I understand it was a big move for them, I also may have on my Rockets Red glasses, but can someone please explain how acquiring Doc Rivers was a bigger roster upgrade over us signing Dwight. His teams were very pedestrian, until he magically acquired 2 stars to form his own big 3 and win a championship.
I don't buy the Clippers as the most improved team. Reddick and Dudley are great roleplayers who can help with their perimeter shooting, but the team's biggest weakness is its lack of defense up front. In the Western Conference, that frontcourt can get eaten alive.
Clippers resigned their guy and are #1? Give it to the Rockets or Nets who both made major moves for major players.
What? The Clippers didn't improve much at all, and neither did the Warriors. The Rockets and Nets should be 1 and 2 with 3 VERY far behind.
Clippers did improve their roster they got two really solid wing guys in Dudley and Reddick to help space the floor and were able to sign two of their contributing bench guys in Barnes and Hollins on the cheap and then were able to sign Darren Collison cheaply as well to backup paul. And they got a high profile head coach in Doc Rivers as well to coach this team. Compared that with Houston we got Dwight and then re-signed Garcia and signed Casspi and Williams it. Objectively speaking I do think the Clippers did have a better offseason so far. Even if it was their own guy they landed the #2 free agent, signed a top tier coach, and 5 solid bench players/starters
They obviously treated CP3 as a new acquisition (as they did with Garcia) - and if they do that, their ranking is perfectly fine.
Doc's hiring was aces for the Clips. He makes them legitimate. Glenn Rivers will not be CP3s assistant coach and watch the development of Lopez and Jordan. Clips will be tough. Will they be playing in June? That is less certain. One should not count out Pop's SAS. One cannot count out the Thunder. And one cannot dismiss the Rockets. KMc may be the right coach for this team but he is not the coach either Doc or Pop is. I believe p/o seeding, and the obligatory 'health', will go a long way to determining who goes into June. Rox need TJ and/or DMo to develop quickly and for Asik to embrace his role as starting 4 and b/u 5 30mpg D stud. It just might happen.
I agree. Making the first move to secure Doc which in turn secured CP3 and then everything else fell into place. They got arguably the best PG in the league, a championship winning coach, and filled out their roster with great role players. I think the only move they've been criticized so far for is the Hollins signing. I think it's very close between the Rockets and Clips for the 1 and 2 most improved, with a slight advantage to the Clips. This is NOT saying that the clips are better than us, but they signed and traded for a lot of key guys in this particular off season.
can somebody explain why Howard wouldn't like running the "pick and roll"??? Am I missing something? Too fancy foot work? He would have to run out to the wing and set a "pick"? He isn't getting the basketball? He doesn't like Jeremy Lin? He can't 'roll' to his left--because he's not an ambi-turner? why wouldn't he want to run the p&r with some of the best in the business in Harden & Lin if it makes the team better???? That's like saying Harden doesn't like to shoot 3s even though he's good at it. I don't get it.
b/c Doc was hired, they become #1??? because they believe he will just out coach his opponents...And did i forget to mention that they essentially have the exact same team??? that was embarrassed by the Grizzlies?? Doc's influence on this team will not be as much as it was for the Celtics. Here is the reason why...with the Celtics, He had 3 Allstar level (2 future HOF) able to create their own shot and create for others at crunch time moments... With the Clippers, he only has one guy that has to essentially make everyone on his team better. And without CP3, the Clippers are essentially a garbage team. The reason why the Clippers were able to win at least that one game was because of Chris Paul...When teams find a way to make him irrelevant, there isnt another guy that can do it. This is essentially why the Clippers are in my book extremely overrated for this off season's impact. Doc really doesn't make that big of a difference.
the clippers made lateral moves with the exception of adding a real coach. Don't see why they got the no.1 spot.
Yeah, Clippers at #1 is just more ESPN big media market bias. Stupid. The Rockets improved WAY more than they did. Anytime you just straight up add a superstar to your roster, that's huge.