Those guided by superstition have traditionally characterized the Clippers’ misfortunes as preordained — as if management, a willingness to invest, talent evaluation, and coaching had nothing to do with a team’s performance during its first 25 years in Los Angeles. But even hard-boiled empiricists would have to concede this morning that the Clippers have been blessed over the past month and a half. A cursed franchise doesn’t typically defy probability and land the top pick in a one-player draft, or find a willing sucker to take on their most toxic asset a full week before the moratorium when such a trade can be consummated.

The Clippers have gotten lucky. Although diligence is often the mother of good luck, that’s probably untrue in the Clippers’ case. Only by virtue of drawing Blake Griffin on a losing hand, and finding a franchise more desperate and financially beleaguered than them, were the Clippers able to graduate overnight into a team with the opportunity for a bright future. The Clippers’ ability to finesse a new home for Zach Randolph doesn’t absolve the November deal any more than hitting on 18 and pulling a three at the blackjack table makes that blunder excusable. Having said that, luck (there’s that fussy word again) sometimes offers generous reprieves, and the Clippers were certain beneficiaries of that break.

I’ve been rough on Zach Randolph, so I’d like to take this opportunity to offer a more rational critique of him as a player. Is Randolph is a bad guy?  I’ve had several conversations with him, but I generally hold the position that a series of locker room encounters tells us precious little about the inner life of athletes. There’s enough evidence to suggest that Randolph has applied lousy judgment throughout his professional life. On the court, he’s a statistical beast, but there’s a body of work that reveals tendencies which aren’t conducive to the formula the NBA demands at this moment for a successful franchise. Randolph was born about a decade too late, and would’ve been a much more helpful pre-2001, before the revisions of the hand-checking rules produced a more perimeter-oriented game more hospitable to face-up 4s. His defense would’ve been less of a liability in an era when “taking up space” was a more essentially defensive quality, and Zach certainly does that. But today’s game presents insurmountable problems for Zach. Defensively, he simply can’t defend the collection of athletic 4s who dominate the league. When his man works his way down low, Zach has a horrible habit of bailing out, leaving a basket defender like Marcus Camby as the last line of defense. That’s an excusable tactic for a perimeter defender who’s gotten beat, but power forwards have certain responsibilities down low and, unlike front line defenders, they can’t hide from those.

Offensively, Randolph is a black hole down low. If we’ve seen nothing else since April 18, the ability of bigs to move the ball can’t be overstated. It’s no longer merely a luxury; it’s a prerequisite for longterm success. On Monday, John Krolik of Cavs the Blog composed this pithy axiom: “Simply put, some guys create shots and plays offensively while other guys finish them.” Randolph is undoubtedly a one-on-one finisher — and a pretty good one. But that’s not what the Clippers needed in 2008-09, or or necessitate going forward. They need guys who can create for others. Even Dwight Howard, he of the so-called (and mischaracterized) one-dimensional game, became an effective post-and-kick man for Orlando. Yet, Clippers fans went days without seeing Randolph make a smart pass to set up a shooter.

That’s our final word here on Randolph. Maybe he’s capable of giving the Grizz a jolt in a frontcourt that needs a productive one-on-one scorer. Who knows?

For all of Randolph’s deficiencies, the Clippers probably didn’t improve their 2009-10 win total yesterday, but they opened up space for Blake Griffin — obviously — and also for DeAndre Jordan. Watching Jordan workout and talking with talent evaluators and Clippers assistants, I’m becoming increasingly bullish on Jordan’s capacity to log quality NBA minutes at center. If he continues to refine his game, Jordan has a real chance to become a Chris Andersen-type shot-blocking energy big man who can collect garbage off the offensive glass, finish on the break, put up a gaudy FG%, and rebound like a fiend. Assuming that Kaman and Camby miss a collective 40 games this season — and that’s not an unreasonable assumption — Jordan will have the chance to hone his skills.  That’s important, because it’s very likely Jordan will be an essential part of a Clippers frontcourt that, crowded as its been the past year or so, will soon thin out.

