LA Clippers: Why the team needs to get with the times

Year after year, the LA Clippers have fallen short of expectations. The only thing that has been more consistent than their perpetual failure is the roster itself.

To many, the LA Clippers core has grown stale. They’ve been together for so long, yet haven’t really survived the test of time.

The trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have been together for 6 seasons. Jamal Crawford has been with them for 5 seasons, and J.J. Redick 4. Together, they have withstood lots of adversity, but have nothing to show for it. And you may not know this, but the Clippers have never gotten past the second round of the playoffs before.

There is a fine line to walk when it comes to longevity. The San Antonio Spurs have mastered this by keeping their roster fresh while also never losing sight of their identity.

This summer will be somewhat of an intervention for the LA Clippers. They will have to examine themselves and look back at all of their accomplishments and failures. They will have to take a deep look at their identity and what they have built in Lob City.

How could a group stay together for so long without any real success? It’s rare for a group of guys to stay together for this amount of time, winners or not. In the meantime, so much in the league has changed around them but they have chosen to remain the same. Not only with their roster, but it shows in the X’s and O’s as well.

Apr 21, 2017; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; A Utah Jazz fans shows his dislike for the the LA Clippers prior to game three of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports /

Think about the league as a whole and how it has changed over the past several years. Small ball became popular (largely thanks to the LeBron-era Miami Heat) and now hybrid, versatile bigs are the new thing. The Clippers have been looking from the outside in, watching these trends flourish around the league. They’ve clung to their ways in hopes of finally being successful doing what they know.

And what they know has proven to not be good enough. It may be time for the Clippers to get with the times.

One thing that is holding them back is how conventional the core players play their positions. For the starters specifically, each player has the game you would traditionally expect from that position. By no means is this a bad thing individually, but collectively, it has limited them in a league that is evolving before our eyes.

DeAndre Jordan

Probably the biggest liability when it comes to this issue is DeAndre Jordan. To put it simply: he can’t shoot. It’s not something that would typically be a problem for an NBA center, but it’s 2017 and big guys shoot the ball now.

Think of the best centers in the league (up there with DJ). You have guys like DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Jokic and the likes. They can all shoot and/or distribute the ball. Thankfully, DJ isn’t the first or second scoring option on his team. But his limited game proves to be problematic in a couple of ways.

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Firstly, DeAndre just can’t put up the same amount of points that other top centers can. And the points he does put up aren’t done in a variety of ways. Of all DJ’s points this season, 80.1% came as field goals in the paint, and the other 19.9% came from free throws. For his field goals, 99.8% of them came in the restricted area, meaning they were either a dunk or a lay up. (We can assume the other 0.2% were monster dunks or the rare successful post move.)

This goes to show that his offense is pretty limited, and it especially exploited against versatile, hybrid bigs. Nonetheless, his presence is valuable when it comes to getting other guys on the floor good looks.

Luckily, DJ’s an elite defensive player so that picks up for most of the slack. But his weakness on this end is that he’s hesitant to guard the 3 point line. It could be that it’s out of his comfort zone (no pun intended) or maybe that it’s not ingrained into his head just yet. Either way, his non-committal defense when it comes to closing out the 3 point line is a burden for the rest of the team. This is something he must improve upon if the Clippers are going to be successful in today’s NBA.

Chris Paul

Everybody knows Chris Paul as one of the few “true point guards” in the league. His court vision and basketball IQ is unparalleled, making him the best floor general by a mile. In a time when the role of the point guard has evolved, CP3 is often left forgotten in conversations about the elite point guards in today’s game. This is despite being a future hall of famer and arguably a top five point guard of all time.

He may not be a flashy or elite scorer, but he has his own ways of establishing dominance. The impact Chris has on his team solely by distributing is something you rarely see in today’s game. And as the best two-way guard in the league, the grips he has on a game by just his presence alone are colossal.

However, there is one downside to CP3 being the player he is: he oftentimes shies away from being an aggressive scorer when the Clippers need him to the most. Scoring is something he is completely capable of, but just won’t put his foot on the gas sometimes. This can be fatal in a conference full of elite scorers such as Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook.

To be fair, we already ask enough out of Chris, and he’s carried this team for years now. But if he has one flaw, this is it. When he’s matched up against a high scoring guard, he has the same problem as DeAndre: he usually doesn’t put up the same volume of points and it can hurt the team.

J.J. Redick

We saw it during this year’s playoff series against the Jazz. J.J. Redick couldn’t buy a bucket with Joe Ingles guarding him. Partly due to his small size, and partly due to his offense also being limited. Along with Klay Thompson, J.J. Redick is one of the few pure catch and shoot players. They don’t do much of anything else on offense, but they are masters at what they do.

The difference between those two players is that Thompson is longer and a much better defender. Those are two common characteristics among the best wing players in today’s game…but J.J. has neither. Although he is an amazing player, his game is one dimensional and the Clippers need so much more out of that position. And it doesn’t help that Jamal Crawford is even worse in this aspect.

J.J. can certainly expand his game past shooting and the occasional floater, but he’s in a race against time as he is getting older very quickly. This summer will certainly be an interesting one with his impending free agency.

Blake Griffin

Have you ever heard the phrase “jack of all trades”? Well the full saying is “jack of all trades, master of none”. That is Blake Griffin. To be specific, he’s an extremely versatile offensive player and a decent defensive player, but there’s not one specific skill or go-to move he’s amazing at. In the past it was his dunks and uber athleticism that set him apart, but injuries over the years have slowed him down.

Even so, Blake is still one of the top power forwards in the league, and has been for almost his entire career. His problem area will always be his health.

Blake isn’t as much of a problem when it comes to his individual position as much as when you look at the group as a whole. He was pushed to diversify his skill set early on in his career. That ended up coming in handy now that he can no longer rely his athleticism.

The team as a whole

There’s plenty of problems with this Clippers team. Regarding why they’ve fallen behind in today’s game, two words: small ball. The Clippers do it very rarely. With teams playing smaller, more efficient lineups for scoring (e.g. the Warriors infamous 2016 “death lineup”) the Clippers are stuck with either their normal starting unit or with Crawford or Austin Rivers thrown in, depending on the circumstances.

Despite being excellent lineups, the matchups can be a problem with Blake and DJ on the defensive end. They’re usually too big to keep up with smaller guys, especially DJ.

In a functional small ball lineup, there would only be one big on the court. There are two large problems with the Clippers and small ball. First, Blake isn’t long enough to play center well. When DJ isn’t in the game, the Clippers have absolutely no rim protection. Blake is not a defensive threat at all in the interior.

Secondly, when DJ is the lone big, that forces Luc Mbah a Moute into the 4 spot. Neither of them bring any offense, and on top of that, Clippers have problems with the 3 spot. TL;DR: a small ball unit with their core would only give them two functional positions. And against better teams, thats not ideal.

The solution?

The LA Clippers need to add another dynamic to their game; one that would thrive in today’s league. Whether that be a player or system, they need some kind of change to keep up with the times. They’re falling behind and father time is not on their side.

This summer will surely be an interesting one, and change is bound to come. The Clippers need to get better now, and anything short of that will be a failure. The question is: how will they go into next season better than before?

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