Puerto Rico - the new China?

Those of you who like fringe NBA players may have enjoyed the series of updates recently about the Chinese Basketball Association. Any league that saw Olumide Oyedeji average nearly 20/20 can peak the interest of any of us. Players like playing in China; the exposure isn't huge and the money isn't great, but the CBA has the lure of the teams playing lots of games, with less emphasis on practice, copying the NBA model of basketball not imitated much around the globe. Furthermore, the standard of play was really bad, which led to amusingly lopsided statistics that they could put on their CV; for example, Tim Pickett will now always be able to boast that he was a 39.4ppg scorer at one point in his career. (It appears to be already paying dividends, since he just got a workout with the Memphis Grizzlies. It's nice to know they're checking out China. So would I.)

The Chinese league season has ended, as have most leagues, but the Puerto Rican one is just starting. It's not coincidence that the BSN (Puerto Rican) league begins in mid-April, and it allows them to experience an influx of fringe NBA talent much like the Chinese league did. The standard in the BSN is better, so the numbers aren't as wonky, but it still makes a great proving ground for players who need a small career boast, or some extra money from a summer job. And, for us keen observers, it's a great chance to watch bit part players play big. Here are the numbers of people you may have heard of.

- Marcus Williams (Quebradillas): Williams (the Nets one) is possibly the best player in Puerto Rico. His scoring is inefficient, due largely to taking as many threes as he does twos and hitting them at only 33%, but he's passing and rebounding, and even has a triple double to his name. Williams averages 15.1 points, 9.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds for the best team in the country, playing well for the first time in three years.

- Peter John Ramos (Quebradillas): former Wizards center Branches is averaging 16.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 3.2 fouls in 16 games.

- Elias "Larry" Ayuso (Santurce): Ayuso averaged an inefficient 13.2 ppg for the Iowa Energy to start last season, before leaving the team to take up an opportunity in Croatia. However, that never actually happened in the end, and Ayuso ended up unemployed before going back to his native Puerto Rico, back in his homeland and doing what he does best; hoisting up a shitload of threes. Ayuso averages 21.7 point per game, and absolutely nothing else.

- Josh Davis (Santurce): Davis was also in the D-League as arguably the best player for the Colorado 14ers after Captain Slow went down. Davis averaged 19.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in the D-League, and I hope to God he was looking for another NBA go-around from a team that hasn't signed him yet. (I hope to all Gods that he gets it, too.) Davis currently averages 16.4 points and 9.6 in P-Rico. (Giggidy?)

- Rick Apodaca (Santurce): former Magic signee Apodaca has been around the houses this year. He signed in Turkey, but didn't played. Then he signed in China, but he didn't play. Then he signed in Italy with Carife Ferrara, where he did play, averaging 17.2 points per game in 5 games, but then he tested positive for marijuana and was waived. And now he's back in his native Puerto Rico, pretending to be a point guard. Apodaca averages 7.6 points and 3.9 assists per game in 9 games.

- Ricky Sanchez (Santurce): Sanchez, too, is playing in his native country, although it wasn't without a fight. Sanchez played in the BSN last season for Humacao, but at some point his rights were traded to the Ponce Lions. Sanchez didn't want to play in Puerto Rico this season, as apparently his agent didn't want it to get in the way of his NBA aspirations (the man either aims high, or is high), but the BSN wouldn't let him leave. He tried to sign in Venezuela, but that was denied, and a nasty holdout ensued; Sanchez refused to play for the Lions, so they refused to pay him. Eventually, he ended his holdout and returned to practice, but he never played in a game for Ponce, and they traded him at the end of last month to Santurce, where he has averaged 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 12 games as a specialist 3 point shooter.

- Jabari Smith (Bayamon): Smith didn't play anywhere this season, for reasons that I'm not aware of. Maybe he was saving himself for this. In any case, Smith is averaging 10.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 17 games.

- Danilo "J.R." Pinnock (Arecibo): Pinnock has been around the houses this year, starting in Italy's Lega2 (which means "league two"), before moving to Argentina a few months ago. He joined his Puerto Rican team only this week, and has totalled 44 points and 13 rebounds in his two games so far. So either he learnt the playbook really fast, or his sheer talent overwhelmed the need for one. You decide.

