Off season, free agency, coaching change.

[KL2]

A little wrinkle I wasn’t aware of.

Read on Twitter

[Clemenza]

My preferred idea on getting Zubac's back-up was using MLE, but after looking at this draft and the bigs I changed my mind that we should use pick #30 for the back-up. Zu's architype centers are always available late in the draft because lack of shooting and slow footspeed. For this reason they tend to overlook this players and they slip like a lot. Trayce Jackson Davis, Yves Missi, Filipowski comes to my mind easily in latest drafts.

Rocco Zikarsky in 2025 class is intruging to me.

Using Full MLE on Nickeil Alexander Walker might be a better for us finding the 5th starter on closing line-up instead of back-up big. Minnesota is lux tax team and already linked they will keep Naz with 20+ million USD annually. They might let NAW go for 14 Million USD annually. NAW is killing it both defensively and hitting those open shots, has handles to bring ball and drive.

Then, I would try TrueLAfan's idea of Bey-Bogdanovic trade for wing help. Just my thoughts.

Harden-Norm-Kawhi-Bey-Zubac
Dunn-Naw-DJJ-Batum(Kobe)-Rocco

What if Cam Christie is ready to contribute next season? That's like one-forth the price of NAW and could potentially give us the same numbers. We need to get by on a couple of rookie contracts every so often imo.

[MartinToVaught]

Read on Twitter

34 years old, injury-prone, clearly on the decline, overpaid, but was a big name in the league 5 years ago. Yeah, that sounds like a typical Frank move. We are never winning anything with this front office.

[Clemenza]

Read on Twitter

34 years old, injury-prone, clearly on the decline, overpaid, but was a big name in the league 5 years ago. Yeah, that sounds like a typical Frank move. We are never winning anything with this front office.

This team and front office is cooked. AARP should be our jersey sponsor going forward. Only positive I heard from this move is Boston attaching the 28th pick to Holiday.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Depends on what the Clippers would be giving up. True, Jrue is declining, but he is still a very good player- would take some ball handling pressure off of Harden and he is still a very good defensive player

[MartinToVaught]

If this franchise cared at all about winning championships, this stat would be deeply embarrassing:



Over $406m pissed away on luxury taxes since 2012 with nothing at all to show for it. Less playoff wins than the Pacers who have paid $0 in luxury taxes. The amount of money and assets this front office wastes every year is egregious.

This, again, is why the sob story of Ballmer getting "blindsided" by the new CBA doesn't cut it for me. Our process was abysmal before the new CBA. We were spending more than every team except the Warriors just to lose in the first round as the 4th or 5th seed every year. Imagine how much better off we'd be if Ballmer spent tha kind of money on hiring away the smartest minds and top scouts from the Pacers', Spurs', Thunder's, etc. front offices instead of stockpiling 38-year-old players who used to be stars ten years ago.

[esqtvd]

Not really. The championships were won by the same 6 players, all MVPs except Kawhi [who was a Finals MVP twice]. The rest are deck chairs.

Steph-4
Bron-4
Kawhi-2
Giannis-1
Joker-1
Shai [probably]-1

The only exception is Boston, who were booted right quick in the 2nd round this year when they lost Jayson Tatum to injury. Same as the Clippers losing Blake or Kawhi or PG every year, who never had an MVP, just a Big Two like Boston. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

If getting an MVP were so easy, everybody would do it. Ballmer took his shot with a creaky Big Two starring Kawhi. It didn't work because of injury. He could have kept chasing a title but drew the line at the Harden trade, which might have worked, but Kawhi went down AGAIN. He ended up with the second-most wins over that span instead. Oh, well.

[MartinToVaught]

Ballmer took his shot with a creaky Big Two starring Kawhi. It didn't work because of injury.

Injuries are not a valid excuse in this case. This isn't a situation where we brought in two ironmen who rarely ever missed games and they turned into Grant Hill and Brandon Roy the moment they put on the Clippers' uniform. Kawhi and PG were already known for being injury-prone when they were acquired. Kawhi had already needed load management for years when we signed him. This was an entirely foreseeable outcome of gutting the team for two of the most injury-prone players in basketball. You can't bring in two guys who are always injured and then be shocked and confused when they continue to miss lots of games.

Making excuses just means the team will never have to learn from their mistakes. Case in point: Frank's now planning to trade what's left of the farm for yet another injury-prone player in his mid-30s (Jrue) this summer. The Clippers every bit of criticism and mockery they get for the PG trade and then some. It might be the only way they'll ever learn, because clearly they're incapable of learning on their own.

