Los Angeles Clippers Warriors

Per ESPN:

The Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday identified the latest target in their recovery from the free-agent loss of Elton Brand by signing restricted free agent Kelenna Azubuike of the Golden State Warriors to an offer sheet.

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com that the Clippers -- using their estimated $3 million in salary-cap space left over after completing a trade Tuesday with the Denver Nuggets to acquire center Marcus Camby as their primary Brand replacement -- have awarded Azubuike a three-year deal worth an estimated $9 million.

And the game of musical chairs between the north and south continues...

ESPN's point of contention is that Azubuike would not receive playing time thanks to the logjam created by Monta, Maggette, Jackson, and Belinelli. Yes, Belinelli, of all people, is considered higher on the totem pole than Azubuike.

The truth of the matter is, the Warriors are not as deep as they would like to pretend. If Nellie sticks to his declaration, Monta will play the majority of his minutes as point guard, with Jackson and Maggette occupying the 2 and 3 spots, respectively. Belinelli's performance in the summer league doesn't merit the first backup position for either of the latter two.

Azubuike is a great story: kid who leaves college early to help his family, doesn't find immediate success, but works his way into a regular role on an NBA team. He rebounds well for a guard and still has room to improve. The only problem is that he has a similar skill set to Maggette's, though in a reserve role.

He's being paid as a reserve, roughly $3 million a year for 3 years. The Warriors do have cap space to sign him, as Biedrins and Monta's contract extensions are still undergoing discussion. If the Warriors sign Azubuike and Turiaf in addition to finishing up the extensions for Biedrins and Monta, they'll be hard-pressed to sign a backup point guard, as they're already over the cap.

So these questions remain:
1. Is Watson capable of handling the backup PG position?
2. If not, will the Warriors have enough money and cap space left to entice an FA point guard without hitting luxury tax?
3. If not, will the Warriors trade Al (in a package) for a point guard?