Pacific Division Breakdown: Clippers Have New Life

Pacific Division breakdown: Clippers have new life
By Fran Blinebury, for NBA.com
Posted Jul 18 2009 10:53AM

If you think of the entire division as a day at the beach, then the Suns, Clippers, Warriors and Kings are nothing more than sandcastles waiting to be wiped out one more time by the purple wave of the Lakers.

After so much lip service given their desire to keep the roster of the 2009 NBA champs together, it didn't take long for L.A. to hold the door open for Trevor Ariza's exit and nobody is bending over backwards to make a strong move to re-sign Lamar Odom.

Does any of that matter when the Lakers still have Kobe Bryant? The short answer is: No.

The Clippers are planning their umpteenth resurrection, this time under No. 1 overall draft pick Blake Griffin. The Warriors are heralding the arrival of their newest sharpshooter to fit into "Nellie Ball." The Kings are struggling to put together a product that could generate enough interest to get them a new building and the Suns are, well, systematically taking apart a franchise that just a few years ago was contending for the Western Conference title.

Los Angeles Lakers
Gained -- Ron Artest

Lost -- Trevor Ariza

Up in the air -- There seems to be no urgency to get Lamar Odom back into the fold with a new contract. In fact, they're playing a bit of hardball with the free-agent forward, who's now having a flirtation with his former team in Miami. That means the defending champs could spend the summer giving up the two players -- Odom and Trevor Ariza -- who gave them such tremendous advantages in terms of length on defense and on the backboards.

Early projection for 2009-10 season: What was essentially a swap of Ariza for Ron Artest might seem like an even-up deal on the surface. But while the Lakers were concerned about the possibility of overpaying if they met Ariza's original demands did they underestimate the potential of Ron Artest's prickly personality down the line? Artest will give L.A. a toughness and someone to watch Kobe Bryant's back. But he will still be the third option in the offense, also behind Pau Gasol, and that's something that could test even the Zen serenity of Phil Jackson. With Kobe and Ron Ron as a 1-2 punch, the Lakers will be right in the thick of things in the Western Conference. But if they take the floor on Opening Night missing both Ariza and Odom, the defending champs will slip back to being another team in a hunt, not the lead dogs.

Los Angeles Clippers
Gained -- Blake Griffin, Quentin Richardson

Lost -- Zach Randolph

Up in the air -- Will they reach out to sign free agent Allen Iverson and risk building a solid, steady future in a quick grab for some points? Will they resist the temptation to trade Chris Kaman? With the Clippers, it's always something self-induced that gets in their own way, so you spend the rest of the off-season waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Early projection for 2009-2010 season -- It's usually not easy to like a team that is coming off a 19-63 season. But it's hard not to feel upbeat about a summer that saw the Clippers get the real deal with No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin and unload the big contract and me-me-me play of Zach Randolph. They got Quentin Richardson's expiring contract in return and that should give the perennial doormats even more flexibility in the future. Things already look promising with a core built around Griffin that includes Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Marcus Camby and Kaman. The bottom half of the Western Conference playoff bracket is ripe for the taking if the Clippers don't find a way to shoot themselves in the foot again.

Phoenix Suns
Gained -- Channing Frye, Sasha Pavlovic, Earl Clark

Lost -- Shaquille O'Neal

Up in the air -- What happens with Amar'e Stoudemire? When does the next trade rumor fall out of the hot desert air? Coming back from retinal surgery, now he says he wants to stay in Phoenix. But, oh yes, he wants a contract extension at the max level. They've already bought out Ben Wallace and will likely soon cut Sasha Pavlovic, the commodities they got in return for Shaquille O'Neal. Free agent Matt Barnes is not in future plans.

Early projection for 2009-2010 season -- Now that The Big Cactus is gone, the Suns are saying they want to go back to being the up-tempo, run-and-gun-and-fun circus that made them a perennial Western Conference contender under Mike D'Antoni. Of course, that was before GM Steve Kerr came on the scene to -- what? re-mold? rebuild? destroy? -- some of the best chemistry outside of a laboratory. Now the Suns have to come to grips with Stoudemire's contract demands while re-signing 36-year-old forward Grant Hill and looking to extend the deal of 35-year-old point guard Steve Nash. On the youthful side of the roster, Channing Frye is a nice pickup whose outside shooting touch will help space the floor and draft pick Earl Clark is long and athletic with good upside. If Stoudemire's head is in the game, the Suns could hope to squeeze in at the bottom of the Playoffs. But mostly next season is about team owner Robert Sarver saving money.

Golden State Warriors
Gained -- Stephen Curry, Acie Law, Speedy Claxton

Lost -- Jamal Crawford

Up in the air -- How long into the summer will anyone go on waiting for the Amar'e Stoudemire trade to go through? With Stoudemire saying he has no interest in changing address labels just for another rebuilding job, it's not going to happen and now the Warriors are back to selling the hope of even more "Nellie Ball" with Stephen Curry on the roster.

Early projection for 2009-10 season -- Can the Warriors get anyone to take Corey Maggette off their hands? Or Brandan Wright? Or Andres Biedrins? Heck, can Chris Cohan get anyone to take the entire franchise off his hands? In the early summer there have already been handfuls of rumors that Cohan has had enough suffering and is ready to pull the plug on his stewardship. Cohan denies he's looking to sell. But why not, since the Warriors look like they've only got more of the same old stuff to peddle on the court. Curry should make an interesting, if undersized, backcourt fit with Monta Ellis that will keep the scoreboard flickering once more at the Oracle. Mix in Anthony Randolph with the sharpshooting Anthony Morrow and the always revved-up Stephen Jackson and you've got the same bunch that can be highly entertaining on some nights and yet underachieve over a full season.

Sacramento Kings
Gained -- Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi, Sergio Rodriguez

Lost -- Rashad McCants

Up in the air -- The biggest thing the Kings would like to clear up is their long-term future in Sacramento with a deal on a new arena and in the meantime the Maloof family is not pumping a lot of money into the team. Long before -- and if -- the first shovel is put into the ground for a new stadium, the Kings are rebuilding with a capital "R." This is looking like the landing spot for free-agent forward Sean May, though in keeping with the fiscal restraint, for one year at the veterans minimum.

Early projection for 2009-10 season: The team that finished with the worst record (17-65) in the league last season and then lost again in the Draft Lottery should have applied to the Obama Administration to get funds for one of those "shovel-ready" projects. There's a lot of digging to do in Sacramento. The Kings decided that Tyreke Evans was their man to carry the banner for the future and he's shined in his early performances in the Las Vegas Summer League. Israeli Omri Casspi is a tenacious player at both ends of the floor and with Evans will add an element that the Kings have been missing. Sergio Rodriguez arrives from Portland, still searching for his minutes and his chance to flourish in the NBA. The Kings should score more. But can they stop the other guys enough to climb out of the cellar?