Final 2014-15 Season Grades for Every L.A. Clippers Player
We thought the ugliest part of the Los Angeles Clippers' season would be blowing a 3-1 second-round series lead to the Houston Rockets. Losing in Game 7 must've been one of the most painful feelings any team can experience.
But then we saw Spencer Hawes' vacation braids. Those were worse. Way worse.
Thankfully, report card season doesn't include requirements for any hair-related items. We know how that would go, anyway.
J.J. Redick would get an A, and we'd invent a 27th letter to give to Hawes. But player-teacher conferences are fortunately hair-free. After a 2014-15 of 56 regular-season wins for the Clippers, along with seven more in the playoffs, we're strictly talking basketball.
The End of the Bench
1 of 11
C.J. Wilcox
It would've been nice to see Wilcox get some more minutes during his rookie season. Unfortunately, that was out of the question once he started to receive the Reggie Bullock treatment at the start of the year. By the end, Wilcox had only played 101 total minutes. We don't yet know what the Clippers' 2014 first-round pick will become. Because of that, we can't properly grade out his initial NBA season.
Grade: Incomplete
Ekpe Udoh
The Clippers put themselves in a terrible position so they could sign Udoh, trading away Jared Dudley and a first-round pick to clear room for the signings of Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Udoh. Aside from some occasional threes from Turkoglu, none of that group made an impact this season. That includes Udoh, whose highlights came most often on Twitter when talking about his book club.
Grade: Incomplete
Jordan Hamilton
Hamilton is another guy who could've gotten more playing time than he actually received. The Clippers needed an athletic wing throughout the season, but Doc Rivers clearly didn't think Hamilton was the answer. The Clippers have him for a non-guaranteed total next year, so he may or may not be back come the start of 2015.
Grade: Incomplete
Dahntay Jones
Jones barely played this season, but on-court contributions weren't necessarily part of his role with the team. The Clippers brought in the wily vet midseason to help loosen up the locker room, and by all accounts, he seemed to do that. But aside from entering games during the final defensive possessions of quarters, Jones didn't make much of a pure basketball impact at all.
Grade: D
Lester Hudson
The Clippers ran through plenty of backup point guards throughout the season after starting the year with Jordan Farmar, whom they eventually waived. Austin Rivers manned some of the duties. So did Nate Robinson. They eventually ended the year with Hudson, who hadn't played in the NBA since 2012, and who didn't end up garnering many playoff minutes at all. It'd be surprising to see Hudson on the Clippers roster next season, even though he is under contract for one non-guaranteed season.
Grade: D
Spencer Hawes
2 of 11
Spencer Hawes, what to do with you?
There's an important, yet forgotten part of Hawes' year we've all conveniently let slip: Back when he signed this four-year deal with the Clippers, many actually considered it a strong get. L.A. finally got the stretchy, passing-oriented big who could play next to either Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan.
Wow! What a signing...or not.
Hawes made just 31 percent of his threes, watched his playing time dwindle all the way down nothingness come the postseason and looked generally unable to contribute during an initial season with the Clippers. His defense left loads to be desired, but that was to be expected. Hawes was supposed to help an offense, which has ranked No. 1 two years in a row, become even more dominant.
He didn't.
By the middle of the year, defenses weren't even guarding him at the three-point line because of his hesitance to shoot and his glacial release, as slow and lumbering as a drawbridge lifting for a cruise liner.
Hawes is now Rivers' new reclamation project. He has three years remaining on a cap-unfriendly deal, and the Clips don't have many assets to beautify any potential trade to unload him. He's likely going to be a Clipper again next year. The team just has to hope he reverts back to what he was with the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers before coming over to L.A.
Grade: D (or whatever the 27th letter is)
Hedo Turkoglu
3 of 11
Was there an NBA player this season who was on the receiving end of more "And then he lit up a cigar..." jokes following a made three-pointer than Turkoglu?
And that was most of what we saw Turkoglu do this year: Shoot.
Physically, Turk looked about the same this past season as he did in 2013-14, but his style did change a tad. Two years ago, we were occasionally seeing him run some pick-and-roll in bench lineups. He was facilitating occasional offense.
This year, though, he became a straight shooter. But at least he was effective within that role.
Turkoglu sank 43 percent of his threes. But he wasn't able to help in many other areas of the game—unless you get points for styling a short-sleeve shirt, of course.
Grade: C-
Glen "Big Baby" Davis
4 of 11
If you watch any Clippers game from the past year-and-a-half, there is one guarantee I can make you: You will watch Big Baby run, then fall, then lay on the ground for a time period that seems a bit exaggerated, then make a face only a maniac could.
