Just because it's a steal or a good pick up, doesn't mean it improves them dramatically. There's more variables to it than just a name and talent. Heaven forbid critiques and concerns about inefficient additions the Clippers added.
He doesn't have to improve them dramatically. Have we already forgotten that the Clippers were one win away from the WCF's last year. West is 36 and coming off a pretty underwhelming season. I don't think his impact is going to be as great as so many fans here are suggesting either.
First of all, this isn't a David West thread.
And West is 35 years old. West isn't going to be asked to do too much and I don't think anyone expects him to come out and give the Spurs 30 minutes a night of 12 and 8 like he did in Indiana. He'll be the 4th big off the bench. Tim/LMA will see over 33-35 mpg each when it matters in May/June.
And West has always been an efficient, team oriented player, who can pass, shoot and make smart decisions. He's been known to have one of the best mid-range jumpers in the game for the past 9 seasons for big men. Not to mention he shot 50% from 15-23 feet out last year according to bball reference. It doesn't take a rocket science to see how his efficiency and floor spacing can have a positive effect on the Spurs' overall efficiency in the limited minutes he will recieve.
Josh Smith, while talented, has been anything but an efficient and effective team oriented player. There's a reason why Hawks let him go, there's a reason why Pistons cut him. I'm not saying the move is terrible, it's probably the best the Clips could do to improve their front court from a strict talent perspective. It's a fact that he's been an inefficient, dumb player at times and that's something that's fair to critique.
You can read this again to get a better understanding of my reasons:
First of all, you didn't actually read my initial post then. I brought up David West so it shouldn't have been a complete shock to you when I brought him up in my second post. The Pacers were actually a better team when West was on the bench. Conversely, The Rockets were a much better team with Josh Smith on the floor. I'm not advocating for either one of these players. I'm just stating the facts. West might be very good at hitting mid range jumpers but how many of them is he going to give up? With West, you need to break down his efficiency into 2 halves. His offensive efficiency is much better than his defensive efficiency.
Smith was hardly an albatross in Atlanta. He was making superstar money but, wasn't giving Atlanta superstar returns. In other words, he wasn't worth his contract and they didn't feel he was worth maxing out. He played very well in Houston though. No, he's not the most efficient player but, he provides depth and for the minimum, the Clippers get a solid bench contributor who can play on both ends of the court.. I'll have to see how it all plays out but overall, I think the Clippers have more depth going into the season than the Spurs. Of course, I have no idea what kind of production the Spurs are going to get from the likes of Boban, Simmons and KA and to a lesser degree Parker and Manu.
If the Clips want to go small against our towers, it's their funeral.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources...035806861.html
How's that off-season going?
Most overrated off-season of the summer.. tbh.
Clippers are a basketcase, overly emotional, extremely fragile team. Adding two basketball morons (at best) was never gonna work.
even someone in here hyped up the Cole Aldrich signing for them and he's done about as much as Spencer Hawes.
Ehh I'll be honest and say I thought Aldrich would be a decent pickup
To be fair though, it looks like he hasn't even gotten a chance. He was fairly solid the previous two years in NY, but now he's only played a total of 17 minutes this year. Looks like Doc is staggering DeAndre/Blake at center and only using Josh Smith as the backup PF.
They have nine new players, the majority of the prominent ones were never going to be hand in glove fits and many of them are eccentric personalities, too. This was always going to take time and always going to be boom or bust.
That being said, they're not going to win the championship, but they never were, whether they made minor or major changes. The thing I liked then and still do now, is that they managed to raise their ceiling without lowering their floor and did so with virtually no trade assets or financial flexibility.
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