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Man, them Clippers are busy little beavers this summer. Their latest transaction involves a point guard exchange, one that will send Brevin Knight to Utah for Jason Hart. Hardly a deal that will set the NBA, the Pacific Division or even Staples Center on fire, it’s nonetheless a sneaky good move for the red, white and blue. For those who don’t remember, Hart was acquired by the Clips in March of 2007 and almost immediately began running the show, doing so for the rest of the year. His play, likely the best of his career, was a major reason the Clips, despite wallowing through an anticlimactic Western Conference semi-finals followup season, nearly made a successful push into the playoff picture.

Whether this success was the result of playing for a contract or flourishing under Mike Dunleavy, I think the Clippers got the better end of this deal. Hart may have not have gotten a ton of run in Utah- that happens when you back up Deron Williams- but I’d rather him give Baron Davis a breather than Brevin Knight, assuming the latter is even healthy (always a crap shoot) and Dunleavy has forgiven him showing up at last year’s camp looking like he went on an all-ice cream crash diet (also a crap shoot). Hart has better size, is a good defender and plays very hard. All in all, you’re talking about a solid player, no more, no less, but you can do worse than solid in a bench guy, so bully for the Clips on an upgrade, even if it’s not earth shattering.

I thought resigning Hart for the ‘08 season would have been a good call, so my “inner GM” was finally honored, if a season later.

AK

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