Los Angeles Clippers Season Going Down the Toilet Because of Awful Bench

There are couple certainties in life: Death, taxes and the Los Angeles Clippers will have the NBA’s worst bench.

Head coach Vinny Del Negro is in for a long, Excedrin-filled season because his Clippers are 0-2 after a 109-91 loss to the Golden State Warriors Friday, not because of his starters played bad, but because everyone else did.

And it's not his fault. The Clippers drafted and started the free-agency signing period without him.

Del Negro must have been happy to coach veteran point guard Baron Davis, USA national team member Eric Gordon, rookie sensation Blake Griffin and All-Star Chris Kaman, but the horrendously awful bench is another story.

Besides Rasual Butler, who I believe should be starting instead of Ryan Gomes, no Clippers player scored higher than eight points this season. In fact, I'll bet Del Negro put Butler on the bench because because he is the only player that can score 10-plus points per game besides the starters.

If you switched Butler and Gomes in the lineup and then add up all the new bench points total (40), it shows the Clippers' starters scored nearly 80 percent of the total points this season (179).

I know the Clippers cleared massive cap space to desperately lure LeBron James to Hollywood, but in the process failed to sign—or re-sign—key free agents afterwards.

Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw came to the Clippers in a trade for Marcus Camby last season. Both played well for the Clippers with Blake averaging 6.1 assists and Outlaw averaging 1.2 three pointers per game. But the team—or should I say owner Donald Sterling's checkbook—had no intention of retaining key role players.

Instead, Clippers signed Randy Foye and Gomes to replace them.

Actually, if you look at the entire bench, it looks more like it's filled with random players to fulfill the minimum 15-man roster rather than filling the team's needs.

The Clippers had an opportunity over the summer to sign a point guard like Nate Robinson, someone who could've clearly scored over 15 points per game off the bench. Clippers could've kept UCLA-great Jordan Farmar in L.A. who played four years for the Lakers, too.

Clippers could've brought back Quentin Richardson, a former Clipper who was beloved by its fans, or taken a flyer on veteran Tracy McGrady (I'm guessing McGrady's summer workout/tryout must've been awful because he would've been a wonderful mentor for first-round lottery-pick Al-Faroq Aminu).

And what about Warriors' Dorell Wright who torched the Clippers for a game-high 24 points with six three pointers Friday?

Whether Sterling's checkbook caused this or not, the fact is the Clippers' bench, well, sucks.

Now Del Negro's squad play the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder next and may start a season filled with high hopes with five losses.

Until the Clippers visit the New Orleans Hornets on Nov. 9, I can't foresee Del Negro winning his first game this season.

Thanks, Clippers front office, for giving its fans and players another sure-to-be-disappointing season.

I hope Del Negro's contract came in with a provision for unlimited supply of Excedrin and Pepto-Bismol because he is going to need it.