Chauncey Billups talks on Lakers Off-Season

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Chauncey Billups was asked about the Lakers summer moves: "I'm not thinking about them. I'm thinking about us."</p>&mdash; chris palmer (@ESPNChrisPalmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNChrisPalmer/status/251866722942992384" data-datetime="2012-09-29T02:11:20+00:00">September 29, 2012</a></blockquote>

<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Clippers Media Day -- Random Thoughts

As I've said in the past, Media Day is not exactly bursting with new information. There's a lot of smiling for the cameras, some on camera interview stuff, some pro forma scrums with the print guys.

The Clippers did release some information on injuries, and of course we found out who the camp guys who will soon enough be cut are. But that's about it. It's not about news, it's about smiling for the cameras -- which is fine. I'm not complaining, that's what it is. Kevin Arnovitz called it the first day of school where you see some friends for the first time in a few months -- seems about right.

Still, there are a few interesting tidbits that emerge. Here are some random items from my day in Playa Vista:

• Vinny Del Negro used the word "balance" to describe the difference in the roster this season. I'm sort of partial to the word "coherence" to describe it, but I think we're talking about the same thing. There were too many redundancies last year, with a slew of small combo guards and four man rotation of bigs who couldn't score outside the paint (or just plain couldn't score in a couple cases). Lamar Odom as a playmaking big, Jamal Crawford and Grant Hill and Matt Barnes as options on the wing, these all address some basic flaws in last season's roster. There are plenty of risks still, but the roster makes more sense on paper.
• Ronny Turiaf was like an excited tourist talking about his Olympic experience. The guy was collecting pins and hanging with other athletes and was truly thrilled to get to meet the likes of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. It was fun listening to him gush about it all.
• I got a chance to introduce myself to Gary Sacks and speak to him one on one for a bit. He seems like a good guy, and gets bonus points for reading Clips Nation. (Of course he's going to say he reads Clips Nation, but he dropped a couple of references to prove it.) To hear the Clippers tell it, the off-season could not have gone much better for them. They had a plan for how they wanted to proceed, and basically they got everything they wanted. Now the pressure is on to perform.
• I spoke to Sacks a bit about the challenges of building a team NOW, while also worrying about next season and the season after that. He knows he's got his work cut out for him going forward.
• For those of you who always wonder why the Clippers don't just hire a shooting coach to teach DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin how to shoot free throws, well they did. Jordan and Griffin worked with Bob Tate Thate this summer on their shooting in general, their free throws specifically. DeAndre for one is certainly brimming with confidence. We'll see how it goes when he steps to the line in a regular season game.

Clippers Media Day -- Steve Goes Photo Journalist

Trying to capture a little of the spirit of the event, here are some photos I took from the Clippers training facility during Media Day on Friday, September 28th.

Clippers Media Day -- Training Camp Signees

The Clippers have signed five players to their training camp roster, including two familiar faces.

Marqus Blakely was a second round pick of the Clippers in 2010. In the 2010 summer league he was probably the Clippers best rookie, outplaying both Eric Bledsoe and Al-Farouq Aminu. Blakely got caught in the numbers game his rookie year and did not make the team. He played great in the D-League and got a call up to the Rockets that year, but never appeared in a game and has not be able to stick. He's an uber-athlete with crazy long arms who could be a great wing defender at this level, but has the disadvantage of having played power forward in college at Vermont. At 6'5" that's not really an option in the NBA, so he has to develop his perimeter game more. But this is a guy I can definitely see playing in the NBA some day soon.

Courtney Fortson was a camp invite of the Clippers last year, and got an early season call up to the team when a quick injury wave hit the point guard spot. He played four games with the Clippers in January and six games with the Rockets late in the season. He's a small quick point guard who is pretty fearless driving to the basket.

Trent Plaisted is the third signee. A former second round pick out of BYU, he's a 6'11" center. He played in the Turkish League last season.

The final two seasons are both fresh out of four year college careers. Chris Johnson is a 6'6" small forward from Dayton and Hank Thorns is a 5'9" point guard from TCU.

The Clippers already have the maximum 15 players signed so it's highly unlikely that any of these guys will make the final roster. Still you never know. It's not as if the team has that much invested in Travis Leslie, and if a Blakely seems like a significant upgrade, it's not impossible that the team could make a move. More likely though is that the team will start the season with the players already under contract, which doesn't preclude the possibility that one of these players might not show up during the season if injuries or other situations dictate.

Clippers Media Day - Injury Updates

In conjunction with Media Day, the Clippers provided injury updates on several injured players. Three Clipper starters, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups have all had surgery since the last time we saw them play for the team, and Trey Thompkins suffered a bone bruise playing in summer league. So how are they doing?

Griffin has been cleared for full contact. He is fully recovered from the surgery he underwent in July to repair the meniscus in his left knee and ready for camp to start and will participate fully. According to coach Vinny Del Negro he's in his usual outstanding physical condition.

Paul has surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb on August 21 directly after returning from the Olympic Games. He is no longer wearing a brace and has been cleared for non-contact drills. He is expected to be cleared for full practice within two weeks. Del Negro is completely confident that he will be ready to play when the season starts.

Thompkins is not yet cleared to practice, but is expected to be ready to practice when the team returns from China in a couple of weeks.

Neither Billups nor Thompkins will travel with the team on their China trip.

Clippers Media Day - The Season Will Be Here Soon

Media Day has arrived for NBA teams who will take international trips in pre-season like the Clippers. With training camp opening Saturday and the first pre-season game in just over a week, the 2012-2013 NBA season is officially upon us.