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It is very unlikely that Ainge will sign Stoudamire.
Here's a qoute from Ainge from the Boston Herald today

Danny Ainge remains wary of upsetting what

Sterling must be the most delusional person in the world if he thinks the Clippers have a chance at the playoffs this year.

Geez. Donald Sterling is one stubborn man. They aren't making the playoffs. I can understand him not wanting to buy out Cassell, but I can't understand why he wouldn't trade him so the Clips could a) start the tanking process and get a higher pick; and (b) get assets for Cassell rather than letting him walk away after the season and getting no compensation in return.

The Clips aren't making the playoffs. They're 11.5 games out of a playoff spot midway through the season. They've lost too much ground, and even Brand came back tomorrow 100% healthy, they'd still be a longshot to make it in.

You'd think Sterling would do the smart thing and start setting up for next season. But hey, I guess the Clippers are the Clippers for a reason.

MVP16 wrote:Sterling must be the most delusional person in the world if he thinks the Clippers have a chance at the playoffs this year.

Delusional. That's just the word I was thinking. They're already way out of it and have a couple of good teams with winning records ahead of them who are still out of the playoff picture right now.

Sterling is a stubborn mule, though. He might be serious about this. Wouldn't want to lose a dime.

The Clippers are 15 games under .500. There is no chance they make the playoffs. But Sterling really likes Cassell.

Ainge needs to move on because we don't have anything to offer in a trade.

Earl Boykins anyone? Boykins is likely to make his season debut in a week, but no ones knows with what team.

The Clippers just don't want to give players away. But they may not have a choice.

Posturing ladies and gentlemen.... Posturing.

LarryLegend wrote:Posturing ladies and gentlemen.... Posturing.

Can you say SMOKE SCREEN!

The Cassell thing never made a lot of sense anyway.

I don't understand just passing on Stoudamire, unless Doc doesn't want him or they know there are other options. Status quo is a bit a shaky to say the least.

Sign Damon, we need a backup point hell even earl boykins would be better then nothing but damon is a much better defender and distributer.

stoudamire just signed with the spurs, right?

Yeah this seems a lot more like a Damon chose the Spurs than the C's didn't want him. Barry is hurt and Parker has been in and out with injuries San Antonio is just a better spot for him than competing for playing time in Boston.

Sterling may just be posturing.

That deadline for players to be with a team for the playoffs is March 1.

So, there is plenty of time for a buyout.

I suspect that Sterling will listen to all offers for Cassell, and decide if they want to trade his expiring, use him till the end of the season, or heaven forbid, give him a buyout.

Since they really need him, it's logical that they would hold onto Sammy until the last minute. If Sam is let go at the end of February, there will only be about 7 weeks left to the regular season.

Of course, salary wise, he'll probably be owed around $3.3 million at the end of February.

Cassell can push his hand in this too if he'd like. I never thought we had a realistic chance at Sam, but with all the drama that's gone on in that front office the past two weeks I wouldn't be surprised to see Sam say he'd not just prefer out of the losing, but prefer out of that bickering between Sterling, Dunleavy, and Elgin.

The only delusional person we can talk about is Ainge. It was clear from the very beginning that Cassell won't get a buyout unless he requests one, and signing Stoudamire can "change the mood"? Give me a break, Danny! He needs to swallow his pride and chemistry thing and sign Damon, because we will really have problems in the playoffs with Rondo, who isn't even that consistent, and... no PG as his backup. And we're talking about getting deep into the playoffs.

If Ainge doesn't sign Stoudamire, I really wouldn't be surprised if we continued to go .500 for the next 20 games. In fact, I would even be happy if we lost 5 in a row, just to show Danny that he's a dork. No backup point - no championship. You heard it here first.

shackles10 wrote:Cassell can push his hand in this too if he'd like. I never thought we had a realistic chance at Sam, but with all the drama that's gone on in that front office the past two weeks I wouldn't be surprised to see Sam say he'd not just prefer out of the losing, but prefer out of that bickering between Sterling, Dunleavy, and Elgin.

...this is probably the option that they are holding out for...Sterling's "playoff" talk is indeed posturing because he doesn't want to be pressured into dumping Cassell, who've massively popular in Clipperland...

But Cassell and KG are probably in back-channel communique and in his last season, Cassell does have the leverage to privately go to Sterling and tell them that it makes more sense for the team to save a little money this season with a buyout than simply paying him to play out the season with no chance of retaining him next year...

I have a feeling that Cassell will do just that as he wants to compete and the Clips don't want a disgruntled employee who has a lot of influence around the league...

...what it really comes down to is the buyout amount...Clips have already paid Sam half his money this season, so Sam has to be reasonable and leave a decent junk of the remainder on the table....if he's stubborn about that he may find himself stuck in LA all year...

There is no doubt in my mind that if he gets past trading deadline in clippers uniform he will be bought out...it just makes too much sense for both parties...

thebirdman wrote:There is no doubt in my mind that if he gets past trading deadline in clippers uniform he will be bought out...it just makes too much sense for both parties...

Well, since players waived after March 1 are ineligible for the Playoffs, Cassell would have to be bought out and waived two days before that, in order to clear waivers, so that we can sign him, which is February 28. That means there is a period of exactly one week (trading deadline is February 21) to negotiate on a buyout agreement. But is that enough time?

thebirdman wrote:There is no doubt in my mind that if he gets past trading deadline in clippers uniform he will be bought out...it just makes too much sense for both parties...

The Clippers have absolutely no reason to buy out Sam Cassel. It's not happening.

Al n' Perk No Layups! wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



The Clippers have absolutely no reason to buy out Sam Cassel. It's not happening.

I agree.