July 2008 Archives

Sorry for the delay in posting this. I was out doing a million things to get ready for my flight to China this weekend. But I just got word the Clippers have signed Brian Skinner to a contract. I'm tracking down the details, but it's believed to be for the veteran minimum.

The Clippers currently have 11 players under contract for next year (including non-guaranteed contracts to second-round picks DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor), plus qualifying offers out to Nick Fazekas and Marcus Williams. That means there are 2-3 spots still up for grabs, if the team decides to carry the maximum 15-players on the roster, which is no guarantee.

In speaking with the Clippers brass today, I was told to expect them to add a veteran big man sometime soon, possibly even this week. While the Clips are very high on DeAndre Jordan, and feel that Marcus Camby is the absolute perfect teacher for him, they'd also like to add another big to back up Camby and Chris Kaman in the low post to take some of the pressure off of Jordan.

As it stands now, Jordan, Fazekas and Al Thornton are the only bigs on the roster who could back-up Kaman or Camby should either get into foul trouble or go down with an injury. Jordan and Fazekas are still learning and Thornton is really more of a small forward.

Clips story

By Ramona Shelburne
Staff Writer

There was a lot about Wednesday's press conference at the Staples Center that felt familiar to Jason Hart. In effect, he was being re-introduced as a member of the Clippers after a one-year misadventure in Utah.

``It feels like I went off to college and now I'm back home,'' he said.

Except you know how sometimes parents completely rearrange their children's rooms when they leave for college? Take the bed out, put a home stereo system in and paint the walls a different color?

Well, that's about what the Clippers have done to their roster since Hart left as a free agent last offseason.

Only three players --Cuttino Mobley, Chris Kaman, Tim Thomas -- remain on the team since Hart's departure last July, the result of one of the wackiest off-seasons in team history that appears to finally be settling down a bit.

``Building a team is a process and you're never really done,'' team president Andy Roeser said. ``But I think we're at the point where our roster is coming into focus.''

Then, just to mess with the assembled media and team PR staff, which has worked overtime just to keep up with the furious series of moves, he added: ``But we're never done and don't be surprised if we have more to do before training camp.''

It was entirely unclear if he was kidding or not.

For the moment though, Roeser, general manager Elgin Baylor and director of player personnel Neil Olshey were content to re-introduce Hart --who was acquired from Utah in exchange for Brevin Knight last week -- and welcome new addition Ricky Davis, who signed a two year deal, with a player option for the second year, on Monday.

``It's a steal,'' Olshey said of the moderate $2.3 million per season contract Davis' singed. ``I don't think he would've had to take a pay cut off of what he made last season ($6.5 million) in a normal market. But in this market, he recognized the opportunity this presented him --much like James Posey did with Boston last year -- and we're more than happy to be the beneficiaries of that.

``Ricky is a guy we've tried to trade for several times over the last four years. And we're talking about big, big time player in our organization. We've wanted him for a while.''

Davis, 28, averaged 13.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists while playing in all 82 games for the Miami Heat last season.

``It's a tough market out there now,'' Davis said. ``But I'm excited to be here. I'll play the way I can play and hopefully we can put it together and get into the playoffs.''

Just got word the Clips have signed Ricky Davis. More details to come....

FYI: this was not the deal I was referencing the other night. That deal involved Devean George.

Remember that second round draft choice the Clips gave Denver in exchange for Marcus Camby. Wait, sorry, the right to exchange second round picks in 2010 ... Well, those rights have been sent to the Knicks as part of a trade for Renaldo Balkman according the the New York Post

The KnicksNew York Knicks have acquired a 2010 second-round draft choice, guard Taurean Green and guard/forward Bobby Jones from Denver for forward Renaldo Balkman and cash considerations.

The draft pick will be the more favorable selection between the Nuggets and Clippers, resulting from a previous trade.

I'm expecting to get word on a free agent signing by the Clippers later tonight... Check back in a couple hours.

UPDATE: Sorry, we had some technical difficulties with the blog last night. Not sure what happened --I couldn't even sign in -- but we're back up and running. I got word from a source around 10 p.m. that the signing I was expecting wasn't done yet. Not sure what the hang up is, but these things tend to take time. I'll let you all know as soon as I get word.

Word out of Golden State is that the Warriors are going to match the Clippers $9 million, three-year offer to restricted free agent Kelenna Azubuike.

Sorry to be a little slow in posting this. I was away from the computer for an hour or so. But the Clippers today re-acquired Jason Hart from the Utah Jazz in exchange for Brevin Knight.

"We are glad to have Jason back with us," general manager Elgin Baylor said. "He played an important role for us when he was here previously, and we think he will be a valuable component this time as well."

The 6-3, 180 pound Hart played a part of the 2006-07 season with the Clippers before signing with Utah last offseason. In those 23 games, Hart averaged nine points and four assists.

I had a conversation today with some of the Clippers brass about the rest of the summer, and what moves the team does or does not make. Basically, everything depends on what happens with Kelenna Azubuike. Golden State has until Friday to match the offer sheet he signed with the Clippers last Thursday.

If Golden State lets Azubuike walk, the Clippers will have no more cap space and would need to fill out the roster with league minimum guys.

If Golden State matches the three-year, $9 million dollar offer, then the Clippers would still have about $3 million in salary cap space, and I got the distinct impression they planed to make use of it.

