LA Clippers are an NBA super team, says Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce is returning for his final NBA season in 2016-17, because he believes in the LA Clippers and has even called them a super team.

Paul Pierce believes in the LA Clippers. He wants to come back to be a part of this group one more time, enjoying one more year as his final attempt to win a second NBA championship after winning his first with Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics in 2008. During NBA media day, Pierce expressed that he believes these Clippers have similar potential to the ’08 Celtics as title contenders.

Pierce wouldn’t have returned for next season otherwise. He knows he’s coming off the worst year of his career as a woefully inefficient shooter (a career-low 36.3 percent from the floor) and a two-way liability. He didn’t help the team and hopefully, for the sanity of Clippers fans everywhere, he’s acknowledged that and will hope to turn things around and at least make more of his three-pointers.

He does know the ability of his teammates, though, naming them as one of the NBA’s three super teams.

Of course, Pierce referred to the New York Knicks and Derrick Rose‘s belief that they are a super team with a hint of laughter. For a team with a mixture of former stars, players past their prime and simply players who struggle staying healthy, such as Rose and Joakim Noah, there’s no way they’re jumping from the 13th seed in the Eastern Conference last season to a high playoff seed (or maybe even the playoffs whatsoever), let alone super team status.

Jovan Buha of ESPN also reported that along with the undeniable super team status of the Golden State Warriors, who went a record-breaking 73-9 last season (yes, they blew a 3-1 lead in the Finals, in case you’d forgotten) and still went out into free agency and landed the biggest prize possible with Kevin Durant.

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Are the LA Clippers on that level? No. They’re not close. No one is. But, after the Warriors and the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers, the Clippers could very well be the third best team in the NBA now.

The San Antonio Spurs continue to get older, with the primary concern being their interior defense after losing Tim Duncan and bringing in Pau Gasol and David Lee to complete their new frontcourt.

As for Pierce’s All-NBA reasoning, he was slightly off as Blake Griffin has never made the First Team. Although, as a three-time Second Team player and one-time Third Team player, he’s still done exceptionally well in his six seasons.

I’m not nearly ready to put the Clippers on super team level when they didn’t take a leap forward this summer (as they were never realistically going to, anyway) and the Warriors still sit at the top of the West.

The Clippers are one of the top few teams in the league, but not much about them says super team. If they had a bench to match the quality of their starters, perhaps we could realistically delve into the super team claim.

However, the Clippers need this kind of confidence. Making the Conference Finals for the first time could certainly be within their grasp now, and if they can finally have a healthy playoff run and the Warriors suffer an injury, maybe, just maybe, these LA Clippers will finally get their break.

Next: Blake says he's 100 percent healthy again

Also, Pierce has definitely annoyed the Warriors, their fans, and many around the league with this bold super team comment. Let the typical Clipper hate ensue.