NBA free agency is winding down and it’s time to start assessing how franchises fared. San Antonio extended their championship window and caught the biggest fish in free agency in LaMarcus Aldridge. But no, they didn’t win the off-season. That honour goes to the long-time laughingstock Los Angeles Clippers, who have improved their stock from a year ago more any other team in the league.
Sure, they managed to retain their starting centre, DeAndre Jordan, after he looked as good as gone (and had a lot of fun on Twitter in the process), but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The biggest addition is the one that got away last season, Paul Pierce, who will immediately slot into the starting small-forward spot. His return to his native Los Angeles to end his career will provide the needed maturity and late-game heroics that were missing when they gave up a 3–1 series lead to the Rockets in May.
Lance Stephenson, acquired in a trade, is signed to a team-friendly deal with a cap hit of just $9 million. And despite his poor showing in Charlotte last season, he can defend three positions, rebound well for his position, is an excellent passer, finishes at the rim and is a young and athletic player who theoretically has his best basketball ahead of him.
In Josh Smith the Clippers added an athletic big who runs the floor, is a plus defender and can finish at the rim. And they saw first-hand in this year’s playoffs that he can still be a difference maker:
Smith was famously bought out by the Detroit Pistons last season and has been criticized in the past for his attitude and shot selection, but he owes at least part of those problems to the fact that he’s been miscast at times in his career as a small forward. When the Pistons decided to start Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond together Smith’s only minutes beside the twin towers were at the three.
Not only will the Clippers not ask Smith to start at small forward—he won’t be asked to start at all. And his time as a Rocket showed he’s more efficient in limited minutes at power forward. In 55 games with Houston, in which all but seven were off the bench, Smith scored 12 points per game in just 25 minutes. Smith is best utilized as an impact player in limited at the power-forward position alone, and that’s likely how he’ll be deployed.
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Along with super-scoring sub Jamal Crawford, that gives Doc Rivers three starting-caliber players coming off the bench.
Rivers, who has previously hurt his ability to coach with his subpar front-office moves, got it right this summer. Now he’s given himself the flexibility to go big—say, Paul, Stephenson, Griffin at the three, Smith and Jordan—or small—Paul, Reddick, Crawford, Pierce and Griffin.
The potential small-ball unit would wreak havoc on the perimeter and the bigger lineup would be a menace around the basket. Both could score running the offence through multiple players.
The next four players on the bench are athletic wing Wesley Johnson and pesky backup point Pablo Prigioni, both added this off-season, energy forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis and scoring combo guard Austin Rivers, all of whom can be effective playing around 15 minutes a night if needed. That means the bench goes from being the Clippers’ comparative weakness, only playing seven guys in the playoffs, to a strength as the team now boasts 11 legit NBA players.
The Spurs, however, lost depth. Gone are Cory Joseph and Tiago Splitter. Considering Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili missed a combined 26 games last year, Joseph’s loss is significant. Splitter’s loss isn’t as numerically damaging when you consider he was essentially replaced by Aldridge and David West, but it does carries weight.
Aldridge and Duncan both have made it clear they aren’t interested in guarding centres, but one of them will have to bang with bigs when they play together. The dynamic of who draws the short straw—the aging legend and historical face of the franchise or the new recruit who was lured to sign—should be fascinating.
The Spurs’ off-season also isn’t as impressive as the Clips’ because the pieces don’t fit as well. While L.A.’s new pieces allow them to x-acto-knife themselves to contention the way the Warriors did a year ago, San Antonio can’t say the same as Duncan, Aldridge and West all do virtually the same things. They are all deadly mid-range shooters deployed best at the four, and are exceptional passers with high basketball IQs. Yet none are rim protectors—only Duncan ever was—and they alone won’t dominate the backboards.
The Clippers won the off-season because they addressed their biggest needs and strengthened a team that beat the Spurs in the playoffs a year ago. The Spurs’ roster looks like a juggernaut on paper, but the depth of players the Clippers now boast is second to none.