DeAndre Jordan Returns To LAC; What’s Next?
- Updated: July 9, 2015
DeAndre Jordan made headlines last night with his decision to return to the Los Angeles Clippers. We know the story about his initial commitment to Mark Cuban and Dallas Mavericks and then his change of heart. But I want to take today to talk about the Clippers now that Jordan has returned and what’s next on their agenda.
The Clippers Need to Finish the Bench Makeover.
Besides the DeAndre Jordan drama Doc Rivers and Kevin Eastman have been hard at work filling the bench with talented players. They began the summer with the trade that landed them Lance Stephenson. Although we don’t know which Stephenson we’re going to get, we do know that Spencer Hawes never really fit in and Doc wasn’t a big fan of Matt Barnes. Either way the trade is an upgrade.
Then the Clippers reached an agreement with Wesley Johnson. Johnson is coming off one of his better seasons of his career with the Lakers and should be able to provide that scoring wing option off the bench that the Clippers haven’t really had. He’ll be in a great spot to succeed Paul Pierce if he decides to stick around and play well.
That leaves Glen Davis, Austin Rivers, and Hedo Turkoglu to be re-signed. I’ll come out and admit I made a mistake yesterday reporting that Turkoglu re-signed but it was really a fake Adrian Wojnarowski report. We’ve all been there once before and if you haven’t congratulations you’re better than me.
Glen Davis provides energy and hustle off the bench and with the addition of Pierce it’s almost certain that the Clippers will want him to return.
Austin Rivers had his coming out party in the playoffs last year and will be able to learn from some of the games best players of the generation as long as he comes back. I expect him to be back.
Turkoglu I have a soft spot for from his playing days in Orlando (S/O to Holly Humphreys to job with the Magic by the way. Extremely proud of you). He plays spot minutes and doesn’t hurt to have on the roster. I feel like Dahntay Jones is welcome to come back too if he wants. Doc praised his leadership and you can never have enough of that.
But the one guy who isn’t on the Clippers roster and someone that Connor Aylward and I have talked about is JaVale McGee. When the circus of Jordan leaving first came on the Clippers were forced to look into other options and McGee was someone on the table. I think McGee is a perfect solution for the back up center role, someone to replace Hawes.
Let’s be honest, when Jordan comes out Blake moves to the 5 most of the time but if the Clippers want to compete on the defensive end when Jordan sits down they need to have length inside. Relying on McGee for start minutes is not a good idea, but a few minutes here or there or when teams go to the Hack a Shaq method could be a good move for the Clippers.
It’s been a wild couple days in Clipperland. Clipper fans should be excited for next season.
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