LA Clippers: Building for Defense Is the Right Move

The LA Clippers made one thing clear this offseason: defense is going to be the number one priority for the team this year.

The front office for the LA Clippers seems to have taken a look at how last season ended and came to a conclusion that we can all get behind: the team’s defense has to be consistently better if they’re going to make a title run.

Last year, especially when the starters needed a break, the Clippers’ strategy was to just try to score points at a rate that the other team couldn’t match. Many of the bench minutes went to Lou Williams, Landry Shamet, Montrezl Harrell and Reggie Jackson. Guys who can get you a bucket but can’t be a solid defender on the other end (with a slight nod to Shamet, who gave effort and improved somewhat on that end). And for a while, that worked!

Until it didn’t. The problem with going all in on offense with the reserves was that, no matter how high-octane the offense, every team goes through cold stretches. Sometimes the shots just stop falling. And when you’re in a seven game series against a team, they have plenty of chances to figure out how to stop you from getting clean looks.

And if a bench trio of Lou, Reggie and Trezz weren’t hitting shots, there’s not many other ways they contributed on the court. You can survive with one guy who doesn’t play defense. But several? It’s going to be hard to overcome that.

So this offseason, the Clippers have said goodbye to most of that all-offense/no-defense bench. Reggie didn’t come back, Trezz is a Laker, Shamet is a Net. We did add Kennard, who is not going to be a defensive stud for us, but we also have Ibaka and Nicolas Batum, who can be a defensive plus if he gets back to form.

If the LA Clippers go cold again in the playoffs on offense, the front office has ensured that they’ll have the capability to stop the other team from pulling away so easily. It will be easier to overcome a 7 point run than 15.

I’m not going to say the LA Clippers are built to be a championship team. After last year, I’m not going to say anything about a title before the deed is done. But the Clips certainly look more ready to survive a long playoff series now than they did last season.