An early summer 2024 thread

[MartinToVaught]

At this point, are we holding on to this roster for the sole purpose of not being embarrassed opening up the new stadium??

That and the sunk cost fallacy of those picks going to OKC. Never mind that running it back won't give us those picks back. Nor does it guarantee that we won't still end up giving OKC lottery picks for free anyway, considering how old and fragile this roster is. In the modern NBA, I'd even argue that there might be a better chance of OKC getting high picks from us with this nursing-home squad than with a team of high-motor athletic youngsters that can handle the grind of the regular season.

This franchise is being run purely on emotions, not logic.

[esqtvd]

At this point, are we holding on to this roster for the sole purpose of not being embarrassed opening up the new stadium??

Piling up the losses--new arena or not--by investing PT in guys who may never be legit NBA players is a stupid dice roll and I can't see Ballmer doing it. Our kids haven't done anything to win minutes. We had the worst 3rd team in the league this year, squandering big lead after big lead.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?PerMode=Per100Possessions&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612746&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS

45-37 is a lot better than 37-45. That's the question now.


Since money doesn't matter to Ballmer, paying PG is better than letting him go. I think he'll meet his price. PG was more than adequate but I do hope he gives Beard the gate. He was lousy after the All-Star break [3rd worst plus/minus on 38%/30% shooting--worse than Tucker!!] and 4th-worst [minus-10.7] in the playoffs. He leaks points and slows the offense to a crawl. It was an idea that didn't work.

[MartinToVaught]

Again, piling up the losses is not a fait accompli with young hungry players, nor is it outside the realm of possibility with our current roster. They already needed an all-time fluky shooting streak against an easy part of the schedule to avoid being a play-in team or worse this year, and that was with Kawhi also playing his most games in a season since 2016-17. If you're hoping for all those stars to keep aligning in our favor for several more years in a row, prepare to be disappointed.

The way I see it, as our "stars" get older, slower, and more injury-prone by the year, we will absolutely end up gifting OKC at least one high lottery pick anyway, probably more. If OKC's going to be taking our lunch money for the next few years no matter what, can we at least not be stuck watching the most boring and listless team in the NBA in the meantime?

Also, just because Ballmer has lots of money doesn't mean he can afford to just throw it around wastefully. The new CBA has been specifically written to prevent owners like him from doing that anymore without serious penalties.

[esqtvd]

Ballmer is worth almost $150 billion. It's impossible to spend enough on the Clippers for him to ever feel it. $100 million is pocket change. In fact, Ballmer has already paid over $350 million in luxury tax over the last 3 years!

But yes, his fellow owners have screwed him bigtime with the new CBA. He has no way to improve his team. As it stands now, he can't even buy a second-round pick or sign FAs. Not even an MLE.

As for "playing the kids," it's the same ol', same ol'. They already showed what they're made of this year, blowing big lead after big lead. These aren't prospects, they're rejects. It's not about "playing the kids" so much, it's about playing THESE kids.

And if you look at the playoffs right now, younger teams and players are beat to hell too. So I'm not hoping for the Over the Hill Gang to magically stay healthy and seriously contend. That ship has sailed. I'm hoping to win 45 games and not be a total joke. And I think that's going to be Ballmer's strategy too.

In the end, if their choices are "pay George the max or let him walk," the former is ultimately the right call. They simply don't have an alternative for all of the short- and long-term risks such a contract would carry. This is their team. They don't have a backdoor path into rebuilding. They don't have an in-house replacement. They are stuck with this aging and expensive group, and no matter how much it costs, that group is only viable if George is part of it.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/clippers-reportedly-hoping-paul-george-takes-less-than-the-max-which-is-an-enormous-and-unnecessary-risk/

[KL2]

Read on Twitter

[MartinToVaught]

You've got to be **** kidding. If Frank signs either of those geriatrics, I'll be watching less games than ever next season.

