Brand Achilles Ruptured; Clips Season Scuttled

Absolutely terrible news for a great guy. Elton Brand is one of the best power forwards in the game and a great person. And by far the best player on the Clippers. Now after rupturing his achilles tendon he's out for 6 months. Elton, don't rush back. There's no reason. Get healthy and get ready for the 2008-09 season. Even if you can make it back in 6 months as reported, don't. By the time you take the court, the Clips will have already lost 30+ games. This year's Clips will be fighting history, trying not to have the worst record of all time.

What do Clipper fans have to look forward to this season. Corey Maggette will average 27 ppg, Tim Thomas will put up numbers that make up for last year's awful (but utterly predictable) season -- 18 & 7 are not unreasonable expectations. Chris Kaman should see some improved productivity too. We'll give him a mulligan for his sophmore slump campaign and hope he can move up to 15 & 11 with more space on the block. And without having to worry about win totals, we should see if Jared Jordan (a great second-round pick) is the next John Stockton or the next Dan Dickau. No reason to give Cassell 30+ mpg, especially in his walk year.

And the 08-09 season will see a lot of cap room for the Clips to reload with, probably close to $18M. Maybe more if they can move Maggette's expiring contract or better yet the Mobley and his last 2 years/$19M. And they're almost a mortal lock for a Top 3 pick (after this year, you can never say top pick), although there's no Durant or Oden to be found.