im stoked on this draft. thank goodness that deal with the sonics didnt happen, what a waste of a future pick that would have been. gordon’s the real deal though and we’ll finally have someone who can hit the 3. im not gonna lie i would have loved to grab CDR at 35 (how was he still available??) but jordan could end up being the steal of the draft. and we still ended up with a point guard after all, albeit one that ive never heard of and probably won’t make the team.

the Clippers have the guy they really want fall right to them. Gotta love it.

Gordon looks really good. He will need to refine his game. Looks like a more athletic Quentin Richardson. There is a lot of good footage of him out there.

Not too familiar with Jordan (2nd year in a row we take a Jordan in Rd. 2). I am surprised that CDR was still on the board, too. CDR will be solid, but Jordan has a ton of potential. Can’t have too many bigs in the NBA.

Just heard about Mike Taylor this week. Seems like he has as good a chance as anyone to make the team as a PG. Another good draft.

Clips seem to be getting some credit for simply addressing their backcourt issues with Gordon, but there are some naysayers and a few questions out there. A big part of this, I think, is that the vast majority of people just don’t know very much about the Clippers, their roster, and their needs.

Number one, no one seems to know just how badly the Clips need somebody who can shoot, who can spread the floor and consistently make a 3. You look back just a few years ago, and the Clippers were a horrendous 3 pt shooting team. They had literally nobody making them or even shooting them very much. They brought in Mobley and Cassell and Radman then Thomas and improved the situation somewhat, but it has still been a glaring problem. Mobley has played with an elbow injury for the better part of the last two years. He has great value out on the floor, but he needs to be completely healthy, and it will help a lot for his minutes to be reduced significantly, and for him to have a quality backup who can shoot. Gordon could easily shoot and make more 3s in his first week of NBA play than QRoss has in the last 3 years. This year we had the pleasure of seeing that Tim Thomas is capable of taking a whole lot of 3s and not making very many of them. His pct. should go up a fair amount as his attempts and minutes are drastically reduced. Thornton and Maggs can both hit the 3 on occasion, which is great, but it’s not the primary part of their game, not by a longshot. The Clips needed an SG that the other team can’t leave open. It makes everybody better, including Thornton and Maggette and their slashing game. But of course the obvious beneficiaries are the big men, and playing inside out with Brand and Kaman. How many wide open 3s has Cassell missed, along with Thomas and Mobley and Dickau, not to mention guys like Knight and Ross who are “hot” when they make 3 midrange shots, and can’t even shoot the 3? The fact that Gordon is strong and athletic, able to run and jump, means that he’ll be able to stay on the floor and should be able to score points in bunches. My hope is that he’ll be a lot like Thornton was last year, increasing his contributions, savvy, and confidence as the season goes on.

Another item out there is the idea that the Clippers should have taken a PG. That’s an obvious comment, of course, and if they could have picked Derrick Rose or there was another potential elite PG, then it would have been a no brainer. But the Clips have a strong enough roster that they can compete right away, and the idea that the best case for the team is for it to be led by a rookie point guard like Bayless or Augustin is preposterous. The Clips need somebody with some experience and solid, known skills. With the advent of a PG era, led by Nash and now including CP3, Deron Williams, Tony Parker and others, it’s nice to have a fantastic PG. Livingston was supposed to be that guy, and his injuries have been catastrophic for the franchise. The Clips have to go with a different formula, making teams contend with Brand and Kaman 2.0, while hitting them with Maggette and Thornton, now Gordon, and others. Fingers and toes are crossed that Liv will come back and contribute, and the Clips have to go out and get Hinrich or Udrih, make an offer to Calderon (good luck). But a mid-level rookie PG was not the answer.

Then there’s Jordan. Great pick. With the Gordon pick it’s hard to find a spot for CDR, and Jordan could really turn into something. Have to do some research on Taylor. He may be an insurance pick, able to take a roster spot at 3rd string PG if Livingston can’t play at all. I must say I don’t like Knight as the 2nd string PG, better to have him 3rd on the depth chart. Still a long way to go.

Last I heard, I think it’s still going slow. He’s back doing basketball drills as part of the rehab, and apparently he’s actually playing basketball, a little 1-on-1. Which means he’s not playing 3-on-3 or 5-on-5, and apparently he’s not going to be ready to play summer league and test things out there. So it seems like the goal is probably to be able to play by the time training camp comes around.

All of this of course has an effect on contract discussions. It seems unlikely that the Clips will make any kind of a deal with him if he is literally unable to play. Right? So he’ll have to show some kind of capability before things move forward, I would think.

The Clips have to figure out what’s going on with Brand and Maggette on Monday and into next week, and at the same time they’ll be trying to figure out the PG situation regardless of Liv, which is the best way to do it. Low expectations.

I was listening to an interview with some old jock awhile back, and he mentioned that steroid use started as an aid to healing and recovery. And, it couldn’t hurt if Shaun put on a few pounds.