Sometimes I sit here and wonder why I’m a Clippers fan. It’s painful to be one. I mean, really painful. For the past two decades, the team has only gone to the playoffs twice. That’s pretty sad. Especially in a town where the Lakers are making the playoffs almost every year and winning championships left and right. I don’t want to sit here and bitch about the team’s entire history so I’ll fast forward to what has been called the Dunleavy (Dumbleavy) Era. Now I have to give it to DunDun for turning Donald T. Sterling’s mentality around and getting him to open the padlock to his wallet. He’s strayed away from relying on cheap draft picks every year then letting them walk after their rookie contracts are up. Pretty much making him an honorary member of the Cheap Chinese club. With DunDun around we finally got players locked down into real contracts and a new training facility. We even made runs at free agents, which was unheard of for the organization. So for that, I am happy with Dun the GM. He’s also made ridiculous trades to get players like Marcus Camby, Rasual Butler, and Steve Novak for conditional 2nd round draft picks or rights to trade spots in the 2nd round. That’s flat out amazing. Talk about getting something for really nothing. This is the team that he assembled from top to bottom, so he should have been able to coach it no matter who was suited up or behind the bench in a suit on the injured list. Granted, finding out that Blake Griffin was out for the season was a big blow to everyone. I guess the thing is, I’m just sick of the excuses. I think every loyal fan to this franchise can agree on that. If it’s not an injury then it’s a water pipe breaking in Memphis or a late bus in New Jersey.
So yeah, let’s skip to the Sam Cassell time when this team actually had balls, determination, and attitude to win. People want to give props to DunDun for the best season we’ve had for 2/3 of my life. But it wasn’t Dun. That whole season and playoff run was Sam Cassell and his swagger. Pretty much one shot away from the Western Conference Finals and, well, Clippers fans know the rest. The season after, the Clips thought all of a sudden that they’d be automatic playoff contenders. Not so. Elton “Pre-Benedict” Brand was crying all season about being tired then we choked on a home game versus the Kings that pretty much shot us back into the lottery. Maybe that’s where we belong.
The year after was even worse. Brand ruptured his Achilles tendon and was out for 90% of the season. Horrible season. What do the fans hear? “We’ll be better next season because Brand is back.” Then he bitches out and bolts to Philly while we think we signed a superstar with Baron Davis. We fill the power forward spot with Marcus Camby then Zach Randolph later, but still manage to finish the season with a pathetic 19 wins. Back to the lottery. “Next year will be better. We’ll have a high draft pick, plus the core guys on this team are locked into contracts.”
This time Andy Roeser had something up his sleeve (or inside his suit) and pulls the number 1 ball for the lottery. Blake Griffin, welcome to Los Angeles. Every beaten down Clippers fan is stoked beyond belief, we ship out Z-Bo, and the pre-season couldn’t have gone any better. Just as we’re on our high, Lucy pulls the football away and we land on our asses…again. BG has a cracked kneecap and is out for 4-6 weeks, which led to 3 months, and resulted in season ending surgery before he even stepped foot on the court in an actual pro game.
The season starts off slow, and I put partial blame for that on the league because they have opening night at a Lakers home game after their ring ceremony. How demoralizing is that? The Clips teeter totter around the .500 mark a couple months into the season and then totally choke out to teams they should easily beat. It wasn’t even halfway in the season yet and people are already talking about what lottery pick we’re going to end up with. “Next year will be better. Blake will be back, we’ll have cap room to make an attempt at a big free agent, and we still have a few core guys locked in.” Sounds all too familiar.
Here are the main things I don’t understand with this organization:
-Why is it that no matter who we draft, trade for (minus Sam Cassell), or bring up from the D-League it never gets our team over the hump?
-Why do we manage to get has-been players just after their prime? Think Glenn Rice
-How does a team manage to beat the Lakers, Heat, Nuggets, and Celtics at home end up losing to the Lakers by 40, getting killed by the 3 win (at the time) Nets with no players, lose to the Pacers, get beaten by the Timberwolves, and get slaughtered by the undermanned Warriors while giving Stephen Curry his first triple double with ridiculous numbers? (I’ll touch on these losses in a bit)
-How do Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith manage to keep upbeat in so many years of seeing this horrible display of basketball? They’re really the only reason I can stomach watching all 4 quarters of a lot of these games. Otherwise, I’d rather to a number of other things than watch uninspiring basketball. In fact, I’ll make a list of those things in my next blog.
-Of course next season will always be better How could it be any worse?
-Would even bringing a super star free agent turn things around?
-How are we going to be a running team when none of the players are conditioned or consistent jump shooters? The starting point guard can barely shoot jumpers to save his life.
-Why does every no-name player look like an all star when they play us and star players look like superstars?
-When time is running out the Clips are down, why does Baron Davis casually walk the ball up the court and then waste 20 seconds on the shot clock dribbling with no sense of urgency?
-How does a team up by double digits in the manage to squander the lead so many times over the years?
