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Doc has been notorious for these 2-year, 2nd year option signings. They were decent players for us but these contracts have been annoying. Basically, these players have used the Clippers as a stepping stone to score a big contract. But I guess it's better than getting stuck with longer contracts. It also says something that these players would rather not stay with the Clippers after playing one year.

Darren Collison -> Kings
Cole Aldrich -> Timberwolves
Mareese Speights -> Magic

I think both Collison and Aldrich would've loved to stay if the Clippers had been able to match the money they got. Speights, I don't think they wanted him to stay, he tried the stepping-stone thing, but he wasn't good enough for it.

Their main mistake was to not let Wes go like they did the rest, and now he's a bad-ish contract.

yeah there was no indication that collison/aldrich wanted to bolt because "DOC RIVERS." they were paid substantially more than they could have been paid here.

I'm glad Evans and Thornwell both got 3 year deals. I mean, actually investing in the youth, who would've thought?

illastrate wrote:I'm glad Evans and Thornwell both got 3 year deals. I mean, actually investing in the youth, who would've thought?

The problem is, they usually suck until their 2nd or 3rd year then you gotta pay 'em anyway.

Collison, Aldrich, Felton, Speights and others were more productive than just about any rookie, and certainly more than any rookie we had access to at the butt end of the draft.

My favorite example is Jerami Grant, whom I liked in the 2014 draft and is now a RFA. Philly invested 3500 minutes of PT in him and ended up giving up on him. OKC has invested another 1500 minutes in him. They just picked up his option at $1.5M, which will make him a UFA next year. Pretty much he's right where all of Doc's minimum wage dumpster dives start.

No way we could have afforded to invest 3000-5000 minutes in any late draft pick without putting a serious dent in the win column [especially with our crap bench]. And the Collisons and Feltons are productive from Day One. No way a late-round rookie could have done what they did for us.

Hey, we hired development guru John Welch away from Denver last year and just got a G-League team. There's no reason we can't try to develop young talent AND go dumpster diving--and we are. [But my eye's on dumpster dive product Willie Reed. ]