NBA: 30 Storylines Driving The 2015-16 Season

Jul 21, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers players pose with jerseys at press conference at Staples Center. From left: Branden Dawson (22), DeAndre Jordan (6), Austin Rivers (25), coach Doc Rivers and Josh Smith (5), Cole Aldrich (45), Paul Pierce (34) and Wesley Johnson (33). Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Clippers – Now or Never

Headlines during the offseason were dominated by the DeAndre Jordan/Los Angeles Clippers/Dallas Mavericks/Mark Cuban saga that unfolded during free agency.

For those of you who somehow managed to miss it (I can’t imagine how you did though), this is all you need to know: DeAndre chose to go to Dallas, then DeAndre started to change his mind, then DeAndre stopped speaking to members of the Mavericks organization, then he snubbed the organization altogether and went back to LA, and lastly Mark Cuban (the most animated owner I’ve ever seen in professional sports) got really upset about the whole situation.

Now though, the Clippers come into the new campaign as a team well over due for a strong post-season run. They’ve hovered in recent seasons towards the middle of the Western Conference playoff seeds, which is a vast improvement from where they were prior to trading for Chris Paul, however a team dishing out that type of money for that type of talent should be doing more when it matters most.

What plagued the team most last season was their lack of bench depth. They seem to have patched that up in the off-season with additions like Wesley Johnson, Lance Stephenson Josh Smith, and Cole Aldrich. In addition, they did away with perennial top-10 wing irritator Matt Barnes, and in his place they brought in the ageless (at least when the calendar reaches May and June) Paul Pierce.

In consecutive seasons I picked the Clippers to reach at the very least the Conference Finals. Last season, I even picked them to make the NBA Finals. This season they have to start bearing some of that fruit. I know it’s hard to expect them to soar to new heights in a Western Conference that now features the reigning champion Warriors, a healthy Thunder squad, a hungry Rockets team, and a revamped Spurs roster; but I think that if this version of an NBA Big Three is to deemed a success, they have to make a push now.

Next: Grizzlies: The Art of Improving