Time to Go Young

[SportsFan215]

Since Brand decided to leave a great situation, I think that the Clippers should pull back their offer to Baron and go young.

Sign Monta Ellis
Sign Josh Smith

Ellis/Cassell?/Knight
Gordon/Mobley
Thornton/Ross/Thomas
Smith/Powell
Kaman/FA?

I would also consider a Tim Thomas/Mobley for Ben Wallace swap.

[Hawks]

If the Clippers are going to make an offer for Smoove then do it now.

[roseorbust]

I wouldn't exactly call it a great situation. It would be hard for them to make the playoffs in the west. I think signing Okafor or Smith would be best... maybe Biedrins.

[loflin3hree5ive]

I'm hoping that Elton leaving could be a blessing in disguise. I think we should go after Okafor instead of Smith.

Kaman/Okafor/Thornton/Gordon/Davis is pretty solid and makes us younger than if we still had the Puppet.

[corgiBear8]

I still like the baron signing (assuming he sticks to his verbal commitment), and I prefer Josh Smith over Emeka. I think Josh is already a very good player with more upside. I love Emeka's D, but his offense is terribly lacking. He plays more like an undersized center to me, and I don't know if he would complement Kaman well. If Kaman is as effective as last year when he was healthy, he'll get his share of double teams. Having a more dynamic player like Josh will help get us easy baskets out of the double team. Emeka has a hard time getting shots for himself, and I see him taking away the low block from Kaman.

Monta is good, but Baron is better. He comes with an injury history, but when healthy he is one of the top point guards in the game.

[NikeAir]

Man you guys got screwed over, now i think you guys should sign Smith or Elis and try to build a young cvore that might be able to compete for a tittle in a couple of years. What i'd try to do is sign Sith and trade him to Denver for Carmelo somehow and then trade Al Thorton and Mobley to Toronto for Barganani and Kapono. Then you have a line-up of
Kaman
Bargnani
Smith
Kapono
B-diddy
You could build a good team around a core of Smith/Ellis, Bargnani, BD, Kaman and if a Carmelo trade works out then you will have BD, Melo, Bargnani, Kaman

[CableKC]

With Maggette and Brand leaving and Baron coming in...what's the Clippers Salary situation for this season?

Assuming no trades....what will the likely positions of need that you guys have?

PG - Baron / Brevin
SG - Mobley / Gordon
SF - Thornton / ????
PF - ????? / Thomas / Powell
C - Kaman / ???

It sounds like the Clips may want to add:

1 ) Starting PF
2 ) additional backup SG,
3 ) perhaps a 3rd string PG
4 ) backup SF/PF
5 ) more frontcourt depth at the PF and C positions

How much $$$ do you guys have to spend after signing Baron?

About $41 mil spent with about $18 mil ( to get to the Salary Cap ) to about $29 mil ( to get to the Luxury Tax limit ) to spend on a new Starting PF and at least 4 backup rotational players.

Does that look right?

[ClipperDomination]

Fill in Eric Gordon as the backup SG.

[CableKC]

Fill in Eric Gordon as the backup SG.

Damn...completely forgot about him.

Assuming that Gordon would be signed ( at most ) at a starting Salary of $2mil...that would leave about $16mil to $27 mil to spend. What about Jordan? You guys think he will be signed?

It really looks like the Clips have the $$$ to spend on Josh Smith or Okafor. Which one would be the better fit for the Clips and Dunleavy's style of play?

[ClipperDomination]

Okafor would be much better for Dumbleavy's style of play, but most of us would rather have Smith I am guessing...

If we have 16-27 mil to spend, why not try to go after both? Put Thornton at the 2, Smith at the 3, and Okafor at the 4 to go along with Kaman and Baron. I'm dreaming once again...

[PlinkingPanda]

I think I read that we resigned Marcus Williams and Nick Fazekas.

Edit - Nevermind they just extended qualifying offers to them both. Didn't resign.

[mj_shoefanatic]

What about UFA's Azubuike and Barnes to fill those backup needs at the SG/SF position?

[PlinkingPanda]

What about UFA's Azubuike and Barnes to fill those backup needs at the SG/SF position?

I like Azubuike. Barnes wouldn't be bad either, but I think he'd want like a MLE or something. He's been looking for a nice contract for a little while now.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Azubuike seems like a smarter version of Maggette for some reason with a better shot selection and similar build. I only brought up Barnes because if Diddy does follow through with his verbal agreement with us then having them together on the same team(once again) could benefit us from a chemistry standpoint. Plus, Barnes can hit the occasional 3 ball and his rebounding/defense is slightly above average.