Going into this NBA offseason I was happy about the Los Angeles Clippers position. We had finally gotten rid of Mike Dunleavy as coach and general manager and had made a series of moves that set us up to be players in the big free agent bonanza of 2010.
Of course we were only ‘technically’ players because we’re still the Clippers, but it was impressive to at least have a chance. I knew from the get go that we’d never land LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Amare Stoudemire
Ditto to Joe Johnson or Chris Bosh. Some of those guys we didn’t really need (Bosh or Stoudemire) and overall there were just too many more glamorous options. That left us with guys like Rudy Gay.
I didn’t want that to happen for several reasons. One, NBA teams have a bad habit of severely overpaying guys like Gay and I didn’t want us working so hard for salary cap space and then throwing it all away on one move.
Secondly, as a fan of the Clippers in the Lakers-dominated city of Los Angeles I’ve already taken enough verbal abuse. The last thing I wanted was all my friends and family ridiculing me about a Clippers jersey with “GAY” on the back. It would have been way too easy for them so I’m glad the Memphis Grizzlies made the dumb $80 million move before we had a chance to.
I’m not too heartbroken about the lack of signing big names, because it doesn’t really hurt to have all that available money in today’s NBA, plus we have a great young squad with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Gordon and two vets in Chris Kaman and Baron Davis.
Al-Farouq Aminu was a solid choice with the eighth selection in this year’s draft and we had the chance go after a big name coach like Byron Scott, Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, etc.
Look familiar Clippers fans?
After so many years of Dunleavy the thought of getting an accomplished coach did what the Clippers have always done to me. It made me flirt with the idea of finally seeing a string of smart decisions. Sure we weren’t going to get LeBron but picking up a big name coach could be the first step in establishing the team as serious to future free agents.
As usual with this sad comedy though, they made the wrong choice. What once looked to be a summer that could bring some real fireworks to the other LA team has ended with the small sizzle of Vinny Del Negro. The team announced yesterday that it was hiring Vinny. Del Negro is fresh off being fired by the Chicago Bulls after two seasons that saw him finish 82-82 and leave after physical altercations with team management.
I guess the only major positive I could see in this hiring is that Vinny might lose his cool again and punch Donald Sterling in the mouth. All jokes aside, I’m personally not too happy with the choice. Del Negro never wowed me while in Chicago and I have serious doubts he’s the right guy to lead our young core.
From what I’ve seen on ClipperBlog.com and ClipsNation.com, there seems to be a genuine split among fans about the move. Ramona Shelbourne of ESPNLosAngeles.com gave some good reasons why the move could be a smart one while Eric Patten over at the Great Western Forum blog explained why both Del Negro and the other finalist Dwayne Casey were both mediocre choices.
I guess we’ll ultimately have to wait and see how it all turns out, but until then I’ll just have to keep reminding myself that at least Dunleavy’s gone. I just hope Del Negro doesn’t end up being his long lost twin brother.
-Will.
Will R. is a journalist/writer who covers sports, news and music for several websites. His music work can be found on www.WestCoastRydaz.com
I’m not pleased with the Del Negro hiring. However, the team not freaking out when they lost out on James, Johnson, Gay, etc. is the biggest bonus of the offseason for me. Gomes and Foye are inexpensive additions to bulk their depth. I hope they continue to spend cap space wisely.