Donald Sterling is happy with me. He's even happier when I tell him I'll manage to keep it under the cap for next season. Probably shouldn't have done that while also guaranteeing a playoff spot, but whatever.
Coach Hiring
Mike Fratello - Minnesota Timberwolves
Mock Draft
By my lights,
SG Jacque Mason of UCLA, mocked to go 4th to the Indiana Pacers, is probably the best player in this draft. UNLV's
PG John Miller looks exactly like the type of pass-first PG I like and the mock has him going #9 to the Kings. Tulane's
SF Renaldo Groves is mocked to go 1st overall.
Lot of players in this draft knocked for their poor handling. The mock has us taking 6'8, 220 lb
SG Jamaal Preston from Vermont. Don't really see that happening, but who knows?
2012 NBA Draft First Round
1. C Richie Walker - Minnesota Timberwolves
So the T-Wolves opt to go with Walker, a huge 7', 300 lb 19 year old out of Georgia Tech #1 overall. I can see why they went this route, although I think there's better players out there.
Interesting offer for
Brad Jones from the New Jersey Nets. They're suggesting
Johan Petro and his scrubby $3.5 million expiring self along with the #13 pick. That's actually pretty good value and I'm pissed I can't find a center who does anything in the playoffs, so I take it, school loyalty be damned.
2. PG Anthony Lee - Charlotte Bobcats
Stunned
John Miller wasn't the first PG taken. He had a phenomenal workout.
Trade offer for
Eutor Taffarel, but it sucks.
3. C Frank Kidd - Memphis Grizzlies
I though this kid was the safer center pick than Walker, so I really like this pick. But why are all the best guys in this class dropping?
4. SG Jacque Mason - Indiana Pacers
I tried like crazy to move up and get this guy, but the Pacers just weren't having it. Great pick for Indiana here.
5. C Ray Dixon - Phoenix Suns
6. SF Renaldo Groves - Toronto Raptors
ARGH! Tried to move up to get Groves, too, who never should have fallen out of the Top 5. An absolute steal by Toronto here.
7. PG Claudio Montella - Detroit Pistons
The Italian product is a fantastic point guard option as well. Really deep draft for players at the one, and Miller is still on the board.
8. PF Chezley Hunter - Cleveland Cavaliers
9. PG John Miller - Sacramento Kings
So the mocks were right. There's one guy left on my board, which is quickly gone to pieces, so I send #13 and #36 to Golden State to move up 3 spots.
10. SF Mark Carter - Los Angeles Clippers
It's a split opinion pick, but the UT-Chattanooga star had excellent all-around game for the Mocs - 25 points, 9.3 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.5 blocks, 2.4 steals... I'm actually excited to get him.
11. PF Leandro Ramos - New York Knicks
12. SG Justin Bayyan - Denver Nuggets
13. PG Jay Rucker - Golden State Warriors
14. PG Ben Carrawell - Oklahoma City Thunder
15. PF Stevie Cundiff - Washington Wizards
16. PF Alex McDermott - Minnesota Timberwolves
Good value for Minnesota here. Walker and McDermott will be an intriguing frontline to watch for the Timberwolves.
17. C Steve Lilly - Chicago Bulls
18. SG Charles Delea - Utah Jazz
19. C Jason Robinson - Atlanta Hawks
20. SF Tayshaun Odom - Dallas Mavericks
21. C Marcelle Wingfield - Philadelphia 76ers
22. C Brian Day - Milwaukee Bucks
He's short at 6'9, but holy hell did the Bucks get a steal here. Day at PF,
Andrew Bogut at C... that's a nightmareish frontcourt at the Bradley Center. This dude should have been a lottery pick.
23. C Brian Hunter - Boston Celtics
24. PG Josh Lee - Orlando Magic
We really need a center, but all our targets just went off the board in the last few picks. What's left is complete crap. Fortunately, the Bucks are looking to add more picks, so they shop us the draft rights to
Brian Day for #25 and #55.
25. PF Rob Black - Milwaukee Bucks
Great pick. He could have gone higher even, so this makes a lot of sense for Milwaukee. And they get pick 55 out of it, too.
26. SG Nick Kickert - San Antonio Spurs
27. PG Michael Edward - Miami Heat
Surprising trade for the Bucks, but I'll cover it later.
28. PG Rory Howell - Atlanta Hawks
29. PG Brandt Capel - New Orleans Hornets
30. PG John Gervin - Los Angeles Lakers
Our first look at our rookies post-camp says Day was indeed a freaking steal if he pans out to his potential. I'm really excited about him, even given he's 6'9, but his 284 lbs *is* impressive. Carter looks better all-around than Taffarel, so we'll see how it works out.
Nicolas Batum is tagged with the qualifying offer to keep him a RFA, everyone else is renounced.
Summer League
PG John Wall
SG Eric Bledsoe
SF Eutor Taffarel
SF Mark Carter
PF Tiago Splitter
C Timofey Mozgov
C Dexter Pittman
C Brian Day
Yeah. Basically our entire projected starting lineup is still young enough to qualify for the summer league. That's just crazy, man. So basically, if we don't go undefeated, there's going to be problems.
