Was watching the game the other night and I thought Cole Aldrich played really well as a rim protecter. He was also a good offensive rebounder and looked VERY mobile for someone listed at 6'11 250. Then Casey mentioned it again in a podcast today. So I decided to check his stats: PER36: Advanced: Holy crap, that's a legit rim protector with good advanced stats and passes the eye test. Super unsexy pickup but totally fits Olshey's mantra of picking up undervalued guys for below market value. We probably have enough money to pick up a max/near max wing and then also sign Aldrich.
Rim protection is one thing, but we also need our C to be able to score at least a little bit when he gets the ball against a guy who's 4 inches shorter than him. Not sure that's Aldrich. But he's not a bad guy to look at if we strike out going after Whiteside/Horford/etc. Another guy to look at is Jeff Withey.
He's got a nice hook shot. 15 points per 36 minutes on 60% shooting is not bad at all. It's better than who we have at the moment by a good amount.
I know he's been a FA before, maybe more than once. Whoever signed him then got a bargain, and he's still one. Edit: I see he was a FA twice before. His current contract maxes at $1.2M if he exercises his player option.
He's opting out for sure, and the Clippers won't have too much money to spend this off-season. They certainly aren't going to blow that money on a position where they already have 80+ million tied down.
Just make sure it's not a big time player that's going to break up chemistry. We wouldn't want to take any chances.
Another undervalued UFA center to keep an eye on is Ian Mahinmi. Both of Indian’s Cs, Ian and Jordon Hill, will be UFAs this summer, which could complicate their cap space issues to keep Ian. I am not interested in Hill, but would consider going after FA Ian as plan D.
"You try so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter". You are fighting the good fight. Losing every time, though. But no one can say you're not trying.
