"Paul put his stamp on Clippers"

[mkwest]

Paul quickly put his right arm around Sacks, watching as a handful of players went through drills for a few minutes before pulling Sacks in for a hug and walking off the court.

Sacks' name is rarely, if ever, brought up when talk of Paul's impending decision about whether to re-sign with the Clippers comes up -- but it should be. Paul passed on a chance to sign a three-year, $60 million extension with the Clippers this past summer but can sign a five-year, $110 million extension next summer and Sacks is one of the reasons the smart money may be on Paul staying in Los Angeles long-term.

When Sacks talks about Paul, he doesn't speak about him just as another player but as an extension of the front office. He views him as an extra scout, an extra coach and an extra brain he can pick when he's putting together the roster, alongside Clippers president Andy Roeser and head coach Vinny Del Negro.

"When you have a guy like Chris with the highest basketball IQ in the NBA, you'd be remiss not to listen to him and get his input," Sacks said. "If Chris is interested in a player, you'd be stupid not to listen to him."

"A lot of guys would just stay in the background and let us make our moves and do what we think," Sacks said. "But to have his participation shows how invested he is and invested we are in him."

"When you get guys that believe in what you're doing and they take ownership in it, you can't lose," Sacks said. "Everyone needs to be invested. If you aren't invested then you're not really part of the team. It's important."

With these moves, Paul is not only invested in the team, he is also responsible for how this season plays out. This team's successes and failures will rest not only on his ability on the court but his ability as a talent evaluator off the court.

Arash Markazi, ESPN Los Angeles

[scoobs07]

Great article. Sounds like CP is going to stay (I'll believe it when I see it though). If he ends up staying, him and Griffin would be a great pair of franchise cornerstones for the next 5 years. Ad, a even more seasoned DJ and some key free agents and draft picks, things would look really good. Not to get too far ahead, but once CP is locked up long term, I think the Clips would likely shop Bledsoe. He is going to be a starting NBA point guard in the NBA and as evidenced by the recent extensions of Ty Lawson (similar type player), who got 4years/48million and Steph Curry (injury prone) , who got 4years/44million, EBled is going to get paid double figure millions per year. Now, the Clipps could aquire some damn good pieces with EBled as he will likely have as awesome of a year as a 7th man could have. A quick projection of deals that could be made for next season:

1. Clips trade Bledsoe for a top 10 lottery pick. They could get a stud wing player like maybe Shabazz Muhamed or somebody like that. Whoever they get should be a prolific three point shooter, as that will be key to compliment CP/Blake/DJ the next 5 seasons or so.

2. The Clips would have the full MLE at their disposal, since they didn't go over the luxury tax this season. I would imagine players like Chase Buddinger, JR Smith, OJ Mayo and even Nick Young could be on their radar.

3. Hopefully Thompkins will show something this season, he could emerge as the third big and be resigned to a deal. If not, then the Clips might add somebody here since Hollins, Rony and LO are not likely in the long term plans.

4. Butler could be cut using the spread provision in a effort to save some money, or his expiring deal could be used as trade bait to aquire one of the above.

5. Billups could be re-signed to simply be CP's 12mpg back up at PG. This kind of role could help extend Chauncey's career another 2-3 years.

I hate to get to far ahead, since I am excited about this season where we could really surprise the heck out of a lot of people and win it all

[mj_shoefanatic]

oh boy looks like we'll still be able to reload even after CP signs long-term next summer.

[scoobs07]

I hear nothing but great things from Gary Sacks. I think he's going to be the most successful GM in the history if the franchise. Another thing about next season, there is going to be a lot of free agent shooters available.

1. Kevin Martin
2. Anthony Morrow
3. Dorrell Wright
4. Chase Buddinger
5. OJ Mayo
6. Brandon Rush
7. Kyle Korver
8. Nick Young
9. Ray Allen
10. JJ Reddick

Plus, probably some other guys I forgot to mention.

[Quake Griffin]

long term SG and long term SF.

nothing else needs to be discussed.
get it done gary.....and I'm guessing cp3