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The more that I think about it, the less I like the Clippers present course of action. Clearly going after Randolph was a panic move that indicates to the me the Clippers desperate need for "name" PF who puts up numbers. I don't think that's what the Clippers need right now.

Why should we overpay for a tweener like Smith (who wouldn't fit Dunleavy's system) or an injury prone, offensively limited PF like Okafor? Are either of these two really worth max dollars?

Our team has two borderline all-stars in Kaman and Davis. We have a dynamic scorer in Thornton and a ready to play rookie in Gordon. We have scoring covered and we sure don't need Randolph to carry the load in that department. What we need are veteran players and bench depth.

I honestly think that players like Udonis Haslem, Charlie Villanueva, Al Harrington (if we could get him), and others would fit the role just fine. They would cost a protected 1st pick to get most likely and we would still have cap space to fill out our bench, which has been notoriously thin. My offseason plan would be something like this.

Clips trade Tim Thomas and a protected 2010 first for Udonis Haslem.

This way the Clips keep their cap room. They still have 13 mil to play with. They then sign Ryan Gomes for four years at 3.5 a year (Minny won't match because they're saving cap space for 2010).

That gives us about 9 mil still. Clips sign Bonzi wells for 3 years at 4 mil a year.
That's now 5 mil. Clips throw a three year, 2.0 mil a year at Kareem Rush. They then throw a 2 mil a year deal Jamaal Magloire.

They then trade Mobley for Jaric and Kyle Lowry. They re-sign Q Ross for 3 yrs and 2 mil a year. They throw the min. at Livy, don't know if he takes it.

Clips line-up ends up like this.

PG: Davis/Knight/Lowry/
SG:Bonzi/Gordon/Rush
SF: Thornton/Ross/Jaric
PF: Haslem/Gomes/Powell
C: Kaman/Magloire/Jordan

I think given the chance to grow as a unit, that lineup can do some damage in the West.

Something along these lines is definitely worth considering. If not your exact moves, obviously comparable moves could be made. I have some concerns-

1. I am extremely doubtful about how much damage such a unit could really do in the West. If Gordon blows up then obviously that makes a big difference. But otherwise you're looking at a 'big 2' of Davis and Kaman, which I don't think is really gonna scare anybody.

Basketball is one of the few sports in which 1 or 2 great players plus decent filler can beat 5 good players. Obviously it totally depends on who those players are, how great the great players are, etc. But barring some unexpected surprises (againly mainly Gordon, perhaps you're counting on a big contribution from him down the road)...do you think this team matches up to say Utah with Williams + Boozer, plus a nice group of complementary players as well?

2. I don't know how much time we should wait now that we have Baron for 5 years. I love the guy and thought he was a great pickup, but he is in the middle of his prime and somewhat injury-prone. I think it's likely his best years here are going to be the first 3 years of the contract.

3. I'm not sure spending our remaining cap room on 3 players is better than 1 big player, given that we will still have the MLE to sign those medium-level players in succeeding years. Plus TT and Mobley become expiring contracts next year. I don't expect Sterling to pull off a Gasol-like manuever, but if we start looking like a perennial playoff team then I think Sterling would entertain a trade that would put us (a little) over the cap if it significantly improved the team.

4. It's boring!!!! Kareem Rush? Jaric? WTF????

5. Finally, no other than Dunleavy himself has said he would run more if the personnel fit (although seeing is believing). He actually said that Kaman is one of the fastest centers in the league (I guess...) But I don't think it really matters if your center is fast or not, moist centers are not going to be heavily involved in transition offense (though we don't want to marginalize Kaman either.) If we were to sign Josh Smith, I think we could run successfully (or at least run more than before.)

Clip34life wrote:Clips line-up ends up like this.

PG: Davis/Knight/Lowry/
SG:Bonzi/Gordon/Rush
SF: Thornton/Ross/Jaric
PF: Haslem/Gomes/Powell
C: Kaman/Magloire/Jordan

This group would give us depth and stability at every position.

Clip34life wrote: They then sign Ryan Gomes for four years at 3.5 a year (Minny won't match because they're saving cap space for 2010).

You may be right about MIN not matching the year, however, you may need to up the offer. I am not convinced that MIN wouldn't offer the full MLE ($5.585) for two years for its second best player last year. Gomes agent has also said that they are considering playing for the QO (only $1 mil!) to become a UFA if Gomes can't get an offer he likes.

but if you guys get iggy AND randolf and zach sucks it up and tries to be a team player

Baron
Iggy
Thorton
Randolf
Kaman

that's a legit playoff team

Hmm. The thing don't understand about getting Iguodola or Deng is that we would be hampering the growth and value of our two most promising young players. And we would still have a gap at the PF position. I just don't understand. Maybe Dunleavy is trying to groom Thornton into a Shawn Marion type player or something, he has bulked up considerably since the season was over.