But the Clippers were active today, signing Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes, most recently from the Wizards and Timberwolves, respectively.

From USA Today:

The deals were announced Thursday night, shortly after LeBron James said he was leaving Cleveland for the Miami Heat. The Clippers were among the teams that made a pitch to James.

Foye, who has played for four season, averaged 10.1 points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 70 games for the Washington Wizards last season.

Gomes, who has played for five seasons, averaged 10.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in 76 games for Minnesota last season. He was traded by Minnesota to Portland on draft day last month, and was waived by the Trail Blazers on June 29.

Terms of the deals weren’t announced.

Not exactly the thrilling moves we were hoping for in free agency but I’m reserving judgement until the weekend.

The Clippers have many, many areas in desperate need of repair this off-season.

They currently only have 4 players under contract for next season, Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and DeAndre Jordan (though they do hold the “Bird Rights” for Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw) and don’t have a head coach.

After trying (and failing) to revive the team with the signing of Baron Davis two off-season s ago, the Clippers find themselves yet again needing to add a new image to the team through a new addition and figure to play a major role in this summer’s free agent bonanza.

Through some brilliant maneuvering around the trade deadline, the Clippers are in position to be key players in this summer’s free agent bonanza, where the most sought-after players would be Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

Through some horrible mismanagement over time, the Clippers are not in a position to actually land any of these sought-after players this summer.

Think about it – there is no way any player around the league is thinking, “I’ll go to the Clippers, that’s a place where I can build/cement/repair my image and get some numbers.” Baron and his bad attitude and the team’s historical ineptitude are major drawbacks to attracting any free agents.

But the great equalizer here is money, and the Clippers will have a LOT of it to spend this summer.

The smart business move would be to sign guys like Drew Gooden, Rasual Butler and Craig Smith, thereby giving the team some semblance of continuity. Then add a second-tier free agent or two at second-tier money, then re-sign Blake and Outlaw.

But “smart business move” and “Los Angeles Clippers” rarely find themselves in the same sentence, so why should this off-season be any different?

The worst decision the team could make would be to throw max or near-max money at guys like Rudy Gay, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson or any of the guys on the market not named James, Wade or Bosh – guys who won’t instantly  bring a boost in ticket sales or wins (and yes, that seems to be the order of priority for the Clippers).

The best decision the team could make would be, in addition to signing the aforementioned players, would be to hire a coach who can bring stability to the team and establish a presence that would be attractive to the next batch of marquee free agents (if he doesn’t sign an extension in the mean time, Kevin Durant will be an unrestricted free agent in two years. That $60 million Nike contract would be up for renewal in 2014 and could be much, much more lucrative for both parties if he was playing in LA…there’s the delusion creeping back in).

So, naturally I expect them to sign Rudy Gay to the max deal and hire another stuffed shirt as coach who will be tuned out by Christmas.

But this is a place for optimism (read: delusion), and I’m going to hope for the best this summer.

Tomorrow I’ll run down a list of head coaching candidates and my opinion on who they should hire.

I’m also working on a Mock Draft and should have it up  by Friday.