kingofkings

"Andre Miller and Marko Jaric may end on the court together next season. "With Andre Miller and Marko Jaric, I think they're very unselfish, and they give up the ball," coach Alvin Gentry said. "Guys have a tendency to run more, try to get up the court and get easy baskets."
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Damn, no mention so far of Keyon Dooling. Obviously, the trade for Miller and the addition of Jaric will really kill his overall development and experience, from actually getting significant minutes this season.

The partial change from rebuilding to win now will also have an effect as Miller will play big minutes this season. I expect Dooling to play, when the result of the game is clear and play more in garbage time. This will not help his game at all, as the pressure of the game and intensity has gone.

From watching him in College, Dooling is one explosive guy, off the dribble. He is closer to 6"5 then 6'3 and he has enormous athleticism. If Miller was not acquired, this year, Dooling could have shown some signs of a solid future.

The ball will be in Miller's hands. The Clippers want to go for a playoff run, so they need to reduce their turnovers and keep the baskets scored on the transition to a minumum. Probably another reason that Dooling will not get much burn this season. They needed a controlled point guard, who can control the tempo and just focus on the teams plans and just focus on the things that they know are right and effective.

Maybe, Dooling can be a combo guard in the future. He certainly has the athleticism, quickness and explosiveness, to get to the rim and finish. From his college days, his ballhandling was solid, but when he was pressured by traps, he struggled to have an impact on the game.

It will just be a shame to see a guy with so much ability, struggle to get some minutes this season. He is behind Jaric and Miller already. Mix this in, with the ballhandling ability of Odom, who in his first two years of the Clippers was the guy initiating and controlling the offense and you can see, that there is no real need for Dooling at the Clippers.

I do not know what the Clippers are going to do with Dooling. But if they are not going to develop him, through playing time, maybe they need to look at packaging him up for a veteran, who can help in this playoff run.

THE'clip'SHOW

I've argued many times on this board about how good Keyon is and im so pissed that he got hurt so badly last year....
The ideal situation in my mind is to ship out pike (poor old Pike) and move Jaric to backup SG. Now you can play Dooling behind Miller.
Think about these backcourt and SF units: Dre - Q - Odom and then backing them up is Dooling - Jaric - Maggette...
I just don't see too many teams competing with these lineups, when you add in Elton and Kandi plus two very promising rookies in Wilcox and Ely?
What do you think?

__________________
Timmons:

"Nuggets confidence vs. Clippers is like Jason Biggs in American Pie when Shannon Elizabeth comes into his bed room and all Biggs can muster is wet pants. Nuggets don't want any part of the Clippers, but they'll get the whole thing "

RD

I wouldnt say the team has given up on Dooling yet.

It's hard to put him in your plans though when whether or not he can play is in serious question. He missed most of last year, all the offseason, and is going to start the year on IR. You cannot count on him for any time of contribution considering that.

Once he's healthy and ready to play, I think he'll get his chance to play. But he's a ways away from that.

I too think Dooling can be a real impact player. I think he could be an excellent contributor to this team. Miller is obviously the better player and will get most of the time at the PG spot. But, as a backup, Dooling brings everything physically that Miller does not. He is a superior athlete, has more quickness and agility, and can take it to the rack and finish. He's the perfect compliment to Miller. With Miller, Jaric, and dooling, there isn't a PG in the league the team isn't ready for. They have the size and strength to cover bigger guards, and the athleticism and quickness to cover the smaller ones.

Dooling has to be healthy for all that though, and who knows when that is going to happen.

I will say this though - There isn't enough room for Jaric, Dooling, Maggette, and Pike. Someone is going to have to go. With Miller, Q, and Odom at the 1,2, and 3, there isn't room for 4 guys to back up. I think Maggette is the odd man out, solely because of the money he's going to command on the FA market. We sorely need his defense, but not at the price he's gonna command. We can go with Dooling as the backup PG, and let Jaric and Pike take the backup 2 and 3 minutes.

kingofkings

On the subject of Andre Miller, I am not convinced that he will have the impact on the Clippers that he had on the Cavs.

One, most of his assists last season, were to guys coming off picks , in Person and Murray. He also got alot of his assists from driving and dishing to the likes of Person and Murray, who were both coming off their best shooting seasons in their careers. He was able to drive more, because the Cavs cleared out the space in the key for him to operate.

