The Los Angeles Clippers do not care. It's a hard truth to accept, especially for fans who do care, but right now, the Clippers' biggest problem (and there are plenty) might be their complete lack of effort on a nightly basis.
Last night, the Clippers were down nine to the Lakers with about three minutes left in the game. If you couldn't see the scoreboard, you'd believe the Clippers were about to finish off the final game of an 0-82 season. They looked miserable at Crypto.com Arena. Granted, I would also be miserable in a place called Crypto.com Arena, but that's not the point.
No one could be bothered to rebound, and everyone on the team appeared to forget what a backcut was for 48 straight minutes. The game strategy made no sense (12 shot attempts for Zubac?) and at no point did the Clippers look fully invested in winning the game. It was egregious.
If he didn't know it before last night, head coach Ty Lue definitely knows it now; either this team thinks it can coast to success, or doesn't care enough either way to try. Both scenarios are equally terrifying.
The Clippers aren't talented enough to not care this much
Great teams can sometimes skate by with minimal effort. Bad teams can compete every night if they give maximum effort. Mediocre teams can't give half-hearted efforts and expect anything positive to happen, and that's what the Clippers are doing right now.
There are plenty of stats that stand out as problematic. The No. 28-ranked defense is the biggest one, of course, followed closely by the No. 26-ranked defensive rebound rate, and the No. 24-ranked assist rate. This team isn't particularly good at anything right now.
I don't want to claim that Ty Lue is above reproach in this whole fiasco, either. A head coach is the steadying force in the locker room, and buy-in is important.
But... everyone on this team is 63 years old. They have about 200 years of NBA experience combined. If they need a head coach to convince them to try every night, then this season was cooked before it even started.
I believed in this Clippers team to finish in the top six of the Western Conference. But the combination of players regressing in their production and regressing in their effort suddenly has me wondering if this team can even squeak into the play-in.
Some of the Clippers' problems are fixable if they simply care to give 100% every game. The rebounding will improve if guys box out defenders. The defensive rating will improve (at least a little) if players don't fall asleep every possession.
Until those happen, it's hard to envision this ship turning around. And it's headed right toward a giant iceberg.