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Kawhi Leonard, Paul George mark beginning of new era for LA Clippers

By Leonard Saldana

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 24: (L-R) President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank, head coach Doc Rivers, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and owner Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers attend the Paul George and Kawhi Leonard introductory press conference at Green Meadows Recreation Center on July 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 24: (L-R) President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank, head coach Doc Rivers, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and owner Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers attend the Paul George and Kawhi Leonard introductory press conference at Green Meadows Recreation Center on July 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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The LA Clippers are becoming a place where players want to come and compete for championships. That wouldn’t have been imaginable a decade prior.

The LA Clippers came off a whirlwind of a free agency, and are now considered the favorites to win the title. In a matter of seconds, the fate of the franchise changed. First, it was announced that Kawhi Leonard was signing with the Clippers. What felt like seconds later, another tweet came in about Paul George‘s fate. And with that, the NBA landscape was changed.

The time leading up to those two franchise changing tweets, you could see the “Clippers are not going to get anyone” tweets, or those saying  “the Clippers are going to do what they do best, being the Clippers.” For some, that might not make much sense but ask those fans who have been through the bottomless lows before becoming perennial playoff contenders. They might have a different outlook than the newer fans who have only known the Clippers to be a highlight factory.

The Lob City days seem so long ago, and while that team never made a conference finals, it did wake up a franchise and their fan base. The highlight dunks brought a new generation of fans to a team that only knew losing. From there, the franchise made several changes.

Those changes, along with building a capable front office, have made the Clippers into a brand new organization. There’s Steve Ballmer, who is hands off but in the know of everything going on within the organization. There’s Doc Rivers, a championship coach who looked re-energized coaching his scrappy bunch last season. This is a different Clippers team, and it didn’t start overnight — it’s been a process for many years.

Some fans, not all, expect something bad to happen. I understand those fans conditioned to believe there is a… curse of some type on the team. The Clippers had health last season for the most part and were a playoff team, even taking the world champions to six games in the first round of the playoffs. There was no phantom injury, just hard-working players who played for one and other.

This summer, the Clippers signed arguably the best player in the league and helped recruit another top 10 player. This is a new day for the LA Clippers and its fans, it’s not wrong to expect big wins and long runs in the playoffs because the front office built an organization that players want to come to.

The team re-signed players for lesser amounts that could have signed for more elsewhere to be apart of something special. The Basketball Gods smiled on the Clippers and their fans on that Friday night. It is time to have some faith in this new look Clipper team.

Next. Shaun Livingston has interest in returning to LA. dark

This LA Clippers team is not full of divas, these players go to work, do it well and then go home. Expect big things because retaining players from last year that no one wanted to play then add two players who were first known for their defense before exploding into amazing offensive players as well. Welcome to Clamp City.

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