FanHouse RubenPatterson

There's nothing more ridiculous (- ly funny) and time honored than fans putting brown paper sacks on their heads and heading into their teams arena, sitting down and watching their team play as a show of total shame for said team's inability to prosper. Now, via Brew Hoop, comes the Milwaukee Bucks fans who are sick and tired of the way that their franchise is being run.

UPDATE: After the jump, courtesy of Kurt Leitinger, first hand photos. That's right, folks. FanHouse semi-exclusive!

Ruben Patterson has had some legal problems, and made the mistake of claiming he could stop Kobe Bryant. But he's still capable of decent basketball; when given minutes, Patterson has produced. Just Wednesday, he was key in the Clippers' first victory over the Nets in almost ten years.

But now, all that is over. The Clippers have waived Patterson, even though they've been decimated by injuries. You've got to wonder if other teams will be quick to jump on him. Again, still can play, but comes with a tarnished reputation and the chance of bad publicity. And with "character" now a key part of rebuilding, it's not like the league's mangier rosters have any interest in this risk.

Of course, in New York, there's a certain basketball team that will ignore all this and pay Patterson a pretty penny. You can set your clock by that one.

For a while, Ruben Patterson was "The Kobe Stopper." It was his claim to fame, his identity around the league; I didn't even realize he'd scored like 15ppg last season, since I only thought of him as a defender.

However, Patterson's now telling us to let the whole thing go. For one, he'll now say that "Shawn Kemp really started that;" I'd say that blaming one of the league's more buffoonish anti-heroes is a good way to discredit a nickname. Anyway, more from Clippers Notebook:

"I'm sick of it now," Patterson said of the nickname. "It's worldwide. I hear it everywhere I travel. The first thing people say is 'Kobe Stopper.' They don't say Ruben Patterson. They say 'Kobe Stopper.' But I tell everyone that me and Kobe are good friends now, and he actually tried to get me to the Lakers two years ago."

I'd be more sympathetic to this cause if Patterson hadn't once promoted the nickname. Kemp may have coined it, but I distinctly remember Patterson bragging to the media about it. Then again, this is a guy who's had his shared of legal troubles over the years. Better to get branded with a ridiculous, pointless boast then be known as "The Wife Slapper" or "The Nanny Molestor."

I'll admit that it's a little early for team previews in the first week of October, but ESPN's John Hollinger simply has to be called out for some of his predictions. Yes, the Clippers have some issues, but I think that predicting a 20-win season for them is flat out insulting.

Hollinger points out that, even without the injury to Elton Brand, the team would begin to feel the effects of its recent draft failures. Here are his core reasons (based on the team's lottery pick history) that the Clips will absolutely suck this season:

• Korolev is out of the league.

• Livingston is out for the season and perhaps longer.

• Melvin Ely was abandoned on the Bobcats' front porch three years ago.

• Chris Wilcox was traded for Vladimir Radmanovic and then converted, essentially, into Tim Thomas.

• And Thornton could be a contributor, but his age sends my bust-detector into overdrive. Besides, with that run of recent picks, why should we bet on this one working out?

Alright, let's bust these myths one by one, shall we? Korolev was simply a bad pick, and has had so little playing time since he was drafted that it doesn't even matter at this point if he can contribute. Livingston had that brutal knee injury last season, but honestly he was slow to develop, and Dunleavy forced him into games last season that they could have won had they gone with Sam Cassell instead. Melvin Ely? He was pretty solid, I wish the Clips had kept him. And Hollinger's point on Chris Wilcox is 100% true, so I don't have an argument there.

But still, 20 wins? That's just ridiculous. I guarantee at least 35 wins for this Clippers team, with an outside shot of grabbing the 7 or 8 seed in the West if Ruben Patterson and Al Thornton can produce at all. Sure, 35 wins would still leave the Clippers out of the playoffs. But this franchise has had a long history of being disrespected, and the difference between 20 and 35 wins, at least to their fans, is more than substantial.

The Clippers are still reeling from the loss of Elton Brand, but at least they're not sitting on their hands. Not satisfied with any of the available free agent power forwards on the market, the team signed small forward Ruben Patterson on Wednesday. From NBA.com:

"I am really excited by our signing of Ruben Patterson," Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy said. "He is a great competitor. I have always admired the intensity he brings from game to game. His versatility will help improve our team."

Patterson averaged a career-high 14.7 points per game for the Bucks last season, mostly as a starter. He'll come off the bench in Los Angeles, though, and it's not his offense that attracted the Clippers. No, what likely caught their attention was the fact he's a solid defender, and although he's only 6-foot-5, he's strong enough to slide over and play the four in certain matchups. That's a good thing, because with Corey Maggette, Al Thornton and Quinton Ross also on the roster, playing out of position at the four might be Patterson's easiest path the minutes.

It'll be interesting to see how Patterson is received by his new teammates -- call me crazy, but I'm guessing Chris Kaman, who's intimately familiar with Patterson's ball-hawking ways on the court, didn't do somersaults when he heard about the deal. (Ed. -- I'm an idiot -- that was Reggie Evans)

Another sub-plot to his arrival is that he'll be sharing a home building with Kobe Bryant. It's been years since Patterson's self-appointed "Kobe Stopper" nickname has been relevant, but it should still make for some unintentionally hilarious awkward moments when they pass each other in the hall or share an elevator.