leidout

Dude nobody is talking crap about Brand, i think it's unanimous that he's everyone's favorite clipper ever, pretty much. And its really not an issue if he were healthy or not, if we were sitting around .450 again, this discussion would be just as valid as it is now... we're not anywhere near a championship team. I said it back during our playoff year and i'll say it now, this lineup has about 2-3 years left to get a championship or move on, the time has come, it's time to move on...

Garnett is the perfect example of a team that has a great player... and is headed NOWHERE! Garnett has always been MVP-caliber, his fans love him, but he can't take the team anywhere by himself and it's better for everyone involved if he's traded. KG is on a contender like he deserves and Minnesota is young & is growing fast. I'd love to see Brand on a contender & see us with a young, rapidly improving team.

Hypothetically, if Minnesota never made that trade, who expects the fans to be happy with that team? I know i wouldn't be.

yamaneko

^^^^ 100% accurate post

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Showtime87

Then who is the solution? How does this team PROGRESS without Brand? You don't throw away a cornerstone player because your PG gets old, or because your SF opts out of his contract. This team CANNOT build around Chris Kaman, hasn't that become apparent? It's not like Brand is 32 or 33 and nearing the end of his career, if that were the case I would probably agree with you. The fact is he's still 28 and has at least 5-6 more very productive seasons in him. I just don't see the logic in letting him walk in order to sign a gunner like Gilbert Arenas, how does that help? Hell, Washington has been thriving without him! Look at any perennially successful team in this league, they all have an all-star caliber PF or C at their core. San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit (until this season), Phoenix...etc. This year was a throwaway from the start once we learned that Brand was injured, that was the consensus opinion right? I just do not understand how you now think that this team is headed nowhere WITH Elton. I did not hear you saying this before the injury, if you did I would like to see an example please. Or at least offer some realistic alternatives should Brand opt out of his contract or become available for trade. Who do you acquire and how do they make this team better than they were with Brand in the lineup?

The T-Wolves got Al Jefferson in the KG deal, I don't see anybody like that available if Brand were to be moved. If the Clippers got somebody like Jefferson in return, along with some younger talents then maybe that would be a viable solution. But seriously, who is out there (and available) that will do as much for this team as Brand?

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“Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war.”
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REMEMBERING #44: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Gathers

yamaneko

There are plenty of answers out there, arenas just being the most obvious due to contract situation and previous interest in this team. Brand is NOT a cornerstone player for a Championship team. Tell me a championship team that won when the best player was someone on brands level, and then a bunch of average players (outside of kaman). Detroit was probably the closest team to no superstar championship lately, but billups has that end of game cassell-superstar type skills. They had a multiple defensive player of the year, and plenty of other guys better than anyone clippers will have next year. And were not saying to "throw away" Brand .Were saying trade him to get a superstar if possible. But even if he does take off for nothing, we have the "upside" to get someone here that could get us a championship. With brand on the squad there is zero upside since he caps us out, and we already know what we can do with him.

Also i dont see why we cant build around kaman. He only makes 10 million a year, which is a relative bargain for a center of his skills, and compared to potentially paying brand 20 million a year. But regardless, even if he wasnt able to be built around, we pretty much have no choice...kaman is the only guy that dunleavvy, baylor, and sterling have all placed the untouchable tag on, so its highly unlikely he doesnt play out his contract.

He has peaked 2 years ago. No player that i can recall around his age in any sport has come back from achilies rupture to actually have career years...and remember, brands superstar career year with PLENTY of talent still want enough to get us past 2nd round of playoffs. If we extend him, he will be 30 and a half when that contract starts, and a max deal means about 6 years with an average of 20 million+. Youre SERIOUSLY saying that we should do that?

How can you not see the pure Vulcan Logic in this? Even dunleavvy and sterling have always said they need a superstar wing to be sucessful , and they have tried their darndest to get one. Is it 100% guaranteed to work? No, but we havent tried it yet, its the logical step to take inasmuch as having a near all start PF has not worked the last 6 years. Worse case scenario were just as bad as we were with brand, so its no loss. But the best case scenario is much better than with brand.

And didnt the lakers have a better record without kobe when he was out for a while? Doesnt mean they dont need kobe for a shot at a championship. Look at championship teams say since 90-91. and who the MVP was. 9 years it was an all star guard, the rest of the time, a super, super, super star PF/C (Hakeem, shaq, duncan), who also had all star help (Clyde, kobe, robinson, etc.).

How can you not understand it? For 7 years we havent gone anywhere with Elton, now as he starts his decline, were all of a sudden going to head somewhere with less talent surrounding him? And we covered it before, why would we mention this last year or the year before when he had 2-3 years left on his contract...especially not when he came off the superstar year, and cassell we thought was still healthy...Also not during the time when we thought the clippers were going to man up and trade livvy for iverson, pierce, or any other superstar we had a chance at. But since livingston is no longer a possible trade piece, and now that brand only has 1 year left (if that) on his deal, i dont see why its such a surprise that were bringing this up? I have come up with a lot of potential deals that would make sense for the clippers and the other team.

Who is out there that can make the playoffs once in 7 years for us? Im sure theres plenty of guys. lol

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