Category: Los Angeles Clippers Blog

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Josh Smith to join Clippers

Josh Smith has talent, but also makes questionable decisions on the court that can either help or hurt a team depending on the day of the week, the sneakers he’s wearing, etc. But the Clippers are rolling the dice and adding him to their squad. Here’s the Orange County Register reporting:

Josh Smith to join Clippers

Josh Smith tortured the Clippers in the second half of Game 6 of the second round last season, helping lead Houston to a 19-point comeback that helped end their season.

Thursday, he signed on to make sure something like that wouldn’t happen again.

The Clippers agreed to a contract with Smith, a versatile 6-foot-9 forward, worth one year at the league minimum.

Clippers waive Lester Hudson

Clippers waive Lester Hudson

The Los Angeles Clippers waived backup guard Lester Hudson tiday.

Hudson originally signed with the Clippers on April 11, 2015 and appeared in five regular season games, averaging 3.6 points, 1.0 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in 11.2 minutes. The Memphis native played in seven Playoff games, averaging 2.0 points in 5.4 minutes.

In 57 career NBA regular season games Hudson owns averages of 4.7 points, 1.2 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 10.4 minutes with Boston, Memphis, Cleveland and the Clippers.

Clippers sign forward Branden Dawson

The Los Angeles Clippers have signed forward Branden Dawson. The Clippers acquired the rights to the 56th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft in a draft night trade with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Dawson, 22, appeared in four of the Clippers games at the recently completed Orlando Summer League and averaged 12.8 points and 10.3 rebounds in 25.5 minutes. Dawson finished second in the league in rebounds per game and recorded a double-double in three of his four appearances.

The former Michigan State stand-out was a Second-Team All-Big Ten performer in his final season with the Spartans, averaging 11.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 32 games.

Dawson (6’6”, 225), finished his four-year collegiate career as the school’s all-time leader in blocks (142), fifth in starts (121), sixth in steals (163) and seventh in rebounds (902). He is one of three players in MSU history with 1,000 career points and 100 career blocks, joining Draymond Green and Adreian Payne.

A star at Lew Wallace High School in Gary, Indiana, Dawson was a 2011 McDonald’s All-American after averaging 28.7 points, 18.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists.

Clippers re-sign Austin Rivers, add Cole Aldrich

Clippers sign Austin Rivers and Cole Aldrich

The L.A. Clippers have signed guard Austin Rivers and center Cole Aldrich.

Rivers, 22, returns to the Clippers after appearing in 41 regular season games (two starts) with the team last season, averaging 7.1 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists following a Jan. 15, 2015 trade from the Boston Celtics. In the first Playoff action of his career, Rivers played in all 14 postseason games, averaging 8.4 points and 1.1 assists while providing 16 points in a crucial Game 4 win over San Antonio and leading the team with 25 points, six rebounds and two assists in a Game 3 victory over Houston.

The 10th selection in the 2012 NBA Draft by New Orleans, Rivers appeared in 165 career games for the Pelicans (33 starts), averaging 6.9 points, 2.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 21.4 minutes before being traded to Boston on Jan. 12.

A stand-out at Duke University for one season in 2011-12, Rivers averaged 15.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 34 games.

Aldrich, 26, joins the Clippers after spending the last two seasons with the New York Knicks. Last season he averaged 5.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 61 games (16 starts). The 6-foot-11 center has appeared in 196 total games with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings and Knicks and has career averages of 3.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 196 games.

Originally drafted with the 11th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets, Aldrich spent three seasons at the University of Kansas. The Bloomington, Minnesota native was a perfect 55-0 as a Jayhawk at home and was named the 2009 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus Second-Team All American in 2010.

Clippers re-sign DeAndre Jordan and sign Wes Johnson

Clippers re-sign DeAndre Jordan and sign Wes Johnson

The L.A. Clippers announced today that they have re-signed center DeAndre Jordan and signed free agent forward Wes Johnson.

Jordan had unofficially agreed to leave the Clippers and sign with the Dallas Mavericks, but reneged on that and chose instead to remain with Los Angeles.

Jordan, 26, averaged a career-high 11.5 points and 15.0 rebounds in 82 games (all starts) for the Clippers last season. He led the NBA in rebounds and field goal percentage (.710), his field goal percentage was the second-highest single-season mark in NBA history (W. Chamberlain, ’72-73-.727). The 6-foot-11 center recorded an NBA-best 13 games with 20+ rebounds and set a Clippers franchise record with 1,226 rebounds in a season. Jordan became the sixth player in NBA history to average 15.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in season. He was named to the All-NBA Third Team and First Team All Defense last season, the first time in his career to achieve those honors.

Jordan led the NBA in field goal percentage and rebounds per game for both the 2013-14 (67.6% FG% and 13.6 rpg) and 2014-15 (71.0% FG% and 15.0 rpg) seasons. Only Jordan, Dwight Howard and Wilt Chamberlain have finished a season atop the league in both categories.

