Kurt of Forum Blue and Gold: Breaks down the salary cap ramifications of matching Ronny Turiaf’s offer from Golden State and tells us how much the Lakers can afford to spend.
Mike Kahn of Foxsports: “All that had to happen was for Brand to accept the five-year offer from the Clippers after opting out of his deal, and they’d be together. With all the excitement in the air, there were even rumblings out of fellow Clippers free agent Corey Maggette’s camp that he might consider sticking around. Considering the growth of rookie forward Al Thornton and the drafting of talented young guard Eric Gordon, there were plenty of reasons for optimism to be flowing. Except we’re talking about the Clippers.”
Ian O’Connor of Foxsports: “While running Team USA in Athens, Larry Brown embarrassed himself far more than any of his NBA players did. Brown mercilessly ripped his Olympic team and the selection committee members who picked it, lost games to Puerto Rico, Lithuania and Argentina, and inspired David Stern to call a halftime news conference during the men’s semifinals for the sole purpose of blasting his coach.”
Steve Aschburner of Sports Illustrated: “For years now, the NBA’s balance of power — East to West and vice versa — has drawn all sorts of inexplicable and undue attention. As if it’s wrong for things to tilt one way or the other in sports as opposed to, y’know, our daily lives and relationships. Gimme a break. In most arenas, there is no balance of power.”
Eric Musselman’s Basketball Notebook: “Can a good coach help an average (or below average) team to be more competitive and win a few more games over the course of a season? Of course. Effective coaches who know not only the strategic and technical aspects of the game (i.e., the X’s and O’s), but also the “soft” side of the game (e.g., how to motivate, communicate, etc.), are likely to get the most out of his players.”
Eric Pincus of HOOPSWORLD: “You know I don’t know. I don’t think it does any good to guess. For me it’s a little bit of a mystery. I think the best on and the only one who can answer that is Elton for himself. From our perspective we were a little disappointed to hear his decision to go to Philadelphia. But at the end of the day if that’s his decision – you have to respect his decision, wish him well and we have to move on and do what we have to do to move our team move forward. I hope he’s happy with his decision – I’m confident it will work out for us.” – Los Angeles Clippers President Andy Roeser
Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie: “I truly do like Bogut’s game, think he’s been used improperly, and understand that you pay centers 1.43 times worth what you pay every other position player who contributes about the same amount. It doesn’t mean the Bucks didn’t bid against themselves. You can still sustain a good relationship with a player and person that you like while demanding that the market determine what he should be paid.”
