Sir Elton Swerves the Clips

I'm sorry, but I can't blame Donald Sterling for this one. I know that he has been an incredibly inept owner for most of his NBA career, but this saga in L.A. falls on the broad shoulders of Elton Brand. I don't care that he is citing the changing language of the Clippers' newest contract proposal as one of the issues that ultimately led to his signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Don't beg for the club to sign your boy Baron Davis and parade around saying that you will re-up, only to back out and badmouth your former organization.

This was about another NBA player looking for every last penny. And just when I start to think that not every athlete is all about the moolah, I am proven wrong once again.

Perhaps Brand saw a better opportunity in a comparatively weaker Eastern Conference. Perhaps he was sick of sharing a building and taking an eternal backseat to L.A.'s more prominent team in the league. Perhaps. But my thinking is that Brand ultimately saw one thing: greener pastures in Philly.

I thought for sure after Davis signed that Brand would re-up with the Clips. According to my sources, Brand told Davis on the phone that he would re-up in L.A. for less money if he came aboard to join him, Chris Kaman and Al Thornton. Would the Clips have been able to make a run in the playoffs similar to 2006 when they had the Suns on the brink in Game 7 of their second round series? I don't know. What I do know is that if Brand was so unhappy in L.A. as he was in '03 when he begged Sterling not to match Miami's offer sheet, he should not have paraded the organization around and made a joke out of these negotiations.

I know that there are always three sides to a story: yours, his or hers, and the truth. So perhaps I am jumping the gun here by directing the blame at Brand. But I find it hard to believe that Sterling would spend big on Davis just so he could sabotage the Brand negotiations...

And by the way, according to LeBron, Brooklyn is his fave New York borough. Just preparing the Cavs fans for his eventual anti-climactic departure.