Last Season’s Rank
12
|
Projected 2013/2014
Finish
3
|
|
Last
season’s Team Statistics and League Rank
|
Returning
Individual Statistical Leaders
|
|
Projected
Starters Based on Talent, Tenure, and Potential Impact:
|
Second Unit Roster Order Ranked on Talent, Tenure, and Potential Impact:
|
|
Analysis:
Last season, the Clippers followed up a magical and historical regular season after winning a franchise record 56 games while finishing first place in their division for the first time in franchise history; unfortunately, those historic achievement were dashed as they were unceremoniously eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the +Memphis Grizzlies. Before, both the team and its fans would have been more than satisfied with such a finish as historically neither party has had much to cheer about and have had their expectation set rather low; however, instead of simply taking this season as one of the small blessings that have been bestowed upon their wretched selves, both the Clippers and their fans see this as a step towards greater things. Instead of simply settling with the success of the last couple seasons, the Clippers have raised the bar yet again by restocking their roster during the off season making it far deeper and stronger than last season's team. They started the off season strong by securing the team's most important piece by signing their star point guard Chris Paul to a long term max extension thus ensuring themselves a prosperous future for this season and for seasons to come. And to ensure that Paul remains a happy camper during his six year stay, the Clippers also made a bevy of off season transactions to provide Paul a suitable supporting cast that will assure that Los Angeles have not just one, but two championship contending teams for the years ahead. First Los Angeles bade farewell to a few familar faces choosing not to re-up the contract of their head coach Vinny Del Negro, while trading away two of the team's veterans in +Eric Bledsoe and +Caron Butler. Both Butler and Bledsoe were sent to the +Phoenix Suns for swing man Jared Dudley while Del Negro, despite leading the team to its best regular season record in franchise history was unceremoniously let go in favor of a higher profile name who has two NBA Finals appearances and a championship title to his credit. In a transaction that looked more like an unprecedented trade, the +Boston Celtics released head coach Doc Rivers out of his contractual obligations to join the Clippers and in return, received a future first round pick. The acquisition of Rivers immediately elevated expectations of the the Clippers faithful while essentially legitimizing the team's claim of not only being a team to beat in the Western Conference, but also a legitimate championship contender. Along with Paul's long term commitment term commitment to the team, Doc's hiring resulted in a domino effect that led to the Clippers to acquire key pieces to their championship puzzle at a really affordable price. It was a mix of Paul's signing and Doc's arrival that enticed sharpshooting guard JJ Reddick to forgo potentially more lucrative deals from other teams to sign with the Clippers at a rather reasonable rate at just around 30$ million for four years. Reddick can prove to be one of the biggest free agent steals as he had a breakout season last year and paired with Paul could provide quite possibly one of the most potent back court scoring duos in the league. The Clippers also manged to snag a more than capable back up point guard to Paul in Darren Collison at WAY below his market value signing him for just under 3$ million for two years. Considering that Collison spent the past four years starting for such teams as the +formerly known New Orleans Hornets, +Indiana Pacers, and +Dallas Mavericks, he certainly would have commanded twice or even fives as much since the market for a capable NBA point guard is limited to say the least. Yet the Clippers manged to not only snag a starting caliber point guard in Collison, but also JJ a talented player who is both underrated and undervalued in JJ Reddick at just under 10$ million thus making the Clippers on of the biggest winners in free agency during the off season in terms of value for their dollar. Adding the acquisitions of Dudley, Reddick and Collison to the returning Jamal Crawford, who came off the bench last season to score 16.5 point per game, and Matt Barnes, who posted 11 points per game off the bench as well, the Clippers have a roster of eight players who can potentially score 10 or more points at any given time and those are just conservative numbers. With Paul's ability to push the tempo of a game at any time and with the Clippers ability to already put up plenty of points on the scoreboard last season, we may be looking at possibly the highest scoring team in the league. Let us not forget to mention that they will be guided by a rugged defensive minded coach in Doc Rivers, the Clippers can potentially become the most mercilessly intimidating force in the league on both sides of the court. Despite its wealth of talent and offensive firepower that the Clippers now posses, there seems to be a glaring weakness on the roster that can potentially bring their championship aspirations and that is their rather thin presence in the front court. With just Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to provide the production in the front court and a presence in the paint, the situation can prove quite precarious for the Clippers if one of them happen to miss a stretch of games as a result of an injury or some other unforeseen reason. What is left if ever the worst were to happen are a 38 year old Antawn Jamison, who is well beyond his prime, and Byron Mullens, a player who shot under .400 from the field last season spending most of his time on the perimeter rather than the paint, the prospects will not look very good for both the team and its fans. So luckily the powers that be will keep shining good fortune the Clippers way because they are literally an injury away from going from magnificent to mediocre in a hurry. Nonetheless, this is probably the most optimistic time to be a Clipper fan as your team's most hated rival rests in shambles while yours is on a first class ticket to the top of the Western Conference. Whether or not they go far in the post season is a whole different story as they will be three other team vying for a chance to unseat the +Miami HEAT as NBA Champions and in terms of talent and ability, those four are pretty much even. Regardless, it seems as the old habit of settling for mediocre is a thing of the past as the Clippers look to push forth a new era in excellence and to be a shining example for the league. |
||
What's on the Menu? "mmmmmm . . . Basketball!!!!"
▼
No comments:
Post a Comment