Leon Rose was impressed by the Clippers pitch to LeBron

[mkwest]

Clippers turning into a desired NBA destination

The groundwork for whatever it is that the Clippers have become – relevant would be a start, a title contender their great hope – may have been laid 18 months ago in an office building in downtown Cleveland.

It was there that the Clippers went to make their pitch for LeBron James. It seemed preposterous at the time: the idea that James, who for years held NBA front offices hostage as they cleared cap space and waited for the summer of 2010, would even consider the Clippers.

Their pitch was plain: if James wanted to win, nobody had a better cast to surround him. The Clippers had Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon – a pair of budding stars – and they had veterans Baron Davis and Chris Kaman, and a bevy of first-round picks. There was nobody out there with cap space who had that type of talent.

As it turned out, the most important pair of ears the Clippers' message fell upon belonged not to James, but to one of his team of agents, Leon Rose, who also represented one of James' close friends, Chris Paul.

"It was just the vision they had that they were trying to put together," Rose said. "They had a plan. Listening to the things they said about their vision definitely started a relationship between us, and it gave them credibility."

Asked whether the Clippers now resembled the vision their executives laid out for him, James did not seem to want to revisit the past.

"It's totally different," James said. "A lot of things would be different. This league would be totally different if I don't go to Miami. I'm here in Miami, they made the acquisition for Chris Paul, and that's what it's all about. We live in the moment."

"For players, we all want to go places where we feel we have a legitimate shot at winning," said James Jones, Miami's 3-point shooting specialist. "For a lot of years for the Clippers, this wasn't a place that wanted to win. Now, they're at a point where they're a favorite destination for a lot of the league's players. This is a young up-and-coming team with a lot of potential."

Billy Witz, Fox Sports West

[mkwest]

We got clowned for our 45min to an hour long presentation. Paul recently mentioned that he knows the league and is aware of contract/financial situations of this team and others. That means that Rose is very much on top of things and keeps him and his clients well informed of what's going on.

By LeBron passing on the signing with the Clippers, Rose kept us in mind when a 3rd client of his wanted to switch teams (Carmelo was the 2nd). Now, it would have been possible for James to sign last year and for us to still make the trade for Paul. We'd be a luxury tax team if we ended up matching the offer sheet to Jordan, but the team would have been insane. The differences would be: no Foye, Gomes, Mo, Butler, Billups, probably no Trey, Baron would have have probably would have been amnestied before this season began. Cook would probably still be here though

Aside from all of those possibilities, I'm happy with how things ended up and the direction that we are headed towards. Thanks for the decision LeBron.

[Forte IV]

just imagine cp3, lebron and blake though

[TheNewEra]

Would of loved to have got Carmelo more but would have had to give up everything. It is what it is let's the make this happen with Paul.

[RiversideClips]

That really is an interesting piece of info from Rose. Obviously, players & agents talk w/ other players & agents & it is good to see Sterling staying away from "Management's" Big picture plans.
I find it telling that Rose as an agent isn't just negotiating 1 contract at a time, but he is looking at the consistency & vision of the NBA teams for all his players.
I think that I might have under-estimated Oshley's ability as a Visionary & G.M.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I'm glad that things worked out for us. I had no idea the LeBron presentation had this much impact on his agent.

[mj_shoefanatic]

just imagine cp3, lebron and blake though

Sorry I no longer want to see that choker chain wearing SF in a Clipper uni.

[mkwest]

Sorry I no longer want to see that choker chain wearing SF in a Clipper uni.

If both were on the same team at the same time, which force is stronger? LeBron's 4th quarter-itis or CP3's pure clutchocity?

[azncorruptedo17]

i think dwade is clutch, but it seems lechoke's 4th quarter-itis over powers dwades clutchocity...

[LOJ]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi_st3qa5u8&feature=related[/youtube]