You say "youth movement", I say upgrades

I have been hearing many people say that the Clippers are in yet again another youth movement.  I understand that we have a roster full of guys with less than three years of NBA experience (6 to be exact), but having a team with youth isn't a bad thing.  I think we need to take a look at the OKC Thunder.  They have a roster full of guys with very few years of NBA experience.  The one thing they had they didn't have, was a scorer or a superstar in Kevin Durant, but Blake Griffin is healthy and he should provide this team with his fair share of highlights and game changing plays.

I know many will say that going young means your franchise is saving money or taking a risk.  I don't look at it that way.  Instead, I look at it as we are added talent.  The guys we have drafted and signed via free agency are all great athletes.  Not one of them is a one deminsional player.  Each one of them brings the tools that are needed to add depth to the team and be a threat in the starting line-up or off the bench.

Here is what the 09-10 Clippers looked like in October of 2009.

Starters: Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Rasual Butler, Marcus Camby, and Chris Kaman.

Bench: Al Thornton, Sebastain Telfair, Steve Novak, Craig Smith, Mardy Collins, Ricky Davis, Kareem Rush, Deandre Jordan, and Brian Skinner.

The starting five to start the season was very strong.  One of the better starting fives in the NBA, but at the same time the 1, 3, and 4 are all rather old (I know they are only 31+ years old, but in basketball terms they are old).

The bench had some nice pieces that include Al Thornton, Craig Smith, and Deandre Jordan, but everyone else will have a tough time even making an NBA 12 man roster this season.  The bench was also lacking scoring, a guy that could break the defense down off the dribble, as well as a guy that could step in to a starters role with out hurting the team.  Maybe with the exception of Craig Smith.

Now let's take a look at the 2010-11 Clippers, and what they should look like in October of 2010.

Starters: Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Ryan Gomes, Blake Griffin, and Chris Kaman.

Bench: Randy Foye, Al-Farouq Aminu, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe, Sofo Schorstianitis (spelling, lol), Willie Warren, and Brian Cook.

The starting five is strong, but not as strong as the 2009-10 starting five.  That is not to say that by the second or third month of the season it can't be as good if not better over time.  I think once Blake gets his feet wet, he will take off and might just become the leader of the team.  The addition of Ryan Gomes (27 year old) is huge, he will be Sool's (31 years old) replacement.  I like Ryan Gomes' game.  He shoots the ball better than Sool from both the field (Gomes 45% to Sool's 40%) and the 3 pt (Gomes 37% last year to Sool 33% last year).  He also rebounds (5 rpg to 2 rpg) and passes ball (1.6 apg to 0.9 apg) better than Sool.  Gomes will allow Aminu to make strides, and come off the bench as a energy guy and slowly move in to a starters role if he plays well enough.

The bench is much more dynamic than the 2009-10 bench.  The Clippers now have scoring, ball handlers that can break down the defense, and players that can step in the starting spot if injuries do occur.  The bench might be young, but it will also be exciting to watch.  Just think of a second string that includes: PG Bledsoe, SG Foye, SF Aminu, PF Sofo, and C Jordan.  That is a power house and teams will take one heck of a punch from our bench.  Unlike last year when we struggled to score for long periods of time causing Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon to have to play 40+ minutes in many games.

I enjoyed the first 3 months of the 2009-10 season, and I honestly thought the team could make a push for the playoffs if Blake came back at 100%.  As it turned out, that team did not have enough fire power or depth to compete for a full season.  The injuries, trades, coaching fiirings, and hirings didn't help either. 

With that said, this 2010-11 team has the fire power, the depth, the athletes, and a coach that is surely good enough to stick around for more than just a full season.  This team is built to play an entire season not only because of the players we have, but because we have a coach in place, in Vinny Del Negro, that will establish his coaching philosophies and the players will follow.