The Crazy Offseason That Was

If you’re a Clipper fan, in years past the off-season began and ended with the draft. For decades, although the Clippers continually had one of the lowest payrolls in the league and were therefore way below the salary cap, they made their draft picks in June, and then sat on their hands until the start of training camp, at which point they would sign a group of third tier free agents to fill out the roster. And that was pretty much it. Rick Brunson, Mikki Moore, these were big news.

So forgive me if I’m still catching my breath after the whirlwind of activity from the Clippers front office this summer.

I guess we have to start with last season - one of the most brutal campaigns in Clippers history, and that’s saying a lot. When Elton Brand ruptured his Achilles tendon in August 2007, it was pretty clear that 07-08 was going to be a difficult season for the Clippers. When the team proceeded to lose an NBA leading 300 plus player games to injury, it got downright ugly. The team finished with 23 wins - tied for the fifth worst record in the league.

Nonetheless, entering the off-season there was still a little hope in Clipper Nation. Brand had returned for the final 8 games of the season and looked fully recovered from his injury. With the emergence of Chris Kaman 2.0 during the season, a pairing of Brand and Kaman as the best low post duo in the league was at least intriguing.

The summer got off to an interesting start with the draft.  On draft morning, the Clippers appeared to be ready to trade a future first round pick to Seattle in order to move up, with their eye on Eric Gordon.  When the trade fell through, and then Gordon still fell to them picking seventh, it seemed auspicious.  To then find a player with lottery-level talent in DeAndre Jordan still available in the second round seemed like another good sign.  I for one was very enthusiasitc after draft day.

As free agency loomed, the biggest question seemed to be point guard.  Livingston’s recovery was progressing slowly, leaving the Clippers with, well, nothing at arguably the most important position in basketball.  The conventional wisdom was that Beno Udrih might be the best the Clippers could hope for.  Yippee.

And what of their own potential free agents, Elton Brand and Corey Maggette?  Both of the long-time Clipper stars had Early Termination Options in the contracts.  But the thinking was that Brand was almost certain to remain a Clipper, whether he opted out or not, while Maggette would surely opt out, but might re-sign with the club even so.

So in late June, the Clippers were looking at more or less the same team they had last season, hopefully sans injuries.  Maybe they’d add a second tier point guard like Udrih; maybe the rookies would help; maybe a Brand-Kaman front line could be special.

On June 30th, everything changed.  On the eve of free agency, word came out that both Brand and Maggette had exercised their ETO’s.  No big deal; not unexpected.  What was unexpected was that Baron Davis of Golden State had also exercised an ETO, when only days before he had insisted that he would be back in Oakland.  Almost immediately, the rumors began swirling that Davis would return to his Los Angeles roots to play for the Clippers.  Seemingly, Brand had helped to orchestrate the move by opting out, giving the Clippers the flexibility under the cap to pursue Davis. 

On July 1, the Clippers reached an agreement with Davis - 5 years and $65M.  And the icing on the cake was that Brand’s signing would supposedly follow in short order.  Suddenly, a team that was hoping for Beno Udrih at the point (in fact coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. had been meeting with Udrih in New York when Davis became available) had a two time all star to run the team.  For one glorious week, the Clippers had their own ‘Big Three’ of Davis, Brand and Kaman to match up with troikas from the Celtics and the Lakers and the Spurs.  Good times.  Good times. 

But, on July 8, a week after the Davis announcement, Brand stunned the Clippers and indeed everyone around the league when he agreed to a 5 year, $80M contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.  Now, I could easily write 3000 words about the ‘he said, he said’ that ensued (in fact, I already have).  Clearly, Brand had given the Clippers organization every indication that he would re-sign with them.  Why did he change his mind?  Who knows?  Maybe the Clippers, as he says, disrespected him in some unforgivable manner during negotiations.  Maybe getting closer to his family in New York was the overriding factor.  Maybe he wanted to be a perennial all star in the forward-challenged East, or to play every May where Philly’s 40 wins were enough to make the playoffs last season.  Regardless of the reasoning, the Baron Davis - Elton Brand era was over before it ever began.  When Maggette, the longest-tenured Clipper and last season’s leading scorer, signed with Golden State, what had only days before looked like the greatest off-season in Clipper history had become a full-blown disaster.  And now I’m stuck with all these T-Shirts. 

