Paper Clips Rule At Staples Center

In some ways, a basketball team is like a painting. Our eye tends to be drawn to the grand flourishes, but sometimes it’s the finishing touches that make all the difference.This summer, for instance, our eyes were drawn to Miami after the Heat acquired Shaquille O’Neal from the Lakers and to Houston after its blockbuster trade with Orlando for Tracy McGrady. Yet it may have been one of the big losers in the offseason superstar sweepstakes – the Clippers, spurned by Kobe Bryant – who ended up having one of the best offseasons.Everything is relative, of course, and with a perennial doormat like the Clippers, expectations are always a bit lower. Yet the offseason additions made by L.A.’s general manager, Elgin Baylor, have allowed the Clippers to turn the corner and make a wholly unexpected playoff run.To review, the Clippers lost the Kobe sweepstakes after being so certain they were going to lure Bryant from the Lakers that they traded Eddie House and Melvin Ely to the Bobcats in order to clear cap room. Prior to that, they had also opened up cap space by swapping draft picks with Charlotte in return for dumping Peja Drobnjak’s contract – essentially, they traded Emeka Okafor for Shaun Livingston. Since Okafor has been monstrously good thus far, it’s far from a trifling footnote.As it turns out, Kobe’s cold shoulder didn’t turn out to be the deadly blow that most predicted, and credit for this should go entirely to the much-maligned Baylor. With his cheapskate owner having no intention of using his remaining cap space, Baylor executed several maneuvers to keep the Clippers’ heads above water.When ownership balked at matching an offer sheet for Quentin Richardson, Baylor filled the spot by acquiring impending free agent Kerry Kittles from New Jersey. The Clippers have been winning thus far even with Kittles on the shelf, but he’ll fill an important role and do it at least as well as Richardson would have.Better yet, this summer Kittles will leave a salary cap spot behind that the Clippers will need to re-sign breakout star Bobby Simmons. Simmons doesn’t count on Baylor’s slate for 2004 but he was a brilliant signing the year before after the Wizards inexcusably gave up on him. Just 24 years old, Simmons is averaging 16.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 55.3% shooting from the floor. He’s also tough as nails and might be the team’s best defender.With the frontcourt depth looking like a disaster area, Baylor pulled off the most underrated addition of the summer by inking center Mikki Moore to a one-year deal. Moore is one of those guys who has bounced around for years, but the key difference is that he’s played well everywhere he’s been – he just got labeled a journeyman and never had a chance to prove otherwise. With the Clips, he’s become the top scorer off the bench while shooting 60.4%. He could end up taking over the starting center spot from undersized Chris Wilcox.Backup point guard also looked like a concern, especially with Livingston coming to the pros straight from high school (Livingston is going to be awesome, by the way, just not this year). Last year this position killed the Clippers, with uberscrubs like Doug Overton seeing crunch-time minutes.This time, Baylor reached into the scrap heap for Rick Brunson, another guy who has bounced around despite playing reasonably well at most of his stops. Last year, for instance, he averaged 8.0 assists per 40 minutes while splitting time between Chicago and Toronto. Additionally, Brunson brings several subtle skills to the table: He never turns the ball over, rebounds well for a guard, plays solid defense, and at 6-foot-4 is big enough to guard bigger players if need be.Thus far, Brunson has stabilized the backcourt by posting a nearly 5:1 assist-turnover ratio while handing out a stellar 10.2 assists per 40 minutes. In a league where a lesser player like Kevin Ollie can get a five-year, $15 million deal, it befuddles me that Brunson has been so underappreciated. Baylor took advantage of the market’s oversight.With the formerly awful bench no longer killing the Clippers, the five quality starters – All-Star-caliber forwards Corey Maggette and Elton Brand, high-flying Wilcox, and guards Simmons and Marko Jaric – are in a position to win games.Not surprisingly, the Clippers were 10-7 on the young season heading into last night’s game against Charlotte. Eight of the 10 wins have been by double-figures, including a 30-point pasting of Northwest-leading Seattle and a 12-point cruise past Central-leading Cleveland.The irony of the situation will become fully apparent on Saturday. In that game, the Clippers – presumably at 11-7 – will play “host” to Bryant’s Laker team at their shared Staples Center home. There’s no doubt who’s the better team, and it’s not the one we assumed at the start of the season.Bryant’s Lakers also sit at 10-7, but built that mark against a series of patsies. In fact, only two of the wins have come against teams with more than four wins on the season. Coming off last week’s embarrassing loss to the Bulls, the Lakers now face a brutal month-and-a-half. This week, they begin a six-game stretch in which the Clippers are the worst opponent of the bunch. After a brief lull that includes Christmas against Shaq, they head into a January blitz in which 11 of the 15 opponents are on the good side of .500. At the end of that month, this team could easily be under .500.Barring a serious injury to Brand or Maggette, the same can’t be said of the Clippers. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that even in the talent-laden West, there’s no reason to expect this team to miss the playoffs, and Baylor’s offseason additions are the reason. Bryant may have spurned Baylor and the Clippers, but surprisingly, the forlorn Paper Clips are having the last laugh.

Paper Clips Rule At Staples Center

More from the New York Sun

Can America End Tehran’s Nuclear Aspirations Without Boots on the Ground?

CBS News Reporter Who Denounced MAGA ‘Lies’ About 2020 Election Quits Over Network’s Balanced January 6 Coverage: Report

Democrats To Introduce Legislation Explicitly Banning Prediction Markets Related to War and Death

‘CNN Is Not a Serious Organization’: Embattled Network Denounced for Sympathetic Coverage of ISIS Terror Suspects

‘Say Nothing’: Gerry Adams, Alleged IRA Commander, Dons Bulletproof Vest, Denies Ordering Bombings That Shook Britain

Apple News Makes Tiny Increase in Conservative Publications Featured on Top Stories List After Pressure from Trump Administration

American Missiles Pulled From South Korea To Buttress Campaign Against Iran

Extracting Enchantment From the Austen and Brontë Production Industries