Additions:
DJ(let's include him lol): - Although he has some limitations when it comes to post defense against certain players, no other center in the league can average 65% FG, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks a game. It is a bit odd how people just brush off the things he can do on the court(which NO other center currently in the league can do, IMO) and nitpick the things he can't do(which, to be fair, are pretty visible and I won't go on about them). But, I digress.
Paul Pierce: Piru P is back on home turf in a long-overdue reunion with Doc. Although he is going on 38 years old, his game depends on craftiness more than athleticism, and I don't see much of a reason it will slip this year. I personally believed that had he been here last season, especially for game 6 with the Rockets, the championship would have been ours instead of the Warriors. But better late than never. He will provide a much needed reliable second perimeter scoring option next to CP3 in the clutch, and also much needed championship experience, confidence and swagger for a team that sometimes caught stage fright under the brightest lights last year.
Lance Stephenson: He had a rough season with Charlotte last year, but he is still only one season removed from being a key piece on a 55 win Indiana team. Lance is far from the me-first player everyone portrays him as, as evidenced by his 5 assists a game career average, and Doc Rivers is a master at getting even the most individualistic players to buy into the team concept. and I have no problem
Wesley Johnson: Nobody was going to be given a chance to shine on the Lakers with Kobe on the team lol. If he plays solid defense and can hit open threes, that's really all the team needs.
Josh Smith: At worst he should be able to duplicate what Big Baby brought to the team last year, which was solid defense and energy off the bench. As long as he buys in the team concept(which I'm sure he will with Doc), he will be another solid pickup.
Cole Aldrich: We really have never been able to fill that backup C role since CP3 arrived, but I think Aldrich will be the best option. He provides solid defense and rebounding, which we wanted but never got from Hawes or Mullens, and he can start in a pinch.
The Clippers had the league's second best point differential at +6.6 last year, second only to the Warriors at +10.1. This was while playing a bench with Austin Rivers, Hedo Turkoglu, Spencer Hawes, and Big Baby prominently featured. I don't have starter/bench splits off the top of my head right now, but let me just tell you, pretty much every time the Clippers' bench came in last year, the lead the starters built would be trimmed in half by the time they left, and sometimes it would be completely gone. The bench also notably almost blew a 40 point lead one game, with the starters having to come back in with the lead trimmed down to 9.
With reports out of training camp that the bench has already defeated the starters in a scrimmage game, I daresay the gap won't nearly be as big this season. Which may smell trouble for the rest of the league. This will also relieve the pressure on the starters in another way, as there won't be nearly as much onus on CP3/Blake to play 40 minutes every night in the regular season/playoffs, and they will be much fresher come playoff time, where some of the players, especially Blake, seemed to run out of gas last season.
I'll probably go over the potential playoff matchups in the next post(which I think the Clippers matchup very favorably with for all), when I have time.