[Wammy Giveaway]

If Dallas pulls out this series, it actually makes us look a lot better. With all due respect to the Mavs, I feel we pull out that series with Kawhi.

Actually, it makes the Clippers look worse.

In the years the Clippers have made the playoffs, including the Braves years, their defeats resulted in the following:

1974: Vs. Celtics in "2nd" round... NBA champions
1975: Vs. Bullets in 2nd round... NBA Finals
1976: Vs. Celtics in 2nd round... NBA champions
1992: Vs. Jazz in 1st round... first ever conference finals berth
1993: Vs. Rockets in 1st round... 2nd round exit
- Rocket's first title would come next season
1997: Vs. Jazz in 1st round... first ever NBA Finals berth
2006: Vs. Suns in 2nd round... lost in conference finals
2012: Vs. Spurs in 2nd round... lost in conference finals
2013: Vs. Grizzlies in 1st round... first ever conference finals berth
2014: Vs. Thunder in 2nd round... lost in conference finals
- 1st round vs. Warriors results in NBA championship the year after and birth of a new dynasty
2015: Vs. Rockets in 2nd round... first conference finals berth since 1997 (18-year drought)
2016: Vs. Blazers in 1st round... 2nd round exit
2017: Vs. Jazz in 1st round... 2nd round exit
2019: Vs. Warriors in 1st round... lost in NBA Finals
2020: Vs. Nuggets in 2nd round... first conference finals berth since 2009 (11-year drought)
- Nuggets would become NBA champions in 2023
2021: Vs. Suns in conference finals... first NBA Finals since 1993 (28-year drought)
2023: Vs. Suns in 1st round... 2nd round exit
2024: Vs. Mavericks in 1st round... first NBA Finals since 2011 (13-year drought)

See the pattern? All you have to do is draw the Clippers in your conference playoffs, and you will experience success immediately or the year after that.

Well, by virtue of a 3-0 lead, the Mavericks are automatically going to the NBA Finals. Once again, Clippers just do that thing where they let the opponents win, sometimes freely. Easily their worst season ever in franchise history, and this is with them having a winning record, a Pacific Division, and a super team consisting of four superstars.

[Captain Ballmer]

Ballmer is worth almost $150 billion. It's impossible to spend enough on the Clippers for him to ever feel it. $100 million is pocket change. In fact, Ballmer has already paid over $350 million in luxury tax over the last 3 years!

But yes, his fellow owners have screwed him bigtime with the new CBA. He has no way to improve his team. As it stands now, he can't even buy a second-round pick or sign FAs. Not even an MLE.

As for "playing the kids," it's the same ol', same ol'. They already showed what they're made of this year, blowing big lead after big lead. These aren't prospects, they're rejects. It's not about "playing the kids" so much, it's about playing THESE kids.

And if you look at the playoffs right now, younger teams and players are beat to hell too. So I'm not hoping for the Over the Hill Gang to magically stay healthy and seriously contend. That ship has sailed. I'm hoping to win 45 games and not be a total joke. And I think that's going to be Ballmer's strategy too.

In the end, if their choices are "pay George the max or let him walk," the former is ultimately the right call. They simply don't have an alternative for all of the short- and long-term risks such a contract would carry. This is their team. They don't have a backdoor path into rebuilding. They don't have an in-house replacement. They are stuck with this aging and expensive group, and no matter how much it costs, that group is only viable if George is part of it.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/clippers-reportedly-hoping-paul-george-takes-less-than-the-max-which-is-an-enormous-and-unnecessary-risk/

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player, that's the first guy to take his starting role probably. Second&Third guy to replace his shots & minutes will be either T-Mann or Coffey with more usage goes on their way. And after all distributed we'll see Harden & Zubac get more touches as we saw in recent playoffs. Harden can go back to being 20 ppg player easily rather than averaging 16 ppg.

