The Clippers are clearly not tanking. By trading Chris Paul and Blake Griffin last season, two franchise cornerstones, it looked like they were rebuilding and starting over. But they went 42-40 with at least 10 players injured and Doc being forced to play his rookies because of it. 42-40 where the coach was one game away from a 10-game losing streak and instant dismissal. 42-40 where their best player was a bench player and 6th man award winner, and were five games away from the 8th seed and protecting their playoff streak.
If this were another team coming off a successful season or just being fortunate to play for a prestigious franchise, okay. But this is a team that's living in the same location as the Lakers. They're vouching for a new arena which is going to be finalized and built in the early goings of the 2020 decade. They're trying to chase a superstar, Kawhi Leonard as the inevitable choice so that the Clippers can learn how to be focused silent assassins and not be distracted. The growing consensus with the Clippers future says that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson are not good enough because of their position in the draft - they need a no. 1 pick. Nobody cares who gets chosen as no. 1 - R.J. Barrett, Bol Bol, Rui Hachimura, Zion Williamson - so long as the no. 1 pick is by the Clippers, never stop losing until you finally hit the jackpot which is no. 1. Then and only then can you "legally" contend for a championship. This is bad practice.
Why am I writing this? Well, I found this article posted to Vice by Michael Pina and thought I'd excerpt a few pieces:
Michael Pina wrote:Similar to Memphis, Los Angeles has respectable role players, youth, experience, and are without an on- or off-court identity. We don’t know how Doc Rivers will shape his rotation, who can play with who and when, or have any idea what their most effective five-man unit will look like. Stylistically and aesthetically, the Clippers (just like the Grizzlies) are a blank slate that allows the imagination to run wild.
All this analysis is very glass-half-full. Some of Los Angeles’s most accomplished names enter next season still needing to prove they can stay on the court ... But past health issues aside, this team is new and hungry. Typically, having several players enter the final year of their contract at the same time is detrimental, particularly with minutes at a premium. But injecting a dog-eat-dog mentality into a team that's ostensibly lottery bound could work. Aside from Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jerome Robinson, everybody else can be a free agent next summer ... And that, naturally, leads us from the court to the cap sheet, which sparkles sans any harsh restrictions. Free agency is the long-term play for a franchise that—until further notice—has chosen to follow the pre-James Harden, post-Tracy McGrady/Yao Ming Houston Rockets model, where going from the middle to the top without using the lottery as a crutch is the task at hand.
That strategy almost requires fortuitous timing, impressive assets, and a front office that can be potent and lean at the same time by identifying then pouncing upon market inefficiencies. It’s unclear if the Clippers have their ducks in a row, but it may not matter. They’re backed by extremely wealthy and engaged ownership, with the lure of Southern California as an appealing backdrop. Those factors, and how they feed into next summer’s free agency bonanza, make it easy to view this year’s team as nothing more than a bridge to the shiny, star-laden tomorrow everyone in the organization is hoping for. And it's hard to blame them.
Daryl Morey has never fallen below .500 as Houston’s GM, which includes three seasons of wandering in the wilderness without an All-Star. He ultimately landed James Harden with one of the shrewdest trades in league history. The Clippers are on that path, betting large on their infrastructure and environmental surroundings to catapult them even higher than that aforementioned Big 3 ever could.
So the Clippers vision is slowly coming to materialization. If they can't play for the playoffs right now, what are they playing for?
1. The majority of the roster consists of expiring contracts. Players will be out to prove they belong in the league, not necessarily with Clippers.
2. That new arena. Like Don Tibbles said to Gordon Bombay in D2: The Mighty Ducks, "You think Hendrix is interested in backing a loser?" Investors will want proof that the Clippers are a viable franchise as far as competitiveness goes.
3. The free agency coup. Like no. 2, Clippers will need to come out swinging in the win-loss record department for players to consider them. They also need a winning record to regain the trust of free agents who now think the Clippers are back to their old selves just because they traded Blake Griffin mid-season to rebuild - at Jerry West's wishes.
The Lob City era was great - first ever taste of relevancy for a franchise desperately needing one. But that was a product of David Stern, an NBA commissioner. The last time they had a successful era, it was a one-season wonder which saw Elton Brand and Sam Cassell paired together to reach the 2nd round. The Clippers need to learn how to have successful eras on their own, without executive meddling. There is no David Stern, no Chris Paul, no lucky charms. West has given them a mission: stay mediocre for this season and hope they're on the positive end, one which will put them back to relevancy. And this time, it's nurtured under good basketball practices.
My question to you: is mediocre the new process?