A lot of teams will be making moves so they cut contracts they don't want to guarantee by this Saturday. The Clipps were one of those teams.
The Clippers acquired Cheikh Samb from the Denver Nuggets today, in exchange for a conditional second round draft pick. L.A. also got some cash as part of the deal, and to make room for Samb, they opened up a couple of roster spots by waiving Paul Davis and Fred Jones.
One writer from Dime Magazine thinks there is opportunity there for the Cs. (h/t RA)
The Celtics should sign Fred Jones immediately. Seems that all the cheapo Clip Show did was give every other NBA team a look to see what Freddie still had in the tank and frankly, it was a lot (or at least enough). The Clippers decided not to pay Jones for the rest of the year and waived him today. He’s better than Tony Allen right now and Allen is essentially the C’s 6th man. By the way, the Clippers also cut Paul Davis, who is probably better than Big Baby right now as well.
I'm not sure about those evaluations (but then again I haven't scouted either player very well), but I'm sure both guys are worth at least looking at.
Something else to keep in mind. If the team wants to take a flyer on someone, they can always give the guy a 10 day contract. If he works out, great. If not, then you still leave the door open for a run at someone like Joe Smith down the road. Of course to pick up anyone, it would mean cutting a player to make room on the roster. However, I can't imagine anyone would be too broken up about making Cassell an assistant a half year early.
Update: Some more details from an LA paper (via ClipperBlog)
Fred Jones has 48 hours to clear waivers, then can sign with any team in the league. The Clippers would like to have him back. But they needed to create a little flexibility before the seventh, since they have 15 guys on the roster.
I'm told it's far more likely Jones will be back with the team than Davis, even though the Clippers like Davis and would like to have kept him around. He just got caught in a numbers game, and on a team where point guards have been dropping like flies.