I’m not sure why, but I was watching ESPN’s “First Take” this morning and the subject of Elton Brand came up. Scoop Jackson and Skip Bayless debated what Brand should do now that he has two offers on the table, one from the Clippers and one from the Warriors.
Jackson said – and I’m paraphrasing here – that since the Warriors made Brand a max offer that it is “honorable” to consider it and go and talk to them about it because this might not be the last contract that Brand will sign and he might need the Warriors down the road. He went on to say that if the Clippers match the Warriors offer (which they can’t) then all bets are off.
What?
I don’t find myself agreeing with Bayless too often, but he was (as usual) acting incredulous that Jackson could call such actions “honorable” since it was Brand who told the Clippers to go after Baron Davis when he opted out and even said that Brand recruited Davis to come to L.A. to play with him.
The honorable thing to do is to forsake the extra $20 million and re-up with the Clippers.
Bayless knows this, I know this and I suspect even Jackson knows this. This was probably part of the manufactured conflict that is so prevalent on ESPN these days. It’s not enough to just discuss issues intelligently; there has to be an argument because that’s (apparently) what gets ratings.
What a sad world we live in that Jackson has to say something so stupid just to get people to watch.
