When the Clippers lost Cole Aldrich early in free agency, it wasn't much of a surprise. He had a stellar season and a contract above the MLE, which was the most the Clippers could have offered, was pretty likely--especially when Timofey Mozgov got an absurd 4-year, $64 million deal, setting the market for centers at an unprecedented high level.
The hope for the Clippers, after using their exceptions to shore up the small forward position with Wesley Johnson and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, was that they'd be successful in bargain bin hunting at other positions.