A Little Dose Of The Clippers Can Cure The January Blues

Published: January 29, 2009

The L.A. Clippers need to start over…again. Marcus Camby should be ready to move by trade deadline, Chris Kaman, maybe even Baron Davis.

It’s a mess in Los Angeles. Funny enough, or fittingly, the city is home of the NBA’s current best franchise (Lakers, just in case you forgot) and worst.

They’re on their way to another high lottery pick, like the dozens they’ve had over the last two decades and…nothing. Nothing to show for it–no late-playoff runs. Not a championship either.

This is a vicious cycle that even John Paxson can learn from. Either you sink to oblivion or you wallow in mediocrity. Bad draft picks and belated trades can do that to a franchise.

The Bulls obviously topped the Clippers Wednesday night in a rout 95-75. Derrick Rose was cruising and could have had 23 points but ended up with 21 after Joakim Noah decided to pry the ball from inside the rim as it was already two-thirds inside the cylinder.

This robbed the budding rookie of the play of the night. Rose bolted across the half-court line, split two defenders and took off a step in front of the free-throw line to switch hands and kiss the ball of the glass. It was poetic.

Noah, however, was the hack rapper who uses the same background to a hit song and adds some new lyrics. He followed with a tip in.

That’s my biggest gripe of the night. The Bulls finally did what they were supposed to do: They trampled a bad team with a bunch of backups in the starting lineup. Camby and Davis, both coming off injuries, made brief cameos in the second quarter but had little effect on the outcome.

Camby, at 34, is too valuable a player to stick around for this mess. He could be shipped by the trading deadline to a team in the east, or maybe back to the Denver Nuggets who are well in the hunt.

Davis just signed for big money and he might be more difficult to move. Kaman is expected to be gone by year’s end and would be valuable on any team looking for an interior presence.

Not that he is the Bull’s answer. The Bulls are going to have to unload players like Andres Nocioni, Larry Hughes and Kirk Hinrich, and maybe even Ben Gordon (if he allows it) and Joakim Noah as a sweetener.

It may sound like a gamble but the Bulls need to consider 2010 more. Yes LeBron James is probably out of the picture, but there is plenty of other star power out there–Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, etc.

What other move is going to bring the Bulls closer to a championship–another mid- first-round draft pick? Another flawed offensive big man that comes with adjectives like “hustle” and “tough”?

Photo Credit: ICON Sports Media

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A Little Dose Of The Clippers Can Cure The January Blues

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