Clippers Reign Among Elite is Over
With all that talent the Los Angeles Clippers once contained, the franchise had no championships to show for it. During their peak, the Clippers never made it past the second round of the postseason, but had the roster to win it all. The play of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and others gave life in Los Angeles. The question suddenly becomes where it went wrong for the Clippers.
Ever since moving to Los Angeles from San Diego (and Buffalo, NY before then), the Clippers were always seen as second class citizens to the Lakers. The franchise wanted to change their perception around the NBA. With that, the Clipppers made the league take notice for awhile when they acquired point guard Chris Paul. It was at that point when Los Angeles became a winning basketball team.
The front office then went out and drafted power forward Blake Griffin, and the potential was starting to come together. Seeking a new head coach, Doc Rivers was brought in from coaching the Boston Celtics to a championship just four seasons prior. To capitalize, the addition of DeAndre Jordan also helped out tremendously.
Towards the end of Kobe Bryant’s career, the Clippers were even gaining more attention than their rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. It was at that moment that Los Angeles took advantage, and made the most of their young roster.
After clinching the playoffs the previous seven years, the Clippers have now been caught on the outside of the Western Conference playoffs. Coming into the 2017-2018 season, most experts had Los Angeles locked in as a lower-seeded franchise. The sudden trade of Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets, as well as the in-season trade of Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons made the Clippers a somewhat average team at best.
Even in the postseason, the Los Angeles Clippers have been notorious for losing to franchises with less overall talent. Just back in 2017, the Clippers went on to lose to the Utah Jazz, a team who hasn’t won a playoff series since the 2009-10 season. In addition, injuries have ravaged the Clippers, and have cost them critical playoff games.
At this stage, are the Los Angeles Clippers better off reloading or rebuilding their roster?It seems as though Doc Rivers could be on his way out of the city in the near future, which should change the overall momentum for the team. The NBA Draft and the free agency period are on the horizon, and the Clippers will be a team to pay attention to as time goes on.
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