Becoming a great team in the NBA is a tough process, and it involves learning from mistakes of all kinds. This is how a team is gradually elevated from a play-in competitor to a playoff rival, and ultimately to elite, one-of-a-kind, championship status.
The LA Clippers have gone through all three phases, but the one they were stuck in for the longest was a playoff rival. This is because the superstar talent has always been evident, but one or more mistakes were exposed in some other way through the game plan. Yet, the Clippers seem to always bounce back and immediately fix what has held them back in the past.
Last season, one of the biggest issues early in the year was in the front-court. The Clippers essentially forced Ivica Zubac to realize that if he does not play around 35 minutes each night and dominate, the team will lose.
Thus, Lawrence Frank made the offseason corrections and relieved Zubac of a significant amount of unnecessary stress. This fix helps the team and his health at the expense of a couple of million.
The addition of Brook Lopez is the re-try of the Clippers’ attempt with Mo Bamba
The LA Clippers signed Mo Bamba to a one-year deal last July with a realistic dream that he would become the ideal stretch-big in Intuit Dome. This would have propelled the Clippers towards the same strategy used by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and in retrospect, it should have been effective.
Bamba spent five seasons with the Orlando Magic, shooting 36.0% on 2.6 attempts per game. The Clippers took this approach and planned to have the former lottery pick acclimated in Tyronn Lue’s system, then generate a lineup with him at power forward and Ivica Zubac at center.
However, the Clippers never stepped foot out of their driveway, as Bamba was not a good finisher around the rim to be kept on the floor. Additionally, he only shot 30% from a distance.
Moreover, Brook Lopez is a more durable, experienced, and versatile version of Bamba. This is what the Clippers receive for spending over $6 million more annually on the former Milwaukee Buck.
The Clippers will not start Lopez and Zubac, but the idea of having an extra lineup available makes their chances at winning the NBA Finals next season even better. This is the key, as it was also the case last season and in the years before, when Tyronn Lue did not have this level of flexibility.