Whenever a team loses the best player they've ever had completely unexpectedly and completely without compensation it's understandable that certain decisions will be made without the most rational thought put behind them. Elton Brand was a stellar power forward who toiled in the anonymity of LA's other team for so long (and without complaint) that no one ever thought he'd choose to defect so out of the blue. In fact, even when he opted out of his contract it was widely assumed it was for the sole purpose of renegotiating his deal with LA.
Instead, the team signs Baron Davis (purportedly at Brand's behest) and then uses the cap room available to them as result of Brand's relocation to absorb the roughly $8 million Marcus Camby is owed in each of the next two seasons. While the former was done under the pretense that Brand would be resigning with the team (and would have made for an interesting combination under that scenario), the latter reeks of desperation in the wake of Brand's departure. Not to knock Camby, but the Clippers simply have no need for him and clearly reached for the biggest name they could get to replace Brand. They already had a centre who averaged 15.7 points, 12.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in Chris Kaman, who is also six years younger and has a far more polished offensive game. While not acquiring Camby would probably have left this team overspending on some lesser free agent (this is the Clippers, after all, where good sense goes to die), it doesn't make the implementation of Camby any more natural as a result. This team was so desperate to add a recognizable name they were also negotiating to take on the bloated salary of Zach Randolph from the Knicks before the Camby deal was finalized in an attempt to save face in front of their fan base. Call it rare good fortune that that trade never came to pass.
So what's left? A so-so team that would be competitive in the East but will be out of the Playoff picture out West by the All-Star break. This team has some talented pieces, no doubt about it, but the cohesiveness of this franchise has teetered on non-existent since their storied run to the conference semi-finals in 2006. Now they are going to try and squeeze cohesion out of a team with Baron Davis, Ricky Davis and Tim Thomas? It'll never happen. Any hope for success this season would have to come out of surprise efforts by sophomore Al Thornton and/or rookie Eric Gordon. Even if they could make themselves into a competitive unit, though, they'd still be challenging Portland, Sacramento or Denver for the eighth seed and it would be a long-shot to say that could upset any of those teams without an injury coming into play.
The big issue keeping optimism from even peeking into the fray here has to do with the inevitably icy relationship that is going to formulate between Baron and head coach Mike Dunleavy. Davis had his most successful seasons of his career in a Don Nelson system that allowed him free reign on the offensive end of the floor. He's a tremendously talented point guard and is at his best when he's allowed some latitude with regards to his play from his superiors. However, Dunleavy is not prone to giving his players such a long leash, no matter how talented they are, and on a team that would so desperately need an invested Davis to have any shot at success, that stubbornness could wind up being disastrous this season. Even if the situation never erupts into the kind of war of words that some are anticipating, the effect on the court will be felt thoroughly as one watches a caged point guard running the offense for this team - forced into half-court sets that leave Davis little-to-no room for improvisation or interpretation. Fortunately (perhaps) for him the only backup on this team is Jason Hart since Jason Williams' sudden retirement. That situation might give Baron some bargaining power with coach since for all intents and purposes he has to be on the court for lack of a better option.
If Davis and Dunleavy actually manage to co-exist (which would involve Dunleavy caving into Davis's whims) then it will be a fairly good indicator of how uncomfortable Dunleavy feels about his job security in LA at this particular moment.
This team is hoping that it can avoid another decade of irrelevance by skating along as a ninth or tenth seeded team each year until they can acquire that last missing piece of the puzzle. It's a lamentable state to be in (just ask Golden State) because it costs money to stay that high but it doesn't actually produce an improving product - just more of the same year-in and year-out. There isn't much that can be said about the affairs of this team save for the fact that for the first time in recent memory people aren't blaming Donald Sterling for the sad state the team finds themselves in. For at least the foreseeable future Elton Brand has become Public Enemy No.1 in Clipperdom. Hopefully Sterling makes good use of this reprieve.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP
PG - Baron Davis
Davis is one of those players that always finds a way to resurface just when his name is about to fade into oblivion, so don't count him out yet just because he's landed in NBA purgatory. However, Davis will be 30-years-old by the time this season ends, and with a deal that will see him making nearly $15 million when he's 34 it's unlikely he'll have much trade value on the open market. If he's going to prove that he can avoid the same fate as Brand did in LA (which is playing at an All-Star level with next to no notoriety) it's going to take some heretofore-unseen power acting in defiance of all things Clippers. For such a talented player, though, who has given us so much entertainment over the last two seasons one has to be rooting that he'll at least come close. That is, after all, about the most you can expect from any part of this franchise.
SG - Cuttino Mobley
If this season goes south quickly, there is a good chance that rookie Eric Gordon out of Indiana sneaks into this spot for an elongated audition for the following season. Mobley played a thoroughly consistent game last season (by his standards) and is a player who would be of great use to a contending team if he didn't throw up such meager percentages (43% from the floor last year, 35% from three). He's average in just about every way, which is certainly not a knock against him, it just means that he needs the right situation to make him most effective. Playing on a Clipper team desperate for standouts, he isn't one. He's set to make $9 million this season and nearly $10 million in the next, so for all that he may be ill-suited as a Clipper, he certainly isn't going anywhere for the next two years.
SF - Al Thornton
Thonton had a remarkable under-the-radar rookie year last year and he probably would have benefitted more than anyone from a Davis-Brand teaming. The combination of two capable veterans would have eased the pressure on him tremendously, allowing him to develop at his own pace around an effective 1-4 tandem. Instead Thornton is going to be looked at immediately as the future of this franchise, the versatile small forward who is going to lead this team into the next decade. It's preposterous to assume that Thornton is ready or even able to shoulder that load after a good, if unspectacular, rookie season, but such are expectations of the NBA. He's going to have to work on his around the rim game (he got blocked on 19% of his attempts around the basket) and really expand his scoring options on the floor, but he'll be given plenty of space to grow this season - especially once the idea of a Playoff seed is neutralized. While it can be flattering to have people believe in you, hopefully those same people are willing to stand behind you when they realize you may need more time than they thought.
PF - Chris Kaman
After a down year two seasons ago (after signing a rich extension), Kaman came back onto like gangbusters last season by becoming one of the top centres in the NBA. He suffers from Clipperitis (in that no one knows how good he is because no one follows the Clippers) but he could be in for a huge year this season if the coaching staff treat this opportunity right. If this team allows Kaman to anchor the low-post offense, as in really allow him to be the primary weapon in the front court, they could find out just how much they actually have in their seven-foot faux-German. If they try, though, to overuse Camby as an offensive weapon and subjugate Kaman to playing weak-side the bulk of the time then it would be a dire waste of one of the best unheralded big men in the NBA (it would also be a huge waste of $9.5 million).
C - Marcus Camby
It's hard to imagine that anyone is happy when their phone rings and the voice on the other end says "you've been traded to the L.A. Clippers." At first said player has to think someone is playing a joke on them. That is how lamentable the perception of the Clippers is around the league - people are more inclined to think that someone is playing with them in such a scenario than to even take it seriously enough to get angry/sad/depressed about it. However, Camby has said and done all the right things for a player in his situation and no doubt he'll play his game anchoring the post defense and knocking down that awkward behind-the-head jumper he hits about 57% of the time. He may not have asked for the trade, he may not have wanted the trade, but he got the trade and now all he can do is live with it. It's not a joke, even if he wishes it was.
