Welcome to the board.
I wouldn't call it all pessimism, it's just we've all been Clipper fans for so long and don't want to see history keep repeating itself. Obviously everyone is not going to agree on moves that are made, but that is the case with any team. We all have the same dream of wanting to see the team win, and that's what matters most imo.
This summer was all about change for us. New Coach, New GM, New Team. Nobody knew what to expect. I loved our draft and it got me excited entering into the next 2 stages of the summer signings.
As far as coaching goes, the Clippers didn't exactly help reassure us by keeping everything hush hush and waiting to last minute to make their decision on the coach. Most wanted Casey, the analysts and beat writers all said it was looking like Casey or that Casey was the better hire. We end up with Del Negro. I was pissed at the time, because I wanted Casey when this whole process started months ago. I've cooled down since then and there's no point in focusing on that, because we've made our decision and Del Negro is the guy for the next 3 seasons. I'm going to give him a chance and I'm hopeful that his positives outweigh the negatives and are able to be the shot in the arm that this team needs to churn out some victories. He's looking at assistants right now, and I'm hoping for the best. We need guys that will help him on both sides of the floor.
We knew we were long shots for LeBron, but expected our guys to spend a little more time with him. Once that news came out, most were under the assumption that it wasn't going to happen and that we should start negotiating with other free-agents. We waited and some we thought we would end up overpaying for were snatched up early. That's not all bad, because some of those contracts were ridiculous. If you asked me how I would want it to play out again, I'd still want us to make our pitch no matter how far fetched it may have been.
The signings of Foye and Gomes were OK imo. They are both capable of playing more than one position depending on the line-up and are both capable perimeter shooters. Foye I am a bit more comfortable in having, because I know he's going to be a back up behind Gordon and Baron. He could see time as a starter if one were hurt. I like the addition of Gomes, but I'm unsure if we're adding another player to start or this is just it. If he's the starter, then that means that Aminu will likely be given an opportunity to see more minutes earlier on. I'd like Gomes coming off of the bench more than him starting. Either way, I'm cool with having both players. I feel that there are still players out there that could help us, but have no idea if they are even on the team's radar. With a couple of Western teams taking some hits to free-agency, we have a better opportunity to move up in the standings, but need to capitalize on it. Signing Cook frustrated me, because I have never liked him as a player. If we were going to sign him, we could have waited until after our cap room was maximized to its fullest potential and then signed Cook on a min contract. Now he's eating up some cap and has only made 15 3-pointers in the last 2 seasons.
As far as everything else, I'm anxious to see our summer league team and then on to preseason. I'm really looking forward to next season, having Blake back, integrating the rookies, and even seeing if VDN can get these guys motivated to win. You are not alone.