Rumors abounded for a spell, but what we appear
to finally have is the truth: the Knicks just dumped Zach Randolph off on
the Los Angeles Clippers. Donnie Walsh has become the un-Isiah.

There’s no point in killing the Clippers too much for making
what is essentially a pretty pointless move. They don’t need Zach Randolph, at
all. The idea of Randolph and Chris Kaman playing alongside each other kind of
reminds of Zach and Eddy Curry trying to go at it, though Kaman has more high
post gifts than Eddy Curry. Michael
Kamen had more high post gifts than Eddy Curry, for that matter, but that’s
beside the point.

Randolph’s
contract is horrible, and I still think he hurts teams despite his point and
rebound production, but the contract isn’t piling on the mess in the same way
that Isiah piled bad deal after bad deal on his Knicks.

The Clippers had to pay Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas anyway
next season, so they’re not losing any money this year or next, and with Marcus
Camby’s contract coming off the books in 2010, the Clippers will have some
flexibility in Randolph’s
final year.

What the deal is, though, is pointless. The Clippers are 29^th
in offense, and Randolph
will help, but what the squad desperately needs is some sort of wing scorer.
Actually, they needed two. Cuttino Mobley and Al Thornton have both had their
moments this year, but they use up a lot of minutes and a lot of shots to get
their (average the two out) 15 points per game. There’s a reason this team is
so inefficient, and Thornton/Mobley/Ricky Davis‘ play at the wings has the most
to do with it.

And as horrible as Baron Davis has been at times, he’s still
helping the offense. Not a lot, but he is averaging eight assists for a team
that only 35 field goals a game. That’s a Steve Carlton-on-the-Phillies level
of production, if Carlton
had a 9.72 ERA and struck out 12 guys all season.

Davis
is shooting 36 percent, he’s taking an average of 6.5 three-pointers per game
and making an average of 1.6 a contest (re-read that, it’s astounding), and
he’s getting to the line nearly half as much as he used to. Other than that,
bang on.

But while Baron should be playing better per his contract
and abilities, he’s not the problem. Mobley and Thornton and Ricky Davis have
been. The team is just getting nothing from those wing spots.

And the team’s
rebounding, somehow, is awful. The Clippers are being out-rebounded by about
five and a half per game, even though Kaman and Camby are combining to average
over 20 per game. I don’t see how Randolph
can help that, because his rebounding acumen will come at the expense of another
good rebounder’s minutes.

So, essentially, the Clippers have further weakened their
weakest position, added a superfluous big man, and a year’s worth of salary.
Not the end of the world, but not good, either. Maybe they can trade Camby back
to the Nuggets for J.R. Smith and a part?

The Knicks, as you know, killed it. Thomas and Mobley don’t
have to play a game. Hell, if I’m New
York, I do a favor to their agents and try to work
the buyout. Let them try to catch on with a contender. You don’t need old, bad
(Thomas’ PER is about 10, Mobley’s
is 11) players taking up space on your team. Trade like mad, if you can.

As it stands, as
Woj mentioned, the Knicks have lopped off about $17.34 million off their
2010-11 books, and are only set to send about $18.1 million combined to Eddy
Curry and Jared Jeffries that year (both player options … thanks Isiah!), plus
the rookie deals of Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari (about $5.4 million,
combined). That’s a pretty barren landscape, with lots of flexibility.

It doesn’t have to be for LeBron, or D-Wade, or Chris Bosh.
It just has to be a way to start over. The same start Knicks fans have been
waiting for since it became obvious that the Ewing/Sprewell/Houston troika
wasn’t going to work some eight or nine (depending on your fandom) years ago. What
a fantastic trade.

And the Clippers? Thanks for knowing your role.

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A look around the league and the web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: With Leather. Follow that link to check out Chuck’s pants. Wow.
PF: CharlotteObserver.com. How do you say "Bobcats lose" in Spanish?
SF: NESW Sports. LeBron wants you to eat your veggies, buy his new shoes.
SG: Khandor’s Sports Blog. Wade or Bosh: which one would you choose to build your team around?
PG: Blaze of Love. You know, after further review, the NBA All-Ugly team would be pretty good.
6th: TalkHoops.net. Another excellent Eight-Second Violation column and podcast.
7th: The Blowtorch. Oh, the monkey is in the basketball! Of course!
8th: Mr. Irrelevant. Arenas says it’s A-OK to start daydreaming about Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio.
9th: Deadspin. Unlike me, Ron Artest didn’t grow up to let somebody throw something at him.
10th: FirstCuts. Someone on eBay, allegedly a former player, is selling one of the Boston Garden’s old backboards.