Injuries are also not the only reason it didn't work. Kawhi and PG didn't fit together, Kawhi isn't a leader, PG is a losing player everywhere he goes, the front office surrounded them with a geriatric supporting cast, and the coaching has been mostly terrible.

He ended up with the second-most wins over that span instead. Oh, well.

Regular-season wins. Our record when it actually matters - the playoffs - has been atrocious. So the return on investment for how much Ballmer's paid just in luxury taxes alone, not even including the payroll itself, is still awful.

[esqtvd]

Unresponsive. Only 6 guys have won the title in that time. MVPs all. That's the long and short of it. If obtaining MVPs were easy, everyone would do it.

Steph-4
Bron-4
Kawhi-2
Giannis-1
Joker-1
Shai [probably]-1

Kawhi and PG were available because they were dinged up. But both were still under 30. Ballmer rolled the dice. And injuries certainly were an "excuse." Look at Boston this year, the defending champions. The Dubs. Poof!

Nothing is "entirely foreseeable" except hindsight. And I'm not particularly jealous of the Lakers' Mickey Mouse title and 7 losing seasons in that span. 12 consecutive winning seasons and a .600 winning percentage is a nice consolation, better than the other twenty teams that didn't win the title either.

So the return on investment for how much Ballmer's paid just in luxury taxes alone, not even including the payroll itself, is still awful.

Heh. It's not YOUR money. Mine either. You put this up to d-bag the Clippers but after being the worst franchise in ALL of sports since Sterling moved them to LA in 1984 [I'm Clipper Nation from Day One], being second-best since 2012? That's no joke.

[Clemenza]

Well fellas, two down and one more to go. How we feelin'!

1. MVP
2. Finals Appearance
3.






-We're so f*cking cooked as a franchise.

"What did ya say Lawrence? HUH? Ya say we got open cap space in the year 2026 and 2027. Okay, and what about it?... "It'll be 213 version 2.0..... but accountability, health, and leadership will be sold separately? Huh, WTF?"

[MartinToVaught]

Unresponsive. Only 6 guys have won the title in that time. MVPs all. That's the long and short of it. If obtaining MVPs were easy, everyone would do it.

If we need an MVP just to get past the first round of the playoffs, then we're beyond cooked as a franchise.

You make it sound like we're in the WCF or Finals every year and just keep losing to better players. We have a 43% winning percentage in the playoffs since 2012. We've been past the second round a whopping one time in 55 years of existence. Most of the teams we lose to end up losing in the next round themselves. We've been in win-now mode for 13 years and still have not come close to actually contending.

Whether you want to hear it or not, what the team's been doing isn't working. The results speak for themselves.

You put this up to d-bag the Clippers but after being the worst franchise in ALL of sports since Sterling moved them to LA in 1984 [I'm Clipper Nation from Day One], being second-best since 2012? That's no joke.

We aren't second-best since 2012. We're obviously behind any team with a championship in that span and there's other ringless teams like the Thunder, Pacers, Wolves who have had more playoff success.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a big step up from the Dark Ages. This team is actually being run like a sports team now, not a glorified piggy bank for a slumlord like it was in the Sports Arena years. The off-court product has improved by leaps and bounds since Ballmer took over, Intuit is amazing, so on and so forth. It's time for the fanbase's standards and expectations to rise to match the Clippers' growth. Can't have all these improvements but still the same expectations as when we were building around Michael Cage and Benoit Benjamin.

[KL2]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[TrueLAfan]

I like Poulakidas for the same reasons I’m leery of Broome. Broome is productive—but his combine results were (really) bad. He doesn’t have much in the way of lateral quickness or speed. He’ll be a drop back defender in the NBA as a 5 and pretty much can’t stay with 4s. Maybe I’m wrong, but I see the type of player who has maxed out as a college player. His lack of athleticism hurts a good skill set.

The exact opposite is true of Poulakidas, who has (much) better measurements and quickness results than I thought he would. He’s got good size and wingspan, and had very good scores in his quickness drills. And he can shoot, shoot, shoot and he has a great motor. His skill set is complemented by his athleticism.

[esqtvd]

Unresponsive. Only 6 guys have won the title in that time. MVPs all. That's the long and short of it. If obtaining MVPs were easy, everyone would do it.

If we need an MVP just to get past the first round of the playoffs, then we're beyond cooked as a franchise.