One issue that will probably remain unresolved for a while is the status of Shaun Livingston. The team has expressed a desire to re-sign him, but had to renounce his rights because he carried a $13 million salary cap hold.

``I've had discussions with Shaun's agent recently,'' coach Mike Dunleavy said. ``We love Shaun, but with his injury, we had to renounce him because he was on the books for 13 million dollars. It's just the way of the cap.

``But we'd still like to re-sign him. Right now, he's not cleared to do anything but play 1-on-1. We'd like to see the rehabilitation through, and then give him an opportunity to be a Los Angeles Clipper.''

Said Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy:

``We were ready to sign one of the free agents (Smith) to an offer sheet. I'd met with Mr. Sterling the night before to plan it out, but we told him we're going to take one more shot at Denver.

``We let them know we were about to pull the trigger and there's a good chance we can get this guy and this opportunity is going to go away for you. They came back and said, `they'd do it.' I've got a bad knee, but I jumped pretty high after that.''

Just got word that the Clippers have signed Kelenna Azubuike from the Warriors. I'll have more details in a minute.

In case you didn't notice, both Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby are centers. One of them will have to slide over the the power forward spot. Preliminary indications from Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy are that Camby will be playing at the 4 spot, with Kaman staying as a 5.

That's important for defensive reasons, as Camby will have to match up with the quicker power forwards in the Western Conference --like Amare Stoudemire, Tm Duncan and Carlos Boozer-- but not as important as you might think.

Basically, on most possessions, look for the Clips guards to be able to gamble like crazy on the perimeter with two 7-footers behind them protecting the middle. It's a lot like the situation the Lakers will have to figure out, with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

Those who play fantasy basketball might be intrigued by this though, as Camby will likely gain power forward eligibility.

By Ramona Shelburne
Staff Writer

Well, that takes a bit of the sting out of losing Elton Brand and Corey Maggette.

The Clippers, armed with $12 million in salary cap space and fueled by the lingering burn of being spurned by Brand, traded for one of the premier defensive centers in the NBA Tuesday, acquiring Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets for the right to exchange second-round picks with Denver in the 2010 draft.

Denver will also receive a $10 million trade exception, which can be used for up to a year from when the trade was completed.

``I think it will definitely help us on the defensive end,'' said the Clippers newest face of the franchise, Baron Davis, who was signed to a five-year, $65 million deal last week.

``He is a very skilled big guy and I think he'll go well with Chris Kaman. I think he'll make Kaman a better player even.''

Why would Denver trade Camby for so little?

The Nuggets had the fourth highest payroll in the league last year and were already extended well over the league's $58.68 million salary cap and $71.15 million luxury tax threshold. Once a team is over the luxury tax threshold, they incur dollar-for-dollar luxury taxes.

Last year, Denver accrued over $13 million in luxury taxes.

Camby is due $8 million this season in salary and $2 million bonuses, meaning the trade saves Denver between $16 and $22.5 million (when you account for bonus money Camby could earn this year).

Whatever the case, the Clippers will take it.

Camby, who has two seasons left on his contract, has been one of the best defensive big men in the NBA throughout his 12 year career. He was the 2007 Defensive Player of the Year, and had been selected to the All Defensive Team every year since 2004-05.

Throughout his career, Camby, 34, has been injury-prone. But last season, he played in a career high 79 games. He led the NBA in blocks (3.61) for the third straight year, scored 9.1 points a game and averaged a career-high 13.1 rebounds a game.

In making the trade for Camby, the Clippers effectively ruled themselves out of the Josh Smith sweepstakes. According to a league source, the Clippers loved Smith and were close to making him an offer sheet. Very close.

But Smith is a restricted free agent, meaning Atlanta would've had seven days to match the offer and in the end, the Clippers didn't want to take that chance.

It helped that Camby was available.

