Warriors make 5 year, 90 million dollar offer to Brand

Like I said before, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Elton Brand and Baron Davis had some some sort of arrangement. Baron wouldn't risk going to LA just to see Brand leave.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Joker @ Jul 3 2008, 02:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Like I said before, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Elton Brand and Baron Davis had some some sort of arrangement. Baron wouldn't risk going to LA just to see Brand leave.</div>
Which is what I fear. I don't think he will sign with the Warriors, but you never know.

 

Brand would have to 'not' want to win a championship if he signs with the warriors. The current best case scenario for him to win one is to stick with the clips.

 

Eh, Clippers and Warriors are in the same situation without having Brand.

Super-short take:
Clippers: Baron, Kaman, Thomas, Mobley, Thornton, Gordon, Knight. Obviously some free agent signees via MLE
Mobley/Baron are a bit old but still good for 1-2 years, Kaman is solid and Baron can only make him better, Thomas gives you a solid 11+ pts a game but nothing superstar level. Young guys Thornton and Gordon are promising. Clear lack of bench depth now especially at the wing due to Maggette's departure, but fairly solid up front if Brand re-signs. Mobley and/or the rookies can be considered trade bait, the rest would be unwise to move if they want to win now.

Warriors: Ellis, Biedrins, Jackson, Harrington, Wright, Randolph, Belinelli, Watson?, Azubuike?, Perovic?, whatever they can pick up in free agency
Ellis' development is the x factor, whether he can handle PG duties or whether it'll force us into getting one, but he's great as a scoring guard already. Biedrins is pretty solid at a young age, still improving his offensive game. Jackson and Harrington are pretty reliable at this stage of their career, at least as reliable as Mobley/Thomas at their positions. The rookies are all promising, though still too early to tell for sure. Could use a PG/backup, but solid at the guard/wing positions otherwise. Would be set up front if Brand signs. Harrington/Jackson or any of the rookies could be valuable trade bait if we want to win now.

Basically the Warriors have a lot of room to grow but are already decent. The Clippers have a little room to grow, and have a smaller window due to age. Warriors will have more cap room in 2009 (depending on what they do, either 8 million or at least 3 million more in cap space) and also in 2010, even if Brand happens to sign. As a W's fan I'd call it a toss up if Brand was signed with the W's, plus the Warriors have more youth and flexibility and trade pieces. Even if you call the Clippers better, you can't deny the business side of things - bleak Clippers future unless they pull of major trades.

 

I doubt Brand will sign with the Warriors but who knows? This is to force the Clippers to the table and sign-and-trade for Baron. I wouldn't mind the Warriors extracting big PG Eric Gordon from the Clips.

Clips sign Gordon (in order to trade to Warriors)

 

I don't think the addition of Baron, even with Brand, is the difference in getting the Clippers to a championship anyway, or even the Finals IMO. If the Warriors could sign Brand and somehow flip Harrington for Artest, they would be quite scary, but of course that is a very longshot dream. If the Ws don't get Brand or Arenas, they might as well just go into full rebuilding (read: tank) mode and draft a young stud PG. I'd hate to sacrifice another year and more $ only to fall just short of a playoff berth once again. The only problem is I don't think Jackson or Nelson are going to be very happy with that.

 

Brand probably had an understanding with Baron and the Clips that it could be a package deal, but not a firm agreement. Unlike Boozer, he never gave his word, just a feeling. He's covered because he never thought that the W's would give him max money. He probably thought he would have to take a discount given the ruptured achilles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Jul 3 2008, 05:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>FWIW Stephen A. Smith just said that hes been told that Mike Dunleavy Sr. planned this whole thing to get Baron and Brand in a package deal. When Brand's agent (Falk) found out he was furious and went to the W's who offered the max deal. Brand is now reportedly incommunicado with anyone and everyone.</div>

Cool, that means there is some disagreement in the Brand camp which could lead to him going to the W's.

 

If that Brand trade happens, then maybe Mullin could pull the trigger on the Hinrich deal for Harrington (if that's something the Bulls would do). We'll miss Harrington's outside shot, but we accomplish 2 things. We add depth at the point guard spot. We can convert Hinrich or Ellis into a two guard. We've suddenly got three talented power forwards in Brand, Wright, and Hendrix. Talk about improving our inside scoring and rebounding over night. We could also finally set some hard picks and tough screens now. I'm loving this team already if something like that went down.

pg: Kirk Hinrich - C (Cj Watson)
sg: Monta Ellis (Marco Bellinelli)
sf: Sjax - C (re-sign Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Randolph)
pf: Elton Brand - C (Brandan Wright, Richard Hendrix)
c: Andris Biedrins (Kosta Perovic)

Free agents to look at: Ricky Davis, Bonzi Wells

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shapecity @ Jul 3 2008, 07:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>There's been a lot of buzz on the radio shows out here in LA. The additional $20M the Warriors are offering Brand has him strongly considering their offer and sources in the Clipper organization are worried.

