Clippers trade Josh Smith back to Rockets after failure in L.A.
By Tom West
Doc Rivers now has another failed move on his resumé, as the Los Angeles Clippers are trading Josh Smith back to the Houston Rockets for some draft rights and nothing more.
Well, this is yet another bad move to add to the resumé of GM Doc Rivers during his time with the Los Angeles Clippers. After signing Josh Smith away from the Houston Rockets this summer following last year’s dismal collapse in the playoffs, the Clippers are now sending Smith back to Houston. It didn’t take a genius to see that he wasn’t working out in L.A. due to all the DNPs he’s been racking up and his poor offensive fit. Regardless, it’s another wasted move by Rivers, and his team is getting almost nothing in return.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has reported the details of the trade, highlighting that all the Clippers will receive are some draft rights:
"The Houston Rockets have re-acquired Los Angeles Clippers forward Josh Smith, league sources told Yahoo Sports.The Clippers had considered waiving Smith, league sources said. The trade allows them to save $2 million in luxury tax…The Clippers will send cash to cover the remaining $460,000 on Smith’s $1.4 million minimum salary this season and the draft rights to Sergei Lishouk. Houston sends the Clippers the rights to Maarty Leunen. Neither player is expected to play in the NBA."
Smith joins a growing list of puzzling acquisitions Doc has made during his stint in Los Angeles. Spencer Hawes was a terrible fit at backup center during 2014-15, Lance Stephenson has been demoted out of the rotation this season, and now we have the trading of Smith.
As Wojnarowski pointed out, the Clippers are essentially getting nothing in return. They’re sending cash over to the Rockets to cover the rest of Smith’s minimum salary, while receiving the draft rights to Maarty Leunen, a 30-year-old European player who isn’t expected to ever play in the NBA.
I’m no expert on Leunen, but it goes without saying that this trade was simply to remove Smith from the team and place him in a situation where he’s better off. This at least frees up another roster spot for the Clippers, which, while they still have Stephenson and Jamal Crawford as possible trade pieces, opens up the possibility of another move before the February 18 deadline.
Especially with Smith gone, a trade seems even more likely, due to the gap his departure leaves in their now shallow frontcourt.
This is not what the Doc ordered this summer, and it certainly didn’t end up being a move to take the Clippers’ bench over the top as worthy contenders. That being said, this doesn’t really make much difference to the team going forward considering their play as of late. Smith has received a DNP in 10 of the last 14 games anyway, and the Clippers have been doing better without him and the terrible small-ball lineup that featured him at center earlier this season. Instead, Cole Aldrich has more than proved himself as the better option.
Maybe if they somehow meet again in the playoffs this season, Smith will have another opportunity to show that he can actually play when he’s on a team that uses him properly.