The Clippers are expecting Steve Blake, Drew Gooden and Travis Outlaw to give them good minutes the rest of the year. Blake has played in 3 games (2 starts) for the Clippers so far this season and he is averaging 29.3 minutes, 5.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. His problem has been his shooting so far as he is only hitting 35.7% of his shots from the floor for the Clippers. Drew Gooden made his Clippers’ debut last night working 28 minutes in which he scored 10 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and he stole the ball once. Travis Outlaw also made his debut last night for the Clippers as he played 16 minutes in which he scored 10 points and grabbed 1 rebound. Gooden & Outlaw helped the Clippers beat the Bobcats last night.

The Clippers got involved in a huge trade today with the Wizards and Cavs. They Clippers have acquired 28-year old power forward Drew Gooden from the Wizards in the deal. Antwan Jamison goes to Cleveland along with Sebastian Telfair from the Clippers. The Wizards get Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Cleveland’s first round pick in 2010 from the Cavs and they get Al Thornton from the Clippers. Gooden might get a lot of minutes that were going to Marcus Camby before he was traded to the Blazers earlier this week. Gooden has played in 46 games (11 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he was averaging 22.4 minutes, 8.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Gooden has now played in 556 games (407 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 27.6 minutes, 11.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Gooden’s contract is up at the end of the season so this trade will clear a lot of cap space for the Clippers. Still, I don’t like the deal for them because Al Thornton is a solid young player that they might regret getting rid of. Thornton played in 51 games (30 starts) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 27.5 minutes, 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. In three years with the Clippers, Thornton played in 201 games (128 starts) in which he averaged 30.9 minutes, 13.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. The Clippers pretty much had to trade Thornton if they wanted to get rid of Sebastian Telfair’s contract so they did it. Sebastian Telfair played in 39 games (1 start) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 14.9 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. The Clippers didn’t need Telfair anymore after acquiring Steve Blake in the Marcus Camby trade.

DeAndre Jordan and Craig Smith will likely see nice bumps in playing time due to the trade of Marcus Camby to the Blazers. Jordan has played in 40 games (6 starts) for the Clippers this season and he is averaging 12.4 minutes, 3.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. He will likely be a better rebounder and defensive player than Craig Smith. Smith however is a much better offensive player than Jordan at this point in his career. Smith has played in 50 games (0 starts) for the Clippers this season and he is averaging 16.0 minutes, 7.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

The Clippers have waived 30-year old shooting guard Ricky Davis to make room on the roster for Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake. Davis played in 36 games (2 starts) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 13.9 minutes, 4.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. The Clippers have been disappointed in Davis’ play the last two years so his release should come as no surprise. Look for him to hook on with another team before the year is over.

The Clippers have traded 35-year old power forward Marcus Camby to the Trailblazers for 29-year old point guard Steve Blake, 25-year old small forward Travis Outlaw and $3 million bucks in cold, hard cash. Camby played in 51 games (all starts) for the Clippers this year and he averaged 31.3 minutes, 7.7 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocked shots per game. Craig Smith and DeAndre Jordan will likely both see a bump in minutes with Camby out of the picture. That means that the Clippers will likely see a small bump in offensive production but Camby will be a huge loss defensively.

Steve Blake finally gives the Clippers a nice backup to Baron Davis. Blake has played in 51 games (28 starts) for the Blazers this season and he has averaged 27.4 minutes, 7.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Blake has now played in 470 games (289 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 25.6 minutes, 7.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Blake’s best asset on the court is his long range shooting as he has nailed 39% of his shots from three point range in his career. Travis Outlaw has played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Trailblazers this season and he is averaging 21.0 minutes, 9.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. He has now played in 377 games (26 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 21.6 minutes, 9.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Outlaw is a good player but he will be behind Al Thornton and Rasual Butler at small forward initially with the Clippers.

The Clippers are 21-31 on the season which has them 8.5 games behind the Trailblazers for the final spot in the Western Conference Playoffs. The Clippers have wanted to trade Camby for a while knowing (hoping) that Blake Griffin is ready to return next season. But, this trade sends the message to the players that management is waving the White Flag on this season.