Downsizing is not by choice

The Clippers are shrinking.

Up front, they are reduced to center Chris Kaman as a big man with little in reserve.

With Elton Brand and Paul Davis out because of serious injuries and Aaron Williams and Tim Thomas sidelined in the interim, the Clippers are looking for short-term answer to a big problem.

Rookie Al Thornton has shifted to fill the power forward void, and Josh Powell is receiving steady minutes for the first time this season.

And even Richie Frahm, a natural shooting guard at 6 feet 5, is receiving looks at power forward.

“We don’t have a whole lot of size right now,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “You got a 15-man roster, and you’ve got to deal with it.”

The depletion stared Dunleavy in the face at Monday morning’s shoot-around.

On one side of the practice court, Thornton and Powell worked together as the team’s post players while Kaman rested. On the other side, the team’s seven smaller players took shots.

Dunleavy said in order for a personnel move and the Clippers being allowed to add to their roster with a disabled player exception, something undesirable would have to occur: Another player would have to be out with a long-term injury.

“If one other guy would go down, which we don’t want to have happen, then we would have access,” he said.

But that also creates a problem.

“There certainly aren’t any Elton Brands out there, and we just keep going down the list of who guys are,” Dunleavy said. “There may be some guys who you want to give a try to, but there’s nobody sitting out there that you are saying ‘Oh my God, if we only had a little bit of space or something that we could go get somebody.’ Pretty much everybody is taken up.”

The answer, if there is one?

“You figure out what you are going to do and play guys and manage it and do the best you can,” Dunleavy said. “That’s pretty much what we are down to right now.”

Thomas (sore knee) and Williams (bruised wrist) said they are close to returning, possibly as soon as Wednesday when the Clippers play host to the New Orleans Hornets.

“It’s still sore,” Thomas said. “That’s the thing that’s holding me back and what I’m dealing with right now.”

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com