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Robert Flom (@RichHomieFlom): Pablo Prigioni was actually a bit of a disappointment this past season. He did help to stabilize the bench unit once he started getting more playing time after Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith fizzled out, but his shooting fell off a cliff and his pesky defense wasn't as helpful as it was a few years ago.
He's still a solid enough 3rd point guard, but he isn't really necessary to the team's success. If he is really popular in the locker room or valued by Doc as a voice on the bench then by all means he should be kept on the veteran's minimum. But that's about it. If he plays a lot of minutes for the Clippers next year things will have gone very wrong.
Lucas Hann (@LJHann): Give him a few more made threes, and Pablo was who we thought he was. He was a steady hand off the bench, dreadfully passive offensively and pesky but poor defensively. I think the Clippers sort of need a guy to be at 2.5 on the point guard depth chart because of the way the roster is composed. Austin Rivers is a "2" at PG even though it isn't his natural position. Sometimes, the team really needed Prigioni to come in and run the offense like a real point guard. Other times, his inability to be a scoring threat and defensive limitations really held the team back. What else do you expect from a minimum pick-up who isn't guaranteed minutes?
I wouldn't hate to have Pablo back given the state of the point guard position in the NBA, but I'd look at a lot of other options first. I would much rather the Clippers add a younger option, or even draft a point guard prospect, to fill that "2.5" slot on the depth chart. Chris Paul and J.J. Redick are entering a contract year, Jamal Crawford is in the twilight of his career, and Austin Rivers is more of a 2 than a 1. Even if the Clippers can keep Rivers and Crawford this summer, and Paul and Redick next summer, it won't be long until they need another point guard. I wouldn't mind letting a young guy learn the system as the 2.5 point guard, and learn the position from Chris Paul.
Adithya (@brownasthenight): The 2013 Knicks are one of my all-time favorite non-Clippers teams. And Pablo Prigioni was a huge part of that, starting in 10 of 12 playoff games that year. Unfortunately, he peaked as a (35-year-old) rookie and he hasn't matched that production since. He helped the bench this year, but he wasn't nearly as positively impactful as we thought when he first cracked the rotation. As lovable a player as he is, he's well into the twilight of his career and he's likely to continue to decline going forward.
No way you can bring him back, there are definitely better options out there at the minimum. Pablo's no longer a capable defender, his offensive recalcitrance makes Rubio look like Curry, and he's limited even as a ballhandler nowadays.
Taylor Smith (@TaylorBojangles): The upcoming class of free agents isn't deep as far as backup point guards go, but I do think the Clips should be in the market for an upgrade at that spot. Austin Rivers is most definitely a two guard, and I'm not convinced age 39 Pablo Prigioni is good enough to warrant minutes on a team that considers itself to be a contender. As was the case with Luc Mbah a Moute, Pablo's hesitance to pull the trigger on wide open looks from deep seemed to bog the offense down quite a bit whenever he was out there. He's a fine facilitator, but he's not giving you much more than that on either end.
The market is thin, as mentioned, but even a guy like Mo Williams on the cheap would theoretically bring more to the table than Prigioni at this point. CP3's backup isn't necessarily a crucial position considering how many minutes he's able to eat up, but it would be preferable if the Clips could find a guy that can at least give them a little more shooting off the bench. You can bring Pablo back on a minimum deal if you strike out with some other options, but an upgrade here would be nice.