To their credit, the Clippers did not sit idly by, licking their wounds in the wake of Brand’s perceived betrayal.  With their new and unexpected salary-cap room, they began to look at their options.  Continuing their new tradition of ‘big news Tuesday’, they traded for Marcus Camby of the Denver Nuggets on July 15, a week after they had lost Brand.  (And in this case ‘traded‘ means that the Nuggets gave Camby away - the rest of the transaction consists of an agreement to allow the Nuggets to swap second round draft picks in the future.) 

And the team was just getting started.  In the ensuing weeks, they would:

• Sign Kelenna Azubuike of the Warriors to an offer sheet (the Warriors eventually matched)
• Trade Brevin Knight to Utah for Jason Hart
• Sign free agent Ricky Davis
• Sign free agent Brian Skinner
• Sign free agent Jason Williams
• Trade a future second round pick to Houston for Steve Novak

It was as if Mike Dunleavy Sr. and Elgin Baylor suddenly wanted nothing to do with the 07-08 team.  Seemingly arbitrary moves (bringing in Jason Hart for Brevin Knight, waiving Josh Powell to make room for Brian Skinner, waiving Nick Fazekas to make room for Steve Novak) appeared to be done simply for the sake of change.  And why not?  07-08 was a disaster.  Ten new players to go with five returnees (Kaman, Cuttino Mobley, Tim Thomas, Al Thornton and Paul Davis) is probably a good thing.  Tired of defensive specialists who can’t shoot (I’m looking at you, Quinton Ross)?  Bring in his polar opposite, Ricky Davis.  Had enough of tiny little point guards like Brevin Knight and Dan Dickau?  Well, Jason Hart isn’t great, but at least he’s taller than those guys.

So where does all of this activity leave the team?  It’s hard to say.

They should be able to block shots.  Camby has been the league’s reigning shot-blocker for years, and Kaman 2.0 was third in blocks per game last season.  Likewise they should be solid on the glass, with Camby and Kaman each in the top three in per game average.  Al Thornton, a first team all-rookie selection last season, is ready to step into the full time starter position at the small forward now that Maggette is gone.  Davis is arguably the best point guard in Clippers history.  And Cat Mobley at the shooting guard figures to rate somewhere between ’savvy vet’ and ‘dangerous fourth scoring option.’ 

The bench is intriging and frightening at the same time.  Tim Thomas, Ricky Davis and Jason Williams are all talented basketball players who have spent most of their NBA careers as starters.  But they also are first-team knuckleheads who have made few friends in their many stops before LA.  Ricky Buckets and JWill look like incredible bargains at first glance - Davis signed for $2.3M and Williams for the veteran’s minimum.  But if they’ve stopped listening to Dunleavy by Thanksgiving, then it’s still too much.  At any rate, there’s talent on the roster.  And if young players like Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan or even sharp-shooter Novak can make an impact this season, the team gets very interesting.  One thing for sure - with Baron pushing the tempo, the Clippers will be much more fun to watch than in recent years.

Still, it’s a sad transition in many ways.  Brand and Maggette formed the core of the team for seven seasons.  Moreover, the team that took the Suns to game seven in the 2006 Western Conference semi-finals, is now a distant memory, in just two seasons; only Kaman and Mobley remain.  In addition to Brand and Maggette, Quinton Ross, Shaun Livingston and Sam Cassell were key members of that ‘best-ever’ Clippers team to whom we’ve said adieu in the last six months.  Saddest of all, the Clippers never came close to recapturing that success despite having mostly the same roster.  Injuries had a lot to do with that of course, but it’s sad nonetheless.

Can the new Clippers be improved while at the same time being generic (no Brand)?  It’s possible.  As I said, point guard is arguably the most important position on the floor, and the Clippers now have a charismatic leader there in Baron Davis.  Baron’s presence in Oakland carried Golden State to some exilerating heights, and it’s not difficult to argue that this Clippers roster surrounds him with more talent.  Chemistry will play a huge role.  How will those ten new faces fit together?  Will the formidable talents of Tim Thomas, Ricky Davis and Jason Williams make up for their sometimes selfish, sometimes disinterested play?  Will Dunleavy, a walk-the-ball-up, call-the-play coach throughout his career clash with the more free-wheeling Baron Davis, or will he actually change his style and play up-tempo (he says he will)?  Will Al Thornton come into his second pro season as the guy who can score at will, or the guy who too frequently goes 1 for 11?  And what of Herr Kaman, the German Olympian?  Will we see version 2.0 again?  Or will he roll back to version 1.0?  Might we hope for a 2.5 release?  There are many more questions than answers at this point.

But if the season is half as interesting as the summer, it will never be boring.

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