"I love this acquisition for the current make up of our team," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "We are getting a consummate pro who is maybe the best team defender in the league."
!bold!Also:!off! The Clippers officially signed second-round draft picks DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor. During the Clippers three summer league games, Jordan has averaged 8.3 points on 10-of-13 shooting, while Taylor, the first player ever drafted from the D-League, has averaged 10.7 points a game on 11-for-28 shooting.

````I'm excited,'' said Jordan, who had been projected as lottery pick out of high school, but slipped to the second round of the draft after a tepid freshman season at Texas A&M. ``I'm going to take this (slight) and use it as motivation to prove people wrong.

``I'm going to do whatever I need to do to make it, whatever they ask me to do. If they ask me to wipe up the floor, I'll do that.''

For a future second round draft pick, according to a league source.

More details to come shortly.

Just wanted to link up some interesting information from my colleague in Atlanta, Sekou Smith, regarding where the Hawks stand as far as matching offers for forward Josh Smith, a restricted free agent whom the Clippers have interest in.

DOUBLETALK?: The standard line Hawks since last October has been that they'll match any offers from other teams to both Smith and Childress. And up until now we haven't had any reason to do anything but take them at their word.

But a few of the NBA veterans in Tunica over the weekend warned me not to believe that hype.

"That's what everybody says until an offer sheet hits the table," one guy said during an informal meeting of the minds on all things NBA. "And any good general manager keeps his options open no matter what. That's the only way to keep from being blindsided."

That conversation prompted me to dial up an executive from another team and ask if he believed the Hawks would stay true to their word and match offers no matter what and shun sign-and-trade offers for Smith and Childress.

And that's when he hit me with a left hook I just didn't see coming.

"Not only will they consider a sign-and-trade for Smith, I know that they've talked with one team in particular about the potential of a sign-and-trade if things get out of hand," he said. "I also know that they've turned away a couple of other teams that called interested in sign-and-trades for Smith; turned them away without so much as discussing the idea conceptually. But the longer this thing drags out the more likely things could change. You remember how things played out with Joe Johnson. The Suns swore they would match and that they wanted to keep him and then when they saw the price tag Atlanta was willing to pay they negotiated a sign-and-trade. Just because you reserve the right to match doesn't mean you will. That's just the way the business works."

From ESPN's Marc Stein:

The Los Angeles Clippers confirmed on Sunday that lottery pick Eric Gordon will miss the remainder of the NBA Summer League on the campus of UNLV with a strained left hamstring.

I just published a story with comments from Corey Maggette on what's now being known as the Elton Brand affair

Basically, Maggette called up today, totally unprompted and wanted to stick his neck out there for EB. This is big on two fronts. One, it's well known they didn't exactly get along on the court that well. So it was pretty interesting that Corey cared enough to publicly defend Elton. Two, he really didn't have to. Maggette is off in Oakland now, with a nice new $50 million contract. He easily could've just taken the money and ran off quietly.

But he basically said that it was making him upset to see Elton Brand take so much flack. The sense I got was that Corey felt like the Clippers could've shown him some more love in negotiations too, so he sympathized with what EB has said about feeling ``disrespected.''

The comparison he kept citing was the way the Washington Wizards locked up both Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas at the beginning of the offseason.

Anyway, here's the link:

I'm told that the Clippers did indeed inquire with the Knicks about power forward Zach Randolph, but it was more of a fact-finding mission and didn't seem to go anywhere. At least for the time being. Apparently, this happened a few days ago. The plan, right now, is to take a few days and assess the situation, then decide on Plan A, B and C

I'm told, by a person close to Corey Maggette, that he fully believed, when he opted out that the Clippers intended to offer him a contract extension, and that he's just as steamed as Elton Brand right now.

Well, before Golden State gave him $50 million of course.

Elton Brand's agent David Falk responded to the latest accusations by Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy in an interview with ESPN's Marc Stein.

"This is what I want to say emphatically: The process was flawed," Falk said. "The team should not be having two simultaneous negotiations with a player and his agent. But that's the team's responsibility, not the player's. I'm not happy about it, I'm not gloating about it. I regret that the process was flawed, but I don't take any responsibility that the process was flawed.

"Mike and I have had a good friendship for 20 years. [But] Mike has acknowledged that he and Elton were having a private dialogue, which is illegal and a violation of the collective bargaining agreement for teams to do that when they know he has a registered agent. I wouldn't expect [Cleveland Cavaliers vice president] Danny Ferry, who's a former client, or [Denver Nuggets vice president] Rex Chapman, who's a former client, or [Charlotte Bobcats president] Michael Jordan to be negotiating behind my back. I think it's unethical.

"Had the process not begun with private discussions between the team and the player that should have never taken place, [Brand would] probably be there today. Had they put [their best] offer on the table initially instead of only when another team forced their hand, I don't think we'd be having these discussions today. Had they told us they would use their competitive advantage by offering a sixth year that no other team could offer, there could have been a different outcome. That's the bottom line.

"They had enough cap room to pay Baron [Davis] what they were going to pay him and sign Elton for five years and $82 million or six years and a $100 million. To ask him to come down from $100 million to $70 million or $75 million, it's patently unrealistic for him to accept that. There isn't a player [of Brand's stature] who would accept that.

"Whether Elton said to Mike that I'm happy at X or happy at Y, I'm not disputing that. If Mike says it happened, it happened. But it should have never happened because Mike should have never allowed those discussions to take place."

