Clippers: Touches For Sale
If there's one thing NBA players love, it's touches. It's like money and fast cars, they just can't get enough. And when Los Angeles Clippers camp gets rolling this week with Elton Brand out until at least February, there will be plenty of touches to go around. That's not to say anybody, especially head coach Mike Dunleavy, is happy about Elton Brand's absence.
"Obviously, we're disappointed without Elton," explained Dunleavy. "There's no one who's going to downplay him missing. But we have a lot of guys here who have the ability to play basketball and can get us to the playoffs. That's our goal. We just have to find a way."
"There's a lot of basketball to be played," added forward Tim Thomas. "We will miss Elton and what he provides each and every night, but at the same time it's an opportunity for everybody else to step-up. Hopefully we'll go out there and all contribute and surprise a lot of people."
With injury comes opportunity... not to mention some extra touches.
"Elton had a lot of touches," Dunleavy said. "So there's going to be a lot more touches to go around. Through training camp and preseason it will determine who will get those extra touches, and we need guys to be able to step-up and take advantage of that."
The Los Angeles Clippers still believe they can stay in the playoff race in a very tough Western Conference even without Elton Brand, and in a somewhat ironic twist, the man who believes more than any other is Elton Brand himself.
"You've got to shoot for the playoffs," Elton Brand explained in an exclusive interview. "Anything less is just a lost season. We want to definitely shoot for that. Corey Maggette, Chris Kaman, and Sam Cassell, I think they're going to step it up and we're going to be able to do that."
That's right, Elton Brand believes the Los Angeles Clippers will make the playoffs even despite all of the detractors. And while that might sound like the stuff of fairly tales, Elton Brand relayed a story from just a couple of seasons ago.
"I tell them a story about when we made it to the playoffs (in the 2005-06 season). That year they were asking if we were the worst team ever... not just Clipper team, just ever. I'm fielding these questions and I'm like, 'C'mon, are you serious?' And they were dead serious, and that season (we) were one game from the Western Conference Finals. It's not anything to look down upon. Just step it up."
Two of the players who will have to step it up are newcomers Ruben Patterson and Brevin Knight.
"We thought they would be a good fit for our team," Dunleavy said. "You know, if in fact we're going to play a smaller group at times and try and be more aggressive defensively, both Brevin and Ruben fit into that kind of style of play extremely well."
Count Patterson among those who still believes in the Los Angeles Clippers even if it seems like everyone else has pronounced them dead on arrival.
"We don't listen to the critics, man," Patterson said. "We know we've got a great team. We've just got to go out there and compete and play every night. We've got guys who can put the ball in the basket. I'm not worried about what people say. We know (Elton Brand's) a big loss, but we've got guys who can score, including myself."
The goal for the Los Angeles Clippers in the early months of this season is to hold down the fort until the big guns return.
"We'll hope that Elton and Shaun Livingston both can come back this season, give us a big lift at the end, and give us a big push for the playoffs," Dunleavy said.
If a chance to make the playoffs is going to become reality, though, everything's got to go according to plan with Elton Brand's rehabilitation.
"I have no pain and the rehab is going very well," Elton Brand said on Monday. "We're still looking at a February timetable according to the medical staff.
"I'm kind of a realist. I'm always optimistic. I always feel like whatever the hurdle is I can jump over it... once I'm able to jump," he joked.
"It's just something you have to deal with. Try not to get too low, try not to get too high."
Elton Brand's advice is the kind to live by, and the rest of the Association would be wise to avoid getting too low on the Los Angeles Clippers too soon.
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