“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
– Benjamin Franklin, 1789
After Sunday afternoon’s 104-91 loss at home to the Utah Jazz, you can add another thing to that list: “death, taxes, and the Los Angeles Clippers not making it to the Western Conference Finals.
For the sixth straight year, the Clippers — with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin (albeit not present after yet another weird injury), and DeAndre Jordan — have been bounced before the West Finals. For the third time in five years and the second straight year under head coach and President of Basketball Operations Doc Rivers, the Clippers have been bounced in the first round.
Prior to the game on Sunday afternoon, I posted on social media that the Clippers team should be blown up if they lose game seven at home. It could be by one point, or it could be in blowout fashion. If Los Angeles didn’t win, blow that team up.
The @utahjazz (4-3) advance to the Western Conference Semifinals! #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/loPRDcLSQN
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2017
Gather the explosives. Someone get Clippers owner Steve Ballmer to jump on a bomb like Major Kong in “Dr. Strangelove” and level this team to dust. As currently constituted, this group has gone as far as it can go. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and the Clippers are well past the “drastic” point with this group.
The time has come for a new direction, and it just so happens that I have a few ideas. Hopefully, someone will listen to at least one of these ideas. No one listened the last time I had ideas about the Clippers, and the end result was giving DeAndre Jordan a max contract. (Seriously, how do you sign a guy who is a liability in crunch time because of his free throw shooting to a max contract?)
Listen to me this time, Steve.
Make this decision quickly: What do we do about Doc Rivers?
There’s no denying that Rivers is a good coach. In four seasons as the head man in Los Angeles, the Clippers are 217-111. Doc Rivers is absolutely a good coach. The issue at hand is that I don’t know if he’s a good General Manager/President of Basketball Ops.
Would the Clippers be better if you split Rivers’s responsibilities, making him simply a coach? The second question would be if Rivers would stay if the President/GM title was taken from him in favor of another general manager that could potentially build a better roster for Rivers to just coach and focus on game planning.
If Steve Ballmer wants to shake some things up right away, that would be the first move. Ask Rivers to simply coach. Hire a general manager to initiate the new direction that the Clippers desperately need to go in.
Re-Sign Chris Paul and J.J. Redick
This has been said by me on many occasions on social media leading to high levels of blowback and comments of “Are you serious?” (Some replies are much more colorful than that.)
Chris Paul is the NBA’s best pure point guard. He’s the quintessential floor general/leader type of point guard who can absolutely be the focus on a championship team. Paul continues to have a high WS/48 (.264 this season), and this is the first time in four years where he hasn’t led the league in AST%. Paul’s 46.8 was fourth this year behind Westbrook, Harden, and John Wall.
Paul is still a max-contract caliber player and should be paid as much.
At age 32, J.J. Redick is probably the longest tenured player drafted from Duke University who was nothing more than a knock-down three-point shooter. After leading the league in three-point percentage last year at .475, Redick shot .429 this year. There’s going to be competition from other teams like Boston or possibly even Philadelphia, but re-signing Redick should be a priority.
Do not trade for Carmelo Anthony under ANY circumstances.
I cannot stress this enough, and if I have to fly to Los Angeles and talk through a bullhorn at the Clippers’ offices, I’m not against helping out the fan base.
The “Carmelo Anthony to the Clippers” trade has been swirling for the majority of this season. The move wasn’t made at the trade deadline, and there’s growing possibility it’s going to happen due to the increasingly toxic relationship between Anthony and New York Knicks Team President Phil Jackson.
Don’t get me wrong. Anthony is a ten-time All-Star. He has a career 24.8 points per game average. He is a big name that could theoretically breathe new life into the Clippers. This is the problem that has plagued Anthony for the last few years. For all of his scoring prowess, he is an absolute sieve on the defensive end. Anthony has never had a DRtg of lower than 102, and he has never had a positive DBPM. (His closest to positive was a 0.0 in the 2011-2012 season.)
Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and an emerging superstar in Gordon Hayward all play Antony’s position in the Western Conference. The Clippers would have to beat at least one of them (likely two) in a seven-game series to make it to the Western Conference Finals. Can you really gamble and play 5-on-4 on one end of the court?
There are better options to consider if you’re willing to get on the phone and trade for new blood.
Re-Sign Blake Griffin … but in the terms of a “sign-and-trade” Deal.
This is a possibility that has gained some steam thanks to Bill Simmons of The Ringer. On a podcast last month, Simmons discussed the idea of a three-way sign and trade deal with Oklahoma City and the Knicks. Blake Griffin would go to Oklahoma City, Carmelo Anthony goes to the Clippers, and Enes Kanter plus other assets goes to New York.
As stated above, I’m not a fan of Carmelo Anthony to the Clippers. I am, however, in favor of using Blake Griffin as a trade piece. Griffin is 27, has a career per 100 possession numbers of 32 points and 12 rebounds, and represents the greatest piece of value the Clippers have. No one is trading for DeAndre Jordan, and no general manager (at least no smart one) is trading for Austin Rivers.
Blake Griffin is the best you have to offer.
Yes, you should trade him to a team that has a disgruntled small forward in the Eastern Conference but not to the Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. Go about 700 miles west of New York City. Give the folks in Indiana a call.
The split between Paul George and Larry Bird has gotten bigger than it ever has been. George may not be in a Pacers uniform for that much longer, and Indiana needs to make a decision pretty soon. Do you try to work with George and convince him to stay in Indianapolis, or do you move your chips into the middle of the table and get what you can get for him?
If the Clippers called new Indiana General Manager Kevin Pritchard and offered some package centered around Blake Griffin for Paul George, I’m not completely positive Pritchard would hang up the phone right away in disgust laughing at the thought.
The Pacers would get to field a team centered around the front court of Griffin and Myles Turner along with whatever wing players they can acquire in free agency as well as their first round pick. George would get the opportunity to play in Los Angeles and compete right away with a team that has Paul, Jordan, and J.J. Redick.
George would be a much better option because of his skill on both sides of the court — not just offensively if the Clippers traded for Carmelo Anthony. If Griffin is going to be a trade piece in the offseason, Indiana would not be a bad first phone call to make.
Do something about the bench.
When Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Redick, and others have been substituted, their replacements have been the Clippers’ weakness for years. These are the players who came off the bench this year:
Jamal Crawford – 12.3 ppg, -0.6 VORP
Austin Rivers – 12.0 ppg, 0.2 VORP
Marreese Speights – 8.7 ppg, 0.9 VORP
Raymond Felton – 6.7 ppg, 0.5 VORP
Brandon Bass – 5.6 ppg, 0.2 VORP
There’s no need to be nice. The Clippers’ bench players are horrific. This is an area that has to be addressed if progress is to be made in making it to the Western Conference Finals. The Clippers don’t have any draft picks, so there will need to be some creativity done in order to improve the subs.
For the back court, Kyle Korver will be a free agent and get-able. Find out how much Patrick Mills is worth to San Antonio. Would Mills join the Clippers with a mid-level exception-like contract? Anthony Morrow is another name to kick around. When Morrow left Oklahoma City to Chicago, he returned to his over 40 percent from three tendencies.
The front court could be a little trickier. David West will be 37 next season, and there’s no telling what he has left in his old-man tank. An interesting front court name for the Clippers could be Zach Randolph if he’s willing to take an MLE contract.
Yes, Z-Bo’s skills have diminished at age 35, but Randolph can come in for some “big boy power” minutes from time to time. Ersan Ilyasova would be a great idea, but he may want too much money. What about Tiago Splitter, though? Splitter may not command too much on the open market, and he’s another big who provides an added element to the Clippers bench (or starting lineup if so deemed).
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