It was a long and crazy month for the Los Angeles Clippers.
What began as a toss-up for whether or not C DeAndre Jordan would return eventually turned into a full-blown emoji circus, culminating with the move that should have been the initial one: the re-signing of Jordan, who should become the franchise’s all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots during the 2015-2016 season.
(Twitter/LA Clippers)
A major part of this month has been the return of Inglewood native SF Paul Pierce, reunited with former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers with the Clippers. Pierce mentioned during the introductory press conference that this will be his last ride. He also addressed his emoji issues:
Video: Paul Pierce on social media: “Yes, I do have emojis.” #GearUpLA https://t.co/p4PeOPdhEV
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) July 22, 2015
I also got a chance to catch up briefly with a few new Clippers. I asked rookie PF Branden Dawson about his transition from draft day to signing a contract after Orlando Summer League:
Backup C Cole Aldrich discussed what kind of role player he has developed into since being a 2010 lottery pick:
And SF Wesley Johnson addressed his consistency issues:
In all, as I mentioned two weeks ago, it seems like the Clippers are in a better spot now than when they ended the 2014-2015 season. There are still more moves to be made between now and training camp. For starters, the Pablo Prigioni deal has to be announced (but the Clippers are following him on Twitter, and Prigioni is already in Clippers attire in his profile picture).
August will be a month that may see the Clippers add another big man (it won’t be Ekpe Udoh). It will also see PG Chris Paul play in the NBA Africa game, while PF Blake Griffin is expected to participate in Team USA’s minicamp in Las Vegas next month. And I’m sure many of y’all will be overanalyzing Jamal Crawford’s timeline.
A lot of things can be solved off of simple communication..
— Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) July 19, 2015
That’s where I’m going to leave off … hope you all enjoyed July!
Don’t think yall are out of the woods quite yet….GM Doc got a F-UP or two still up his sleeve https://t.co/yPqhTigF8D
— Amin Elhassan (@AminESPN) July 30, 2015