The wings? Still a concern. According to sources, the Clippers’ brass is gradually coming around to the idea that Al Thornton might be best utilized off the bench. Unfortunately, their only other options at the SF right now are Mardy Collins and Quentin Richardson — they of the combined 21.16 PER, plantar fasciitis, and a sore back. With the Richardson deal, the Clippers will be just barely under the cap, though they acquired a $7.3M trade exception. Although the Clips have been mentioned as a possible destination for Trevor Ariza — and wouldn’t that be glorious — they can offer him only the MLE (barring an improbably sign & trade with the $7.3M exception), which puts them in the boat with everyone else. Maybe Ariza, as a local product, would be receptive to moving across the hall at a discount, but it’s more likely he’ll land where he can either [a] get more cash (i.e. Toronto), or [b] contend for a ring (i.e. Cleveland).

To those dreaming of the promised land in 2009-10, it’s vital to exercise patience. The Clippers are still a year away from adding the personnel that can elevate them from curiosity to contender. But for the first time since the summer of 2006, the sun is out across the Nación this morning. Overnight, the Clippers became a younger, more likeable, more watchable, nimbler group. The effect on Baron Davis should be a positive one, and they can begin to sculpt an offense around a potentially devastating big-small/outside-inside combo in Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon.

When the season is over, the Clips will have nearly $20M available to them in free agency depending on the cap number. They’ll be able to compete for the 6-7 Joe Johnson, who would make a sensible wingmate for Eric Gordon. They could throw some shekels at the restricted Thabo Sefolosha, who would be a stellar addition for a team in need of facilitators and defenders. The Clippers will also have the flexibility to execute a sign and trade if there are contracted players on other rosters they covet (though the Clippers’ assets will be limited unless there are Al Thornton fans out there). Whatever they decide to do a year from now, the Clippers now have one of the most valuable assets a team with a promising young core can have: the means and flexibility to add complementary pieces.

I’ll have a lot more to say in the next 24 hours, but here’s what’s going up at TrueHoop:

The last time Quentin Richardson was a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, the Clips were a promising, young squad that included Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Bobby Simmons, and Chris Wilcox. Next week, Richardson will be shipped back to Los Angeles as nothing more than filler in a deal that will send Zach Randolph from the Clippers to Memphis. It’s a seemingly inequitable trade — the 20/10 guy in Randolph for a gimpy, marginal Richardson — until you look beneath the surface:

Zach Randolph and Quentin Richardson: Two Clips passing in the night. (Ray Amati via NBAE/Getty Images)

• The player that matters most in this trade is neither Randolph nor Richardson, but the Clippers’ #1 pick, Blake Griffin. Randolph is a single-minded post scorer who likes to work on the right block — precisely where Blake Griffin is slated to build his NBA career as a monstrous big man. For the Clippers, moving Randolph clears the way for Griffin, where he’ll play alongside Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, and Griffin’s pal, the intriguing DeAndre Jordan.
• For the Clippers, moving Randolph isn’t just about clearing minutes — it allows the franchise to press rewind on what was a diastrous cultural acquisition in Randolph. Although Randolph’s selfishness, disinterst on defense, and questionable off-court character were no secret, Mike Dunleavy felt he had to find a frontcourt scorer after the Clippers lost Elton Brand to Philadelphia. He pushed all in on Randolph, absorbing three years and approximately $45 million in exchange for a couple of 2010 expiring contracts (Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley). Randolph put up his usual solid offensive numbers, but the Clippers still finished the season with a horrendous 19-63 record.
  
  Worse, the team descended into a lazy funk. Though the blame can’t be attributed solely to Randolph, the Clippers had to endure Randolph’s sucker punch to Louis Amundson (resulting in suspension), and a drunk driving arrest (also resulting in suspension). For an organization that did an admirable job reshaping their image the preceding half-dozen years or so, 2008-09 was a disheartening setback — and Randolph was at the crime scene.
• By shipping Z-Bo out of town, the Clippers move the remaining two years and $33.3 million of his contract. Richardson stands to earn only $9.35 million in 2009-10, and his contract expires at the end of the season. He might get some burn on the wing. With his bad back, he might not. For the Clips, it’s of little import. The move gives them significant cap room for the summer of 2010, when both Marcus Camby and Ricky Davis will also come off the books — nearly $20 million..
• That brings us to the obvious question: If Randolph is so inimical to an NBA team’s rebuilding effort — as determined by the Clippers, and New York and Portland before them — why does Memphis want him? The answer, as it was for the Clippers in November of last year, is that there aren’t a lot of available power forwards who can score and rebound the way Randolph can, and the Grizz need some production down low.
  
