Never mind that the Clippers don’t know when the stars might align so that their injured All-Stars might return to action. The team, ever committed to competing, forged ahead and made a trade Friday with both long-term – and short-term – prospects in mind, said Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations.
“We’re really fortunate, right?” Frank said. “We have two stars that we’re building our team around and then you figure out, ‘OK, what complementary skill sets fit best around them?’”
Well, Norman Powell’s and Robert Covington’s ought to, both on a Clippers team hovering at .500 and missing its centerpieces – and on the future iteration of the team with its full firepower.
To acquire Powell, a 6-foot-3 wing, and Covington, a 6-foot-7 power forward, from the Portland Trail Blazers, the Clippers dealt Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson and a 2023 second-round pick Friday in a move that will increase the projected tax bill this season by about $19 million – to $112.9 million, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Frank said team owner Steve Ballmer, who reportedly is worth about $96 billion, had no reservations about the move: “Anytime there’s a chance to upgrade the roster, he’s all in it. He’s all about winning.”
The Clippers like Powell, a 28-year-old native San Diegan and former UCLA star who was averaging 18.7 points this season in Portland, for his ability as a three-level scorer and his aptitude as a catch-and-shoot player, Frank said.
“Really, really, complements Kawhi and PG,” Frank said, noting also that “especially this year, with so many guys in and out of the lineup … he also can be an engine in terms of he can create some of his own offense.”
Covington’s appeal, Frank said, is that he’s a defensively versatile veteran.
“If you just watch him off the ball, that’s really his magic,” said Frank of the 2017-18 All-Defensive team selection who is a career 35.7% 3-point shooter. “And he’s not afraid to take 3s, and he makes them at league or above-league average depending on the year.”
Covington will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason, but the Clippers will retain his Bird rights, which would allow them to exceed the cap to re-sign him.
The three-for-two move also opened a roster spot, which potentially could go to third-year wing Amir Coffey, who’s on a two-way contract and has been so important to the team’s resilience this season – and who would be left off the team’s roster if his contract isn’t converted to a regular deal.
But it could also be used in another fashion, Frank said.
“A lot can happen between now and Thursday (when the NBA trade deadline expires at 1 p.m.),” Frank said. “And as always, we’ll continue to be aggressive and look for opportunities to enhance the team. Amir, in terms of what he’s done, Amir has done a really really nice job. I’m really really proud of Amir and you look at his three-year development with us, but it’s premature as far as what our roster will look like, if we’ll have any roster spots or not come after the deadline.”
Stay tuned.
“Yeah, it’s roster building, is very much ongoing,” said Frank, who was philosophical about the need for a backup point guard now that Bledsoe is no longer with the team.
“It’s something we talk about a lot internally,” he said. “Instead of saying point guard, I really look at play starter, play finisher, connector, and, look, our two best players have the ball in their hands 60% of the time. And … what a point guard was 20 years ago is different than what is 10 years ago is different than today.
“What we do do is define the exact skill sets and then, I don’t even call it a point guard, it’s like, ‘OK, can we find a guy who can do these skill sets that maybe relieve some of the burden on Kawhi and Paul?’ And guess what? That player can be a forward.
“We had one of the greatest point guards of the last, I dunno, generations. CP (Chris Paul). He is called the ‘Point God,’ right? That’s why he’s one of one. And yet we feel really, really good that we’re gonna build a championship team around Kawhi and Paul, and yet I do honor and respect the question that skill set wise, yeah, but would we do that at the expense of taking a lesser player? We wouldn’t.
“I would rather double, triple, quadruple down on players that fit around those guys and then be creative and try to figure out some different ways to figure it out.”
The Clippers won’t be able to see for certain how their new additions fit with Leonard and George until those All-Stars are back on the court – and, Frank said, the team simply doesn’t know when that will be.
“He grinds every single day,” Frank said of Leonard, who had surgery to repair his torn right anterior cruciate ligament on July 13.
“He works. His focus is on his rehab, it’s kind of the same approach that he had in terms of his skill development, it applies to his rehabilitation. But no one knows. He doesn’t know. But all you can do is just every day continue to control what you can control and see how he responds. Literally nothing has changed and I know it’s probably a frustrating answer or response but it’s just the reality. We don’t know.”
Frank said George, who is scheduled to have an MRI on Feb. 24, is feeling better every day as his torn right ulnar collateral ligament heals, although the Clippers know “it’s not a ‘boom,’ that all of a sudden is a ‘Eureka!’ moment for what we do.”
“I think (the MRI) is just part of the process,” Frank added. “I think it’s you see how Paul is responding, he’s feeling better each and every day. The MRI is another kind of benchmark, OK, what did we learn? How’s feeling? I think the doctors put it all together and that’s how they come to what the kind of next steps are.”
BUCKS at CLIPPERS
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: Bally Sports SoCal, NBA TV / 570 AM
.@npowell2404 and @Holla_At_Rob33 have officially touched down in LA. 🛬 pic.twitter.com/ujG0JSROZw
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) February 5, 2022
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