- Marcus Fizer (Arecibo): still working his way back from knee surgery, Fizer has averaged 15.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.9 fouls in 25.9 minutes of 7 contests. The shorter three point line employed by the BSN has had the expected effect - Fizer has shot 17 of them already. He's hit 5.

- Donta Smith (Carolina): Smith was the sixth man on the Australian championship winning Melbourne South Dragons team, and he had a 21 point, 10 rebound, 7 assist performance in the title winning game. He averages 11.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 8 BSN games so far.

- Ebi Ere (Carolina): Ere (pronounced air-ARGH, at least in Australia) was also in Oz, and he played for the Melbourne Tigrs, the team that lost to Smith's Melbourne South Dragons. (Basketball is good in Melbourne right now, it seems.) He's spent many years in Australia, and is one of the best players there. He's also now one of the best players in Puerto Rico, averaging 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 14 games.

- Alejandro Carmona (Carolina): former Piston for about a week, Carmona is back in his native country, averaging 21.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in 15 games. You'll notice that those rebounding numbers trump those of most others on this list, a particularly impressive feat when you consider that Bimbo is a 6'5 guard.

- Ruben Wolkowyski (San German): the former winner of the "Worst Player I've Ever Seen" award, before I started watching the NCAA, is still plying his trade despite hurtling towards his 36th birthday. R-Wolk averages 16.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in 15 contests. By the way, the current holder of that award? Dwight Burke of Marquette. Absolutely no idea what he's good at. None whatsoever. Except sweating. He's good at sweating.

- Dan Langhi (Mayaguez): Langhi played in Puerto Rico last summer, but didn't play anywhere else this year, so seemingly he likes it there. He averages 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in 15 games this season, but is shooting only 35%.

- Ryan Humphrey (Caguas): Humphrey spent much of the year with the Tulsa 66ers in the D-League, giving some consistent employment in a career that's been very disjointed. He averaged 15.7 points and 7.4 rebounds in 36 games for Tulsa, alongside the slightly fantastic number of 3.3 turnovers in only 28 minutes a night. His Puerto Rican numbers are basically identical: 15.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in 28.8 minutes a game. Thankfully for Big Comfy, I don't have his Puerto Rican turnover numbers.

- Matt Freije (Caguas): Freije averages 19.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in 15 games, numbers almost identical to his Chinese league numbers from earlier this season (19.6/7.9/0.2/1.2 in 26gp).

- A.D. Vassallo (Caguas): Virginia Tech's Vassallo did a Calathes, and couldn't be arsed to wait and see if he was going to be drafted before getting his first paychecks in. (Being a native of Puerto Rico also helps.) His professional career is off to a fine start, as he averages 20.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

- SirValiant Brown (Ponce): if you remember SirValiant Brown (and you may well do, because names like that tend to stick with you), then you might be interested in his 2008/09 season, which has read as follows: 2 games in Iceland with 49 total points, 8 games in Canada with 62 total points, and 2 games in Puerto Rico.....with 3 total points. But still, they come in only three minutes, so that's not bad going.

- Lee Nailon (Ponce): Nailon's NBA career died a while ago, and since then, he's been on the Dion Glover tour of middle and South America, with liberal dashings of Asia where he can get it. Since July, Nailon has played in Venezuela, Iran, the Lebanon and now Puerto Rico, where he averages 21.6 points and 7.9 rebounds in 14 games. By the way, he hasn't hit a three yet and he still doesn't pass.

- Darian Townes (Ponce): Kings summer league last year, Townes started the year in Poland, left before Christmas, and then came off the bench for the Erie BayHawks for the rest of the year. In 4 games for the unfortunately named Ponce Lions, Townes averages 13.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks.

- Nigel Dixon (Ponce): as with so many others on this list, Dixon played part of the year in China, averaging 26.3 points and 9.8 rebounds in 33 mpg for Zhejiang Lions. (Apparently he only plays for teams with Lions in the name.) Dixon's sheer unrelenting size made scoring easy enough, and he shot 69% from the field, with the only successful strategy against him was to foul him and send him to line. (That worked; Dixon went only 91-204 from the line, which is Ben Wallace-like.) Dixon isn't having as much success in Puerto Rico, averaging only 7.4 points, but he does averages 9.7 rebounds in 17.3 minutes, which is also Ben Wallace-like. When Ben was good, at least.

- DerMarr Johnson (Humacao): Johnson spent part of the year in the D-League with the Austin Toros, not playing much, and only signed in Puerto Rico this week. He has totalled 47 points and 13 rebounds in two games.

