Posted by Solace:

Well, Brand was another player I respected that this sort of thing tarnishes, IMHO. He has now taken the Carlos Boozer path and violated his word. Pretty crappy thing to do, to blatantly lie just to get out of your contract. I hope they make a Elton Brand version of www.carlosloozer.com after this.

As for Dunleavy, I think his response, while maybe a little too public, is probably reasonable. His trust was violated and he, his players, and his management got played. Most likely, he was the one that convinced management to go along with this strategy. That's not the easiest thing to accept.

Posted by eViL:

Posted by McK1:

brand had a player opt

Exactly. What the Clippers did was renounce Brand so that they could clear enough cap room to sign other players. Until he is renounced, they have his Bird rights, but his potential salary is kept on their cap as a "cap hold." Once they renounce him, they lose his Bird rights (putting them in the same pool of potential suitors as all other teams with cap space -- e.g. Philly and GS). If they didn't renounce him, they could have beat Philly's offer easily (by offering an extra year), but they would not have been able to sign Baron to his deal. They renounced Brand thinking they'd be able to snatch both him and Baron. Obviously, that didn't work.

Posted by eViL:

Posted by McK1:

brand had a player opt

Exactly. What the Clippers did was renounce Brand so that they could clear enough cap room to sign other players. Until he is renounced, they have his Bird rights, but his potential salary is kept on their cap as a "cap hold." Once they renounce him, they lose his Bird rights (putting them in the same pool of potential suitors as all other teams with cap space -- e.g. Philly and GS). If they didn't renounce him, they could have beat Philly's offer easily (by offering an extra year), but they would not have been able to sign Baron to his deal. They renounced Brand thinking they'd be able to snatch both him and Baron. Obviously, that didn't work.

Posted by eViL:

Posted by SticksnStones:

Posted by eViL:

Posted by McK1:

brand had a player opt

Exactly. What the Clippers did was renounce Brand so that they could clear enough cap room to sign other players. Until he is renounced, they have his Bird rights, but his potential salary is kept on their cap as a "cap hold." Once they renounce him, they lose his Bird rights (putting them in the same pool of potential suitors as all other teams with cap space -- e.g. Philly and GS). If they didn't renounce him, they could have beat Philly's offer easily (by offering an extra year), but they would not have been able to sign Baron to his deal. They renounced Brand thinking they'd be able to snatch both him and Baron. Obviously, that didn't work.

They didn't renounce Brand. They renounced other players. Their cap is at $28mil the new NBA CBA Salary Cap is $58mil and Brand's cap hit would have been $16.5mil leaving about $13.5mil to sign a FA. They inked Baron to yrs 5/$65mil Baron's first yr salary will be approximately $11.5-12.5mil. They could have offered him 6yrs. Brand is the player who planted the idea from the get go.

It's no different than when Kobe Bryant opted out and the Lakers gave him the largest deal they could give him 6yrs/Max Money, along with other players like Redd, Kidd, O'neal, Arenas, Ray Allen, etc etc

[Edited by - SticksnStones on 07-12-2008 7:59 PM]

You're right. I couldn't find one source that reported it as anything other than a rumor. I woulda swore I read that they renounced him -- I guess I did. Only thing is, it wasn't true. Welcome SnS.

[Edited by - eViL on 07-12-2008 8:22 PM]