already Dwyane Wade's town. I don't care how much LeBron says he's enjoyed playing with DWade on Team USA - he's not sharing the spotlight with him. If his ego is too big for Cleveland, then it's definitely too big to bunk with Wade's in South Beach.

On the other hand, i he were to join the Clippers, they'd immediately become the most complete starting five in the NBA (Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman). There'd be no question whose team it was, Baron Davis notwithstanding. And James and Griffin would have a chance to become the most formidable pair of athletes ever to suit up together. On talent alone, it's a compelling argument.

The latest issue of New York magazine is more or less dedicated to pitching LeBron on the Knicks as a destination. It's one of many shameless promotions going on, and there will doubtless be many more. (The Heat have dedicated a new web site to Dwyane Wade; a bunch of 'famous' Clevelanders got together for a "Please Stay LeBron" tribute song, which, if I was LeBron and I watched it, would pretty much send me to the exits. Those are the famous people in Cleveland? Yikes.) One of the the features in New York Magazine was a critique of all the potential destinations by Kevin Pelton. It actually included the Clippers, and here's what he had to say about LAC:

Pros: Better returning players than any competing team, with a glaring hole at small forward.
Cons: Those players all want the ball in their hands. These are the Clippers, the city’s second fiddle. And owner Donald Sterling has a poor reputation among NBA players. (Former G.M. Elgin Baylor once claimed Sterling tried to run the team with a "southern-plantation-type structure.")

"Better returnng players than any competing team." He said it, not me. The cons are what they are. I'm not sure I agree that all the other players necessarily want the ball in their hands more than most competent NBA players. In fact, Blake Griffin is likely to be more complementary than any other first overall pick. As for the other cons, they're all not basketball related - it's the Clippers, and it's the Donald. Sigh.

And that's why no one is talking about LA: it's the Clippers.

[Mr. Cátering]

Hoy es el sorteo del número uno del draft. Veremos a ver si se repite lo del año pasado:

The NBA Draft Lottery is typically an exciting day for Clippers fans, and as we learned last year, the wisdom of Kevin Garnett always applies: anything is possible.

The odds of lightning striking twice are pretty slim though. The Clippers have just a 2.3% percent chance of landing a top 3 pick. Take a look at this link that shows the Clippers chances in delicious pie chart format. (Hat tip to Golden State of Mind commenter Sleepy Freud for the chart and for the delightful username)

Team president Andy Roeser, he of awesome jacket prowess, will return to represent the Clippers. No word yet on whether the jacket will make another appearance. The draft lottery begins tomorrow at 5:00p PT, and we’ll be chatting live during the lottery tomorrow, starting early at 4:30p PT.

[D Jiménez]

Ójala pillen el 1 o el 2.

[Mr. Cátering]

No creo que tengamos tanta suerte. Por cierto, nos vuelve a representar Roeser. A ver si vuelve a lucir una chaqueta parecida a la del último sorteo.

[Fumantxu]

No creo que tengamos tanta suerte. Por cierto, nos vuelve a representar Roeser. A ver si vuelve a lucir una chaqueta parecida a la del último sorteo.

Según dicen va a llevar la misma chaqueta, para ver si le da la misma suerte.

[Mr. Cátering]

Ya lo puse en otro tópic pero no deja de ser curioso. Aficionados de los Clippers convocan una manifestación para el día 27 a las puertas del Staples, coincidiendo con el quinto partido de la final del Oeste, para pedirle a Sterling que fiche a Lebron:

Four years and nine days after the last time they had any reason to be there this late in the spring, Clippers fans will be hanging out around Staples Center on May 27.

Yes, Game 5 of the Western Conference finals could be taking place at that location on that day. And, of course, the Clippers will not be taking part in that game.

But Clippers fans are hoping their actions outside the arena that day might help turn their beloved team into a playoff contender. They have organized a "Bring LeBron to the L.A. Clippers" parade in an effort to catch the attention of Cleveland Cavaliers superstar and soon-to-be free agent LeBron James.

The Clippers have the salary cap space and are one of several teams that appear to be in the LeBron James sweepstakes. The parade is scheduled to run from 3 to 6 p.m., starting at L.A. Live, which just happens to be right across the street from where the Lakers will be playing the Suns at (coincidentally?) 6 p.m., if there is a Game 5.

The last time the Clippers actually took part in a playoff game in Staples Center was May 18, 2006, when they defeated the Suns, 118-106, in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Four nights later, however, the Clippers were eliminated by Phoenix, 127-107, thus setting off the series of events that have brought Clippers fans to this point of desperation.

Let's just hope they don't start singing.

[Mr. Cátering]

Al final nos quedamos con el pick 8, lo cual es una buena noticia si al final se intenta el asalto al fichaje de Lebron, ya que de tocarnos un pick del Top 3, sería imposible salariamente su fichaje:

With literally thousands of permutations possible, almost anything can happen in the draft lottery. The best result is obviously to move up in the draft, to first or second or third. The Clippers didn't move up - but other than that, it's hard to imagine the results being much better for the team. Let's look at the things that went right for the Clippers Tuesday afternoon.

