Consider the Clippers one of the many teams hoping to sign Joel Przybilla.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks also have expressed interested in the 7-foot-1, 245-pound free-agent center.
Przybilla's agent, Bill Duffy, confirmed Wednesday that the Clippers have interest in his client.
Przybilla played in just 38 games last season because of knee injuries.
March 2011 Los Angeles Clippers Wiretap
The Clippers have the ability to go deep into his rotation, maybe even as far as 10 players.
"I feel very confident in our bench," Vinny Del Negro said. "They are going to have to come out and perform well for us, not only tonight but through this difficult schedule coming up."
Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Brian Cook and Reggie Evans make up the Clippers' bench.
"I think we can do really good," Gomes said. "But it's about jelling. It's about coming in and knowing time, situation, how the game is flowing. "We have a great point guard in Mo, who pushes the tempo. I think we can be a running team in that second unit, probably not 'Lob City,' as DeAndre [Jordan] and Blake [Griffin] will be. But we can run, space the floor and guys can make open shots."
The Clippers defeated the Warriors by a final score of 105-86 in the first game of the Chris Paul-era. The Clippers had a workmanlike performance and were unable to show their new 'Lob City' identity.
"Not every game is going to be just alley-oop left and right," said Blake Griffin who scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.
"But we'll take a win. If it's like this every game and we get a win, we'll take it."
The Clippers had only two exhibition games with newcomers Paul, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler.
"I've said it over and over and over. It's going to take time. We have to feel each other out," Griffin said. "Every game's not going to be like a blowout. We're not going to jump right out of the gate.
"You saw the Heat last year, they came together with all those guys. It takes time, and that's what's going to happen with us. We just have to stay calm and use our defense to help win games."
"It's going to take some time," Billups said. "In the meantime, we could just play hard, and have a chance in the fourth quarter, I just really feel good about what we can do when got myself and C.P. out there trying to direct things. … Not a lot of teams have two of those type of guys, and I think it's an advantage for us.
"It's going to take some time but it was good to get this one out of the way."
The Knicks have the highest average ticket price of the five Christmas Day games.
Here are the averages, according to information provided by TiqIQ.com:
Celtics @ Knicks: $516.09
Bulls @ Lakers: $466.02
Heat @ Mavs: $395.97
Magic @ Thunder: $295.71
Clippers @ Warriors: $104.95
The Clippers claimed Chauncey Billups off waivers while also pursuing a trade for Chris Paul.
“My whole thing was if they were pursuing C.P., why would they get in my way?” Billups said. “When they got me, the C.P. trade was off. Then it was back on, off, back on and then, boom, they get C.P. It made me more like, ‘Why would y’all get in my way if that is what you were trying to do?’ ”
In the days since the trade, Billups has calmed down and accepted his role on a new team. Billups has a strong friendship with Paul.
“When you play two point guards like that, you have to somehow use it as an advantage,” Billups said. “Both of us have to run pick-and-rolls, incorporate what’s going on and make teams match up with us because we are going to be small in the backcourt. And I never liked playing [shooting guard], to be honest with you, because the one advantage that I always had was I was bigger and stronger than anyone at [point guard].
“Now I slide down and I’m smaller than everyone at my position. What are we going to do to that even that out? Those are things I talked to [Clippers coach] Vinny [Del Negro] about. We just got to get creative.”
Billups is expected to control the ball a lot when in the game with Paul, which could free up the latter for more scoring opportunities.
“It’s all good,” Billups said. “I’m going to do what I always do: Make the situation better than when I got here.”
Under Armour has signed Clippers center DeAndre Jordan to a multiyear endorsement deal.
Jordan joins the Bucks' Brandon Jennings, Bobcats' Kemba Walker, Grizzlies' Greivis Vasquez and Timberwolves' Derrick Williams as NBA players on the brand's endorsement roster.
Jordan will make his regular-season debut in Under Armour shoes in the Clippers-Warriors Christmas Day opener.
Kyrylo Fesenko is drawing interest from Miami, Golden State, Detroit and the Los Angeles Clippers, a source said Thursday.
The 7-foot-1, 280-pound Fesenko played four seasons with Utah, averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 132 games. He is an unrestricted free agent.
The pressure is on Vinny Del Negro to succeed with all the talent the Clippers have assembled, but, he said, it's the kind of challenge he has embraced.
"The pressure is more exciting to me than not having it because it means people think we're relevant," Del Negro said. "I take the pressure as a positive."
Four keys, Del Negro said, are for his team to hold down their opponents' field-goal percentage, strong defensive rebounding, a good assists-to-turnover ratio and "managing personalities."
"If I can do those four things and figure out how to do them well, then we should be all right," Del Negro said. "What I tell my players is that if our mental approach matches our physical ability, we will have success. That's the challenge I have as a head coach."
Chauncey Billups, once upset to be claimed after the Knicks used the amnesty clause to waive him, told NBA.com he can imagine re-signing with the Clippers as a free agent.
“I’m not going to worry about that until the summer,” he said after practice at the team’s training facility. “But I want to be in a situation where guys are ready to win. Not just win the regular season, but win in the playoffs. We’ll see how this thing shapes up, but if we continue with the mentality that we have and players keep getting better, this may be the opportunity that’s best for me.”
According to league officials, renewal rates from existing season ticket holders are coming in at the 80-plus percent range, about the same pace as at the start of last season.
“Teams have been extremely aggressive in their outreach,” said Chris Granger, executive vice president of team marketing and business operations for the NBA. “We’re happy with the pace of sales given the compressed time frame.”
The NBA has 10 of its 30 teams with 10,000 or more full-season ticket plans, the same number as last year.
While league officials would not disclose that list of teams, among the clubs reaching the 10,000 benchmark are Miami, Boston, Chicago, New York, New Orleans, and both the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers.