Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – The Clippers improved their roster more than any team in the NBA this offseason.
At least, that’s what ESPN staff writer Bradford Doolittle believes, using projected wins above replacement as the measuring stick.
Doolittle took an in-depth look at the teams that appeared on paper to have changed the most since last season’s end, with the Clippers leading the group. The findings were based more on respective rotations and 10-man depth charts than the end-of-the-bench roster slots and younger players around the league who won’t have much of an impact on the 2015-16 season.
Wins Above Replacement, or WARP, is an intricate statistic that attempts to evaluate and measure the value of a player on a team against average players. In the end, Doolittle had the Clippers at No. 1 with 14.7 WARP gained thanks to their additions, headlined by Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith, and their ability to retain DeAndre Jordan and Austin Rivers. The No. 2 team on the list, the Hornets, only gained 8.5 WARP.
At one point, the Clippers’ offseason looked bleak, with Jordan appearing to head to Dallas and little cap room available to put pieces around Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. In the end, Jordan stayed, and the Clippers managed to bolster their bench with key pieces despite not having much room to do so.
Pierce, Stephenson, Smith and Wesley Johnson have all entered the mix at the forward spots. Doolittle said Pierce is a major upgrade at small forward who’s proved the last two seasons “he can produce exceptional value as a role player.”
Doolittle called the Clippers’ starting five “off-the-charts” good, and while it remains to be seen how the bench group will fit together, the Clippers have put themselves in a solid position entering the 2015-16 season.
Here’s the full ESPN Insider article, for those who have the access. The Clippers were listed as the most improved team this offseason based on WARP, followed by the Hornets and Mavericks.
And for another offseason report card, CBSSports.com’s James Herbert is taking a team-by-team look at the 2015 NBA offseason for 10 weeks. Here’s his Clippers edition, discussing how much better they got this offseason and their ability to compete for a title.