2016-2017 Finish: 25-57

Season Highlight:

For a 25-win season, the Clippers had a lot to like on the court, mainly in the name of young talent. DeAngelo Russell, Rodney Hood, and Devin Booker led a group that has Clipper fans desperate for the new season to start. Andrew is obviously building a young nucleus and with the upside on all three of those guys and others in the lineup like Clint Capela, he's not doing a bad job. In that building, Andrew also continued to pile on assets for the team's future in the form of multiple draft picks. The team's GM point situation is also excellent, setting up great times ahead in LA.

Season Lowlight:

Before the Clippers can take the reigns in the West, they have to go through seasons like they did last year. With the promising, but youthful player pool, Clipper fans had to sit through a lot of losses last season. At the end of the year, the Clippers ended up with the 11^th seed out West, but with the strength at the top of the conference, that seed was only good enough for 25 wins. With the team clearly rebuilding, wins are not the most important piece of the puzzle (yet), so this isn't the worst lowlight to have.

Best Trade:

The LA Clippers send Boris Diaw to the Boston Celtics. 
The Boston Celtics send a 1st-Rounder (Bos) and 2nd-Rounder (Bos) to the LA Clippers. The LA Clippers send a 2nd-Rounder (Bos), 2nd-Rounder (LAC) and 2nd-Rounder (Chi) to the Boston Celtics.

Boris Diaw is a player that isn't getting any younger. In exchange for his services, Andrew gains a 2019 1^stfrom Boston. The Celtics are a great team right now, but anything can change in this league. The team has plans in place to get Kevin Durant to resign, and seems headed towards that conclusion but again, you never know. Durant leaving alone would be enough to make that pick look very attractive, and either way, it won't be time for selection until after next season. For a couple of second roudners, you have to like Andrew's bet.

Worst Trade:

The Boston Celtics send Kendall Marshall to the LA Clippers. 
The LA Clippers send a 1st-Rounder (Pho) to the Boston Celtics. 

The Boston Celtics receive 3 GM points. The LA Clippers trade -3 GM points.

Kendall Marshall won't be on an NLL roster to start this season. Trading a first rounder for him had some scratching their heads when the trade happened, and it has to be painful for Andrew in hindsight. Luckily, this was the only bad trade you can clearly point out from the Clippers season.

Other Notable Trades:

The Houston Rockets send Festus Ezeli to the LA Clippers. The LA Clippers send Hassan Whiteside to the Houston Rockets. 
The Houston Rockets send a 1st-Rounder (Por) to the LA Clippers.

This is a polarizing one. On one hand, Hassan Whiteside was an upcoming free agent looking for a big payday. The Clippers weren't looking to pay him what he wanted and moved him for what should be a great first. On the other hand, Whiteside is one of the best bigs in the league and would've liked to stay in LA. If the pick busts, Andrew will likely regret this move, but in this shoes, you can't be mad at the decision.

The LA Clippers send Stanley Johnson to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send Marreese Speights to the LA Clippers. 
The San Antonio Spurs send a 1st-Rounder (SA) and 1st-Rounder (Utah) to the LA Clippers. 

The LA Clippers trade -6 GM points.The San Antonio Spurs receive 6 GM points.

Another interesting one. Call Andrew pick crazy, but in a league where deals usually operate entirely around frst round picks, the Clippers get two for a player that hasn't proven his star potential. We'll have to wait a couple years before we know whether this was a good move or not. 

The LA Clippers send Kevin Garnett and Marco Belinelli to the Orlando Magic. The Orlando Magic send Nikola Pekovic and Garrett Temple to the LA Clippers.

The LA Clippers trade -13 GM points.The Orlando Magic receive 13 GM points. 

Pekovic's days in the league seem to be just about over due to recurring injury problems and the Clippers gave up a solid rotation player and first-ballot hall of famer for him. Garnett has ended up retiring so they essentially swapped players leaving the game, but you never want to take on broken goods. Add in the GM points spent and this one was not the best of trades.

The Atlanta Hawks send a 2nd-Rounder (Bos), 1st-Rounder (Atl) and 2nd-Rounder (Bos) to the LA Clippers. 

The Atlanta Hawks receive 50 GM points. The LA Clippers trade -50 GM points.

A lot of points for a lot of picks, you can't complain.

Best FA Signing:

Andrew played the market beautifully and made the sneaky pickup of DeMarre Carroll while teams were busy fighting for the same guys. Carroll ended up getting hurt and was traded later in the year in favor of younger players, but you have to like a GM's smart decision-making in free agency and when healthy Carroll was a solid player.

Worst FA Signing:

With so few signings, there's no pickup that clearly hurt the team. Everyone signed contributed at some point, whether it be on the court or in a trade.

Star:

DeAngelo Russell burst onto the scene last year as not only the best rookie in the league, but also one of its best point guards and overall players. 22, 5, and 4 on 44% shooting are numbers you wish for with your veteran guard. Russell picked those up with ease to start his career. Just to make matters worse for the rest of the league, Russell is only 20. He'll be creating problems in a Clippers jersey for a long time to come.

Goat:

Nikola Pekovic in street clothes is a pretty easy choice here. You don't want that much cash going out to a player you can't even put on the floor.

Draft Report Card:

The Clippers picked up Tyler Ulis and Joel Bolomboy in the draft over the summer. Both were a bit overlooked by other GMS, but have the potential to be solid players in the league. Bolomboy has a knack for rebounding coming out of Weber State and if he can crack into the rotation, he'll be a huge help to Clint Capela and Cody Zeller on the frontline. Ulis will never be able to pass Russell and Booker by the looks of it, but he seems to be another great player in the Clippers frontcourt, showing strong leadership skills and poise in Summer League and preseason. As the Clippers continue building towards the future, these two fill out the rotation with great potential.

Looking to the Future:

The Clippers have SIX first round draft picks going into next season, at the moment projected in every range of the round. This should help the Clippers fill out their roster and begin to focus on winning, or help them acquire strong talent through trades. Either way, this seems to be the ast year of LA truly rebuilding with all these picks.

Upcoming Free Agents:

Festus Ezeli will be restricted going into the brand new free agency days. Despite injury troubles, the Clippers should look to bring him back and fill in blank spots on their frontcourt. When healthy, Ezeli provides interior defense and rebounding, and his 7.4 million dollar contract will be on the lower end of the new signings scale.

Free Agents:

The Clippers have a BOATLOAD of money to spend going into free agency and an excellent GM point situation. They should throw money at anybody on the front-end of their prime and younger and just hope for the best. Andrew could probably pull a DeMarre Carroll once again and get a guy like Harrison Barnes easily while other teams chase small forwards like Kevin Durant and Chandler Parsons. Barnes has his critics, but he also has a lot of potential, and that's what the entire Clippers organization is riding on at the moment.