Baron Davis recently told Sports Illustrated’s Scott Howard-Cooper thatys he feels he Clippers are “his team” this year. Apparently last  year he was still attempting to to “fit in and figure it out” after signing a 5 year, $65 million dollar contract in 2008. Davis will have to show a huge improvement in both his play and leadership ability to actually make “his team” a contender. He played an unspectacular 65 games last year, starting 60. His scoring average dipped from a stellar 21.8 ppg in Golden State, to a measley 14.9 with the Clips. That’s an eye-popping difference, as was his drop from 42.6% from the field to a D-League caliber 37%.

The Clippers did not botch the top pick of this year’s draft. They actually made the intelligent deicsion of drafting Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin with the No. 1 overall pick. Griffin was  considered by most the only guaranteed future star in this draft class. Per usual, he has already been stricken by the injury bug. Griffin strained his right (shooting) shoulder and has now resumed shooting has yet to move on to contact drills. “Everything is moving forward probably even ahead of schedule,” coach Mike Dunleavy recently said. Griffin is expected to begin full contact workouts soon and be ready by the time training camp begins. Prior to the injury, Griffin lived up to his number one pick selection by being named  the Vegas Summer League MVP. Griffin dominated on both ends of the court, and really was far above his competition.

How good can the Clips be this year? They have a nice core of young players, which tends to happen when you are a lottery team for the past decade, or really forever so long as I can remember. Shooting guard Eric Gordon will try out for Team USA this summer, and has all the tools to eventually be an elite 2 in the league. Small forward Al Thornton has shown steady improvements each year, and offers an athletic wing presence on both ends. Zach Randolph has been traded to the Grizzlies for Quentin Richardson, who was since shipped to Minnesota for Sebastian Telfair, Mark Madsen, and Craig Smith., which gives LAC a backup point guard, a heck of a goofy white guy on the bench, and a backup small forward in Smith. The Clips also obtained backukp shooting guard Rasual Butler from the Hornets, who offers a nice outside touch off the bench and a really damn cool first name. Even more shockingly, the Clippers are set to be players in the 2010 free agent frenzy. Their salary breakdown for the next two years is as follows:

Player 2009-10 2010-11 Baron Davis $12,100,000 $13,000,000 Chris Kaman $10,400,000 $11,300,000 Marcus Camby $9,650,000 Blake Griffin $4,983,480 $5,357,280 Rasual Butler $3,945,000 Mark Madsen $2,840,000 Eric Gordon $2,819,880 $3,016,680 Craig Smith $2,762,500 Sebastian Telfair $2,500,000 $2,700,000 Ricky Davis $2,400,000 Al Thornton $1,900,200 $2,814,916 Mardy Collins $1,867,742 Q-$2,801,613 Steve Novak Q-$1,030,189 DeAndre Jordan $736,420 $854,389 TOTAL $58,905,222 $39,043,265

Of the $39 million to be paid in 2010, another approximately $6 million can come off due to optioning and non-guaranteed deals, leaving the Clips at roughly $33 million in a year where the cap could go as low as $50 million. As you can see, this means that the Clippers could theoretically land an elite free agent from the class, where LeBron James actually makes the most sense. Now, you may be thinking that LBJ makes sense anywhere, but the other LA team is actually set at center, power forward, shooting guard, and point guard for a while, and LeBron could easily slide into the 3 over Al Thornton. Talk about zero to hero, taking over LA while Kobe descends from the peak of his game, while rejuvenating a franchise all the same, and getting his major market spotlight. It is one of those things that will never happen because it makes too much sense. Look for the Clips to win about 30 games next year and hope the young core improves and stays healthy.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/scott_howard-cooper/08/19/baron.davis/index.html?eref=T1

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/clippers/la-spw-clippers-griffin18-2009aug18,0,4811630.story?track=rss

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9180

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