Los Angeles Clippers:
Kobe said no, but they can still push into the postseason

The Los Angeles Clippers are one of those teams that few franchises can parallel, in terms of what they’ve achieved. There might be one team in each of the major sports leagues that can match what the Clippers have done since packing up and moving from San Diego all the way to Los Angeles in 1984. They aren’t the Yankees or the Cowboys or the 49ers or even the Red Wings. No, the few teams that can match up with the Clippers in terms of what they’ve accomplished are the Cincinnati Bengals, not counting last season, the Detroit Tigers, and the Chicago Blackhawks. There is still a big difference between these three franchises and the Los Angeles Clippers and that is that these teams did achieve things in the postseason not all of them won world championships but they did at least make it to the final game/series of their respective sport. The Clippers have only made it to the postseason a whopping three times since the 1984-85 season. Since moving to LA LA Land, which is 19 seasons, the team has amassed a 535-1073 which is a cringe invoking .332 winning percentage. In that same span the team has won more games than it has lost in only two seasons. They are the embodiment of losing and, in more recent memory; it has to do with the ownership of Donald Sterling and not so much with them just having hard luck and drafting the wrong guys. It’s one of the sadder stories in sports where the owner would rather keep the budget and wins low to keep his profit up. Many writers have speculated that he just uses this as a way to be part of the “in” crowd of Los Angeles. Owning the Clippers is something that gives him some sort or notoriety which he has gained throughout Hollywood, but in the sporting world he’s more of a villain than anything.

Last season was another routine season for the Clippers. They finished with a 28-54 record which fetched them the third worst record in the NBA. The team did, however, show signs of life under new head coach Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy is a good coach that led Portland to a number of playoff appearances and is dead set on turning around the franchise. The team does have an all-star caliber player in Elton Brand and has up and coming athletes like Corey Maggette and Chris Kamen that will get better over the next couple of years and will lead the Clippers to the uncharted territory of the playoffs.

In the off-season the team threw all it could at the top free agent of the summer Kobe Bryant. Bryant had whittled his choices down to two when he let the world know that he was going to stay in Los Angeles, but in the end he decided not to leave the Lakers. The Clippers also let their free agent guard Quentin Richardson go to the Suns and then traded a second round draft pick to bring in shooting guard Kerry Kittles from New Jersey who had a fire sale during the off-season.

The team did address its biggest hole in their roster at point guard with the draft. With the number four pick in the draft they selected the best point guard in the draft Peoria Central High School’s Shaun Livingston. Livingston may be young but he will pay dividends in the upcoming years. There are very few doubts that he will be a superstar in the NBA before his career is over. With their second round pick they grabbed another point guard off of the board, this time it was Xavier’s Lionel Chambers. Chambers led his team to a couple of upsets in the NCAA tourney last year and is not adverse to shooting the ball. He averaged 21.8 points/game in the tournament when Xavier toppled both no. two seeded Mississippi State and no. three seeded Texas. The Clippers turned a position that they had almost nobody at to a position that they are among the most promising in the league.

The Clippers starting five didn’t have much success last season which is the reason that it isn’t the same as last year. At point guard Marco Jaric will start the season here but will be challenged by Livingston and Chalmers for playing time, at shooting guard Kerry Kittles will bring his Finals experience to the starting lineup, at small forward will be Corey Maggette, at the power forward will be Elton Brand, and Chris Kaman will start at center.

The Clippers are surprisingly deep. They have a great deal of talent stockpiled on their roster but it baffles the world why they don’t win games. Backing up the guards will be Shaun Livingston and Lionel Chalmers who will push the starters for their position. Backing up the big men will be Chris Wilcox.

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