101-83 win over Cleveland on July 4th. 25 points, 3 blocks
Tiago Splitter. 13 bench points for
Dexter Pittman.
110-78 win over Boston. Great showings from the second team.
Eric Bledsoe scores 19,
Mark Carter 13 with 5 assists. But the performance that draws the biggest buzz is
Brian Day, who explodes for 10 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks.
That game also ends up starting a cult phenomenon. Some diehard Miami (OH) Redhawks fan, in the midst of a hyper drunken delirium, spends five hours on an Internet message board writing a monolithic monologue thread in which he sings the praises of
Brian "The Sun God" Day, talking about how Day should have gone #1 overall and how Day is going to shatter the Jestorball law of no centers allowed shorter than 6'10, bringing the dawning light of a new era for the Clippers, a championship era. As luck would have it, the thing ends up going viral and our rookie immediately takes to the nickname.
John Wall scores 28 in our 114-87 rout of the Magic.
Mark Carter adds 15 bench points,
Eric Bledsoe 11.
The Sun God isn't as impressive this game, but 7 points, 11 rebounds, and I gotta say, the dude can rebound.
We head back home after those two road games and the whole damn arena has people holding up signs with giant suns on them and other related phenomena. 12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks off the bench for
Brian "The Sun God" Day, invitee
Nick Calathes adding 12 bench points in our defensive 96-73 ripping of the Rockets.
Mark Carter explodes for 21 points in our narrower than expected 90-85 win in Portland.
Eric Bledsoe chips in 10 bench points and
Brian Day just misses the bench double with 8 points and 9 rebounds.
Free Agency
We have just over $18 million in cap space and 11 players signed, so we're set to make a splash.
Marquee Players
Carmelo Anthony
Derrick Rose (RFA)
Chris Kaman
Jamal Crawford
Eric Gordon (RFA)
Russell Westbrook (RFA)
Kevin Love (RFA)
Jason Kidd (Strictly as a pass-first PG)
So a pretty weak crop overall.
Carmelo Anthony is the first free agent to sign, a 5 year, $91.6 million contract with the Sacramento Kings.
And we make the second big splash in free agency, signing Derrick Rose to a 5 year, $79.7 mil. max contract offer that the Bulls refuse to match! Say hello to the Wall of Roses backcourt!
Kevin Love accepts a 1 year tender from the Minnesota Timberwolves, so he'll be an unrestricted free agent next year.
Tyson Chandler got a two year, $4.2 million re-signing from the 76ers. Good for him.
We receive news that
Nicolas Batum has a 1 year, $5.9 million offer sheet from the Dallas Mavericks. That'll put us over the cap, which isn't good. On the other hand, I've been trying to trade
Timofey Mozgov, which I'll do after free agency if I can.
After hemming and hawing, I match the offer sheet. Batum really is one of my fave players.
Roy Hibbert,
Eric Gordon, and
Courtney Lee sign 4 year, $23.6 million contracts with Golden State, Houston, and Orlando respectively, all with team options.
Andrei Kirilenko gets a 5 year, $37.5 million contract to stay with the Hawks. Smart move by Atlanta, as he was the big reason why the Hawks went from middling playoff team to elite East team.
Miami makes a great signing, getting
Chris Kaman for 5 years, $29.5 million. He's going to be huge in the post for the Heat, which lacked that big time presence down low. Maybe now the Big Three will finally win that title they long for.
Gerald Wallace waits a long time, but goes to the Lakers for 5 years, $29.5 million, too. Irritating to see our archrivals get such a great player for a comparatively cheap price.
Jared Dudley got a nice 2 year, $10.2 million contract from Denver. I have no idea who he is, though.
I trade
Timofey Mozgov to the Charlotte Bobcats for their 2014 and 2015 2nd round picks. The move puts us $3.4 million under the cap.
Against my better judgment, I sign
Eutor Taffarel's third year option.
Training Camp/u]
Very disappointing from Mark Carter, who crashes and burns. Brian "The Sun God" Day still looks the real deal.
Jeff Van Gundy wants to start Derrick Rose at PG and have John Wall come off the bench. I fire his bald ass and hire myself on a one year deal. Time to do this right.*
* - Note: I randomized attributes at the beginning of the game, to make it more challenging. Thus, you won't see the full extent of the Jestorball philosophy at work in this universe.
East
1. Miami Heat
2. Milwaukee Bucks
3. New Jersey Nets
West
1. Sacramento Kings
2. Los Angeles Lakers
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Heat are clearly #1 and after them, the East looks really, really bad. Lakers look great, Thunder and Kings very good, though Sacramento have bad point guard play.
We're picked for 12th, probably because the game reset my depth chart
Ben Wallace is an 11th hour signing to beef up our big man depth.
[u]Los Angeles Clippers 2012 Opening Night Lineup
PG John Wall
SG Derrick Rose
SF Nicolas Batum
PF Tiago Splitter
C Brian Day
6th Jose Calderon (PG/SG)
7th Eric Bledsoe (PG/SG)
8th Eutor Taffarel (SG/SF)
9th Mark Carter (SF)
10th Ben Wallace (PF/C)
11th Dexter Pittman (PF/C)
12th Ryan Gomes (SF/PF)
-------------------------
13th Johan Petro