Team Preview: Los Angeles Clippers

Key Additions

Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Eric Gordon, Ricky Davis, Jason Williams, DeAndre Jordan

Key Losses

Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Shaun Livingston

Season Outlook

OK, I could have placed about five more players in each of the loss/add sections, but I’m a slow typist and decided against it. Adding “Key” was much easier. The Clippers have a completely revamped roster, with only four returning players from last year’s 23-59 squad. That wasn’t the plan going into the offseason though, as the Clips expected to keep Elton Brand, and had to steal Marcus Camby from the Nuggets after he bolted to Philadelphia.

Considering Brand and Livingston were injured last year, I expect the Clippers to be a much better team this year. I don’t know much about coach Mike Dunleavy’s offensive philosophies, but this roster matches up well with the “We Believe” Warriors. Gordon and Ellis, Thornton and Ricky vs. S-Jax and Al. They even have a defensive-minded center, in Camby who can shoot the ball. (I think his shooing is a little underrated and his post defense is a little overrated. Can’t argue with the blocks though.) However, I would be a little worried about Davis and Camby getting injured for stretches of the season. I hate making predictions, but because you asked so nicely, I’ll start with 40-42, arbitrarily subtract a few games due to injuries and get 37-45. Good enough for the Hawks to make the playoffs next year, but not good enough out West. Fortunately, Clippers fans have become accustomed to their team missing the playoffs and can always look foward to a Davis brothers trio singing something on the big screen during timeouts.

How the Suns Match Up

I don’t think the Suns match up all that well, and here’s why. Baron Davis is capable of giving Steve Nash problems if he feels like it. Camby and Kaman didn’t sound good together when I first heard about the trade, but they’ll clog the middle defensively, and offensively Camby’s midrange game could complement Kaman’s decent post moves. Gordon, Mobley and Thornton should be able to keep up with Barbosa, Hill, Barnes and Bell. I think the teams split the series, assuming no one is injured at the time.

2008-2009 NBA All-Pacific Division Team

There’s still about a month before the preseason starts, and everything basketball-related has slowed to a Piston-esque crawl. I was browsing through other WordPress blogs, and I saw a blog entry about an all-Atlantic Division team. So I figured why not take a weeks or two to look at the Pacific division and some of the Suns’ competition in the division, both this year and in the future. To kick things off, here are my picks for the 2008-2009 All-Pacific Division Team.

Starters

PG: Steve Nash. Gotta go with the hometown guy. There’s been a lot of talk about Chris Paul and Deron Williams surpassing him, but they’re in a different divisions, so I won’t even go into that. Maybe later.

SG: Kobe Bryant. The consensus best player in the league. Has done a lot to improve his image by playing in the Olympics, with an injury no less.

SF:Stephen Jackson. Now I actually have to start explaining myself a little. He plays good defense and is may have been the MVP of his team even with Baron Davis. His rep has skyrocketed since the bral in the Palace incident. Last year I don’t know he makes this list with Artest and Marion in the division.

PF: Amare Stoudemire. One of the best offensive big men in the league. Has improved his shot drastically in the last few years. Hopefully his defense will follow suit with new coach Terry Porter.

C: Andris Biedrins. Toughest choice of the starting 5 and the most controversial. A monster on the boards, runs the floor, and I haven’t heard anything horrible about his defense. There’s several solid centers in the division, including Andrew Bynum, Brad Miller, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, and Pau Gasol, depending on how you classify each player. Biedrins is young and uninjured, which is why he got the spot. Bynum will get this spot in my book if he returns to form this year.

Bench

Baron Davis

Monta Ellis

Kevin Martin

Corey Maggette

Al Thornton

Pau Gasol

Marcus Camby

Andrew Bynum

The plan is to go a little more in depth on the other teams and players in the division in the upcoming weeks. Don’t worry though, I’ll still be writing about the Suns a lot. Even in the previews of other teams I’ll try to discuss how the Suns match up with them. I’ll try to get player analysis in the roster section eventually to, so we shall see.