August 8, 2008 – Dr. Anklesnap
This off-season has been quite the emotional roller coaster for the Los Angeles Clippers organization and its fan base. Early in the free agency period it was announced that the Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Baron Davis had agreed to leave GS for his home town of Los Angeles. The city was a buzz with the potential pairing of Baron Davis and power forward Elton Brand. Then just a short week later it appeared that Clipper Nation was falling apart as their franchise player, starting power forward Elton Brand, chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Then when all hope seemed lost for Clippers fans (yes there are still Clippers fans), Clipper GM Elgin Baylor pulled off one of the more lopsided trades of the off-season in acquiring former defensive player of the year Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets. Then in smaller but very effective transactions GM Elgin Baylor signed athletic swingman Ricky Davis, forward Brian Skinner from the Phoenix Suns and sharpshooter Steve Novak from the Houston Rockets. All of this without mentioning the draft steal the Clippers landed in guard Eric Gordon.
Now in what I believe is one of the smartest moves Baylor has made this off-season, today he signed veteran and efficient point guard Jason Williams to a one year contract. Jason Williams still has one of the highest assist to turnover ratio’s of any point guard in the league, he is a very good outside shooter and can play both the flashy up tempo game, or as he proved in Miami, the slower half court game. At this point in his career J-Will has mentioned several times his willingness to come off the bench, and given Baron Davis’ history with injuries, Baylor may have just hedged his bets perfectly by signing a back-up point guard who is still good enough to start on most NBA ball clubs. On a bit of a separate note, I would assume that the signing of Williams signals the end of any hope some fans may have had that the Clippers would resign free agent Shaun Livingston who is trying to make a comeback to the hardwood after the very serious leg injury that has been ‘YouTubed’ to death.
Mike Dunleavy has never been known to have a run and gun style of coaching philosophy, but with that being said his staff certainly still has all the capabilities necessary to craft a system to effectively use the offensive talents they have acquired. One other positive factor that is starting to emerge is the Clippers perceived roster depth on paper. The big unknown will be how well all of the new faces can come together and gel as a team. Chemistry can make or break a team with lots of talent. For proof of this you have to look no further than the Denver Nuggets this season with loads of talent but very poor chemistry and defense. Or on the contrary you could look to this year’s Boston Celtics who were essentially thrown together in the Summer of 2007 and proved to have great chemistry right off the bat in dominating the NBA season from start to the very finish.
There may be some surprises before the start of the season, but I feel the following will be the crop to choose from for the rotation players come the start of the 2008-09 NBA season in Clipper Nation:
Marcus Camby, PF/C
Baron Davis, PG
Ricky Davis, SG
Eric Gordon, G
Jason Hart, G
DeAndre Jordan, C
Chris Kaman, C
Cuttino Mobley, G/F
Steve Novak, G
Tim Thomas, F
Al Thornton, F
Jason Williams, PG
