So, the Clippers themselves aren’t in the playoffs this year, but there are a bunch of former Clippers still playing- but for other teams. Benoit Benjamin isn’t one of them. nor is Gary Grant. (That surprised me too)
If you’re jonesin’ to see some former Clippers, you can check out some of these guys play:
Eddie House and Mikki Moore (on the Celtics) – They both have Game 7 on Sunday against Orlando. The Celts are having some issues without KG and his intensity in the series, but Rajon Rondo is unconscious with having close to a triple-double about every game nowadays. If he can duplicate what I had him do in a video game/simulated Game 7, he’s going to have an unprecedented Triple-Triple. (Maybe I stacked the deck a bit when I turned off injuries and fouls and played Rondo against a bad ball-handler who I pulled from another team and put on the Magic. I also replaced Dwight Howard with Truck Robinson from the 1970’s team. Yeah, I thought 122 steals was a lot too.)
Maybe House can diagnose himself more than is his 8 points a game and Boston gets past the Magic.
Jason Hart (Nuggets) – even though Hart only averages about a point or two a game, the Nuggets are rolling and they clinched their first Western Conference Finals berth since 1985 with a win over Dallas last Wednesday. Hart is also from Los Angeles (Inglewood High) and once played for the Asheville Altitude in the NBDL. True Story.
James Singleton (Dallas) – well, now that I realize it, you can’t watch Singleton play in the playoffs anymore. Unless you Tivo’d last Wednesday’s Denver game and planned to watch it this weekend. If that’s the case, then I’m not sure who won and make sure to unread the JASON HART thing above. Or you can watch a John Singleton movie instead. Like Shaft maybe. That’s pretty fun.
Von Wafer and Brent Barry (Rockets) – Wafer played for the Clippers in 2006-07 and Barry played for them in his first years in the league between 1995 and 1998 – then he went to Miami, Chicago, Seattle, San Antonio then Houston. Like most of the players on this list, neither guy play very much for their respective teams – but if the Game 7 on Sunday is a runaway in either direction, I’ll bet money that Barry and Wafer will come in and play a bit. You can catch Barry’s brother on ESPN as an analyst. Also, totally unrelated but still relevant, Halle Berry was pretty cool in Swordfish.
Lamar Odom and Josh Powell (Lakers) – Odom is by far the most active former-Clipper now in the playoffs. Lamar was the first-round pick in 1999 and has played for the Clippers and Miami as well as for the Lakers. He’s averaging 15 points and over 10.1 rebounds a game for the team and had 16 points and 13 rebounds in Game Three against the Rockets and 14 rebounds in Thursday nights loss. A valuable part of the Laker team, he assists on both ends of the floor – particularly when Bynum was out with an injury. Powell is not as valuable, but did score his playoff high 10 points in the win in Game Five. Granted, it was a 40 point win, but had he not played at all, it would have been a more threatening 30 point victory. Those ten points made a big difference.
Look for your ex-Clippers on a television near you throughout the playoffs.
