Craig Smith has inked a one year deal to return to the Los Angeles Clippers, with the value of the contract yet to be revealed.

The return of Craig Smith means a few things for the rest of the Clippers’ roster. At this point it now seems highly unlikely that Sofoklis Schortsanitis, aka Big Sofo, will be joining the team this year. Although the environment in Vegas is far from ideal for big guys, Sofo wasn’t overwhelming with his performances in that setting. Craig Smith has proven he’s a quality NBA player over the course of his career, evidenced by a PER rating last year that was better than both Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman.  More...

From Lisa Dillman’s Twitter account: “Breaking Clipper news: Just received an email from Craig Smith’s agent. He says Clippers have resigned Smith for one year.”

Check back on this thread for updates and analysis as terms of the deal become finalized.

Could it have ended any other way?

The Clippers went 1-4 and had their issues as a team in Vegas, but there were some nice individual performances throughout the five games. Al-Farouq Aminu got progressively better as the week went on, capping off the trip with a 21-point performance. Willie Warren looked solid if nothing else, rarely forcing the action and shooting a high percentage. DeAndre Jordan had a nice performance in his final game, getting the better of Blazers big man Jeff Pendergraph in the post. Big Sofo didn’t do much in the box score, but he answered the two biggest questions surrounding his arrival by showing he was in shape and that he could rebound the basketball.  More...

Summer league isn’t about winning games. It’s all about player progression, deciphering strengths and weaknesses, and evaluating what you currently have and what you may get in the future. With that said, it still must have been nice for the young Clippers to hold on to a win tonight, especially after Vinny Del Negro reamed them earlier in the day at practice for a lack of effort in their first two games.  More...

From Kevin Arnovtiz’s post for ESPN’s Daily Dime:

“Summer league can be a tough place to evaluate prospects, and that’s particularly true for the Clippers, who assembled their coaching staff on the fly hours before their first practice. But Bledsoe and Aminu have had a rough go of it in the Clippers’ two blowout losses — although each has shown flashes of strength.  More...