Welcome back to the 20th edition of Diary of a Clippers fan, where the biggest news is the selection of Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman as an All-Star replacement for injured Portland Trail Blazer Brandon Roy. Kaman’s inclusion as a reserve for the February 14th game makes him the first Clipper all star since Elton Brand in 2006 and will definitely make a lot of Clipper fans (who felt he was initially snubbed) happy.
Kaman will join teammate Eric Gordon in representing the Clippers as a participant in All-Star weekend, with Gordon set to play in the Rookie/Sophomore game and possibly in the Slam Dunk competition. While the Kaman news was a nice surprise, it comes after the Clips lost their first game of the post-Mike Dunleavy coaching era, 98-81 against the San Antonio Spurs.
NBA All-Star – So easy a Kaman can do it.
Everyone had been anxiously awaiting the chance to break free from Dunleavy’s rigorous half-court sets, including new coach Kim Hughes and point guard Baron Davis, but boy were the results ugly. As Kevin Arnovitz (ClipperBlog/ESPNLosangeles.com) pointed out in a column after the game, the transition between coaches and playing styles is rarely an easy one in the NBA. An excerpt is below:
“I hope we run like crazy,” Hughes said. “More transition, early offense attack. More of a free-flowing offense.”
In that spirit, Hughes turned the play calling over to point guard Baron Davis, who has been eager to orchestrate a more improvisational offense for the Clippers. The results of the experiment were ugly. After scoring the game’s first four points, the Clippers surrendered an 18-0 run to the Spurs and never recovered. They were unable to get good looks at the basket, when they got looks at all. The Clippers converted only eight field goals in the first half but accumulated 15 turnovers.
The team cut down on the turnovers in the second half, finishing with 21, but the damage had been done. While Davis is sure to find a rhythm without Dunleavy soon, his first game gave a glimpse of how difficult the change can be, as he finished with a game high eight turnovers in only 28 minutes of playing time.
The decision to drop Dunleavy was one that made headlines across the NBA and was the topic of plenty of conversations, including one caught caught on camera between Pardon The Interruption‘s (PTI) Michael Wilbon and ESPN NBA analyst/former player Jon Barry, in which Wilbon suggests eliminating the Clippers altogether may be the best solution. While it was a low blow, it’s probably an accurate gauge of how those outside Clipper Nation feel, which makes the Kaman news a even more satisfying given the tendency to make us the butt of all jokes.
Now we just have to cross our fingers that the Kaman who shows up is the one who can lead the break and finish with a behind the back assist to his teammate and not the one that airballs layups.
Kaman is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds a game and is of course on of the most unique (see: possibly crazy) Clippers in the last decade, so it will be interesting – to say the least – to see how All-Star weekend will turn out with all those cameras in his face. One thing is certain though, since his free time will be taken up playing basketball and not back having fun with guns in Michigan, Ford Tauruses across the country are breathing a sigh of relief.
PS, it probably wouldn’t be a smart idea to let David Stern, who chose Kaman for the game, see that video until after next Sunday, so shhhh.
-Will.
“Diary of a Clippers Fan” will be published Mondays and Thursdays during the regular season.
