Free agent Shaun Livingston is on the verge of joining the Heat.
The former Clippers point guard, a source said, will meet with Heat management today, at which time he is expected to be added to the roster.
The addition of Livingston would eventually likely lead to another significant transaction, with Pat Riley vowing to keep his team from the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax on excessive payroll. Riley said the Heat is just $415,000 in payroll from the 2008-09 luxury-tax threshold. -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The decision of recently signed, veteran Clipper point guard, Jason Williams, to retire is still shrouded in mystery. The signing of Williams by the Clippers was viewed as a very shrewd move by the front office to bolster the position now manned by superstar Baron Davis. The point guard position has always been an Achilles heel for the Clippers and this year appeared the first year in a long time that the Clippers would be strong and deep at the point. Losing Williams now creates a challenge for the Clippers who have only Jason Hart as a suitable backup to Davis. Hart had to step into the starting point guard position for the Clippers in the past, and while he was serviceable, it would be hard to imagine a team starting Hart for more than a few games would make it into the playoffs in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.
One of my all-time favorite highlights of "White Chocolate"!
Shaun Livingston, the former hope of the Clippers franchise, still remains unsigned by any team going into training camp. With Williams retiring, it opens up more opportunity at the point guard spot for someone like a Livingston. While it has been reported Livingston turned down an offer from the Clippers already, it is speculated that it was due to the amount of playing time offered. This situation may have changed for the Clippers, maybe Shaun will give the team a second look.
Shaun Livingston was born during my junior year in high school. The four year professional NBA player, who stands tall as a 6'8" pass-first point guard, was drafted with the #4 overall pick by the Clippers in the 2004 NBA Draft. Shaun was viewed by many experts as the draftee with the "most potential" and "highest upside". Clippers fans were excited to see that we had finally drafted our point guard of the future. We had a real superstar in the making.
Injury prone. Anyone who is a fan of the NBA shudders at this tag. Injury prone. After playing in only 91 games his first two seasons (out of a total of 164), Shaun was officially "injury prone". His lean framework was not handling the grind of an NBA season. In the 2006-07 season Shaun started to show some improvement. He was doing well playing bigger minutes. He was up to almost 30 minutes a game and was averaging 9.3 ppg and 5.1 assists. He was starting to look like he might fulfill his potential.
The injury. There is only one way to describe Shaun's injury on February 26, 2007 - devastating! For those of us at the game or watching it on TV it was horrific. There was no hard foul, no trip or stumble - just a complete failure of his knee in what was later learned in four major places. Livingston injured almost every part of his knee, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), and the lateral meniscus, badly spraining his medial collateral ligament (MCL), and dislocating his patella and his tibia-femoral joint. It was devastating for Shaun, and was a dagger in the heart of every Clippers fan.
The comeback. Shaun has worked hard on coming back to full strength. He has now missed 1 1/2 seasons working on getting healthy. His rookie contract expired with no comeback yet. The Clippers have decided to give him up to the free agency, going in another direction with the signing of top point guard Baron Davis and backups Jason "White Chocolate" Williams, and Jason Hart. Shaun has been working out with Tim Grover at his facility in Chicago, one of the top conditioning and strengthening coaches and programs in the world for NBA players. His coaches there have said he is doing well and there is a good chance of him playing again. ESPN has reported that Minnesota, Portland and Miami have all watched him workout and are considering signing him to possibly a two year deal. There were rumors the Lakers and Golden State were also interested in Shaun as their backup point guard.
My rant. I am really surprised that the Clippers could not keep him for a minimum contract. It may be that Shaun did not want to stay and was not sure what his role would be with the Clippers long term. But, it is Clipper-karmatic (new word, patent pending), that our point guard of the future could now go explode on another team. It would be of Kabuki dramatic proportions to have the Lakers somehow realize that he would fit in perfectly with their lineup and see him go to our cross-locker room rivals and see him fulfill even a measure of his potential. Such is life in Clipper Nation.
Ok, its probably like being at an AA meeting. How many of us had the following experience? You stand up, clear your throat uncomfortably, and tell a group of people, "Hi, I am ____, and I am a Los Angeles Clippers fan. Unlike a support group, most of the people I tell this to look at me in bewilderment and incredulity. Things like, "yeah right", "how can you..." and "Lakers rule!" usually follow my statement. Well, Clipper fans are a special breed. We love the underdog, and I mean love them. We are the ultimate optomists, or we are pessimists that love to be right most of the time. We love the challenge of keeping up with new players every year. We are great judges of young talent and have tons of time watching young lottery picks either develop and move to another team or crash and burn in the first few years of a promising NBA career. We have masters degrees in sports medicine. We are amateur orthopedic surgeons. We love rehab and physical therapy. Our MVP is our team doctor and trainer. Anyone detecting a note of sarcasm? Well, we are thick skinned fans. We of Clipper Nation love our team. Tho few in number, we go out to games and passionately support our team in the red, white and blue. We relish in our few trips to the playoffs, or the years that we beat the Lakers head to head. We take joy in our infrequent All-Stars and dream of the day when we can hoist a banner or retire a jersey. We are Clipper Nation, a band of brotherhood (and sisterhood) that are some of the greatest sports fans in the world. We love our Clippers no matter what odds we face every year. Welcome to the Blog!
