Blame It On The Boogie

Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the moonlight
Don't blame it on good times
Blame it on the boogie.

Tim Kawakami wrote in his blog today that Monta Ellis might be close to telling the Warriors to either love him, or leave him alone.

If he feels his recovery is coming along, Ellis could say by mid-December: Either void my deal or trade me, your choice, because I’m never playing for a franchise that would do this to me after I admitted my mistake and was ready to accept singular punishment.

That Ellis judgement is a very live possibility.

And there are teams that would take Ellis, if his deal was voided (basically, a release) or if the Warriors shopped him for trade.

I understand why the Warriors would feel like they were lied to. Well, because they were lied to. I understand that contracts have clauses and you're not supposed to do things that you are forbidden to do in your contract. That's all gravy. But 22 year old people make mistakes. Where's the forgiveness? Because the fans have already forgiven Monta. Why haven't the Warriors? And at what point do they push too hard and alienate him from the team?

What's frustrating from a Warriors fan perspective is that the franchise was back. We believed right? Even though they didn't make the playoffs last year, they had an excellent season for Warriors standards. We wanted them to resign Baron. If they couldn't resign Baron, we thought someone like Elton Brand could be good. Our eyes twinkled slightly at Josh Smith. We settled for Corey Maggette, knowing that we'd get Monta and Andris back. And now, you're telling us that we might not get Monta back and if we do, there's a possibility that he's going to be unhappy. It's far too reminiscent of Chris Webber, Latrell Sprewell, Joe Smith, and Gilbert Arenas. I thought we were moving forward, not backward.

So I came to this conclusion. Let's work together. Let's stop doing things that set the franchise back.

Warriors' brass, don't blame it on Monta.

Monta, don't blame it on the Warriors' brass.

Make up. Live happily ever after. You need each other. If you need someone to blame it on.

Do like Michael said. Blame it on the boogie.

Plan C: Corey Magette

Baron Davis said no. Gilbert Arenas said no. Elton Brand said no. But Corey Maggette said yes. According to Marc Stein from ESPN.com, it’s a $50 million contract for five years.

He also stated that it is believed that the Warriors will sign LA Lakers power forward Ronny Turiaf to an offer sheet, which the Lakers will have a week to match. I’m not sure they’ll let Kobe Bryant’s buddy get away.

Also, say goodbye to Mickael Pietrus. It looks like he’s on his way to Orlando. My favorite Pietrus moment was when I was at a game several years ago with Eddy Zucko, and they asked Pietrus who his favorite cartoon charter was. He said it was, “The Tweety Bird”. And he said it like only Pietrus could say it.

With Baron Davis verbally committed and ready to sign with the Clippers, word is that Elton Brand is heading to Philadelphia. Is that a back stab job worthy of when Carlos Boozer verbally committed to Cleveland and then went and took the offer from the Utah Jazz? J.A. Adande, also from ESPN.com, started his column about Brand by saying it is what it is.

As it turns out, Elton Brand is an NBA player, the Clippers are the Clippers and the joke’s on all of us who ever thought otherwise.

I wonder if B-Diddy can do the same and come back to the Warriors. Actually, I wouldn’t wish that on Clippers fans.

So why would Brand spurn the Clippers after saying all along that he wanted to help the Clippers get another superstar right by his side? Ric Bucher says it’s more about how he thinks he fits in the Eastern Conference. But it also has to be about the benjamins. It always is.

The Warriors Are Trying To Steal Brand

Supposedly, Elton Brand opted out of his contract so that he could offer the LA Clippers some flexibility to help to the team offer more money to a big time free agent. Last night, they got their guy in Baron Davis. It seemed like a lay-up that Brand would then agree to a contract that would allow he and Davis to be Clippers for the next several seasons. But it looks like Chris Mullin and the Golden State Warriors have given Brand something to think about.

According to both Tim Kawakami and Marc Stein, the Warriors have offered Brand max free agent money to come up north.

If the Clippers offer Davis what is expected to be $65 million over five years, their offer to Brand looks to be smaller than what the Warriors can throw at him. The Warriors reportedly are offering at least $90 over 5 years. I won’t even pretend to understand the NBA’s salary cap, but it seems that in order to have both Davis and Brand under contract for next season, the Clippers’ offer could be much less than what the Warriors could offer.

But Brand specifically has stated that his goal was to remain a Clipper and that he was inspired by what Boston did by having Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen all on the same team. He wanted superstar teammates who were willing to give it their all. So if that’s his goal, the Clippers are probably his team. The Warriors’ best player is a young and small shooting guard and right now, they have no point guard. Will money talk? Who knows. But my bet is that Brand takes the Clippers deal. If he doesn’t, he might be more hated in Los Angeles than Carlos Boozer is in Cleveland.

BDiddy Gives Back The Keys To The City

It was time. Baron Davis opted out, the Warriors called his bluff, and now BDiddy is going to southward. According to Mark Stein, Davis has verbally agreed to join the LA Clippers. The deal is said to be for five years and $65 million, which according to possible deals I saw from the Warriors, was similar in base money, but definitely longer in years.

If Elton Brand comes back as well, the Clippers have two definite stars and immediately leap frog over the Warriors in the West. As for the Warriors, it doesn’t look like Gilbert Arenas is coming back to play for the team that drafted him. Newly re-signed Antawn Jamison thinks it’s a done deal that Arenas is back with the Wizards.

Now, where do the Warriors go from here? I think Chris Mullin and company have a back up plan, but I guess we’ll have to wait.

We’ve been basketball blogging a lot lately.

Baron Opts Out

In what was a surprise move at least to me, Baron Davis opted out of the last year of his contract, that was to pay him nearly $18 million this upcoming season. This is according to the AP via ESPN.com.

The reason why I never thought it would happen is because I didn’t think there was a market for Davis to make more than that.

What it means to me is that maybe Davis and his agent think that it’s not safe to play out the deal and risk possible injury and instead, market himself based on last year’s play. If he were to get injured this year, his reputation would suffer and his earning power could be cut drastically. But I’m not sure it’s even going to matter. If anyone saw Davis at the end of last year, he wasn’t even close to the same person he was in the first half of the season. To say that he wore down at the end of the season would be a fair statement.

The Davis camp must believe that there’s a secure deal out there. He gave up $18 million for the opportunity to find one. Now the Warriors need a point guard, whether it’s going to be Davis if they resign him, or someone else.

What about Davis for Elton Brand in a sign and trade?