Maybe I am the only one with this opinion, but I think Donald Sterling is getting a bad rap right now. On the surface, I can see why. His team looked to be on the verge of a playoff berth after making seemingly sound personnel moves in the offseason to add to a young roster. That young roster was summarily denied any type of elite level contracts and the result has been an underachieving season where rumors of movement have been far more frequent than victories.
I have long been a Sterling supporter. He has never threatened to move the team from Los Angeles, he has never asked for public funds to build a stadium. He operates his team within his budget to ensure a profitable operation each year, victories be damned. It can certainly be frustrating for fans, but are the fans of cities like Charlotte and Vancouver really any better off because their owners overspent and were forced to leave town to become solvent?
This year's problems started when Elton Brand and Michael Olowokandi were both eligible for maximum contract extension in the offseason and the Clippers declined the option of locking them up long term. A snowball effect was created and it seems that every player bagan to get paranoid that they would not get paid, either.
Denying Olowokandi a large contract was a shrewd move. When he plays hard, the Kandi man is one of the top centers in the league, but in his four years in the league he has yet to consistently do so for even one half of a season. He is sure to get nice offers in free agency this summer but it is ludicrous to think that anyone will be dumb enough to give him the max contract he was seeking from Los Angeles.
Shunning Brand was a more questionable move, but the Clips still have the option of maxing him out this summer. Unlike the idiots like Danny Manning, Maurice Taylor, Loy Vaught and the Kandi man that have demanded max contracts in the passed and been rightfully shown the door, Brand may actually deserve it. He will never be a top five forward, but he is a valuable player. Andre Miller is in a similar situation in that he is a great point but not a top five point. The Clips still have the chance to lock him up as well.
The beauty of what Sterling has done is that his thrift has exposed the selfishness of the players who should now be shown the door. The production declines of Odom, Richardon and a couple of others indicate that they are not championship players. Championship players like Scottie Pippen and Sam Cassell may have complained when they were working with undervalued contracts, but they never let it affect their play on the floor.
I remember before the 2001-2002 season, David Aldridge predicted that the Clips would produce less than the surprising 31 wins they had the year before, but would actually become a better team. As it turns out, he was one year off in his prediction, but the fall did come. Young teams are simply very inconsistent. I still believe that if the right pieces are put into place and kept in town, the Clips can still be a force for years to come. You have to remember exactly how sad this team was before Miles arrived to understand how far they have come to even be put in the position of being ridiculed for having *too much* talent.
I have long been a Sterling supporter. He has never threatened to move the team from Los Angeles, he has never asked for public funds to build a stadium. He operates his team within his budget to ensure a profitable operation each year, victories be damned. It can certainly be frustrating for fans, but are the fans of cities like Charlotte and Vancouver really any better off because their owners overspent and were forced to leave town to become solvent?
This year's problems started when Elton Brand and Michael Olowokandi were both eligible for maximum contract extension in the offseason and the Clippers declined the option of locking them up long term. A snowball effect was created and it seems that every player bagan to get paranoid that they would not get paid, either.
Denying Olowokandi a large contract was a shrewd move. When he plays hard, the Kandi man is one of the top centers in the league, but in his four years in the league he has yet to consistently do so for even one half of a season. He is sure to get nice offers in free agency this summer but it is ludicrous to think that anyone will be dumb enough to give him the max contract he was seeking from Los Angeles.
Shunning Brand was a more questionable move, but the Clips still have the option of maxing him out this summer. Unlike the idiots like Danny Manning, Maurice Taylor, Loy Vaught and the Kandi man that have demanded max contracts in the passed and been rightfully shown the door, Brand may actually deserve it. He will never be a top five forward, but he is a valuable player. Andre Miller is in a similar situation in that he is a great point but not a top five point. The Clips still have the chance to lock him up as well.
The beauty of what Sterling has done is that his thrift has exposed the selfishness of the players who should now be shown the door. The production declines of Odom, Richardon and a couple of others indicate that they are not championship players. Championship players like Scottie Pippen and Sam Cassell may have complained when they were working with undervalued contracts, but they never let it affect their play on the floor.
I remember before the 2001-2002 season, David Aldridge predicted that the Clips would produce less than the surprising 31 wins they had the year before, but would actually become a better team. As it turns out, he was one year off in his prediction, but the fall did come. Young teams are simply very inconsistent. I still believe that if the right pieces are put into place and kept in town, the Clips can still be a force for years to come. You have to remember exactly how sad this team was before Miles arrived to understand how far they have come to even be put in the position of being ridiculed for having *too much* talent.
