Lets be honest, and it may be borderline blasphemous, but from Russell and Wilt to Bird and Magic and to a certain extent Jordan, these greats played in extremely diluted leagues that never fostered more than three or four true title contenders each season. Not only are there only a few contenders, they usually come from the same crop of teams. Did you know that since 1984 there have only been seven franchises that have won the NBA championship? From my calculations, there are five teams in the Western Conference that have a legitimate shot of representing their conference in the NBA Finals this year, and three of them are not apart of that list of champions.
In this five part series, we will look at those five teams in depth and why nobody wants to meet them in the playoffs. We will also discuss the flaws that could get these teams beat and trades they could make throughout the season to fill those holes. Without further ado, here is my fifth best team in the Western Conference.
5.) The Los Angeles Clippers:
Why Nobody Wants to Play Them:The Clippers have a tremendous upside when they have everyone playing at full potential. Obviously CP3 is the floor general and the majority of the offense is based upon his play making abilities, but there has been other players that have stepped up this season at various times. DeAndre Jordan actually looks to have some semblance of a post game. He’s hitting baseline hook-shots now? How the hell did that happen? Is this the same guy who got a huge contract but his offensive disabilities allowed Reggie Evans (who isn’t exactly McHale in the post) to play almost all the crunch time minutes at Center last postseason?
With the acquisition of Jamal Crawford, there is now someone other than Paul to create his own shot in the crunch time, which can win this team games or lose this team games. At the moment it is winning a lot of games as Crawford is leading the Clippers in scoring at 17.5 points. Blake Griffin has been in a bit of a slump thus far and hasn’t seem to add much to his arsenal in the off-season. He is adding a very good 17-9-3 but has disappeared down the stretch in some of the games facing quality opponents. If Paul, Crawford, Griffin, Jordan, and either Bledsoe, Billups, or Butler have it going simultaneously, they can be quite a stingy defensive team as well as having the offensive firepower to take down any team in the league, which showed in their early season win over Miami.
How They Can Be Beaten:
This team can be very streaky. Whether it be shooting, help defense, or overall tenacity – The Clippers are prone to lulls throughout spurts of games which will get you beat in the playoffs. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan seem afraid to attack the basket or even touch the ball late in the game due to their fear of shooting free throws.
We already mentioned the hot-and-cold nature of Jamal Crawford and if he doesn’t have it, the Clips have nobody on the wing that can score off the bounce without going very small at the off-guard with either Bledsoe or Billups.
Their back-up bigs are pretty horrible and if Griffin and Jordan get in foul trouble, you don’t want to be finishing games with Ryan Hollins and Lamar “looks like he had to eat Khloe to get a divorce” Odom.
Possible In-Season Trade:
(Could not occur until January 15th) The Clips could add toughness, size, and shooting on the wing, as well as a banger inside by bringing in Wesley Matthews and Joel Freeland from the Trailblazers. The Clippers would send back a first round pick, Odom’s expiring contract and Grant Hill – a well-respected veteran who could add precious leadership to the young team from the Rose City.
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