Welcome Bradley Beal

I mean... maybe I should add a "?" after welcome, but Beal is headed to LA (as a replacement for Norm?)

Not sure if this is the most uplifting news, but it is news nonetheless...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/bradley-beal-reportedly-reaches-buyout-with-suns-to-sign-deal-with-clippers/ar-AA1IJdPi?

"plans to join the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year, $11 million deal with a player option"

Looks like another one of those time line deals. This team is full of old dudes so they're bringing in another one then they'll all expire at once and we'll make another run at FA's

If these older guys are healthy, we can be good because we have depth to absorb minor injuries and little bit of load management.

I am looking forward for the next season with more enthusiasm than this past season.

There was chatter that we might get CP3 also but I would say a firm NO to him and instead sign Jordan Miller. That guy has lot of upside if nurtured properly.

Go Clippers!!!

100% it is... are we happy about it? Can he replace Norm's production and heart (and rhythm with teammates?)

ESPN coverage:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45755171/bradley-beal-agrees-buyout-suns-join-clippers

At this point, Norm is the better player but we at least got JC for Norm and Beal for pretty much nothing so from purely a transaction standpoint, it's a plus

From a age of roster standpoint, it's a negative

I had a feeling the Clippers were going to do this. They have committed to Kawhi and placed faith in him for the remainder of his time here. The team won't be good enough to even make the Western Conference finals, but it will be a 1st or second round playoff team that will be fun to watch. I just hope that in 2027, when we unload Kawhi and Harden, we abandon the super team approach. It's just more risky nowadays. It seems more of a strategy that worked best before the CBA.

100%

I guess, I wonder if you thing we are better off?

The plan was always in plain sight and kind of obvious...

We won't be good enough to make a run? I think we will be in the mix.

I think the West is very tricky and a lot of these "hype" teams can get crushed by a wrong match up. So I think we just need to set ourselves up to match up well with few teams and hope for some luck.

I like Norm a lot more than Beal, but not sure how much more a Beal + Collins combo would net.

Believe it or not, I think we're slightly better off. Just not to the point where they can win it though

Boo! I enjoy guys trying hard in summer league to the bunch of old loafers we have on the main squad.

Summer league hustlers rarely amount to anything in the postseason... respectfully disagree.

I get the sentiment, but we are not on that track right now.

Right now it is not even a mix of young & veteran... it is really a bit of veteran & veteran.

So we give up summer league mixtape highlights in hopes for post season hardware!

It appears the FO was receptive to the fans persistent complaints that the team is old. They replaced Norm with Beal who is one month younger than Norm!😉

On a serious note, I would say yes in a heartbeat if the offseason deals gets us Collins + Lopez + Beal while losing only one impact player like Norm. I loved Norm and his production but we got Beal to replace his scoring ability + some defense for very cheap.

Given the fact they are older, but keeping in view the depth we have, we should make some noise in the tough WC.

On a side note, Beal was courted hard by several high profile teams including Heat, Wolves, Bucks and LAL but chose us. That is heartening to see how we are flourishing in spite of being in the shadows of the L-Word team.

This buyout market signings did not pan out well for us but hope this one is an exception.

I gotta say, our FO isn't perfect. I did not like the trade deadline deals last season. I felt we got worse as Bogie never did anything in the POs, and we gave away Mann. But man, do they keep pulling rabbits out of hats in the off seasons.

From the analysis I heard, we're gonna twilight the next 2 seasons and are setting up for a blockbuster 2027 when Harden and Leonard's contracts expire ready to target free agents. GO Clips!

I think we are poised to surprise people this coming season. If we can manage to have minimal absences from our stars and earn a top seed, we might just make it to the 2nd round. This past year we suffered with injuries to Kawhi and Norm.

We were not bad. Denver was frieking championship status and we were right there, Game 7, one of the games we lost at the buzzer. West is just crazy man!!!!

I think this is the right thought process...

I am sorry, Norm clears Beal in every way if he plays like he did last season (and Beal plays the way he played last season). Offense and defense. He is more efficient, gives more effort, needs the ball less, and does more. But Beal CAN be a lot sharper offensively (maybe playing with Harden will help).

Just trying to imagine how adding Collins will change the dynamic on the floor. More excited for that addition.

I think we've got enough to hang with the big dogs of the NBA. A chance... that's all we need. Even if we're not favorites, we're in the conversation.

Whoa, what does this local former player have against us? Never mind that he has some of the worst takes around. Calling out paying customers like this is just bush league

Good post. I agree on some points. What these moves were, were great moves considering the limited financial means that we had. I like the moves. However, what concerns me is that we are now one of the oldest teams in the league. We didn't become a contender, but what we did do was add depth to be better prepared for injury. We will essentially be a 4-5 seeded team with a first or second round out. We are essentially just trying to get lucky in Kawhi's last two years.

But one thing I might push back against is that we are better than our record because of a seven game series against Denver. Denver wasn't championship status. Denver was a second round out, and that doesn't bode well for our standing. That being said, I think the next two years will at least be palatable until we finally move on from Kawhi, which I can't wait for.

This is probably yet another person who has fallen victim to the ESPN Lakers' propaganda.

That too

And what does the jersey part mean. If Clipper fans are so bad, why does he care about getting a jersey in the first place?

Running along Rodeo Drive isn't Ballmer's MO

Beal is actually still really good and efficient offensively. The issue is he is even more injury prone than kawhi, which is hard to do.

Okay, I see what we're doing. We're gonna run an old team that is more in line with James and Kawhi.

I doubt they want to play with a bunch of unfamiliar young guys they can't relate to very well.

At least this way, these guys are all closer in draft classes. In that sense, they can give it everything for a season.

