CLIPPERS DISINTEGRATION POST: I don't have the stomach to have any hopes for the Clippers anymore--as long as The (Other) Donald owns that team, they have no chance. So there'll be no talk around here about how this is going to be their year to make the playoffs. I hope Elton Brand gets signed to the Heat and Corey Maggette to the Nuggets and Andre Miller to the Jazz and there's such an uprising that Sterling has to sell the team. Like, I hope his office gets egged or something. Read this:

These days, Sterling has access to more money than ever, in the once-forlorn Clippers' new incarnation, as yes, cash cow.

The team has not only become profitable but hugely so, with more windfalls coming. Teams get rebates of the luxury tax money according to how little they spent, and the Clipper payroll was last at No. 29 last season. One West general manager says their just-calculated rebate this summer was a whopping $15.8 million.

There must be a real flaw in the NBA's salary cap structure that allows a team to become noncompetitive, and not to increase their chances in the draft--the usual reason for a team intentionally tanking--but to make money for the team's owner.