If we talk about kids though, Soon we cut Tucker, then we can talk about Kobe Brown. If Russ opts-in, soon we cut him and then we can talk about Bones Hyland. Those 2 already showed enough they can play in the NBA but Clips don't bc they are not a good fit to PG13. He commands to bring his buddy Russ, his buddy is accept to come from bench so you gotta play him. PG13 also can't take most challenging defensive tasks so he gotta play with more defense orianted "hustle" players, who don't complain waiting in the corner but starting to do so when he's not on the rotation so we benched Kobe Brown after he showed enough that he belongs to league for PJ Tucker.

Sometimes, cutting down old trees is all you have to do to keep the forest alive, shadows on top of young seeds disappears, sunlights enters. That all they need.

[esqtvd]

Ballmer is worth almost $150 billion. It's impossible to spend enough on the Clippers for him to ever feel it. $100 million is pocket change. In fact, Ballmer has already paid over $350 million in luxury tax over the last 3 years!

But yes, his fellow owners have screwed him bigtime with the new CBA. He has no way to improve his team. As it stands now, he can't even buy a second-round pick or sign FAs. Not even an MLE.

As for "playing the kids," it's the same ol', same ol'. They already showed what they're made of this year, blowing big lead after big lead. These aren't prospects, they're rejects. It's not about "playing the kids" so much, it's about playing THESE kids.

And if you look at the playoffs right now, younger teams and players are beat to hell too. So I'm not hoping for the Over the Hill Gang to magically stay healthy and seriously contend. That ship has sailed. I'm hoping to win 45 games and not be a total joke. And I think that's going to be Ballmer's strategy too.

In the end, if their choices are "pay George the max or let him walk," the former is ultimately the right call. They simply don't have an alternative for all of the short- and long-term risks such a contract would carry. This is their team. They don't have a backdoor path into rebuilding. They don't have an in-house replacement. They are stuck with this aging and expensive group, and no matter how much it costs, that group is only viable if George is part of it.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/clippers-reportedly-hoping-paul-george-takes-less-than-the-max-which-is-an-enormous-and-unnecessary-risk/

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player, that's the first guy to take his starting role probably. Second&Third guy to replace his shots & minutes will be either T-Mann or Coffey with more usage goes on their way. And after all distributed we'll see Harden & Zubac get more touches as we saw in recent playoffs. Harden can go back to being 20 ppg player easily rather than averaging 16 ppg.

If we talk about kids though, Soon we cut Tucker, then we can talk about Kobe Brown. If Russ opts-in, soon we cut him and then we can talk about Bones Hyland. Those 2 already showed enough they can play in the NBA but Clips don't bc they are not a good fit to PG13. He commands to bring his buddy Russ, his buddy is accept to come from bench so you gotta play him. PG13 also can't take most challenging defensive tasks so he gotta play with more defense orianted "hustle" players, who don't complain waiting in the corner but starting to do so when he's not on the rotation so we benched Kobe Brown after he showed enough that he belongs to league for PJ Tucker.

Sometimes, cutting down old trees is all you have to do to keep the forest alive, shadows on top of young seeds disappears, sunlights enters. That all they need.

Mostly true. But Kobe Brown isn't gonna take anyone's place on the Clippers. Sorry. He's 25 on January 1 and was barely a factor in G-League. We need to look elsewhere.

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player

Well, yeah. That's exactly what we're facing. PG or an MLE guy. Huge difference.

Of course Tucker is pathetic. But he's still owed another $11 million. Thank God only for one more year. Of course he should be cut but he will STILL count against the salary cap.

I don't see how or why we hang onto Beard. If we dump Beard, Russ picks up HIS option at the minimum. Russ is great at the minimum. I don't see why we want Beard back at any price. I don't hate him, I don't love him.

I think he gave us his "best." I won't miss him.

[Captain Ballmer]

Ballmer is worth almost $150 billion. It's impossible to spend enough on the Clippers for him to ever feel it. $100 million is pocket change. In fact, Ballmer has already paid over $350 million in luxury tax over the last 3 years!

