OFFICIAL LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 2023-2024 SEASON THREAD

[lawdog1]

If any team was going to lose both of its best players in single playoff game, its us. You can't even make this **** up.

 

[lawdog1]

Blake wont be a clipper next year

I'm not convinced of that. I do think that this season was the last we've seen of the current "core," but I'm not sure Blake will be the first one gone.

I have to stay of Twitter for now. Extra depressing. I'm also checked out of the NBA playoff and season threads for the time being. Not even trying to observe the BS going on in there right now.

 

[HIM]

CP3 needs to be the one traded. He's got a few elite years left while Blake SHOULD have several.

Unless OKC wants to do a sign and trade for KD.

 

[Nipsey3000]

I think we should be trying to add rather than subtract. If we can get a superstar 3, that would help. We are still an attractive free agent destination...L.A., The coach, the roster, and we really aren't far from a championship especially with the spurs headed for a down swing with the big three gone.

I have seen articles that suggest that the clippers are high on kds list.

 

[lawdog1]

I think we should be trying to add rather than subtract. If we can get a superstar 3, that would help. We are still an attractive free agent destination...L.A., The coach, the roster, and we really aren't far from a championship especially with the spurs headed for a down swing with the big three gone.

I have seen articles that suggest that the clippers are high on kds list.

But we have no room to sign another star unless someone gets moved. CP, Blake and DJ are eating up the majority of our cap. Jamal is done, but that doesn't free up enough space to sign a star outright.

 

[Nipsey3000]

The cap goes up almost 20mil next year right? 40mil during the next 2 off seasons

I am pretty confident that our core will remain in tact. Doc won't blow it up for nothing in return...And he'll never get equal value for any of our pieces...unless it's Durant/Blake plus others considerations

 

[lawdog1]

After having a day to let everything marinate, **** it - I'm still in this thing. Will support this year's team until they're done (which likely be within the next week). Wearing a Clippers T today and will watch the game. I've been putting up with crushing defeat and generally messed up stuff from this team for 30 years. I'm not going to let this latest set back - though mind numbingly disastrous - beat me.

So, yes, Austin Rivers, Jeff Green and Jamal Crawford, et al, I am behind you. You are not the heroes we wanted right now but you are the heroes we need.

#ClipperNation

 

[wavycrocket]

After having a day to let everything marinate, **** it - I'm still in this thing. Will support this year's team until they're done (which likely be within the next week). Wearing a Clippers T today and will watch the game. I've been putting up with crushing defeat and generally messed up stuff from this team for 30 years. I'm not going to let this latest set back - though mind numbingly disastrous - beat me.

So, yes, Austin Rivers, Jeff Green and Jamal Crawford, et al, I am behind you. You are not the heroes we wanted right now but you are the heroes we need.

#ClipperNation

. Real fan right there.

My mindset as well. I've really grown to like this team through all the Maddness . Objectively, as somebody who was an outsider...easily the most knowledgeable and best fans on NT.

 

[lawdog1]

. Real fan right there.

My mindset as well. I've really grown to like this team through all the Maddness . Objectively, as somebody who was an outsider...easily the most knowledgeable and best fans on NT.

Respect (and a rep)

You're a welcome addition to the group. You know your stuff and one of the rare NTers who seems to actually have a pretty objective viewpoint about what goes on in the NBA. Its appreciated.

 

[lawdog1]

BTW, I honestly believe we can still pull this series out even with the depleted roster. But we absolutely have to have better ball movement on offense than we had in the last game. There was way too much ISO ball. That's going to be somewhat hard to avoid with Austin and Jamal as the primary ball handlers, but hopefully Doc gets them to make an effort. Rebound better and get some outside shooting. And we can win.

 

[shoeking2102]

Yeah, we can DEFINITELY still win this series, which is a bit bittersweet for me seeing as we have no shot in the next one. That being said, it all hinges upon if we can win tonight because we aren't winning game 6 I don't think.

Austin Rivers and Co. play infiinitely better when there's no pressure and he / they have a longer leash so we'll see. I'm curious as to what's going to happen tonight.

 

[shoeking2102]

Looking back on LAC since the Blake / DJ / CP era, there have been some dissapointments. But the biggest dissapoints haven't come in the playoffs, it's comes in the regular season. We've had some tantalizingly close calls where we could of broke through, but that only speaks to how close LAC is to breaking through.

If this is it for this core, the one thing that's going to stand out for me is their regular season performance. Under Vinny / Doc, LAC routinely churns out 55+ win seasons, (we won 53 this year and sat everyone on the last game of the season. If everyone played their we probably would have been at 54) which sounds great. Except that every single season under Doc has seen either Blake or CP miss some crazy amount of time during the regular season which fans don't realize, completely alters our postseason chances. Here's why:

In the NBA upsets are rare, and you can't really hinge your bets on them happening. The higher seed wins out almost every single time. You are really up against it if you don't have homecourt. Just look at how many lower seeded teams win in the west. The 2015 WCF? 1 and 2 seed. The 2014 WCF? 1 and 2 seed. 2013 was odd in that the 2 seed lost Russ west in the playoffs. OKC was a 60 plus win team and would have made the WCF there in all likelihood. 2012 WCF? 1 and 2 seed. You see the theme? Since 2009, only twice have the WCF had a 1/2 seed and one of those times is when Dirk went crazy in 2011. LAC has come very close to knocking these teams off w/o homecourt, but when you're that close to a OKC, or a Houston, or whatever the case, homecourt matters. LAC has never lost a series in which they haven't had homecourt. The one time they did Blake broke is damn ankle before game 5. 

