Elton, please feel free to opt out of the last year of your contract, worth $16 million, and sign with the World Champions Boston Celtics for the MLE.

Money can’t buy happiness, you know. ;D

the asian journal article says most filipinos are lakers fans. in los angeles that may be true but in manila the celtics are the favorites

nox45, I Agree..Im from manila and have always bled green.

The Clippers have every opportunity to become contenders once again this off-season.

High lottery draft pick
The return of Elton Brand
The return of Shaun Livingston
The growth of Chris Kaman
The addition of Al Thornton
Corey Maggette’s Free Agency hopes are abymsal. Seriously which team with money is paying him significant dollars? They’ll be able to get a good deal with him if they want to hold onto him.

Really nice core to their team.

PG Brevin Knight/Livingston
SG Mobley/ Nobody worth talking about
SF Maggette/Thornton
PF Brand/Thomas
C Kaman/ Nobody worth talking about

They’re in desperate need for more perimeter shooting and better perimeter defense.

Their perimeter defense is the biggest difference between their playoff run and their collapse a year later. The Clipps were one of the best defensive teams in the league three seasons ago versus one of the worst two seasons ago, it was their perimeter defense that changed. Livingston was their best perimeter defender although he can’t guard quick point guards (and who knows how well he’s going to recover). None of the other perimeter players were good defenders, Cuttino was the closest and I consider him a solid defender but everyone else was below par and that hurt them considerably. Brand and Kaman do a great job of closing down the middle, altering shots, making good rotations, cleaning the glass and controlling the middle .. that’s consistently there.

I’d like to see them draft a great shooting explosive scoring two guard. I’d like to see him replace Cuttino in the starting lineup. And I’d like it if he were able to guard point guards so that they can start Livingston on someone he can actually defend. Am I crazy or does that sound like Eric Gordon? Anybody have other suggestions?

If Maggette walks they should replace him with James Jones or Walter Hermann. A solid defensive three who’s a top drawer shooter. It might be wise to let Maggette go considering Thornton’s talent and the team’s needs, especially if they get a scoring two guard.

Perimeter shooting is going to be even more important than in past Clipper seasons because of Chris Kaman’s emergence. I’m sick of watching him be triple teamed this season and having no teammate that can make the opposition pay. Now the Clipps possess arguably the best 4-5 combination in the league, both are dominant post players and both need teammates that will allow them (perimeter shooting = time and space) to do what they do best.

They also need a solid backup big to solidify their rotation. Tim Thomas quits on too many plays defensively and is too soft on the boards (and isn’t good enough offensively for it to be worth living with)[/i] to be the first big off the bench. If they can’t get a top backup someone like Brian Skinner would help stop the present bleeding [i](Aaron Williams is too old to be in this league any longer and Paul Davis isn’t good).

This team is very close to being an outright contender. They’ll have every chance to make it happen, they have all the big pieces, just need to complete the jigsaw.

i dunno about that.. sadly there are more lakers fans than celts here.. well maybe at least the 10-25 age bracket.. when PP came to our school many watched him but few know him tobe that good.. but i say many were impressed _.. thats what happens.. stern markets kobe, lbj and other showtime players and teams outside the US.. and since nba games are limited here(plus the only time that the nba is shown more than once a day, the playoffs, the celts are often out of it), people only get 2 know of kobe lebron melo etc.. but yeah, there are lots of celts fans here still however i can say that lakers(hate em) have more

i always loved brand,, and how he plays.. he works hard and doesnt care whether hes on the highlight reel or on the news everynight.. he works hard for each team he has played for and i wish that he be back on a winning track soon

1. thanks again steve for the work you put in. your bits give us perspective about the league,etc. 2. brand is a throwback to another era-an old school kind of guy-lunchpail player. you can’t have enough of them. 3. what a waste to be on the clippers and to have sterling as your shepherd. if you can, elton, get out of town. there is a lot of value on the clips, la is a great city,riordan is a good coach but the fish rots from the head down and look at who’s the head.

It should also be noted, and I can’t possibly stress this enough, he produced both Rescue Dawn and Bottoms Up, the latter starring Paris Hilton

hey, i meant dunleavt not riordan a

RockinRyA
pierce came to manila whan he was still a young player in the nba, a few months before that horrid stabbing incident. i think he came with tim thomas. that year he was toiling with a celtics squad mired in mediocrity and the celtics were not getting tv time. but you’re right the 10-25 year olds are more exposed to the lakers on tv. but if you watch the street scene more closely these days more guys wear celtics jerseys specially nos. 5, 34, and 33. i don’t see much laker gears out there.

i mean horrible stabbing incident
peace