Maury didn't get a big man because he didn't want to lose his spot as the heaviest Rocket. He also didn't want greasy Keith Jones to lose his spot as the 2nd in the weighing scale. Why you think we got rid of Joshua Smith?
Only interested in bigs that can spread the floor. Will take a guy on the bench who can bring veteran presence and be another C like Bogut but without that experience he'd rather sign more 3 point shooters. Which is fine, is likely what MDA wants too, and fits this teams identity.
no way they can get a big w/o giving up a lot, and half the team can play 4/5 effectively. lou was steal
My opinion, but I think our #1 target this summer is Blake Griffin. He would be a supercharged version of Amare in MDAs offense and of all the stars available this summer, he seems like the most likely to leave. Everyone talks about how if the Clippers don't make it to the WCF (probably wont make it past the 1st round), the team will likely break up with CP3, Griffin and Reddick as free agents and DeAndre only having one year left on his deal. That seems like a very real possibility. I could easily see CP3 heading to Boston or San Antonio and Reddick signing a huge contract somewhere. That begs the question...where would Blake Griffin go? Cleveland - They've got Love and no cap space Boston - Way too much overlapping skills between Griffin and Horford. They occupy the same spots and take the same type of shots. San Antonio - See Boston...LMA and Griffin wouldn't work. Golden State - They've got Draymond and no cap space Then you have Houston. "But they have no cap space!" you say. Ahhh, but they only have to make one single move to open up that space...trade Anderson. If you look at our cap, Anderson is the only contract we need to move to get to within $300k of $30.9 million in space...Griffin's max deal. Everyone else could stay. Trading Anderson makes way more sense than dumping Ariza, Beverley and Lou to get to $30.9. Adding Griffin allows us to play a more legitimate version of small ball. We can still start Capela, but when he sits, Griffin slides to the 5, Ariza to the 4, and we play 3 guards. Rotation looks like: Beverley / LouWill Harden / Gordon Ariza Griffin / Dekker Capela / Harrell
Well cp3 has verbally agreed to the super Max extension and will put out as a formality. He is the lead of the players union so him not taking the super Max and instead going to a different team goes directly against what he argued and bargained for in the new cba. He is an almost lock to resign. Once he resigns that leaves Griffin to either re-up for the lost money in his current situation with 3 great players or take less money to go somewhere else. He seems to enjoy the LA lifestyle also. Reddick they will likely overly to keep because they have no other options really. They can sign someone better because of cap restrictions, they don't have draft picks to trade for better players or groom better talent. I would love Griffin and he would be our prime amare in this offense and system. I just don't see it happening.
But we'd have to find a team that is substantially under the cap and is willing to pay Ryan Anderson 20 million a year for three more years; I'm not sure that will be as easy as you appear to think it will. We had to give away a draft pick to get rid of Jeremy Lin with one year left at the MLE. My guess is that it would take a minimum of two first round picks to unload Anderson for cap room. Teams make you pay to clear cap room for a superstar. And that is before we even getting into the floor spacing issue.
We're only 3 games up on the Jazz. And Durant is expected back for the playoffs. Even without Durant, it's still the Warriors and they're still very good.
I've only watched a few Clippers games since Griffin's return, but he doesn't look very explosive. He certainly doesn't look like a supercharged Amare -- who was amazing before his $100mil contract and injuries in NY. Perhaps he'll recover by the start of next season, but even the Clippers announcers were saying that he didn't look the same.
