Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason | Roster
Last year: 31-51, sixth in Pacific, 11th in conference
Coach/VP: Alvin Gentry/Elgin Baylor
Arena, first game: Staples Center (18,964); Nov. 2, 1999
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 886-1,624/0
Notable: Had highest scoring bench in league at 37.1 ppg

THE ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Jeff McInnis	5.5 apg	Not many assists, Dooling is a year older
SG	Eric Piatkowski	120 threes	Yes, this is guy who chose to re-sign
SF	Lamar Odom	17.2 ppg	Led team in most stats, almost assists
PF	Elton Brand	20.1 ppg	Shouldn't get 20 and 10 here, but helps
C	M. Olowokandi	1.32 bpg	Still disappointing, this is a contract year
6th	Q. Richardson	8.1 ppg	Better overall than Piatkowski
7th	Darius Miles	9.4 ppg	Great leaper, dunker, has lot to learn
8th	Corey Maggette	.462 FG	Big point-per-minute, few minutes

		Elton Brand will help the Clippers be an improved team, yet they are still questionable in the middle with Michael Olowokandi. Sean Rooks is a suitable backup, but the combination of him and Olowokandi is not good enough. Olowokandi has been a huge disappointment and must develop more this season. They keep waiting for him. Lamar Odom is a strong all-around player to go with Brand. Jeff McInnis played well for the Clippers a year ago, and should do the same this season. Coach Alvin Gentry says he will bring Darius Miles off the bench. Keyon Dooling is developing into a good player. I don't expect The Clippers will not have a bust-out year or be a playoff contender. With so many young players, their improvement will be gradual.

By Scott Howard-Cooper
Special to ESPN.com

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but.... Guess who's ready for a breakthrough?

Who's Who
The acquisition of Elton Brand not only provides the scoring threat from the post the Clippers needed, but the kind of stability they need even more. That's a big assumption given their history with free agents, but Brand will do his part, in personality and game. Even if Tyson Chandler, the high school phenom sent to the Bulls to get Brand, turns out to be a star, L.A. shouldn't be second-guessed. The reasoning was that sound.

Brand brings poise and maturity, even at age 22, and now only needs to prove he can maintain those qualities as his touches decrease with the presence of rising stars Lamar Odom, Darius Miles and, soon, Keyon Dooling as the eventual successor to Jeff McInnis at the point. Brand has already passed the tests on the court -- you say the 20.1 points of last season is watered down because it came on a bad team, we say it's more impressive because it came on a bad team, meaning defenses are able to focus on stopping one player. "I was a little shocked," Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said of Brand becoming available in June. "I don't know exactly what Chicago's role is. They might try to do what we are doing and just go with the two young guys and try to build that franchise around them. But we are ecstatic to get him. Anytime that you can get an established player in the NBA like Elton Brand who has pretty much proven himself yet is only 22 years old, I thought it was a great trade for us. Now we've got to find a way to utilize him in our system. He's a great chemistry guy and I don't think that will be a problem.

"We really didn't have that. I think the one thing that you say is that he gives us something that we lacked last year: That big body that can bang down there and do a lot of things. So I think you'll see him be one of the guys that we'll throw the ball to in the post at the end of the game. Because the one thing he can do is create double-teams."

Brand's acquisition changes the look as much as the lineup. The Clippers won't have to play the stringbeans there anymore -- Miles, Odom -- saving a beating for both and giving Gentry many more options. He can go small and play Brand, Miles and Odom together on the front line. Or he can use Miles in the backcourt, with the continued hope that he develops a jumper. Either way, Miles as a sixth man is a perfect way to take advantage of his versatility.

FANTASY SLEEPER

Jeff McInnis, PG -- McInnis closed out the final six games of last season averaging 17.8 points, 8 assists and 2.7 steals. He's surrounded by assist opportunities in Elton Brand, Lamar Odom and Darius Miles, who should be much improved in his sophomore season. And, after leading the NBA in assist:turnover ratio (3.96:1), the former second-round draft pick should finally feel the comforts of job security. Put him among your top 15 at the point.

The Big Question
The big guy is the big question. Michael Olowokandi enters his fourth season having so far developed only brief relationships with consistency. It's all the more obvious since he's a former No. 1 pick overall, but would be an issue for the Clippers under any circumstances because they need better production than 6.4 rebounds a game from their starting center.

"If Michael gives us consistent play in there and gives us a presence in there, if we could get 12 points and eight rebounds from him, I think that would be great for our team," Gentry said. "He needs to give us a physical presence because the West is such a strong situation and it's gotten a lot of big centers in here, that we have to be able to have someone to play against those guys."

Best/Worst Case Scenario
Talking about the playoffs is fair, not (more) unfounded hype. But it's still a big jump -- they finished 16 games behind Minnesota for the eighth and final spot in the West last season. Improving by 12 or 14 games would make it a successful run. Reaching the postseason on top of that would be the even-better case. The worst case? Injuries, something more like 25-28 wins, contract issues, mistakes by management. You know. Like the Clippers.

OVERRATED	UNDERRATED	TEAM MVP
Michael Olowkandi. Forget the rebs for a second, but a lame 8.5 points?	Eric Piatkowski. Gunner hits outside shot, makes 87 percent from line.	Lamar Odom. Great all-around talent shouldn't have to play all five positions.