This has been so damn entertaining. Summing up my winners/losers from this circus show:
Winners:
- LA Clippers: Sure, they came off completely unprofessional and downright goofy, but they got their guy back. With DJ, they're a legit contender again, and not to mention solid pick-ups of Pierce and Stephenson. Besides, they've always been seen as a joke anyway...might as well embrace it, I suppose.
- Dallas Mavericks: Let's be honest here...DJ wasn't going to make them contenders and he's not even a player to build around for the future. Sucks for Nowitzki, but it's better for the Mavs in the long run to start the rebuilding process now and not spend another year lying to themselves with an early round exit.
- Doc and CP3: Doc may have just saved his career as GM for another year, and CP3 gets another shot at the trophy as his end of the tunnel approaches. They'll have to live down the fact they had to go beg a man-child to come back and save them, but still worth it for a title.
Losers:
- DeAndre Jordan: Dallas probably would've been the better career move. He'd actually get an opportunity to develop his offensive game outside of finishing off lobs and try his hand at being "the guy" (even if it never pans out). Clips are full of promises now, but really, does anyone believe they're gonna take touches away from Blake and CP3 and the rest of a high-powered offense to let DJ awkwardly find his game? He picked up more money staying in LA, but he could've gotten a fat paycheck with Dallas anyway, especially with the cap increase. He kinda hurt his brand as well by coming off as a giant child.
- Steve Ballmer: Maybe? Not sure how his antics will be received by other owners in the NBA. Any chance it hurts potential trade opportunities in the future? I guess it's a risk worth taking if this turns your team from pretenders to contenders. I can't help but like the guy though...he seems to be just having so much fun and enjoying being stupid rich.
- Mark Cuban: I really like Cuban...he's unabashedly a fan of his own team and loves to run his mouth. Unfortunately, that came back to bite him as he'll have some damage control to do for his tanking comments before DJ did his turnabout.