Post-NBA Free Agency power rankings
By John Buhler
Los Angeles Clippers
West, Pacific
It’s the dawn of a new day in Los Angeles Clippers basketball. While power forward Blake Griffin signed a massive five-year, $175 million extension, the Clippers did lose three key players on their roster this summer. Point guard Chris Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets. Shooting guard J.J. Redick went to the Philadelphia 76ers. After being traded to the Atlanta Hawks, sixth man Jamal Crawford’s contract was bought out and his eventually signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
So it’s Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, the Rivers Men and what else with the Clippers? Well, the Clippers did land a sizable return for Paul. They gained Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell from the Rockets. In the deal that sent Crawford briefly to Atlanta, Los Angeles was able to sign former Denver Nuggets small forward Danilo Gallinari to a three-year, $60 million contract.
Th Clippers were also able to convince European star point guard Milos Teodosic to come to America. He signed a two-year, $12.3 million deal to play with his former teammate Beverley in Los Angeles. Even with the amount of roster turnover going on with the Clippers, this should still be one of the better teams in the Western Conference.
However, it’s hard to see the Clippers being any better than they were last year as a No. 5 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs picture. This is clearly the second-best team in the Pacific Division, but the Northwest has improved drastically this summer. Los Angeles should be an interesting watch as a dark horse team to win over 50 games again.