This happens every single game. You can't miss it. It's commonly become known as the Baby on the Floor moment. (That's actually true. #BabyontheFloor is an actual hashtag.)
Davis isn't the worst defensive player given his physical limitations (he's good for taking a charge seemingly every game, one of the many times to feature a #BabyontheFloor moment). But he also provides no rim protection or shot altering. If he beats you to a spot, he can be effective, but that's the only way he's going to do it.
Davis plays hard, sets screens and understands how to play on both sides of the floor, but with a vertical so high that he can almost grab the whole net, he's not a finisher around the rim. He doesn't have the jump-shot accuracy he once did, either.
Like Turkoglu, he hits free agency after this year, but the Clippers would only bring him back on a minimum deal.
Grade: C-
Austin Rivers
5 of 11
First thing's first: Austin Rivers is overly criticized.
Rivers' actual game isn't as poor as many say. Every once in a while we'll see him go off, as happened in the postseason a few times, and he's not the worst defender on the club. But what the coach's son represents is what really gets fans going.
He became the symbol for the Doc Rivers, Front Office Era. The elder Rivers moved assets and money to bring his son into town, an unnecessary venture considering the Clippers had other needs. With all the criticism Doc had taken for his upper-management decisions, dealing for his son was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Austin has his flaws: He premeditates what he's going to do once he receives the ball instead of "taking what the defense gives to him," isn't a facilitator, gets lost defending the ball and his hit-or-miss jumper has a lot more miss than it does hit. But shooting a respectable 44-37-63 during a playoff run that saw him heavily contribute to three-plus victories will boost a grade.
Rivers will hit free agency July 1, but the Clippers can't break the bank to re-sign him. They're only able to offer him $3.1 million since the New Orleans Pelicans declined his fourth-year option when he was with them earlier in the year.
Grade: C
Jamal Crawford
6 of 11
Crawford looked like himself at the start of the year, but quickly faded as the season got going. By the end of it, he had experienced his worst stretch as a Clipper. It leaves you wondering: how much does the 35-year-old have left in the tank?
Crawford shot just 37 percent from the field and 30 percent from three after Dec. 11 and struggled even more during the playoffs after returning from a late-season calf injury which kept him out of 17 games.
He posted an unimpressive 36-24-87 postseason shooting line and was decidedly the worst player during the Clips' second-round series against the Rockets.
Still, Crawford was easily L.A.'s most productive bench player this season, which says plenty about the depth issues this team had. Still, even now, he can go off for 35 on any given night, and he'll do it in the most spectacular way possible.
It's perfectly plausible we get another electric Crawford season next year. After all, his line from 2014-15 is eerily similar to the one he put up during his sole run with the Portland Trail Blazers. That was 2011-12, a year before he signed with the Clippers, a contract many thought was a bad one for L.A. at the time.
So, a bounce-back is more than plausible. But Crawford has to fall off at some point. Maybe this is that moment.
With only one partially guaranteed year (for $1.5 million) on his deal, we'll find out exactly how much L.A. values Crawford if it uses that flexibility to try trading him. The contract becomes fully guaranteed July 1, the start of free agency.
Grade: C+
Matt Barnes
7 of 11
Matt Barnes is still good. Who saw that coming when he was drafted into the league as a second-round afterthought 13 years ago?
Now at age 35, he's a legitimate contributor to a team that won 56 games. The problem is that he just didn't fit the role in which the Clippers used him.
When Barnes initially signed his deal with the Clips, the organization likely projected him as a backup small forward. Jared Dudley was supposed to come in and be the starting 3. Barnes would come off the bench and be a quality reserve. But once Dudley played himself out of the rotation because of injury- and quality-related issues, Barnes had to step into the starting lineup.
He hasn't left since.
Keep him coming off the bench, let him contribute as a perimeter defender and occasional shooter (he actually sank 36 percent of his threes this past season even though his misses are particularly ugly) and Barnes can be one of the NBA's better backup 3s.
But throw him in a starting lineup, and you start to see the playoff adjustments like the ones the Rockets made, when Houston generally stopped defending him in the corner. Houston was more than happy to help off him when the Clippers got into the paint, and the offense struggled at times because of it. It's why we barely saw him during Game 7.
He's coming into the final season of his three-year deal. But, just like Crawford's, his contract is only partially guaranteed until it kicks into full gear July 1.
Grade: B-
J.J. Redick
8 of 11
Now, we're into the core. And make no mistake about it: The Clippers may have what's generally thought of as a "Big 3" in Paul, Griffin and Jordan, but Redick is certainly part of the core.