For the record, here's what Dunleavy had to say when I asked him whether he'd gone behind Falk's back to negotiate with Brand (a la A-Rod and the Yankees last fall).

``I didn't negotiate with him, I didn't go behind (Falk's) back,'' Dunleavy said. ``It was my player coming to me and making a request of me to go to the owner. And I did it. the owner was receptive to me and I did it.''

By Ramona Shelburne
Staff Writer

The final versions of how the last few days all went so wrong for the Clippers were still being written Thursday. Coach Mike Dunleavy came armed with text messages from Elton Brand stored in his phone to prove he'd been wronged. Brand's agent, David Falk, staying true until the end to his version of events.

But at the end of what had turned into a very dark tunnel, there was a bright side for the Clippers. Waiting at the podium, in a crisp black suit, white canvas tennis shoes and a beaming, bright smile was two-time All-Star point guard Baron Davis, who was introduced back to the city that has always been his home at a press conference Thursday afternoon at Staples Center.

In the dream scenario; no, actually just the scenario Davis said Brand had called him with on June 30, after both had opted out of the final year of their contracts (Davis with the Warriors, Brand with the Clippers) Brand would've been alongside him on that podium too.

But Davis seemed happy enough to take the stage alone and embrace professionally the city he grew up in and really, has never left.

``For me this was never a money issue, it was about being rich in your heart,'' said Davis, who grew up in Compton, prepped at Crossroads High in Santa Monica and went to college at UCLA.

``To come home, and to be in the place where your dream first started, 15 minutes away from where my grandfather (Luke Nicholson) built my first basketball court is a dream come true.''

As for all that other stuff, the competing versions of events, whether or not he and Brand had an ``underground handshake'' to both sign with the Clippers, Davis said he held no grudge.

``He (Brand) did a great job recruiting me. A great job. He got me here,'' Davis said, laughing and with a huge grin on his face. ``I'm not giving him like my agent fees or anything though.

``But there was never an underground handshake. We talked about it, yes. But we also talked about going to school together in college. Me and EB have been friends since the 10th grade. No matter what we say to each other, at the end of the day, you have to do what's going to cement your future and something that you're going to be comfortable with and that's what he did.''

When exactly did Davis realize the dream scenario had begun to unravel?

``I had a feeling he was going to go when he stopped texting me and turned his phone off,'' Davis said, laughing heartily once again.

At that point, he admitted that the thought did cross his mind that this trip down to L.A. might not be such a good idea after all. A source indicated that Golden State even came back with a counter offer on Wednesday, just to see if it could tempt him to come back.

``But my grandmother raised me to be committed to the things that I say,'' he said. ``And when I really looked at the opportunity here, I was like, `This is where I need to be.' ''

The Clippers seemed ecstatic to have him. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy even called it the most significant free agent signing in club history, though team president Andy Roeser hinted that the club might not be done for the summer yet. Not with $12 million in salary cap space still available and a ``blank check'' from owner Donald Sterling to ``do whatever is necessary'' to put a great team together for next season.

``Baron plays every style,'' Dunleavy said. ``He's a power point guard. He can push the ball, run the floor, he's got a great post game. his versatility, his ability, there's nothing on the court he can't do.

``For some of our guys, it'll be the first time they've played with a point guard who can really make plays and create easy buckets. ''

It would've been nice to pair him with Brand, of course. And it's clear it's going to take some of the Clippers brass a little while to get over losing their franchise power forward.

``I honestly don't understand it,'' Dunleavy said. ``EB basically said, let's get BD. So we made that run, we went after it, and Elton led the way with it by calling Baron and recruiting him. We were able to work out a deal and Elton was totally a part of that deal. We all thought it was done.

``There's a contract that was marked up by David Falk, saying, `make these changes in language, this is what we want and if Baron Davis is good to go, we're good to go.' ''

Then, on the night of July 1st, Dunleavy said --and he pulled out his Blackberry with the text message dated at 7:53 p.m. to prove it -- Brand sent him a text message asking him to make some changes to the language of that contract.

``I texted him back, and then, in the morning (and again, he showed us the time-stamp, this time 9:32 a.m. to prove it) I wrote him back saying, `I got it all done for you, language and ETO (early termination option). But that was the last I heard from him,'' Dunleavy said.

``Then, it all changed and I don't know the reason for it. David Falk had an incredible influence on him, to poison him in some way against us. We never even got a call to understand there even was a problem, or why there was a problem. ... It was uncharacteristic of EB.''

Still, after all that, Dunleavy left the room Thursday smiling. Davis was on board and the Clippers still had $12 million in cap space to work with, and there's every indication they will spend it.

Wednesday night, the team met with Atlanta forward Josh Smith and his agent Brian Dyke, though no offer was made to the restricted free agent. It's likely the club will take the weekend to assess its options and decide its next move. After all, no other team has enough cap space to outbid the Clippers at this point.

``While, it's going to be different than we anticipated, that's the way it goes in the NBA. You have to adapt and watch, we will,'' team president Andy Roeser said.

``The the silver lining is that when Elton opted out, it gave us the cap space we needed to go and get one of the top point guards in the league and that's what we did with Baron Davis.

``We still have a little more work to do, we're armed with $12 million in cap space and kind of a blank check commitment from our ownership to do what needs to be done to put the best team out there.''

A source just told me that Golden State did indeed make a last-ditch attempt to keep Baron Davis Wednesday night, before he finally signed his five-year, $65 million deal with the Clippers.

Here's the release from the Clippers:

The Los Angeles Clippers today solidified their point guard position for years to come with the announced signing of free agent Baron Davis to a multi-year contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.

