By Craig Kwasniewski
The Clippers are working hard at getting Elton Brand to the All-Star game in Las Vegas. The picture above shows a voting table that was set up at the Clippers-Heat game last night. Those are stacks of ballots on the table. The deal was, if you punch out 50 ballots for Elton Brand you get a choice of a Media Guide or a Clipper Nation tee-shirt. Given that the cost of a media guide is $10, that means the Clippers are paying 20 cents for your vote.
Sure it's not the cigarettes promised to homeless people to vote in elections, but it's still something.
BTW - According to my new Clipper media guide, Fabrizio Besnati is the Director of International Scouting.
wrong strategy by the clippers . all elton has to do is go to china. then while in there , conduct clinics , play exhibitions , promote his shoes , ( if he has ) and do all other things the chinese youth will not forget . even eat dogs and wear a mao suit and walah , eb will be a sure vote getter .
ask vince , tracy etc . who all went there !
Posted by: NIKE | December 06, 2006 at 11:12 AM
.... the chinese all star voters are gigantic in numbers .
Posted by: NIKE | December 06, 2006 at 11:14 AM
why do you think yao is always no 1 ?
Posted by: NIKE | December 06, 2006 at 11:15 AM
Nike, I was just saying that to Brett. The Clippers should re-sign Wang Zhi Zhi, make him a starter for a few weeks and say he's EB's best friend. The Clips will have two All-Stars in no time!
Posted by: Craig | December 06, 2006 at 01:18 PM
Of course Yao is going to get tons and tons of votes. And I don't think Brand is incredibly popular around the league. He's not a flashy, high-profile player like Lebron. He just works hard and gets the job done.
Posted by: basketball | December 06, 2006 at 04:55 PM
The problem is he plays in the West. Amare, Duncan, KG, Boozer.... if he was in the East he would be an All-Star in no time.
Posted by: David Stef | December 06, 2006 at 05:02 PM
Brand is not popular in the US . That's why to do it in China as Nike said makes sense .
I don't buy that Brand will make it to the AS if he is playing in the East . He played for the Bulls before and he never made it to the AS then .
The East has its share of more appealing stars too !
Posted by: coach | December 07, 2006 at 08:44 AM
I also note that Yao is not flashy '
Yao's novelty has wane and therefore not as popular as b4 to the US NBA lovers .
In fact , a lot of peeps are beginning to question whether Yao can fully utilize his height and skills to lift Houston to the elite team status .
Posted by: coach | December 07, 2006 at 08:55 AM