LAC would have still sucked and Baron would still be whining. Brand has peaked. And LAC has a VERY similar player in Zach. In fact, Zach is dogging him this year.
Okay, but realize it probably is more about Brand struggling to come back from his injury, rather than "peaking". Brand is on a different team with a lot of good players, so it isn't a huge surprise that his numbers are down a bit, although I do agree that they'd be down in LAC compared to his darkhorse MVP season in 2005-2006.
How many All-Star caliber players would take 6-8 million dollars...that quality role-player money. Here are people taking that kind of money: Nazr Mohammed, Boris Diaw, Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, Eric Snow, Jerry Stackhouse, Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Crawford, Corey Magette, Adonal Foyle, Shane Battier, Ron Artest, Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels, Rasho Nesterovic, T.J. Ford, Vladimir Radmonovic, Antonie Walker, Darko Milicic, Mark Jaric, Mark Blount, Udonis Haslim, Luke Ridnour, Dan Gadzuric, Brian Cardinal, Jason Collins, Devin Harris, Stromile Swift, Antonio Daniels, Morris Peterson, Chris Duhon, Tim Thomas, Jared Jeffries, Jerome James, Malik Rose, Chris Wilcox, Nick Collison, Donyell Marshall, Earl Watson, Desmond Mason, Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turgolu, Tony Battie, Leandro Barbosa, Bobby Jackson, Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdul Rahim, Mikki Moore, Beno Udrih, Jose Calderon, Jason Kopono, Matt Harpring, Etan Thomas, Mike James, Brendan Haywood, JOEL PRYZBILLA!
Look through the list. Many All-star players? Some are easy to spot, like Hedo Turgolu and Devin Harris, but Baron Davis has more talent than just about anyone on this list.
I guess Lebron should take the MLE to sign in Portland so that he can win championships.
So yeah, your idea of 6-8 million is severely undervaluing a very good PG in this league, who a couple of years ago was statistically the best player in the game over the course of the season.
I just can't criticize a player in going after the money, given they have a limited career of 15 years at best, with a career ending injury just another play away. Add into the factor the pressure by agents. So going from 15 million to 12 million (or even 10 million) to put yourself in a favorable situation...I understand that, but to go from a MAX type player to a salary one-third of that is just ridiculous. Remember, most of the really favorable situations (like LAL for example) are close or over the cap and could only use the MLE...because they have so many high-contract players on the roster already.
In fairness, I put more of the blame on Dunleavy. Don't get me wrong, I like him as a coach, but he is also the team GM (officially now, previously it was defacto). He should have known what he was getting into with Baron before signing him. Having Brand probably would have made things more manageable.
Do I think the Clippers would be BETTER? Yes. I think that Baron got stuck in a bad situation when Brand reneged on his word. Baron is worth the money, and it is insane to think he should take less money for a chance to win. Let's not forget, Baron is 29 and this could be the last big contract he'll get before he goes Sam Cassell ring chasing.
So for Baron...he still gets paid very good (although he could have gotten more from GSW...not many other teams were throwing comparable money this off-season), was going to his hometown, and was theoretically playing with a good big man and some other pieces in Kaman, Eric Gordon and Al Thornton. Anyways, I'll stop rambling, but I think putting blame on Baron is kinda ridiculous. How can you hate a guy who makes collaboration videos with Steve Nash riding a two-seat bicycle or rollerblading.
