Realizing just how special, fun and profitable it can be to build a team around Blake Griffin, the Clippers are really going for it by making the type of bold moves that big market teams do regularly. 

On Monday, the Clippers matched a four-year $43 million offer sheet DeAndre Jordan had signed with the Warriors and then completed a successful bid on the amnestied Chauncey Billups for just over $2 million. Both moves, major in their own way, were made in the backdrop of Chris Paul trade talks.

The Clippers were involved with RealGM’s three top Wiretaps, something we commented on Twitter as never happening in our 11 years doing this.

Due to the excellence of Griffin, the prospect of Eric Gordon as one of the NBA’s best shooting guards, cap space and a variety of intriguing convertible assets, the Clippers are on the verge of morphing into a playoff team in 2012 and a legitimate contender in 2013.

Losing Jordan, who has moments of remarkable ability and potential, was not something the Clippers could afford. A ten-digit annual price tag for a player who has virtually no shot at developing into an All-Star is absolutely obscene, but this is the simple cost of doing business with seven-footers. The Clippers at least didn’t bid against themselves and will always be able to say that at least one other team was this foolish if it turns into one of those signature bad contracts.

I don’t expect that to happen, however. For the Clippers, but not for the Warriors or any other team that considered Jordan, the risk of not being fiscally aggressive with him was too enormous not to make this commitment.

Jordan’s most special skill is clearly his athleticism and body control in the air, where he is already one of the NBA’s best shotblockers and finishers. Jordan ranked fifth in the entire NBA in block percentage and eighth in offensive rebound percentage while converting his field goal attempts at a 68.6% clip.

The frontcourt combination of Griffin and Jordan is a ton of athleticism for teams to go up against when trying to score. They are both still learning the nuance of playing NBA defense, but they both at least contest and rebound everything within reason.

The vast majority of his shot attempts are of course at the rim and he’s a liability at the line, but the Clippers’ offense is designed to run through Griffin and Gordon. Jordan’s role on offense is to make his opponent pay for leaving him to help on Griffin and to run the break, especially those he triggers with a block. In a perfect world, Jordan would have some respectability in the post and a little face-up game for when he’s on the floor without Griffin, but that simply isn’t a realistic outcome. He works hard on his post moves with Marc Iavaroni before each game and may eventually have a little jump hook, but Jordan will mostly be a one-note Johnny for his career.

Grade for Clippers on Jordan: B

Jordan loves being on this team and playing with his close friend Griffin. He signed that offer sheet with the Warriors with the clear hope that it would be matched by the Clippers.

He has a much better shot at living up to the new expectations with Griffin and the Clippers than he could have possibly done with the Warriors. Griffin complements him on the floor and he complements Griffin both on the floor and in the locker room where he is more outgoing and protective of one of the NBA’s most prized young superstars.

Grade for Jordan: A

The winning bid for Billups was surprising, only because the Clippers had so many other balls in the air and that it would simply be something too unpredictable to move forward on.  The Clippers lacked depth at point guard since Eric Bledsoe won’t be back from injury for at least a month and Mo Williams is hardly the type of player a playoff team would want to be on the floor for much more than 25 minutes per night.

With Billups, the Clippers have another strong three-point shooter who can be an effective player without the ball with Gordon handling it so frequently. Throwing away his out of character threats following the Knicks’ decision to amnesty him, Billups has remarkable intangibles that will prove invaluable for a young team that will be playing a lot of close games.

The addition of Paul makes the backcourt situation appear very crowded with Billups, Randy Foye and Williams sharing the reserve minutes behind Paul and Gordon. But Paul has had a lot of his best success sharing a backcourt with a second point guard, whether it has been Speedy Claxton, Jannero Pargo or Jarrett Jack. There should be enough minutes for Billups to be satisfied and not too many where he gets worn down with the accelerated schedule.

The price is right for the Clippers and the fact that this is a destination Billups can tolerate tells everyone how far the franchise has come ever since Griffin’s knee healed.

Grade for Clippers on Billups: A

Billups surely would have preferred to end up double-dipping salary-wise with the Heat, where a return to the Finals seems likely without him and would have been practically guaranteed with him. But he has an opportunity to make a real difference with the way this situation develops and be that missing ingredient in a way that reminds the Clippers of Sam Cassell’s impact on their 2006 run.

One note as far as the Knicks are concerned is that Billups will be unable to hurt them as he could have if he ended up with Miami or Orlando.

Grade for Billups: B-