The Los Angeles Clippers, despite the lack of star power, is a big reason why basketball is slowly becoming great again
This is the first in a series of happenings this season that has made basketball, specifically NBA basketball, great again in my eyes. We obviously know that we are witnessing some of the best to ever play the game on a night in, night out basis. However, below all of the hoopla are some incredibly exciting things that may be flying below your radar. I’m here to chip away at them like Andy Dufresne’s cell wall. First on that list, the 2017-18 LA Clippers.
Full disclosure, I’m a big LA Clippers fan. Always have been for some reason. Growing up in Los Angeles, everyone within my general vicinity was a Lakers fan. This of course was the time of their dynasty and them having two of the best players to ever do it in Shaq and Kobe.
My entire family were Lakers fans. My dad still regales us with tales of the Showtime era, the Jerry West/Wilt era, hell even Elgin Baylor’s era (Sorry Dad for outing your general age to everyone). Why on earth would I take a good thing in my life and choose the dumpster fire next to it. I chalk it up to my contrarian ways and feeling as though I am always an underdog. Gimme the 15 seed over the 2 in March Madness any day. Greatness is overrated, unless it’s the Clippers (Which hopefully will happen soon, but probably not).
After years and years of heartbreak, missed opportunities, bad ownership, bad fans, bad draft picks and stars leaving our organization, this year, out of all of them, is giving me some hope. You can call it false, whatever, I’m ecstatic about how this team is playing and so should you, the casual NBA viewer.
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Going into the season, I was excited. All of my friends thought I was a loon for thinking so but the Clips made moves that prompted this. Obviously, we lost our Franchises’ all time best player in Chris Paul, but anyone who actually watched the Clippers knew that that was coming. The writing was on the wall. I could see the incredible amount of tension between our two best players, Blake Griffin and Paul.
After the Houston Rockets series in 2015, they never seemed to be too comfortable together on the court and off. Stories are now coming out about locker room disputes and a constant battle of ego’s between the two. Blame that on whomever but the fact is, one needed to go. I honestly thought both were absolute goners but with Blake staying, we set up a future with one of our, albeit a very injury prone, stars.
The Clippers also made moves to get our current leading scorer, Lou Williams. Our current starting point guard, Milos Teodosic. An almost 20 a game scorer in Danilo Gallinari and one of the best defensive guards in the league in Patrick Beverley.
All of this early optimism looked warranted when the Clippers were the last team to be undefeated in the league at 4-0. The new guys look situated, the defense was there and most importantly, Blake looked healthy and active. I was hyped, but not too hyped because these are the Clippers, mind you, and nothing goes our way. Well wouldn’t you know it, in typical Clips fashion, They drop their next two.
Then win one, then go on a NINE game losing streak. In those nine games, they lost Beverley for the rest of the season, Gallinari until late January (with the exception of two random games in December), Teodosic for 22 games and after three desperately needed wins in late November to lottery bound teams, they lose Blake for 14 games. If that’s not a Donald Sterling curse right there, I don’t know what is.
It was safe to say that I had little hope for the season at this point. With our roster completely gutted and an ever increasingly difficult Western Conference to compete in, I was getting many jeers from friends and losing sanity day by day. The outlook was bleak and so was any preseason/early season optimism.
What has transpired since, however, has been nothing short of Hollywood magic. It reminds me of the movie Little Giants, if we’re going to throw an actual movie comparison out there. A bunch of rag tag, miscellaneous, forgotten about, open-tryout type guys going out there, playing their tails off, and winning. Against all odds. We obviously got our Junior and Becky O’Shea’s in Lou Williams and Deandre Jordan. Our two rocks who, although heavily slept on, have become true leaders. Lou is having a career year at the spry age of 31 and finally got the long-term contract he has been looking for, probably since his first rookie deal.
He earned it, through, averaging above 23 points and 5.4 assists per game, both career highs. Shoe-in for the Sixth Man of the Year award. DeAndre is doing typical DJ things averaging nearly 12 points per game and is one of two players to be averaging over 15 rebounds a game, tied with a career high. It also helps that he is averaging a career high 61 percent from the free throw line, a constant source of ridicule in the past.
