Enemy Lines An Opposing Team's Scout Sizes Up The Clippers

I don't want to hear about a 'new era' because Donald Sterling gave big free-agent contracts to Elton Brand and Corey Maggette. They could have spent close to $20 million more and still stayed under the luxury tax, but Sterling would rather put that money in an apartment building than in the Clippers. If the owner doesn't care about the team's success, then why should the players?...

Maggette needs to learn to swing the ball to the open man; he can't just go up with his shot every time. They re-signed him instead of Lamar Odom, but while Maggette is the harder worker, Odom has more talent. You'll see it come out now that Odom is with Pat Riley in Miami....

Mike Dunleavy will do a good job of teaching the young guys. They have a couple of promising power forwards in Chris Wilcox and Melvin Ely, but it's going to be hard to develop them because they need Brand to play close to 40 minutes a game....

They're still athletic, and to take advantage of that, they'll try to push the tempo. But Dunleavy can't get around the fact that his point guards will be overmatched most nights. Marko Jaric has trouble advancing the ball upcourt because he reacts to pressure by turning his back. When opponents lay off him, he'll have better nights. At his height [6'8"] he sees the floor well, and he's able to take and make the big shots....

Michael Olowokandi allowed them to play man-to-man in the post, but with centers like Predrag Drobnjak, rookie Chris Kaman [the Number 6 pick from Central Michigan] and Ely, they're going to have to double-team in the post. Plus their guards are going to need help stopping penetration into the paint....

It's going to be hard for Dunleavy to win more than 30 games.