The NBA season starts in a short six days. WIth just a little time before tip-off, here are four things to ponder about the 2019-20 LA Clippers.
After what felt like the longest off-season ever, the games have begun for the LA Clippers and the rest of the league. Sure, they are only pre-season and don’t mean much, but it’s still NBA basketball! We no longer have to scroll through Reddit and/or Twitter to read the latest “story” about who is going where. The rosters are in place, decisions have been made and Woj can get some much-needed rest.
It’s time to play basketball!
Which, means a change in focus. During the frenzied free-agent period you might have noticed a lot of attention paid to who might end up where. The focus was on free agency. After the players landed where they landed we had about a month of, well, creative writing. The focus from about late July, when the excitement about the free-agent signings subsided, through September, was on anything and everything. Writers had to get creative during those two months; It was the calm before the storm.
Now, the focus is squarely on the assembled teams. How will they perform? How do they look? Are the Shanghai Sharks as good as a Division 1 basketball team? Why is Donatas Motiejunas on the Shanghai Sharks? Did you know Yao Ming owns the Shanghai Sharks? Etc.
While all those are legitimate and important questions, my focus is on the LA Clippers. They are on every prognosticator’s list as a championship favorite. More than one has the Clippers tabbed to win it all. The Clippers franchise has been in existence for 49 years and in all that time the phrase “The Clippers are legitimate Championship favorites” has never been uttered pre-season.
Until now.
There is a lot to be excited about. But, at the same time, there are some concerns. The greatest disappointments in history come after great expectations. Consider if the Knicks fail to make the playoffs and finish next to last in the East. Is that a disappointment? No, of course not. No one has any great expectations for the Knicks this season outside of a few select, delusional fans. You can’t disappoint in the absence of great expectations.
Great expectations mean there are things to be excited about, things to be scared about, cautious about and curious about. Let’s look at each in preparation for the Clippers 2019-20 season.