Based on the Clippers recent free agent targets, it’s natural to assume that the guard position is the biggest need. After all, the Clippers only have 3 *true* guards on their roster, and all we’ve heard for the last month is an overload of Sessions talk mixed with an occasional A.I. flare up. The acquiring of a defensive minded wing, for the time being, has apparently drifted out of focus.
Filling The Role
On August - 8 - 2009
What’s Next for the Clippers?
On July - 6 - 2009
The Clippers currently hold their mid-level exception, as well as a traded player exception worth between $7-8M. Clipperblog spoke to a source inside the Clippers organization who offered the following:
- The Clippers are in no hurry to use their trade exception. They feel that the exception will only increase in value between now and the trade deadline. “If there’s a great value out there this summer, that’s one thing,” said the source. “But there’s a much better chance of our picking up a very good piece down the road closer to the trading deadline, as teams get squeezed by the tax, or fall out of [playoff contention].”
Year Zero, 2.0
On July - 2 - 2009
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.
Mismatch Misfits
On May - 6 - 2009
Watching the postseason over the past couple of weeks has offered a reminder that the NBA, at its essence, is a game of exploiting mismatches in the halfcourt. Good teams do this effectively when their offenses are humming. The standout defensive teams? They’re the ones who can recover from, compensate for, or avoid those mismatches altogether. They also have the capacity to withstand a defensive switch because they have smalls who can hold their own against bigs, and vice versa.
Platoon
On March - 10 - 2009
This is an exciting time for those trying to find new and compelling ways to understand basketball through analytical means. The sphere of advanced statistical analytics is experiencing a golden era, and I was fortunate enough to be at ground zero this past weekend — the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Some of the smartest people in the NBA world gathered in Cambridge to exchange ideas and pose larger questions about what we can — and in some cases, can’t — learn about the pro game from advanced data.