The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has acquired veteran point guard Brevin Knight from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for guard Jason Hart. Originally selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round (16th overall pick) of the 1997 NBA Draft, Knight (5-10, 170, Stanford) has appeared in 655 career regular season games (423 starts) over 11 NBA seasons with Cleveland, Atlanta, Memphis, Phoenix, Washington, Milwaukee, Charlotte and the Clippers, owning career averages of 7.9 points, 6.6 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.77 steals per game. He appeared in 74 games (39 starts) this past season with the Clippers, averaging 4.6 points, 4.4 assists and 1.35 steals in 22.6 minutes. Knight ranked second in the NBA in assists-per-turnover (4.62), and third in steals per turnover (2.87).

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/53716/20080723/utah_acquires_brevin_knight/

Can somebody explain to me the point of this trade? Jason Hart disappointed last year, and I thought Brevin Knight would do well behind Baron as a backup.

BaronorBust found this article over at the ESPN Clippers board, and I thought it was worth reposting here.  Wikipedia also reflects this information, for what that is worth:

http://www.pe.com/sports/breakout/stories/PE_Sports_Local_W_camby_22.19ec753.html

The Warriors have until Friday to match the offer, but two NBA sources said they will not because they signed forward Maurice Evans, who split time between the Lakers and Orlando last season, to a three-year, $6.4 million deal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Just saw this recent comment from "Azubuikefan" on the CB "If we get Azubuike" thread.  Worth bumping and discussing:

Ah.. but what you don't realize.....

Azubuike opened last season as a starter and had a 33pt/ 8rb game against the clipps and followed a few games later with a 27pt 11rb game against dallas which is good… but he was playing injured the whole season and it just kept getting worse and worse because he never took 2 weeks off the let it heal.

Kelenna got a bone bruise in his ankle in summer league that had not healed by the start of the season. He was playing(and well) but was putting all his weight on his right leg because of his left ankle. He developed tendonitis in his right knee. The big dallas game was really the last time anyone saw a healthy Azubuike. He would have been fine if he sat out 2 weeks and let the right knee heal but he couldn’t for fear of falling out of crazy nellie’s rotation and Nellie wouldn’t sit him out because even though they were having to pump him full of liquid tylenol just to play, he was still better than both Barnes and Pietrus which were the alternatives. He averaged 8.5 pts / 4rbs in 20 minutes/game for 81 games while playing really injured… Imagine what he will do while healthy in 35 mins/game as a starter alongside Baron(who is probably the one who filled the clips in that Kelenna’s numbers were achived while playing injured all season).

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=437041

Interesting trade. The warriors get a backup point guard and New Jersey gets a future lottery protected pick. I’m wondering how much space the warriors have left under the cap. I’ve heard 4 million?? I don’t know the exact details but I wonder if this trade still allows them to match Azubuike?

Note: This isn't our marcus williams. (There, I think that covers the 75 word limit)

I would like to see what the citizens here at clipper nation think. Assuming we sign azubuike and fill out the rest of the roster with minimum type players like fazekas and marcus williams/q ross, and other teams fill up as expected (monta resigns with GS), is this clipper team good enough for the playoffs?  I think these teams are guaranteed to be in: Lakers, Hornets, Jazz, Rockets, Spurs, Suns. The last two spots I feel are up for grabs. Personally, I think that we barely beat out portland for the 8th seed. What do you guys think? Will we make the playoffs next year? Yes/No answers are fine, but comments are definitely recommended. I know we are all fans here, but please be realistic in your responses

So bassically im just gonna make a quick jot on what our awsome roster for 2008-2009. This is based on if we get Azubuike that is so here goes...

Starters

Pg - Baron Davis

Sg - Cuttino Mobley (from conference MDsr said mobley would go sg as starter)

Sf - Al Thorton

Pf - Marcus Camby

C - Chris Kaman (Or the other way around)

Bench

Gaurds -

Eric Gordon

Brevin Knight

Mike Taylor

Forwards -

Tim Thomas

Josh Powell

Centers -

DeAndre Jordan

so far we have 11 players so it looks like we are comming along and having a pretty decent bench i think with Tim Thomas  and Eric Gordon which i feel will b great 6th and 7th players. and for DeAndre Jordan i have a feeling that will be pretty good for a 2nd round draft with his height and all.

