Los Angeles Clippers: Will Their Bench Reconfiguration Work?

The Los Angeles Clippers are keeping the band together for at least one more season, but have they finally solved their long-standing problem with their bench?

After the many rumors suggesting that they could breakup the foundation of their roster, the Los Angeles Clippers are staying put with their core for at least another season.

In his appearance on Adrian Wojnarowski’s The Vertical podcast, Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers emphatically described how committed they are to their core comprised of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, causing any possible trade scenarios to fade into the background.

Of course, that could very well change a year from now as all three of Griffin, Paul and J.J. Redick could or will hit free agency next summer (both Paul and Griffin hold early termination options in their respective contracts for the 2017-18 season), but for now, the Clippers aren’t making changes anytime soon to their defined core.

With that set in place, the focus of the Clippers’ offseason, like many prior offseasons, has been to round out their bench and to improve their supporting cast that surrounds their starting lineup.

The Clippers have made multiple additions in hopes to achieve that goal as they have brought in forward Brandon Bass, forward Alan Anderson, guard Raymond Felton and forward-center Marreesse Speights, all on either one- or two-year minimum deals.

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In addition to that, the Clippers have also retained key holdovers from last season (or beyond, in a couple of cases) as they brought back three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Jamal Crawford, backup guard Austin Rivers, defensive stopper Luc Mbah A Moute and swingman Wesley Johnson.

While there may be one more move to follow with Paul Pierce (Pierce is reportedly planning on returning to play next season, according to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Daily News), the bulk of the Clippers’ offseason is over and we’re left waiting for the start of the season to see how everything shakes out.

However, between the players they’ve either retained, drafted or added in the last few months, is it fair to question if the Clippers have done enough to round out their bench?

It’s the age-old dilemma the Clippers have repeatedly faced in recent years and although they have done the best with what they were able to work with between the players available and the cap room they had this summer, getting the production out of their role players has proved to be tough task.

After all, there’s no better example of seeing the Clippers’ best laid plans fall short (very short, in this case) than seeing how their offseason worked out for them when it came time to play last season, with both Josh Smith and Lance Stephenson being traded midway through the year after being signed in the summer.

The examples of Smith and Stephenson could prove to be anomalies for the Clippers, but there’s a level of risk involved with many of the players the team has added and re-signed.