The Los Angeles Clippers, apparently not done with offseason drama, have signed mercurial forward Josh Smith to a one-year deal at the veteran minimum.
Not since the Jail Blazers have we seen such a disparate group of players. Historic whiner Chris Paul, fresh off a rare trip to the second round of the playoffs (!!), will team up with the high-five-craving, attention-seeking DeAndre Jordan, notorious team cancer and serial ill-advised shooter Lance Stephenson, Smith (who puts the “I” in inefficient) and Blake Griffin, who’s got the unenviable task of being the only likable member of the starting five.
If you’re looking at this move from the all-too-common GM perspective of numbers on a sheet of paper, L.A. is getting talent for great value here. Smith, who conceivably would fit in well at the 4 of a small-ball lineup with Griffin at the 5 and definitely gives the Clippers some much-needed bench depth if he doesn’t end up starting, is still owed $5.4 million per season through 2019-20 by the Pistons. That works out well for cap-starved Lob City, which landed Smith despite a $2.5 million room exception offer from the Rockets.
But basketball isn’t played on a sheet of paper. Paul, despite being better than I’ll ever give him credit for, is going to have to somehow run extra plays for Jordan, who staged perhaps the most dramatic free agency backpedal ever in search of a role of respect in the offense, feed Stephenson and Smith in spots that maximize their trigger-happy tendencies while stopping them from bogging down the attack, and allow Griffin to continue flourishing into the league’s most dominant power forward. There aren’t going to be enough basketballs to go around.
How long is it going to be before Stephenson starts shooting 20 midrange jumpers a game, Snith refuses to move inside the three-point line, Jordan starts pouting and Paul has a temper tantrum? I’ll give it 30 games, max.
Maybe that’s why they brought Paul Pierce here.
On the Glass with Thomas and Tyree 