There has been lots of debate about Elton Brand "stiffing" the LA Clippers this past week. Some say he owed nothing to the team (or Baron Davis, if he did coax him to signing there); some feel he's a first class jerk.Many people bring up what Carlos Boozer did to the Cavaliers a few years ago. Boozer had a *wink wink* deal with them to let him become an unrestricted free agent and then he'd resign with them (they could have kept him for $695K that season, but the Cavs were generously going to lock him up for $39M over six seasons). Once Boozer lost his restricted tag, he bolted to Utah.
And what do these two have in common? They both went to Duke.
Coincidence? Maybe. However, that fact isn't lost on a lot of people ... including those at the Hardwood Paroxysm who goes as far as calling these two "a-holes". And before you get your panties twisted, the guy who wrote that is a Duke die-hard.
He even goes on to call out other Duke players like Danny Ferry (who refused to play for the Clippers, too, by leaving them for Italy), Christian Laettner (I'd think we'd all agree on that) and Corey Maggette. He also throws Jay Williams and Bobby Hurley in there ... mainly because they had their careers cut short after horrible accidents. Grant Hill gets a mention since he broke the bank while injured (he isn't the first guy to ever have that happen).
Still, the Boozer-Brand thing is quite funny since they are the two most notorious backstabbers in our recent free agent system. Brand has nothing on Boozer (he did have every right to opt out of his contract and leave ... unlike Boozer) and actually took less money to go to a better team. He also gets extra credit for making Bill Plaschke cry.
But this gives all the Duke haters out there more ammo.
Oh, and the most famous *wink wink* deal where a guy actually stayed? Maryland's Joe Smith with the Timberwolves.