- Antonio Meeking (Humacao): Meeking was somehow a D-League All Star this year, scoring big points on terribly inefficient shooting. He is doing much the same with Humourcow, averaging 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in 5 games, with 71 points coming on 63 shots.

- Kurt Looby (Humacao): the former Iowa centre exploded onto the scene in the D-League this year. He played little in college, but he was thrust into a starting role with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and responded with fine big man numbers: 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in only 24.9 mpg. Shame he can't score. Looby averages 10.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game in PR, and recently worked out for the Grizzlies.

- David Monds (Humacao): the former Oklahoma State big man averaged a double for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds this year, if you round the rebounds up a bit, but averages only 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds through 7 games in the Reeko.

- Jumaine Jones (Guaynabo): You may recall that Jones was suspended for a year after a weird soap opera that saw him sign two contracts at once. I am not sure of how the specifics of that played out, but clearly someone backed down, because Jones ended up playing 35 games for Ural Great Perm in Russia, averaging 7.1 points per game. Currently averaging 14.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists for Guaynabo.

- Lee Benson (Guaynabo): Benson is now 35, and never cracked the NBA outside of a couple of summer league spots in his prime. He was in junior college when he was 28, which probably didn't help. However, this minor league journeyman showed up all other minor league journeyman in China this year, averaging a staggering 34.1 points and 18.8 rebounds in 48 games for Shaanxi. He's continued that in Puerto Rico, averaging 20.1 points and 14.2 rebounds in 9 games. Does anyone out there want to sign Dale Davis, but only pay him the rookie minimum salary? If so, Lee Benson's your man.

- Gabe Muoneke (Guaynabo): despite owning both Muoneke and the previous two players, Guaynabo are last in the BSN with a 3-11 record. It's not Gabe's fault, as the journeyman scorer averages 20.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in 31 minutes per game; good numbers, albeit not comparable to his 34.6 ppg CBA scoring average.

Where Are They Now, 2009: Part 57

As promised, things got quiet for a bit on here, as I went on a holiday to Spain, specifically to the town of Tudela near Zaragoza. Unlike my previous Spanish holiday, this one will not be tributed with pictures of cheaply built German televisions, or random fat woman's arses. Instead, we'll cut to the Chevy and bring you some long overdue fringe NBA player whereabout-y goodness. Remember, though, that we're nearly finished.

(Note: if you are a Tudellan resident, and your girlfriend decided to leave you this week because her heart was stolen by a bearded Englishman who walked around the town quoting lines from Chanel 9 News wherever he went and being unable to resist fitting the town's name into the melody of a similarly titled Rihanna song.....well, all I can say is that there must have been two of us.)

The following people are all called Williams.

- Ajani Williams hasn't played anywhere since scoring 1 point in two preseason games for the Atlanta Hawks in 2005. Probably not even Hawks fans remember this. That's how insignificant Williams's impact on the NBA landscape was. (No offense intended there, but....well, he's so unheard of that Googling his name returns this website as the fourth result. And that should never happen.) His career before this is extremely obscure, too - starting as a walk-on with Georgia Tech, Williams transferred to Eastern Michigan, where he didn't play much, and certainly didn't star. Tours in Bulgaria, the Philippines (where he became a bit of a hit) and the USBL followed, amongst others, and then Williams was signed by the Magic for 2004 training camp after (presumably) impressing in summer league that season with the Mavericks. He didn't make the team, and returned to Bulgaria for a second stint, before the Hawks came a-calling the next season. Seemingly, being able to score 1 point in an official NBA game (if not a regular season game) was a satisfactory conclusion to Ajani's professional basketball dreams, and he hasn't played anywhere since then, despite still being only 32 years of age. Williams is now the president of the Jamaican Basketball Association, choosing to help develop his homeland's game in preference to taking a player development job at the NBA's head office in New York. Also, according to this, AJ is the author of a guide called "How to become a PRO Basketball Player - The Complete Guide and Manual", which I can't seem to find anywhere. Then again, since it was apparently made in ring binders, that shouldn't seem surprising. (I did find this, but I'm assuming it's not the same person.)

I spent an hour looking up all that Ajani Williams information, so don't skim-read it.

