Chris Paul is a perfect basketball player, in my opinion. The competitiveness of the team really has more to do with the position than the player. The Clippers got fairly hyped fairly quickly but they really haven't done anything over there except recreate the old Hornets teams he was on.
Chris Paul's problem is that he'll never have that one player that compliments him well. If he gets a Kevin Love or Aldridge, they would beast.
Kareem, as a Laker, couldn't win anything without Magic. For 5 years, Lakers made to the playoffs with Kareem but never reached the Finals. Worthy's performance declined right after Magic retired and soon after, he too retired at a young age of 33. IIRC, Lakers, for 7 years before Magic and 8 years after his initial retirement, didn't reach the Finals. In between, they went to the Finals for NINE out of 11 years!! It wasn't that Magic had Kareem or Worthy; it was Kareem and Worthy HAD Magic. Lakers never signed Kareem to a long term contract, while Magic received the biggest contract at the time of 20-year, $20M. Lakers offense was called Showtime. It was not half court offense; it was predicated on Magic passing and the run and gun fast break offense. Stockton's Jazz couldve easily won two they didn't run into a prime MJ.
This is a league füll of stars - the Clippers have one. Yeah, he is one of the best players in the league, but besides him they just have one flashy borderline star and a bunch of role players. You could call them deep, since they have a lot of talent, but they rely entirely on one player. Take him out of the game and the other team gets an easy win. I would even go as far to say, without Paul they struggle to make the playoffs. I am not buying the Clippers hype - just as I am not buying the GSW-hype or the Pacers hype. Don`t get me wrong, all of them are great teams and we will probably see 1-2 of them in the conference finals, but I don`t see them as teams that can beat the Heat - or even OKC when healthy. And they will have problems with the Bulls and Spurs as well.
So Paul even with two good PNR centers in Jordan and Chandler and two Allstar PFs in Blake and West can't make it work? Can't even get to a conference final?
Yes you can. Don't be an idiot. Best PG in the game. If every GM in the league had an option to hand pick any current PG for their team, who do you think they'd choose? Hint: Other than D Rose the only acceptable answer is CP3.
But are you believing the rockets' hype? j/k I agree with this that the clippers really aren't as loaded as people believe. It is basically Chris Paul and a bunch of prima donnas, role players. Blake Griffin as a second star. Compare Blake Griffin to Shawn Kemp and compare The clips to the Sonics, back in the day. Kemp played defense, rebounded and block shots. All blake does is dunk. If Chris Paul had Derrick Mckay, Nate MacMilliam, along with Detlef, Sam Perkins, the dude would get to the finals, no doubt. Who does Chris Paul have? A rich man's Rex Chapman (Blake), a knucklehead(Jordan), an MJ wannabe(j.crawford). I mean let's be real folks, Chris Paul is playing with a lack of true talent on that team.
Isiah was very good. And the league has changed a lot. There was a brief era (iso era) when all you needed was a stout defense and a stud point guard to make the finals - but those teams never won it all.
Teah, now in this era, point guards are MORE deadly. The league changes have favored the point guard, not the other way around.
na...cp3 could win if he has the talent. the team is built to have blake griffin be a force in the post..and for deandre to be a dwight 2.0. unless those two players do that...they wont win. its not on cp3.
I do believe the Rockets hype because I am a Rockets fan - but also, this team has 2 top 10 players, and that is usually a real good place to start. And they have a good core of young talented players around them. I don`t believe they will win this year, but I think they have a real promising start.
My exact sentiment about GSW and Pacers. Lots of people thought GSW had a great offseason. I believe they went the wrong way with Iguodala. Don't get me wrong. Iguodala is a great players but he is not what Warriors needed. Losing Jack was huge! Now Warriors have a very weak bench and volatile at 5. They are placing all their eggs in a basket called Bogut. If they had kept Jack, signed FA Robin Lopez instead, and develop Barnes, they can springboard and improve upon last season. Now their whole season hinges on the health of Bogut and on-his-last-leg O'neal. They gambled for about 5 extra wins which might backfire and send them back into 7-8 seed. One good series against Heat, which they matched well, all of a sudden, Pacers are the talk of EC. Only player will significantly improve them is a healthy Granger. All the other offseason additions are just fool's gold (Sorry Scola).
CP3 controls the ball too much. Until he take his hands off the reigns, the Clippers are going no where. Griffin is a tremendous player, but the the Clippers don't use him correctly. Paul takes his own guys out of their rhythm in my opinion.
If Paul George keeps improving, along with Hibbert, then the Pacers will surpass the Heat. The best player on that team that nobody talks about is, Lance Stephenson. He has some DWade in him.
