NBA Trade Rumors: Clippers Should Pursue Stephen Jackson over J.R. Smith

The Los Angeles Clippers received the devastating news yesterday that their starting shooting guard, Chauncey Billups, is out for the season with a torn Achilles.

Now they need to replace him with a defensive-minded two-guard as current backup Mo Williams often plays in place of Chris Paul and Randy Foye isn’t good enough to be a starter on a championship-contending team.

They should attempt to make a run at Stephen Jackson, who has found some trouble in Milwaukee and ended up on the bench the other day.

He refused to comment on if he requested a trade, which is a solid indication that he most likely did.

Jackson is a great defender and could easily be the third-best player on an NBA Finals team. He does everything well and could help guard one of the opposition's best perimeter players.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, they are reportedly considering making a run at J.R. Smith when his contract with a Chinese basketball team expires.

This is just a terrible idea.

Smith is too much of a gunner to fit in with the emerging L.A. team that already has two players that can score seemingly at will.

Through his seven-year career, Smith averages 10.3 shots per game and 4.8 three-pointers attempted. He’s only a .428 percent shooter from the field and .371 from long range.

Jackson has put up a lot of shots as well, but he’s been the alpha dog on most of his teams throughout the years. Smith played with Carmelo Anthony for the large majority of his career and came off the bench.

S-Jax is a great player and wants to win another championship at this point in his career, not make a name for himself at the age of 33.

The Clips definitely need to explore the possibility of a trade for the disgruntled star in Milwaukee, not the gunner playing in China.