BallerBlogger.com » Points in the Paint

» June 24, 2009 6:53 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

Bill Simmons’ open letter to Blake Griffin starts like this: “Run. Just start running. Run for your life. Run like the star of a horror movie. Don’t turn around. Run and keep running. I think you should play in Greece. Or Italy. Or Spain. Or anywhere else. You should play anywhere but for the Clippers. Your agents and advisors are in denial. They don’t want you to seem like an ungrateful jerk. They want you to be as marketable and likable as possible. They have talked themselves into the following scenario: ‘If Blake can turn the Clippers around and become a star in the No. 2 TV market in the country, only good things will happen to him.’ See, this is where they are wrong. The odds are overwhelming that bad things will happen to you until you leave. And you will. The Clippers are cursed. They have been cursed for 33 consecutive years. It’s a real curse, not a ‘Curse of the Bambino’-type hex manufactured to sell books. There has to be a legitimate reason why the Clippers franchise has been falling apart like Jon and Kate for three-plus decades, right?”

Michael Beasley is adjusting to fatherhood: “His daughter and first child, Mikaiya Zenee Beasley, was born May 19 in New York. Basketball has since taken on a greater meaning. It was a game he always played for fun, and he vowed to keep having fun even when he started play for money. Now, it’s a job he can no longer afford to take for granted. The NBA game also provided a passkey of sorts to a lifestyle of late-night hangouts, clubs and flirtations with irresponsibility. For Beasley, the NBA now rhymes with 401K. And it represents a chance to provide for life well after he no longer hears the buzzer. Maturation is no longer something for him to consider. It is a mandate. ‘Having another life in your hands, it forces you to grow up and think twice about everything instead of yourself all the time,’ said Beasley, who spent Father’s Day at home in Washington with Mikaiya before he resumed workouts in Miami this week. ‘My first year, I was living day by day, cashing checks and thinking, `I can buy this, I can buy that.’ Now, it’s like, ‘If I go [die] tomorrow, can she be set for life?’ Instead of saving half of what you get, I’m saving 75 percent of everything I get.’”

John Hollinger says Florida’s lack of state income tax could offset some of the loot Chris Bosh would lose by signing with the Heat in 2010.

Scott Howard-Cooper: “This draft could turn into an auction more than any other. A lot of teams are strained for cash, several championship hopefuls or playoff contenders don’t have a first-round pick, and the deep-pocket guys are reading buyer’s market and hoping to get a first-round pick at a bargain rate compared to past years. Either that or get much higher than past years for their $3 million, the most teams can include in a trade. Among those willing to spend while so many others are looking to save or survive: the Spurs, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Mavericks and maybe the Rockets. The second set of Minnesota picks are obvious targets. So is the Kings’ pick at No. 23.”

Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc Stein have more draft and trade rumors. From Stein: “The Suns and Cavs, sources say, were trying hard last week to recruit a third team to help facilitate the deal, presumably to help furnish Phoenix with more than just the financial relief that would come with the acquisitions of Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. No willing third team offering up a serviceable big man whom Phoenix likes has been located. Yet.”

Mike Trudell of Lakers.com: “Kupchak talked to Phil Jackson this morning: ‘If he comes back to coach – He will come back and coach both home and away games.’ Kupchak said Jackson agreed with him that ‘Type of scenario doesn’t work.’” (Via @forumbluegold)

Basketbawful posts Part I of the 2008-09 Worsties, starring a championship ring clad Brian Scalabrine as the Worsties mascot.

Mark Cuban on his requirements for letting bloggers into the Mavs locker room: “None anymore. Just show up, just get permission in advance and we’ll let you in. (Host: Do you look at that sports blog ahead of time?) Not really, not anymore. (Host: Why?) Why is the exact question. I mean, there’s no good reason to anymore. If I was gonna try and evaluate qualitatively in this day and age, it’s almost impossible. There’s just so many different angles, so many approaches, and there’s such a fragmented face of readership, and the expectations of readership are so different among them, that there’s no good reason to qualitatively make a choice.”

Darren Rovell: “In April, we told you that no NBA draft pick would sign a shoe endorsement deal worth more than $1 million a year. That top number, we’re told is now down to $750,000, as there’s little evidence that any shoe company has begun substantive negotiations with any prospective draft pick from this year’s class. All is quiet from Nike, who famously agreed to pay LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony a combined $108 million in 2003. Last year, Nike signed the kid who was once termed ‘The Next LeBron James,’ O.J. Mayo, for $400,000 a year.” LeBron’s initial seven-year, $100 million contract with Nike expires next year. Has LeBron sold enough shoes and apparel to justify a raise? Will Nike sweeten the deal if James plays in New York? I don’t know know the answers to those questions, but I guarantee Nike will be a major player in the summer of LeBron. James’ stated goal is to become a billion dollar athlete. He won’t become a billion dollar athlete without Nike. They’ve cornered the basketball shoe market.

3 Responses to “Points in the Paint”

john amaechi Says:
June 25th, 2009 at 9:22 am

If Shaq is such a desirable player, why did Miami trade him 16 months ago, and why did Phoenix agree to deal him now?

Good question Charley.

john amaechi Says:
June 25th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

hahahaha.

“sorry” Charley Rosen actually went in and edited the piece you’ve linked above iffman.

total dusty move.

what a toolbox.

I wonder if kids in China still buy Shaq jerseys?

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