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Los Angeles Clippers Team Needs Entering NBA Free Agency Period

By Ryan Mayer

The Clippers lost out on a chance to face a hobbled Steph Curry and the Warriors when Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both went down with injuries in the same game in their first round series against Portland. Now, they get ready for another off season of trying to re-stack the roster to compete with the Spurs, Thunder, and Warriors at the top of the Western Conference.

The problem for the team is that with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan accounting for $64 million dollars of the expected $94 million dollar cap, they don't have much in the way of financial flexibility to be able to add a huge name free agent to the roster. In addition to their Big 3, the Clips have JJ Redick, Paul Pierce along with first round pick Brice Johnson's cap hold taking up salary cap space. Reportedly, the Clippers will get a meeting with Kevin Durant this weekend out in the Hamptons, but that seems like a long shot for the team.

As for their own free agents, Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers, Cole Alrdich and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute are all free agents and also all guys the team should keep. Say what you want about Rivers, but he performed capably last season with the 2nd-unit and Crawford continues to be a lethal sixth man, while Mbah a Moute is the definition of a glue guy and Aldrich provides depth behind Deandre Jordan. It's hard to advocate blowing up a team or even getting rid of a bench unit that helped a team go 53-29 despite one of their best players in Griffin missing 47 games.

With all of that in mind, and assuming that GM Doc Rivers doesn't decide to trade one of the Big 3 in a big shake up, let's look at what this team needs to add during the free agency period as they get ready for next season.

Back up Point Guard

Austin Rivers is a capable option as a back-up point guard. But, if Rivers isn't an option they want to go with, adding someone like Jerryd Bayless or possibly Brandon Jennings if they can convince them to come in on a lower priced deal would both be good options.

Bayless is well traveled, but he's been productive in averaging 8.5 points, 2.9 assists and 2.1 rebounds on 41.5 percent shooting including 36 percent from deep. Jennings for his part has transitioned fairly well into more of a back-up role over the last year or so since Detroit traded for Reggie Jackson after he went down with an injury. He would certainly add another scoring option to the second unit.

Small Forward

The Clippers tried to upgrade the small forward spot at the deadline by adding Jeff Green. Green was okay, but ultimately couldn't force his way into the starting line up. The option to go after here is Joe Johnson. Outside of Kevin Durant, Johnson is arguably the best wing player available on the market. He's also the one that would be most likely to take a pay cut to go to a team that has legitimate championship aspirations as you saw him basically do exactly that last season with Miami after his contract was bought out in Brooklyn.

Other options would be Kent Bazemore (young, likely in line for a high-priced deal), Evan Turner (doesn't provide much spacing as he can't hit three's), or maybe Jared Dudley? The problem with Dudley is he's already said this off season he will be chasing the money (can't blame him) and his first stint with the Clippers didn't exactly end well. Dudley has also drifted more towards the "stretch 4" role than playing on the wing last year.

This is going to be a particularly interesting sticking point for the team with Paul Pierce reportedly 50-50 on whether or not he'll retire.

The Clippers have most of the other depth options covered if they bring their own free agents back along with the first round pick Brice Johnson who at the very least will provide a rebounding machine off the bench. They're going to swing for the fences with Kevin Durant, but barring that happening, the Clippers will likely look the same that they did last season with one or two small tweaks. For an NBA playoff team, tweaking is often the best course of action as opposed to blowing everything up and starting over.

Ryan Mayer is an Associate Producer for CBS Local Sports. Ryan lives in NY but comes from Philly and life as a Philly sports fan has made him cynical. Anywhere sports are being discussed, that's where you'll find him.

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