This is a confusing one, I was under the impression we couldn't trade Billups. The entire articles requires Insider but I'll post the Clipper-centric content below.

Ray Allen and Trevor Ariza to the Clippers; Chris Kaman and Eric Bledsoe to Boston; Chris Wilcox, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Chauncey Billups, and Brian Cook to New Orleans

View this deal in ESPN.com's NBA Trade Machine Here

Billups

Kaman

Allen
While we're breaking up the Celtics, here's another good one to ponder -- either in conjunction with the deal above or on its own. The Clippers certainly become rather potent in the wake of this trade; by agreeing to swallow Ariza's contract from the Hornets and part with the promising Bledsoe, they get a deadly wing shooter in Allen to replace the injured Billups. Additionally, Ariza gives them the wing defender they've sorely needed all season.

For New Orleans, this is a straight salary dump of Ariza, with Kaman the lure. The Hornets would have to pay Gomes one more year, but otherwise get four expiring contracts. New Orleans also would have to waive Solomon Jones and Lance Thomas to make this deal work; let's just say I don't see that as a show-stopper.

As for the Celtics, they get a promising guard in Bledsoe and the Bird rights to a big low-post center, Kaman. That actually has value for the C's, who unlike New Orleans actually have a prayer of re-signing Kaman. They do take on $2.6 million in luxury tax in this deal, but if they don't do the one above, they can eliminate that expense by sending O'Neal to the Hornets instead of Wilcox.

2. Clippers or Lakers: Who wins the Pacific Division?

Adande: Clippers. They have the more difficult road itinerary left, but the Lakers face tougher opponents, including three games vs. the Spurs in the final seven. Plus, the Clippers have a better team.

Foster: I'll take the Clippers winning the Pacific Division by the narrowest of margins, but the Lakers as the team with the better playoff outlook. The Clippers' offense is spectacular and Chris Paul will win close games, but teams that rank 22nd in defensive efficiency historically don't make deep playoff runs.

Mason: Clippers. Paul and the Clips already own a three-game head start over the Lakers in the loss column and also boast a clearer sense of their team's identity. More troubling than the Lakers' 6-12 road record is that even with Gasol, Bryant and Bynum playing well, they have yet to sustain an offensive rhythm for more than a few quarters.

Peterson: Clippers. If the Lakers were still running the triangle, I'd pick the Lakers because of their depth and, ahem, experience. But the NBA belongs to point guards, and when it comes to comparing Derek Fisher, a fine player representative, versus Chris Paul, the finest player at his position, it's no contest. Paul will be the difference between the Clippers finishing first and the Lakers finishing second.

Sherwood Strauss: Clippers. When in doubt, choose the team that isn't dangling a star over the fishing pier. Also: World Peace, Derek Fisher, Troy Murphy and Steve Blake.

Pretty sure no one posted this. Here's the most important snippet.

Billups’ injury breaks up the single most effective five-man lineup that has logged at least 100 minutes so far this season, according to Basketball Value. In 255 minutes together — more time than all but five units league-wide — the Clippers’ starting lineup has outscored opponents by nearly 18 points per 100 possessions. It has provided consistently great defense for a team that has done poorly on that end. Substitute Williams for Billups, and that number drops to about 4.5 points per 100 possessions. As John Schuhmann pointed out at NBA.com, the drop-off has come on defense, where Williams, at 6-1, just cannot defend shooting guards, even though he’s in the best shape of his career and generally working his tail off.

You'll need Insider to read the whole thing but essentially Tom Haberstroh is breaking down the schedule and looking at how teams will handle the back to backs of this condensed season. He specifically discussed the Clippers.

But do familiar teams actually play better in a crunch? It sure seems that way. The following chart illustrates the relationship of continuity and performance in back-to-backs. If you're a coach, you want to see your team in the top right of the chart: good performance and familiar faces. The bottom left? Well, that's when you get some ugly play along with some new faces. Sorry, Clippers fans.

Evidently, continuity isn't just an empty load of coachspeak: We're seeing a pretty consistent relationship above (and a stronger relationship than what we see in regular games). Teams that play well on back-to-backs tend to have a lot of continuity on their roster. Other teams have struggled with their new teammates when they hit the grind.

You rarely see a team with low continuity and a good record or a bad record and a high retention rate (notice the empty pockets in the bottom right and top left corners). The Clippers, as good as they might be, have really struggled to maintain their performance when they play without any rest. So it's not just that bad teams play poorly; unfamiliar ones do, too.

