Some Mid-Level Wings to Consider

The Clippers need a wing a player - namely a small forward. After hoping Paul Pierce would be the solution, age caught up with "the Truth" and the truth was horrible. Wesley Johnson was mediocre and will likely find an above minimum contract elsewhere. Josh Smith..was interesting. So it's up to Doc Rivers to find a new option with limited resources. While the mid-level exception may be used to acquire a backup big man, there may be some small forward capable players worth considering. I say capable because Doc has shown his willingness to play Jamal Crawford at SF even though he's really a shooting guard.So I have included a couple players that really considered SGs more than SFs.

Marvin Williams: The former 2nd overall pick has been in the Association for ten years now and it's been a consistent albeit underwhelming career. He has never averaged 15 or more points a game and never became the superstar that the Atlanta Hawks thought he was capable of being. Still, his career Per36 line of 13.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists is solid. He has been probably more consistent in his career than Jeff Green. While there may be teams willing to pay Williams more than the Clippers' MLE, perhaps the allure of starting on a playoff-caliber team can help the Clippers convince Williams to take a little less.

Gerald Green: After starting his career with Doc Rivers in Boston, Green has bounced around the Association with a few good and a few bad seasons. He's an athletic scorer that regressed last year after two good seasons in Phoenix. Indicative of his ability to be productive, his 3 point shooting has been hit/miss. He may very well be available for the veteran minimum (or a small piece of the MLE) and be a Wesley Johnson kind of role player. Green probably cannot be anything more than bench depth, but

Courtney Lee: Lee has played with Doc before (2012-2013 season) and is a very good 3 point shooter - career rate of 38.4%. Last season was not particularly great for Lee, but he remained a solid shooter - .454/.378/.839, For his career, he's always been a supporting cast kind of guy with a Per36 of 12.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. Still it'd be amazing to see a shooter like Lee benefiting from the perks of Chris Paul's passes and a opposing defenses too busy dealing with players like J.J. Redick and Blake Griffin. The Clippers would be finally able to spread the court on offense with a consistent shooting threat at SF.

Evan Turner: Another former 2nd overall pick, Turner had a pretty good season with the Boston Celtics by producing a Per36 line of 13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. More importantly though, Turner produced this line while shooting 45.6% from the field - by far a career high. for a career 43.2% shooter. He remains a terrible 3 point shooter though; 24.1% last year and 30.5% career overall. Had his production been more stable throughout his career, Turner would definitely be looking to cash in comfortably this off-season. Instead, it'll be more likely up to teams to determine if they have a system that Turner can work within.

In the end, with the NBA cap ballooning from $70 million to about $92 million, it's anyone's guess how teams will spend their freshly acquired cap space. The MLE will become definitely less valuable as even fringe role players can expect pay bumps as teams frantically find people to sign. The MLE last year was $5.45 million. It should be about $5.89 million this coming year. So it remains to be seen what the MLE buying power will be.