-How come when the team is winning, they go from attack mode to sleep mode trying to burn as much clock as possible rather than going in for the kill?
-(As Tim reminded me) Why is this roster so off balanced? I remember in the off season, I wondered why we had over half of the roster capable of playing the 4 and 5 spots. Then no REAL back up for the shooting guard and no third point guard since Telfair and Baron are constantly injured or just playing awful. Mardy Collins doesn’t count because he shouldn’t even be in the NBA.
-Why are we fans even fans anymore? I used to be able to answer this one, but now my mind comes to a blank.
-How can they blow out tickets for cheaper than season ticket holders pay?
-Why do injuries seem to last forever. Jordan Farmar has surgery and is back within weeks. Z-Bo, knee bruise went from day-to-day to months. Same with Camby’s bruised heels and Baron’s tailbone. Shoot. Griffin’s knee. EJ’s shoulder. The list goes on and on beyond these past two seasons.
Now to touch on the losses:
Lakers loss by 40: You’re leading into the half and get outscored by 40 in the second half? How does that even happen? That’s truly pathetic and pushed the team along with its fans back into the laughing stock of Los Angeles.
Loss to the Pacers: Sigh. They’re the Pacers and they didn’t even have all their players. Leading into the 4th and choke. OK. You get one freebie.
Killed by the Nets: We’re talking about a team with 3 wins going into that game and their starting backcourt players out with injuries. Blame it on the late bus or lack of stretching. This team played like they came off of the short bus. They played uninspired basketball yet again. They didn’t play defense or offense. Walked onto that court thinking they were going to pounce on the Nets. Not so. You don’t take your opponent seriously and that’s what you end up with. A humiliating loss. They were celebrating like it was 11:59pm on New Years Eve in that arena after getting their 4th win at the Clippers’ expense. Pathetic.
Loss to the Timberwolves: After just getting humiliated by the Nets, you’d think the players would regroup and come out strong. Well, like us, you’d be wrong. They come out and start the game with the score at 19-5 or something ridiculous like that. Didn’t you guys just have a players-only meeting? WTF did you talk about? How to lose back-to-back games to teams with records way worse than yours? If so, then bravo on being able to execute that. Yeah, BD had an amazing run in the 3rd quarter, but one good quarter in a season and a half isn’t very impressive and it’s definitely not worth $65million.
We’ll take a break here and say bye to DunDun as coach. Then Kim Hughes gets appointed as interim coach talking about having this team run. Not happening. First game under Hughes and the Spurs kill us making people start to chant Hire Dunleavy! Second game against the Jazz looked good until the fourth quarter. Well, I won’t say it looked great, but we were leading because we were scoring more than them. That only works when we keep scoring because the Clippers defense was atrocious. Dunk after dunk.
Last game before the all star break against the Warriors who are on a 9 game losing streak and the Clips get absolutely slaughtered. I understand that the offense is a little different under Hughes, but how did the defense get so bad? Dunks, 3 pointers, and whatever the Warriors wanted they got anywhere on the court. Rookie Steph Curry made BD look like a chump in that game. Kaman, who was just named an all star grabbed 4 rebounds. He’s 7 feet tall. That’s just lame. The entire team played with no heart, passion, or desire. They spent most of the time turning the ball over. That game was truly vomit inducing…unless you were a Warriors fan. They looked like a bunch of kids who have never played together just running up and down the court trying to figure out how to play professional basketball. I often forget that they’re not the Washington Generals losing on purpose because it sure as hell looks like they are.
From now on (until they get their act together), I’m going to refer to this year’s Los Angeles Clippers as Team Wizard of Oz - playing with no basketball brains and zero heart. If you don’t want to do it because it’s your job, a game you love, and you’re getting paid millions for it at least do it for the fans who support you. Otherwise demand a trade and go to a team that you’ll actually show up to play for. Otherwise, you’re just wasting everyone’s time.
The all star break couldn’t come at a better time because I truly need a break from this horrible team. But hey, next year will be better.
Ricky “RikDaddy” Chu
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Blame the GM for creating a talented team that has yet to build chemistry because half the players are very injury prone. Also blame whomever in the Management office that has some sick obsession with power forwards and centers… As if the team hasn’t had enough already over the past decade, while their backcourt has remained constantly weak; explain to me how you can have a team with 6 players eligible at the 4 spot, (Smith,Thornton, Jordan, Camby, Kaman, Skinner)….thats just with ommitting Griffin, and but only 2 real options at the 1 guard. Plus who the heck is their back-up PG since it isn’t Telfair? What the Clips need to do is trade away Camby and Maybe Jordan for a good guard or forward guard combo.
Thanks for reminding me about the cluster we have had over the years at the 4 and 5 spots. I mean seriously, we drafted Wilcox and Ely in the same year. How stupid was that?
Did you hear the Clips news…I think they must have been reading your blog
What a breath of fresh air to take the edge off after a horrible day. Excellent article that really gets the thought across. Thank you for taking the time.