Do the Clippers Run LA?

Lakers, Kobe Still Run LA

The Battle of LA has been well documented over the last couple of seasons. With some bandwagon fans and Laker haters saying that the Clips have taken over as the city's number 1 team. 

That's an absolute joke. How can one or two seasons of better basketball be enough to knock the Lakers off the pedestal? The Lakers own LA, the Beat LA chants have started with the Lakers, people HATE the Lakers- a sign that you're doing something right. No one hates the Clippers because they have and will always be largely irrelevant. They will always be number 2 in Los Angeles. 

Take a look at who the Clippers had in their franchise best season: Barnes, Odom, Turiaf, Caron Butler all former Lakers not to mention that CP3 was traded to the Lakers in a deal that was famously vetoed. Signing players from your cross-town rivals isn't a way to become bigger than them. Despite having such a good record during the regular season it doesn't mean anything if you can't convert it into playoff wins and naturally the Clippers lost in the first round to Memphis. All those extra wins over the Lakers yet only find themselves going out in the exact same round. And supposedly they have taken over LA? Give me a break!

Best Clippers Player Ever: Bob McAdoo

Now let's look at the history. The Clippers in total have had eight winning seasons, yes EIGHT. Eight out of forty two, that is abysmal. They have had a 12-70 season, all-time regular season record is an appalling 1303-2175 (.375) and playoff record is 26-38 (.406). They have made the playoffs 9 times with their best performance coming in 2005-06 when they lost in 7 games in the Western Semis. Their best player for the franchise was Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo; they made the playoffs 3 times out of his 4 seasons with the franchise. He was the 1975 MVP with 34.5 PPG, 14.1 RPG 2.1 Blocks per game and 2.2 APG.  In only his second season he became (and still is) the only person to average 30ppg and 15 rbp in the same year. He ended up winning 2 rings and guess what team that was with? Yep, the Lakers as sixth man. 

The next best players would have to be Bill Walton although he spent his best years in Portland, Elton Brand, Danny Manning and Ron Harper. Dominique Wilkins also spent one season with the Clippers. As you can see the players here are no match for the likes of Magic Johnson, Kareem, Shaq, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, James Worthy, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Cooper, George Mikan and others.

Now let’s take a look at the rivalry itself:
Seasons with better record (out of 28): Clippers: 5 Lakers: 23

Head-to-head series in regular season won: Clippers: 2 Tie: 5 Lakers: 21
Overall head to head wins: Clippers: 33 Lakers: 97
Playoff Appearances in the 28 year period that the Clippers have been in LA: Clippers: 6 Lakers: 26
Championships (in this time): Clippers: 0 Lakers: 8
Pacific Division titles (in this time): Clippers: 1 (last season) Lakers: 14

So as you can see no the Clippers do not run LA.

2013-14 Preview

Potential Lineup

PG: Chris Paul, Darren Collison

SG: JJ Redick, Jamal Crawford, Willie Green

SF: Jared Dudley, Matt Barnes, Reggie Bullock

PF: Blake Griffin, Byron Mullens

C: DeAndre Jordan, Ryan Hollins

New Head Coach: Doc Rivers

The Clippers have again positioned themselves to make a run this year. The trade that sent Caron Butler and Eric Bledsoe to the Phoenix Suns allowed them to acquire two deadly three-point shooters in Redick and Dudley. Despite the loss of Chauncey Billups and perhaps Lamar Odom, free agency was kind to them, signing Darren Collison a young PG who was good in his first year at the Pacers and will be able to bring a spark of the bench and Byron Mullens who is a big man that can spread the floor. Their biggest acquisition however is replacing Vinny Del Negro with Doc Rivers. Rivers won coach of the year in 2000 while coaching the Magic after almost making the playoffs with a team that was expected to come last. He is more known however for his role with the Boston Celtics’ big 3 where he won his only ring in 2008. He will provide more stability than Del Negro did as the players trust his judgment more and also has proven he can turn a team of stars into a championship team. He has signed for 3 years, CP3 and Griffin have signed for 5. They will be good for years to come. 

With one of the deepest benches in the league and one of the best leaders in CP3 what is there to worry about with this team? The only weakness that I can spot is that the two big men (Griffin and Jordan) are both power players have a very limited range of post moves, bad free throw shooting and the inability to spread the floor consistently. I expect they will end up between 1^st and 3^rd seed in the West, I have yet to commit to a spot just yet but I will be and this will be revealed in my Western Conference Preview article.

Where will the Clippers Finish in the West?

1st Seed

2nd Seed

3rd Seed

4th Seed

5th Seed

6th Seed

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