The Clippers made it to the second round of the playoffs last season, but seemed to hit a ceiling of sorts, at least with the talent that was already in place.
The team didn’t have any frontcourt depth to speak of, which was a glaring area of concern as Blake Griffin was often forced to play heavy minutes during the postseason, and when he or DeAndre Jordan were limited by foul trouble, there was simply no help available to come off the bench.
L.A. addressed that need by inking Spencer Hawes to a free agent deal this summer, and will be looking to add further depth by working out some guys later this week, all of whom could be considered reclamation projects.
From Jorge Sedano of ESPN:
Blatche is the most talented, and could provide immediate rotation help in the right situation. Attitude issues are the reason the Nets won’t be bringing him back, and the team quietly suspended Blatche back in December.
Bynum has been well-traveled lately, with stops in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Indiana not working out -- primarily due to health concerns, but there were some attitude problems with Bynum as well, at least before his departure from the Cavaliers.
Oden doesn’t have any reported issues like the previous two candidates, but he had been unable to contribute meaningful minutes for Miami last year, despite working out with the team all season long in hopes he’d be ready by the time the playoffs began.
Finally, Okafor missed all of last season due to a neck injury, and was traded to the Suns in the deal that sent Marcin Gortat to the Wizards. If healthy, he would pretty clearly be the best option out of the bunch.