Clippers are kicking ass - what do you think of them now?

you mean the kid who can't stay healthy. look I like Livingston, but Sam is the better player at this stage of their careers. Even he could stay healthy, he's still a kid playing the toughest position on the court.


now if you mean someone else, just ignore.

 

this statement ranks up there that the world is flat and that the moon is made of cheese.

Even if you compare Livingston vs the Sam in the rookie years, Sam wins.
Livingston hasn't done squat. He's the Grant Hill (orlando magic version) of the clippers.

Sam in his first 2 years?

 

I will give you the injury concerns. Hopefully those are just a fluke. As for when he played last year, he was the best defender on the court for the Clips and could hang with anyone at the 1, 2 or 3. Tall lanky defender that could end up being another Scotty Pippen type on defense.

On offense, he sees the court better than most PG's in the league right now, even as a second year player. Last year he made some incredible passes. He, like Andre Miller, needs to extend his jump shot. That said, unlike Miller, he actually can make the three and has to be guarded out there.

You can go back and search my posts here, I've been saying this kid is going to be a top 10 player in the NBA within time. I'm willing to say the next 2-3 years. IMO, Sam's a headcase and while he might be a better player (although not by much), Livingston is a better PG right now and TONS better for the Clippers. With Maggette, Mobley and Brand, they need someone out there who's happy to distribute.

I know the Cassell-lovers (Tinman) will just ignore the post and continue pointing out what the two have done in their first two years, but IMO Livingston is the better PG.

 

How do you compare someone who's leading the the CLIPPERS to the BEST RECORD in the west, to some kid with POTENTIAL who is on the BENCH?

In that case, Moochie Norris is our best PG. Vin Baker was our best PF last year.

ok, this high school kid in florida, is better than Magic Johnson. give him 8 years or so.

etc etc Nugget4 logic

 

I've watched most of the Clippers games so far, living in Los Angeles. They are tough. Cassell is running the offense in a way they haven't seen in years. They've never had a good point guard. It's not just the clutch factor that Sam brings in the fourth (two years ago the team lost 19 games by 5 points or less while leading after three quarters), but the fact that he takes tremendous pressure off everyone else on the team.

What I like about their team is that they play to all their team member's strengths offensively; people get the ball in the perfect position to score. Cassell shoots the mid-range, Cuttino gets it beyond the arc with the option to drive, Brand gets the ball down low or top of the key, and Magette gets the ball while slashing to the basket off screens. All four guys find each other very well. The ball movement is beautiful. It's something I wish the rockets had right now. I can't recognize Dunleavy's offensive scheme, it doesn't look like Princeton or Triangle or anything like that. It works though, as six 100-point games out of eight will testify to.

Defensively they're much weaker. Brand is their only inside presence and he's 6'8". Kaman is a foul prone oaf. Cassell is old and can only funnel people into help defense. No one else is really that good. Opponents are getting a lot of shots inside, but not a lot of jump shots. Inside shots are higher percentage so they'll have to work on stopping those.

Overall, I like what I see. This is the best start the Clippers have ever had. I won't make any predictions, because injury or sudden bad chemistry could ruin everything. But if they keep playing like this they'll make the playoffs easily.

 

Before the season, I thought they might make the playoffs, and said so. If they do, it will be their last appearance for awhile, because whenever an agent calls on Donald Sterling ("my client should be making XYZ $$$"), the conversation goes nowhere. And the free agent goes somewhere else.

Barring the injury bug, you have a freewheeling team without much to lose and everything to gain. Cassell still has some game and wants his next (and likely last) contract to be decent. Cuttino can shoot the 3 and defend reasonably well. Brand is a 20/10 guy who also racks up blocks and some assists. Kaman is decent and Wilcox ably backs up the 4 and the 5. Maggette gets to the line about 500 times a game.

They'll win some games, to be sure. And they're probably kinda fun to watch (haven't seen them on TV yet).

 

I love how tinman is utterly convinced that Sam Cassell was the reason why we won those two championships.

 

After a zillion years of top-10 draft picks, I guess all I have to say is, "About time"?

 

I sure hope you mean only right now. Because cuz if you're saying that the Clippers are better than the Rockets outside each teams hot/cold streak, you might get a classic moment.
The only guy that they have that I would want on the Rockets is Elton Brand. Cassell is old, injury prone and selfish. Cat and Maggette are pretty good players but there not in the class of and no way they could keep pace in scoring with guys like McGrady, Jason Richardson, Kobe, Ginobili, Baron Davis, and Carmelo much less guard them if they were to make the playoffs. Plus we know how much of a ball hog Cat can be and Maggette is already complaining about playing time in the papers. Lets just chalk this up to what it is, a good start, that's it. Could they make the playoffs? Sure, the West is down it seems, but it's not a lock even if they do stay healthy. I predict, they go 39-43, finish 9th in the west even if they're fully healthy.