Too many threads can be pulled to break that team up. If any one of them (potentially including DeAndre) says they want to leave to go to a team with a better shot at winning, then the others will reevaluate. For example, let's say Griffin says he wants to leave. CP3 can get his max money, but he will have to accept Griffin is gone and DeAndre may leave in a year. CP3 will be signing a 6 year deal, but the team will fall apart around him within 1 season, basically guaranteeing that he will likely never advance past the 2nd round in his career. Your response may be "but they can trade him..".....trading for a player making $40+ million a year will be logistically VERY difficult. He will be locking himself in as a Clipper for the rest of his career, with very little chance of an out. Somebody is going to drop a huge pile of money in Reddick's lap. Parsons got $94 million. Batum got $120+. Crabbe got $75. Reddick is getting $15-20 million per...probably on the higher end of that. New York, New Orleans, Atlanta, Indiana and Philly could all be buyers. I can almost guarantee that Philly will make a massive run at him. He's exactly what they need, and I could easily see their perception around the league changing this summer (from tanking to up and coming). With so much to spend, I could even see a big overpay....4 years $100 million. Will LAC match, and will Reddick even want to stay? If he doesn't want to stay in LA, how do they replace him? (they don't) If DeAndre says "you guys promised me post touches and a bigger role in the offense when I re-signed and haven't delivered....I'm leaving in a year"...they have no means to replace him, which will decimate their declining defense. One other thing about Griffin....it won't be about money. I don't think he's going to make an All-NBA team this year, which means that the difference between the Clippers offer and what another team could give him will be about $6 million over the first 4 years and the guaranteed 5th year (which I don't think has all that much value to a superstar). One thread....that's all it takes to unravel the Clippers.
Don't see this "decline" you're talking about. In the month of February, he hit 51% from the field and 48% from 3. Personally, I think it's just that his game is evolving. He's not relying on his athleticism as much.
I'm in agreement with everything you say and I understand the potential that is the clippers roster splitting. I think cp3 is a for sure resign tho. He has already tied his hands to signing the supremacy both verbally and negotiating it in the cba. I absolutely think he stays a clipper until the end. Sucks because as one of the beat Pgs ever he likely won't ever pass the second round. I think they will lose in round 2 this year. Griffin is the most likely to leave Imo. He is a perfect fit. I think we make a serious run at him. Whether he expresses interest to leave or not. In terms of the clippers they either have to break it all up and rebuild around cp3 or keep it all together and hope for luck. That includes resigning restock to an albatross like they already did with rivers. They are seriously limited and I don't think they have the heart or desire to blow it all up. They will do whatever it takes to keep it together because look at the history of the franchise. They have been the laughing stock of the NBA for like 3 decades and are finally relevant so I doubt they end this.
While some will disagree with me, I don't think we overpaid Anderson (and if we did, it was slight). Marvin Williams got $12 per. Jon Leuer got $11 million per....so did Jared Dudley and Mirza Teletovic. Even Meyers Leonard got $9 per. Anderson is clearly better than those guys...how much better may be up for debate. No other big in the NBA takes and makes as many 3s as Anderson....nobody. He takes 7 per and makes 40% of them...that's elite, and it creates floor spacing that those others guys don't. This isn't Brewer or Lin, who nobody wanted. Denver if Gallinari leaves Brooklyn Minnesota (a very likely spot and fit for him, I think. They need shooters and a PF) Indiana (need shooters badly) Chicago (again...shooters and a PF) Sacramento (they tried to sign him this summer) Dallas (if Dirk retires) If we put him on the market, somebody will take him and it wont cost us a dime. Might even get a nice 2nd out of it. Let's talk about floor spacing. It would obviously change with Griffin in and Anderson out. Still Griffin is the better mid-range shooter, (don't laugh...it's not a dead shot, it's just not the best shot for THIS rockets team. We went after LMA, remember) and he's significantly better around the basket and as a playmaker. If he's willing to play the small ball 5 (ala Amare) for long stretches, then the spacing questions are largely solved. Also, while he hasn't proven himself yet, I think Wiltjer is being groomed as a replacement for Anderson. With Griffin at the 5 and Wiltjer at the 4, our spacing will still look great. Also, Griffin looks like he's trying to become a 3 point shooter. He had never taken more than 0.5 per game before this season. Now he's taking 1.4. He's only hitting 31%, but I think that will improve with repetition.
I completely agree, though I don't think he's ineffective as a 4 for half the game. When Capela sits, we just slide Griffin over the 5 and he probably finishes the game as the 5.
