NBA Rumors: Clippers Continue to Steal Show in LA with Play on J.R. Smith

The Lake Show has devolved into the Lame Show and that leaves the Los Angeles Clippers to pick up the slack as they continue to better their squad. 

The Lakers need a guard to help with Derek Fisher who is on the wrong side of washed up and Steve Blake who is bound to get re-injured at any moment. 

But please, don't rock that Lakers boat too much. The zenith in LA basketball seems perfectly fine to bide their time as the ship slowly sinks further into mediocrity. 

And then there are the lovable Clippers. Well, they are your lovable Clippers. I actually grew up hating anything that was remotely tied to the LA junior varsity team, but even I can't ignore the shine that is washing over Donald Sterling's boys right now. 

The cherry on top of the roster acquisition sundae is J.R. Smith who could soon follow Kenyon Martin to Clipper-Ville to collect lobs and quite possibly dish them out. Pardon me while I tend to the acid reflux that came after writing that sentence. 

Sigh...

The Clippers continue to get stronger and will solidify the bench help if they do indeed land J.R. Smith as ESPN's Marc Stein reports. 

Stein quotes Chris Paul who is tickled confidant that the Clippers would soon land one of the last remaining free agents of note. The other would be Gilbert Arenas who is currently panhandling for an NBA job right now. 

Paul stated on the chances of landing Smith: 

"

I think our chances are very high. Who knows J.R. better than me?

"

Counter this with Ben Bolch of the LA Times reporting the Lakers are lukewarm on the latest workout of Arenas that was said to have been explosive. 

Bolch writes: 

"

Although General Manager Mitch Kupchak attended a workout involving Arenas on Sunday at a Bel-Air practice court, a person familiar with the organization's thinking but not authorized to discuss it publicly said the Lakers did not have serious interest in signing the three-time All-Star.

"

The Lakers will try to go with what they have until something falls in their lap. The Clippers will fight and claw by adding as much talent as they can. 

My head is spinning as I try to figure out what happened to the Los Angeles I grew up to love and adore. Up is down, left is right and the Clippers are beating the Lakers in every way imaginable. 

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