A two-time NBA All-Star (2002 and 2004), Davis averaged 21.8 points (12th in the NBA), 7.6 assists (6th in the NBA), 4.7 rebounds and 2.33 steals (3rd in the NBA) while playing in all 82 games for the Golden State Warriors during the 2007-08 season. Davis was just one of four players in the league last season to average 20+ points and seven+ assists (Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Chris Paul) per game. The 6'3" guard also tied a career-high in scoring when he poured in 40 points at Chicago on January 18th, in addition to notching three triple-doubles on the season, bringing his career total to nine.

Entering his tenth NBA season, Davis brings career averages of 17.1 points, 7.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.95 steals and 35.5 minutes per game. He has appeared in 82 games on four occasions during his career and has led his teams to the playoffs in six of his nine NBA campaigns. In 46 career playoff games, Davis has tallied 19.8 points, 6.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds. Most recently, Davis captivated the Bay Area during the 2007 NBA Playoffs, leading the eighth seeded Warriors to a stunning First Round upset of the number one seeded Dallas Mavericks before the Warriors succumbed to the Utah Jazz in the Second Round.

Originally selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the third overall selection in the 1999 NBA Draft, Davis remained the cornerstone of the Hornets franchise until he was traded to Golden State on February 24, 2005. Davis turned in his most productive NBA season in 2003-04 while with New Orleans, when he tallied a career-high 22.9 points (6th in the NBA) to go with 7.5 assists (4th in the NBA) and a career-best 2.36 steals (1st in the NBA) per game and earned All-NBA Third Team honors. He became just the third player (Gary Payton and Michael Adams) since the 1976-77 season to finish in the top-10 in those categories.

The Los Angeles native turned in two stellar seasons at UCLA before making himself eligible for the 1999 NBA Draft. In two seasons as a Bruin, Davis notched career numbers of 13.6 points, 4.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. Davis earned Third-Team All-America honors from the Associated Press after a sophomore season in which he averaged 15.9 points, 5.1 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game. He was also selected as the 1998 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and is a graduate of Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, CA.

A pillar in the Los Angeles community, Davis established TeamPlay, the Baron Davis Foundation in 2004 which inspires underprivileged youth to take their best next step. He also founded and operates another foundation called the Rising Stars of America, through which he conducts basketball camps for at-risk youth in the Los Angeles area. For the past two summers, along with fellow Los Angeles native Paul Pierce, Davis has taken over the reigns of "A Midsummer Night's Magic", the annual charity gala and celebrity basketball game started by Magic Johnson more than 20 years ago. Davis received the LA's Best Alumni Award from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2007 for his contributions to the non-profit's after school mentoring programs.

One of the biggest questions people around the league will be trying to answer in the next few days, when deconstructing this Elton Brand situation, is the issue of whether the Clippers had to renounce their rights to Brand in order to sign both Brand and Baron Davis. That's important because by renouncing Brand's rights, the Clippers would have lost his Bird rights, and thus would not have been able to offer a sixth year to his contract.

I was told, by a source, that the Clippers had to do that.

But a reader actually e-mailed to ask why they'd need to do that, instead of just signing Brand first (keeping his Bird rights) and then signing Davis. I, myself, didn't know the answer, so I e-mailed salary cap guru Larry Coon to see if he could provide some perspective.

Here's what he had to say. A word of warning here: Do not keep reading this post if numbers make your head hurt or complexity makes your eyes roll back into your head.

For those that like this sort of thing, Coon's answer is incredibly juicy.

``It's all academic now, since Brand signed with Philly.

However -- they simply had to fit both Brand & Davis under the cap. I'm
just going to use made up numbers here, since I can illustrate the point
with them and don't really want to look up the actual numbers. Say the
cap is $58 million, they have $32 million tied up in existing contracts
and cap holds, they have $15 million in free agent amounts for free
agents other than Brand (Maggette, Livingston, etc.), and Brand's free
agent amount is $17 million. Right now their cap amount would be $64
million. We can assume they renounce their $15 million in other free
agents (Maggette, Livinston, etc.), putting them at $49 million,
including Brand's cap hold.

Let's say they want to sign Davis for $12 million, and Brand for $14
million. Here are two scenarios:

Scenario 1 - Renounce Brand first: They renounce Brand, and gain the
amount of his cap hold, so they are now at $32 million, which gives them
$26 million of cap room. They sign Davis & Brand as free agents using
cap room (i.e., the Bird exception cannot be and is not used on Brand),
for $12 million & $14 million respectively, which takes them right up to
the cap.

Scenario 2 - Don't renounce Brand. In this scenario, they have to
re-sign Brand before signing Davis. So they sign Brand for $14 million,
and his $17 million cap hold is replaced by his $14 million salary. Now
their cap amount is $46 million. That leaves $12 million of cap room
for Davis.

So either way, they are able to sign both players to the intended amounts.

The benefit of Scenario 2 is that it preserves the Bird exception, and
therefore their ability to give 10.5% raises and six years.''

The Clippers just renounced their rights to free agents Dan Dickau, Shaun Livingston, Boniface Ndong, Smush Parker and James Singleton.

Per the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, a renounced player no longer counts toward team salary, so teams use renouncement to gain additional cap room. After renouncing a player, the team is still permitted to re-sign such player, but the team must either have enough salary cap room to fit the salary, or sign the player using the Minimum Salary exception.

It is absolutely no coincidence that this occured on the same day the Clips had an informal meeting with Josh Smith and his agent.

By Ramona Shelburne
Staff Writer

MANHATTAN BEACH -- It will take more than one day for the dust from Tuesday's disastrous turn of events to settle, but on the first day after life without Elton Brand and Corey Maggette, the Clippers began picking up the pieces and constructing plans to retool their team while everyone else around the country tried to dissect how it all came to pass in the first place.

