Here. Perhaps John R. can expand on this.
At first glance it looks like the Clippers are suddenly quite good. The team already signed Baron Davis (11.8 Wins Produced and 0.177 WP48 last season). And Chris Kaman (10.1 Wins Produced as 0.233 WP48 last season) is returning. With Camby (21 wins) on board, the top three players on the Clippers in 2008-09 produced 42.9 wins last season.
To put that number in perspective, the three most productive players in Boston in 2007-08 - Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo - produced 41.6 wins
if the Clippers supporting cast could follow the dictates of the Pareto Principle (the top three players produce 80% of a team’s wins ), and Camby, Davis, and Kaman maintained their production from 2007-08, the Clippers could expect to win about 54 games and contend for a playoff spot.
But it doesn’t look like the Clippers have heard of Vilfredo Pareto. Unlike the Celtics, after the top three the Clippers have basically nothing.
With little help from the draft or the supporting cast, it looks like the Clippers are going to be relying primarily on Camby, Kaman, and Davis to produce their wins. And if these players give what they gave last season, this team can expect to win about 42 games.
There is also this study suggesting that the Clippers rookies will not likely produce much.
Of course, we have no idea if Al Thornton will be an adequete replacement for Corey Maggette, who produced about 7 wins.
Camby told the LA Daily News: "The Clippers have some talent. They have Baron (Davis). Chris Kaman had a tremendous year. Al Thornton is going to be a good player."
By the way, last week was an article called "The Brand Value" which projects Philly to have a pretty good year.