Sir Charles in Charge
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The LA Clippers are approaching a crossroads

By Wardell

Apr 30, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) and Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) stand during the National Anthem before game seven of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Utah Jazz at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 30, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) and Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) stand during the National Anthem before game seven of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Utah Jazz at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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When the LA Clippers season drew to a close, there was a common feeling amongst their fan base: fear. Fear for what this team could look like after this offseason

As Paul Pierce exited the floor for the final time of his 19-year career, after a Game 7 loss to the Utah Jazz on their home floor, there were no cheers. No celebration for the end of what was a hall of fame career (basketball-reference.com currently has Pierce’s hall of fame probability at .9974).

If anything, the common feeling amongst the Staples Center crowd was disappointment and anger. Why? Because the LA Clippers are one bad offseason away from venturing back toward irrelevancy.

As three of their starters – Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and Blake Griffin – are scheduled to hit the free agent market and interest in their GM/head coach Doc Rivers grows, the Clippers are faced with a scarily uncertain future.

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They’re heading toward an offseason where one thing is for certain, they can’t retain all of four of them.

However, the question that needs to be asked is if they should.

As previously mentioned, a common feeling amongst LA’s fan-base was disappointment, but that’s a pretty familiar feeling for this team. Their core trio of Griffin, Paul and DeAndre Jordan has been pegged as a “Super Team,” yet they’ve failed to advance past the second round of the Western Conference playoffs in their time together.

Their Game 7 loss against the Utah Jazz made them the first team in NBA history to eliminated in five consecutive postseasons in which they held at least a one game series lead. At this point, the word disappointing doesn’t really do this LA Clippers squad much justice.

So, I’ll ask again: Why should this team stick together?

Simply put, they shouldn’t. Not simply because they can’t seem to win with this group, but because a breakup would be seemingly beneficial for all parties.

To rebuild, or not to rebuild

With the majority of the LA Clippers marquee players set to hit the free agency market, it seems to be in the team’s best interest to let those players walk. Not just some of them, but all of them.

Joining the free agent market include J.J. Reddick, Blake Griffin and very likely Chris Paul. Each of those three will draw significant interest this offseason, which means big paydays. Even though the salary cap is increasing, it wouldn’t make much sense for the Clippers to use nearly all of their cap space on keeping this group together. Especially because they’ve consistently shown their inability to win together.

As we all know, making the decision to rebuild is a tough pill for most teams to swallow. It’s scary to think that your team could potentially lose to get better, simply because no one likes losing. Owners don’t like losing, coaches don’t like losing, players definitely don’t like losing and fans don’t like losing. But in the case of the Clippers, losing is something their franchise is all too familiar with.

Regardless of what this franchise decides to do next, it’s growing more apparent that their roster will look significantly different at the start of next season

That’s their larger fear in this situation, that the LA Clippers will decide to lose but never get better. Their fear is that they may become the Clippers of yesteryear, a team the average fan couldn’t care any less about. This franchise has waited decades to become the better LA basketball team, and a rebuild could very well even the playing field for the Lakers to reclaim that status.

Even still, the Clippers mustn’t be deterred. The NBA is so significantly different from what it was when the Clippers were irrelevant. Even if they decide to let CP3, Blake and J.J. walk, they could still target high quality free agents. They just need to do a better job at evaluating which talents work best together in whichever system Doc Rivers chooses to run. (Assuming Rivers remains with the team of course.)

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That’s what should be taken from this, just because they should rebuild it doesn’t mean they should/will have to tank in order to get better. It just takes smart moves, and right now, the smart move would be to let one or two, if not all of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick to walk.

Regardless of what this franchise decides to do next, it’s growing more apparent that their roster will look significantly different at the start of next season. Though it’s only a matter of time until we see just how differently they look.