Bingo. They're not that great on D coz Griffin doesn't have the length to be a defensive anchor and Jordan is too dumb. Their perimeter D ain't great either.
Uh the Clippers were a top 5 DEFENSE last season until the last two months of the year and still finished 9th. Adding Doc Rivers and a couple upgrades defensively like Dudley+Redick and the development of our bigs continuing and this is a top 5 offense and defense this year easily.
I don't think many of you understand how bad the combo of Billups/Butler was for us last year defensively. Or how bad Vinny's coaching was. We will no doubt be a top 3 seed in the west and probably a WCF team.
The clippers will ALWAYS be bad. No matter what that franchise does. Cp3 should have left when he had the chance to. Have fun being purgatory Chris.
I gotta say I'm disappointed. I remember Rockets fans always being a lot more classy than this. I hope you're not one of the guys truly representing this fan base. I've never seen so much blind hate in my time here on this forum towards the Clips. Clippers will always be bad yet haven't been bad the last two years and won't be bad any time in the near future so not sure what the point here is.
Don't mind him, he's one of our many resident Trolls. The clippers made some nice moves this offseason but to take that next step Blake Griffin needs to step his game up. He got manhandled in the playoffs by Memphis and unless he can provide the clips with a solid interior presence I don't see them moving on in the playoffs. However they probably have some of the best shooters in the league now, but like always the playoffs depend on match-ups. If the clippers play teams without strong interior presences like GSW, OKC, etc. they can make some noise. But if they run into teams with dominant Big Men like Memphis and now Houston they can be beat.
Blake Griffin has gotten substantial injuries halfway through round one two years in a row now. Prior to his injury we were up 2-1 and his numbers were solid. After the injury he was toast and Zbo started going off for 25 every game. I agree everything rests on the shoulders of Blake going forward as well as DJ though. If our bigs develop and make a jump= title contenders, if not.. 2nd round fodder probably with maybe a WCF appearance in the future.
Some people here get carried away easily. Collison is a mediocre point guard and the Clippers still need big help in the frontcourt. I'm certain they'll sign a few cheap veterans, but they aren't going anywhere with DeAndre Jordan as their center. Second round exit.
The determining factor for the Clips will and will always be Griffin. He hasn't improved one bit from his rookie season. You can argue, he is getting worse because of age. Someone needs to hook him up with Karl Malone(as much as I despise the guy) so he can learn how to play the PnR with CP3.
Actually the opposite. Griffin has improved every year and the metrics (facts) support that. Improved shooting efficiency, improved PER, improved defense, improved post game, improved jumper. His raw numbers have decreased due to playing with far more talent and playing far less minutes. Last year Vinny played Blake an inexplicable 32 minutes a game as if he's a 37 year old player (he had a huge crush on Odom).
Griffin hate is odd to me. People say he's overrated yet critique him like they expect him to be a top 3 player already after 3 years. The guy just turned 24 a month ago and is a career 21/10/3.5 player with 3 all star appearances and two 2nd all NBA selections in his first three years. In other words his career is off to a HOF start.
Clippers are better this year simply b/c Del Negro is gone. Dude is a bum of a coach. But the Clippers won't take the next step until Griffin elevates his game. He needs to break out into a superstar for the Clippers to be a true contender.
