Doc Rivers' last few moves have been a little questionable. (USATSI)
Doc Rivers' last few moves have been a little questionable. (USATSI)

On Thursday, it was announced that the Clippers have completed a deal they've been chasing since the weekend. The Clippers surrendered Chris Douglas-Roberts to Boston along with a second-round pick, and Reggie Bullock to the Suns. In doing so, they compromised their already perilously thin wing depth. And what did they get for this useful set of assets? 

Austin Rivers, who you may remember most notably as "one of the worst rookies of all time," and also, of course, Clippers president of basketball operations and coach Doc River's son. 

So let's deal with the elephant in the room: 

Well, it's not a great start, no.

But the bigger issue is the bigger picture, and the portrait that's forming of Doc Rivers as a GM. This is far from the first time the issue of "Doc the GM vs. Doc the Coach" has been explored. (An excellent example of this is Kevin Arnovitz's deep dive from a month ago). The Clippers have needed a wing upgrade since last summer. Instead of finding a Matt Barnes upgrade, the team went in other directions (we'll get there in a minute), and as recently as a month ago was actively looking for that missing wing component. This comes after the Clippers sent Jared Dudley to the Bucks (where Dudley has flourished and helped them into what appears to be a playoff spot lock), along with a first-round pick.

Let me make that clear by restating it in full. The Clippers are now suffering with a wing problem after surrendering a competent wing and a pick just to get rid of the guy who they traded Eric Bledsoe for along with J.J. Redick...

... and their solution is to then trade two more wings for Austin Rivers. 

I'm not even as down on Austin Rivers as others. He's a terrible shooter, that much is clear. He's shooting 39 percent from the field and 28 percent from three. But he's worked hard to become more of a game manager, more of a defender (though he still struggles with that) and he's willing to attack the rim. His instincts are good. His skills are not. He can be a useful third or fourth guard for a team. 

But there's no way to argue Rivers is a good NBA player, and it is very easy to argue he is a completely terrible player at this level. He's not competent in a specific role, he lacks significant upside, and in general, he's been a massive disappointment. 

And yet, the bigger problem lies not with Rivers' acquisition but of what they surrendered for him and the decisions that led to this point. 

In the offseason, the Clippers made overtures toward free agent Paul Pierce, currently helping the Wizards become legit. They pushed for a variety of talented and capable wings, but couldn't get a discount. That's OK, that happens. But instead of finding good fill-in options on the cheap, they committed money toward Spencer Hawes. Hawes is a decent-enough NBA player, good enough to start on bad teams. He's versatile in that he can hit threes and nimble enough to run the pick and roll. 

But he makes no sense as a fill-in for a team that lacks rim protection off the bench, that needs a sense of toughness when DeAndre Jordan sits, and whose biggest problem is defense. The Clippers actually have been better defensively with Hawes on the floor, nearly two points per 100 possessions. Unfortunately, they've been 12.4 points worse overall with him on the floor vs. off. 

Acquiring Rivers is one thing. The nepotism, not addressing the needs in the offseason, the Hawes signing, those are independently not terrible things. It's that they surrendered NBA-capable Chris Douglas-Roberts and moderate-upside asset Reggie Bullock and a pick to acquire Rivers. They got worse at their key position of need, and gave up a future asset to get a player who was inevitably going to be waived by Boston. 

Clearly, the Clippers are going bargain shopping for waived players, as they did last year under Rivers. Count on Tayshaun Prince being in the conversation, Nate Robinson is already being talked about as an addition. But ...

Oh, did I mention the Clippers are waiving Jordan Farmar who they used the mid-level exception on and who has played well for other teams in the past? 

You starting to see the Rube Goldberg machine that Rivers is building? 

It's not that trading Bullock, CDR, and a second-round pick would net something significant on the market. Even adding their biggest trade chip, Jamal Crawford would not significantly boost offers. Once they moved that first-round pick, their leverage was crushed. It's that they traded Bledsoe for a great starter and a serviceable wing who they then benched and eventually unloaded along with a pick, then tried boosting their bench with a non-bruising big and neglected the wing situation before sacrificing what little depth they had to make room for veterans who were unwanted coming into this season... 

... and Austin Rivers. 

The Clippers are still in good shape. They're 1.5 games out of third, and have wins over the Mavericks and Blazers in the last week. That first-round pick wasn't going to provide them an impact player 95 out of 100 times. They're still getting through, and they still have Crawford and his expiring contract to move, still have free agent options and more to come after the trade deadline, and still have great players. These moves being criticized are all on the peripheral. 

But it's enough to look at the big picture and be concerned. The Clippers are cap-strapped, there's only so much you can do with a top-heavy team, and yet they still need more. That's the reality of the West. It's going to take more for the Clippers to make a run at the title. And instead, the Clippers are stymied from efforts to obtain Wilson Chandler or another wing upgrade, still thin off the bench down low, and have sent three assets in order to obtain...

... Austin Rivers. 

It's enough to make you concerned about what exactly the plan, short-term and long-term, is for LA as they try and make the most of the remaining years of the Paul-Griffin tandem.