Sources: Mullens Agrees to Deal with LA Clippers

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo and Brad Turner of the LA Times are reporting that free agent center Byron Mullens has agreed to a two year deal with the Clippers for two million dollars with a player option for the second year.

Mullens was drafted 24th in 2009 after one year at Ohio State. He averaged 10.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in 27 minutes this year for the Charlotte Bobcats. Turner expects the signing to become final on Monday or Tuesday. (We wouldn't normally put it on the Clips Nation cover until then, but the other thread is over nine hundred comments so let's just start over, shall we?)

The Clips only have the minimum to spend so the two year deal won't be split evenly, but will go something like 850K and bump up to 1.250K the second year. At least that's my guess.

We have a pretty good idea how most of us feel about this deal already. Mullens is an inefficient but somewhat effective scorer, especially from long range, an okay rebounder, and not much of a defender. Perhaps significantly he had big games against both the Clippers and Doc River's Boston Celtics. The Clips have obviously been looking for a big with range.

I don't think it's a stretch to say the Clippers won't lack for bench points this coming season. If they can learn to play some defense, or find some heretofore unknown defensive prowess in players they already have, they could be really really good. That sounds stupid and vague but I'm trying to temper my expectations... because in reality, they could be A HELLUVA LOT BETTER than good.