Pierce says Clippers gave him best "championship Opportunity"

Paul Pierce said Tuesday he feels the Los Angeles Clippers give him the best shot at another title before he retires.

Though the newly re-signed DeAndre Jordan grabbed headlines after discussing his decision to return to L.A. and spurn the Dallas Mavericks at the last minute, Pierce also made a notable move, leaving the Washington Wizards after one season to join the Clippers.

Pierce, 38, is now on his third team in three seasons and chasing a second championship ring. He grew up in Inglewood, Calif. and said he saw the Clippers as an opportunity to return home and finish his career on a high note. He will also reunite with head coach Doc Rivers, with whom he won a title in Boston in 2008.

“I’m at the point in my career where it’s winding down,” Pierce told media on Tuesday during a press conference for the Clippers' free-agent signees. “I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted another opportunity to win a championship. I thought just being here would be a great fit. I’m a veteran. I could be another voice in the locker room and I can just pretty much fill any role that they need me to play.”

Josh Smith is officially a Clipper

After 2 years of having a fairly limited bench the new Clipper bench is started to round out and look much deeper than in years past. After adding essential and important pieces in Wesley Johnson, Lance Stephenson and Paul Pierce the Smith addition is latest addition in the series of free agent triumphs.

Clips snagged a one time borderline all star for the vet minimum. A bargain price. Smith was reportedly persuaded to join the Clips since his role there was perfectly carved out for him. Be the primary back-up for Blake Griffin. If Smith stayed with Houston he would have likely ended up as their third string PF.

Smith spent the first nine seasons of his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks, where he was often overlooked for All-Star consideration despite posting solid statistics across the board. He signed a four-year, $54-million contract with the Pistons in 2013 to help form a massive front line alongside Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, but the experiment was a bust Smith thrived coming off the bench in Houston and was a big part of the Rockets' comeback from a 3-1 deficit against the Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals. He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6 — nearly matching the Clippers' 15 points in the quarter —as the Rockets rallied from a 19-point deficit to tie the series.Smith then collected 15 points in Game 7, helping Houston become just the ninth team in NBA history to win a series after trailing three games to one. This is a great pickup of for a rejuvenated Clipper bench.

Rivers Returns to Clips

The Clippers made it clear after the season ended they wanted to bring back both DeAndre Jordan and Austin Rivers.

That job is now complete, as the Clippers re-signed Rivers on Monday, just a few days after finalizing Jordan’s new deal to stay in Los Angeles.

Rivers averaged 7.1 points, two rebounds and 1.7 assists in 41 games last season for the Clippers, who received Rivers in a three-way trade midway through last season, sending Reggie Bullock to the Suns and Chris Douglas-Roberts and a 2017 second-round pick to the Celtics.

But last year’s story for Rivers was more about what he did when the regular season ended.

He put on a show more than once in the playoffs, scoring 16 points in Game 4 of the first round against the Spurs to help the Clippers win in San Antonio, and, most notably, scoring 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting to go with six rebounds in 23 minutes against the Rockets in Game 3 of the second round.

Rivers, who had never played in the postseason before last season, averaged 8.4 points on 43.8 percent shooting from the floor and 37.1 percent shooting from 3-point range in 14 playoff games.

Clippers add Cole Aldrich

 The Clippers’ Kansas connection continues to run deeper.

After bolstering the depth at the small forward spot with former Kansas Jayhawk Paul Pierce, the Clippers moved on to big-man depth by adding former Jayhawk center Cole Aldrich.

Aldrich averaged 5.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season for the Knicks, posting career highs in both categories.

Much like recent Clippers signee Wesley Johnson, Aldrich was a coveted pick from the 2010 NBA Draft. Aldrich went No. 11 overall, getting his draft rights traded from New Orleans to Oklahoma City, where he spent his first two seasons in the league.

DeAndre reverses decision, decides to sign with Clips!!!

DeAndre Jordan, after verbally agreeing to a four-year max deal with the Dallas Mavericks last week, has made an about-face, re-signing with the Los Angeles Clippers in a deal ESPN sources say was completed Thursday morning shortly after midnight ET at his house in Houston.

The contract with the Clippers also is a four-year max deal that will be worth an estimated $88 million, sources told ESPN. Jordan can opt out after three years.

The Clippers quickly confirmed the deal with tweet.

LA ClippersVerified account‏@LAClippers

Home is where your is. #WelcomeHomeDJ

A Clippers contingent that included coach/team president Doc Rivers, owner Steve Ballmer and star teammates Chris Paul and Blake Griffin descended en masse on Houston to get Jordan back, meeting him at his house.

Several of the Clippers contingent remained after the end of the meeting, staying until he was to sign the deal, which the center was first able to do at 12:01 a.m. ET Thursday when a leaguewide moratorium was lifted.

The meeting didn't last long, a source said. The group talked about the issues at hand, and then the atmosphere changed to resemble a locker-room scene, including cards and video games.

New Clipper Paul Pierce and veteran guard J.J. Redick also were among those to join Wednesday's meeting, sources said, with Pierce tweeting a photo of what appeared to be Jordan signing the deal.

DeAndre reportedly completely shut out the Mavs during the process and made no attempts to respond to texts or calls from Cuban or Parsons.