 

That's hilarious. Comon man, the Rockets would of gone back to back without Sam Cassell! Yes he contributed, especially in Game 2 against the Magic, but the Rockets did have Hakeem, Clyde for one, Big shot bob, kenny smith, Elie and Maxwell hit big shots, and so on. A little much there with Sam=championships suggestion. I know what you meant to get across, but you went a little overboard.

 

Best PG in the league? Man oh man, what are you smoking? I'd put Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Gilbert Arenas, Kirk Hinrich, Tony Parker, Mike Bibby, and Andre Miller all in front of him. Sam is a good player, but the way your sucking up to him you'd think he was in your family. I'm sorry, but there isn't an arguement out there for what your suggesting, your just flat wrong! Look up the stats, watch the games, you'll see my point.

 

Current combined record of the 5 teams LAC have beaten thus far excluding losses to the Clipps.....

SEA...2-4
MINN...3-3
ATL (2X)...0-5
WAS...5-1
MIL...4-1
TOT...14-14

Hope no one will mind if I wait a while longer before granting them an automatic playoff berth.

 

Livingston is the Grant Hill of the Clippers??? Not hardly. Grant Hill had many highly successful years in the league before he was injured. Livingston at this point is like the Sam Bowie of the Clippers.

 

I'm with Tinman for the most part. The only 2 point guards I would definitely take over Sam without looking at the future is Kidd and Nash. Two years ago he was the best point in the NBA and he playing close to that level right now.

 

Current combined record of the few teams the rockets have beaten thus far excluding losses to Houston.

SAC...3-4
NJN...4-3
MIN...3-3
TOT...10-10

And you don't even want to know the record of the teams that beat us. But guess what, we're a serious team. The clips just happen to be playing better than us.

 

tinman's practically arguing that Cassell is the only reason why any of the teams he's been on wins. In another thread, he even made the argument that Garnett never made the playoffs before Sam, which is plainly idiotic.

KG may have never advanced in the playoffs, but he led a team of nobodies there plenty of times by himself...even getting as high as the 4 seed in a tough western conference in 2003. The one year they got to the conference finals wasn't solely because of Sam. That team got deep in the offseason, adding starters Cassell and Sprewell, and role-players like Hoiberg, Olowokandi, and Madsen.

Using his two rings as an argument for his "greatness" is ridiculous as well. He was a headstrong, trigger-happy spark who came off the bench for us. While he contributed to those championships, saying he's a winner because of them is a bit of a stretch. Sam suffered plenty of failed seasons, even when playing alongside a great scorer like Ray Allen while he was on the Bucks. (Naturally, tinman blames those losses on Glenn Robinson because Sam can do no wrong )

Lastly, saying Cassell is the best point guard in the NBA when the reigning league MVP also happens to be a point guard is more than enough to refute that claim.

Don't get me wrong...I love Sam. I think Sam's a good player and a top 5 point guard. However, when a team with Elton Brand + Corey Maggette adds veterans like Mobley and Cassell in the offseason...it's kind of a no-brainer they're going to start winning some.

 

Wouldn't that be pretty much a microcosm of the league? The NBA overall is going to be .500, some teams will be better and some teams will be worse. Beating the Bucks and the Wiz isn't too shabby. The fact is that Sterling decided to shell out for the biggest FA signing in Clipper history this season (Mobley at ~$8million per), they picked up Cassell and they have kept Brand. They are finally building toward winning, so it is reasonable to expect their record to reflect that.

 

And the other team they played and lost (Philly) is 5-3 not counting the game against them. So the combined record of their opponents so far is 19-17

Having a 6-2 (.750) record against .528 teams looks pretty good to me.

I think you can't dismiss the Clippers' performance up to now. Whether they can sustain it for the whole season (as some have already questioned) remains to be seen. The starting line up of Cassell, Mobley, Maggette, Brand, and Kaman is very competitive. They have a good shot at avoiding the lottery this year. But they are not deep enough to survive very long in the playoffs.

Anyway, I am rooting for them to make the Lakers "the other team" in LA.

 

I'm not convinced yet. Every single year there is a team that starts out hot and then cools off to have a mediocre season.

 

Rack up another win for the clippers. Sam is sending notice to the league that he's the best PG in league. 8-2. that's the only stat you need.