What's going on?

OK, so I'm about to head for bed after another wild night in Clipperland and if you pinned me down, I'd still say I'm pretty sure the Randolph trade will end up going through.

There is some sense that the reason New York might be holding back on approving the deal, and signing off on Mobley's heart condition, is that it's trying to get a ``rebate'' from the Clippers. Say a draft pick, back from them as some sort of compensation for accepting Mobley with this condition.

That might be true, since New York had really wanted a draft pick as compensation before even making the deal on Friday. If that's the case, the Clippers will not be pleased. According to a person familiar with the club's thinking, the Clippers are pretty adamant about not giving any sort of ``rebate.''

But I don't think it's the whole story.

Basically, New York is just making itself comfortable with Mobley's condition. He's obviously had no setbacks from it in the past, which is why it has never come out in public before. But considering NY's recent history with Eddy Curry, you can understand why it would be wary, and insist upon doing its due diligence.

Second, New York had the luxury of time. It didn't play Monday night. So it could spend an extra day checking into things.

But the most compelling reason I see this deal going down is that New York has made such a public case for why it did the deal, sold the notion of clearing cap space for LBJ in 2010 so well, I just don't see ever getting this fizz back into a bottle.