LOS ANGELES — Caron Butler left a meeting with Nets general manager Billy King last month thinking New Jersey would be a great place to land as a free agent. As Butler put it, within 20 seconds, “if that,” he was looking West.
“Signing with New Jersey would be nice,” Butler claimed was his thought as he exited his meeting with the Nets. “I seriously considered going there.”
Then he got the call from Clippers VP of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey. His new thought?
“L.A. would be nice, too.”
And that was where Butler eventually signed — before the Clippers had Chris Paul or Chauncey Billups or had re-upped DeAndre Jordan. Butler took a three-year, $24 million deal because, as attractive as the Nets seemed, he didn’t want to wait on the Dwight Howard saga, despite the urgings of friend Deron Williams.
“I was actually in New Jersey when I got the phone call from Neil to come back here and sign the contract. It was ironic to happen like that,” said Butler, who faces the Nets today when they end their four-game road trip against a Clippers team that probably won’t have Paul (left hamstring). “I wanted to play with Deron, to have the opportunity to play with a point guard like that.
“But sitting down with Neil and Coach [Vinny Del Negro], I knew we would have an opportunity to get a big time free agent or a guy that was on the market, Dwight Howard or Chris Paul, and I wanted the opportunity to play with a young nucleus like that.”
The Nets may have offered more years and more dollars (though not as much annually).
“Actually, more money was in New Jersey. I just think it was the direction of the franchise at the time,” Butler said. “There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Dwight Howard and their situation. I just didn’t know what was going to happen and I couldn’t wait. So I wanted to hit the ground running.”
That he did. And now he is with one of the NBA’s new darling teams.
With Paul and Blake Griffin, whose monstrous-sized likenesses are among those adorning downtown buildings. The Clippers beat the Lakers in a Saturday L.A. event. The Clips are where the Nets hope to go, honing in on the older, established team (Knicks). People notice the Clippers here.
“You walk around and see the records and people around the city are excited,” said Randy Foye, who may start tonight for Paul, whose MRI exam was negative. “People want to talk to you and ask you questions … It’s just understanding now we have something here and could make a lot of noise.”
The 6-3 Clippers have caught a schedule break. They have played the fewest games. Only twice have they been outside California, only three times the road team. The Nets, conversely, play for the 10th time in 14 games on the road. The Nets already have had five back-to-back sets, losing the second game all five times, including Saturday at Utah in Williams’ homecoming where they were hammered by 64 points in the paint.