Post your off season plan for the Clippers

[scoobs07]

Here is mine, assuming that they are unable to make a trade for DWill or CP3 and that the salary cap will be the same as last season (58 million/12 million under the cap).

1. Amnesty clause: I'm not sure about all the ins and outs of the CBA and the amnesty clause, so it might not even be worth it to amnesty Gomes, but let's do it anyway assuming the Clipps are able to have more money to play with. So I would amnesty Gomes (getting the Clips 16 million under the cap.

2. Cut Warren (save another 750,000), so Clips get about 17 million under the cap.

3. Trades: Trade Kaman(12.7) and Bledsoe(1.6)for Nash(11.7)and Frye(5.6). Cap space goes down to 14 million. Nash is a great PG and Frye is a PF/C that would be a good compliment for Griffin/DJ.

4. Free agency: Sign Grant Hill for 1 year/1 million. Hill goes for a ring here. It's ok that isn't a great shooter, because we already have EJ,Nash,Mo and even Frye, a PF/C that will shoot the lights out. Hill's ability to post up and play defense would help with this group and he comes at a reasonable price. Plus, he is a great "place holder" for the SF we end up drafting and will allow Aminu to grow by only demanding 20-25mpg. Clips should also look to re-sign Diogu, who earned a spot on this team after his play last season. With the remaining 13 million dollars, the Clips sign DJ to a 5 year/47 million dollR contract. The deal would be structured in a way that he gets a lot of that money the first two years, before the Clips have to pay big moony to Blake and the lottery pick. Year 1: 13mill, year 2: 13mill, year 3: 7mill, year 4: 7mill, year5: 7 mill.

PF-Griffin/Diogu/Cook
SF-Aminu/Hill
C-Jordan/Frye/Thompkins
PG-Nash/Mo
SG-Gordon/Foye/Leslie

[RiversideClips]

If you are getting rid of someone, please get rid of "Catfish" Williams. Too slow Mo is going to take up Bench & Salary Cap.
"Don't you know;Mo has gotta Go!!" my new battle cry!

[Det the Threat]

1. Have an offseason at all, which is a huge obstacle right now

2. Amnesty Rule: No one(Gomes could be a throw in for trades)

3. Sign either Tayshaun Prince to a reasonable 2 - 3 year deal or look at those guys being cut thanks to that amnesty rule.

4. Keep our trading chips to be able to go after guys like Paul, Williams or Howard, if they become available.


@scoobs:
I wouldn't trade for Nash at all. We're not in win now mode and it's not worth giving up young talent for 37 year old guards in the final year of their contract. I also wouldn't ever touch Frye's contract, especially with that new CBA(which looks like it's something close to a hard cap) coming.

[scoobs07]

1. Have an offseason at all, which is a huge obstacle right now

2. Amnesty Rule: No one(Gomes could be a throw in for trades)

3. Sign either Tayshaun Prince to a reasonable 2 - 3 year deal or look at those guys being cut thanks to that amnesty rule.

4. Keep our trading chips to be able to go after guys like Paul, Williams or Howard, if they become available.


@scoobs:
I wouldn't trade for Nash at all. We're not in win now mode and it's not worth giving up young talent for 37 year old guards in the final year of their contract. I also wouldn't ever touch Frye's contract, especially with that new CBA(which looks like it's something close to a hard cap) coming.

that disappoints me to here that the Clippers are not in win now mode. I was under the impression that they were. So then that BDavis and lottery pick for Mo must of really been pointless then.

[RiversideClips]

The Mo Williams trade was/still is pointless. Oshley's timing & trade made no sense; he stated that he didn't want to pay 2 1st Rounders in one year, that comment made no sense. The trade which we gave away a better player & the 1st Overall Pick for Mo, was not a good trade.
I am w/ you... w/ Griffin,Gordon & DeAndre we should be in a WIN Mode. Kaman is excellent Trade Bait and that #1 last draft could have been the Arizona Wildcat Kid from L.A. (Williams) and he could have been a #3. I think we go after Prince & Nash (if he is cheap.)
Get rid of Mo

[Det the Threat]

@scoobs:

Win now mode = going for it all/taking your shot at winning the championship

We're nowhere close that, as we didn't even make the playoffs last season and are still trying to build a team around two - three young guys in the earlier stages of their careers.

Therefore adding a huge contract like Frye's(especially under that new CBA) for a 37 year old pg in the final year of his contract isn't a wise decision.

@Riverside:

Get over it man.

If we keep Baron and don't do that trade we're stuck with him for a couple more season and end up with the #8 pick, which would've given us the opportunity to add a guy like Kemba Walker, Jimmer Fredette or Brandon Knight.
Nice pickups, but nothing special IMO.