- Speaking of Jamaican ex-training camp signings with the surname Williams, former Raptors sideshow Corey Williams spent the year in Australia playing for the Townsville Crocodiles. "Homicide" killed it, averaging 18.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 32 games, albeit while hitting only 4 three pointers all year.

- Ezra Williams has had a weird career. After going undrafted in 2003, Williams spent the 2003-04 season playing in the NBDL, USBL and WBA in that order, and then spent the 2004-05 season in the CBA, finishing second in the league in scoring. For that, Ezra was rewarded with a training camp invite to the Seattle Supersonics, but he was an early cut. Williams spent the 2005-06 season in the NBDL again, averaging 12.5ppg for the Austin Toros, and then tried the summer league route again in 2006 with the New Orleans Hornets. It didn't work, though, and Williams spent the 2006-07 season playing for Mersin in Turkey, before trying the summer league route again in 2007, and again with the Hornets. Again, it didn't work, and Williams sat out last season before returning to the Toros this year, where he averages 11.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 39 games, shooting 44% from three point range. In all those years, he's seen only stint in Europe, which seems a bit odd; Williams is not far short of his 30th birthday, and he won't have earned much money from his professional basketball career to date. So why not visit the finest continent in the world and get the money up a bit? Is he excessively jingoistic? Xenophobic? Scared of flying over water? I need an answer on that. Pronto.

- Jawad Williams was one of five unnecessary training camp signings by the Cavaliers, and the winner of the battle for the 15th roster spot after a 13 point, 5 rebound, 3 assists outing versus Boston. Why they chose to keep him around until the contract guarantee date, I'll never know, but they did it anyway before waiving him to save money. However, seemingly unwilling to see the end of the Jawad Williams Experience, Cleveland then re-signed him for two ten day contracts, giving him more money that they could then double for tax penalties, further proving to LeBron James that they'd spend whatever it took to create a winning team. ("Don't leave us! We'll even spent over half a million on the 15th man!") Williams ended up appearing in 9 games for the Cavaliers, totalling all of 10 minutes, and managing to score 4 points in that time. After the Cavaliers finally gave up with him, Williams joined the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League, where he averages 23.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12 games.

- Jerome Williams retired unusually early as the victim of the Knicks's 'Allan Houston provision', and became a community representative for his beloved Raptors. Three years on, I'm assuming that he is still there, due to a lack of evidence to the contrary.

- Justin Williams played for both the Bobcats and Warriors in training camp this season, but didn't make either team. He then tried out in China for Shandong in China, and didn't make that team either. After that, he tried out for Besiktas in Turkey, but they sent him home, unsatisfied with his practices and conditioning. As a result, Williams has not played all season outside of a few scant preseason minutes. It would appear that he can't be bothered to fulfill his potential.

- You'll know Marcus Williams's story, but here it is anyway; once a very highly touted high lottery pick, Williams's stock plummeted on draft night, and he ended up being drafted by the Nets behind Renaldo Balkman, much to everyone's amusement. However, it turns out it was justified - Williams proceeded to do absolutely nothing in two seasons with the Nets, was traded to the Warriors this summer for a future first round pick, but totalled only 12 points and 13 assists in 9 games before being waived earlier this month. He is now unsigned, although a shot at redemption will probably come from somewhere this summer.

- The other Marcus Williams - Spurs draft pick and former Clipper swingman Marcus E. Williams - is in the D-League with the Austin Toros, and absolutely beasting. Williams averages 22.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per game, and was named a D-League all star this season

- Scott Williams is now doing a media career. Williams called games for the Cavaliers for two seasons, then spent last year as a pre- and post-game analyst for Bucks games, before leaving once again to join the Suns for this season as a colour announcer once again. Seemingly he's doing a tour of all his former NBA teams, so hopefully he'll soon be replacing Stacey King.

- Georgian starlet Shammond Williams is playing for Pamesa Valencia, where I recently had the privilege of watching him play. In the first minute, he got a cut under his eye that required stitches, and he returned in the second half to throw the ball away repeatedly during crunch time. Good times. Williams averages 13.4 points and 3.9 assists per game in Eurocup play, alongside 9.8 points and 3.7 assists in the Spanish league.

- Finally, Walt Williams's NBA career dribbled to a stop in 2003, and he has disappeared off the radar since then. But we can rest assured that, no matter where is or what he's doing, he's still the man. He just is.

