Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
A message has been sent loud and clear to DeAndre Jordan. The 6-foot-11 center of the Los Angeles Clippers needs to respond, preferably with his on-the-court NBA action.
When the Clippers were talking to the Boston Celtics about Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett, Jordan’s name came up as a player going to the Celtics, along with two draft picks. The Clippers were willing to give him up.
The Celtics were not impressed with the offer and it fell through at the end.
Jordan had a poor playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies and his stock has never been lower. He averaged 3.87 points and 6.3 rebounds a game. How anyone expects to win a playoff when their starting center plays like that is hard to imagine. For the season, Jordan averaged 24.5 minutes, 8.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 shot blocks a game. He shot 64.3 percent from the floor and 38.6 percent in threes.
Jordan simply needs to get more aggressive. He started in all 82 of the Clippers regular season games and all six of the playoff games. But unless he gets more aggressive, the Clippers will have to look somewhere else for a good center. Jordan, however, can be credited with being reliable enough to start all of his team’s games, but his production needs to grow.
Last season was one of his best as a player, but certainly he needs to raise his standards a few notches if he’s to help the team be an NBA contender. But he still might be used as trade bait before the season opens.
