Busy Day

Wow, it took an hour to get home from Clippers practice, which is apparently as long as it took for the Clippers to waive two guys, trade for another, and decide on who their next point guard might be.

The Clippers waived guard Fred Jones and forward Paul Davis today. The move on Jones was expected, since his contract was non-guaranteed and he injured his right foot in Sunday’s game and was expected to miss 8-10 days.

Jones said Monday that he was going to play through it, put some ice on it, whatever it takes to get back on the court. With contracts becoming guaranteed on January 7 though, that wasn’t a risk the Clippers could take.

Moral of the story: Don’t get hurt right before cut-down day.

As for Davis, I’m mildly surprised because I know the Clippers really like him and his game. He’s just the guy on the team with the non-guaranteed contract, on a team with a bunch of injuries.

Basically, the Clippers had nine healthy guys, meaning everyone has to be able to play a lot. If you’re even a little dinged up, that’s an issue. And if you’re dinged up, with a non-guaranteed contract, that’s a bad combination.

Expect the Clippers to fill those spots rapidly. They went out and traded a conditional second-round pick for Cheikh Samb, a 7-1 center on the Nuggets, and will also discuss signing another point guard.

If they decide to go in that direction, the point guard will likely be one of the guys who tried out for the Suns two weeks ago: Eddie Gill, Walker Russell, Damon Stoudemire or Troy Hudson.