Summer signings, round 8

- The Knicks signed Anthony Roberson, which is the sort of move that I'm usually sceptical of, but which in this instance I'm rather pleased with. The Knicks guards, basically, are all terrible. Only a Knicks fan, or someone who likes contradicting my sweeping generalisations, could really disagree with that. But within that, they all share a common drawback - they don't shoot too well. Chris Duhon passes up more threes than he hits. Quentin Richardson may have once held the all time record for three pointers attempted in a season, but that doesn't mean he's a good three point shooter. Mardy Collins is worse at it than both. Stephon Marbury has never had good range, and he probably won't be there to open the season anyway. Jamal Crawford is a good shooter, but inefficient due to his own misguided idea of quite how good at it he is. (86% of Crawford's field goal attempts are jumpshots, which is a freakin' huge number.) This leaves only Nate Robinson, who shot a meagre 33% on three pointers last season. Roberson, if nothing else, provides them with a second decent shooter from the guard spots (or third if you count Nate, which you might want to, if you hate me and everything that I represent). So at the very least, Donnie Walsh appears to have spotted a flaw in his current roster, and found a small remedy for it. That's a start.

- Herbert Hill, renounced by the Sixers as a part of their devious cap room plan, signed with Le Mans in France. Earlier this month, Hill was arrested for DUI, and when you combine that with the fact that he didn't play a single minute in the NBA last season due to knee surgeries, you can see why he might have not seen a return to the NBA as being immedate.

- J.R. Reynolds also signed in France, with Asvel Basket. Fun fact - we bought our house from a man called J.R. Reynolds. He didn't go by "J.R.", sadly, but if I'd mentioned that before the fact, then it would have made it less spectacularly fascinating. And no one wants that.

- The Denver Nuggets are the kind of team that trades away their better players in salary dumps, carry only 13 players on the roster, and pay as many people the minimum as possible. So, true to form, they've filled out their bench with two more minimum salary players in Chris Andersen and Dahntay Jones. Having said that, a minimum salary bench foursome of Anderson, Dahntay Jones, Bobby Jones and Anthony Carter is actually quite good, so I'll shut up now. (By the way, they'd better not start Carter this year. Chucky Atkins is hardly a better alternative, but....Anthony Carter?? Seriously? Trade for a point guard or something. Jesus. Or, alternatively, keep your first round picks and draft one. I'm theorising wildly now.)

- Bobby Brown signed with Sacramento, and not Golden State as I mentioned in an earlier post. The lesson, as always - visit this website every day, but don't come here for news. Just for, you know, scathing views and pictures of Sam Cassell touching himself and salaries and stuff. Also, I'm never trusting anyone again.

- Speaking of the Warriors, they've been the busiest team in the NBA this offseason, but in one fell swoop, they pretty much finished up their business. After Kelenna Azubuike signed an offer sheet with the L.A. Clippers last week, the Warriors began negotiating with Orlando free agent guard, Maurice Evans, with whom they agreed a three year contract. However, Evans then changed his mind, and held out for more money. Golden State, rightly not willing to play silly buggers with an inconsequential player, countered by matching Azubuike's offer sheet, something which they weren't originally going to do. They then tidied up A.O.B. by trading for Marcus Williams to fill the back-up point guard spot (this actually happened beforehand, but play along), re-signed Monta Ellis to a big money long-term deal, and signed second round draft pick Richard Hendrix. A good couple of days for the Warriors then. Their only remaining drama on an otherwise completed roster is the re-signing of Andris Biedrins, which hasn't happened yet. True to form, rumours abound that a European team is about to offer Biedrins a highly competitive if not superior rate of pay. That comes to you from the incorrigable Fannation.com


- Speaking of the Clippers, a few hours before losing out on Azubuike, they made the sort of the trade that I absolutely love when they dealt Brevin Knight to Utah for their own former starlet, Jason Hart. I LOVE trades like this. Love them. How can you not? It's fantastic. It's a trade so wonderfully, awesomely pointless, that the right adjective simply does not exist. Great stuff. I've always wondered who initiates trades like this. Who picks up the phone first? Did they ring each other at the same time? What roster holes do the teams think they are filling? Did Utah, recognising their need for improved perimeter shooting, mistakenly identify Brevin Knight as the solution, inadvertently obtaining one of the only point guards in the league that shoots worse than Jason Hart? Or were both teams just in "anyone but him" mode? Good stuff. Plus, if you're a Bobcats fan, there's the added bonus of the two players involved once forming a two headed Bobcat point guard monster, and now they're being irrelevantly traded for each other. Good times all around. Stupid, but fun.