But yes, his fellow owners have screwed him bigtime with the new CBA. He has no way to improve his team. As it stands now, he can't even buy a second-round pick or sign FAs. Not even an MLE.

As for "playing the kids," it's the same ol', same ol'. They already showed what they're made of this year, blowing big lead after big lead. These aren't prospects, they're rejects. It's not about "playing the kids" so much, it's about playing THESE kids.

And if you look at the playoffs right now, younger teams and players are beat to hell too. So I'm not hoping for the Over the Hill Gang to magically stay healthy and seriously contend. That ship has sailed. I'm hoping to win 45 games and not be a total joke. And I think that's going to be Ballmer's strategy too.

In the end, if their choices are "pay George the max or let him walk," the former is ultimately the right call. They simply don't have an alternative for all of the short- and long-term risks such a contract would carry. This is their team. They don't have a backdoor path into rebuilding. They don't have an in-house replacement. They are stuck with this aging and expensive group, and no matter how much it costs, that group is only viable if George is part of it.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/clippers-reportedly-hoping-paul-george-takes-less-than-the-max-which-is-an-enormous-and-unnecessary-risk/

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player, that's the first guy to take his starting role probably. Second&Third guy to replace his shots & minutes will be either T-Mann or Coffey with more usage goes on their way. And after all distributed we'll see Harden & Zubac get more touches as we saw in recent playoffs. Harden can go back to being 20 ppg player easily rather than averaging 16 ppg.

If we talk about kids though, Soon we cut Tucker, then we can talk about Kobe Brown. If Russ opts-in, soon we cut him and then we can talk about Bones Hyland. Those 2 already showed enough they can play in the NBA but Clips don't bc they are not a good fit to PG13. He commands to bring his buddy Russ, his buddy is accept to come from bench so you gotta play him. PG13 also can't take most challenging defensive tasks so he gotta play with more defense orianted "hustle" players, who don't complain waiting in the corner but starting to do so when he's not on the rotation so we benched Kobe Brown after he showed enough that he belongs to league for PJ Tucker.

Sometimes, cutting down old trees is all you have to do to keep the forest alive, shadows on top of young seeds disappears, sunlights enters. That all they need.

Mostly true. But Kobe Brown isn't gonna take anyone's place on the Clippers. Sorry. He's 25 on January 1 and was barely a factor in G-League. We need to look elsewhere.

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player

Well, yeah. That's exactly what we're facing. PG or an MLE guy. Huge difference.

Of course Tucker is pathetic. But he's still owed another $11 million. Thank God only for one more year. Of course he should be cut but he will STILL count against the salary cap.

I don't see how or why we hang onto Beard. If we dump Beard, Russ picks up HIS option at the minimum. Russ is great at the minimum. I don't see why we want Beard back at any price. I don't hate him, I don't love him.

I think he gave us his "best." I won't miss him.

There is no need to downplay MLE level talents. The talent disparity between Max-MLE contract gets smaller each year. Indy plays great ball with Neismith, Nembhard, McConnell. Knicks played great ball with DiVincenzo, McBride, Hart. Dallas playing great gall with D.Jones Jr, Gafford, PJ. All of these guys are paid or close to paid MLE money.

When there is structure, those MLE talents can shine. For that reason Harden is actually more pivotal for us then Kawhi, at least for regular season. Harden elevated Zubac, we gotta add more that can eat when he serves. PG&Russ steps in the way when they are on the floor because they wanna cook their own meals. This decrease the Harden effect "System" which results less effective Zu, Coffey, Theis, Mann.

With MLE we could get a real PF, make Kawhi-Mann on their natural positions at sg and sf. the market for MLE level PF are Jalen Smith, Kyle Anderson, Derrick Jones Jr, Naji Marshall, Royce O'neal, Saddiq Bey, Obi Toppin, Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre, Xavier Tillman, Simone Fontecchio, Taurean Prince etc.

