Spoiler:
Replacing the old school stubborn ways of Doc Rivers is his assistant coach and protege Tyronn Lue, who at least displays a little more knowledge; Ka-Triangle Leonard anyone? Oh kay, so maybe Lue is just another lame duck coach in the vein of Vinny Del Negro who had LeBron James as his player when he won his first championship. But Lue gets the credit as first coach in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals, and that alone makes him a curse breaker. Is he right up there with MLB's Theo Epstein who helped break a combined 190 years of World Series droughts between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, the latter needing a 3-0 miracle comeback?
Not lost in all the noise are home grown products Kawhi Leonard and Paul George - one who's all business and no gimmicks, the other a free spirited player - together sharing the blemishes that was a pitiful Game 7 en route to their collapse. Leonard comes from the San Antonio Spurs mold who learned from Tim Duncan about egos, distractions and playing with a purpose, winning two Finals MVPs in Texas and Toronto. George was a part of the grit-and-grind Indiana Pacers with Roy Hibbert, George Hill, David West and Lance Stephenson, the east coast Grizzlies. Leadership should come from one of your superstars, if not both, but Leonard and George seem uninterested in commanding the lot. When your leaders are role players, specialists who come off the bench to provide some kind of spark like Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams and the departed Montrezl Harrell - you have an identity crisis. Either the Clippers wanted to be Cinderella, a beloved underdog, or Azula, a manipulative fierce and obsessive competitor. Sound familiar? Yes - Chris Paul, the very player who made the Clippers relevant and liked in the first couple of years before the arrival of Doc Rivers soured their welcome and their antics only making things worse. The 3-1 collapse made the basketball world angry.
Now the Clippers are being taken shots at everywhere they go, from the off-season, to free agency, and even the pre-season. Accusations of special treatment, a total disregard to competition and tampering. They have to watch their arch nemesis Big Brother Lakers get their rings in the first game of the season with Harrell on the dark side, followed by a revenge game against the Denver Nuggets who also took a former Clipper in JaMychal Green. The play-in tournament could play a factor too, with the Warriors, Kings, and Timberwolves wanting to get in. And then there's the Suns, a 10-year lottery team that is now BACK in the playoffs thanks to the addition of CP3.
Not only will every team want to defeat the other L.A. team with a passion as a sort of revenge for ruining the Battle Of L.A. (a massive ratings and profits grab), they will want to do so while carrying the title of "first team to get Kawhi Leonard ejected from a game." That's my bold prediction. Paul George will also be a target for other teams to try and get riled up and out of the game. If George, Leonard or both get tossed, it will permanently cement the Clippers as an irredeemable franchise. The 3-1 collapse has made the Clippers the greatest bullseye in NBA history, and every opponent will see to it that they suffer a second longest playoff drought in NBA history for all the grief and trouble they caused for their existence.
All the Clippers can do right now is weather the storm. Be on their best behavior, take competition seriously, and get along. It's a tall ask for a franchise that has only known losing for all their lives, but a lot of things are at stake. Clippers can lose Leonard and George, even with the latter's extension. They have no draft picks for the next few years, plus a couple more if Wilkes wins his court case. Their right to playoff contention is on the line. This could literally be the Clipper's last and only chance to win their first ever championship, and with all the odds stacked against them, the pressure is at an all time high. No other team in sports history has ever felt something like this.
This is going to be the most difficult season in their franchise lives. Can the Clippers pull off a 180 before it is too late?