``The bottom line for me is I'm hurt by it as well as our team. Our players feel the same way,'' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said of Brand's departure Wednesday evening. ``We felt like Elton was a great player and with the lineup we had, with getting Baron Davis we feel like that really would have put us in the hunt as far as the playoffs and going deep into the playoffs. I don't know why he made the decision.

``I loved the guy. I don't know what poisoned him against us, but up until the last text message I had from him, I did everything he asked me to do, period. I'm shocked by it because of how much I loved the guy as a player and how close I thought we were.''

Shooting guard Cuttino Mobley, now the longest-tenured Clipper after the defections of Brand and Maggette, said he was incredibly disappointed, but hopeful the club could still make noise in the Western Conference.

``It's tough, because everything was right there for us, assuming the components (Brand and Baron Davis), and then something happened. I don't even know what happened,'' Mobley said Wednesday morning on his way into the team's training facility. ``You never really know. It's all speculation. But we just have to work on what we still have here, you know.

``We got Baron Davis (who is expected to finalize his agreement in the next day or two), myself, Al Thornton, Chris Kaman. That's super close to the Finals, that's what I think.''

Still, Mobley seemed downcast less than 24 hours after learning that the two cornerstones of the franchise had bolted without compensation via free agency. Maggette's departure was somewhat expected, but Brand's came as a shock to the organization, which thought it had a verbal agreement with Brand on a five-year, $70 million contract offer last week, according to Dunleavy.

Instead, Brand listened to offers from other teams, then wanted the Clippers to raise their offer, which they did, first to $75 million, then to $81 million.

``I don't know whether Elton ever got those (offers) or not,'' Dunleavy said.

By day's end Tuesday Brand was already in the City of Brotherly Love having dinner with the front office of his new team.

So what exactly happened in between?

Several versions of the story were presented Wednesday.

Brand and his agent told the assembled media in Philadelphia that the Clippers had ``forced their hand'' by making a take-it-or-leave-it offer, that they felt unloved and disrespected by the Clippers.

Said Brand: ``(Philadelphia) gave everything they could. Even though it was less than (Golden State's $90 million offer), they gave everything they could and that really made me say, `Hey, that's the kind of people I want to work for and work with.'

``Another team, that I passed on, didn't come close to that.''

Falk was even harsher.

``What you want when you're a franchise player you want to feel that you're wanted,'' Falk said. ``And I think it was very disturbing to feel that ... it was basically accept it or don't accept it.

``That's a very difficult position to accept when you're a player of Elton's stature and you've done as much for the franchise as Elton has over the past seven years. I think that set in motion a chain of events that led us here today.''

Dunleavy seemed offended by those comments.

``Things were said that are totally not true, they're used out of context as far as ultimatiums. The ultimatium that was made was whether to opt out or not opt out, not as far as a deal,'' Dunleavy said.

``I can show text messages to Faulk and all those things, (that we) made a verbal deal. You don't have to keep a verbal deal. It's not binding. You can say, 'You know what? I changed my mind I want to go to the East Coast because my wife's family is there. Or it's easier to make the playoffs. Or I can be an All-Star in the East as opposed to the West.' But just say it we had a verbal deal and I just changed my mind.''

Mobley didn't want to take sides, but revealed that he'd been worried about Brand's status as soon as he opted out of his contract on June 30 and became an unrestricted free agent.

``I've been talking to Elton all along. Last week was the last time I talked to him, and he was scaring me the whole time,'' Mobley said. ``I don't really know why he didn't want to come back. He's like my brother, so it's tough.

``But whatever's best for him, you know. He's from New York, his wife is from Jersey. I don't know.''

So what's next for the Clippers?

Atlanta forward Josh Smith became the team's first target. Smith was in Los Angeles Wednesday, shooting an adidas commercial, which had been previously scheduled.

He is a restricted free agent though, so Atlanta can match any offer sheet he signs. The Hawks have stated they intend to keep him, but a league source noted that if the competing offer was overwhelming, Atlanta would have a hard time doing that.

The Clippers are really only bidding against themselves then, as they're the last team with a significant amount of salary cap space.

A message left Wednesday afternoon on the cellphone of Smith's agent, Brian Dyke, wasn't returned.

The other option is Charlotte's Emeka Okafor. The Bobcats have previously offered him an extension in the neighborhood of $12 million a year and he passed, meaning that Okafor would be an expensive proposition for the Clippers.

Okafor's agent, Jeff Schwartz, was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

At the end of a long day, and after eight very long days that ended up in severely disappointing fashion, Dunleavy still found reason for optimism.

``We wish Elton nothing but the best,'' he said. ``The good news is it's really hard to get a really good point guard in this league, and we just got one. He's going to be all signed up with us. We have a lot of money. Our owner is 100 percent behind us and we have the ability to use that money and use it wisely. You never know how decisions work out. Something could work out in our favor."

Staff Writer Elliott Teaford contributed to this report.

So what exactly happened to make Elton Brand spurn the Clippers and want to move to the East Coast yesterday? We got one very powerful, inflammatory side of the story this afternoon as Brand's agent, David Falk, laid into Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling during Brand's introductory press conference in Philadelphia.

Falk said that Sterling essentially presented a ``take-it-or-leave-it'' offer to Brand, and wouldn't even make himself available to discuss it. That, Falk said, was taken as an insult by Brand's camp and ``set off a chain of events that led us here (to Philadelphia) today.''

``We were told, midafternoon on monday June 30, that offer was on the table,'' Falk said. ``And it was explained to us that Coach Dunleavy, who acts as the quasi general manager in LA, had really gone to the mat on Elton's behalf and was able to get a certain amount of money from the owner, and I believe he did. Mike explained that the owner realy wasn't comfortable with the offer and that if Elton turned the offer down, he'd be just as happy as if he'd accepted it.

