Waive Goodbye to Josh Powell
by Steve Perrin on Jul 30, 2008 8:13 PM PDT
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The Clippers today waived Josh Powell. Powell had signed a three year contract with the team before last season, but the team had an option on the second two years. They had to make a decision before tomorrow, and it's not surprising, given all the changes and given that there now appears to be a roster crunch, that they decided to look elsewhere for help.
Several quick thoughts come to mind in the wake of Powell's departure.
- Of the players on the 2006-2007 2007-2008 opening day roster, only Chris Kaman, Cat Mobley, Al Thornton and Tim Thomas remain. That's quite a makeover. Familiar faces Shaun Livingston and Paul Davis could still make the team. Nick Fazekas and Marcus Williams were around for the end of last season, but not for the beginning.
- It's yet another indication of the absurd extent of the Clippers' injury problems last season that they just waived a guy who started 25 games for them, and yet is paid the NBA minimum. Think about that - he has a minimum contract, he was 8th on the team in minutes played last season - and they waived him. How did they win even 23 games?
- Although I'm not defending Elton Brand's behavior by any means, it is interesting that the Clippers ended up waiving Powell. It would not have freed up much money had they done it sooner (even an empty roster spot has a cap hold), but it would have freed up some.
- It's interesting that the Clippers appear to have chosen Nick Fazekas over Powell, despite the fact that Powell got significantly more minutes at the end of last season. I love Fazekas, and I think it's the right choice. He's just got a nose for the basketball and incredibly good hands. But it's not the conventional move, going with the gawky white guy.
- The team is now down to five bigs on the roster - Kaman, Camby and Thomas all have guaranteed contracts, Fazekas has a qualifying offer, and DeAndre Jordan has a make-good contract. (Actually, I'm just guessing that Jordan's contract is contingent on him making the team, but that's irrelevant because he's basically a lock.) They definitely need at least one more big, and apparently they are talking to Paul Davis, Francisco Elson and former Clipper Brain Skinner. It's worth noting that until Davis' knee injury last season, he was way ahead of Powell on the team's depth chart. No doubt that had something to do with today's decision. I suppose they could conceivably decide to go with two more bigs, especially since Thomas can play some three. But I'm hoping it's only one more.
Bear in mind, the Clippers can only offer minimum contracts to free agents for the rest of the off-season. Basically, if there's a pretty good big out there you'd like them to sign, forget it - they can't afford him. Trades are of course always a possibility, and nothing would really surprise me in this crazy off-season. But I really expect that the top ten guys (Kaman, Camby, Thornton, Mobley, Baron, Thomas, Ricky, Hart, Gordon and Jordan) are pretty much set and it's just a matter at this point of signing one more cheap big, and then looking for upgrades in the Taylor, Fazekas, Williams spots.
Oh, and Shaun Livingston. The Clippers will bring him back if he is willing to play for them for the minimum. It remains to be seen if any other team will offer more, but given that the guy hasn't played anything more strenuous than one-on-one in 18 months, it would seem unlikely.
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Powell's Overconfidence?
Waiving Powell is peculiar, as he played well in the second half of last season when he got more comfortable. He also worked very hard last off season, according to the coaching staff, and consequently, they were high on him and expected him to do well last year. According to what I’ve read this summer however, he hasn’t shown up to the Spectrum for workouts and he opted not to play in the Summer League. Has the meager success of last season gone to his head? It is disappointing to see him gone, but Fazekas, as awkward as his game is, might be a better player in the long run. Some guys just have the nose for the ball, despite their lack of athleticism.
by MichaelCage on Jul 30, 2008 8:48 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
That would seem to be the case
Everyone was very high on Powell last off-season. But the team was clearly not happy with him this summer. It’s certainly not standard for third year players to play in summer league, but I’m told the Clippers wanted him to be there, and he said he would, but only if they picked up his option. Obviously, this game of chicken did not end well for Powell.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Jul 30, 2008 8:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
typo -- should be 2007-2008 roster
great point though
by Clipper Oz on Jul 30, 2008 8:51 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Theo Ratliff
could probably be had for the veteran’s minimum ($1.3 mil?)
by daclipjoint on Jul 30, 2008 9:37 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Bye Powell
Hearing about his lack of effort this off season I am not surprised. Nothing gets a low end guy kicked off much quicker. After all we already have Thomas being our official lazy 4 (yes I couldn’t resist even though I think he will be better this year).
