A little dose of the Clippers can cheer up the January blues in the NBA

Eric Gordon needs to stop fouling excellent shooters (Ben Gordon) at the three-point line.

The L.A. Clippers need to start over...again. Marcus Camby should be ready to move by trade deadline, Kris Caman, maybe even Baron Davis.

It's a mess in Los Angeles. Funny enough, or fittingly, the city is home of the NBA's current best franchise (Lakers, just in case you forgot) and worst.

They're on their way to another high lottery pick, like the dozens they've had over the last two decades and...nothing. Nothing to show for it--no late-playoff runs. Not a championship either.

This is a vicious cycle that even John Paxson can learn from. Either you sink to oblivion or you wallow in mediocrity. Bad draft picks and belated trades can do that to a franchise.

The Bulls obviously topped the Clippers Wednesday night in a rout 95-75. Derrick Rose was cruising and could have had 23 points but ended up with 21 after Joakim Noah decided to pry the ball from inside the rim as it was already two-thirds inside the cylinder.

This robbed the budding rookie of the play of the night. Rose bolted across the half-court line, split two defenders and took off a step in front of the free-throw line to switch hands and kiss the ball of the glass. It was poetic.

Noah, however, was the hack rapper who uses the same background to a hit song and adds some new lyrics. He followed with a tip in.

  • That's my biggest gripe of the night. The Bulls finally did what they were supposed to do: They trampled a bad team with a bunch of backups in the starting lineup. Camby and Davis, both coming off injuries, made brief cameos in the second quarter but had little effect on the outcome.

Camby, at 34, is too valuable a player to stick around for this mess. He could be shipped by the trading deadline to a team in the east, or maybe back to the Denver Nuggets who are well in the hunt.

Davis just signed for big money and he might be more difficult to move. Kaman is expected to be gone by year's end and would be valuable on any team looking for an interior presence.

Not that he is the Bull's answer. The Bulls are going to have to unload players like Andres Nocioni, Larry Hughes and Kirk Hinrich, and maybe even Ben Gordon (if he allows it) and Joakim Noah as a sweetener.

It may sound like a gamble but the Bulls need to consider 2010 more. Yes LeBron James is probably out of the picture, but there is plenty of other star power out there--Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, etc.

What other move is going to bring the Bulls closer to a championship--another mid- first-round draft pick? Another flawed offensive big man that comes with adjectives like "hustle" and "tough"?

One aside: DeAndre Jordan may never be a star in the NBA but he certainly gives you size, athleticism and some brute. He was chosen by the Clippers with the 35th pick. Anthony Randolph a 6'11 athlete continues to flourish with the Golden State Warriors and he was also another second-rounder.

Granted this 2008 draft is one of the deepest and best in years, there is reason why teams can get something out of their second-rounders. Guys like that fall because they either don't have a defined offensive game; are too thin with too little coaching; are a character-guy; or didn't make a huge impact in the NCAA in their one year playing.

They are guys you take a gamble at in the later part of the first- or early part of the second-rounds. The Bulls took a gamble on a guy like that once--with the second pick in the NBA draft.

Jordan has a great NBA body and spectacular leaping ability. In one sequence Wednesday night he hammered a ball down like he was playing on an eight-foot rim. That's a big man.

The Bulls have a 6'8 leaper who likes to take jump shots from the elbow or dribble between his legs when in isolation.

Jordan came out of high school as an All-American and the number 8 overall prospect in the country. He only posted 7.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in his one year with Texas A&M. A year later, he recorded 23 points (including 10 dunks) against the Lakers.

That's scouting. That's getting value. That's knowing when to roll the dice. Finished products with tons of athleticism, like Derrick Rose, are found at the top of the board; unfinished ones like Jordan can be bargains later.

Tyrus Thomas should have been one of those guys. He's not. He is still 30 pounds too light for his position and too stubborn to conform to the demands of the game.

The west coast trip goes on for another five games, and we'll have the rest of the season to watch Thomas do his little shimmy dribbles. Meanwhile, we'll continue to look for at other big men flourish.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i've watched DeAngdre Jordan in five games now and he's sick. He's for real. If the clippers keep him, Gordon and Thornton they could be good in a couple of years. They'll be athletic too.

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