Last Season: Remember how Baron Davis and Elton Brand were both going to go to the Clippers and turn them into a contender? Well, Davis went but Brand headed east to the 76ers. In hindsight, if they had gotten Brand they might have even been a bigger disaster than they were last year. The Clippers were riddled with injuries but even if they were healthy they wouldn’t have been any good. For some reason they traded for Zach Randolph during the season and he didn’t mesh with their offense (shocker). But the bigger surprise was they were actually able to unload him on the Grizzlies this offseason.

Acquisitions: F Blake Griffin, F Rasual Butler, F Craig Smith, G Sebastian Telfair

Departures: F Zach Randolph, F Alex Acker, G Fred Jones, G Mike Taylor

Starting Five: F Al Thornton, F Blake Griffin, C Chris Kaman, G Eric Gordon, G Baron Davis

Bench Mob: Marcus Camby, Ricky Davis, Rasual Butler, Craig Smith, Sebastian Telfair

Most Interesting Man in the World: Baron Davis – Welcome to the Boomiverse. Baron “Boom Dizzle” Davis is more than just a basketball player that had the most popular playoff beard ever. He’s also a movie producer and has interest in acting as well. Davis is from LA and one of the reasons he returned to LA to play for the Clippers was to be able to pursue filmmaking. His proximity to Los Angeles is also probably how he wound up on the DVD commentary for the comedy “Step Brothers” despite having absolutely nothing to do with the film.

Over the Hill: Ricky Davis – He was relegated to the role of backup to Eric Gordon last season and finished averaging just 6.4 ppg. Davis looked much slower last season especially compared to the speedy Gordon. Davis’ role should be reduced even more this year as Gordon becomes more comfortable in the offense.

Ready to Break Out: Eric Gordon – Once the calendar turned last year, Gordon caught fire. Baron Davis was injured through much of January and Gordon took over as the leading scorer. Once Davis came back, Gordon continued to pour in points. If Griffin is able to give them a threat in the post it should free up Gordon on the perimeter where he shot nearly 40% last season.

Outlook: The Clippers have a lot of size with Thornton, Griffin, Kaman, and Camby but are fairly shallow at the guard position. Baron Davis isn’t a true point guard and it could be a struggle for Gordon and Davis to share the ball and shots. They had their share of injuries last year, but if they remain healthy they could easily be the most improved team in the NBA. Keep in mind they won just 19 games last year.

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