Adding CP3 will definitely raise your team's profile.
In the 1st edition of my weekly NBA power rankings on February 3rd, I had the Clips ranked as the 5th best team in the league with a record of 13-7. They would remain in my top 5 for 2 more weeks, but during week 2 something happened that affected how the Clippers approached the rest of the season. When Chauncey Billups 1st signed with LA, my friend Mac (a diehard Pistons fan and ardent Chauncey supporter) asked me what I thought. I told him I wasn’t sold on it really. Billups’ skills had declined in recent years, and they were going to ask him to do things he had never had to do (at least full time) in his career: play off the ball and guard opposing teams’ shooting guards. Chauncey was and is a great spot-up shooter, and he was a strong enough defender earlier in his career that he had shown an ability to guard bigger guards at times as well (at least in short spurts). I thought asking him to play that permanent role for the Clippers might have been too much to ask at this stage of his career though. I couldn’t have been more wrong…his shooting percentage this year left something to be desired, but Chauncey was shooting almost 40% from 3 point range, was averaging 15 points and 4 assists a night, and was probably playing the best backup point guard in the league. More than that, he was the 1 old head on a team full of young bucks. He was a calming influence on the Clips’ young roster, and someone they could look towards to see what it was like to be a true pro. Billups, as he has shown throughout his career, was also unafraid of the moment and of taking (and making) big shots at the ends of games. When he went down with an achilles injury in early February, the Clippers lost all of that.
LA seemed to tread water for a little while after that. As of February 16th, Lob City was still 18-9 and in 1st place in the Pacific Division, but since then they are only 8-10. Their lead in the division over the Lakers is gone, and they would be a middle-of-the-pack playoff team if the postseason started today. More than that, when you watch a Clippers game, there seems to be a certain sense of joylessness about them, particularly in Griffin. Last week, a Grantland column noted that Blake seems to be more concerned with staring down officials and opponents than anything else as of late, a point that I’m sure hasn’t gone unnoticed throughout the league. Part of all this may just stem from the grind associated with this abbreviated and highly condensed season. I guess it could be tough to get up for your 4th game in 5 nights or whatever. Opposing teams also seem to have learned the formula for beating LA: make the game not fun, thus removing their joyfulness in the 1st place, as the Celtics did in LA a few weeks ago. After all, you can’t have Lob City without the lobs.
Believe it or not, officials don't enjoy being shown up...a lesson Blake will hopefully learn sooner than later.
Due to the slide, the Clippers have made some tweaks to their roster that probably wouldn’t be considered “panic moves,” but they’re pretty close. The Kenyon Martin signing is defensible. Like I mentioned before, front court depth was their biggest issue prior to Chauncey going down, and K-Mart definitely aids LA in that area. His athleticism isn’t what it used to be, but he’s still a reliable defender/rebounder off the bench, and he can also kind of act as an enforcer if anyone decides to cheapshot Blake, which has been known to happen from time to time. Martin hasn’t been all that productive though, and his 36% free throw shooting may make him, Blake, and Jordan the worst free throw teammate trio of all time.
The Clippers also were hot in pursuit of JR Smith prior to him signing with the Knicks. He may have filled another need, but then again how much does a team that is in its 1st season as currently constructed and is still working on its chemistry need a gunner like Smith anyway? Naturally, the Clippers then traded for the next best thing: Nick Young. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears, as some people covering the league actually thought this was a great move for LA. The thought was that the change of scenery for Young back to his hometown and his ability to create his own shot would help the Clippers out a great deal. To me, I could see Young working out if he played a specific role: coming in off the bench and having the freedom to fire at will once the 1st team is out of the game…but the Clippers already have a guy like that anyway (Mo Williams), and that’s not how they’re using Young anyway. In his 1st 2 games since the trade, Young has played starter’s minutes (32.5 per game). In those 2 games, Young is a combined 6 for 19 from the field. Wizards fans will be happy to know that Young is passing the ball at the same fantastic rate he did in DC though (1 assist per game). You think there’s no joy now? Don’t expect many smiles form Griffin and Paul in a couple of weeks as they watch Young hoist up another fall-away 25-footer with 19 on the shot clock.
"Hey guys, might as well get ready for an offensive rebound. I'm taking it. Yea, just stand under the basket for now. Right there, that's good..."
All in all, it makes you wonder if the Clippers should have just played the year out with what they had. I can see the school of thought though. With no clear favorite in the West, the Clippers’ brass probably thought they had as good of a chance to win a title this year as anyone else. Might as well go for it, right? The only problem is that the pieces they added don’t seem to fit, and the additions might have actually made them worse overall. At least Young and Martin’s contracts expire after this season…as a fan, I only hope the damage done to Lob City isn’t irreversible.
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