  If you want to take a glass-half-full approach, you can look at a couple of mitigating factors in Memphis. Randolph’s worst qualities on the court are his ineffectual interior defense and his tendency to become a black hole in the offense. With Hasheem Thabeet, Memphis has a big man who can protect the rim and compensate for Randolph. And in Marc Gasol, they have a complementary big who knows how to move the ball out of the high post. In addition, if there’s one team in the NBA without cap concerns, it’s Memphis, which has only $17 million committed in salaries after next season.

The NBA’s salary cap structure is usually unforgiving of teams who made the kind of miscalculation the Clippers did on Zach Randolph last season. But the Clippers have been leading a charmed existence over the past six weeks. First Blake Griffin land in their lap, and now they find a willing sucker for Zach Randolph.

The bad dream will soon be a memory:

Clearing the way for No. 1 pick Blake Griffin, the Clippers have agreed to trade power forward Zach Randolph to Memphis for former Clipper Quentin Richardson, The Times learned today.

Because of salary-cap rules, the deal can’t be completed until next week.

A Clippers spokesman said the team would have no comment on the report.

Randolph played 39 games for the Clippers last season after being acquired from New York, averaging 20.9 points and 9.4 rebounds, both team highs.

He was a core member of the team, right up until the Clippers won the lottery that enabled them to draft Griffin, considered one of the top power forward prospects in recent years.

Beyond that, the Clippers are intent on turning up the pace, which didn’t fit Randolph, a half-court low-post player, but is perfect for the speedy Griffin.

It also works for the Clippers’ bottom line, and their salary cap. With Richardson under contract for only this season, the deal gets them out from under Randolph’s contract, which has two seasons, worth $33.3 million left on it.

This will have the effect of putting the Clippers far under the salary cap after the upcoming season, which may make them major players for the big 2010 free agent class.

We’ll have a detailed breakdown on the roster later this evening. In the meantime, here’s the release:

Second year players Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, and Mike Taylor will be joined by Blake Griffin, the first pick in this year’s NBA Draft, to form the nucleus of the Los Angeles Clippers’ entry in the 2009 NBA Summer League, presented by EA SPORTS.
The league will be comprised of 21 NBA teams competing from July 10-19 at two venues in Las Vegas; the Cox Pavilion and the Thomas and Mack Center, both on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

The team will hold a three day mini-camp at the Los Angeles Clippers Training Center in Playa Vista on July 10th, 11th and 12th prior to leaving for Las Vegas on July 12th. The Clippers roster and schedule for the 2009 NBA Summer League are listed below:

The Clippers extended Steve Novak a qualifying offer Tuesday, which makes him a restricted free agent. The Clippers will have the opportunity to match any contract offer made to Novak by another team. Novak’s number is $1,030,189. Given the reasonable price tag and the fact that there are only a handful of players in the league with true shooting percentages greater than 60%, it’s very likely Novak will get a bite from a team in need of some perimeter shooting.

Would the Clippers would match a significant offer for Novak’s services? That probably depends on what they get back/have to swallow in any deal they make with one of the frontcourt guys. According to sources, negotiations with Memphis could pick up again soon. The Grizzlies still need a scoring big man, and they’re now carrying Quentin Richardson’s $9.35M contract, along with the other superfluous pieces on their roster (Greg Buckner and Marko Jaric, both expiring in 2011). In most cases, a team can’t trade a guy for two months after they acquire him in a deal, but since Memphis is under the cap, they’re exempt from this rule in Richardson’s case.

Brian Skinner declined his $1.3M player option. It’s a gamble for the 33-year-old Skinner, until you realize that the minimum salary for a player with ten years of service or greater is $1,306,455. It’s unlikely that Skinner opted out without some confidence that there’s a deal out there for him somewhere — and there probably is, accompanied by more minutes than he’d get in the crowded Clippers’ frontcourt.

Rounding out the transactions of the day, the Clippers will have to endure Ricky Davis for another season. He picked up his $2.48M player option. The Clips declined their team option on Alex Acker. And Fred Jones is now officially off-contract. Jones put up a 10.41 PER last season, which isn’t all that horrendous for a versatile backup making league minimum. The Clippers have a $2M bi-annual exception, but it’s unlikely they’ll use it to fill out the back end of their roster — which would include Jones — until after Summer League, a possible trade, and when the market settles down.