Post-Mortem: 2021-22 Los Angeles Clippers

[Ballerhogger]

I'm shocked that so many people have them as 'performed as expected' or 'better than expected'.

At the start of the season they were expected to compete for a Chip. They didn't even make the playoffs.

where have you been?

[og15]

They played admirably this year despite missing their two stars. Reggie and Morris can really step up when they need someone to be the man, but I'm less excited about them as supporting role players. Still, assuming George and Kawhi's health, which, who knows, they should be a contending team next year. I was a bit surprised that they haven't picked up Zubac's option yet. He's well worth $7.5, a year.

Reggie was really good next to George and Kawhi in the playoffs last year, it seems like a lot of people even last season thought he only started playing well after Kawhi went down.

As a starter in the playoffs and the third option next to Kawhi and George, he averaged 18.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.3 tpg, 51.0% FG, 48.4% 3PT (8.0 3PA), 30.2 mpg (8 games).

The key thing there is 30.3 mpg and third option. At the highest Reggie can be your 2nd option and play mid 30 mpg, but if the roster forces him to first option and playing 40 mpg, he wears down, it's not his skillset, it's not the expected role, it's a role born out of desperation.

I'm shocked that so many people have them as 'performed as expected' or 'better than expected'.

At the start of the season they were expected to compete for a Chip. They didn't even make the playoffs.

You expected them to compete for a championship without Kawhi?

Parataxis must have missed all last playoffs and thought Kawhi was just resting the whole season for fun.

[Parataxis]

I'm shocked that so many people have them as 'performed as expected' or 'better than expected'.

At the start of the season they were expected to compete for a Chip. They didn't even make the playoffs.

You expected them to compete for a championship without Kawhi?

538 gave them a 75% chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season, and the expectation was that Kawhi would be back by the playoffs.

So yes, I absolutely expected them to at least be in contention.

[TroubleS0me]

hmm...reminds of TMac & Yao
injuries kept them apart

Kawhi & Paul George

[Sofia]

I'm shocked that so many people have them as 'performed as expected' or 'better than expected'.

At the start of the season they were expected to compete for a Chip. They didn't even make the playoffs.

You expected them to compete for a championship without Kawhi?

538 gave them a 75% chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season, and the expectation was that Kawhi would be back by the playoffs.

So yes, I absolutely expected them to at least be in contention.

538 probably thought PG would play more than 32 games too.

[Karmaloop]

I'm shocked that so many people have them as 'performed as expected' or 'better than expected'.

At the start of the season they were expected to compete for a Chip. They didn't even make the playoffs.

Without Kawhi? I thought they were a 6-10 team without Kawhi. They played well, and if it wasn't for Paul George getting COVID probably would have been in the playoffs.

[payton2kemp]

I'm shocked that so many people have them as 'performed as expected' or 'better than expected'.

At the start of the season they were expected to compete for a Chip. They didn't even make the playoffs.

You expected them to compete for a championship without Kawhi?

538 gave them a 75% chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season, and the expectation was that Kawhi would be back by the playoffs.

So yes, I absolutely expected them to at least be in contention.

who cares what they said. Did you not hear that Kawhi was going to miss the season before it started? Or do you live on the moon. Did you not hear about Paul Georges major injury? The fact that those two guys were missing most of the season, their record is quite impressive.

[payton2kemp]

They just need to hope their two stars are healthy. Everything else is in place. I doubt they’re thinking about moving on from PG or Kawhi, so really it’s just about doing it again and hoping they both are healthy.

thats a solid team with Jackson/Powell/Kawhi/George/Zubac.

[Michael Jordan]

Clippers at full strength are a legit contender, all they really have to do in the off-season is be healthy

[Parataxis]

You expected them to compete for a championship without Kawhi?

538 gave them a 75% chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season, and the expectation was that Kawhi would be back by the playoffs.

So yes, I absolutely expected them to at least be in contention.

who cares what they said. Did you not hear that Kawhi was going to miss the season before it started? Or do you live on the moon. Did you not hear about Paul Georges major injury? The fact that those two guys were missing most of the season, their record is quite impressive.

Yes, but the question was how they did compared to expectations. At the start of the season, PG didn't have a major injury.

[tamaraw08]

538 gave them a 75% chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season, and the expectation was that Kawhi would be back by the playoffs.

So yes, I absolutely expected them to at least be in contention.

who cares what they said. Did you not hear that Kawhi was going to miss the season before it started? Or do you live on the moon. Did you not hear about Paul Georges major injury? The fact that those two guys were missing most of the season, their record is quite impressive.

Yes, but the question was how they did compared to expectations. At the start of the season, PG didn't have a major injury.

So you don’t change your expectations based on CURRENT SITUATIONS?
So you still think Bulls would have still won 6 rings without Jordan and Pippen playing 32 games and not there in the play in?
Same with the Lakers without Shaq? Really?