You'll need ESPN Insider to read the whole thing but here's an excerpt from the article.

This might be similar to the errors Miami made with its roster construction last season, when slow, over-the-hill big men led to a bunch of unused centers on the inactive list during the postseason. The Heat learned their lesson and added some young talent to the bench mix this season. The Clippers will use Martin, but signing him is not a very creative move for a team that has a shot at winning its conference. To be fair, Miami reportedly was one of the other contenders to land Martin, as were several other playoff-caliber teams. It seems the collective perception of Martin is askew with the reality.

But, who knows, maybe it'll work out. If it does, it'll be because Martin proves to be an upgrade to the defense. According to 82games.com, the Clippers are a whopping 18.5 points per 100 possessions worse defensively when Jordan is on the bench. They are 5.8 points worse when Griffin sits. It shouldn't be hard for Martin to close those gaps. For all his hard work, the Clippers get torched when Evans is in the game, and now his role should be reduced. Last season in Denver, the Nuggets were 3.7 points better defensively with Martin on the floor.

Miami is going after 2 big guys the Clips could use as well. So it comes down to South Beach versus Los Angeles. Talk about 1st world problems.

8. Where does "What if the Clippers never traded Baron Davis?" rank among the all-time NBA What Ifs?

Definitely top 50. And climbing. It was already one of the dumbest NBA trades6 of the past 10 years before the amnesty clause became part of the new labor agreement … at that point, it became one of the dumber trades in sports history. Should the Clippers be criticized for not guessing in January, with a labor stoppage looming, that the amnesty clause would potentially be in play? Yes and no — yes, they should have known, and no, they couldn't have known (because they're owned by a slum lord who has no idea what's going on).

There's more, check the link (number 8) for the full discussion.

Clips have to look into this. He's probably out of shape but he's still an upgrade over Cook and Jones. Chauncey needs to convince him to come out here for one final run.

Surprisingly no one posted this... adding to the intrigue is the fact this was written a few days BEFORE the season started. Looking at the next 6 games, the next 3 are particularly important as the Clippers can't afford to dig themselves in a 2-6 start (road game vs Portland, Lakers and Heat at home).

Best Question and Answer....

5. Will a shortened season help or hurt the Clippers?

Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN.com: With Paul and Billups running the show, I don't think the turnover in personnel matters much. And, besides, you can fit Del Negro's offensive playbook on the back of a take-out menu.

First off this is scary stuff as another young guy in their 20s has a heart problem.

Still maybe its possible the Clippers could get Hayes for the 2.5 million exception. He'd be a good backup big behind DJ and Griffin. He can even give DJ some tips on shooting free throws.

This analysis actually came before the trade so its safe to assume he approves of the deal now.

Did it again, he drafted a 26 year old towards the end of the draft. No real harm done but this could only happen to David Kahn right? Olshey supporters will no doubt rally behind this later on when they point out that the Clippers didn't draft a 26 year old guy so therefore it could be worse.

Requires Insider to see the entire draft. But here's the excerpt on the Clippers.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS GRADE: C-

Round 1: None.

Round 2: Trey Thompkins (37, obtained from Detroit), Travis Leslie (47, obtained from Houston)

Analysis: If the Clippers had sat on their hands at the February trade deadline, we'd be talking about how Kyrie Irving was the final piece of the puzzle for a young Clippers team.

Instead, they traded their first-round pick to Cleveland, Mo Williams is their point guard and the Clippers have Thompkins and Leslie, teammates from Georgia who've underperformed for the past two years. Both have talent appropriate for the second round, but I still can't help but think that the Clippers would've been better off with Irving and Baron Davis in L.A. instead of Irving and Davis in Cleveland.

Requires ESPN Insider to read the entire article but here is the part about the Clips.

Los Angeles Clippers
Statistical weakness: Avoiding turnovers (30th)
Weakest positions: SF

The Clippers have young starters at shooting guard (Eric Gordon), power forward (Blake Griffin) and center (restricted free agent DeAndre Jordan). Point guard is covered for now by Mo Williams, with Eric Bledsoe as the heir apparent. That leaves small forward as the lone position in flux. Al-Farouq Aminu, last year's lottery pick, is the likely long-term solution. However, Aminu is years away from developing into a starter, if ever. After a brief run of fluky 3-point shooting early in the season came to an end, Aminu found it impossible to score efficiently in the NBA. He made just 43.7 percent of his 2-point attempts, a number that must improve at least to 50 percent.