Enough about these two though. We know all about them. How about the 26+ starting lineups they’ve used? How about the two, 45 day, G-League contracts that have provided to be immediate sparks? How about the “goon squad” a.k.a. the bench unit that, in just under 18 minutes a game, is putting up 42 points per game?
How about freakin’ Boban Marjanovic throwing up EIGHTEEN POINTS in the third and fourth quarters when he had played literally 0.4 seconds for the Clips all year to beat the Nuggets in Denver?? You guys see what I am getting at here? This is an incredibly fun team to watch. It also helps that we acquired a young sharpshooter in Tobias Harris who has been nothing but impressive for the Clippers thus far.
Since the mid-season acquisition of Harris, Avery Bradley and Marjanovic from the Detroit Pistons, the Clippers have gone 9-4 as of March 7th (Excluding the Blazers game in which none of these guys suited up). Detroit, meanwhile, has gone 6-9. I still love Blake for what he did for the Clippers but I am very happy that the Clips have gotten the better end of that deal.
Watching the Clippers this year has really changed a lot on my perspective of what the NBA is and could be moving forward. It truly is amazing to see players like Tyrone Wallace and CJ Williams, two wayside guys who bounced around the lower leagues, prove themselves. It’s a testament to what Adam Silver has done to improve the G-League and give players, who teams didn’t want or see as viable, a chance to play with the big boys.
Clipperholics
I’m sure every player who is toiling in the lower league thinks that they can be a difference for an NBA team or they’d be in Latvia right now. They could go be making six figure plus sums in Europe, but instead are making like 30 bucks an hour in the hope they can break an NBA roster. There have been 355 NBA Assignments so far this season for G-League players and there are 92 current players from G-league teams on NBA rosters. With Silver now toying with the idea of bringing high-school players into the G-League and strengthening this league even more, the future of the G-League is bright.
The Clippers play has also changed my perspective on a pretty controversial topic in today’s NBA. That is tanking. If I had a dollar for every time I heard that the Clips are tanking, or should be tanking, I’d have about 26 dollars. Before the season, after the losing streak, after the Blake trade, even now. That’s exactly what the Clippers have refused to do. They have taken this underdog mentality and embraced it. They laugh in the face of pundits saying move on, or rebuild or tank for the draft and they just keep winning. Totally inspiring stuff.
One person who never thought about tanking once is the man with the suit, Doc Rivers. Doc has caught a lot of flack for his coaching prowess over the past few years and honestly I don’t think it was unwarranted. He made some really boneheaded front office and coaching decisions. This year, is straight vintage Doc however. He has instilled a fighters mentality with this rag-tag bunch and on any given night, they can win. He has inspired his team with his tenacity, willingness to adapt (something not seen previously) and ability to make subtle moves during games that make a big difference.
Who else would have thought about putting in their third string center down 20 on a road game to win the game? His ability to shape lineups out of other teams scraps and have them band together to genuinely play well is impressive. Having a lineup of Tyrone Wallace, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell and Wesley Johnson out on the court at once is not uncommon, and the Clips have the third highest scoring bench in the league. Truly captivating times for the other team from L.A.
Watching the Clippers take the court every night has been a treat as an NBA fan. They play extremely hard and never quit. The play together and without a true superstar, are staying in an incredibly difficult playoff hunt in the west. Their effort, tenacity and adaptability is something that we don’t see a lot in today’s NBA and I encourage anyone who has not watched them play this year to tune in. You might miss something.
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Stats for the nerds
Team Stats:
- 7th in scoring (109.2)
- 3rd in bench points (42)
- 2nd in the league in fourth quarter points (27.2)
- 6th in rebounds (53.2)
- 3rd in points in the paint (50.8)
- 9th in Fast Break Points (13.7)
- 8th in Team FG Percentage (46.9)
Quick fun fact: The only team to beat the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics & Toronto Raptors (4 best records in the NBA): The Clips baby
(All stats provided by teamrankings.com, espn.com & gleague.nba.com)