2014-15
Finish:
27-55
Season Highlight:
Well, what
classifies as a highlight for a team at the very bottom of the rebuilding
cycle? Are wins highlights, or are big losing streaks highlights? Is it the
slew of high lottery picks Andrew ended up with? Each loss that the team has
increasing the worth of the LAC first and second rounders. However, the team
did manage to construct a five-game winning streak over weeks 17-18. The Clips
defeated Houston twice, Chicago, OKC and Denver.
None of those opponents achieved a whole lot in 14-15, with Denver just
sneaking into the playoffs in eighth spot.
Season
highlight… Hassan Whiteside. Andrew always looks on the bright side, and now
he’s got Whiteside. The D-leaguer, raw roster-filler showed he’s had some
serious inside game, and small sample aside, he has some serious ability in the
inside scoring, rebounding and blocking department. A diamond in the rough with
serious size, Andrew might have found himself a legitimate starting 5 for years
to come.
Season Lowlight:
Winning 27 games? Andrew decided his team’s fate at the beginning of the
season, and went extremely hard to maximise his teams ‘rebuilding potential’,
making trades that made his current season outlook a lot worse, but his and the
team’s future a lot brighter.
The Clips had two double-digit losing streaks, with totals of 13 and 11. To
most teams, that’d be a lowlight… so we will go with that.
Best Trade:
LAC certainly got involved in
a lot of trading action in 14-15, turning over almost his entire roster and
shipping out any player with any type of street credit or credits in the bank.
Andrew wanted flexibility, youth and picks, picks, picks! Each move he made
moved the needle in his team’s ‘favour’, sometimes a lot, sometimes just
slightly. All in all, the combined returns for all the trades put his team in
the position he hoped them to be in when he put a blowtorch to season 14-15.
However, one stands out as the best trade of the season…
Hassan Whiteside and 6 gm points for Tony Snell.
At the time, most people thought giving up Snell for Whiteside was a bad move.
However, with Andrew’s incredible foresight, the gamble paid off, and he turned
a bench wing into an all-star type big man (albeit a small sample size of
games). Congratulations, one of the trades of the season!
Worst Trade:
As I have already touched on,
Andrew had a vision and made trades that helped that vision become a reality.
However, there is one trade where I think LAC lost out:
Ersan Ilyasova for JaVale McGee
McGee has a serious leg injury and has barely played in two seasons. He also
has some of the worst basketball awareness… ever. Ilyasova is a knock down
three-point shooter and a good rebounder. This would have to be the worst trade
for LAC last season.
Other Notable Trades:
Kevin Garnett for Dirk
Nowitzki – in an attempt to ‘bottom out’, LAC took on Garnett for Dirk. KG is a
lot closer to retiring/being irrelevant than Dirk is, so I think he lost out on
this deal (in a value sense) but gained traction in bottoming out.
Jordan Hamilton for 10 gms – Hamilton was bought out soon after, after failing
to get onto an NBA team (until much later in the season)
Best FA Signing:
Monta Ellis signs for 1 year –
This was a key (re-)signing, as Ellis is a beast in the NLL. It also ended up
being the most valuable trade piece on his team, and it netted him two young
guns (Hood and Muhammed) and a first round pick, accelerating the rebuild for
LAC.
Dirk Nowitzki signs for 2 years – The unrestricted free agent, NLL legend Dirk
signed with the LA Clippers for two years. However, he was somewhat ineffective
on the court, and when the ball dropped for the complete overhaul/rebuild, Dirk
was traded for veteran KG. Garnett would, and will, serve as a mentor for the
younger generation of Clippers players and forward his wisdom and experience
unto the future stars of the Clippers.
Worst FA Signing:
The Clippers really didn’t
have many free agent signings, let alone any that really hindered the team.
Maybe Kostas Papanikalou at an expensive $5 million for the season. A player
where output and cost definitely didn’t match.
Star:
Hassan
Whiteside – As a starter, Whiteside destroyed the boards and pulled down 13 a game
as a starter, along with just under 10 points per game. Whiteside had TWO 20-20
games within the last few weeks of the season! How impressive!!! He is still
young and has plenty of time to develop his game and for his body to mature
even further. He is entrenched as the starting 5 for the Clippers going forward
and is young enough to fit in with the uber-young and talented core that
complete the rest of the roster. The future is bright!
Surprise:
Hassan Whiteside – Everything
is coming up Whiteside! All kudos has to go to the foresight of GM Andrew, who
has steered the Clippers towards a brighter future in the coming years.
Whiteside is one of the best young shot blockers, rebounders and inside
finishers in the entire league (albeit a small sample size). Everyone is
surprised with his development, but Andrew must have seen something in him… the
spark before the explosion. What a great surprise he has been this season.
Goat:
Javale McGee. Surely. Could
possibly the GOAT of the entire league. The undoubted #1 star of ‘Shaqtin Tha
Fool’, it seems McGee only gets back on the court to do something foolish. And
at 12+ million a season, he gets paid more per appearance than a lot of
Hollywood actors.
Draft Report Card:
This was the moment Andrew had
been waiting for. So many of his ‘chess move’ like trades were to build up his
draft pick arsenal for this talented draft. In the end, Andrew ended up making
four first round selections, including trading two of his first rounders to
other teams for their firsts (Winslow, Saric for Russell and Turner for Jerian
Grant and cash considerations). LAC made away with some real talent from this
draft, and here’s the final count:
Pick 2 – D’Angelo Russell: Athletic. Great vision, scoring. A winner’s
mentality. Could be a franchise player.
Pick 7 – Stanley Johnson: Athletic. Prototypical size. Already has an NBA body.
All-around game. Could be an future All-Star.
Pick 10 – Devin Booker: Athletic freak. Great jumpshot. Knock down shooter, but
could be underrated in other areas.
Pick 17 – Jerian Grant: Athletic. Playmaker. Lots of upside. Quite a complete
guard for his age.
Draft grade: A++
Looking to the Future:
As already mentioned, Andrew
has put in some serious man hours this season re-structuring the entire landscape
of the Clippers – including their future. The team has four rookies this season
that were all effectively taken in the lottery in Russell, Johnson, Booker and
Grant, along with former high picks Rodney Hood and Shabazz Muhammed, and
Hassan Whiteside, all of whom form an extremely young and exciting core with
huge potential. Talented youth aside, Andrew has worked to have a heap of
flexibility financially, to add free agents or take on salary/assets to benefit
teams at the luxury tax.
This coming season, however, might be another lean one for the Clippers – but I
think in Andrew’s eyes, that might be okay. Another lean season means the
Clippers pick is very valuable. It also means Andrew can try and shift the last
remaining veterans (that he has tried so hard to do) and try and get in another
first to add to his burgeoning core.
Five years time, this team could be really dominant. Next 12 months, Clippers
will be somewhere between 14th and 11th in the Western
Conference, and very active on the trade forum!
Upcoming Free Agents:
Hassan Whiteside (RFA) – Clips
have put out qualifying offer, will sign with Clippers. Huge coup.
Kevin Garnett (FA) – In the twilight of his career, has stated he wants to
finish his career with the Clippers.
Jorge Gutierrez (FA) – Has a team option, but I have honestly never heard of
him. Might hang around as a filler on a cheap deal.
Darrell Arthur – solid reserve big, apparently likes LA and wants to re-sign.
Brandon Bass – very likely gone, in pursuit of a better role/more minutes
Alexis Ajinca –
the massive man has made it known that he would like to stay in LA, like
Arthur. The young talent and capable front office making some veterans want to
hang around.