Branding the Bay

First off when it comes to the wheeling and dealing this time of year, the players are probably the least trustworthy element to pin your predictions on. Agents (who want money), owners (who want $/wins), gm's (who should just want wins) and coaches (who want the best team) have a lot more to do with who goes where than does any player. In this situation it was Nelly at the end of last year that benched BD and basically terminated the relationship. It was the front office that set up this chain of events and it was the agents who fought for the most money they could get their players. Only a select few players are able to dictate where they will be going. That said, lets look at this from EB's perspective.

The Warriors are offering him:
- more money
&
- a better team (this is of course my humble opinion)

The Clippers are offering him:
- less money
- Baron Davis and a team/organization that ranks among the worst in the league

The timing of events seems to be indicative of a preconceived plan of the Warriors to acquire Brand. This didn't just happen and if Brand does leave the Clippers I have a hard time seeing him going anywhere else. If I were him I'd be moving up north where he can play with a team that has more money to work with and a couple of young players that could make for a really exciting season. What would you do?

I'm not sure you can ever know the motives of these players. It's a game. Remember Boozer? Remember how Baron, early yesterday, was saying he wanted to stay with the Warriors (when he clearly already had a deal in place). Brand's agent said that the opt-out was made to create more cap-space for the Clips to go after a big name player. That might be true. But it could also just be pr. That's the obvious, non-confrontational thing to say.

One thing seems to be fairly consistent among pro sports players. They like the dough.

You're right that even if we don't get Brand it's a smart play, even though the Clips would probably be maxing out anyway at 70 mil.

I'm not so sure. I mean, he left $16.4M guaranteed on the table for the chance @ a longer term deal tat will pay him less on avg than that. I'll bet he "settles" for whatever the Clip Joint offers - here's guessing that EB is a smart guy and has invested his money wisely enough to allow him the chance to get by on less than $90M. He can probably still feed his family with a mere $70M deal.

The W's offer is pretty smart and helps both them and EB - even if he doesn't sign with them. He now has more negotiating leverage...and the W's force the Clips to spend more money and tie up more of their cap space. Savvy indeed.

@jsaraco

True, but reportedly we're offering 5 yrs 85-90 mil and the clips can't do anything more than 70 mil. Money is money. I think there's a chance... slim as it might be.

Its a savvy move by the W's to at least generate some intrigue, but no way will this happen. It makes a ton of sense for the W's, but no sense for Brand.

Does anyone think that Baron & Brand haven't been talking and plotting the the NBA version of the Killer B's?

Mwah ha ha ha ha. Eye for an eye biotch

Please please please please please please please please please