[mkwest]

Chris Kaman - $12.7M
Mo Williams - $8.5M
Blake Griffin - $5.7M
Randy Foye - $4.3M
Ryan Gomes - $4.0M
Eric Gordon - $3.8M
Al-Farouq Aminu - $2.8M
Eric Bledsoe - $1.6M
Brian Cook - $1.3M
DeAndre Jordan - $1.1M (QO)
Willie Warren - $0.88M
Trey Thompkins ~ $0.5M
Travis Leslie ~ $0.5M
______________________

Total (Committed) Salary = $45,721,260
Total (estimated) Salary = $47,510,132

Cap space really depends on the salary cap number. We have 3 unguaranteed contracts in Warren, Thompkins and Leslie. You have to have a minimum of 12 roster spots taken before determining your actual cap space. Any spot under those 12 will be given a roster charge, which is equivalent to the rookie minimum. Last year, it was around $474K. Keeping these 3 players salaries does not really hurt us financially. At worst, Warren could be waived and we clear up $900K.

1st step is to agree a deal in principle with DJ. He can be signed after we sign a free-agent in order to maximize our cap space. Then I'd finish it off by giving a minimum deal to Diogu.

I'd love to see a player like Shane Battier, Tayshaun Prince or Grant Hill join the team. They're experienced veterans that will offer leadership, defense and overall smart basketball. They'd serve as a band-aid and allow Aminu to learn and eventually take the starting role. Different reports state that the team isn't really looking at the old guys. I see Battier staying in Memphis or going to play for a contender. Hill has mentioned wanting to stay in Phoenix. They know how to preserve his health and it's easy to play there when they have someone like Nash. If he leaves Phoenix, I think he goes to a contender as well. Prince is a hometown guy, and would be a really good fit imo.

The other interesting players in free-agency are Jeff Green and Caron Butler. Green is restricted, but Boston got rid of Perkins due to not wanting to pay him. He's a player that can start or come off the bench and has experience playing both forward positions. That could come in handy when Blake is on the bench. Butler is one of many free-agents that Dallas has, so there's the possibility that he's gone. Sure, he probably wants to play for a contender, but we'd be able to offer him a little more than that.

Jordan / Kaman / Thompkins
Griffin / Diogu / Cook
Prince or Butler / Gomes / Aminu
Gordon / Foye / Leslie
Williams / Bledsoe / Warren

If there's a season, Thompkins and Leslie are going to get very limited minutes. There's not going to be as many practice days in a compacted schedule. If I'm Del Negro, I'd have Gomes play more minutes at the 4 spot coming off of the bench. This would allow Aminu the opportunity to still play minutes at the 3 and for us to not have to rely as much on the end of the bench guys.

After the signings, I'd push hard for a trade for Paul or Howard. Using some of our cap space on a free-agent really limits the cap space that we'll have next summer. If we ended up keeping the pick and trying to sign Paul or Williams outright, we'd have to clear up some salary (e.g. $7-9M). A package centered around Kaman, Bledsoe, Minny pick +fillers for Paul or Kaman, DJ, Aminu, Minny pick +fillers for a Howard-based package. The Howard deal could be a bit more problematic if DJ is included. He wouldn't be able to be traded until 90 days (or whatever it is) due to recently signing as a free-agent. He'd also be a BYC-player.

[RiversideClips]

Det, since the trade happened, I was vocal. i don't want to be a band wagoner when fans want 2 get rid of Mo .Once the season starts & Mo is still a Clip, I might shut my Pie Hole until the next off season.

[Det the Threat]

Det, since the trade happened, I was vocal. i don't want to be a band wagoner when fans want 2 get rid of Mo .Once the season starts & Mo is still a Clip, I might shut my Pie Hole until the next off season.

No problem at all man.

I'm just completely over it since the trade happened and really happy to have a guy on the team(Mo) who really wants to be here, is vocal about it and cares about his teammates and the game.

I also pretty much assumed that we'd give them a high pick, once the lottery started. It just fits our luck that such a pick turns into a top 3(or #1, like this one), once we trade it.

BTW: That trade isn't looking all to great anymore, now that there most likely will be an amnesty rule which would've allowed us to cut Baron while only having about 25% of his money count against the cap.
Though, knowing Sterling he probably wouldn't haver ever been willing to bite the bullet and pay someone withough him "performing" for the franchise.

[scoobs07]

I'm pretty sure Sterling wouldn't of wanted to pay Baron 30 million to not play. I just hope they didn't do that trade just to be able to resign DJ while staying under the cap. If they would of kept Baron, they would of had to do some salary dumps in order to keep DJ without going over the cap. Now, the Clips are in a position to use that cap space and then sign DJ, which would mean hey would go over the cap without paying the tax.