Solid analysis by Lowe on the clippers in this article, at least for a writer who has to follow all 30 teams. I think the idea of this or next season being do or die or the team will blow it up and rebuild is a little bit of hyperbole but the rest is solid. I believe that either Paul or some other source close to him said that he plans to retire a Clipper, Deandre just re-upped and I doubt Blake leaves considering his ties and friendship with DJ. And I seriously doubt one of them gets traded because I doubt there is a better fit for the 3 of them than each other.
Some interesting excerpts from the article:
After an offseason of reflection, the Clippers are easing into a more conservative scheme. Jordan and Griffin will stick around the paint more instead of leaping out like madmen. “We’re gonna make some changes,” says Rivers, “and we want DJ to be closer to the rim.” Rivers and Lawrence Frank, the team’s defensive coordinator, have the team working out the kinks in the preseason.
The goal is to play the pick-and-roll 2-on-2 so that the other L.A. defenders can glue themselves to shooters instead of darting in to help on a big rolling to the rim and then darting back out toward their original guy.3 The Clips will serve up more open midrangers this way, but over 100 possessions, the numbers should tilt in a good direction: fewer 3s and fouls, better defensive rebounding.
And in Stephenson, they finally have the long, burly wing capable of at least hanging with Durant, LeBron, Kawhi Leonard, and other studs. (For what it’s worth, Rivers thinks Johnson has a shot against them, too, even though he brings a track record of shaky defense. “We watched him in the gym the other day and just said, ‘****, you can defend!’” Rivers says, laughing. “‘Where the **** has that been?’”)
“Lance is absolutely our no. 1 option against all those guys,” Rivers says. He also wants Stephenson pitching in on bigger point guards so Paul can rest a bit on defense.