Los Angeles Clippers start to compile their roster for Las Vegas Summer League
http://clipperblog.com/2014/06/27/los-a ... er-league/
With the NBA Draft behind us, the Los Angeles Clippers are moving onto the next step along with the rest of the NBA: selecting their summer league team.
The Clippers will head to Las Vegas Summer League, scheduled from July 11th through 21st, to play five exhibition games followed by a short playoff tournament. The process of picking the roster begins as soon as the draft ends. C.J. Wilcox, the No. 28 pick and the Clippers’ only selection Thursday night, started the roster, and though there haven’t been any announcements yet (we will wait on one before adding him to our roster), it’s fair to say Reggie Bullock will make the trip to Vegas for the second year in a row. You can see the rest of the roster below. We will update as each player signs.
C.J. Wilcox, SG, Washington
6-foot-6, 196 pounds, age 23 (No. 28 pick in 2014 NBA Draft)
Wilcox is a guy with a similar reputation to Bullock’s, boasting 3-and-D potential as a wing prospect. As a senior at Washington, he led the Huskies in scoring at 18.3 points per game and drained 39.1 percent of his attempts from long range. Chucking up threes is his game; it’s always been that way. It’s how he ended up taking 7.2 attempts a night from beyond the arc this past season. With a 6-foot-8 wingspan, he has nice length to play 2-guard, but probably doesn’t project as a full-time small forward. He could slide to that spot, but likely in scenarios that call for more small ball and shooting. For more analysis on how Wilcox fits into the Clippers’ roster, click here.
Delonte West, PG/SG, St. Joseph’s
6-foot-4, 180 pounds, age 30 (No. 24 pick in 2004 NBA Draft)
West is going to be one of the most intriguing players at summer league, mainly because he’s not a prospect by any measure. Ten years removed from getting drafted, he now tries to reform his NBA identity, heading to Vegas to jet into the league for the first time since the 2011-12 season. But it’s not like West was unproductive with the Dallas Mavericks in his most recent NBA season, and as Slate.com’s David Haglund beautifully chronicled in early June, West’s two-year absence from the league might be best explained by non-basketball motives. He already has a history with Doc Rivers, playing for him with the Boston Celtics during two different stints, and the Clippers could need a backup point guard with Darren Collison opting out of his contract and entering the free-agent market this summer. Of everyone on the Clips’ summer league team without a guaranteed contract, West may have the best chance at making the regular-season roster.
Dexter Pittman, C, Texas
6-foot-11, 308 pounds, age 26 (No. 32 pick in 2010 NBA Draft)
Pittman definitely qualifies as a “big boy.” Actually, if you can believe it, the former Texas center is even smaller than when he first arrived in Austin as a freshman. Pittman weighed 388 pounds as a high-school senior. No joke. 388 freakin’ pounds. Now, as he treads 300, his mobility and agility are still somewhat shocking to witness. He can move, we know that, but clearly, he’s not as athletic as your average NBA player. Pittman has bounced around with the Miami Heat, who drafted him in the second round back in 2010, Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks, though he has never played a major role on any of those squads. He has also spent parts of each year in the D-League.
Will Clyburn, SG, Iowa State
6-foot-7, 210 pounds, age 24 (undrafted in 2013 NBA Draft)
Once upon a time, Clyburn was a deadly shooter from long range, but that has changed over the years…for a reason unbeknown to us on the outside. As a freshman at Utah in 2010-11, he hit 40.3 percent of his threes on 5.1 attempts a night. That was all while averaging 17.1 points per game, but after transferring to Iowa State to play for Fred Hoiberg, who recruits transfer students as well and as often as any other coach in the country, the shooting started to regress. Clyburn redshirted his academic sophomore season, and though he had a strong junior year scoring and rebounding the ball, he ended up shooting just 30.8 percent from three. In Germany this past season, it was more of the same: 10-for-42 from beyond the arc in 18 contests. The one thing Clyburn has always done at an elite level is rebound from the wings. He pulled in 12.3 percent of available boards during his collegiate career and is a decent enough athlete to defend on the perimeter. If he could get his jumper back, it could open up opportunities for the once knock-down shooter.
Shawn Jones, PF, Middle Tennessee State
6-foot-8, 236 pounds, age 22 (undrafted in 2014 NBA Draft)
Jones is another bulky body on the Clippers’ summer league roster, though his girth doesn’t compare to Pittman’s. He didn’t get much playing time until his senior year at Middle Tennessee State, when he averaged 28.2 minutes per game, topping the 22-minute marker for the first time in his career. Once he got burn though, he produced, averaging 20.1 points and 12.0 rebounds per 40 minutes in his final collegiate season. The number to look at with Jones is 17.6 percent, his rebounding rate. That is a stat which tends to translate well to the pros and putting up and elite figure like Jones did could make him somewhat of a sleeper in Vegas. His negative rebounding style (meaning he boxes out guys and then goes to get the board) shows there’s even more to like about him on the glass.
Cameron Clark, SF, Oklahoma
6-foot-6, 210 pounds, age 22 (undrafted in 2014 NBA Draft)
Clark would probably play shooting guard or small forward in the NBA, but worked as a small-ball 4 at Oklahoma, helping facilitate much of the OU offense as a senior. He went on quite a journey in his four years as a Sooner, hitting 37.3 percent of his three-point attempts as a freshman starter and regressing enough to where he averaged just 17.3 minutes a night in his junior year, a season in which he attempted just one three-pointer all year. But recovered as a senior, ending the season with averages of 22.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per 40 minutes. Somehow, he learned how to shoot again, knocking in 43.5 percent of his threes on 2.6 attempts a night. It probably wasn’t a coincidence he was being guarded by power forwards in this time. As a defender, Clark has to learn to play a more perimeter-oriented role in the pros, but he had tremendous performances against some of the best defenses in the Big 12 this past season. He’s shown the ability to go off against quality competition, though his production did sink a bit during conference play.
