The Clippers picked 21-year old, 6’10″, 245 pound power forward Trey Tompkins with the 37th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.  Tompkins played in 30 games for Georgia last year and he averaged 31.2 minutes, 16.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.7 blocked shots per game.  In his three years in college, Tompkins played in 89 games in which he averaged 29.5 minutes, 15.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  Tompkins was the best player on the board when the Clippers picked and he will back up Blake Griffin.

The Clippers have four free agents coming into this off-season.  Center DeAndre Jordan is a restricted free agent but the Clippers have already said that they will match any offer he receives.  SG/SF Brian Cook has a player option for the 2011-12 season and I expect he will exercise it and return to the Clippers.  SF Jamario Moon will likely be allowed to walk away from the Clippers.  Forward Craig Smith is a solid backup forward but he might turn out to be a little too costly for the Clippers to want to bring back for 2010-11.

22-year old power forward sat out his first season due to injury, so he was still considered a rookie in 2010-11.  He went out and made up for lost time which resulted in him winning the 2010-11 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.  Griffin played in 82 games (all starts) for the Clippers last season and he averaged 38.0 minutes, 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.  He also shot 50.6% from the floor last year which is pretty darn impressive for a rookie.  A lot of the reason for his high FG% was the fact that he is one of the best dunkers in the entire NBA, due to the power he attacks the basket with.  He also won the Slam Dunk Championship at the All-Star Game.  Griffin’s only weakness is his free-throw shooting (64.2%) which he might be able to improve with practice.  I could see Griffin someday adding an MVP or three in his trophy case in the future to go along with his ROY Award.

The Clippers have lost starting shooting guard Eric Gordon indefinitely due to a bone chip in his wrist.  Gordon had just returned from missing 18 games due to injury.  In his two games back before he was injured again, Gordon averaged 24.5 minutes, 14.5 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.5 assists per game.  He has now played in 43 games (all starts) for the Clippers so far this year and he is averaging 37.2 minutes, 23.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  The Clippers are going to miss Gordon, but Randy Foye proved last month that he’s not chopped liver.  In 14 games in February, Randy Foye averaged 36.8 minutes, 17.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  Foye will replace Gordon in the starting lineup at shooting guard.  Foye has now played in 44 games (18 starts) overall this season for the Clippers and he is averaging 23.1 minutes, 9.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

The Clippers have bought out 31-year old SG/SF Rasual Butler.  Butler played in 41 games (2 starts) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 18.1 minutes, 5.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  Butler played in 123 games (66 starts) in his two years with the Clippers and he averaged 28.0 minutes, 9.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.  The Clippers won’t miss Butler too much as he has been nailed to the bench as of late.

The Clippers have dealt 31-year old point guard Baron Davis and a 1st round pick in 2011 to the Cleveland Cavaliers for 28-year old point guard Mo Williams and 30-year old small forward Jamario Moon.  Davis played in 43 games (35 starts) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 29.5 minutes, 12.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  He played in 183 games (168 starts) in his 3 years with the Clippers and he averaged 33.0 minutes, 14.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  The Clippers wanted to deal Davis so bad that they had to throw in their first round pick for this season and that could come back to haunt them down the road.

Mo Williams played in 36 games (34 starts) for the Cavaliers this season and he averaged 29.6 minutes, 13.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game.  He has now played in 515 games (409 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 30.5 minutes, 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.  Williams will replace Davis as the starting point guard for the Clippers.  Jamario Moon played in 40 games (13 starts) for the Cavs this year and he averaged 19.1 minutes, 4.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  Moon has now played in 259 games (150 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 23.4 minutes, 6.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  Moon will help the Clippers off the bench the rest of this season. 

Adding their first round pick (likely to be a lottery pick) is a very high price to get rid of Baron Davis.

The Clippers have sent 21-year old rookie guard Willie Warren to the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League.  Warren has played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Clippers so far this year and he is averaging 7.3 minutes, 2.1 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  He only has played in 3 games in December, January and February in which he has averaged 2.0 minutes, 0.7 points and 0.3 assists per game.  It doesn’t make any sense for the Clippers to let Warren rust on the bench, at least he’ll get some P.T. in the D-League to try to keep sharp just in case the Clippers need him at some point the rest of the year.

The Clippers have waived 32-year old center Jarron Collins.  Collins played in 19 games (0 starts) for the Clippers this year and he was averaging 7.5 minutes, 0.8 points and 0.7 rebounds per game.  He also was only shooting 33.3% from the floor so far this year.  Hopefully this means that Chris Kaman is getting ready to return to action soon.

UPDATE:  The Clippers have re-signed Jarron Collins to a 10-day contract.  They waived him yesterday to ensure that his contract wouldn’t be guaranteed for the rest of the season.

The Los Angeles Clippers will be without backup forward Craig Smith for at least the next two weeks due to a herniated disk in his back.  Smith has played in 24 games (0 starts) for the Clippers so far this year and he is averaging 13.8 minutes, 5.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  Smith is shooting 58.3% from the floor as he has really played well behind Blake Griffin so far this year.

Starting center Chris Kaman was brought back too soon and he has re-injured himself.  He will miss a minimum of the next three weeks due to a aggravation to a bone bruise and he has a sprained right ankle.  Kaman has played in 10 games (8 starts) for the Clippers so far this year and he is averaging 26.5 minutes, 10.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  The Clippers are going to need DeAndre Jordan to step up. Jordan has played in 23 games (14 starts) for the Clippers so far this year and he is averaging 20.2 minutes, 5.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game.  Jordan is shooting 63.8% from the floor but only 42.1% from the free throw line so far this year.  Most of his shots come on putbacks and dunks.  The Clippers better give Kaman time to heal this time around because they are going to miss his all around game in the middle.