Another scenario presented was the Clippers making another trade to free up money to match the Warriors offer to Brand and the money they will pay Baron.

Brilliant move by the Warriors, but they better have a contingency plan in case they lose out on both Brand and Baron.</div>

Thanks for the news, Shape. This is getting good. The worst case scenario is we have to play Wright, Hendrix instead of Brand, Wright. If the Chicago offer for Harrington is a possibility, I would like to grab Hinrich. Out of the two who has the biggest potential to be an all-star? What if Ellis gets hurt or Bellinelli is a bust, we aren't totally screwed in terms of guard depth. The next move Mullin should go for is try to find somebody that can play a Jerry Stackhouse or Mike Finley or Eddie Jones role to pair up with a re-signed Kelenna Azubuike.

I would think Brand was aggressively pursuing anyone and everyone so he might not even go to us. Oh well. The dubs can offer the most and it is worth it IMO if his health checks out. He's a model of consistency and he's the prototype of what an all-star big man should be. He's very underrated.

 

Money talks, and I think 20 mils got Brand's attention. I am sure there was a some sort of agreement among Clippers, Davis and Brand. Otherwise, neither of them would give up huge $ to test uncertain FA market. I thought we would have no shot at Brand, and I am sure his first choice is to go back to Clippers. But more Brand waits, better chance we would have. At worst, Clippers may have to increase the offer for Brand (screwing up their financial situation) or pay rather hefty price for Davis' sign-and-trade.

As for Brand, I don't think he is worth 18-20 mils/5 years. But, I guess it beats Lewis signing...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jason voorhees @ Jul 3 2008, 01:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I doubt Brand will sign with the Warriors but who knows? This is to force the Clippers to the table and sign-and-trade for Baron. I wouldn't mind the Warriors extracting big PG Eric Gordon from the Clips.

Clips sign Gordon (in order to trade to Warriors)</div>

Nah, they probably made their available FA salary less. That's what happened. Rookie scale deals still count against the salary cap.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kwan1031 @ Jul 3 2008, 07:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Money talks, and I think 20 mils got Brand's attention. I am sure there was a some sort of agreement among Clippers, Davis and Brand. Otherwise, neither of them would give up huge $ to test uncertain FA market. I thought we would have no shot at Brand, and I am sure his first choice is to go back to Clippers. But more Brand waits, better chance we would have. At worst, Clippers may have to increase the offer for Brand (screwing up their financial situation) or pay rather hefty price for Davis' sign-and-trade.

As for Brand, I don't think he is worth 18-20 mils/5 years. But, I guess it beats Lewis signing...</div>

Well it depends on which players you want to compared Brand and salaries with from my point of view. Jermaine O'Neal will make over 21 million dollars next season. Dirk is at 18 million dollars. AK 47 is at 15 million dollars. So 18-20 million dollars seems reasonable compared to some of these guys. But then I guess if you compare him to Amare and Gasol both at about 15 million dollars for next season, then perhaps the offering price is a bit high.

But I would like to see Elton Brand as a Warrior (a healthy one). I am not sure what his health status is. I think that would help me make a more decisive say if he's worth the money. I mean he did come back and play 8 games last season and did pretty well, including a game vs the Warriors. He is a 20/10 guy, blocks shots, and gets to the free throw line. I think these are things the Warriors could definitely use.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kwan1031 @ Jul 3 2008, 07:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>But more Brand waits, better chance we would have. At worst, Clippers may have to increase the offer for Brand (screwing up their financial situation) or pay rather hefty price for Davis' sign-and-trade.</div>

How could a sign and trade even work? The salaries still have to match up right? The Clippers don't have 13 mil worth of players/contracts I'd want (aside from Brand). If we would have to take back that much salary I'd rather see him go for free.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shapecity @ Jul 3 2008, 08:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I also think Biedrins production would vastly improve with Brand around. He'd benefit from all the double teams Brand gets in the post and could clean up weakside rebounds. One thing Biedrins does proficiently is grab offensive rebounds and send them down in one motion</div>

I couldn't agree more. Biedrins would clean up on the offensive boards. If the team could move Harrington for a pure 1, an Andre Miller/Hinrich kind of guy to split time with Ellis handling the ball, this team would have a lot of promise in the coming years. It'd buy time for the young twigs to eat and put on the weight they need to play a full season in the NBA.