The Los Angeles Clippers are well-set at most positions. They have a great point guard in Chris Paul with solid backups in Mo Williams and Eric Bledsoe, and have a nice big man rotation featuring Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans. But it'd be foolish to think this team doesn't have things they need to worry about, or issues they need to fix.
One of their biggest problems is shooting guard. With Williams not really well-positioned to play too much at the two and Randy Foye hot and cold, the Clippers could use a more consistent shooting guard to play the position. Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld reports that LA is looking to get a prominent start to really round out the rotation.
The Clippers have expressed interest in Ray Allen and Jamal Crawford, according to sources.
The Boston Celtics aren’t actively shopping Allen, but they are listening to offers. It’s unclear what Boston would want in exchange for Allen, but the two teams will continue to talk as the deadline approaches. Los Angeles will have some competition as they pursue Allen, since many teams have expressed interest in the 36-year-old shooting guard. Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro was Allen’s teammate on the Milwaukee Bucks from 1998-2000.
The Portland Trail Blazers may look to move Crawford at some point over the next ten days. Sources close to the situation say that Crawford will opt-out of the final year of his contract to test free agency this summer. Rather than losing him for nothing this offseason, Portland may decide to deal him. The Clippers are among the teams expressing the most interest in Crawford, along with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Los Angeles tried to sign-and-trade for Crawford during the offseason, but the Atlanta Hawks didn’t want to take back any contracts.
Allen playing off of the passes of Paul and the screens of Griffin and Jordan is a bit of a scary proposition. Crawford also offers its own set of problems for teams in the Western Conference. Get one of those two and the Clippers could jump up and become instant title contenders.
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