You make it sound like we're in the WCF or Finals every year and just keep losing to better players. We have a 43% winning percentage in the playoffs since 2012. We've been past the second round a whopping one time in 55 years of existence. Most of the teams we lose to end up losing in the next round themselves. We've been in win-now mode for 13 years and still have not come close to actually conten ding.



Whether you want to hear it or not, what the team's been doing isn't working. The results speak for themselves.

You put this up to d-bag the Clippers but after being the worst franchise in ALL of sports since Sterling moved them to LA in 1984 [I'm Clipper Nation from Day One], being second-best since 2012? That's no joke.

We aren't second-best since 2012. We're obviously behind any team with a championship in that span and there's other ringless teams like the Thunder, Pacers, Wolves who have had more playoff success.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a big step up from the Dark Ages. This team is actually being run like a sports team now, not a glorified piggy bank for a slumlord like it was in the Sports Arena years. The off-court product has improved by leaps and bounds since Ballmer took over, Intuit is amazing, so on and so forth. It's time for the fanbase's standards and expectations to rise to match the Clippers' growth. Can't have all these improvements but still the same expectations as when we were building around Michael Cage and Benoit Benjamin.

You mean like Terance "The Future" Mann? Please.

Read on Twitter

When you have $40M/yr tied up in a guy who can't go--MVP or not--you're not going very far. It doesn't take a genius to know the Clips have been snakebit by injuries. PERIOD. Lob City and 213 didn't work. But neither has Ballmer been willing to do a "Process" thing and have 7 losing seasons out of the last 12 like the Lakers did, bailed out only by LeBron gracing them with his presence for the Mickey Mouse trophy. [Miami owes their 2 titles to LeBron picking them too. And his return to Cleveland for theirs.]

What "works" is drafting Giannis at #15 and getting Joker at #41. Yes, I would fire the entire scouting staff just for their bad luck. But it's luck, let's face it. I suppose they should have drafted for character and taken Malcolm Brogdon. But he was 25 and has been broken down often. Grok tells me Brogdon has missed 35% of all possible games played.

Could have taken MJP and although he's been pretty healthy lately, he DID miss 2 entire seasons. MPJ missed approximately 200 games out of a possible 400 in his first five NBA seasons, largely due to the back issues. Luck? No, it's how it goes. The Clipper doctors WERE correct. He' missed half the games on his rookie contract and now makes 30 MILLION a year for 18/7 production. Nice player but he's been no bargain.


Ballmer simply doesn't feel that "Process" is the way to go. Neither do I. He HAS built the Clippers brand up from THE laughing stock of the NBA. A .600 winning percentage and 12 straight winning seasons. The only real shame is not being able to enjoy it. And making everybody else miserable in the process.

Except when they're on a winning streak of course. But that doesn't take any genius either.

[MartinToVaught]

That comparison makes no sense. We were never at any point "building around" Mann. We have continuously drafted lower-upside prospects like him based on the premise that they'd be able to contribute immediately as role players on our win-now teams built around 35-year-old veterans. Most of them never get to play anyway, defeating the entire purpose of this strategy. And in the rare case where someone like Mann does get to play, this team ruins them. On 29 other teams, Mann would have built on that WCF performance and at least become a top-tier role player for years to come, on the Clippers he regressed to a scrub. We are the worst team in the NBA at developing players.

I'm also getting tired of the argument that the treadmill or The Process are the only possible options and there's no middle ground. We literally just did a competitive rebuild after Lob City and it was working great until Ballmer and Frank got impatient. You don't have to suck forever if you have a front office who knows what they're doing, but chasing diminishing returns with 35-year-olds who used to be good a decade ago is guaranteed to fail 100% of the time.

[Ballings7]

I'm down getting Jrue Holiday, cover the offensive lackings Dunn still has for latter game times.

It would (should) also help enforce Powell to go to the bench more against teams with bigger line ups (aka Denver, Minnesota, healthy Memphis, others from changes possible).

[esqtvd]

That comparison makes no sense. We were never at any point "building around" Mann. We have continuously drafted lower-upside prospects like him based on the premise that they'd be able to contribute immediately as role players on our win-now teams built around 35-year-old veterans. Most of them never get to play anyway, defeating the entire purpose of this strategy. And in the rare case where someone like Mann does get to play, this team ruins them. On 29 other teams, Mann would have built on that WCF performance and at least become a top-tier role player for years to come, on the Clippers he regressed to a scrub. We are the worst team in the NBA at developing players.