``I think that what you want when you're a franchise player, when your'e a franchise worker in any organization, you want to feel that you're wanted by the team. And I think it was very distrurbing to feel that when the management tells you that if you turn it down, they'd be just as happy and they basically told us that the owner was unavailable to discuss the offer any further and it was basically accept it or don't accept it. That's a very difficult position to accept when you're a player of Elton's stature and you've done as much for the franchise as Elton has over the past seven years. I think that set in motion a chain of events that led us here today.''

A Clippers spokesperson said they didn't plan to have any comment on Falk's statements.

I'm hearing there might be a press conference as soon as tommorrow regarding Baron Davis.

I swung by the Clippers practice facility to get a look at the wreckage after yesterday's disastrous day. The place is still standing, everyone inside is OK, but there were more than a few aftershocks being felt throughout the building still.

Never got to speak with coach Mike Dunleavy this morning. He was upstairs, on his cell phone the entire time I was in there. Word is the Clippers are going to meet with Atlanta forward Josh Smith today, though I don't know how formal that meeting is yet.

Smith was already scheduled to be in Los Angeles to film an adidas commercial. But, seeing as how the Clippers all of a sudden need a power forward, and are the only team in the NBA with enough cap space to make a realistic offer to the up-and-coming young star, a little more business has been added to Smith's agenda in LA today.

The Clippers also have feelers out to Charlotte's Emeka Okafor.

Both players are restricted free agents, but my contact in Atlanta said that if LA offers Smith big, big money, Atlanta probably won't match it. The Hawks have stated that they want to keep Smith, at all costs, but the feeling is they won't want to spend more than the $14 million a year they pay Joe Johnson.

Before we go, a couple day-after takes on how the Elton Brand situation went wrong. I spoke with a friend of Brand's today who said that as early as last week, he was starting to lean towards signing with the 76ers. The appeal of playing back East, near where he and his wife are from, became very enticing.

There is also a theory, going around the league, and articulated well by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that this was a power play by Brand's agent, David Falk.

Falk, the article says, got angry when Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy reached out to Brand directly instead of going through him. Dunleavy did this, of course, because Falk had stopped returning the Clippers calls.

I've heard the story a little differently --that Falk was angry Dunleavy had encouraged Brand to opt out of his contract -- but the message is still the same. Something the Clippers did made Falk mad and he took his client and ran.

Over the next couple of days, I'll be able to piece things together better. There is no black box on these things, so everything is just hearsay. But we should know a little more in a couple hours, after Brand's press conference in Philadelphia, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. EST.

I just heard from a league source who said that contrary to the popularly reported theory: the Clippers did not have the option of offering a sixth year to Elton Brand. The Clippers had to renounce their rights to Brand in order to offer Baron Davis, thus eliminating the possibility of offering the sixth year.

One of the best Clippers offseason's ever just went very, very wrong.

Late Tuesday night, star power forward Elton Brand informed the Philadelphia 76ers that he would sign a five-year deal, worth an estimated $82 million dollars, despite the Clippers best, last-ditch efforts to keep him.

And just a few hours later, swingman Corey Maggette agreed to a deal with Golden State, though the exact amount of that deal wasn't immediately known.

Two league sources told the Daily News that by the end of negotiations with Brand, the club had offered more than $80 million dollars over five years.

``I don't understand how this could've happened,'' one source said. ``It clearly wasn't the money, because (the Clippers) came very close to what Philly offered.''

A message left by the Daily News on Brand's phone was not returned.

By moving the Philadelphia, Brand is closer to his hometown in upstate New York, back in the less-competitive Eastern Conference, and able to join one of the up-and-coming young teams in the league.

Still, his decision came as a shock to the Clippers, who believed Brand would re-sign with the club up until late Monday night and did everything they could to keep him on Tuesday evening.

Brand, 29, is coming off an Achilles tendon injury, which sidelined him for all but eight games of last season. But the Clippers believed he was healthy and were committed to bringing him back. The former No. 1 overall draft pick had spent nine seasons with the Clippers and had grown into the face of the franchise.

Just a week ago, the Clippers had been dreaming of their newly constructed team, with Baron Davis running the point and Brand as the team's cornerstone in the middle.

When Brand opted out of the final year of his contract on June 30, he said that he intended to return to Los Angeles, but wanted to see if the Clippers could make a splash in the free agent market.

Less than 24 hours later, the Clippers pulled off what was the biggest free agent coup in their history by agreeing on a five-year, $65 million deal with Davis.

Brand though, decided to listen to offers from other teams before committing to return. Golden State offered $90 million over five years last week. Philadelphia was interested, but didn't have as much salary cap space available.

Then on Tuesday, Philadelphia cleared more than $2 million in salary cap space by trading away Rodney Carney, Calvin Booth and a future No. 1 draft pick to Minnesota.

The Clippers tried to get close to matching that offer, but Brand decided on the 76ers.

As soon as Brand's decision was known Tuesday night, the Clippers immediately dispatched a representative to reach out to Davis.

A message left by the Daily News on Davis' cell phone, and his agent's cell phone was not returned.

So what do the Clippers do next?

The good news is they have plenty of salary cap space available to pursue other free agents now that Brand and Maggette are off the books, and very little competition to drive up the bidding now that Philadelphia is committed to Brand.

Memphis is the only other team with comparable space, but it is not believed to be actively pursuing other free agents.

