where do you rate us in the west?

[gmkidd]

i say 5-6 if everyone stays healthy lol

[PETEY PABLO]

With the injuries going on in houston and *potential decline of the Suns, There is some opportunity for a team or two to rise up. Back in 05-06 when LA made their play-off run,Houston and Utah were both injured teams and were at the bottom of the west.

After last season's disaster; injuries, losses, ownership drama and hurt egos, I feel that it could only get better. We all know how this summer went as far as moves,trades,additions and subtractions.
But what has not been mention in the Media too much is how the Clippers have been building chemistry . Having scrimmage games at Playa Vista and having team dinners should help bring all the guys together some and building up positive vibes.

Spots 4-8 in the play-off picture are open for discussion among the Clippers,Trails,Mavs,Hornets,Jazz,Suns and possibly Warriors. I feel the only top locks would be Lakers,Spurs, and Nuggets.

When the Clippers were running on all cylinders last season, they were pretty freaking good. The offense was just too much for some teams. The game at Dallas is one example . Baron Davis had a field day against kidd and was scoring from all over the court. Eric Gordon was attacking the rim and splashing 3's, Thornton kept attacking the rim and Randolph was abusing the post with a few outside jumpers too. Building a 19 point lead at the top of the 4th qtr , LA looked very good. Although they ended up losing by 1 point , thanks to Barrea making a 3 with seconds left.

If they can come out hungry,motivated and willing to play hard on defense, then the sky is the limit.

[DunknDave]

First off, the west is very tough, so to make the playoffs we'd have to beat out some good teams. It may take 46 wins just to get in. All of the teams PB mentioned could make a case for spots 4 - 8. All that being said, I'd say we'll be about 6th. If things go extremely well and we were to finish 4th, we'd probably be looking at playing the Lakers in the 2nd round.

[BoomFizzle]

Dream scenario for me:

Seed 1 - Lakers
Seed 8- Clippers

Clippers in 7

[TheNewEra]

Dream scenario for me:

Seed 1 - Lakers
Seed 8- Clippers

Clippers in 7

This

[playaloc916]

Dream scenario for me:

Seed 1 - Lakers
Seed 8- Clippers

Clippers in 7

You know what, I think this match up is very possible. Not sure about the Clips in 7, but we can dream right?

[Forte IV]

Id rather us be a higher seed then face the Lakers in the conference finals, resulting us winning in 7, then winning the ship, thus convincing LeBron to come to LA.

[Det the Threat]

The west is still very tough, at least to make it into the playoffs.

Where to rank us?

I'm not able to tell we're #5, #7 or whatever.

There are the Lakers, Spurs and Mavs who always seem to make the playoffs.
Then there are the Hornets and Nuggets who should be right there as well.
The Blazers are up and coming and surely won't go away easily, while Utah has all the tools to make some noise as well.
The Suns had a down year last year but will be running up and down again, which will make them pretty dangerous.
The Rockets lost Yao and no one knows about T-Mac, but they still somehow find a way to produce enough wins and make the playoffs.

After those 9 teams there's the rest of the west and we're right in there. For those clubs(like us) things have to fall in place, injuries have to be avoided and a good start to the season is needed.
If that happens, and Baron's really in shape, we might have a shot at somehow making the playoffs, if two of those 9 teams mentioned above slip and make room for another team.

[mkwest]

5-6 is possible, but that would likely mean that everything went right. Injuries would need to be minimal, young guys would need to break out, Baron would need to bring his A game and Kaman would need to be playing more like his Kaman 2.0 self.

I think we have a shot at the 8th seed, if we're serious. The Suns have had some downgrades, but they do know what it takes to get to the playoffs. We can't really afford to be fumbling around. The team has to be serious from the get go. This means committing to defense, hitting the boards, better shot selection, closing out games, beating the teams that we're supposed to beat, utilize our advantages, etc. If we can't do that, then we'll be on the outside looking in.

[mj_shoefanatic]

In the West I see us in the 6-7 spot if we can remain healthy most of the way.