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Sam Cassell is a freewheelin’ spirit. From his sound bites to his swagger, there is no other player quite like Sam. In fact, if he wasn’t going to become a coach after he retires, I would guess he’d start writing jingles, make a boatload of cash, and turn into the ultimate ladies man. Seriously. Don’t let that face fool you, chicks dig the confidence. He’s like an extraterrestrial Charlie Sheen.

Which is why this story about Cassell’s old practice habits should come as no surprise. On the Dan Dakich Show this past Tuesday, Dakich and Pacers’ radio voice Mark Boyle were discussing Kevin Garnett’s 24/7 intensity when the talk took an abrupt turn. Indy Cornrows explains the rest:

At one point, Dakich delved into a story from a Timberwolves’ practice he observed during the KG/Sam I Am era a few years ago with former University of Minnesota basketball coach, Dan Monson. GM Kevin McHale casually dropped a little parlor trick on the two coaches. [...]

Dakich: Cassell used to practice … I was sitting there on the side with Danny Monson … he was over watching the workouts and Kevin McHale came over and he was sitting with us and Cassell comes in and he (Cassell) always practiced in sweatpants. And McHale looks at Danny and I and he says, "Watch this." He says, "Sam, you wearing underwear?"

And Sam Cassell says, "Nope."

He didn’t wear underwear to practice as an NBA basketball player.

You know, this explains so much.

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OK, now this makes a bit more sense.

You see, Donnie Walsh is a good GM. And he’s also in love
with Al Harrington. It’s something that has cost him before, as mentioned in this
post.

So when word leaked that the Knicks were going to add Harrington for
Malik Rose’s expiring deal, you couldn’t help but temper your "nice deal" bit
of enthusiasm for the Knicks, mainly because you can’t help but worry about
what Walsh will do with Harrington.

Would he extend him? Would he press Knicks coach Mike
D’Antoni to play him? Would he make Harrington the new Knicks coach? Would he
get to write bad Knick-related songs with Q-Tip? Would he get to run the New
York Liberty? Does he own a dog, and where is that dog going to stay? You can’t
blame me for these thoughts, people.

So now that we’ve heard that Jamal Crawford is
heading to Golden State, and not Malik Rose? Yes. That’s our Donnie. Nicely
done.

Crawford has been great for New York this season, but he’s quite
replaceable, a little overpaid, and his contract runs until 2011. Not "2010,"
but 2011; I can understand if you thought that a typo initially, based on how
many times you’ve seen the number "2010" typed out recently. But, yes, 2011.

The Knicks don’t want anyone’s contract going to 2011, least
of all an Isiah Thomas guy that was brought in for a heap of expiring contracts
that helped turn the Chicago Bulls around. Or helped to try to turn them around,
at least.

So, the Warriors get another streaky shooter, one who can
sop up minutes until Monta Ellis gets back, but it’s the same as it ever was.
The Warriors have 14 guys like this, plus Andris Biedrins. It makes for a fun
watch, but we should have just assumed the deal was for Crawford all along. The
guy earned his Warriors uniform years ago.

Meanwhile, the Knicks shave a little over $10 million off
their payroll for the summer of 2010. Not counting draft picks (they have to send
one to Utah anyway pretty soon as a result of the Stephon Marbury deal from
2003), and assuming the team isn’t going to re-sign David Lee (likely) and Nate
Robinson (hmm), the Knicks are on the hook for about $40 million dollars for
2010-11. If they can find some sucker to take Zach Randolph’s contract in
exchange for expiring deals, that number goes down over $17 million.

They’re not in the catbird seat, but they are in play. And
after dealing with Ed Tapscott, Scott Layden, and Isiah Thomas from 1999-2008,
that’s enough.

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The Blogger Formerly Known As Miss Gossip has new interview clips with Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace, and as expected, this video is just as good as the last, if not more.

Sheed, playing the "nickname game" with teammates, dubs Tayshaun Prince "Paper Thin", Kwame Brown "Coffee With No Cream" and Ronald Stuckey "Young 50" because, well, he looks just like 50 Cent. (He does.)

Once again, a big BDL head nod to Alana G for the video.

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