Los Angeles Clippers helped themselves by re-signing Lou Williams

For the Los Angeles Clippers, re-signing Lou Williams to a contract extension shows their intentions with everything else moving forward.

It seems that after far too long without an identity or direction, the Los Angeles Clippers are going forward with a full head of steam. ESPN reported on Wednesday that the team and prized guard cranked out a three year deal worth $24 million.

What this might first come across is an insignificant thing to really be worried about, but the fact of the matter is that this is a big deal that concerns the rest of the NBA. By being unwilling to trade Lou Williams, who could’ve been the selling point for several teams in need of a shakeup including Cleveland, they’ve confirmed that they’re not afraid to assert themselves, even without the services of Blake Griffin.

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When it comes to the future of DeAndre Jordan, that’s a completely different story. The center who has been with LA for a while, but was the first of the big core to publicly express desire to leave, is still having to deal with his name in the rumor mill and could still be a big piece to a deadline deal getting done.

The great part about the NBA trade deadline is that we really won’t know until the last day, possibly last minutes, unless a deal comes out in the middle of the night tonight.

That being said, Williams coming off of the trade block should tell Clippers fans one thing — trading Blake Griffin gave the front office a return of confidence in their players that they desperately needed. For too long it has been a game of pointing fingers for the Clippers, but they might just be able to make things interesting with Lou Williams now being the center of attention.

Williams is not only deserving of an extension, but you could probably also argue that the Los Angeles Clippers managed to extend him for a bargain price considering the circumstances.

He is having, by far, the best scoring season of his career with 23 points per game and has out-performed his previous best scoring average from a season ago when it was in the neighborhood of 18 points per game.

Somehow, the Clippers managed to actually escape the grasp of a dramatic core headlined by Blake Griffin and Chris Paul with minimal injuries or really cause for concern. The progress they’re showing is wonderful, but the bigger issue still remains in Doc Rivers.

Even excellent, consistent play from guys like Lou Williams can’t save the Clippers completely unless they do something about who their head coach of the future is going to be.

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And if DeAndre Jordan gets the boot by tomorrow at midnight, expect the hammer to fall shortly on Doc.