[esqtvd]

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player, that's the first guy to take his starting role probably. Second&Third guy to replace his shots & minutes will be either T-Mann or Coffey with more usage goes on their way. And after all distributed we'll see Harden & Zubac get more touches as we saw in recent playoffs. Harden can go back to being 20 ppg player easily rather than averaging 16 ppg.

If we talk about kids though, Soon we cut Tucker, then we can talk about Kobe Brown. If Russ opts-in, soon we cut him and then we can talk about Bones Hyland. Those 2 already showed enough they can play in the NBA but Clips don't bc they are not a good fit to PG13. He commands to bring his buddy Russ, his buddy is accept to come from bench so you gotta play him. PG13 also can't take most challenging defensive tasks so he gotta play with more defense orianted "hustle" players, who don't complain waiting in the corner but starting to do so when he's not on the rotation so we benched Kobe Brown after he showed enough that he belongs to league for PJ Tucker.

Sometimes, cutting down old trees is all you have to do to keep the forest alive, shadows on top of young seeds disappears, sunlights enters. That all they need.

Mostly true. But Kobe Brown isn't gonna take anyone's place on the Clippers. Sorry. He's 25 on January 1 and was barely a factor in G-League. We need to look elsewhere.

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player

Well, yeah. That's exactly what we're facing. PG or an MLE guy. Huge difference.

Of course Tucker is pathetic. But he's still owed another $11 million. Thank God only for one more year. Of course he should be cut but he will STILL count against the salary cap.

I don't see how or why we hang onto Beard. If we dump Beard, Russ picks up HIS option at the minimum. Russ is great at the minimum. I don't see why we want Beard back at any price. I don't hate him, I don't love him.

I think he gave us his "best." I won't miss him.

There is no need to downplay MLE level talents. The talent disparity between Max-MLE contract gets smaller each year. Indy plays great ball with Neismith, Nembhard, McConnell. Knicks played great ball with DiVincenzo, McBride, Hart. Dallas playing great gall with D.Jones Jr, Gafford, PJ. All of these guys are paid or close to paid MLE money.

When there is structure, those MLE talents can shine. For that reason Harden is actually more pivotal for us then Kawhi, at least for regular season. Harden elevated Zubac, we gotta add more that can eat when he serves. PG&Russ steps in the way when they are on the floor because they wanna cook their own meals. This decrease the Harden effect "System" which results less effective Zu, Coffey, Theis, Mann.

With MLE we could get a real PF, make Kawhi-Mann on their natural positions at sg and sf. the market for MLE level PF are Jalen Smith, Kyle Anderson, Derrick Jones Jr, Naji Marshall, Royce O'neal, Saddiq Bey, Obi Toppin, Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre, Xavier Tillman, Simone Fontecchio, Taurean Prince etc.

No, I'm saying Ballmer can't even use the MLE without getting under the second apron. That means somebody has to go. Maybe a bunch. Don't misunderstand me.

I think everybody has good ideas here but I'm gonna sit this out until the sal cap/CBA/$$ sorts itself out. Until then we're all shooting in the dark.

[MartinToVaught]

I wouldn't even give PG the MLE at this point, so the "PG vs. MLE" debate is pointless. In the games that actually matter, PG is barely a vet min-level talent. He's great at padding stats against the Pistons and Hornets in January, though.

[Ballings7]

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player, that's the first guy to take his starting role probably. Second&Third guy to replace his shots & minutes will be either T-Mann or Coffey with more usage goes on their way. And after all distributed we'll see Harden & Zubac get more touches as we saw in recent playoffs. Harden can go back to being 20 ppg player easily rather than averaging 16 ppg.