[Nuggets_Talk]

dear lord...this board has gone crazy. its like you guys are a 6th seed at worst! gotta love preseason expectations when everyone is tied for first.

[loflin3hree5ive]

dear lord...this board has gone crazy. its like you guys are a 6th seed at worst! gotta love preseason expectations when everyone is tied for first.

Take the trolling somewhere else, buddy.

[JJ LoDuca]

^ Dude has a bit of a point though. Clipper fans, like many other fans, tend to have relatively high expectations for their teams during the preseason, when we are all "tied for first," as trolly mctroll said. This season, however, we have reason to believe we will be in the playoff mix, because we pay attention to this team. People who don't know anything about it see a #1 pick coming in, and thats about it. We recognize what the additions of Craig Smith, Sebastian Telfair, and Rasual Butler and the progress of Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, and DeAndre Jordan mean, aside from the drafting of Blake Griffin.

There is, of course, The Baron Question. Is he gonna be healthy? Is he gonna care? I tend to think that with one comes the other. If he remains healthy, he'll remain committed. If he loses interest, mystery injuries will start popping up, and we, once again, will blame a bad season on injuries.

I see this season being different. I see us playing well, meshing, and winning. But, alas, I am a Clippers fan, and I just don't know any better.

[clippermitch]

I've been a Clipper fan for more than 20 years now and to me, it doesn't matter what seed we are. I just want the team to be competitive. During this 20 year period, I've seen some horrible Clipper teams. Mostly due to lack of talent and experience. I believe this year's team is probably the most talented Clipper team from top to bottom. We are two deep in every position and we should have no excuses.

I'm tired of saying if this and if that. I just want to see the team play hard and the rest will fall into place!

[Nuggets_Talk]

dear lord...this board has gone crazy. its like you guys are a 6th seed at worst! gotta love preseason expectations when everyone is tied for first.

Take the trolling somewhere else, buddy.

not trying to troll...but you should read this thread from an outside perspective. you have to admit, its strange reading that the clips are at worst a 6th seed in the west. thats all.

[scratch21]

honestly if u look at our team. we have alot of OK players . i mean our best player is who EG . Baron we dont know he seems to be on the downfall. we just dont have the firepower if you look at the west each team has at least 2 elite players

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I've been a Clipper fan for more than 20 years now and to me, it doesn't matter what seed we are. I just want the team to be competitive. During this 20 year period, I've seen some horrible Clipper teams. Mostly due to lack of talent and experience. I believe this year's team is probably the most talented Clipper team from top to bottom. We are two deep in every position and we should have no excuses.

I'm tired of saying if this and if that. I just want to see the team play hard and the rest will fall into place!

I agree with you 100%, I just want to see our team play hard this season.

[loflin3hree5ive]

dear lord...this board has gone crazy. its like you guys are a 6th seed at worst! gotta love preseason expectations when everyone is tied for first.

Take the trolling somewhere else, buddy.

not trying to troll...but you should read this thread from an outside perspective. you have to admit, its strange reading that the clips are at worst a 6th seed in the west. thats all.

Well, the question is where do you rank the Clippers in the west. You didn't answer the question at all, but did manage to come in here and tell us that our expectations are too high. If you think 6 is too high, then where do you see the Clippers finishing this year? That is the question being asked here.

[playaloc916]

dear lord...this board has gone crazy. its like you guys are a 6th seed at worst! gotta love preseason expectations when everyone is tied for first.

Take the trolling somewhere else, buddy.

not trying to troll...but you should read this thread from an outside perspective. you have to admit, its strange reading that the clips are at worst a 6th seed in the west. thats all.

I looked through the posts before yours, and I fail to see anyone saying that the clips are at worst 6th seed (unless I'm losing my eyesight). The only person who said that is you. Everyone else said that if everything goes right, no injuries, guys breaking out, etc., the clips have a shot at 5-6th seed. "Everything right" usually doesn't happen, so that's an optimistic view. I don't see where any talk of at worst being 6th seed comes from. If the clips are plagued with injuries and other problems again, at worst we could be 15th in the west.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

^Don't jinx it now, I don't want us to be last in the West. We would have to have a horrible season for that to happen.