He will not get the space like he will on the Clippers, because the Clippers have Brand and Kandi, in the low blocks. As great as they are, they are at their most comfortable close to the basket. Brand especially, whereby he can get to the offensive boards and clean up, in that regard.

Miller, might have a tough time, adjusting in that regard. Also, he will have Odom, Richardson and Brand commanding the ball. Now, these guys all need the ball to be good players and effective players. So, Miller just might be forced to change his game and operate more without the ball. That is just my opinions.

Of course, he will get truckloads of assists, through fast breaks and fast transition baskets.

From what I saw of Miller last season, he was expected to carry the team and do everything, in terms of setting up the play and controlling the offense. He will not need to do that as much on the Clippers. He has better players now, who are faster and more athletic.

I expect Gentry to shake up the offense and really develop a more perimeter passing gameplan. I expect him to start the attack from the perimeter and from there, go inside, if possible. I mean last year, they had McInnis, who in my opinion was not what the Clippers needed. He looked for his own shot a bit too much and was obsessed with self preservation.They have good solid passsers, now, in Miller and a fit Odom, hopefully.

Odom, will also be expected to handle the ball and create, reducing Miller's overall full impact. Miller also needs to prove that he can hit his jump shot consistently. He loves to drive but must get more consistent from hitting his shots. But he has got better at it!

The key is the need for space in their offense. They cannot afford to block the key with Brand and Kandi, otherwise, the Clippers might struggle to score of drives and cuts and be forced to fire up jumpers, if Brand and Kandi are struggling.

Sorry, but I am pretty keen for the Clippers to do well, as I am moving back home once I graduate and expect to attend numerous Clipper games!!

RD

Miller will be fine.

Getting assists from kicking it out?

Eric Piatkowski is as good as any shooter that Cleveland had.
Q Richardson is an excellent shooter.
Marko Jaric can shoot.

And Miller will also have something he did not have in Cleveland - Big men who can shoot.

Wang ZhiZhi, Sean Rooks, and Cherokee Parks are all excellent shooters. Big men are often left open when guys penetrate, and Miller has 3 that shoot very well.

Also, having the post players like Brand and Kandi are not hinderances to Miller's assist totals. He can simply drop the ball into the post, and Kandi and Brand often make quick moves to the bucket. That's going to help him out.

Also, the Clippers are an up and down team. Miller likes to push. That creates easy assists and more oppurtunities for him.

Miller can easily put up the assist #'s he did in Cleveland because he has every option he had there, plus many more with the Clippers.
He might not put up 11 dimes a game though. But that's because he won't have to. With Jaric and Odom, he has other players on his team that will make things happen. But he could if he had to. He just doesn't have to.

Damian Necronamous

I'd like to see Keyon Dooling get traded to the Lakers, but it probably won't happen. Well, you never know.

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Chick Hearn: This game is in the refrigerator. The door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are gettin' cool, the butter's gettin' hard, and the jellooooooo's jigglin'!

Current 2008-2009 LA Lakers Roster
PG: Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic
SF: Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic
C: Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm

Unsigned Free Agents: D.J. Mbenga, Ira Newble, Coby Karl, Joe Crawford

stagsoccer

The Lakers and Clips will make a Dooling trade, though I would love to see it....

1. What do the Lakers have that the Clips would want? Shaq and Kobe are untouchable. As for the others, the guards that the Lakers have are not needed by the Clips. The forwards the Lakers have are not as good as the forwards the Clips have. The only possibility could be Fox. Fox has said that if he traded out of the LA area, he would retire. With the injuries to Brand and Odom, there could be room for Fox, even though the Clips have Maggette and the two rookies. But the Lakers do not have any depth at the SF position to speak of, and a trade of Fox would leave them hurting there big time.....Fisher has too big a salary for the CLips and he is not as good as Miller and probably not as good as Jaric either...So there is noone that could fill the bill. In addion, the Lakers will finish too high to have any meaningful draft picks plus the Clips are so young that they need vets, not draft picks.....

2. No La team wants to trade with the other for fear that the trade might help the other team. They both are LA teams and view each other as the competition for the almighty dollar. (Especially Sterling, who did not even think that Brand was worth more than $60 million...the tightwad).......

Just my opinions..........