July 16, 2008

Sports Look: The Wednesday Roundup

The move of Elton Brand to the 76ers greatly impacts the Western Conference.  While many GMs in the west breathed a sigh of relief when Brand signed with the 76ers this off-season, it could have been very different. 

The Clippers and Warriors have just been outside of the playoffs the past few seasons.  The Clippers suffered several injuries this past season while the Warriors just barely missed the playoffs.  Both teams felt that if Baron Davis and Elton Brand had stayed with their respective teams that they were one or two players away from making a run in the playoffs. 

When Brand and Davis both opted out of their contracts it appeared as if the Clippers had made a coup.  It looked like Brand and Davis had talked about joining together with the Clippers.  Brand would opt out so that Davis could get the amount of money he wanted and Brand would then resign with the team.  While no one officially said that this is what happened, this is what appeared to be the deal. 

Davis gave his word that he would sign first and then the offers started coming in for Brand.  The Clippers had their offer into Brand, the Warriors came in with a large offer and then the 76ers made a trade to be able to have more money to offer Brand.  

Now for Brand, his options were to sign with the Clippers who were going to be playing in the tougher West, against Tim Duncan, Shaq, Oden and every other big man in the West.  In the East, he would instantly become one of the top two PF in the division.  It was a tough decision but Brand chose to go with the team that offered him the best chance to reach the finals.  The 76ers with Brand have to be one of the best teams in the East with Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.

With Brand leaving, the Clippers are now stuck with a PG that is sometimes moody, injury prone, got burnt by his friend and playing for a coach that often rubs his players wrong.  That doesn’t sound like the type of PG you want on a team.  The Clippers have a huge hole at the PF spot.  They are now doing damage control and looking at the Restricted Free Agents still on the market and trading partners.  Someone like Zach Randolph is an option as well as Charlie Villanueva.  None of their options are going to make them a playoff team.  With Brand they could have made the playoffs, without him, there is no chance.

The Warriors are in the same state without Baron Davis.  They barely made the playoffs two years ago and barely made it this year.  Davis was the heart and soul of this team in many ways.  He ran the offense and thrived in it.  Without him, the team is going to rely on Monta Ellis to run the team. Two issues with that is that he is still a restricted free agent and the team has to come to terms with him and he hasn’t shown that he can run a team full time. 

The Warriors made bold moves after realizing they were not going to lure Brand to the team.  Corey Maggette singed a large deal and it appears that the Lakers won’t match the offer sheet given to Ronnie Turiaf.  Neither of these players fully makes up for the impact of losing Davis.  The Warriors aren’t a playoff team and have been set back years.

The Clippers and Warriors felt the biggest impact from Brand leaving the West but every other Western Conference team signed in relief.  The Western Conference also just lost two playoff contenders, giving the Blazers the best chance out of the teams that missed the playoffs last year to make a splash in the playoffs this coming season.

• Tyron Lue mentioned over a week ago that he was most likely going to sign with the Suns.  Turns out that he didn’t give his word on it and he is now contemplating the Celtics’.  The two teams he has narrowed it down to are the Celtics’ and the Suns.  It looked like Orlando was in the mix but Anthony Johnson just signed with the Magic taking away one of Lue’s desired teams.  The Heat also are rumored to be in the mix but could find themselves going after Jason Williams instead. 
   

• The Rockets are trying to complete a minor trade and it looks like the Grizzlies are the trading partner. 
   

• The Rockets released center Loren Woods Monday.
   

• Javaris Crittenton is on the trading block and the Magic almost got him but it appears the deal fell through.  The Magic were also pursuing Keyon Dooling but only wanted to offer their veterans minimum.  Dooling’s rep says that the offer is insulting and appears to have flat out said no.  This appears to be the reason that Magic went with Anthon Johnson.  This then leads to question of what big man the Magic are going to go after now.  They are in desperate need for size and they wanted to secure the backup PG position which they just did.  Look for them to get a backup type player for the veteran minimum or trade a SG or two for a Center.  The Oklahoma (Insert Team Name) have a few backup centers that they could look to get rid of. 
   

• Any team looking for an impact PF is going to have a hard time finding one in free agency.  The Best PFs left in free agency aren’t true PFs at all.  Josh Smith is a SF/PF hybrid and Emeka Okafor is better suited as a Center in the league.  Behind those two players there is a huge drop off and the fact that both those players are restricted is a huge blow to the market. 
  
  The leftovers include Craig Smith, Carl Landry, Walter Herrmann, Robert Horry and Juwan Howard.  Besides young players like Smith and Landry, there isn’t a player on this list that most teams will be going after anytime soon.  If they do get picked up, look for it to be later on in the off season or in Horry and Howard’s case, retirement. 
  
  Look for teams that have expendable PFs to get better value for them than expected just because of the lack of impact players in free agency.

Scott Church has been covering the NBA for six years.  He resides in Utah and you can contact him at Scott@categoryonegames.com. 

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