The Los Angeles Clippers are a good basketball team with a very bad bench.
Head coach Doc Rivers has done an atrocious job assembling a capable second unit. After Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Blake Griffin (injured and replaced with Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) and DeAndre Jordan come out of the game, the Clippers are stuck with the likes of Pablo Prigioni, Austin Rivers, Jamal Crawford, Cole Aldrich, Wesley Johnson and Lance Stephenson. That’s no way to compete in the NBA’s Western Conference.
With the trade deadline ending Thursday, the Clippers were rumored to be close to acquiring Orlando Magic power forward Channing Frye. Frye isn’t exactly Anthony Davis, but he’s a serviceable big man who shoots nearly 40 percent from three-point range and would thrive on the second unit, which is exactly what the Clippers need with or without Griffin.
The Clippers reportedly had a deal for Frye, at a reasonable cost of Stephenson, C.J. Wilcox and a second-rounder. But the team balked at the deal, wanting to sniff around the trade market more, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports.
The Clippers told the Magic they need until Thursday morning to decide on a deal that would send Frye to the Clippers for Lance Stephenson, C.J. Wilcox and a second-round pick, league sources said.
Woj then sent out this tweet Thursday afternoon.
And just minutes later, the Cavaliers pulled off a deal to acquire Frye, in a three-way deal with Orlando and the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Clippers had the chance to pull the trigger but didn’t want to commit.
The full deal is reportedly Frye to Cleveland, Anderson Varejao (expected to be waived) and conditional first-round pick to the Trail Blazers and Jared Cunningham (expected to be waived) and a second-rounder to Orlando.
If the cost of acquiring Frye was a second-round pick, the Clippers should be downright ashamed they didn’t make a move. The trade deadline is still ongoing, so the Clippers could still improve their bench, but if Doc Rivers doesn’t make a move and wonders why his team can’t compete against the titans of the league, someone should give him a calendar and point to this very day.