The aforementioned is why the regular season matters and my biggest dissapointment is that we were never able to get a top 2 seed and every season it's either Blake or CP, your two best players missing chunks of time which really never allowed LAC to pursue a 1 or a 2 seed. Sure they came up short in the playoffs, but their shortcomings are due to their regular season luck that playoff luck which ultimately did them in before the playoffs started. LAC has never lost a series in which they were the higher seed. (Minus 2013 w/blake's ankle)

So if there is a big dissapointment, it's the regular season catastrophic injuries that we can seemingly never stay away from.

 

[wavycrocket]

Looking back on LAC since the Blake / DJ / CP era, there have been some dissapointments. But the biggest dissapoints haven't come in the playoffs, it's comes in the regular season. We've had some tantalizingly close calls where we could of broke through, but that only speaks to how close LAC is to breaking through.

If this is it for this core, the one thing that's going to stand out for me is their regular season performance. Under Vinny / Doc, LAC routinely churns out 55+ win seasons, (we won 53 this year and sat everyone on the last game of the season. If everyone played their we probably would have been at 54) which sounds great. Except that every single season under Doc has seen either Blake or CP miss some crazy amount of time during the regular season which fans don't realize, completely alters our postseason chances. Here's why:

In the NBA upsets are rare, and you can't really hinge your bets on them happening. The higher seed wins out almost every single time. You are really up against it if you don't have homecourt. Just look at how many lower seeded teams win in the west. The 2015 WCF? 1 and 2 seed. The 2014 WCF? 1 and 2 seed. 2013 was odd in that the 2 seed lost Russ west in the playoffs. OKC was a 60 plus win team and would have made the WCF there in all likelihood. 2012 WCF? 1 and 2 seed. You see the theme? Since 2009, only twice have the WCF had a 1/2 seed and one of those times is when Dirk went crazy in 2011. LAC has come very close to knocking these teams off w/o homecourt, but when you're that close to a OKC, or a Houston, or whatever the case, homecourt matters. LAC has never lost a series in which they haven't had homecourt. The one time they did Blake broke is damn ankle before game 5. 

The aforementioned is why the regular season matters and my biggest dissapointment is that we were never able to get a top 2 seed and every season it's either Blake or CP, your two best players missing chunks of time which really never allowed LAC to pursue a 1 or a 2 seed. Sure they came up short in the playoffs, but their shortcomings are due to their regular season luck that playoff luck which ultimately did them in before the playoffs started. LAC has never lost a series in which they were the higher seed. (Minus 2013 w/blake's ankle)

So if there is a big dissapointment, it's the regular season catastrophic injuries that we can seemingly never stay away from.

Some of the truest words right here. Well said.

 

[shoeking2102]

Some of the truest words right here. Well said.

Bro, they really have never "lost" when they weren't supposed to in the playoffs. Thinking that they have, is lazy thinking. Could they have beaten OKC or Houston? Absolutely, but it isn't like they were "supposed" to. Those teams are so close, that homecourt matters and they didn't have that. Like I said, they haven't lost any series in which they were the higher seed.

So when you assess that, what sucks is that they've never been able to get to a 1 or a 2 seed, and in large part it's because their two best players have consistently missed major time in the regular season which in hindsight was a death sentence for them. What has happened is that Doc and LAC have been so good to end the season, that they go on a tear at the end to get to 55+ wins and make it look like they're in a better position than they actually are.  

 

[HIM]

Idk why, but here I am looking forward to the game tonight. 99-91 Clippers

 

[lawdog1]

Idk why, but here I am looking forward to the game tonight. 99-91 Clippers

Because there's no pressure or expectations anymore. Anything we do from here on out is just a bonus. Actually makes it kind of easier to watch the games now. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hugely disappointed with what's become of this season, but I'm still interested and am going to try to have fun with the next 2 or 3 games.

 

[dland24]

I hope you guys are all in the building tonight with how cheap tickets are.  

 

[Nipsey3000]

riding till the wheels fall off with you guys. lets go on that 2008 rockets win streak with basically role players. lets shock the world.

there's beauty in riding with your team till the end. especially when your team is in the gutter. a beauty that the bandwagon fan will NEVER understand.


no need to break up the core until the trade deadline next year either way it goes...unless a blockbuster trade is on the table.

 

[scotthallwithapick]

Austin Rivers 30 point game. Remember where you heard it first.

 

[lawdog1]

I hope you guys are all in the building tonight with how cheap tickets are.  

Its pretty crazy. Read you can still get seats on the floor for only $750.

Nevertheless, I will be enjoying (or not enjoying) the game from the comfort of my own home.

 

[lawdog1]

Austin Rivers 30 point game. Remember where you heard it first.

Absolutely possible. Too bad the rest of his statline is going be 2 assists and 7-8 turnovers.

 

[gordyloc]

Over under on the amount of free throws DJ takes. I'm thinking at least 40.

 

[shoeking2102]

I hope you guys are all in the building tonight with how cheap tickets are.  

Will be there

However tix for this series been cheap since game 1. Nosebleeds were like 35 bucks

 

[HIM]

I hope you guys are all in the building tonight with how cheap tickets are.  

Will be there

Hiwever tix for this series been cheap since game 1. Nosebleeds were like 35 bucks

I saw some 200-level seats going for $29 for todays game

If portland has to resort to hacking DJ tonight....sheesh.

 

[lawdog1]

Starting Jamal at 3? Yikes.