Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Clippers
Staples Center
December 5, 2012 7:30p PT
FOX Prime Ticket / ESPN
There was going to be some pithy comment here or a couple of stats, but our old friend Kaman seems to have sorted it out for us.
“The truth of the thing is Sterling, when I was there my first few, four to six years, he was tight with everything,” said Kaman, who was part of the package the Clippers sent to the New Orleans Hornets before last season to land Paul. “He didn’t want to spend the money. I think as he’s getting older, he’s realizing, ‘Hey, I don’t know how much time I have left’ — or whatever it is — ‘I’m older.’ You can’t win in the grave.
Pretty random scheduling for the Clippers face their transition-era backcourt (Mo Williams, Randy Foye) in Utah only to come home to their revered 2005-06 playoff frontcourt (Elton Brand, Chris Kaman).
Get ready for tonight: the NBA’s version of LOOPER: Hunted By Your Future. Haunted By Your Past. (or something, I don’t know. Time travel hurts my head)
Have a couple of spare minutes? How about a Chris Paul/ESPN commercial?
Need even more content? Charlie Widdoes hops onto SBNation Dallas to give them the lowdown of the Clippers. DJ Foster puts his dulcet tones to use on CBS’ Eye on Basketball podcast. I pop into the 5-on-5 on ESPN.com and dish about the impending Clippers pick-and-pop. And Kevin Arnovitz reflects on the last imposing Clippers frontcourt as they return to face the new frontcourt.
Brand and Kaman occupy a curious place in the collective memory of Clipper Nación. You won’t find a Clippers fan who isn’t giddy about the current state of things, but a warm nostalgia exists for those mid-aught Clippers teams. Those fans saw something of themselves in Brand’s anonymity and Kaman’s imperfections.
Still, some residual resentment lingers over the way Brand skipped town in the middle of the night to sign with Philadelphia. Kaman was part of the deal for Paul, but his flakiness had started to wear a little thin. Clippers fans miss Kaman the way you’d miss an eccentric housemate who moved out. The behavior you can gladly live without, but there was comfort in the familiarity. Kaman was a big dufus, but he was our big dufus, many would say.
And check out ClipperBlogLive after the game, our live postgame show. Feel free to drop questions or comments in this thread!
