From NBA.com:

The Los Angeles Clippers today re-signed unrestricted free agent forward Brian Skinner. Per team policy terms of the contract were not released.

In 51 games played with the Clippers last season, Skinner averaged 4.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 16.5 minutes per game. Over his 11 year NBA career, Skinner has tallied 4.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 18.3 minutes per game.

On June 30th, the Clippers announced that Skinner had decided not to exercise his player contract option for the 2009-10 NBA season, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Skinner was originally drafted by the Clippers in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1998 NBA Draft.

Earlier this summer, Skinner declined his player option to become an unrestricted free agent in the open market, but likely found that his services weren’t in high demand.

The minimum salary for a veteran free agent with ten years of service or greater is $1,306,455, so it’s hard to imagine Skinner’s cap number being much more than that. Skinner originally declining his option was a bit of a calculated risk on his part- he was penned to make 1.3 million if he stayed with the Clippers in the first place, so testing the waters cost him no money as long as he could find a home back with Los Angeles. Skinner presumably sweated out the Ramon Sessions race with the rest of us, but once that was finalized and Novak was brought back, there was an open spot to welcome Skinner (yet again) back to the Clippers.

Skinner is a marginal role player, and barring injuries probably wont see the floor much for the Clippers. Last year, especially late in the season, Skinner played extensively over the raw yet extremely talented DeAndre Jordan, much to the frustration of fans and analysts alike. Jordan has now likely leapfrogged Skinner on the depth chart, but the 33 year old still adds some needed insurance to a Clippers front line that is either habitually injured or in foul trouble.

Using the 14th roster spot on another big opposed to a backup point guard is a bit of a surprise, but the move may signal the faith Dunleavy has in Sebastian Telfair, and to some extent Mardy Collins. It’s still possible that Dunleavy brings in another guard as a 15th man, but at this point that seems somewhat unlikely. The roster appears to be set at 14, and this should be the last noteworthy transaction until training camp starts in just a few short weeks.

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.

In a rare confluence of offensive efficiency and defensive moxie, the Clippers put together their most impressive half of basketball this season. They outscore Sacramento 35-13 in the first quarter, missing only eight shots in 24 possessions, and go into halftime with a 58-32 lead. Everything works. They establish themselves inside early against the Kings, then put their foot on the accelerator with one of the best looking transition sequences of the year — back-to-back breaks that yield six points in 20 seconds:

• [1st, 9:18]  Beno Udrih, with the ball against Baron Davis, gets a screen out on the right wing from Spencer Hawes.  Udrih keeps it, then pulls up at the elbow for an off-balanced jumper — even though Hawes has managed to cut behind Camby on the roll.  There’s nothing wrong with a guard pulling up for a 12-foot jumper when he’s got some space, but Hawes’ basket cut is probably the better tack here for Udrih because Camby doesn’t really defend it.
  
  Camby corrals the rebound, then pushes it up ahead to Baron on the right sideline. Moving quickly, Baron takes a single dribble. At halfcourt, he kicks it ahead — to Fred Jones across the court on the left side. The ball is with Jones for only a nanosecond, as he hits a trailing Eric Gordon with a touch pass that sets up EJ for a set 25-footer 3PA in rhythm.
  
  It’s a professional fast break: Beautiful outlet by Camby, nice orchestration by Baron, the extra pass from Jones, and an unconsciously sweet stroke by Gordon.
• [1st, 8:56] A decent set by Sacramento: A high S/R for Udrih/Thompson, off which the Clippers trap the ball. Thompson rolls toward the box and Eric Gordon has to rotate over from the Francisco Garcia in the corner to pick up Thompson. This leaves Garcia for an open 3PA in the corner, a shot that clanks off the front of the rim.
  
  Camby battles for the rebound, then passes the ball to Baron, who — with a quick backward flick of his right hand, sends a behind-the-back pass upcourt that hits Eric Gordon in stride as the rookie sprints up the right sideline. It’s a gorgeous maneuver that allows Gordon to maintain full speed. Eric storms into the paint, draws contact on Udrih, then finishes the layup as the whistle blows. He hits the FTA, and the Clippers lead 11-4

The Clippers’ big men put together a strong collective effort. Though Camby doesn’t convert a FG, he gobbles up 11 rebounds in 22 minutes. Brian Skinner has a career offensive night: 8-11 FG, 5-6 FT, 21 points — 17 of them in the first half. The Kings have a horrible habit of offering up a defensive switch when it helps them the least. Skinner is able to capitalize on this a couple of times, including a bucket against the smaller Rashad McCants at [1st, 1:40] to give the Clips a 33-11 lead.

