Los Angeles Clippers: Remaining Areas Of Concern

Mar 13, 2014; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Xavier Henry (7) drives to the basket against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Perry Jones (3) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

As noted on the previous slide, the Los Angeles Clippers have zero wiggle room to add an impact player looking for more than the veteran’s minimum. Hence the questions mark.

Gone are the pipe dreams of signing Paul Pierce, Trevor Ariza or Luol Deng. Equally unavailable are the Barnes-and-Dudley sign-and-trade packages for either of these three, who have already joined Washington, Houston and Miami, respectively.

So, who’s left?

Reggie Bullock might be the only in-house option with the requisite size to guard opposing small forwards, but we saw how much he got off the bench last year.

Lance Stephenson would be an interesting, if undersized, option if Indiana could be coaxed into a deal. Both teams are at or near luxury land, so making the money work would be difficult. Not to mention Lance is a true 2-guard, something the Clippers have in spades.

Evan Turn- sorry, I blacked out.

If Doc can convince a player to go the Spencer Hawes route, taking significantly less money to be part of a championship contender, then more power to him.

Otherwise, he should consider poaching another Laker free agent. Xavier Henry, though often injured in his short career, put together a nice half-season off the bench for the piecemeal Lakers in 2013-14. Upon signing a minimum contract last September, Henry was in line for a nice payday before suffering a bone bruise in December that kept him out two months. Then, his March comeback was cut short after just 12 games by re-injuring the knee and tearing a ligament in his wrist. Henry still put up nice per 36-minute numbers: 17.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals.

One of the important themes to the Clippers offseason was to add shooting. In C.J. Wilcox, they found one of the best marksmen in the draft. They’ll also hope to gain a fully health J.J. Redick for a full season. Henry is no slouch from deep himself, despite earning the reputation as an athletic slasher type. He hit nearly 42 percent of threes in his lone year at Kansas, and hit 41 percent with New Orleans in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.

Henry isn’t blowing anyone off the court (even if he can stay on it) as a free agent acquisition, but he certainly inspires more hope than Dudley. A true fix will come midseason at the earliest, so consider this still an area of concern moving forward.