2016-17 NBA Season Preview: Los Angeles Clippers
Welcome to theScore's preview of the 2016-17 NBA season.
Los Angeles Clippers
2015-16
| Record | Pacific | West | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53-29 | 2nd | 4th | Lost in Round 1 (4-2 POR) |
Offseason roundup
| Additions | Departures |
|---|---|
| Brandon Bass (vet minimum) | Jeff Green (ORL) |
| Raymond Felton (vet minimum) | Cole Aldrich (MIN) |
| Alan Anderson (vet minimum) | Pablo Prigioni (HOU) |
| Marreese Speights (2/$2.9M) | C.J. Wilcox (traded to ORL) |
| Brice Johnson (draft) | |
| Diamond Stone (draft) |
Projected starting five
- PG Chris Paul
- SG J.J. Redick
- SF Wesley Johnson
- PF Blake Griffin
- C DeAndre Jordan
Related: Is this a do-or-die season for the Clippers' core?
Player to watch: Blake Griffin
Few players enter the 2016-17 campaign with as much to prove as Griffin, who's coming off a fraught season that saw him miss 49 games due to multiple injuries - one of which was a broken hand suffered while punching a team staffer. Whether or not there was ever any credence to the trade rumors that surrounded him in the wake of that ugly incident, it's clear the coming season is a crossroads for Griffin and the Clippers.
The 27-year-old can opt out of his deal next summer, and though he was typically excellent when healthy last season (21.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists), he has a bit of value rehab to do after the mess it turned into. Griffin remains one of the game's best power forwards, but the Clippers have been surprisingly good without him (40-22 the past two seasons), and, given the uncertainty over his future with the team, it's conceivable they'll explore deals throughout the season.
Of course, Griffin's play will have a lot to do with that. His supreme athleticism, bulldozing rim runs, and above-the-rim theatrics will always make him eminently watchable, but it's his ongoing evolution as a playmaker and floor-spacer that makes him vital to his team's chances of filling the Western Conference's anticipated second-tier power vacuum.
The Clippers' offense slipped significantly in Griffin's absence last season, but they quietly morphed into a top-five defensive outfit. Griffin is neither a rim-protector or a multi-positional defender, but he's a capable enough post stopper and pick-and-roll switcher that he shouldn't upset the balance too much. If he can continue to extend his shooting range, thrive as a post passer and elbow facilitator, and stay on the floor, the Clippers could be the most fearsome West team outside the Bay Area. Whatever happens, the particulars of Griffin's bounce-back will make for one of this season's most fascinating subplots.
Season expectations
Over the past five seasons, only the Spurs and Thunder have won more games than the Clippers, who've finished no lower than fifth in the West in any of those seasons. They've had a top-six offense in each, and twice finished No. 1. That would typically constitute a successful half-decade for any franchise, let alone one that hadn't cracked the 50-win plateau in its 41 prior seasons of existence.
And yet, it feels like the team has failed to reach the potential that was promised when Chris Paul joined Griffin and DeAndre Jordan back in 2011, with just three playoff series wins and nary a conference finals berth to show for their ostensible window of contention. They've fallen victim to plenty of bad luck and bad timing, but after taking five kicks at the can with the same core, this is more pattern than randomness. At a certain point, you are who you are.
Now the Clippers are facing the impending free agency of both Griffin and Paul, and they're no closer to figuring out whether they've hit their ceiling. If there's a consolation this season, counterintuitive as it may seem, it's that the Warriors' universally expected supremacy eases the burden of expectation on the Clippers. No one is giving them (or any other non-Warriors outfit) much hope of winning the West. But with the Thunder significantly weakened, the Spurs entering a new era of Duncan-less basketball, and no other team obviously ready to step into the void, the Clippers have as good a chance as anyone to be the squad that takes its best shot at the Warriors in the conference finals.
That should be the benchmark for a successful season. There are concerns, naturally: The perpetually flimsy wing rotation is as flimsy as ever; the unreliable bench is propped up by a 36-year-old; they don't have a true backup center and still don't really know what to do with Jordan in crunch time; the defense could be primed for regression. But the talent, and the urgency, is there. Fall short, and the Clippers could wind up looking a lot different a year from now.