Back from the flu, Chris Kaman appears completely healthy tonight — but it’s his decision-making I like, and his best move of the night comes against another ill-advised Kings switch:

• [1st, 3:26] The Clips get into their offense early with Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman on the right side against Bobby Jackson/Spencer Hawes. Kaman slips the screen, then dives hard away from Hawes, giving the Kings no option but to switch.  With Jackson now guarding the big man in the post, Gordon quickly gets the ball over to Kaman.  When you get a mismatch like this one, you can’t futz around and wait for a rotation or a recovery. Kaman doesn’t.  One quick up-fake, then Kaman puts it on the deck with his left, stomps his way through the lane, then elevates off his right with a whirling spin move that gets him all the way to the rim for a gentle lay-in.  It’s a heady, opportunistic play by Kaman — both the off-the-ball movement to get himself the mismatch, and the alacrity with which he exploits it. 
  
  Chris has the agility and the handle to do this routinely.

How badly does Mike Taylor want to be on the court?  He checks in with the scorer’s table at [1st, 3:01] to spell Baron Davis following a Sacramento turnover.  Just as Taylor steps onto the court and starts to head over to the ball beneath the Kings’ basket, the official whistles for a timeout. Taylor stops in his tracks, flails his arms and spins back around as if he’s being hassled: How can you call timeout when there’s basketball to be played?!

At [2nd, 8:05], the Sacramento broadcast team of Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds shower Taylor with ohhs and ahhhs: The Clips run the break and get the ball ahead to Marcus Camby at the arc. Taylor is trailing. After he picks up a shovel pass from Camby, Taylor dashes into the lane, sidesteps one defender with a spin, hops as he changes direction, stops, elevates, twists, then finishes. “How on earth do you do that and not break your ankles?” Napear says.

I imagine this is one of Sacramento’s worst games of the season, but there’s a lot to like in their young big men. Though the shots didn’t fall for him on a miserable 4-18 night from the field, Spencer Hawes has developed a legitimate game in the high post.  He seems far more confident facilitating offense from there [1st, 7:12], than he did even a few months ago.  Jason Thompson is going to be inordinately useful in another season or two. He gets whistled for two early fouls, and the second is a tough call on a strong defensive stand in the post [1st, 6:57].  Jerry Reynolds makes the point that Thompson seems to be coping with the reality that NBA officials are going to call cheap stuff on him for a while.  That’s part of the mental hazing the pro game administers to young bigs. The ones who are able to carve out careers for themselves realize that, and continue to trust their games.  Thompson will get there. If Sacramento were blessed with Ricky Rubio in the upcoming draft, you can imagine a starting lineup down the road of Rubio-Martin-SF [I love Garcia's game, and he can guard opposing 3s, though he might be better suited to the SG and, therefore, the first wing off the bench]-Thompson-Hawes that could win basketball games.

The Clippers’ early scores materialize when they aren’t able to get the designed shot, but improvise nicely to work themselves clean looks beyond the arc off smart reads [1st, 10:52; 1st, 10:17].  Unfortunately, the Clippers can’t hit their open shots, particularly Steve Novak, who puts up a goose-egg on nine shots.

It’s nip and tuck through most of the first half, until the Wolves string together a strong sequence in the closing minutes before halftime, scoring on their final eight possessions of the half. Bassy Telfair gets an all-access pass to the paint, scoring on two straight possessions. On the first [2nd, 4:28], he takes Mike Taylor off the dribble with ease.  There’s no help because DeAndre Jordan’s back is to the play.  The second Telfair goal [2nd, 3:45]  comes on a high S/R from Kevin Love, off which Telfair darts into the paint, encounters Brian Skinner, lands with a jump step, then falls back for a fadeaway.  The next play down [2nd, 3:08], Fred Jones gambles on an entry pass into Ryan Gomes in the low left post from Brian Cardinal. This leaves Gomes with an easy path to the rim — again the help is late.

