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Friday, June 22
Updated: June 25, 11:45 AM ET
Clips actually sitting pretty for a change
By Scott Howard-Cooper
Special to ESPN.com
Hell yeah, it's a strange draft. The best player from college, Dukie Jason
Williams, isn't in it, but half the guys you saw last week waiting in line to
sign up for driver's ed will go in the lottery. Tons of people need point
guards and the best guy at that position, Jamaal Tinsley of Iowa State, is
still dropping. No one seems anxious to have the No. 1 pick.
|  | | Darius Miles turned out to be the right pick last year. |
But that's nothing.
The real sign that this is an upside down, Jennifer Aniston-is-ugly,
environmentalists-endorse-Dubya, keep-up-the-good-work-Wall Street draft
comes because the team with common standing at the top of the lottery is in a
very uncommon spot.
The Los Angeles Clippers are in great shape.
This isn't like those three weeks every season that Benoit Benjamin was in
shape either. We're talking solid footing compared to their neighbors on both
side, and maybe even all the way down the block, throughout the top 10.
Washington, Chicago, Vancouver, New Jersey, Cleveland, Detroit and Boston
need to come through.
Atlanta has the luxury of having a veteran team, only nobody knows what
kind of veteran team because of injuries and two big trades last season that
greatly disrupted any chance for a cohesive run. The Hawks, like Los Angeles,
can say they will be adding an important piece and are not days away from a
major intersection for the future of the team, but no one can say for sure
what kind of group they have anyway.
Golden State had the injuries like Tiger Woods has the cash. But the
Warriors have more needs than positive karma and a good team physician (the
former one just took the fall after his Hawkeye Pierce imitation apparently
wasn't good enough for that M*A*S*H unit).
The Clippers?
They already have a team in place. A team with some questions -- especially
what direction to go at center, with everyone still saying all the
stand-by-your-man things about former No. 1 pick Michael Olowokandi as
several new possibilities are on the horizon Wednesday -- but a team that would
be picked to do much better than the 31-51 of 2000-01 without a significant
addition. A year later with Lamar Odom playing with better discipline and
Darius Miles stronger after his first full year in an NBA weight program
would do that alone.
Of course they need the draft. The thing is, they just don't need it.
The No. 2 pick does not have to be a cornerstone for the future or for the
rebuilding or for the recovery from freefall, the way top-10s will be for
other teams. It just has to be a good pick.
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“ |
I do
think we feel like we already have a lot of pieces
of the puzzle in place and just need to keep
adding. The other intriguing element about our
situation is the way our team is composed and
that will always make us more intriguing. We
have young players with great futures and we
have a lot of flexibility because of our cap space.
Those two things put us in a good
position. ” |
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— Jeff Weltman, Clips director of player
personnel |
"We've really never done anything from a position of strength before,"
coach Alvin Gentry said. "And now we're doing a lot from a position of
strength. And no one's whining about their contract for a change. Except the
coach. No, I'm just kidding."
The jocularity is understandable, given the way things have been going for
the Clippers. They had a strong finish. They beat the odds and leap-frogged
in the lottery selection process. They have the No. 2 pick and are getting a
lot of trade offers that could net established players instead of a promising
forward or center. They have the cap room to overpay if necessary to get a
free agent, or to get it right this time with Derek Anderson and Maurice
Taylor by signing them and trading them and actually getting something in
return for two starters, as crazy a concept as that would seem. They have
their entire starting lineup and most key reserves under contract.
Given that this is the Clippers, the chances are always very good they
will three-putt with a chance to win the U.S. Open, but this much can be said
with certainty today.
A lot of teams would like to be them.
"It's a good feeling," said Jeff Weltman, their director of player
personnel. "We got lucky in the lottery for starters. It really is a matter
of getting the right pick on the lottery day. It is a fortuitous spot.
"I do think we feel like we already have a lot of pieces of the puzzle in
place and just need to keep adding. The other intriguing element about our
situation is the way our team is composed and that will always make us more
intriguing. We have young players with great futures and we have a lot of
flexibility because of our cap space. Those two things put us in a good
position."
By way of disclaimer, don't be concerned that anyone on this end of the
computer will ever strain a muscle sprinting to jump on the bandwagon, no
matter how many people write to remind, in apparent seriousness, about the
time spent working for the Clippers. (Dare I dream?) There may have been some
work involving the Clippers, but most of that was more like standing on the
corner and waving the crowds down another street and away from the fire. So
you will read it here first, last and always. Don't rely on potential and
hype like you could with a lot of other teams.
The Lakers, for example, seem
to have a couple guys with a good future, a young shooting guard and center
who has yet to reach his potential. To call them a force for the future is to
have not paid attention to the past, meaning be practical and be a year late
on buying tickets to the second round rather than a year early, meaning it
ain't gonna happen on Donald T. Sterling's watch until proven otherwise.
But there is no denying the situation of the moment.
The Lottery Angeles Clippers will be in a very good position come
Wednesday night, and that should only be the first big step of the summer.
Come even close to the vision shown in the 2000 draft -- Marcus Fizer would have
been the safe pick and therefore ordinarily the Clipper pick, but going for
Miles was a bold move and the right move -- and .500 will be worth talking
about. Make a series of good, if unspectacular, moves and they're still in
business.
| |  | |
| Piatkowski |
| |  | |
| Olowokandi |
The problem is, unless they deal the choice, no one may know for years how
things worked out. Again, that can be said for a lot of teams in a year when
they might as well hold the draft at an arcade, but even more in L.A. If they
keep the selection, it will go towards one of the same forwards or centers
everyone else has logjammed at the front: Shane Battier, Kwame Brown, Tyson
Chandler, Eddy Curry or Eddie Griffin, in alphabetical order. The Clippers
already need to invest heavy minutes in the frontcourt they are planning for
the future -- Odom, Miles and Olowokandi. Miles will almost certainly play
shooting guard also, but that would take time from the development of Quentin
Richardson and cut into the impact of returning starter Eric Piatkowski as
the best three-point weapon when they are already weak in that category and
zones are about to arrive.
It is not a perfect situation. Hey, it's the Clippers, right? But it is a
very good place to be, with a roster, period, and a roster that has versatile
players for different lineups, a top pick who will be needed to contribute
instead of carry, and great options ahead in the summer.
It is the Clippers? Right.
Scott Howard-Cooper covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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