Post by GP on Apr 27, 2008 2:17:52 GMT -5
Los Angeles, Calif.- Following the lottery on Wednesday, Los Angeles Clippers GM Galo Pesantes stood dismayed. Success with the ping pong balls had come last year when the Clippers landed the No. 3 and No. 9 picks respectively , which led them to take Josh Smith and Andris Biedrins. With a projected No. 4 pick in this year's draft, things looked good for some time.
The team was looking for an impact guard that could compliment the rest of the roster. However things did not go as planned and the Clippers dropped two spots to sixth slot in the 2004 Draft. Before the drop, the Clippers had been targeting Andre Iguodala, Luol Deng and Monta Ellis to fill their voids in the backcourt. Then with all three players gone, Pesantes decided to go with the next best thing, a versatile forward.
The Clippers ended up taking Marvin Williams, the 19-year-old swingman from North Carolina to eventually play alongside Smith, Biedrins and Darko Milicic. Although Williams had some question marks going into the draft, he seemed to have the highest ceiling of the players left on the board and the most balanced game at this point.
Williams is expected to step in and contribute for the Clippers early in his rookie season
"Marvin (Williams) is certainly a player that can allows us to be successful in the future and hopefully at our present state as well," Pesantes said. "His height and versatility create matchup problems and he still has plenty of time to develop other facets of his game."
With Williams now on board, the Clippers sport one of the tallest lineups in the league. Starting with Biedrins (7'0), Milicic (7'1), Smith (6'9), Delonte West (6'4) and Williams (6'9) will make it difficult defensively for teams but may have to slow their tempo of play to adjust a bit.
The rest of the roster also has good height with guys like Jared Jeffries, Donta Smith, Matt Bonner and Sasha Pavlovic all looking to get some time of the bench this upcoming season. However height does not mean better skills all the time or equal wins which is the goal of this year.
Later in the first round, the Clippers solidifed their backcourt depth by taking Williams' Tar Heel teammate, Rashad McCants. The shooting guard dropped due to some discerning news of his attitude but will have the oppurtunity to compete for playing time this season.
McCants was a strong value pick for Los Angeles at No. 24
"We were glad to get a guy like Rashad (McCants) so late in the draft," Pesantes added. "Besides his overall skills, we do not anticipate any problems he will create in the locker room because of his background at UNC."
Mangement also addressed some of their frontcourt needs by taking fliers on two young prospects in the second round. The first was Hakim Warrick, from Syracuse, who comes with decent ratings inside and defensively with not too much room to grow, but enough to get the job done now. The next is former Kentucky Center Randolph Morris, who seems to be a project big man at this point.
In the end, the Clippers hope with their extremely young roster, they can still be a force in the Western Conference which has a few powerhouses but no consistency from No. 1 to the No. 16 ranked team.
The team was looking for an impact guard that could compliment the rest of the roster. However things did not go as planned and the Clippers dropped two spots to sixth slot in the 2004 Draft. Before the drop, the Clippers had been targeting Andre Iguodala, Luol Deng and Monta Ellis to fill their voids in the backcourt. Then with all three players gone, Pesantes decided to go with the next best thing, a versatile forward.
The Clippers ended up taking Marvin Williams, the 19-year-old swingman from North Carolina to eventually play alongside Smith, Biedrins and Darko Milicic. Although Williams had some question marks going into the draft, he seemed to have the highest ceiling of the players left on the board and the most balanced game at this point.
Williams is expected to step in and contribute for the Clippers early in his rookie season
"Marvin (Williams) is certainly a player that can allows us to be successful in the future and hopefully at our present state as well," Pesantes said. "His height and versatility create matchup problems and he still has plenty of time to develop other facets of his game."
With Williams now on board, the Clippers sport one of the tallest lineups in the league. Starting with Biedrins (7'0), Milicic (7'1), Smith (6'9), Delonte West (6'4) and Williams (6'9) will make it difficult defensively for teams but may have to slow their tempo of play to adjust a bit.
The rest of the roster also has good height with guys like Jared Jeffries, Donta Smith, Matt Bonner and Sasha Pavlovic all looking to get some time of the bench this upcoming season. However height does not mean better skills all the time or equal wins which is the goal of this year.
Later in the first round, the Clippers solidifed their backcourt depth by taking Williams' Tar Heel teammate, Rashad McCants. The shooting guard dropped due to some discerning news of his attitude but will have the oppurtunity to compete for playing time this season.
McCants was a strong value pick for Los Angeles at No. 24
"We were glad to get a guy like Rashad (McCants) so late in the draft," Pesantes added. "Besides his overall skills, we do not anticipate any problems he will create in the locker room because of his background at UNC."
Mangement also addressed some of their frontcourt needs by taking fliers on two young prospects in the second round. The first was Hakim Warrick, from Syracuse, who comes with decent ratings inside and defensively with not too much room to grow, but enough to get the job done now. The next is former Kentucky Center Randolph Morris, who seems to be a project big man at this point.
In the end, the Clippers hope with their extremely young roster, they can still be a force in the Western Conference which has a few powerhouses but no consistency from No. 1 to the No. 16 ranked team.
