NBA Free Agency - Gilbert Arenas, Elton Brand, Baron Davis, Corey Maggette, and More

1. First you need to check out Kelly Dwyer's take from 3 days about the preposterous Arenas rumors that inexplicably came true. Regular readers know that I'm a fan of Arenas but not at that price tag - $120+. And at this point the Warriors have offered a lucrative, albeit one year shorter, deal as well. Crazy.

2. I still can't get over the fact that Baron Davis will be a Clipper. Head over to Clips Nation and Golden State of Mind for decidedly different reactions. Personally I'm a little down about this one. In a span of less than a year we've watched the run and gun Phoenix Suns and now the Warriors disband. Both teams played some of the most exciting offensive basketball around. Obviously they did not win a title. In fact Golden State missed the playoffs in 2 of Davis' 3 years in Oakland and barely squeaked in during the other. Ultimately teams want to win championships and that wasn't happening. Although I imagine even Chris Mullin was caught off guard by Davis' departure. Still crazy times. 

3. Did Elton Brand look at what happened in Boston and decide to team up with Davis? One difference. Both will have to make less than they could have to play together. And there are only two of them. But all of the sudden that's an interesting team. Remember Chris Kaman can play, Al Thornton is a mature scorer, and Eric Gordon could be an X-Factor. As a side note how happy are Clippers fans that the Kings out bid them for Beno Udrih? One final note on the Clippers. They had some pretty unfortunate occurrences out in LA that severely weakened a team on the verge of making some noise. It got so bad last season that the Clips fielded an awful team in their trip to Boston. But as the Celtics showed one year can make a world of difference.

4. Check out Fooch's post (and vote in his poll) about the C's offering Corey Maggette a contract. I don't see it happening but the fact that it's at least somewhat plausible is yet another sign that the C's have come a long, long way.

5. In other news it looks like Jose Calderon, Beno Udrih, and most importantly Chris Paul are not leaving Toronto, Sacramento, and New Orleans respectively anytime soon.