RealGM

mg wrote:They will be the better of the 2 LA teams next season.

I still don't see them getting past the 2nd round of the playoffs though.

Ballings7 wrote:

bkkrh wrote:

ShootersShoot wrote:
Yea I dont have the clips getting out of first round

Personally, I see them kind of in the same role like Philly or Phoenix last year. It's a roster that can work out, but there is a good chance that it won't. Best case scenario I see them as a 4th to 5th again. Generally I agree with you and see them as a 7th or 8th seed that loses in the 1st round if they make it throught the play in. I see UcanUwills scenario of them dropping out of 8, either because of injuries and declining players, or because they decide to tear it down themselves midseason.

From my perspective, the Clippers should have actually went the rebuild route this offseason.Zubac and Powell both had their best seasons in the league, Harden had a revival and with him and Kawhi there is a very good chance that this is the last time both have a good trade value. Even if things go well, this team won't be contenting for a title.

Teams I see ahead of them in general:

OKC
Denver
Minnesota
Houston
Lakers
Grizzlies

That's already 6 teams. I see them then in the next tier list bellow those teams with:

Golden State
Dallas
Sacramento
San Antonio
New Orleans

Those are all teams with question marks, that generally have the potential to be a playoff team. Golden State is also heavily relying on old players, it just feels more likely to work out. As long as AD isn't missing huge chunks of the season and Kyrie doesn't do some crazy stuff, the Mavs are clearly ahead of the Clippers. Sacramento has at least the talent with Lavine, Sabonis and DeRozan, will also be mostly a question of injuries. San Antonio will depend on player development and Wemby staying healthy, if he does I clearly see them ahead of the Clippers. New Orleans has definitely the most question marks due to health issues, from a talent perspective they have really good roster with a lot of upside.

That 2 of those teams wind up having a better season than the Clippers seems pretty realistic to me.

Broad projections like this more often than not end up not being close to true because of injuries, SOSched, and other team moves.

Its going to be a season long fight for everyone outside of OKC and Houston, and any team below 10th place. Even Houston last season were just 2 games ahead of Denver for the 2 seed.

The fact that we have to consider 12 teams (including the clippers), is telling in itself that the West is going to be a back and forth battle for seeding till the last 1-2 weeks of the season again.

A healthy Clippers team has just as good a chance of being out of the play-in, as a 3-6 seed, as any of the other 2nd tier teams (Not in the nature listed in this post quoted). So that's literally 4 seeds if we are granting OKC, Houston bye-ins...

The Clippers were close to the 3 seed multiple times last season, and of course were close to the 4th seed. Seeding conditions obviously went the way they did, and finished 5th.. but seeds 2-8 did not have much separation in terms of wins.

All healthy-ish - Clippers are on the same level as the Lakers, Grizzlies, Minnesota, Denver, Dallas at this point to be a non-playoff seed below #2. So are Golden State. Projecting that they aren't is just ignorant and agenda-ish.

bkkrh wrote:

Personally, I see them kind of in the same role like Philly or Phoenix last year. It's a roster that can work out, but there is a good chance that it won't. Best case scenario I see them as a 4th to 5th again. Generally I agree with you and see them as a 7th or 8th seed that loses in the 1st round if they make it throught the play in. I see UcanUwills scenario of them dropping out of 8, either because of injuries and declining players, or because they decide to tear it down themselves midseason.

From my perspective, the Clippers should have actually went the rebuild route this offseason.Zubac and Powell both had their best seasons in the league, Harden had a revival and with him and Kawhi there is a very good chance that this is the last time both have a good trade value. Even if things go well, this team won't be contenting for a title.

Teams I see ahead of them in general:

OKC
Denver
Minnesota
Houston
Lakers
Grizzlies

That's already 6 teams. I see them then in the next tier list bellow those teams with:

Golden State
Dallas
Sacramento
San Antonio
New Orleans

Those are all teams with question marks, that generally have the potential to be a playoff team. Golden State is also heavily relying on old players, it just feels more likely to work out. As long as AD isn't missing huge chunks of the season and Kyrie doesn't do some crazy stuff, the Mavs are clearly ahead of the Clippers. Sacramento has at least the talent with Lavine, Sabonis and DeRozan, will also be mostly a question of injuries. San Antonio will depend on player development and Wemby staying healthy, if he does I clearly see them ahead of the Clippers. New Orleans has definitely the most question marks due to health issues, from a talent perspective they have really good roster with a lot of upside.

That 2 of those teams wind up having a better season than the Clippers seems pretty realistic to me.

og15 wrote:

MavsDirk41 wrote:They look like a team that will win around 45 games, battle for one of the lower seeds in the west, and get bounced in the first round of the playoffs again. Leonard will miss some time throughout the year and Harden will dissapoint in the playoffs as he always does. I like the Collins addition and getting Beal after he is bought out. But this team seems like its stuck on a treadmill for some reason.

They won 50 game last season with 37 games of Kawhi, 45 games would be quite an interesting result unless something wild happens with health and player decline. The team should get 50-60 games from Kawhi this season based on history and should be in the hunt for a top 4 seed, but could be 5th too, and of course how high up they are competing seed wise will depend on health, etc.

