Summer Reading: Travis Leslie

Olshey made this disaster when he signed Jordan to a 4 year $42 million contract. Olshey seems incapable of correcting the disaster because he seems intent on pipedreaming away about Jordan and trying to trick the fans into thinking Jordan will be something he won’t be. DeAndre Jordan will never even be average much less good.

Jordan has bad hands and bad hand-eye coordination. He can’t catch the ball well enough when it’s thrown into him in the post, and he certainly can’t shoot it when he does catch it.

He, similarly, has bad feet and bad footwork coordination, and he can’t move well enough to get into position fast enough to defend, or to score except on alley-oops and put-backs.

He has board hands and board feet. His legs move on defense the way his arms move when he shoots . . . slow and lumbering.

None of that is ever going to change.

Howard is again today said to be demanding a trade. He’s again said to be mad that Orlando forced him into signing that paper last year and now he’s demanding they trade him as soon as they get a new GM.

Getting Howard must be the main goal of the Clippers. There are 5 possible teams he can end up with: the Nets, the Knicks, the Mavericks, the Lakers and the Clippers.

Of the 5, the most likely 2 are the Clippers and Nets. The Clippers are a much better team than the Nets and if Howard joins them, they will be the top team in the NBA for years. The same is not true if he joins the Nets. Howard must know that.

Howard can decide where he ends up, and he should decide he wants to end up with the Clippers.

Now the Clippers just need a GM who can make the deal. Olshey is not that GM.

kinda off topic but wats with new orleans getting the number 1 pick. and can anthony davis make new orleans a contender next season and show impact right away like blake griffin did a year ago. also cant wait to see that kid play in the nba

I have a feeling these posts are going to be vastly entertaining. I look forward to them!

Responding to . . .
“The lakers can offer Andrew Bynum, and the Nets can offer Brook Lopez (and possibly Marshon Brooks) and a top 10 draft pick in a loaded draft.”

The Nets were talking a lot about winning the lottery and then trading the #1 pick in the draft to Orlando for Howard, but all of that was their typical blowhard talk. The Nets had to finish in the top 3 in the lottery to even keep their pick at all, and they didn’t. They finished 6th and so had to send it to Portland as part of a prior deal.

That was a very good development for the Clippers, because if the Nets had kept their pick, it really would have been a strong trade weapon. But they lost it.

The Nets big talk about trading Brook Lopez is still more baseless bluster, for numerous reasons.
– Brook Lopez is really not all that good anyway.
– He’s coming off a broken foot. Big men that have problems with broken feet tend to experience recurring problems with their feet (Yao, Bill Walton). It’s a bad sign for Lopez’s future physical condition, and Orlando is always concerned about not trading for players with possible career threatening physical conditions (just like they are very wary of Bynum because of his knees).
– His salary is only $3 Million for this year, and he has a $4 million qualifying offer for next year. Howard’s salary for next year is over $19 million, so the salaries don’t come anywhere near matching and teh Nets really don’t have anybody else good to throw into the deal to make up the huge difference.

Marshon Brooks’ salary is $1,193,280 for next year so that isn’t going to help in any significant way.

Basically the Nets don’t have the pieces to trade for Howard to back up their bluster.

Besides if Deron Williams leaves, then the Nets would be a terrible team even with Howard and he’s not going to go to a team that will be terrible.

As for Bynum and the Lakers . . .
It was reported again today that it was true that Bryant contacted Howard last season and told him that he (Howard) would be the third option on the Lakers behind Bryant and Gasol. It’s been reported several times that Howard doesn’t want to go to the Lakers, for several reasons, including that one.

Howard can pick where he wants to go by simply saying who he will sign with. After the Nets lost their #1 pick yesterday, the Clippers are now in the best position to make the trade for him.

RIP Orlando Woolridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5JbAfX70kk

If we lose Olshey, are there any viable candidates out there for GM? How about former Clipper Mike Smith??? No but seriously, are there reasonable options if Olshey leaves? Give me some names!!! Obviously there were 2 other GM’s better than Olshey, and of course we don’t have a chance at getting RC or Larry Legend. Who is a good fit for our situation should Neil with the deal, leaves?

True, the Nets have some cap space, but that really is the only thing they have going for them as far as getting Howard.

The main thing they *could* have had was the top pick in the upcoming draft, but as it turned out the Nets instead don’t have any #1 pick at all. That’s a huge difference, and that difference all by itself drops the Nets from being in the top position to get Howard.

The second main thing they had a year ago was a healthy Brook Lopez. Although he is a relatively weak rebounder, he can score fairly well. But that was a year ago. Since then, Lopez has suffered two serious injuries to his right foot. He had two different broken bones in that foot this year, and that is a very bad thing. It’s a Yao kind of bad thing. I’d be very surprised if Orlando wanted him with that right foot. I expect other teams will bid on him and he’ll probably be matched by the Nets, but I doubt Orlando will take him. He’s way too much of a risk for them.

In general, with no healthy Lopez, the Nets don’t even come close to having tradeable assets for Howard. They don’t even have Kris Humphries under contract.

The third main thing they had was Deron Williams. They still may keep him, but it’s looking more and more like he will go somewhere else. The Lakers clearly want a point guard. They almost had Chris Paul, and they instead ended up with the second stringer Sessions. Anybody think they’re not going to do everything possible to get Williams?

As for their cap room, the Nets have nine players under salary next year for about $45 million. Again, that doesn’t count Kris Humphries. My understanding is that the cap is about $57 million, which is about where the Clippers are . . . thanks to wasting $8 million a year on Caron Butler and $10 million a year on DeAndre Jordan.

Phil Jackson would be a good choice for GM. Reports today say he was talking to Orlando about their GM job but withdrew his name.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7997203/report-phil-jackson-bows-consideration-orlando-magic-front-office-job
“It drew some interest from Phil,” Vincent told the paper. “But in the end, Phil decided to go with another opportunity.”

Donnie Walsh would be good.

The thing is that the Clippers need a GM who really does know his stuff and is thoroughly respected by other NBA GMs and NBA players. It might influence Howard to sign with the Clippers and Paul to re-sign. Jackson likely would be drawn to running a team with Paul, Griffin, and Howard on it.

I am waiting for DeMote DeAndre (whom I am becoming more sympathetic with given DJ’s slide) to sign up as Oust Olshey.

Olshey re-signs