Evidently, 77% of you think the Zach Randolph trade was good for the Clips, and local and national media outlets largely share the same opinion.

Kevin Arnovitz at Clipperblog, also at ESPN: "For the Clippers, moving Randolph isn't just about clearing minutes -- it allows the franchise to press rewind on what was a diastrous cultural acquisition in Randolph."

BIll Simmons: Dunleavy turns Z-Bo into Q's expiring deal for 8 mill less + copious 2010 cap space? All is forgiven! Red Auerbach lives!"

Steve Perrin at Clips Nation: "Frankly it's about as good as the Clippers could have hoped for...they'll clear cap space for the 2010 off season when some huge names are going to become free agents."

Interestingly, though, only 38% of national fans think the Clippers got the better of the trade, according to a poll by Foxsports.

You saw Ramona's post about the Zach Randolph trade. Now let us know what you think of it:

Make room for Blake Griffin.

On Wednesday the Clippers agreed to a deal that would send starting power forward Zach Randolph to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for guard Quentin Richardson, according to an NBA source with knowledge of the deal, thus clearing the way for Griffin, the No. 1 overall pick in last week's draft.

Due to league rules, the deal can not be completed until next week.

Randolph was the team's leading scorer and second-leading rebounder last season. He averaged 20.9 points and 9.4 rebounds in 39 games after coming over in a midseason trade with the New York Knicks.

When the Clippers won the lottery however, there was no longer room in the frontcourt for Randolph, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby and now Griffin, a 6-foot-10 power forward.

The deal also creates an interesting homecoming with Richardson, who played four seasons with the Clippers from 2000-04, before signing a rich free agent contract with the Phoenix Suns.

Richardson averaged 10.2 points for the New York Knicks last season, but was shipped to Memphis in a draft-day trade for Darko Milicic.

The Clippers also benefit financially from the deal, getting out from under the $33 million owed to Randolph over the next two seasons, while taking back only Richardson's $9 million salary next season.

Because of the difference in Randolph and Richardson's salaries, the Clippers also receive an $8 million trade exception, which they can use later.

Randolph's agent Raymond Brothers said that his client was disappointed to learn of the deal, because he felt he had found an NBA home with the Clippers.

``It's tough getting traded but that's part of this business,'' Brothers said. ``It's just unfortunate because Zach really felt comfortable in L.A. and felt like he'd found a home. He wanted me to thank the Clippers and (owner) Donald Sterling for the opportunity to play with them for a year.''

The two teams had discussed a deal involving Randolph on draft day,
but it fizzled, a league source said, because the Grizzlies insisted
on the Clippers taking either Marko Jaric or Greg Buckner along with
Milicic.

The Clippers insisted on taking back a player with an expiring
contract, in order to justify parting ways with a proven frontcourt
player like Randolph.

The Clippers also weren't completely sold on adding Milicic, the
former No. 2 overall pick who has had an underwhelming NBA career,
because it would've added another player to an already-crowded
frontcourt.

When the Grizzlies dealt Milicic for Richardson, it reignited trade
talks.

Richardson had the best season of his career playing for the Clippers
in 2003-04, when he averaged 17.2 points and 6.4 rebounds.

The Clippers announced in a release today that, among other moves, they have extended a qualifying offer to forward Steve Novak, making him a restricted free agent.
Curiously, forward/center Brian Skinner declined his $1.3 million option for next season; he's now an unrestricted free agent. I believe the $1.3 million is the veteran minimum for a player of his tenure (11 years.)
Guard/forward Ricky Davis exercised his $2.4 million option after a horrific season in which he shot a career-low 34% from the field in 36 games. The Clippers chose not to bring guard Alex Acker back for next season. The 26-year-old Compton native played in 18 games for the team last year and had an $800,000 team option for the 2009-2010 season.

About the trade rumors involving Zach Randolph, Olshey said:
I think my owner summed it up best: you don't give away guys averaging 20 and 10. I think the plan is, right now, not to give up a guy who's averaging 20 and 10. One of the things Blake talked about on the stage was his versatility, and we think he can guard multiple spots on the floor. The pace we want to play at, there's gonna be minutes, because guys aren't gonna be able to play 43 minutes a game flying up and down the floor, up-tempo, in attack mode all the time. Baron called the other day -- he's lost weight -- and he's working out every day, he's in phenomenal shape.

More past the jump.

Here's a couple interesting comments from Blake Griffin's parents, Tommy and Gail, at the introductory press conference Monday.

Gail Griffin, on how it felt to finally see their younger son introduced as the No. 1 pick and older son Taylor selected in the second round by the Phoenix Suns:
"It's surreal. I think we still kind of pinch ourselves and go, is this really still happening? It's exciting. We're just absolutely elated that they're both getting to have a shot at their long-time goal, and to be able to have their very first job after college playing basketball, doing something they love. It's what parents want for their kids, it's a dream come true.

Tommy Griffin, on whether Taylor Griffin ever felt overshadowed by younger brother Blake:
"Taylor has never indicated that to us, and he has never looked like it bothered him. Matter of fact, basically, if it wasn't for Taylor, Blake wouldn't have been at OU. Taylor was the No. 1 recruiter that got Blake to say, 'I will go to OU.' "
Gail chimes in: "(Taylor) is Blake's biggest fan, and Blake is Taylor's biggest fan."

"Regarding the draft, there were a lot of people without picks that were trying to get into (the first round), and there's a point, you know, in the second round, where overpaying for a pick makes it prohibitive: you just don't get the same value. And that was a decision we made. We looked at some picks in the late first round but as we saw the way the draft was falling the guys we had targeted were all off the board.

"There are guys that we thought might be available later in the first round and those are the teams that we talked to, but when we saw the draft break, there was a run of those players, basically like 8 of the 9 guys that we had targeted that we'd acquire picks to get, were off the board.

"With the free agent market this summer, I think there's gonna be some bargains out there that we can kinda start looking for."

More to come.

More to come from it later, but in the meantime, here's an interesting blurb from Assistant GM Neil Olshey.

I asked him if the front office would be comfortable with Mike Taylor as the primary backup to Baron Davis at point guard.

"I think we would. Mike made progress during the year -- he had played off the ball in the D-League, he was more of a scorer in college, so it was a different mindset for him. I think the way the Coach wants to play -- playing up-tempo, pushing the ball, he's as quick between the baselines as any other point guard in the league -- but what we've gotta work on is his decision making and that's what we'll do in summer league. Getting an entire offseason with him, playing pickup in the gym with NBA players, the men's gym at UCLA, the open runs there, getting him more comfortable with making plays for other people, but he's got the tools. He can handle the ball, he's got speed with the ball, he can finish at the rim, so it's just a matter of him trusting and understanding that we've got big time scorers around him and he just needs to facilitate and get them the ball."

There'll be two stories on Griffin in tomorrow's paper, but in the meantime, here's a few more quotes from the 20-year-old's conference call. He spoke in short, polite sentences and didn't really expand on too many of the questions.
Read on for what we transcribed. In case you were wondering, he said he was "looking forward" to playing with the Clippers seven times. A good sign, it seems.

I text messaged Baron Davis, Al Thornton and Marcus Camby tonight to get a bit of reaction to the Clippers draft. Only Camby wrote back, which on the surface is a little surprising because Blake Griffin's presence is one of the main reasons why Camby's name keeps popping up in trade rumors. But if you know Camby -- as stand-up a guy as there is in the NBA -- it's not all that surprising.

Anyway, here's what he had to say:

``I think Blake is a tremendous young talent with a great future,'' Camby wrote. ``I feel he can really help this team and organization.''