Roster moves prune Evans and Johnson
Wesley Johnson and Jawun Evans were nowhere to be seen when the Clippers started practice Monday morning. Within two hours, they were no longer part of the organization.
The Clippers waived Evans and traded Johnson to the New Orleans Pelicans for Alexis Ajinca, then waived Ajinca before Monday afternoon’s deadline to trim rosters to the league maximum of 15 players. The trade-andwaive not only trimmed a roster spot. It also saved the Clippers about $850,000 in salary cap room, the difference between Ajinca and Johnson’s salaries.
The Clippers’ probable starting lineup will include guards Patrick Beverley and Avery Bradley, forwards Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari and center Marcin Gortat.
Their roster includes eight guards. They carried fewer guards last season, then saw their depth ravaged by injuries that sidelined their guards for a combined 183 games.
By contrast, the club is dealing with only one injury of note, Luc Mbah a Moute’s strained right calf, entering Wednesday night’s opener against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center. The veteran forward took part in practices over the weekend and in a workout before Monday’s practice. Coach Doc Rivers expects him to play against the Nuggets, but doesn’t know for how long.
“You just don’t know his condition level, timing, it’s really hard to gauge,” Rivers said, “because as hard as we went yesterday, it’s still not an NBA game.”
In addition to the 15 players on their roster, the Clippers can utilize forward Johnathan Motley and center Angel Delgado for up to 45 days as part of the players’ two-way contracts with the team’s G-League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario.
“We can’t wait,” Gallinari said of the opener. “Preseason was good, but now it’s the regular season and it’s time to win some games.”
Bradley is shooting for a better start
After an abbreviated start to his Clippers career last season, Bradley has endured a difficult preseason.
After making 43.9% of his shots overall and 36.6% from three-point range in his career, the guard made 29.6% overall and 18.8% from beyond the arc during four preseason games.
Bradley’s style is such that he doesn’t need to score to succeed, as he’s best known as one of the league’s top perimeter defenders, yet his dip in shooting efficiency has not gone unnoticed.
“I think it’s a mixture coming back from injury, confidence a little bit,” he said. “A lot of things contribute to that. It’s my job to make sure that I continue to get in the gym and get shots up and have confidence that I’m going to make the next shot that I take.”
Bradley was acquired Jan. 29 from the Detroit Pistons in a trade that sent, among other players, Blake Griffin to the Pistons and reunited Bradley with Rivers, his coach when both were with the Boston Celtics.
Bradley played in only six games with the Clippers before sitting out 25 because of abdominal muscle injuries. Seven weeks after surgery he was shooting again.
Rivers said that he was not worried about Bradley.
“I just think we can’t forget he didn’t play last year much,” he said. “I don’t think Avery lacks confidence, so I’m not that concerned. I think that’s a group of guys, there are guys who kind of lose their confidence and you try your best to get them to the foul line or something like that, but I don’t think Avery has that issue.”