1. Depth Chart:
Code: Select all
1: Paul | Farmar | XXX
2: Redick | Crawford | Bullock
3: Barnes | Dudley | XXX
4: Griffin | Davis | XXX
5: Jordan | Hawes | XXXThe Clippers failed to address the small forward spot this off-season. No LeBron, no Melo, no Pierce. All the role playing small forwards have avoided the Clippers. The only way for them to get a proven small forward will have to come via trade, and even then, Doc does not want to risk ruining the chemistry the core have built together in the midst of the most scandalous events since the Malice At The Palace. Players in the 1, 2 and 4 spots will have to take turns assuming the 3. Griffin may be forced to transition to the 3 spot and, in his quest for improvement, become a dual forward. We will see some Griffin-Hawes-Jordan lineups this season.
2. Story Lines
Paul has lost in the second round three times. After 10 years and six playoff exits, CP3 has lost his superstar status. In the playoffs, games are won with big men and post play. Kawhi Leonard was NBA Finals MVP. Boris Diaw guarded King James. Every NBA championship team, save for the 2004 Detroit Pistons, featured a prominently dominant big man who is sometimes an All-Star. Point guard-driven teams are the easiest to exploit and defeat in the playoffs. The only way Paul can get out of the second round is if he gives up being a superstar and becomes a role player. Griffin must now become the big who leads the team and carries the Clippers deep into the playoffs, but he cannot do it alone.
It's been proven since Doc's Big 3 that a team must have at least three superstars to climb the playoff mountain. Their third superstar must come from one of their own. DeAndre Jordan must make the All-Star game this year if the Clippers want any chance of advancing to the Western Conference Finals.
And of course, there's the evil Donald Sterling and his nefarious plot to destroy not just his own team, but the whole league. We don't know how long the lawsuits will last; it might even last this 2014-15 NBA season. There will be doubts and obstacles along the way, players and coaches questioning their worth with this accursed team. Bill Simmons inadvertently roused the minds of Laker fans that Doc Rivers will bail and join the purple and gold. But if the Clippers can find a way to blaze through the season, enter the playoffs unscathed, and take care of business, stopping at nothing until they claim the Larry O'Brien trophy, the basketball gods will reward the team with the automatic banishment of Donald Sterling forever. The Clippers are still a Cinderella team in my eyes.
3. Record: I'll say they regress to 55 wins, but not because of the personnel, but of the competition. If the Warriors can get Kevin Love, the Clippers will lose the division this season, and will have to beat them in the playoffs to make up for that loss.
4. Coaching
Doc brought in Mike Woodson for one reason only. The Clippers have depended too much on Paul and Crawford to bail them out. What if the two best clutch players don't perform well, or are taken out of the game, whether it's fouling out, or ejection. In my recollection, Griffin has never had a buzzer-beating game winning basket. There will be games where the defense will deny everything, and it will be all up to Griffin to save the day. Woodson is going to teach Griffin some iso-ball.
Keep an eye out for Kevin Garnett. Doc needs somebody from his 2008 championship team just so that his defensive system works properly. They re-signed Big Baby Davis for this purpose, and now with a full training camp, Griffin, Jordan and newcomer Hawes will learn how to box out, rotate, and defend without fouling in Doc's system the way Doc wants them to play. If Griffin can master the 3 spot before the trading deadline, and Garnett gets bought out, we could have a Paul-Redick-Griffin-Garnett-Jordan lineup in the playoffs.