Reached on his cell phone Tuesday night, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy did not want to comment on the Brand or Maggette situations, but said that he was encouraged by the financial commitment owner Donald Sterling had shown in the offers the team had made to Davis and Brand which totaled more than $140 million over the next 10 years.

A league source said that the Clippers would immediately make a push for Atlanta forward Josh Smith, but he is a restricted free agent and Atlanta can match any offer sheet he signs.

I just spoke with a source close to the Clippers who said that by the end of negotiations with Elton Brand today, the team had come ``very close'' to matching the $82 million over five years he ended up agreeing to with the 76ers.

The source said the Clippers went over $80 million in their final offer to Brand.

Yahoo! Sports just posted a story saying that Elton Brand is close to agreeing to a deal with the 76ers.

The people in Philly I've spoke with today said that this deal is all but done, but the financials are still being worked out.

More info to come shortly...

The Clippers begin summer league play in Las Vegas Friday afternoon, and will scrimmage with the Lakers Wednesday afternoon. The teams three draft picks --Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor-- are all on the roster along with last year's No. 1 pick Al Thornton.

Only first round picks are guaranteed contracts, but both Jordan and Taylor stand a good chance of making the team if they play well.

``I'm excited,'' said Jordan, who had been projected as lottery pick out of high school, but slipped to the second round of the draft after a tepid freshman season at Texas A&M. ``I'm going to take this (slight) and use it as motivation to prove people wrong.

``I'm going to do whatever I need to do to make it, whatever they ask me to do. If they ask me to wipe up the floor, I'll do that.''

Taylor, who was the first player ever drafted out of the D-League, said he felt optimistic of his chances of sticking with the team.

``Of all my workouts, and I did like 13 of them in 20 days, my best one was with the Clippers so I had a sense they might be the team that took me,'' Taylor said. ``I'm really excited to have this opportunity.''

By Ramona Shelburne
Staff Writer

MANHATTAN BEACH-- There were, at most, four players at the Clippers practice facility Tuesday who were operating with a real sense of confidence about their place on the team next season.

The rest of the guys were either rookies looking to earn a job with a good summer league season or veterans waiting on how the chips fall into place once Elton Brand decides where he'll be playing basketball in the near future.

Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, those answers will start becoming a little more clear as the NBA releases the exact figure of next years salary cap, and the moratorium on free agent signings ends. At that point, Brand will have hard numbers from each of the teams --the Clippers, Warriors and 76ers-- that have been throwing themselves at him since he opted out of his contract on June 30.

Those teams are as anxious as anyone for Brand's decision.

``Until we get the Brand thing resolved, we don't know where we stand,'' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said Tuesday after working out the team's summer league roster.

Once the Clippers know if Brand is returning, they can decide what to do about the rest of their free agents. Brand, Corey Maggette, Paul Davis, Shaun Livingston, Quinton Ross, Dan Dickau and Smush Parker are unrestricted free agents. Nick Fazekas and Marcus Williams are restricted free agents.

Davis was working out at the Clippers practice facility Tuesday afternoon, and Dunleavy said the team would like to bring him back, but that ``it will depend on a lot of factors.''

The biggest of those factors is Brand.

The choice for Brand breaks down this way. The Warriors have offered him the most money (5 years, and $90 million), the Clippers a chance to stay in Los Angeles and play with Baron Davis but about $20 million less than Golden State, while the 76ers offer him a chance to play in the weaker Eastern Conference and be closer to his hometown of Peekskill, New York.

Tuesday afternoon, the Associated Press reported that the 76ers had agreed to trade swingman Rodney Carney and forward Calvin Booth to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a move to clear an additional $2 million of salary cap space for potential free agents. The 76ers are also interested in Atlanta forward Josh Smith, who is a restricted free agent, but did not give him an offer sheet when he visited last week. After Tuesday's trade, Philadelphia would have close to $14 million in salary cap space.

Elton Brand reportedly could sign with Philadelphia, too. The Brand sweepstakes are on. Here's a update from ESPN on Brand.

Click here to read the story on Brand's lucrative offer from the Warrior.

Eric Gordon had his introdcutory press conference as a Clipper, one week after he was drafted.
``Hopefully, I'm somewhat of a missing piece for getting the chemistry back together with everyone,'' Gordon said.

Baron Davis didn't directly confirm an ESPN report that has him agreeing to a deal with the Clippers, but he did so in other words.
"It's tough, but you have to do what's best," said Davis, who spoke to reporters at a San Francisco premier for his documentary ``Made in America''. "You have to do what's fair. I'm happy with where I'm going. A big reason is because of
the impact and the things that I can do going forward. I knew I could have done them here and
created all kinds of good things and positive things in the community, and ultimately, me
going home helps me make an impact on young kids."

The Associated Press is reporting that Baron Davis did not confirm ESPN's report that he has agreed to an agreement with the Clippers, but he was talking about the Warriors in the past. Davis was attending a premier for one of his documentaries in San Francisco.

ESPN is reporting that Baron Davis will sign a five-year, $65 million deal with the Clippers, but NBA is in a dead period where no trades or new contracts can be made until July 9.

Just got confirmation that point guard Baron Davis is indeed, coming to Los Angeles to play for the Clippers. Davis, as you know, is a hometown boy, having graduated from Crossroads High in Santa Monica. He's home all summer, runs the pick-up game over at UCLA and works with Paul Pierce on what used to be Magic's Midsummer Classic charity game here.

Aren't you glad the Clippers didn't trade for TJ Ford or draft DJ Augustin now?

I'm on vacation this week, but Jill Painter will have details in tommorrow's paper.

Baron Davis has agreed to a free-agent deal with the Clippers in principle, a source within the organization confirmed. Davis opted out of a final year $17.8 million deal with Golden State on Monday night. Davis grew up in Los Angeles and played at UCLA for two years before turning pro.