A few months ago while I sat in the San Jose airport, I read an article on clipsnation detailing all the excuses the Clippers had last year. If one had to sum that post up in three words, it could be narrowed down to injuries, conditioning and chemistry. (Ok, four words if you count the “and”, but who does that?). Assuming the players have a relatively injury free season and arrive at training camp in shape (a minor miracle by clipper standards) that still leaves one issue unresolved: chemistry.

There were 5 returning players (1/3 of the team) at the start of training camp a year ago Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas were both traded for Randolph and Collins shortly into the season after the clippers dug themselves a hole in the standings, while paul davis was cut mid-season and his roster spot used so the clippers could make money off luxury tax teams. I’m not all that interested in transactions that happened mid-season though; it’s more interesting that the Clippers added 10 new players before training camp. I’m still struck by the quote in the article linked above where GMMDsr said how the roster turnover became “insurmountable” for his team to overcome, even though he’s the one who assembled the team.

This year, the clippers have added 5 new players, with a possible 6th still up in the air. I’m not saying these are bad moves by GMMDsr, but I think that qualifies as another roster turnover when possibly over 1/3 of the team is new. Isn’t this the same sort of roster turnover we saw last year? Will chemistry be a problem again? Will the work ethic of the young guys continue once the season starts and they begin to play back to back games in different time zones? Thoughts?