 Sources told ESPN that the unprecedented fluidity of Jordan's free agency had convinced the Clippers they needed to stay at Jordan's side until he formally signed the new contract, given that Jordan had already changed his mind once in this process.

Jordan had verbally committed to the Mavericks for a four-year, $80-plus million max deal.

A Clippers source said Jordan initiated his change of heart a few days ago.

"He reached out to us and said, 'I changed my mind.' There was no convincing here," the source said.

Jordan was scheduled to leave on a 10-day Caribbean cruise Thursday.

Cuban and lead Mavericks recruiter Chandler Parsons arrived Wednesday in Houston along with Jordan's primary agents from Relativity Sports -- Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana -- who sources say were excluded from the Clippers' early-evening meeting with their client, although Akana was present during the signing.

Sources said Jordan reached out to Griffin and Rivers on Monday to say he had changed his mind about joining Dallas, prompting L.A.'s late push.

Free agents are traditionally considered off-limits once they strike verbal agreements with teams during the NBA's annual moratorium period.

Paul cut short a Caribbean vacation with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to make the meeting.

Paul was emotional during the meeting, a source in the room told ESPN's Chris Broussard. Paul told Jordan he had no idea he felt negatively about him and that he thought they were "brothers."

Paul said he'd work to get Jordan more involved in the offense and that the Clippers couldn't move forward without him.

Cuban arrived in Houston on Wednesday as Dallas tried to fend off the Clippers' threat, sources said. The Mavs, sources said, had been promised another face-to-face meeting with Jordan at some point Wednesday before he made a final decision.

On Monday, though, Jordan had called Griffin and said he'd been having second thoughts about his decision over the weekend. Griffin urged him to call Rivers, who then began calling Clippers players and organizing a meeting Wednesday, in the hopes of getting Jordan to change his mind before the league wide moratorium ended.

Griffin flew to Houston on Tuesday to have dinner with Jordan, sources said.

Paul -- whose reportedly strained relationship with Jordan has been pinpointed as a factor in the center's initial decision to take Dallas' offer -- was among those pushing hardest in recent days for Jordan to change his mind, sources said.

The NBA's moratorium period at the start of July every year is designed to allow the league to calculate the precise new salary-cap and luxury-tax figures for the coming season.

But teams and players are allowed to come to verbal agreements during the moratorium starting July 1. The first seven days of 2015 free agency produced a frenzy that saw roughly 70 free agents come to terms on new contracts.

This was no doubt one of the craziest, most memorable days in NBA free agency history and thankfully Clipper fans can rejoice at the days results. DJ IS STILL A CLIPPER!!!!

Former Laker Wesley Johnson agrees to sign with Clippers

The Clippers agreed on Tuesday to sign former Laker wing player Wesley Johnson on a minimum veteran contract lasting one year.

The contract cannot be officially signed until Thursday.

Johnson, who is coming off a couple fairly solid seasons in LA has always been knocked for his lack of consistency and not living up to his potential however he's a solid, athletic player with room to grow. He's coming of a season which he average 9.9 points per game and shot 35 percent from three point territory.

The Clips now have 10 players under contract but still need to add a few more bench pieces including a point guard and a back-up centre and are still in desperate need for a c=starter at the 5 due to DeAndre's departure from LA.

Deandre Jordan, Mavericks reach agreement on contract

Its a dark day for Clipperland. Deandre Jordan is leaving the Clippers for the Dallas mavericks. A public announcement, first made at ESPN.com has revealed that Jordan signed an $80 million dollar max deal contract that includes a player option after the third season.

During his 7 year tenure at the Clippers, Jordan managed to ascend to being the 3rd wheel in the Clippers pecking order behind Paul and Griffin. He became an all NBA player but clearly was fed up with being stuck in Paul; and Griffin's shadow. The chance to be a "franchise player" for the Mavs and to return to his home state of Texas seemed to much an offer to refuse for DJ. By leaving the Clippers he left more money, stability and a bigger chance to win on the table.

"I think he's going to become our best player for years to come" said Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Jordan also met with the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks but he did seem very convinced by their pitches and what they had to offer him.

Jordan finished first in the league in field goal percentage (.710) and rebounds per game (15.0) in 2014-15. He was the first player to do so in back-to-back seasons since Wilt Chamberlain in 1971-72 and 1972-73. Jordan's field goal percentage was the second-highest in NBA history behind Chamberlain's .727 in 1972-73.

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers over the past few seasons had believed in Deandre and m,entored him into the defensive force he is today but it seems Deandre wanted more than his niche roll despite being one of the best in the NBA at rebounding and rim protecting.

While Jordan averaged a career-high 11.5 points per game last season, he shot 39.7 percent from the free throw line and is a 41.7 percent shooter there for his career. "Hack-a-Jordan" has become a common practice for opponents, but the Clippers are 12-0 during the regular season when Jordan attempts 14 or more free throws.

With the Clippers losing DJ they are in  a tough situation as they have no centre and barely any money to offer a new one. The only way they may be able to do so is through a sign and trade for a player like Kosta Koufas. This is a tough blow for the Clips but if they manage to stick things out hopefully they can sign a big name player  when the cap rises after next season and move on from the loss of Deandre.