I think Mully is realing with the blindside hit B. Diddy laid on him (not that he didn’t deserve it with his low balling offer to Baron). Now he is over-reacting with these wild offers to Arenas (a really bad idea IMHO) and to Brand (a really good idea).

I would love for us to have Brand but don’t see it happening, especially with Nellie in his last year and no clear successor in sight. It might be different if we had an inspired and motivated owner who values having a winning franchise and puts his money where his mouth is.

Right now we have the means and a little window of time to carefully and strategically build a team for the next five years. I don’t mind facing a 35 win season if we have a plan and a will to fulfill that plan. I just hope Mully and Co. are burning the midnight oil addressing our clearly defined unmet needs and a lot of cash to meet those needs.

Brand would be great but let’s have a Plan B.

I don’t think offering Elton Brand a max contract is just a PR move. He would be walking away from A LOT of money if he declines the Warriors offer.

the clippers would offer brand the max and nix the deal with baron davis. Eb isn’t going anywhere.

yeah, u’re an emotional guy, but some day you’re gonna have to up your objectivity a bit and take your bitterness out of the front page. it’s a freakin drag reading your bitchin for the past year and a half since JRich left. Yeah, you don’t respond to the criticism as much but ur still f’in annoying—and before you expel me from the site or say “i can just not come”, F you, this site is more than just you, it’s about the community and no matter how influential you may be in the creation and maintenance of this site, that doesnt give you a free pass to be a constant buzz kill.

opted out knowing that there were only 2 teams 11 Million under the cap , and knew at that time no other team could offer him as much as the Clips. But little did anyone figure out that whne they took Baron from the warriors that put Golden State almost $20 Million under. That made us the only team in the league who can attack free agency and in the process blow up the Clippers. Payback is a biach. Losing Baron and having all this moneyis a blessing in disguise. This team will be better next year than last. Just watch.
Brand comes on board and AL gets traded stright up for apoint guard. Also with Brand we now may not need BW and he is very valuable trade bait. This team is going ot have 3 new qulaity players by the begiining of the season and it will be a better team.

I think Mullin’s play for Brand is not just an obligatory PR move. Rather I think it shows that our front office is anything but incompetent. Check our what Hu and Kawakami are writing..

Basically we’re making it real uncomfortable for the Clips and for Baron right now. By making this offer to Brand we’re throwing a wrench into the gears of what seemed to be a wonderful move by the Clippers. Granted it probably won’t land us Brand but at least we’re not sitting back while a division foe steals our best player. I think Mullin and Co. should be commended for at least putting up a good fight…

Kawakami:

If Brand does not take that deal, and the Baron numbers can’t be manipulated lower… either Brand is walking away from $13M (the difference between a Warriors’ max offer and the Clippers with-Baron max offer) or Baron gets less than he expected from the LACs or the Clippers will have to pay Brand more and use the sign-and-trade route to get Davis.... Brand wants to stay in LA. Brand wants to play with Baron. They did this together. It’s still an entertaining move by Mullin and the Warriors, but the most likely result is that Brand gets more than the Clippers thought and/or Baron gets slightly less.

Hu:

OK, here’s the latest on the Warriors chase of Elton Brand: Golden State has offered him a five-year deal worth $90 million, which is right around the maximum allowed, and more importantly, is about $15 MILLION MORE THAN THE CLIPPERS CAN OFFER. Why? Because in order to sign Baron Davis to his five-year, $65 million deal, the Clippers will have to renounce their rights to both Brand and Corey Maggette. Which means the Clips will become subject to the same salary cap constraints as any other team. Which means they cannot add a sixth year onto Brand’s deal. Which means that five years at close to $75 million is their limit.

Atma.. please give the cynicism a rest and bring something more constructive to the tale

just brainstorming, but other scenarios could make the warriors bid even sweeter for him…

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2008/7/2/563902/why-signing-elton-brand-mi

sweet revenge??

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Sweet-revenge-Warriors-offer-Brand-100-million?urn=nba,91662

We offered a chucker like Gilbert 5 years at around $100 million but only $85-90 million to an even rarer kind of 20-10 big man like Brand? That extra $10 million could possibly make or break the deal for us.

Brand to the Warriors… that’s an upgrade if we had a decent PG and wanted to switch to a more half court focused style of play. I think it’s a desperate move trying to screw up Baron and Brand’s little side deal. Offering Arenas $100 million is flat our retarded. We might as well fire off $65 million to Diop or Mbenga while we’re at it.

The most frustrating thing about this off-season is that the Warriors are raising prices again!! For what? 48 wins and a shitty draft pick? (Okay granted we got historically shafted there but come on Warriors!). When my boy and I first got our season tickets we had the lowest price lower bowl seats in the NBA ($24 a game.. damn it seems like $1.00 gas now).

You keep milking one of the most ridiculously loyal fan bases in the NBA and for what? Playoffs every other year? And we’re talking 6,7,8 seeds in a ridiculously stacked Western conference. As awesome as the “We Believe” series was that euphoria is done now that Baron is going.

Let me say I think keeping Ellis around is #1 most important part of our future but put good players around him. Arenas with Ellis is a terrible match and will only ensure another 4-5 years of mediocrity.

Baron should take a lot of the blame for not being up front BEFORE the draft where we could have grabbed a guy like Chris Douglas Roberts in the early 2nd (and made use of our mid level exception) had we known we were losing our star PG.

And on a related note of not paying guys with injury history too much, Brand is as dangerous a long term signing as Baron is. Let’s be honest Baron slumped pretty hard post all star break last season and I’m pretty confident it had a lot to do with the fatigue of finally playing a full season.

Don’t get me wrong the trio of BDiddy, Nelly and Mullin turned the franchise around but overpaying him for an awesome playoff series might be a bit much. I was mad at New Orleans for booing him but maybe they just felt the same way.

Sorry I’m kind of ranting I haven’t posted in a long time on here and I’m pretty frustrated with the latest turn of events. I have to say though if they take care of Monta and Beans and don’t overpay for Arenas and Brand I can deal with one setback year to build for a young team that could contend for 4-5 years. They should offer rebates to season ticket holders though!

P.S. Tony send me that file of DRich the OG Anchorman!!

I agree….we should just wait for Lebron James and give him a max contract and a supporting cast…

brand is leaning toward staying with the clips, heard it on espn

http://www.latimes.com/video/?slug=la-sp-plaschke4-2008jul04-vid

maybe we should have gotten jim barnett to make a one for BD.