I'm also getting tired of the argument that the treadmill or The Process are the only possible options and there's no middle ground. We literally just did a competitive rebuild after Lob City and it was working great until Ballmer and Frank got impatient. You don't have to suck forever if you have a front office who knows what they're doing, but chasing diminishing returns with 35-year-olds who used to be good a decade ago is guaranteed to fail 100% of the time.

Too many unfacts here: After hearing his horn tooted for the last half-dozen years, Mann is ass. Mann is ass because he IS ass. The Clippers DID develop him. We were lucky to dump his contract. And KL and PG were under 30 when Ballmer went for it, not 35 or 38. This is pointless, you're right. 20 teams haven't won the title and we won more games than any of them. We DON'T suck. Had we lucked into an MVP like Joker in the 2nd round or had better injury luck, the I Told You So Crowd would be singing a different tune.

There is no sure "better way" out there or those other 20 teams would have done it. The Lakers are proof. One of the legendary NBA franchises and they were ass 7 of the last 12 years and their one title is a joke.

[esqtvd]

and besides, if you thought the Clippers caved, Woj says you're full of s^&*

Read on Twitter

[Clemenza]

That comparison makes no sense. We were never at any point "building around" Mann. We have continuously drafted lower-upside prospects like him based on the premise that they'd be able to contribute immediately as role players on our win-now teams built around 35-year-old veterans. Most of them never get to play anyway, defeating the entire purpose of this strategy. And in the rare case where someone like Mann does get to play, this team ruins them. On 29 other teams, Mann would have built on that WCF performance and at least become a top-tier role player for years to come, on the Clippers he regressed to a scrub. We are the worst team in the NBA at developing players.

I'm also getting tired of the argument that the treadmill or The Process are the only possible options and there's no middle ground. We literally just did a competitive rebuild after Lob City and it was working great until Ballmer and Frank got impatient. You don't have to suck forever if you have a front office who knows what they're doing, but chasing diminishing returns with 35-year-olds who used to be good a decade ago is guaranteed to fail 100% of the time.

Too many unfacts here: After hearing his horn tooted for the last half-dozen years, Mann is ass. Mann is ass because he IS ass. The Clippers DID develop him. We were lucky to dump his contract. And KL and PG were under 30 when Ballmer went for it, not 35 or 38. This is pointless, you're right. 20 teams haven't won the title and we won more games than any of them. We DON'T suck. Had we lucked into an MVP like Joker in the 2nd round or had better injury luck, the I Told You So Crowd would be singing a different tune.

There is no sure "better way" out there or those other 20 teams would have done it. The Lakers are proof. One of the legendary NBA franchises and they were ass 7 of the last 12 years and their one title is a joke.

So you're saying Denver knew Jokic, a 2nd round pick, was going to be a future MVP? In that case we lucked into a MVP as well with SGA. Remember Denver had to roll the dice and choose between Jokic and Jusuf Nurkić and Nurkic was the starter and considered slightly better at the time. Luckily they chose correctly and sent Nurkic to Portland.

[esqtvd]

Too many unfacts here: After hearing his horn tooted for the last half-dozen years, Mann is ass. Mann is ass because he IS ass. The Clippers DID develop him. We were lucky to dump his contract. And KL and PG were under 30 when Ballmer went for it, not 35 or 38. This is pointless, you're right. 20 teams haven't won the title and we won more games than any of them. We DON'T suck. Had we lucked into an MVP like Joker in the 2nd round or had better injury luck, the I Told You So Crowd would be singing a different tune.

There is no sure "better way" out there or those other 20 teams would have done it. The Lakers are proof. One of the legendary NBA franchises and they were ass 7 of the last 12 years and their one title is a joke.

So you're saying Denver knew Jokic, a 2nd round pick, was going to be a future MVP? In that case we lucked into a MVP as well with SGA. Remember Denver had to roll the dice and choose between Jokic and Jusuf Nurkić and Nurkic was the starter and considered slightly better at the time. Luckily they chose correctly and sent Nurkic to Portland.

No, I have a better point than that. See all my posts above that got ignored in this discussion. I supplied a lot research and facts. I'd like SOMEONE to read them.

I'm referring to that Denver never seriously scouted Joker and took a flyer on a name on a list at #41 and made the greatest value pick in NBA history. It turned into a title. And as you ask, Adam Ausland [Clippers Talk, you know who he is] just posted this too:

Read on Twitter

Same points I've been making all along. Adam has the receipts. After 6 years the 'I Told You So Crowd' needs to start showing theirs or stfu. Mercy.