Feb 9, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) talks to forward Matt Barnes (22) guard J.J. Redick (4) and center DeAndre Jordan (6) after a timeout against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Clippers
By Eli Lederman
Record: 56-26
First Round Opponent: San Antonio Spurs
Season Series: Tied 2-2
Have you ever been around that person who is just way too sensitive? Like every little thing that happens to them is an affront to their very being? And even when it’s over something inconsequential, they feel compelled to make a huge deal about it?
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the 2015 Los Angeles Clippers.
Long gone are the days of the fun to watch, easy to love, upstart, Lob City, LA Clippers. This once likable
Jan 30, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers reacts against the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half of a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Clippers 108-103. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
team has become the crotchety old man that lives next door who moans over ever little botched call or “unfair” criticism. This habit of turning minor events into major dilemmas has crescendoed with Chris Paul’s whining over referees-most notably when he called out the league’s sole female ref– and another instance in which coach Doc Rivers vehemently bashed a “negative” article about DeAndre Jordan, only to later say he never read it. This year’s Clippers team certainly has a flair for the dramatic, and not the good kind.
But hey, character flaws like these never come back to bite teams in the butt in the NBA playoffs, right?
So where do the Clippers stand now that we’ve finally reached the playoffs? Forget all of the drama and the whiny BS, does this team have what it takes to win it all?
It feels like they should. Shouldn’t any team with two all-stars, a potential all-NBA center, the reigning 6th man of the year, and one of the league’s best coaches have no trouble making the conference finals at the very least? This is a team with Chris Paul, the Danny Ocean of NBA point guards, Blake Griffin, who just last year was a major contender for MVP, and DeAndre “Contract-Year-and-he-knows-it” Jordan, who has suddenly become the second coming of Bill Russell, just ask his totally unbiased coach Doc Rivers. It truly feels as though this team should be able to contend for a title, even in the loaded Western Conference.
Trust me, this drawn-out intro isn’t just to string along hopeful LA fans (just 70% of the reason). The other shoe has to drop for this team, and for the Clippers, that other shoe comes in the form of their crushingly terrible bench.
Doc Rivers has made many enemies during his time in LA — Refs, opposing fans, even Draymond Green-but the greatest enemy of Doc Rivers the coach, is Doc Rivers the GM. Over the summer, Doc made a series of moves that did very little to improve the team and his two biggest signings, Spencer Hawes and Jordan Farmar, haven’t come close to panning out. When the highlights of your free agency additions are a 7-footer who has never averaged more than a rebound and a half per quarter, and aguard who doesn’t score, get assists or get to the line, and you’re adding them to a bench in need of rebounding and scoring, that’s an issue.
The Jared Dudley trade was also a little troubling. Dudley is exactly the type of role player the Clips need now, and they gave him up for next to nothing. But hey, when you can give up a quality role player and a future first-round pick for Carlos Delfino and Miroslav Raduljica you’ve got to do it, right?
Those moves, along with the departure of Darren Collison, the retention of Glen Davis and Hedo Turkoglu, the endless string of 10-day contract guys, and the midseason acquisition of Doc’s son, Austin, after the Celtics held him hostage and nearly sent him to the D-League, just waiting for Doc to give up another draft pick to save his son’s career, has left the Clippers with a weak bench heading into the playoffs.
This weakness really hampers my ability to even consider the Clippers as a real contender this spring. The
Dec 25, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Spencer Hawes (10) looks on from the bench during the Clippers
team that Rivers has assembled is the antithesis of the direction that the NBA is going. The last 3 NBA champions-the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 Heat teams, and the 2013-2014 Spurs-thrived with rotations that ran somewhere around 8-10 guys deep, that had no trouble leaving the 7th or 8th guy out there in the 4th quarter. Is any Clippers fan comfortable with having Lester Hudson or Hedo Turkoglu out there for more than four minutes at a time, or even just past the start of the 4th quarter? So long the strongest part of the Clippers’ bench is Spencer Hawes’ wardrobe, this team won’t compete with the elite teams in the West. Contenders are built on depth, and that’s something the Clippers don’t have.
I’m not making an outright declaration that this team isn’t capable of making a run. I’m not going to even attempt to predict the Western Conference playoff matchups, and who the Clips could end up playing, but if the deck falls right for this team, there is no reason they couldn’t win a series or two. They certainly have talent, and if they start clicking at the right times, against the right teams, they could find themselves in the Conference Finals.
But once again, that bench scares me more than being stuck on an island with Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson. It’s LA’s achilles heel heading into the playoffs, and what will keep them from achieving true success. If the Clippers are going to succeed, their bench will need to turn it around drastically… or C.J. Wilcox will have to turn into Teen Wolf.
Either one would work.
Next: Hobbled Blazers