A Good Move, With More Work Ahead

Regardless of what you may have read recently, aren’t those Clippers doing great?

The perspective can vary, according to what day it is, who has just left or arrived and, of course, who is writing.

The Times’ J.A. Adande zinged them Wednesday (“Clippers Fall Behind, and It’s Only July�) for taking one step up and one step back by letting Bobby Simmons go and signing Cuttino Mobley. Indeed, they lost the player they kept saying they had to sign and replaced him with the No. 3 choice on their list of shooting guards after Ray Allen and Michael Redd.

At this point in their bedraggled history, the Clippers are not without their doubters, and the sight of one more good player bailing as soon as he can makes it seem like business as usual.

Since Elton Brand and Corey Maggette tried to get out of here before the Clippers matched their offer sheets, Simmons’ departure meant that in their 22 seasons under Donald T. Sterling, only two of their free agents, Eric Piatkowski and Ken Norman, have signed multiyear deals to stay of their own volition.

Of course, I have a different perspective (what else is new?). Mine is, “Clippers Are Doing Fine, but It’s Only July.�

This isn’t business as usual. The way it came down, they had to let Simmons go to get Mobley, the player they needed.

Simmons is getting $47 million over five years in Milwaukee -- $9.4 million a season -- a deal that sent shock waves around the league. An official with one Western team said he was glad he’d already locked up the free agent he wanted, before all the agents started trying to peg their deals to Simmons’ coup.

Simmons is a nice player, but $9.4 million?

More to the point, there’s no way he’s worth $9.4 million to the Clippers.

He and Maggette are essentially the same player, physical small forwards (Maggette is more physical and a bigger producer, Simmons a better shooter and more efficient.) It would have been nice to have both -- for depth. If both had to start -- again -- and one had to try to be a shooting guard, you’d have one reason the Clippers weren’t better last season.

Signing Simmons meant having no money to sign a front-line shooting guard, so Marko Jaric was going to be the starter or Kerry Kittles, Quinton Ross or some $2-million- to $3-million-a-year pickup such as Jon Barry.

Mobley is a front-line shooting guard, coming off his best season on three-point shots (44%) with a career scoring average of 17.1. He’s closer to 6 feet 2 than his listed 6-4, but he’s a tough defender.

He’s gritty enough to have started at the point for Houston as a rookie second-round draft choice.

Mobley’s deal starts at about $7.2 million, leaving the Clippers a $5.8-million slot, big enough to fit in one more front-line player. They think they have a shot at Bonzi Wells.

With a talented roster and Shaun Livingston, the young point guard everyone adores, they have a realistic chance to make a run at the playoffs, even in the West, where you have to be really good.

On the other hand, looking good in July means nothing, and when November rolls around, they had better show they can make this work.

This is a tender moment in their history. They have a good, young team with a respected coach, Mike Dunleavy. On the other hand, Dunleavy is in his third season after two that could be written off to rebuilding, is under contract for only four and has to show something or the knives will be unsheathed, once more.

A lot has happened to get them to this point, positive and negative.

They drafted Michael Olowokandi over Mike Bibby, to say nothing of Vince Carter (a move I supported in my role as Clipper house man). They let Olowokandi go (a move I denounced in my role as Sterling basher. The rest of my life, I’m never going to predict what will or should happen with Olowokandi or Phil Jackson.).

The important point is that at the end of the process, the Clippers have a nice team. Now, if anything is ever to change, they will have to do something.