Originally drafted with the 35th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft out of Texas A&M, Jordan has appeared in 515 career games (413 starts) for the Clippers, averaging 8.0 points and 9.0 rebounds. The Houston native has appeared in 322 straight games, the longest current streak in the NBA.

Johnson, 27, averaged 9.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 76 games (59 starts) for the Los Angeles Lakers last season. The five-year NBA veteran brings career averages of 8.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 25.7 minutes in 349 games (269 starts) with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Lakers.

The Corsicana, Texas native was originally drafted by the Timberwolves with the 4th pick in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-7 Johnson played his first two years of collegiate basketball at Iowa State before transferring to Syracuse. In one season for the Orange he was named the Big East Player of the Year and a First Team All-American after averaging 16.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 35 games (all starts).

DeAndre Jordan reneges on agreement with Mavs, re-signs with Clippers

DeAndre Jordan reneges on agreement with Mavs, re-signs with Clippers

Here’s the Dallas Morning News reporting on a massively frustrating turn of events for the Mavericks:

nba blog

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much and set up so many potential ramifications if it weren’t so tantalizingly close for the Mavericks.

Even if you have no love for owner Mark Cuban or his team, you have to admit it’s cruel and unusual the way they lost DeAndre Jordan.

He was poised to become the biggest free-agent acquisition in franchise history. It doesn’t come any closer than having a commitment in hand.

Then, after a hard-fought recruiting battle the likes of which even Michael Jordan never got, DeAndre Jordan on Wednesday evening switched his commitment from the Mavericks and returned to the Los Angeles Clippers, who announced that it was official on a social-media platform sent from the team’s account minutes after the moratorium on free-agent signings was lifted at 11:01 p.m. (CDT) Wednesday. The deal was four years for more than $87 million.

Report: Clippers trying to convince DeAndre Jordan to reverse decision to sign with Mavs

For now, we will assume DeAndre Jordan will still sign with the Mavericks

Here’s ESPN.com reporting something pretty surprising. Let’s see if this thing actually materializes:

Report: Clippers trying to convince DeAndre Jordan to reverse decision to sign with Mavs

The Los Angeles Clippers are trying to persuade DeAndre Jordan to reconsider his decision to sign with the Mavericks after Jordan verbally committed to join Dallas last week, according to league sources.

Free agents are traditionally considered off-limits once they strike a verbal agreement with a team during the NBA’s annual moratorium period. Sources, though, said Clippers president Doc Rivers and owner Steve Ballmer have scheduled a meeting Wednesday in Houston to make one last face-to-face pitch to Jordan in an attempt to persuade him to walk away from the four-year, $80-plus million max deal he committed to with the Mavericks and instead stay with L.A.

DeAndre Jordan leaving Clippers to sign with Mavericks

Now this is a big one. Center DeAndre Jordan, he of massive hops, free throw struggles and impressive defensive ability, is leaving the Los Angeles Clippers and joining the Dallas Mavericks. Nobody expected this. Jordan fits in well on the Clippers, catching lobs from Chris Paul and having limited responsibility on offense while being part of a winning squad. But the Mavs offered monster money, and big DeAndre is reportedly accepting it. Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram blog reporting:

deandre jordan

Following a sluggish performance on the opening day of free agency, the Mavs rolled up their collective sleeves and have bounced back in a very big way.

First, early Friday morning, the Mavs convinced Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Wesley Matthews to agree in principle to a four-year free agent contract. Then, on Friday afternoon the Mavs beat the odds again and secured a verbal agreement from Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who accepted a four-year, $81 million contract from the Mavs.

Thus, Jordan becomes the first marquee player – aka a big fish — from another team to sign a free agent contract with the Mavs in the team’s illustrious 35-year history.

Wooed aggressively by the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Clippers and Mavs, Jordan had narrowed his choices down to the Mavs and Clippers. And after mulling over what the Mavs and Clippers had to offer, Jordan decided he wanted to jump-start the rest of his career in Dallas.

Clippers, Paul Pierce agree to deal

Now this is the kind of signing that is worth paying attention to. A move where a really good team that has a realistic eye on the NBA championship adds a key veteran who could mean the difference in a tightly-contested playoff battle against another really good team. Paul Pierce to the Clippers. Here’s the Los Angeles Times reporting:

Clippers, Paul Pierce agree to deal

The Clippers gained a giant lure in their pursuit of DeAndre Jordan on Wednesday, agreeing to terms with Paul Pierce on a three-year, $10.5-million contract that will reunite the veteran small forward with Coach Doc Rivers.

Pierce and Rivers won an NBA title together with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and will almost surely try to pitch Jordan on their collective potential with the Clippers, who will get the last word in the bidding for the free-agent center Thursday.

The Clippers will sign the former Inglewood High star with their so-called mini-midlevel exception, their primary financial tool in free agency, and will likely slot him into the starting small forward spot vacated by Matt Barnes, who was traded last month.

Pierce, who turns 38 in October, is a 10-time All-Star who gives the Clippers some championship experience in their starting lineup and a clutch presence who hit a game-winning shot in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season for the Washington Wizards.

I support pretty much any free agent move that shakes things up in an interesting way. This gives us one more thing to look forward to next season.