Ideally, the Clippers would upgrade small forward with a player who is young enough to grow with the rest of their core. A rumored trade that would send Chris Kaman to Philadelphia in exchange for Andre Iguodala would be nearly perfect from L.A.'s perspective, giving the team an athletic stopper on the wing. Failing that, the Clippers should try to avoid taking on long contracts that would limit their flexibility. Offering salary-cap relief for a player with a couple of years left on his deal, like Atlanta's Josh Smith, would make sense.

This is a interesting piece from ESPN on Franchise Players. It looks at the guys that play both offense and defense. One name on the list that has been bandied about around here shows up.

"Andre Iguodala -- Offense 65, Defense 95
LeBron will tell you that only two players have averaged 14 points, five rebounds and six assists this season: himself and Iguodala. It's fitting the two have gone head to head in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, because in many ways Iguodala is LeBron Lite, a wing player who impacts the game in so many ways on both ends of the floor.

Iguodala's reputation has swung like a pendulum over the past few seasons, from underappreciated to overpaid to underappreciated again. Sure, he's been hobbled this season, but the 27-year-old still ranks as one of the best defenders in the league. According to 82games, his opponent PER is a league-best 8.8, which means he basically reduces his counterpart to Travis Outlaw-esque production. That's value. Iguodala's ability to guard multiple positions has also helped the Sixers play four points better per 100 possessions with the 6-foot-6 freak athlete on the floor. He may not be a go-to scorer, but he doesn't need to be to have a major positive impact on the game."

Clips obviously hired the wrong guy.

"[I'm] very happy for him," Noah said Sunday. "Very well deserving. Coach is one of the hardest workers I've ever been around. He stays in late. He's the first one here. He was here for me all summer, working me out, and I feel like I really improved as a player because of him in just one year. Very tough coach. And I'm happy for him."

You need Insider to read the entire article but here is the part that pertains to the Clippers. Interesting (worrisome?) that Pelton thinks the Clippers are going to preserve cap space next year (so I guess no SF?) to be a big player in 2012 (the Decision Part Deux?)

5. Los Angeles Clippers

Why they'll make the playoffs: Two words: Blake Griffin.

Why they'll stay in the lottery: The Clippers face an even bigger deficit to overcome than the Nets, having finished 14 games out of the playoffs and 11 behind the Rockets.

Certainly, the Clippers are a long shot, but there is too much talent on hand to entirely rule out the possibility that they develop ahead of schedule. Between their 1-13 start and Eric Gordon suffering a bone fracture in the wrist of his shooting arm, the Clippers were better than .500 (16-13). Meanwhile, Mo Williams is a more reliable option at the point than Baron Davis. The downside is the Clippers are unlikely to add much to their lineup this offseason. They dealt their first-round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Davis-Williams trade and will probably forego free agency in order to keep their salary cap clean for the summer of 2012, when they could be substantially below the salary cap.

Buchar and Broussard debate on which team will improve more (in terms of win improvement over this year) next year.

Broussard picks the Nets to improve their record more the addition of Deron Williams while Buchar picks the Clips because of Blake Griffin.

You'll need Insider to see the entire article. Here is the Clipper relevant part.

Los Angeles Clippers
Record: 32-50
2011-12 $M: -$8.7

The Clippers stand on a rock-solid foundation. Now it's time to build around it.

Where should they begin? The small forward position needs a filling like an ill tooth. For all the promise in Al-Farouq Aminu, a big hole exists between Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin in the lineup. It would make a ton of sense for the Clippers to try to engage the Nuggets in a deal for Danilo Gallinari, but it may prove difficult to make a deal work unless they part with Gordon. A package including Eric Bledsoe, Aminu, Chris Kaman's expiring deal and a future first-rounder may be a good start.

Aside from the small forward position, the Clips need their point guard position to clean up a bit. With Bledsoe coughing it up seemingly every other possession, it's no wonder the Clippers rank at the bottom of the league in turnover rate. Mo Williams certainly isn't helping matters there, either.

Looks like this will finally be resolved in a couple of months. Just another black eye for the franchise.

Good list (although they did a poor job of ranking the players) of upcoming free agents, their current salaries and their pending free agency status (unrestricted versus restricted).

Obviously the SF is the biggest area of need for the Clips (be sure to check the SG list as well as some SFs are on that list) but also check out the C list since Kaman is one of the more valuable trade assets the Clippers have.