The Wolves are just setting the table.  Cardinal beats Baron Davis off the dribble, though he’s wildly off on the layup.  No worries, because Love outmuscles Skinner to collect the refuse. Love tips the ball in for another two [3rd, 2:28].  At [2nd, 1:44], Telfair beats Taylor again, breezing into the paint for a pull-up J.  On the next set down, Mike Miller runs a fade cut, and Gomes fills the space left behind. Telfair finds him for an open deuce [2nd, 1:23].  Telfair then delivers a beauty to Gomes on a basket cut from the right baseline.  Gomes blows the layup, but again, a Wolf collects his own miss for a putback [2nd, 0:51].   On the final set of the half out of a :20 timeout, Minnesota gets the ball into Love in the high post. He misses the turnaround jumper, but Gordon fails to box out Miller, who crashes the glass for a tip-in with :01 second left in the half.  Brutal.

Even though the Clippers allow Minnesota an 117.5 efficiency in the first half, the Clips protect the ball enough to stay in it, coughing it up only three times in the half.  They head to the break trailing only by six points.

The Clips come out of the locker room a mess. DeAndre Jordan either doesn’t realize or doesn’t feel compelled to follow Kevin Love out to the left wing where he’s deadly from 18.  Love drains two FGAs from there in the opening two minutes of the second half to give Minnesota their first double-digit lead.  Jordan gets the message, and the next time down he runs out on Love, but in somewhat of a frenzy.  This allows Love to put it on the deck and easily beat Jordan off the dribble for a layup.  Love now has seven points in the first two minutes of the half.  The Clips catch a break on the next Wolves’ possession when Love gets whistled for his fourth foul and is banished to the bench.

Once Love exits, the Clippers’ defense converts to a zone and, sure enough, they give up five offensive rebounds to the Wolves on the next four possessions.  Someone smart needs to look at the data, but my best guess is that any advantage in defensive efficiency that’s derived from zoning up is negated by the additional possessions/attempts generated by the offensive glass.  Finally, having watched a six-point deficit balloon to 11, the Clippers return for a few series to their man-to-man defense.  Later, they revert back to zone and once again hemorrhage on the glass. It really is a lose-lose situation, especially once DeAndre Jordan goes down with a sprained Achilles in the third quarter.  Skinner and Novak simply don’t have the ability to compete with Minnesota’s front line on the glass.   To compound the Clippers’ problems, Miller and Gomes have huge size advantages on Jones and Gordon respectively.

Final rebounding totals
Clippers DRR:  53.5% [!]
Clippers ORR: 20.8% [...]

Gordon compiles a true shooting percentage of 73.7% tonight for 28 points, without a turn.  Eight of the ten FGMs are from the perimeter, another two on assertive moves of the basket. Ideally, the ratio would be a bit narrower, but when you’re feeling it like Eric is tonight, 4:1 is just fine. Best of all, he’s honing his ability to move along the arc to find not only the best spots, but good angles for the passer to hit him with a clean pass.

Brian Skinner puts together a solid effort.  That little lefty hook at [3rd, 3:20] impresses, as does his ability to work himself five trips to the line.

The Clippers tie Washington tonight for the league’s second-worst record, though the Bullets spend three of their final four games on the road.

For the better part of a month, Marcus Camby stabilized the Clippers’ interior play — both their rebounding attack and the business of patrolling the paint defensively.   As bad as things got for the Clippers over their twelve-game losing streak that ended on Saturday night, Camby helped to minimize the damage in the paint and on the glass.

With Camby now out of action, the Clippers must confront a whole new nightmare — a world where the Minnesota Timberwolves can outscore the Clippers in the paint by a 24-point margin.  The focal point of Minnesota’s offense is their center, Al Jefferson, and he cooks the Clippers for 20 interior points.  But the Clippers also allow the likes of Craig Smith to brutalize them inside.

Smith is a chunky, undersized third-year power forward out of Boston College who knows how to create space for himself in the offense.  20 of Minnesota’s interior points belong to him.  He scores 16 points in the first quarter — outmanning Brian Skinner down low [1st, 10:42; 1st, 4:18; 1st, 2:00], outsmarting Thornton in the halfcourt [1st, 6:42; 1st, 3:35], and outhustling Al Thornton in transition [1st, 7:40; 1st, 2:36].  By the time the Wolves are through administering the Craig Smith Treatment to the Clips at the end of the first, they have a 10-point advantage.  Minnesota never relinquishes that lead.

