Dec 22, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers center Ryan Hollins (15) and Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) look for a rebound during the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Clippers have lost DeAndre Jordan to the Dallas Mavericks, Roy Hibbert is joining the Los Angeles Lakers and Kosta Koufos is heading to the Sacramento Kings. In short, the Clippers are seriously running out of options at center.
More from Clipperholics
- Grade the trade: Clippers shockingly land Trae Young in wild proposal
- 3 of the most overpaid players on the LA Clippers’ roster
- Trading for this player covers the Clippers’ biggest weakness
- How will the LA Clippers fare in the in-season tournament?
- Why the LA Clippers should steer clear of recent gold medalist waiver
One genuine possibility at this stage is that they move Blake Griffin to start at center and opt for a small-ball lineup. In their current state, they can play Glen Davis at power forward (no one wants to see it, but that’s their best option until they sign someone) or possibly even rookie Branden Dawson a little further down the line, if he proves himself to be the kind of defensive specialist he was with Michigan State. However, the Clippers may have limited options, but they can still make something happen in free agency.
Carlos Boozer, Amar’e Stoudemire, David West and JaVale McGee have all drawn their interest so far, and any of them would at least provide some depth to the Clippers’ seriously lacking frontcourt.
Stoudemire has expressed that he doesn’t want to come in as a backup, though, and that he’d only be interested in coming to L.A. if DeAndre Jordan isn’t around to take the spot in the starting lineup. And now that it’s a reality, Stoudemire may be more interested.
Person close to Amare Stoudemire says he would only be interested if DeAndre Jordan departed, not as a backup to Jordan & Blake Griffin.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) July 2, 2015
A more recent suggestion by Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times over who the Clippers may consider (either as a starter in the absolute worst case scenario, but ideally as a backup) is center Ryan Hollins.
Clippers have had conversations about bringing center Ryan Hollins back, sources
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) July 5, 2015
He played for the Clippers from 2012-2014, although contributed in a minor way with no more than 11.1 minutes per game in either season. During that time, Hollins averaged 2.9 points on 66.1 percent shooting, 1.9 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game. He was efficient, particularly by making 73.6 percent of his field goal attempts and 87.2 percent of his shots within three feet in 2013-14, but he hardly made much of a positive impact. Which is made evident by his extremely low playing time.
During his last year with the Clippers in 2013-14, he made a slight difference defensively by lowering the average offensive efficiency of opponents by 3.9 whenever he was on the floor and averaging 2.3 blocks per 36 minutes. Rim protection aside, though, L.A. were still worse off with him in the game. Their net rating of +7.3 without him still dropped to +5.4 with him on the floor, although in comparison to Glen Davis’ +/- of -14.8 this year, Hollins’ doesn’t sound as disappointing.
That being said, he’s by no means someone the Clippers should be targeting, and is really only a backup-backup-backup option if they can’t manage to sign anyone else. His isn’t a great rebounder or offensive option (averaging just 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per 36 minutes this year) and his career average of 11.8 minutes per game has hardly made him ready to be thrown into a noticeable role in the Clippers’ shallow frontcourt.
We’ll have to wait and see how L.A.’s desperate center situation plays out, but it looks more likely that they’ll opt to go after someone such as Stoudemire if they want a new starter. If not, expect Griffin to receive a lot of minutes at the five.
Next: The Clippers could be in play to sign Kevin Durant next year