The 22nd pick belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers. This pick was obtained from the Miami Heat in the Brent Barry - Ike Austin trade. As with the 1st pick, The GM is Curtis Hill. Curtis uses the 22nd pick to select: Vladimir Stepanija - a 7'0" center/pf from Georgia. |
Los Angeles Clippers: On a Road to Nowhere Curtis Hill (hillc1@mindspring.com), Disaster Recovery GM Consultant I sometimes wonder if the inspiration for the movie Groundhog Day is the sorry tale of the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clips are stuck in a cycle that ranges from being one of the worst teams in the league, improvement until the team escapes the lottery, followed by a descent back to the bottom of the league again. Later. Rinse. Repeat. When I was fortunate enough to last handle the LA Clippers, a couple of years ago, I said the Clippers needed help in four specific areas: talent, leadership, management, and ownership. As we approach the 1998 NBA Draft, my analysis has not changed. It is somewhat fitting that the Clippers won the lottery in a year in which there is no clear-cut #1 pick. This draft has six players in the first cut, none of which distinguishes themselves ahead of the others. It's also likely that whomever the Clippers draft #1 will turn out to be the bust of the draft -- call it the Clippers Curse. Clippers current situation History Submitted for your approval:
1985: Benoit Benjamin (third overall) Let's just say that being drafted by the
Clippers is not exactly the first stop on the road to NBA superstardom. It may not even be
the first stop on the road to NBA journeyman. |
Players:First, the statistics Rebounds G Min PPG RPG APG Off- Def- Tot AST Stl BLK To PF Lamond Murray 79 2579 15.4 6.1 1.8 172- 312- 484 140 118 54 171 193 Rodney Rogers 76 2498 15.1 5.6 2.7 155- 270- 425 202 93 33 193 242 Isaac Austin 78 2266 13.5 7.1 2.2 198- 359- 557 172 61 56 206 231 Maurice Taylor 71 1513 11.5 4.2 0.8 118- 178- 296 53 34 40 108 222 Eric Piatkowski 67 1740 11.3 3.5 1.3 70- 166- 236 85 51 14 80 137 Darrick Martin 82 2299 10.3 2.0 4.0 19- 145- 164 328 82 10 154 198 Lorenzen Wright 69 2067 9.0 8.8 0.8 180- 425- 605 55 55 87 81 237 James Robinson 70 1231 7.7 1.6 1.9 37- 74- 111 135 37 13 97 100 Loy Vaught 10 265 7.5 6.5 0.7 16- 49- 65 7 4 2 13 33 Pooh Richardson 69 1252 4.2 1.4 3.3 17- 79- 96 226 44 3 54 71 Keith Closs 58 740 4.0 2.9 0.3 63- 105- 168 19 12 79 38 73 Charles Smith 34 292 3.5 0.8 0.6 13- 14- 27 21 12 7 27 24 Stojko Vrankovic 65 996 3.0 4.1 0.6 71- 192- 263 36 11 66 46 130 James Collins 23 104 2.6 0.6 0.1 7- 7- 14 3 6 3 8 13 Fg 3pt Ft M-A PCT M-A PCT M-A PCT PTS HI Murray 473-984 .481 54-153 .353 220-294 .748 1220 32 Rogers 426-935 .456 72-212 .340 225-328 .686 1149 34 Austin 406-871 .466 0-11 .000 243-363 .669 1055 33 Taylor 321-675 .476 0-1 .000 173-244 .709 815 26 Piatkowski 257-568 .452 106-259 .409 140-170 .824 760 29 Martin 275-730 .377 107-293 .365 184-217 .848 841 21 Wright 241-542 .445 0-2 .000 141-214 .659 623 32 Robinson 195-501 .389 74-225 .329 77-107 .720 541 26 Vaught 36-84 .429 0-2 .000 3-8 .375 75 14 Richardson 124-333 .372 11-57 .193 30-43 .698 289 14 Closs 93-207 .449 0-0 .000 46-77 .597 232 15 Smith 49-125 .392 15-47 .319 6-11 .545 119 16 Vrankovic 79-186 .425 0-0 .000 37-65 .569 195 9 Collins 21-55 .382 9-20 .450 8-14 .571 59 15 Don't you just love it when no one on a team is close to shooting .500 from the field? I will provide analysis of the Clippers roster including the Clippers' free agents. Centers: Ike Austin(FA) - The
best player on the team? That it's a question says a lot for the talent the Clippers have.
Elgin Baylor thinks that he's going to re-sign with the Clippers. I think the odds are a
lot better that Ike is long gone - unless the Clippers hire a good coach. |
Coaching/Possible
Hires
This is probably the most important
decision the Clippers have to make this year. It is imperative that the Clippers hire a
coach that gives them some credibility and makes players think that they really want to
play for the Clippers. The problem is that most good candidates want to be coach and GM
and it appears that Donald Sterling has no intentions of relieving Elgin Baylor of his
duties. George Karl or Paul Westphal would be the best choices but also are probably the
least likely to take the job. With these guys probably out of reach and names like Jim
Harrick and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar being bandied about, all six or so Clippers fans have to
be worried about whom Sterling is going to hire. |
Draft Needs:
Name a position, the Clippers need help. However, the Clippers are loaded at all three forward positions: small, power, and tweener. The pick should ideally be at center, point guard, or shooting guard. |
Possible
Selections
For the Clippers second first-round pick, I considered the following players: Radisav Nesterovic - a somewhat thin 7'2" (240lbs) project center. Most teams are intrigued with his potential. Vladimir Stepanija - a 7'0" center/pf from Soviet Georgia. A bit more sturdy than Nesterovic with the potential to play some power forward. Another guy that probably won't help immediately, but could probably play more than Nesterovic. Jelani McCoy - the 6'10"ish problem child from UCLA. A good player with excellent potential at power forward if he can keep his focus on basketball. Bryce Drew - a 6'3" ish combination guard who I really like. Fundamentally sound and the son of a coach. May have to play more of a pure point guard in the NBA due to his height. |
Future
Considerations
Coaching |
Selection:
My choice is Vladimir Stepanija. It really was a tossup between Stepanija and Nesterovic. I like Stepanija's frame a little better and, hey, at this point it's really a crap shoot anyways. I wouldn't want to give Jelani McCoy or a player with his past a guaranteed contract coming into the league, so I wouldn't take him in round 1. I'd love Drew here is Bibby hadn't been my first choice. The Clippers should be able to pick up other big man or guard prospects from the pool of players not drafted -- they'll just have to work a little bit at evaluating more talent. What they won't get is the chance to sign a big player with some potential, so now's a good time to take a little bit of a flyer on a big man. The advantage of taking a project here instead of going with Olowokandi at #1 is that there's a lot less risk here if the guy doesn't work out and there's an excellent shot of re-signing a pick at this position if he turns out to be good. |
What the
Clippers will really do
Your guess is as good as mine. It appears
that they will draft Bibby. However, everytime I read something about the Clippers,
something more disturbing comes to light. Whether that it's Jim Harrick and Kareem are
coaching candidates, that Paul Pierce was the most impressive player they worked out
(please, draft another small forward!) or that the Clippers really like Jelani McCoy for
their other first round pick (aaaaggghhhh!!!). You just never know. |
Craig Simpson - Usenet Draft Commissioner |