Report: Clippers sign Jeff Ayres to 10-day contract in hopes of replacing Josh Smith
The Los Angeles Clippers are planning on signing big man Jeff Ayres from the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League to a 10-day contract, according to Yahoo Sports.
Ayres will reportedly join the Clippers for their game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. The Clippers opened up the roster spot by trading reserve big man Josh Smith to the Houston Rockets on Friday.
Ayres, 28, has played five seasons in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs, winning a championship with the Spurs in 2014. He was the No. 31 overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft out of Arizona State, and has career averages of 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.1 minutes per game. Ayres was the first overall pick in the D-League draft this season, and averaged 16.3 points and 9.5 rebounds for Idaho.
In what seems to be an ongoing trend in the Chris Paul era, the Clippers have shuffled failed backup big men experiments in and out of the lineup, and then looked to trades or free agency to solve the issue.
Ayres is by no means the answer to the Clippers' lack of interior depth, but he can't be much worse than Smith, who averaged 5.7 points on 38.3 percent shooting to along with 3.9 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game -- all career-lows.
The Clippers have been functioning with only three big men all season -- Smith and his current replacement, Cole Aldrich, have never been in the rotation at the same time -- which is somewhat of an issue, despite the league trending towards small ball. The fact that Blake Griffin is still out with a partially torn quadriceps tendon makes matters worse.
No matter who they face in the postseason, the Clippers will endure a gauntlet of bruising big men, and might have the depth to keep up (that was true even with Smith, though, given his lackluster play).
Just look at the big men depth at the top of the West:
The Golden State Warriors: Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, Marreese Speights and Jason Thompson.
The San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, David West, Boris Diaw, Boban Marjanovic and Matt Bonner.
The Oklahoma City Thunder: Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Nick Collison and Mitch McGary.
The Memphis Grizzlies: Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Brandon Wright and JaMychal Green.
The Houston Rockets: Dwight Howard, Clint Capela, Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas and now Josh Smith.
All of those guys are rotation-quality big men. Smith might not have worked out in Los Angeles, but it wouldn't be that surprising if he starts producing now that he's back in Houston.
While some may be upset on head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers giving up on Smith, it seems like the writing had been on the wall for over a month. Aldrich replaced Smith in the rotation on Dec. 21 against the Thunder, and Smith has played sparingly ever since. He didn't get along with the coaching staff and some of the players, and seemed to be a negative influence in the locker room.
Much like Jordan Farmar last season, Smith and the coaching staff didn't see eye to eye on his role, and he made a fuss of it behind the scenes. Ultimately, the partnership just wasn't going to work out, and it was time for both parties to accept that fate and move on.
Ayres isn't necessarily the answer -- most of the time there's a reason why a veteran hasn't been picked up by a team, and his numbers show he's pretty limited -- but as long as he can come in and not disrupt team chemistry, he'll be doing the Clippers a greater service than Smith did.
Jovan Buha covers the NBA for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jovanbuha.