Also, speaking of the Clippers being stupid......well, the Clippers are stupid. If you take my salary figures as being entirely correct - a dangerous proposition at any time - then this is how the current Clippers salary situation looks:

Baron Davis: $11,200,000, ish.
Marcus Camby: $10,000,000
Chris Kaman: $9,500,000
Cuttino Mobley: $8,925,000
Tim Thomas: $6,049,400
Eric Gordon: $2,623,200
Jason Hart: $2,484,000
Al Thornton: $1,776,240
Nick Fazekas: $886,517 (qualifying offer/caphold, restricted free agent)
Josh Powell: $854,957
Mike Taylor: $442,114
DeAndre Jordan: $442,114

Total: $55,183,542


That, against a salary cap of $58,680,000, leaves the Clippers with just under $3.5 million to finish up their roster. It's not an exact figure, because Baron Davis's salary is not guaranteed accurate (it's within $100,000 of that, at least.) It is, however, near enough to make my point.

The reason I mention this is that, if it were for slightly better cap management, they could have even more cap space. I shall explain.

As you probably know, the salaries for first round draft picks are set by the rookie salary scale, a scale of pre-determined numbers that dictate the salary for each first round draft slot, for every year of the current CBA. There does remain a bit of room for negotiation, though - players can sign for up to 120% of the amount outlined by the scale, or for as little as 80%. It is standard for all teams to sign their players to the full 120% of the scale: it is very rare for anyone to take anything differently. (The only two players in recent years to do otherwise were Sergio Rodriguez, who took 100%, and Ian Mahinmi, who took 80% in the first year of his rookie deal to help the Spurs avoid the luxury tax. Whether he did this magnanimously, or because the Spurs wouldn't offer differently, is unclear.) Eric Gordon, as is the custom, signed for the full 120%.

However, in the window between drafting a first rounder and signing them, the draftees have a cap hold for 100% of the rookie scale only. Thus, by signing him to the 120% of the scale while still under the cap, the Clippers just lost $437,200 in cap room. ($437,200 is the difference between 120% and 100% of the rookie salary scale for the 2008 7th pick.)

This may seem inconsequential, but it might not be. If you take that $437,200, add it to the $484,000 difference between the salaries of Jason Hart and Brevin Knight, add that to the $854,957 cap hold of the completely unguaranteed salary of the completely inconsequential Josh Powell that could easily be done without, add that to the $884,228 that could have been saved by not signing Mike Taylor and DeAndre Jordan already (unsigned second round picks do not have a cap hold), add that to the $886,517 that would have been opened up had Nick Fazekas been renounced, add the $3,496,458 of cap room from the maths outlined above, and subtract $1,768,456 for the four roster charges that would be charged for only having 8 players under contract.....

.....and you get $5,274,904. That's the cap room that the Clippers COULD have right now.

As mentioned above, it's not an exact figure, but the point it demonstrates remains valid. Right now, the Clippers have just a fraction less than $3.5 million in cap room remaining, but if they'd thought about it a bit more, they could have nearly $5.3 million. It wouldn't have cost them a significant player, either: Gordon, Jordan and Taylor would still have been signed, but just a bit later. And the idea that Fazekas and Powell would have been snapped up in the mean time - or the idea that it would have mattered in any way if that had happened - is extremely far-fetched.

The Clippers could have one and a half times their current cap space.
The difference between $3.5 million and $5.3 million in cap space over the span of a 5 year contract is $10.44 million dollars. A contract starting at $3 million over 5 years with maximum raises totals $20.3 million, and a contract starting at $5.2 million with maximum raises totals $30.74 million.

To put it another way, it is potentially the difference between Hedo Turkoglu and Eduardo Najera.

But, alas, it's too late. They can still renounce Fazekas and waive Powell, but it won't be optimum. The Clippers could have traded for Marcus Camby, signed Baron Davis, and still have had as-near-as-is an MLE left over. But they won't now.

The lesson, as always - screw Danny Ainge. (No, wait, sorry - I'm just stuck on loop saying that. I mean, screw Elgin Baylor. Yeah, that one.)





- And finally, speaking of Sam Cassell touching himself, here is Sam Cassell touching himself.



That will never stop being disturbing.