The Clips surrender 17 offensive boards to Minnesota, something you’d expect without Camby against a strong rebounding team like the Wolves.  But the Clippers manage 18 rebounds of their own.  Al Thornton picks up five rebounds on the offensive glass.  Though two of them are off his own misses, he does a nice job working around Ryan Gomes and Craig Smith for two more in the third quarter.  Thornton finishes the game with nine total rebounds, an important factor in keeping the Clippers close on the glass, a battle they lose narrowly 46-42.

DeAndre Jordan collects five offensive rebounds of his own — 10 total — and blocks six Minnesota shots.  Less than a year ago,  Jordan was at Texas A & M and thought to be a draft lottery pick.  Scouts were drawing comparisons to Dwight Howard, noting that Jordan’s athleticism and quicks made him indefensible once he got his soft hands on the ball down low.

But after a rocky start to the Big 12 season, Jordan was banished to the Aggies bench.  For all the physical potential Jordan displayed, he seemed impervious to learning the nuances of the game.  Critics began to characterize Jordan’s light-heartedness as an unwillingness to apply himself to the tough work of improving his raw skills.  After Jordan logged only six points in 15 minutes in the Aggies’ second-round loss to UCLA in the NCAA Tournament last March, the consensus was that Jordan would return to College Station for his sophomore year.  Jordan went against his better advice and entered the 2008 NBA Draft.  His stock plummeted, so much that the Clippers found themselves with the opportunity to snatch him up in the second round with the 35th overall pick.

Jordan displays some very good timing for a big man.  Al Jefferson is no easy assignment, and at [3rd, 9:04] Jordan finds himself defending him one-on-one to the left of the paint.  Jefferson faces up and offers a little ball-fake, but Jordan doesn’t bite.  Jefferson then deliberately backs Jordan inside with his left shoulder.  Jordan keeps his chest out, absorbs the bumps [and bumps back], and moves his feet.  When Jefferson reaches the center of the lane, he pivots with his left, then swings his right shoulder around before elevating for the shot.  Jordan slides along with him. He keeps his feet bouncy, but doesn’t elevate until Jefferson raises his shooting shoulder.  When Jordan lifts, he goes straight up, avoiding the foul.  He tips the shot, and Skinner comes down with it.

That’s good post defense.

Eric Gordon starts the game ice cold, missing five of his first six shots.   We’ve seen over the past week or so that opposing teams are more reluctant to drop off Eric when he’s away from the ball.  You see this dynamic at work at the very outset of today’s game when EJ dumps the ball into Thornton in the post.  Randy Foye hedges for an instant, but it’s apparent that his attention is drawn more to Gordon on the perimeter than to bothering Thornton low.  Would this have been the case in November?  Unlikely.

Gordon comes out of his shooting slump with a fury in the third quarter.  He gets exactly what he needs at [3rd, 9:23] when he muscles his way to the cup with a strong drive to his left through traffic.  After that, the long shots start to fall.  At [3rd, 8:02], Foye gets distracted, and Eric drains his first 3PFG of the day.   Steve Novak forces Mike Miller under a screen that gives EJ free space along the arc at [3rd, 3:16] for another triple.  He finishes the game 3-8 from long range.

Good work from Steve Novak along the perimeter today.  More on Novak tomorrow morning.

It’s only fitting on the night the Clippers win their first game in nearly a month, the Clippers lose Marcus Camby to injury.  At the 8:52 mark of the fourth quarter, Camby collects his fourth offensive rebound, but lands awkwardly, then buckles to the floor.

Camby’s injury is initially reported as a sprained ankle, but in Mike Dunleavy’s press conference following the victory, the Clippers coach tells reporters that Camby suffered a knee injury.  The good news, according to Dunleavy, “It’s not as bad as it looked.”  Dunleavy says that Camby, at one point, actually wanted back in the game.

Watching the first half of tonight’s game is like observing a pod of Hawaiian monk seals mating.  Not only does Brian Skinner lead the Clippers with 14 points, but Al Thornton administers five dimes, and the Clippers shoot 59.5% from the floor.