If the cards line up injury wise, and we extend our rotation... and guys from our GLeague team spot us here n' there....

.....barring anything crazy (fingers crossed), we should be able to make a legit push for a title. This is our shot.

We have paint protection, scoring, rebounders, POA defenders, wing stoppers, and some hot/cold shooters.

Just need to fill the remaining roster out, and here we go. Bradley Beal... DO YOUR JOB...

...cause nobody cares about how Mark Bartelstein says you do your job. Just get it done...

pretty positive about things, wish we kept Coffey.

As I'm watching film on Beal, I really like that he doesn't seem to rely on only shooting the three. He earns his points not just from beyond the arc, but the midrange and in the paint as well. I'm kind of anxious to see how he fits on the team.

Yea, I was thinking the same thing... but maybe we can get Kawhi accustomed to the outside?

Not sure how its going to look.

wait - what happened with Coffey?

he's a free agent

Yea well I guess he can still come back if the numbers work?

Salaries, roster spots, tax aprons... I really have zero grip on any of this stuff anymore... just gonna wait to see the roster on opening night.

If he wants more money and another team offers it, he's earned the right! Love the guy.

The best way that I can summarize it is the Clippers are hard capped at the 1st apron due to using the entire MLE as they split it between Lopez and Beal

The 1st apron is at $195.7 million

After signing CP3, they will be right at that number and due to being hard capped, won't be able to sign anyone else so I guess it's so long to the brew meister, caffeine supreme and Coffey to the cup...

Welp... saw this post a little late. And kinda bummed. Coffey was a hard worker and an efficient player.

Oh I forgot...the brim reaper

Actually, I just saw that the Clippers can still sign him. I used to be a capologist but I'm rusty nowadays on how some of the machinations of the more recent cba's work. I know that teams are hard capped when they use the full mid level. They have done that by splitting the MLE between Lopez and Beal.

That leaves two possibilities here. One is that the site that I'm using for salaries is off and have the Clips a lot closer to the 1st apron/hard cap then they actually are

The 2nd possibility is that the apron doesn't account for minimum salaries. Maybe teams can exceed the apron if they are just signing minimum salary free agents. Regardless, I'm hearing that he can be brought back. I'm guessing this 2nd possibility of a minimum salary contract is what's at play. Maybe he's shopped around and can't find a buyer although I think he'd be a great fit in Brooklyn with their cap space. If only minimum contracts are at play, he's best off staying here because at least now he'll have bird rights

I'd love to have him back. Playing with CP3 may be a nice 1-2 backcourt

So I've been on a twitter/X exchange with Keith Smith, author of spotrac and about as dependable a capologist as you'll find and he's pretty much saying that you cannot exceed the hard cap for any reason. That would mean that Coffey is out of the question unfortunately

That’s a bummer…I love Coffey more than anyone on the team. He used to produce as well in spite of Ty putting him at irregular intervals…was always ready for the assignment. Will root for that guy no matter where he plays and wish him the best!

this is a GREAT assessment of Coffey and nails EXACTLY how I feel about him.

Gonna be tough to see him donning the colors of another team - he will get nothing but love from me!

Beal offered CP3 the jersey number and I think that is a HUGE sign of respect.

I don't know... I am warming up to the idea of Beal (even though I still think Norm was a tough loss).

This groups "veteran" status may be a great thing in some ways.

Don't think I posted the ESPN cover of the transaction - graded it as a B+: July 16: Bradley Beal agrees to buyout with Suns, to join Clippers LA Clippers agreed to a reported two-year, $11 million contract with guard Bradley Beal Grade: B+ The Clippers have finally completed the second step in the plan we anticipated when they traded starting shooting guard Norman Powell to the Miami Heat last week in a deal that netted forward/center John Collins. With an open position in their lineup alongside James Harden in the backcourt, the Clippers became an obvious landing spot for Beal whenever he completed a....

Definitely nice to have Beal with the loss of Powell, though this seemed to be the plan all along. Beal should be a slight upgrade over Norman especially in terms of rebounding and vision.

Great debate. One can go back and forth on whether Beal or Norm is a slight upgrade, but one thing is clear: Beal at only 5.5 million per year and as a replacement of Norm is amazing.

This... even though it is not my money, cap space and all... for the rest of the roster.

We can thank the Lakers for these very tight salary cap restrictions. Although they'll never admit it, I'm sure the league was tired of the Lakers treating the rest of the league like their farm system and presenting players with a boat load of money. Nevertheless, the cap restrictions are a good idea. I love to see that in the past four years we have seen Denver and OKC win one. I think it's bringing more parity. Back to the topic, the Clippers seems to have a lot of believers in both the legacy media and independent media.

The moves we made were amazing. Some focus on the loss of Norman Powell, but based on how great he was playing, he was about to get a payday that we wouldn't be able to match. Trading him for John Collins gave us a player that would strengthen the PF position. People forget how Aaron Gordon singe-handedly killed us in that series. Then we add a backup big in Brook Lopez, a floor general in CP, and Beal, who at worst can come close to re-producing Norm's offensive numbers at worst but may be even better at best. The offseason was magnificent. Lastly, I think the only player we have on the books beyond 2027 is Zubac, who is our youngest guy. This will allow us to retool and potentially bring in two free agents for that 2027 class. If there was ever a team that made lemonade out of lemons, it is the Clippers.

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The FO is too stupid to re sign him

Yep. The tight restrictions give everyone a shot. It's good for the Clippers though because they have an owner who will have no problem exceeding the 2nd apron if need be. The trick is getting the right players in the first place to justify going over the apron. They didn't get it right with 213 but let's see what happens with this upcoming team

I saw this upcoming team rebranded from 2-13... to 1-2-3

Saw it on reddit, thought it was quite clever.