If we talk about kids though, Soon we cut Tucker, then we can talk about Kobe Brown. If Russ opts-in, soon we cut him and then we can talk about Bones Hyland. Those 2 already showed enough they can play in the NBA but Clips don't bc they are not a good fit to PG13. He commands to bring his buddy Russ, his buddy is accept to come from bench so you gotta play him. PG13 also can't take most challenging defensive tasks so he gotta play with more defense orianted "hustle" players, who don't complain waiting in the corner but starting to do so when he's not on the rotation so we benched Kobe Brown after he showed enough that he belongs to league for PJ Tucker.

Sometimes, cutting down old trees is all you have to do to keep the forest alive, shadows on top of young seeds disappears, sunlights enters. That all they need.

Mostly true. But Kobe Brown isn't gonna take anyone's place on the Clippers. Sorry. He's 25 on January 1 and was barely a factor in G-League. We need to look elsewhere.

If PG13 walks, it doesn't mean we play kids. There will be Mid Level Exception we could acquire a rotation level NBA player

Well, yeah. That's exactly what we're facing. PG or an MLE guy. Huge difference.

Of course Tucker is pathetic. But he's still owed another $11 million. Thank God only for one more year. Of course he should be cut but he will STILL count against the salary cap.

I don't see how or why we hang onto Beard. If we dump Beard, Russ picks up HIS option at the minimum. Russ is great at the minimum. I don't see why we want Beard back at any price. I don't hate him, I don't love him.

I think he gave us his "best." I won't miss him.

There is no need to downplay MLE level talents. The talent disparity between Max-MLE contract gets smaller each year. Indy plays great ball with Neismith, Nembhard, McConnell. Knicks played great ball with DiVincenzo, McBride, Hart. Dallas playing great gall with D.Jones Jr, Gafford, PJ. All of these guys are paid or close to paid MLE money.

When there is structure, those MLE talents can shine. For that reason Harden is actually more pivotal for us then Kawhi, at least for regular season. Harden elevated Zubac, we gotta add more that can eat when he serves. PG&Russ steps in the way when they are on the floor because they wanna cook their own meals. This decrease the Harden effect "System" which results less effective Zu, Coffey, Theis, Mann.

With MLE we could get a real PF, make Kawhi-Mann on their natural positions at sg and sf. the market for MLE level PF are Jalen Smith, Kyle Anderson, Derrick Jones Jr, Naji Marshall, Royce O'neal, Saddiq Bey, Obi Toppin, Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre, Xavier Tillman, Simone Fontecchio, Taurean Prince etc.

Agreed on the PF stuff. Like have been saying.. the team needs to get more balanced in one path or another... and its likely going to take one of the big three going to do that. Likely will be Harden or George.

Jalen Smith would be fantastic for this team.. hes not playing rotation minutes in Indy in the playoffs, and its not because he doesn't have game or he's hurt. Change of scenery time.

Kyle Anderson, absolutely. One of the smartest players in the league on both ends, good size that he uses, really good playmaker, crafty selective scorer and range shooter. Kawhi knows him well, too, so there'd be good chemistry. Offensively he is obviously slow, but defensively he's not. Makes the team more athletic from a length and versatility standpoint.

Want to keep Mann? Okay, think he still has value to the team - but he's going to have to go to the bench so a true big forward can play at PF (Harden/George stay), or bring him down to SG (1 of Harden/George gone) and stil start.

[Clemenza]

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Lawrence Frank after all the lip service to Clipp fans about getting younger and more athletic

Watch on YouTube

[LamarWho]

"This team needs to get younger, longer and more athletic so badly!"

Solution: Bring in CP3/Kyle Lowry.

Unfortunately this is the exact move I anticipated from Lawrence Frank.

[clipperlover]

I wouldn't even give PG the MLE at this point, so the "PG vs. MLE" debate is pointless. In the games that actually matter, PG is barely a vet min-level talent. He's great at padding stats against the Pistons and Hornets in January, though.

Rather than throw out a bunch of hyperbole. why don't you back your statement up with some facts. The stats are all publicly available.

