Cat Mobley has once again offered to come off the bench for the Clippers, repeating the offer he made exactly one year ago. Strangely, the guy who ended up on the bench most of last season, is one of the only guys who MDsr says definitely will start this season. Go figure.
In a league dominated by scorers, Quinton Ross may end up starting over the Clippers' best per minute scorer one season, and their best three point shooter the next. Go figure again. But actually, you can blame that on Sam Cassell. Sam's complete inability to stay in front of any point guard in the league (he wasn't much of a defender at 27, let alone 37) means that Ross will need to be on the floor. Still, it remains to be seen if MDsr can really let go of his blanket. Last season Cat averaged almost 6 full minutes more per game than any other healthy Clipper on this roster. That's a lot of security blanket to give up.
So that gives us Cassell at the point, Ross or Mobley at shooting guard, Maggette at small forward and Kaman at center. What about the power forward? According to a blog post from the OCR's Art Thompson III, MDsr has not settled on a starter there either. He'd like to bring Thomas' scoring off the bench, but none of the alternatives (Paul Davis, Ruben Patterson or Josh Powell) are ideal either.
The decision at the 2 may determine the decision at the 4. It seems hard to imagine that the Clippers would put a starting unit on the floor without a single legitimate threat from the three point arc. If Ross starts over Mobley, coach MUST start Thomas, or face sagging zone defenses at the start of every game. Frankly, it seems to me the supposed debate at power forward is overwrought. As much as I dislike Tim Thomas' game (and oh boy do I dislike Tim Thomas' game) I don't believe for a minute that MDsr is considering starting one of those other guys.
My money is on Cassell, Ross, Maggette, Thomas and Kaman on Nov. 2.