[CobraCommander]

hmm...reminds of TMac & Yao
injuries kept them apart

Kawhi & Paul George

Great point -

No way tmac and Yao don’t win a ring if healthy… but their backs And feet just wouldn’t let it happen

Kawhi hamstrings never gonna be right unless he ops serious down time of reattachment surgery - look it up- he is developing muscle around his injury and the surgery is a two year recovery - thus he runs like a old man and while he is still able to jump- and dunk - (long arms and he tall - he only jumping off the floor explosively when he absolutely has to) but he isn’t going to be like he was before that injury -

PG13 is just as glass as ad - so

Yeah It’s sad

But they only need to be healthy for the play in and playoffs to get a ring -

Kawhi and Pg and the rest of this team would he a problem if not the favorite in west

[Wammy Giveaway]

Clippers at full strength are a legit contender, all they really have to do in the off-season is be healthy

One problem: they're never healthy. This has been a trait of the franchise ever since Sterling took over the team, and now it has carried over a tad into the Ballmer/West/Leonard era. Something has to change with the medical staff.

[OkcSinceSGA]

The Clippers have blown 3 years of what is AT MOST a 5-6 year title window. 2020 being a flat out choke (yes Denver was super talented, but they had no business coming back 1-3). 2021+2022 being injuries. The problem is... you can't expect sympathy for injury problems when your two stars are CONSTANTLY out with injuries at the worst possible times. Like... sure on paper, if healthy... the Clippers could have been one of the all time great teams for sure (same goes for Lob City teams, but these teams are more talented).

In typical Clippers fashion we are talking about what COULD have been instead of what actually was. Anybody who sees this season as a positive is delusional. Sure, young guys developed, they played above their talent level a lot. They had huge comebacks. The end of day reality though... is another wasted season of the Kawhi/PG duo.

With SGA+the assets they had to acquire any other pieces... would they actually be any worse right now then they were this season? This season and last was the most wide open the league has been for a while, and they couldn't capitalize because of Mr Glass duo PG+Kawhi. Will the league be this wide open next year? Year after that?

[Lala870]

Kawhi being out an entire year and PG playing a handful of games if just baffling really.

[Lala870]

Clippers at full strength are a legit contender, all they really have to do in the off-season is be healthy

One problem: they're never healthy. This has been a trait of the franchise ever since Sterling took over the team, and now it has carried over a tad into the Ballmer/West/Leonard era. Something has to change with the medical staff.

It is weird though. Kawhi prior to the 2021 injury was doing all kinds of load management type BS taking tons of games off. Paul George had been in pretty good shape as well.

[BuddyBuckets]

Basically have all the pieces they'll need locked in for next year. Will need to find another PF/C though for depth.

They were surprisingly good this year. Could be a 60 win team if they are all healthy thr majority of next season.

Keep rolling with everyone, they dont ned any major changes.

[NO-KG-AI]

The fans, the coach, and the guys that scrapped and made something from nothing all deserve better, but it's hard to root for Kawhi and PG tbh. They should be very dangerous if they can get a few months off continuity and health going into the post season with the big 2.

[madmaxmedia]

So obviously meeting or missing expectations is based on whether you take missed games into account. The guys that did play definitely overachieved, and were really easy to root for and (mostly) fun to watch for Clipper fans.

The Kawhi/PG acquisition can be debated endlessly, but IMO when you can go from 0 to 2 superstars in their prime you make that deal just about every time. Despite all that was given up, the Clippers today have a very deep roster and got some pleasant surprises this year with Amir Coffey's emergence and the arrival of Norm Powell and Robert Covington. Of course next season will mainly hinge on PG and Kawhi, but how many teams can lose 2 HOF-level players (as well as get unlucky with Powell's broken foot) and still go .500?

IMO RoCo and Batum are the top priorities in that order this offseason, followed by Coffey and then Hartenstein. RoCo went from being salary filler in the trade, to practically just as important as Powell. Coffey's ultimate upside is perhaps limited, but him and Terance Mann are nice younger rotation pieces on an older team.

I am pretty sure the FO is going to work their tails off to pull off another semi-significant trade in the offseason, to better optimize the roster. I think most Clipper fans would be 100% happy just to be at full health at the beginning of the season, but we do have enough pieces to pull off another good trade IMO. Our FO doesn't talk and seems to be really good at working behind the scenes to make stuff happen.

[dc]

Healthy Clips are absolutely contenders. You do have to worry about the health of their 2 best players more than you like, but they're a pair you can win with. I thought PG showed that this year that he's still very much at his peak and hasn't slowed down.

They could probably still use more playmaking (has been an issue for them) and also 1 more reliable big up front. But even as is, they're absolutely contenders if they're healthy come playoff time.