Hey guys Andrew here, just wanted to give a little insight to what i have been thinking about lately with the Clippers situation.

1. Blake Griffin - although i have not watched much college basketball i have seen his stats and they are pretty amazing! 30 double doubles in a season, 22.7 ppg, 14.4 rpg. Both of these stats are impressive, but also adding over 1 block, 1 steal, and 2 assists per game is amazing for a 6-10 guy. He still has his flaws though shooting 59% FREE THROWS? so hopefully that part of his game will improve as time goes by. In the future if he gains an outside game he will be a star for sure!

2. Trades -  Hmm ZBo, Kaman, Camby, Jordan thats a lot of bigs for a team, now include blake griffin. Since our record was terrible last season many of our big contracts have very low values. We need to get rid of some players and reinforce some flaws of the team - DEFENSE, we have no one that can stop or slow down any star players, EG is good at defending but star SG's are usually taller and will hit shots with EG defending. Also we need a decent SF to come in and play for Al Thorton. So now who do we trade?

Roster

PG - Baron Davis, MIke Taylor

SG - Eric Gordon, Fred Jones*

SF - Al Thorton, umm Mardy Collins*?, Steve Novak* maybe

PF - ZBo, Blake Griffin

C - Kaman, Camby, Jordan

* - Unsure

Well that seems like a decent team doesn't it? Still we thought last year was going to be great and look where it got us right below 20 wins with 19. How DID WE LOSE 63 games? Well stopping/slowing All stars is one of them. Defensively we did well in PG situation, Eric Gordon is a good defender but we need a great defender, in the SF Al Thorton is slower on the defensive end so we need a defender here as well. PF and C defense is going to be the best that we will get. Camby is great on weakside Def but is weak against stronger players, Kaman has the offense as well as height to defend, and Jordan is great foul-giver.

My Personal Opinion - Now maybe you guys might think differently but i lean towards rebuild and start new. Kaman has become a big liability with being Mr. Floppy, not playing most of the season due to injury, as well as his basketball IQ not being very high. Trade Kaman for one or two bench players at SG, SF. Camby will be a veteran with defensive skills that he can teach DeAndre Jordan. I see big potential in him even without an outside game he is a young, athletic, 6' 11", and can Dunk! It gives people someone alley-op to, and dunk, it brings the crowd into the game, people would cheer for impressive plays like that. Then now we have 2 PF's and 2 C's. Maybe let Griffin start the first  games, see how he does, if he doesn't live up to the hype then have Randolph start.

Ending comments

Hopefully we can trade at least one person out of Zbo, Kaman, and Camby, and in return some decent backup players who will score for the team when starters are out. I mean there was one game or wait.. maybe a few games that the bench only scored 2 points or something? It would be great if one of these trades produced maybe a QRoss/Shane Battier player, then our Clips will have a solid defense. Maybe the Clippers will come off with a steal with our second round picks again like Mike Taylor and Jordan who both have high potential.

 

O yea somehow for 2 years in a row it seems that in the off-season, Clipsnation has more Buzz than during the season itself. Anxiety, hope, nervousness, excitement, all the feelings that this new hope for the next season gives me.

 

Edit: Added some of my opinions on who to trade. 5/20

So bassically im just gonna make a quick jot on what our awsome roster for 2008-2009. This is based on if we get Azubuike that is so here goes...

Starters

Pg - Baron Davis

Sg - Cuttino Mobley (from conference MDsr said mobley would go sg as starter)

Sf - Al Thorton

Pf - Marcus Camby

C - Chris Kaman (Or the other way around)

 

Bench

Gaurds -

Eric Gordon

Brevin Knight

Mike Taylor

Forwards -

Tim Thomas

Josh Powell

Centers -

DeAndre Jordan

 

so far we have 11 players so it looks like we are comming along and having a pretty decent bench i think with Tim Thomas  and Eric Gordon which i feel will b great 6th and 7th players. and for DeAndre Jordan i have a feeling that will be pretty good for a 2nd round draft with his height and all.

Possibility?

so we have 3 more players to find right? hmm looking at the free agents that we have now i think that i kind of want to see on the clippers this year is

now here im not sure who gets the last spots but im looking at either

Nick Fazekas or Paul Davis

And for the Last Spot there are 3 contenders to me and one to choose if we do get Azubuike if not its Livingston and ross or marcus

Shaun Livingston - just because i mean hes been with us and i would like to see him have a comeback or at least have a chance to prove himself

Quinton Ross or Marcus Williams - now my prespective is that i really would like for Marcus Williams this summer to develop on his defensive abilities that Ross has and he could be a pretty good scorer off the bench although i have a feeling he won't be consistent in scoring and take some bad shots but hopefully he could learn to choose wisely

Edit: WHOOPS TOTALLY FORGOT haha Kelenna Azuibuike if we get him will be a good backup to Al Thorton

 

 

bassically if brand leaves we will have alot of cap space so who should the clips look toward to replace brand and more hopefully. Im not sure but maybe diop? I dont want Brand to leave but if it comes down to it we have to start looking forward at oter players to acquire

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-clippers9-2008jul09,0,7626268.story

The verbal, five-year deal is believed to be in the $80-million range. Philadelphia was the latest team to join the bidding frenzy for Brand, who opted out of his contract with the Clippers last week. By Jonathan Abrams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 
July 9, 2008

Elton Brand has reached a verbal agreement to sign a multiyear contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, according to an NBA source who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on player movements.

The deal is believed to be in the $80-million range and expected to span five years.