July 3rd, 2013
The Clippers continued their busy off-season on Tuesday, acquiring guards J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley in a 3 team trade. In exchange for Redick and Dudley, the Clippers sent forward Caron Butler and guard Eric Bledsoe to the Phoenix Suns, while the Milwaukee Bucks received two 2nd round picks from LA and Phoenix. Surprisingly, many Clipper fans think their team got worse, but they are more mistaken than Chris Broussard and his multiple sources.
Since the end of the season, Eric Bledose’s name has been thrown around in trade rumors more than a hooker in Vegas. Bledsoe has great athleticism, and is only 23 years old, but is extremely unproven. He averaged 8 points and 3 assists in 20 minutes of playing time this year, but when Chris Paul went down with an injury, he failed to prove he can be a reliable starter. In other words, Bledsoe’s value is more inflated than the stock price of Facebook.
In return, the Clippers acquired two potential starters who are very good shooters in Redick and Dudley. Redick is a career 39% three point shooter, who averaged 14 pts and 3 assists with the Magic and Bucks last season. Dudley may play some small forward for the Clippers, he’s 6 years younger than Caron Butler, and a reliable 40% shooter from 3 point land.
The Clippers had some discussions with Orlando for Aaron Afflalo, and Toronto about Demar DeRozan. However, in typical Clipper front office fashion, they leaked to every media outlet possible all the big names they were chasing, even though it probably was never realistic to acquire those players. It isn’t very often you will be able to trade a backup point guard and an aging small forward for a player who can score 20 points a game. The Clippers were trying to make everyone think they could swap a Volvo for a Porsche, which caused much of this disappointment. Coincidentally, this blabbing probably led to collapse of the Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce trade to the Clippers as well.
Remember, the Clippers still have their full mid-level exception of $5 million to spend on another free agent, and they could also bring back small forward Matt Barnes to add depth. LA has also been talking to free agent power forward Carl Landry, who was an effective bench player for the Warriors last season.
Although the Clippers are doing a good job of adding quality role players and depth around Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, their success will largely depend on how much Blake Griffin’s post game improves, as well as their half court execution. Still, good organizations that are proven winners usually don’t blab about all the big names they are chasing to give them credibility. That’s something the inexperienced and unproven Clipper organization is still learning.