It seems like the Clippers shooting guard is always coming off the best year of his career. Even at age 30, he continues to improve each season.
He averaged mostly career-highs across the board in 2014-15, posting personal bests in points per game (16.4), field-goal percentage (47.7 percent), three-point percentage (43.7 percent) and three-pointers made (200) amongst others. All the while, he was the glue of the Clipper offense.
His constant movement off the ball allows L.A. to run many of the sets it prefers. He gets defenses moving, and most importantly, he makes them think. When the wrong guy follows him around a screen or when a D miscommunicates, no one takes advantage quicker than Paul, who's usually handling the ball when Redick is darting around the floor. It's the perfect combination.
There's the defense, too. No, Redick isn't anywhere close to an elite defender on the perimeter, but he is a smart guard who does a wonderful job specifically on James Harden, a potential playoff fixture in future years.
With two more seasons and about $14.4 million remaining on his deal, Redick will be sticking around, and the Clips will be better off for it.
Grade: B+
DeAndre Jordan
9 of 11
First-Team All-Defense. Third-Team All-NBA. Another rebounding title. It's safe to say this was the best season of Jordan's career.
It's hard to argue against Jordan as one of the four or five best rebounders in the NBA after another season during which he led the league in boards. And for a second straight year, as well, he took a major leap midseason.
Jordan averaged 13.7 points and 17.6 rebounds over the year's final 30 games. He pulled down an incredible 26.5 percent of available rebounds over that time period, while also turning around a Clippers defense which struggled early but eventually finished 15th in points allowed per possession.
Don't overlook Jordan's impact on the league's No. 1-ranked offense, either. Even though he doesn't shoot or create with the ball, he's still a floor spacer in his own way. One of the most threatening pick-and-roll big men in the league is always going to draw defenses into the paint upon his darts toward the rim.
He opens up the floor for shooters on the outside. He finishes at the iron. He's one of the best and most active screen setters in the NBA. And he's getting paiiiid this offseason. We're talking max-money paid.
If the Clippers lose him, they're in trouble on both sides of the ball. They better hope he appreciates his situation enough to come back.
Grade: A-
Blake Griffin
10 of 11
If Blake Griffin is going to cruise through the regular season so he can average 25.5, 12.7 and 6.1 during the playoffs every year, I think Clippers fans will take that.
Watching Griffin's regular season next year will add a new perspective to his actual game. There's no denying he coasted through the first 82 games of the year in 2014-15, and that started long before his February elbow injury.
The biggest difference between regular-season Griffin and the man who became aptly known as Playoff Blake over the past month-and-a-half was on the defensive end. After the best defensive year of his career during 2013-14, Griffin's D dropped off noticeably a season later. Now, after he propped his D back up in the playoffs, we can safely say the fall was an effort issue.
Griffin might be the closest thing the NBA has to LeBron James (aside from LeBron, of course—and maybe Kevin Durant). His facilitating, size, ball-handing, scoring, power and athleticism aren't matched by many others, and at just 26 years old, he's only getting better.
After his remarkable playoff performance this year, we might not have seen the best Blake Griffin, yet. It'll be exciting to learn the next step.
Grade: A
Chris Paul
11 of 11
Stephen Curry makes miraculous shots. Russell Westbrook blazes with cheetah speed. John Wall does the same and finishes off with 360 layups.
Then, there's Chris Paul, the man who has the reputation of "Best point guard of his generation," but who has somehow become the forgotten-about floor general of the league's elite.
Yes, he's never been to a conference final. And yes, his Clippers have been eliminated from the playoffs in heartbreaking fashion two seasons in a row (blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Rockets this year, and experiencing that Game 5 collapse in the second round against the Oklahoma City Thunder during 2014). But aside from a one-minute stretch against OKC when CP simply forgot how to play basketball, he's still been regular old Chris Paul.
The losses aren't his fault.
Paul still averaged 26.3 points and 10.3 assists on 51-35-94 shooting over the final three defeats to Houston. He played like Chris Paul during Game 7, too, going for 26 and 10 to complement his four steals during a match when most of his teammates decided not to show.
Curry might be the best point guard in the league now, but it's hard to argue CP is anything other than a top-five or -six player, as well, especially once you consider his bullish defense and the fact he actually posted one of the most efficient seasons of his career during 2014-15.
There's a reason Paul has escaped most of the "You can't win with him in the postseason" narrative even though he hasn't made it deep into the playoff bracket: It wouldn't be deserved criticism. Maybe in a year, if the Clippers are able to compile a deeper roster, he'll end the little talk there is for good.
Grade: A
Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of May 27 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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