I liked Davis progression before he got hurt. Almost reminded me of Liv in how he seemed to find a new level a few games before being injured (not that they were finding the same level).
I happen to be one of those few fans of Fazekas also. He just has the basketball instint. Can you imagine how good he would be if he was athletic and had a NBA body.
by HT on Jul 30, 2008 9:39 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
"not the conventional move, going with the gawky white guy."
With all due respect to your comments, sir, need I remind you of the legendary Joe Wolf, another NC State alumni and Clipper? The Clippers have a long and storied history of harboring gawky white power forwards; the patron saint of whom is the great Tom Chambers. So in this historical context, the choice between Josh Powell and Fazekas was no choice at all. Precedence and tradition must be maintained for future generations sir.
by MichaelCage on Jul 30, 2008 10:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Chambers?
Chambers was an athletic freak. Not sure he qualifies under any definition of gawky. I’ll give you Wolf. However, you got his alma mater wrong – Wolf was North Carolina, not NC State. You’d need to go to former Laker Chuck Nevitt for gawky, white, NC State.
I just noticed that both Fazekas and Powell played for the Wolfpack in college. So there’s that.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Jul 31, 2008 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yup
Chambers was a freak. Watch
F-Elton!
by mikey p on Jul 31, 2008 11:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
oops, my bad
I didn’t think the first one went thru
F-Elton!
by mikey p on Jul 31, 2008 11:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I've got a fever
And the only cure is more Fazekas.
Get me BD and 75 and I'm in
by John R on Jul 30, 2008 11:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Nick Fazekas
Nick Fazekas was the Clippers’ most productive player on average,
according to Professor David Berri’s Wins produced metric: http://www.wagesofwins.com/LAClippers0708.html
Just watch his website http://www.wagesofwins.com to read more about this
metric.
The people of this wonderful website: http://www.82games.com
compiled some very good statistics about the clippers’ season. And among
those are this: http://www.82games.com/0708/0708LAC1.HTM
In wich they calculated that for every 48 minutes they played Fazekas
the Clippers scored 2.6 more points than their opponent. Wich meant
That he improved the Clippers bigtime since they only managed to win 23 games
last season.
My post maybe not so clear but what i’m trying to piont out is that Fazekas was the
best Clipper last year (Camby will be this year) and there is data to back this assumption.
I hope he will get a lot more playing time this year because he certainly The Clippers’
fever.
by Leumas on Aug 1, 2008 5:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
We <3 Fazekas
Of course, the timing is interesting, because the Clippers just rescinded his qualifying offer, so they apparently don’t love him as much as we do.
Fazekas put up very impressive numbers in limited minutes, and you must remember that many of those minutes came during garbage time. His numbers will no doubt level off if he gets regular rotation minutes. But he rebounds well, he finishes plays, and he is a ball magnet. I’m hoping he winds up on the team, and in the regular rotation.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Aug 1, 2008 6:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sold
Hopefully the plan is to lock him up for 2+ years at mutually agreeable terms.
With the QO the options are one year or match another team’s terms.
There is upside now to retracting the QO.
Get me BD and 75 and I'm in
by John R on Aug 1, 2008 10:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Not really true, is it?
The existence of the QO does not preclude negotiating whatever deal. It gives the team the right to match, but it doesn’t limit their rights to negotiate a contract. What am I missing?
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Aug 2, 2008 1:14 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
You know I'm not sure
More late night imprecision. I guess wishful thinking was in effect.
It would hurt them if some other team made Fazekas an offer and the Clippers did have some cap space now. The increased offer would gobble up that space. If the space really exists, they want him off that QO so they can work freely.
Get me BD and 75 and I'm in
by John R on Aug 2, 2008 1:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I understand what's in it for the Clips
But I don’t see what’s in it for Ze Freak. And here’s the other thing – can he and his agent accept the QO at any time that it’s on the table? The press release says they ‘mutually’ agreed, or some such. So that’s strange. I do wish I understood this better. But I’m still not assuming he’s off the team. He seems more likely to be a Clipper than anything else.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Aug 2, 2008 8:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
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