2014-15 Finish: 27-55

Season Highlight:

Well, what classifies as a highlight for a team at the very bottom of the rebuilding cycle? Are wins highlights, or are big losing streaks highlights? Is it the slew of high lottery picks Andrew ended up with? Each loss that the team has increasing the worth of the LAC first and second rounders. However, the team did manage to construct a five-game winning streak over weeks 17-18. The Clips defeated Houston twice, Chicago, OKC and Denver.

None of those opponents achieved a whole lot in 14-15, with Denver just sneaking into the playoffs in eighth spot.

Season highlight… Hassan Whiteside. Andrew always looks on the bright side, and now he’s got Whiteside. The D-leaguer, raw roster-filler showed he’s had some serious inside game, and small sample aside, he has some serious ability in the inside scoring, rebounding and blocking department. A diamond in the rough with serious size, Andrew might have found himself a legitimate starting 5 for years to come.

Season Lowlight:

Winning 27 games? Andrew decided his team’s fate at the beginning of the season, and went extremely hard to maximise his teams ‘rebuilding potential’, making trades that made his current season outlook a lot worse, but his and the team’s future a lot brighter.

The Clips had two double-digit losing streaks, with totals of 13 and 11. To most teams, that’d be a lowlight… so we will go with that.

Best Trade:

LAC certainly got involved in a lot of trading action in 14-15, turning over almost his entire roster and shipping out any player with any type of street credit or credits in the bank. Andrew wanted flexibility, youth and picks, picks, picks! Each move he made moved the needle in his team’s ‘favour’, sometimes a lot, sometimes just slightly. All in all, the combined returns for all the trades put his team in the position he hoped them to be in when he put a blowtorch to season 14-15.

However, one stands out as the best trade of the season… Hassan Whiteside and 6 gm points for Tony Snell.

At the time, most people thought giving up Snell for Whiteside was a bad move. However, with Andrew’s incredible foresight, the gamble paid off, and he turned a bench wing into an all-star type big man (albeit a small sample size of games). Congratulations, one of the trades of the season!

Worst Trade:

As I have already touched on, Andrew had a vision and made trades that helped that vision become a reality. However, there is one trade where I think LAC lost out:

Ersan Ilyasova for JaVale McGee

McGee has a serious leg injury and has barely played in two seasons. He also has some of the worst basketball awareness… ever. Ilyasova is a knock down three-point shooter and a good rebounder. This would have to be the worst trade for LAC last season.

Other Notable Trades:

Kevin Garnett for Dirk Nowitzki – in an attempt to ‘bottom out’, LAC took on Garnett for Dirk. KG is a lot closer to retiring/being irrelevant than Dirk is, so I think he lost out on this deal (in a value sense) but gained traction in bottoming out.

Jordan Hamilton for 10 gms – Hamilton was bought out soon after, after failing to get onto an NBA team (until much later in the season)

Best FA Signing:

Monta Ellis signs for 1 year – This was a key (re-)signing, as Ellis is a beast in the NLL. It also ended up being the most valuable trade piece on his team, and it netted him two young guns (Hood and Muhammed) and a first round pick, accelerating the rebuild for LAC.

Dirk Nowitzki signs for 2 years – The unrestricted free agent, NLL legend Dirk signed with the LA Clippers for two years. However, he was somewhat ineffective on the court, and when the ball dropped for the complete overhaul/rebuild, Dirk was traded for veteran KG. Garnett would, and will, serve as a mentor for the younger generation of Clippers players and forward his wisdom and experience unto the future stars of the Clippers.

Worst FA Signing:

The Clippers really didn’t have many free agent signings, let alone any that really hindered the team. Maybe Kostas Papanikalou at an expensive $5 million for the season. A player where output and cost definitely didn’t match.

Star:

Hassan Whiteside – As a starter, Whiteside destroyed the boards and pulled down 13 a game as a starter, along with just under 10 points per game. Whiteside had TWO 20-20 games within the last few weeks of the season! How impressive!!! He is still young and has plenty of time to develop his game and for his body to mature even further. He is entrenched as the starting 5 for the Clippers going forward and is young enough to fit in with the uber-young and talented core that complete the rest of the roster. The future is bright!

 
Surprise:

Hassan Whiteside – Everything is coming up Whiteside! All kudos has to go to the foresight of GM Andrew, who has steered the Clippers towards a brighter future in the coming years. Whiteside is one of the best young shot blockers, rebounders and inside finishers in the entire league (albeit a small sample size). Everyone is surprised with his development, but Andrew must have seen something in him… the spark before the explosion. What a great surprise he has been this season.

Goat:

Javale McGee. Surely. Could possibly the GOAT of the entire league. The undoubted #1 star of ‘Shaqtin Tha Fool’, it seems McGee only gets back on the court to do something foolish. And at 12+ million a season, he gets paid more per appearance than a lot of Hollywood actors.

Draft Report Card:

This was the moment Andrew had been waiting for. So many of his ‘chess move’ like trades were to build up his draft pick arsenal for this talented draft. In the end, Andrew ended up making four first round selections, including trading two of his first rounders to other teams for their firsts (Winslow, Saric for Russell and Turner for Jerian Grant and cash considerations). LAC made away with some real talent from this draft, and here’s the final count:

Pick 2 – D’Angelo Russell: Athletic. Great vision, scoring. A winner’s mentality. Could be a franchise player.
Pick 7 – Stanley Johnson: Athletic. Prototypical size. Already has an NBA body. All-around game. Could be an future All-Star.
Pick 10 – Devin Booker: Athletic freak. Great jumpshot. Knock down shooter, but could be underrated in other areas.
Pick 17 – Jerian Grant: Athletic. Playmaker. Lots of upside. Quite a complete guard for his age.

Draft grade: A++

Looking to the Future:

As already mentioned, Andrew has put in some serious man hours this season re-structuring the entire landscape of the Clippers – including their future. The team has four rookies this season that were all effectively taken in the lottery in Russell, Johnson, Booker and Grant, along with former high picks Rodney Hood and Shabazz Muhammed, and Hassan Whiteside, all of whom form an extremely young and exciting core with huge potential. Talented youth aside, Andrew has worked to have a heap of flexibility financially, to add free agents or take on salary/assets to benefit teams at the luxury tax.

This coming season, however, might be another lean one for the Clippers – but I think in Andrew’s eyes, that might be okay. Another lean season means the Clippers pick is very valuable. It also means Andrew can try and shift the last remaining veterans (that he has tried so hard to do) and try and get in another first to add to his burgeoning core.

Five years time, this team could be really dominant. Next 12 months, Clippers will be somewhere between 14^th and 11^th in the Western Conference, and very active on the trade forum!

Upcoming Free Agents:

Hassan Whiteside (RFA) – Clips have put out qualifying offer, will sign with Clippers. Huge coup.

Kevin Garnett (FA) – In the twilight of his career, has stated he wants to finish his career with the Clippers.

Jorge Gutierrez (FA) – Has a team option, but I have honestly never heard of him. Might hang around as a filler on a cheap deal.

Darrell Arthur – solid reserve big, apparently likes LA and wants to re-sign.

Brandon Bass – very likely gone, in pursuit of a better role/more minutes

Alexis Ajinca – the massive man has made it known that he would like to stay in LA, like Arthur. The young talent and capable front office making some veterans want to hang around.