Surely you won't find that PG was #6 in the NBA is Stls per game. You won't find that of the 30 25+Pt games he had that 16 of the 30 came against Playoff teams. Nor will you find 14 of his 33 multiple steal games came against playoff teams. He didn't have 16 of his 26 games with 7+ rebounds against playoff teams either. It isn't like 15 of the 27 times he shot above .500 from 3 came against playoff teams either.

Did Paul George disappoint in Games 5 and 6 of the playoffs? Absolutely.

However, he is one of 26 players in the playoffs that had at least 1 33 pt game. 15 of the 26 players advanced past the 1st round. 8 of the 25 are in the conference finals. 17 of the 25 were All-Stars this past season, and only 4 of the 25 have never been an All-Star (Jamal Murray being one of them).

Not only did he have 33 pts in that road win, he had 6 rbs, 8 asts, 4 stls and shot 70% from 3. Please find me how many of those games people have had in the playoffs this year.

Calling him MLE talent is laughable.

[Clemenza]

Ballmer is worth almost $150 billion. It's impossible to spend enough on the Clippers for him to ever feel it. $100 million is pocket change. In fact, Ballmer has already paid over $350 million in luxury tax over the last 3 years!

But yes, his fellow owners have screwed him bigtime with the new CBA. He has no way to improve his team. As it stands now, he can't even buy a second-round pick or sign FAs. Not even an MLE.

As for "playing the kids," it's the same ol', same ol'. They already showed what they're made of this year, blowing big lead after big lead. These aren't prospects, they're rejects. It's not about "playing the kids" so much, it's about playing THESE kids.

And if you look at the playoffs right now, younger teams and players are beat to hell too. So I'm not hoping for the Over the Hill Gang to magically stay healthy and seriously contend. That ship has sailed. I'm hoping to win 45 games and not be a total joke. And I think that's going to be Ballmer's strategy too.

In the end, if their choices are "pay George the max or let him walk," the former is ultimately the right call. They simply don't have an alternative for all of the short- and long-term risks such a contract would carry. This is their team. They don't have a backdoor path into rebuilding. They don't have an in-house replacement. They are stuck with this aging and expensive group, and no matter how much it costs, that group is only viable if George is part of it.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/clippers-reportedly-hoping-paul-george-takes-less-than-the-max-which-is-an-enormous-and-unnecessary-risk/

That was during garbage time. But I do know that it took three hall of famers, KD, Booker, and Beal, who were desperately fighting to stay out of the play in- had to play 40 minutes each to eek out a win late in the 4th against a Bones and Boston led Clippers team. Along with Kobe, Kai Jones, and Jordan Miller we got some talent -but they don't get minutes at all. I know you hate our kids but I'm not going to look at other youngsters glued to the bench on other teams and say they're better when they get way more opportunity to play than our youth. Grabbing Harden, playing PJ and Russ along with other issues like injuries and lack of effort still resulted in a first round exit. Too old they get injured and complacent from big paydays. Too young and they run out of gas. So basically just play the guys that should play and hope for the best imo.

[clipperlover]

"This team needs to get younger, longer and more athletic so badly!"

Solution: Bring in CP3/Kyle Lowry.

Unfortunately this is the exact move I anticipated from Lawrence Frank.

The only reason Ballmer would bring back CP3 is if he planned to put his jersey up in the Dome. I don't want a Chris Paul or Kyle Lowry.

Give me some guys with fight in them. DiVencenzo, T.J. McConnell, and Herb Jones combined make less than Harden. We need guys on our roster with that kind of fight at that price point. Create a package for Dillon Brooks. He is intense, but we need some of that.

[MartinToVaught]

Did Paul George disappoint in Games 5 and 6 of the playoffs? Absolutely.

It wasn't just two games. He was even worse in Game 3 than in Games 5 and 6, and even his "good" games were really more like good halves. That 33-point game you're touting, he did almost all his scoring in the first half and vanished in the second half as we nearly blew the lead. It's year in and year out with PG, he shrinks in the playoffs more often than not.

[esqtvd]

lol

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