Possibility?

so we have 3 more players to find right? hmm looking at the free agents that we have now i think that i kind of want to see on the clippers this year is

now here im not sure who gets the last spots but im looking at either

Nick Fazekas or Paul Davis

And for the Last Spot there are 3 contenders to me and one to choose if we do get Azubuike if not its Livingston and ross or marcus

Shaun Livingston - just because i mean hes been with us and i would like to see him have a comeback or at least have a chance to prove himself

Quinton Ross or Marcus Williams - now my prespective is that i really would like for Marcus Williams this summer to develop on his defensive abilities that Ross has and he could be a pretty good scorer off the bench although i have a feeling he won't be consistent in scoring and take some bad shots but hopefully he could learn to choose wisely

Edit: WHOOPS TOTALLY FORGOT haha Kelenna Azuibuike if we get him will be a good backup to Al Thorton

Gordon is projected to be a SG but has said in interviews that he prefers to play PG and he played that position in high school. He may be a great player, but I strongly doubt he will be a superstar SG. Think of Kobe or Allen or even LeBron (this year maybe). He is just too small and although he is super-fast and strong, there are many faster and stronger players at that position. If he wants to succeed, the probability will be so much greater at PG. If we get the chance, I think we should force him to play PG for his first year at least regardless of whether we end up with Azubuike. I understand that this restricts flexibility but we need to think of the future more than just for today. We have a chance to be the best in 2010 if we are well prepared.

When I watched that first Summer League game, the thing I noticed most about Gordon was the similarities between him and Baron Davis. They have wide shoulders, love to shoot from deep, can penetrate and run through screens, are be good rebounders (they both can leap) and are fast as hell. Obviously, Gordon is not Baron – but keep in mind Baron will be his mentor. Remember the effect John Stockholm had on Deron Williams? Baron can teach Gordon to be like him. This is an opportunity we can’t pass on if we are serious about the future. Baron gets injured too often and we need him or someone like him on the court at all times. Consistency is so important for a team like the Clippers (it decimated us last year).

I like what I saw of Eric Gordon, but at the SG position he will be a liability on defense. He tries for every steal and will kill the team if he plays this game with veteran shooters. At PG he has more flexibility to work on his natural skills relating to steals. He has lots of potential in this area. At PG he will be able to spread the defense (have you seen the depth on his three? wow) and post up smaller PG’s. We need a PG of the future (Liv didn’t do it) and I think we should see if Gordon will fill the role. He is very young and still learning the game. We can teach him to pass and run plays. He is better learning from Baron than staying in college. Plus Azubuike is better right now at SG and has played with Baron already. (Anthony Randolph just scored 16pts and 8 rebounds as a point-forward in Summer League – How many SF’s do they need?).

Finally, I believe that Kaman should be starting PF. He never seems to be able to get good position against centers and Camby has had much more success. Kaman likes to start his move far from the bucket and that better suits a PF. As long as his jumper improves it is worth a shot - one he never had while playing with EB. Plus Camby can mentor Jordan – they are also very similar and I would be delighted if Jordon became the next Camby. We should be thinking about 2010 and making sure our young talent is solid enough and consistent enough to become contenders or dare I even say Champions.

At the Camby press conference today, MDsr said:

"Our projected line-up will be Baron Davis and Cuttino Mobley in the backcourt, then Al Thornton, Marcus (Camby) and Chris Kaman on the front line. That gives us scoring, size, post-up, defense, rebounding, shot blocking, basically everything that you could hope for. Our bench will be Brevin Knight, Eric Gordon, depending on whether we get Azubuike or not, Tim Thomas, and we’ve got a bunch of other guys that have yet to be determined as far as how they’ll all fit in. We have a definite core and probably a nine-man rotation right now that is a very good one."

Looks like the old Cat will get the nod at the 2.  I am hoping that by mid season Cat will be coming off the bench.

Camby handled the press conference with class though he expressed some bitterness toward the Nugs mgt.  Understandable, eh?

Continue reading this post »

We all know that good Account Executives tend to have a short career with the Clips.  Most of the good ones tend to leave the organization for greener pastures on a regular basis.  In the six or seven years that I've had season tickets we must have had 4 different rep.  The one I have right now--Josh Scott-- is terrible in terms of returning phone calls or being responsive to requests (it might be why he has been around 2 years running).

I know there is a policy in place where the account execs don't poach season ticket holders from one another, but I've not renewed my seats this year mainly to see what happened with the Brand situation and to hopefully get a new account exec if I renew season tickets again this year.  Anybody here have a current Account Exec that they can recommend?