They didn't move down. As I mentioned before, the Clippers' odds of moving down in the draft (to 9th or 10th) were actually better than their odds of moving up. Staying at 8 is a good thing in that context, not to mention that as of now Johnson and Aminu appear to be on the cusp of that 8th pick. A lot can change between now and the draft, but it's entirely possible that one spot is the difference between getting the player they want and need.

Western Conference teams didn't move up - and three of them moved down. It sucks playing in the West, where it takes 50 wins just to make the playoffs. But at least none of the conference rivals stand to get a franchise player in this draft. If you were going to pick teams to jump up into the top two spots, you'd definitely want them to be East teams. Mission accomplished. It just so happens that three of the four teams that moved down when Washington and Philadelphia moved up were Western Conference teams (two of them are even Division rivals, Sacramento and Golden State).

The Nets fell out of the top two. This may be relatively minor in the long run, but of the 14 lottery teams, the Nets were the one considered to be the top potential destination for LeBron James in free agency this July. Without John Wall, the team with the worst record in the NBA last season looks a lot like the team with the worst record in the NBA last season. It's worth noting that the Wizards also have oodles of cap space - more than enough to sign LeBron James. However, the Wizards haven't really been on anyone's LeBron radar so far. Maybe that will change now, but you have to remember that one of the perceived drivers behind making a change is the size of the market. It's hard to see King James moving from Cleveland to Washington D.C. The botton line is that New Jersey didn't get more attractive to LeBron, and Washington probably didn't get attractive enough. And speaking of not being on the radar, both Minnesota and Sacramento have maximum cap space, so seeing them move down is pretty good as well.

The Clippers can afford the 8th Pick. It would have been a good problem to have, but recall that the Clippers would have been unable to offer a full maximum contract to LeBron James had they moved up into the top three of this draft, as the salary difference between third pick and the eighth pick would have been a little too much to absorb. This way, LA can make and keep their draft pick and still afford to make a max offer without jumping through any more hoops. It's a relatively minor consideration, but it's there.

There are a lot of other implications as well. Assuming John Wall goes to the Wizards and Evan Turner goes to the Sixers, does that mean that Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala are available? Do the teams still in front of the Clippers decide to pick small forwards, or do they go after some of the quality bigs in the draft? There's about five weeks to contemplate all of these issues, and we'll know a lot more as draft workouts get started. But for now, suffice it to say that the lottery could have turned out better, but it also could have turned out a whole lot worse.

[D Jiménez]

Eso es positivismo jaja

[Mr. Cátering]

Noticias sobre Griffin. Es muy posible que no esté en la liga de verano de Las Vegas para reservarse de cara al training camp:

The Los Angeles Clippers may not have won the NBA draft lottery for the second year in a row, but they are getting the No. 1 pick.

Last year's No. 1 overall pick, that is.

Blake Griffin, the Oklahoma star who missed all of his rookie season with a stress fracture in his left kneecap, has been fully cleared for all basketball activities.

"Right now Blake is working out with no restrictions, at full speed, 100 percent to the point where [strength coach] Rich Williams asked me to talk to Blake about dialing it back a little bit," Clippers general manager Neil Olshey said.

"He's working out in May like we were ready to tip off in October. The only guy I feel bad for is the first one of his teammates that shows up and wants to play one-on-one with him."

Griffin injured his knee in the Clippers' final preseason game on October 23. He rested for a few weeks and was hoping to return by the middle of the season. But the recovery process did not go as hoped and he was forced to have season-ending surgery.

"It's been a long year; it's been tough to sit out" Griffin said before the Clippers' final game of the season on April 14. "But from my point of view, my rookie year is next year and I've got an up close and personal look at what I need to do and what I need to be prepared for."

Olshey said that the team is still deciding whether to have Griffin play in the Las Vegas Summer League, where he was MVP last year, though it sounded as though he probably won't.

"Whether or not he defends his title as the summer league MVP, we'll take that as it comes," Olshey said. "But I don't know if we'll expose him to running around with a bunch of rookies and undrafted free agents.

"I don't know if playing five games in Vegas in July really makes a difference for what we need in October. But if he doesn't play with the team, it'll have nothing to do with health issues."

Olshey said that doctors have indicated Griffin's stress fracture was a "freak thing" that won't be a concern now that it's healed properly, and that his knee is actually feeling better than before because his tendonitis healed because of the extended layoff.

"The interesting thing is we're going to end up with a better rookie than we would've nine months ago just because of all the time he's spent in the gym working on his shooting mechanics," Olshey said. "He's in there every day.

"It goes to the type of kid he is. There's almost a guilt there when he saw what the other rookies are doing. He's almost trying to prove to us what we already knew about him, which is that we're not going to find a harder worker or a better kid. "

Por cierto, en un chat que hay en la ESPN acerca del futuro de Lebron, hay bastante gente que lo ve en L.A. por los comentarios que he podido ver.

[Legend]

[Mr. Cátering]

Let's go Celtics