There are five Al Thornton-to-Brian Skinner sequences in the first half:

• [1st, 8:03]  The Bucks media guide lists Charlie Villanueva at 6′ 11″, while Brian Skinner stands about 6′ 9″.  For whatever reason, Skinner has his way with Villanueva in the post [well, the reason might have to do with Villanueva's defensive indifference].   On this first possession, Skinner sets up at the left elbow.   Eric Gordon holds the ball on the right side, so Villanueva cheats low and strong.  When Skinner recognizes this, he scoots deep into the paint.  By the time Villanueva recovers and the Clippers work the ball around the perimeter, Skinner has established strong position on the low block.  Thornton feeds Skinner a dicey entry pass that Skinner tracks down along the baseline.  Skinner has work to do to get back into position to make a shot.  With his left shoulder, he backs Villanueva in all the way to the restricted circle. Skinner’s right-handed hook shot is true.
• [1st, 7:24] The Clippers run a catch-and-shoot for Al, as he runs around an elbow screen from Skinner.  The shot is off, but the long rebound bounces back into the hands of Thornton.  He picks it up the ball and barrels into the lane.  As the entire Milwaukee defense collapses around him in the paint, Al shuffles a little left-handed pass to Skinner on the baseline.   Skinner converts the layup.  Not something you see from Thornton everyday — a good pass in traffic — but a welcomed sight.
• [1st, 6:52]  Third consecutive possession of Thornton-to-Skinner.  The Clips run a pin-down for Al.  He catches the ball as he swings around the screen from Skinner.  Very similar dynamic to the previous possession:  The Milwaukee defense collapses on Thornton in the lane, leaving Skinner alone on the baseline.  Again, Thornton finds Skinner through traffic.   Dan Gadzuric challenges, but Skinner fools him with a ball-fake.  The right-handed hook is good.
• [1st, 4:05] Mardy Collins dribbles the ball on the left wing against Luke Ridnour.  Thornton is set up — largely unattended to — in the weak side corner.  Collins fires a skip pass to Thornton that’s very high.  Al has to climb the ladder to get it, which allows Richard Jefferson plenty of time to recover.  Skinner, meanwhile, has sealed off Mbah a Moute beneath the basket.  Thornton recognizes this, and darts a bounce pass along the baseline to Skinner.  All Skinner has to do is pluck the ball and elevate for the jam.
• [2nd, 3:21]  The Clippers get into early offense.  Thornton has it on the right wing, one-on-one against Jefferson.  Thornton crosses him over, then bursts ahead with a right-handed drive.  Francisco Elson and the rest of the Bucks defense drops low to converge on Thornton.  Again, in traffic, Thornton is able to thread the needle to Skinner, who is alone at the foul line.  Skinner thinks about the jumper, then realizes he can dribble ahead another five feet.  He does just that, then drops a little floater with his right.  It falls through the hoop.

I can’t remember the last time Thornton passed out of a drive to create something for someone else.  Here, against the collapsing Milwaukee defense, he does so repeatedly, with precision.  It’s like seeing your teacher in some strange context outside of school.

Skinner finishes the game with 18 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks on 76.4 TS%.

The Clippers dominate the paint and it isn’t just Skinner on the block and Thornton at the rim.  The Clippers challenge Milwaukee’s perimeter players in the post all night.  Thornton backs in Jefferson [3rd, 9:44], Collins against Ridnour repeatedly to initiate the offense…even Steve Novak gets into the act.  At [4th, 5:26], the Bucks get crossed up, because they’ve got Ridnour on Novak, yielding eight inches to the Clippers forward.  Novak backs Ridnour in, spins his left shoulder around while pivoting with his right, then shoots a perfect 18-footer over Ridnour.

When the Clippers aren’t scoring in the paint, they’re getting smart drive-and-kicks through penetration.  At [3rd, 5:03], Collins pushes the ball ahead against Ridnour with a drive left.  As the Bucks’ defense collapses, Collins finds Eric Gordon alone in the left corner.  His high-arching 3PA is good.

Ricky Davis has only his second effective game as a Clipper.  He lights it up from the right side.  Davis scores five of his 13 points in about a thirty-second span in the fourth quarter — on a couple of free throws produced by a strong drive in transition, and a successful 3PA after Jefferson leaves him alone in the weak side corner.  Gordon makes a dazzling pass, midair between two defenders, to find him.

An extended absence by Camby would be disastrous.  Assuming he’s out on Monday afternoon, Dunleavy would be forced to go with Thornton at the 4, and start Ricky Davis at the small forward.  Minnesota is a strong rebounding team, particularly on the offensive glass, where they rank 6th in the league.