The management is going all in for the short term, but as you can see, few contracts beyond 26-27:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/LAC.html

The Mann for Bogi trade for example was also about contract length. Mann goes until 27-28, Bogi is a team option in 26-27

The Powell trade was also because Powell wants an extension, and of course you're not doing a one year extension. Collins on the other hand, if he does well and they bring him back, they could give him a much smaller contract than what Powell wants.

So the treadmill is fine, they are putting the best roster they can for the next two seasons without having any large long contracts and then will try to work with cap flexibility and see what they can come up with.

MavsDirk41 wrote:

og15 wrote:

MavsDirk41 wrote:They look like a team that will win around 45 games, battle for one of the lower seeds in the west, and get bounced in the first round of the playoffs again. Leonard will miss some time throughout the year and Harden will dissapoint in the playoffs as he always does. I like the Collins addition and getting Beal after he is bought out. But this team seems like its stuck on a treadmill for some reason.

They won 50 game last season with 37 games of Kawhi, 45 games would be quite an interesting result unless something wild happens with health and player decline. The team should get 50-60 games from Kawhi this season based on history and should be in the hunt for a top 4 seed, but could be 5th too, and of course how high up they are competing seed wise will depend on health, etc.

The management is going all in for the short term, but as you can see, few contracts beyond 26-27:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/LAC.html

The Mann for Bogi trade for example was also about contract length. Mann goes until 27-28, Bogi is a team option in 26-27

The Powell trade was also because Powell wants an extension, and of course you're not doing a one year extension. Collins on the other hand, if he does well and they bring him back, they could give him a much smaller contract than what Powell wants.

So the treadmill is fine, they are putting the best roster they can for the next two seasons without having any large long contracts and then will try to work with cap flexibility and see what they can come up with.

Beal and Bogi can produce what Powell did at the SG last year. Collins is an upgrade in the front court over DJJ. DJJ is better defensively but he was overrated after playing with Luka and catching all of those lobs. I like what the Clippers did this offseason and i can see them winning 50-54 games but its hard to trust them because of health and Harden.

og15 wrote:

MavsDirk41 wrote:

og15 wrote:They won 50 game last season with 37 games of Kawhi, 45 games would be quite an interesting result unless something wild happens with health and player decline. The team should get 50-60 games from Kawhi this season based on history and should be in the hunt for a top 4 seed, but could be 5th too, and of course how high up they are competing seed wise will depend on health, etc.

The management is going all in for the short term, but as you can see, few contracts beyond 26-27:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/LAC.html

The Mann for Bogi trade for example was also about contract length. Mann goes until 27-28, Bogi is a team option in 26-27

The Powell trade was also because Powell wants an extension, and of course you're not doing a one year extension. Collins on the other hand, if he does well and they bring him back, they could give him a much smaller contract than what Powell wants.

So the treadmill is fine, they are putting the best roster they can for the next two seasons without having any large long contracts and then will try to work with cap flexibility and see what they can come up with.

Beal and Bogi can produce what Powell did at the SG last year. Collins is an upgrade in the front court over DJJ. DJJ is better defensively but he was overrated after playing with Luka and catching all of those lobs. I like what the Clippers did this offseason and i can see them winning 50-54 games but its hard to trust them because of health and Harden.

Yea, health and Harden is always going to be a factor.

DJJ actually outperformed his performance next to Luka while playing next to Harden. He got the same opportunities of lobs and open three's.

Last season he shot: 53/36 with 15.0 pts/36

Vs

With Dallas: 48/34 with 13.3 pts/36

Last season was his highest overall and per minute scoring of his career

clippertown wrote:

lonzo_pelota wrote:Per usual this clippers season is riding on Kawhi's health and pain tolerance/temperament because if he even has a inkling of a injury we know he'll shut it down in a heartbeat.

Thats why they are seeking Beal. The team already has DJJ, Bogi and Dunn to fill in for Kawhi (as he is now a full-time wing), with multiple younger options that can play spot minutes. This team is deep and built for injury management. The addition of Collins and Beal are key to this.

LoneyROY wrote:The fact they're able to go all-in for 1 to 2 years max and then COMPLETELY strip the team in 2027 if they choose to, is some pretty shrewd GM work by Lawrence Frank.

JimmyPlopper wrote:They need some guard depth but otherwise have a solid roster:

Kris Dunn
James Harden / Bogdan Bogdanovic / Cam Christie
Kawhi Leonard / Derrick Jones Jr.
John Collins / Nicolas Batum / Kobe Brown
Ivica Zubac / Brook Lopez / Yanic Konan Niederhauser

JimmyPlopper wrote:

JimmyPlopper wrote:They need some guard depth but otherwise have a solid roster:

Kris Dunn
James Harden / Bogdan Bogdanovic / Cam Christie
Kawhi Leonard / Derrick Jones Jr.
John Collins / Nicolas Batum / Kobe Brown
Ivica Zubac / Brook Lopez / Yanic Konan Niederhauser

James Harden / Kris Dunn
Bradley Beal / Bogdan Bogdanovic / Cam Christie
Kawhi Leonard / Derrick Jones Jr.
John Collins / Nicolas Batum / Kobe Brown
Ivica Zubac / Brook Lopez / Yanic Konan Niederhauser