Daluo is very good, but he is not suitable for the Clippers!

On the first day of the opening of the free market, the Clippers unexpectedly signed Lopez with a two-year 18 million contract, which supplemented the team's substitute center loopholes, and also brought the team a high-speed turret with both frame protection and external firepower.

From a certain perspective, this signing and the Clippers are quite consistent, but at the moment, the contract seems to be a bit too late, and Lopez is also a little too old.

From the perspective of player abilities, Daluo's characteristics are high-quality puzzle players without doubt. He may be the best center signing in the top three levels after the Clippers Kajiao era. Even though in recent years, with the collapse of the Bucks' defensive system, Daluo has been continuously pulled to the periphery by the defenders and has been targeted, thus losing its original advantage in the frame protection.

But the Clippers' defensive system is already accustomed to the center hitting the bottom and defending the penalty area, and he has an external defense line that can cover up his shortcomings; in addition, Daluo's peripheral firepower cannot be ignored. In recent years, he averaged nearly 5 three-point shots and his shooting percentage can also be at the level of 35%. Both quality and quantity are sufficiently guaranteed, and can provide offensive options other than Zubac. Especially in the Clippers, there are backcourt players like Dunn who are not smart in three-pointers, and they need high-speed turrets like Daluo to liberate the space.

From the new season, the Clippers should still use Zubac as the main center and use Daluo to fill the remaining inside rotation time, and at the same time, it can also allow Batum to return to the fourth position and make the forward rotation more abundant.

As far as this signing is concerned, Daluo has indeed strengthened it just right, basically an impeccable choice in the free market this summer. But the problem is that the Clippers only have a full middle class this year, but they spend most of the credit limit on the 37-year-old veteran and have not really accumulated the assets needed for the team to the next stage. This signing directly made the Clippers, whose average age had reached the third highest in the league last season, become older.

Previously, the team's general manager Frank said that the team does not intend to break through the first level upper limit, and will mainly choose to operate close to the edge of the tax line and maintain combat effectiveness as much as possible within limited resources. But judging from the results last year, even though the Clippers' performance exceeded expectations, they ended up in the first round. Leonard and Harden's core combat power is obviously not enough to support the championship. Unless a third star player can be recruited, it will be difficult for the Clippers to have something to do with the championship.

Choosing to sign Daluo is more like raising the team's lower limit floor. Referring to his and Zubac's center combination, it is likely to be the top inside rotation in the league. It may have a chance to help the Clippers break through the first round, but it is still not enough to support the team to become a real championship contender. And considering that Daluo may soon enter a semi-deferred state, this is not an option worthy of long-term investment.

From the perspective of short-term adaptability, I personally hope that the Clippers can win some younger Mesozoic players, such as Jones Jr. last season, which can not only be used as bargaining chips, but also a long-term partner who is worthy of opening the Clippers to give a second contract after the contract is over.

This summer, the Clippers have a full middle class in their hands, and their salary can be controlled under the safe conditions of signing first and then changing. Judging from the situation in the free market, they actually have sufficient opportunities to pursue high-quality combat power such as Alexander Walker and Bruce Brown. Although these people provide less value than Daluo in the short term, they are also high-quality rotation players, and even have a longer service life.

According to the current situation of the Clippers, although the team boss expressed his unwillingness to rebuild, they can basically only gradually reorganize the lineup. Last season, they have successfully optimized part of the salary space to ensure that there is a huge salary space in hand in the summer of 2027.

But even if the Clippers can really sign two super stars at once, they still need to support a group of reliable rotational combat power within the remaining salary quota. However, in this list, except for Zubac, the team is still a young rotation that lacks long-term value, and there are not enough draft picks to sign in the next trade in the future.

Taking 2019 as an example, the Clippers cleared out the salary space for the naked Leonard in the summer of that year, and held a large number of draft chips to trade George. At the same time, they also retained a number of high-quality rotations such as Beverly, Harrell, Luway, and Zubac, and finally built the Clippers, which were later regarded as the favorite to compete for the championship. Now, the Clippers have cleared the space again, but the assets they left behind are far inferior to those of the past.

From this perspective, the Clippers' choice to sign Daluo is not bad, and Daluo's players are not low. However, at the same time, the Clippers should be able to make some more valuable choices for the future, rather than paying full attention to the current short-term benefits.