Clipping the Clippers

For the last time, the Los Angeles Clippers led by their trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan failed to move past the first round of the playoffs in the Western Conference. Of course the injuries sustained by Paul and Griffin played an impact in their early exit, but the repeated failure of the Clippers prompts a reconsideration of the team if they truly wish to make a deeper run in the playoffs. The Clippers and their stars are obviously not void of options, though.

All or Nothing

Perhaps it really has been bad luck plaguing the team all of these years. On paper and during the regular season the Clippers were a pretty solid team with perhaps the smartest player in the league running the floor for them. The dynamism of their all star big men surely made them a threat as well as the presence of their sharp shooters. With some substantial players circling the free agency, this coming summer would be the time to build on the foundation of Doc Rivers, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. Then again, short of signing Paul George, perhaps adding another layer to the trio will only prolong the team’s suffering and prove once again insufficient to do any real damage in the playoffs.

Go Griffin-less

Once upon time Blake Griffin was one of the most revered and unstoppable big men in the NBA. At his position, he was quick enough to go around you or simply go over you if you got in his way. Yet, injuries have plagued him since his first season and over the years they have really began to take a toll on his game. Combine that with the fact that NBA has turned into a three point shooting contest almost every night and Blake Griffin begins to look obsolete. While I personally believe he can still get the job done, perhaps he can no longer do that on the Clippers. With DeAndre Jordan taking over as the prime big man on the team, especially with being named as an all star this year, maybe it’s time for the Clippers to part ways with their former high flier. Perhaps he’s not the only one.

CP3

Chris Paul, like Griffin, was revered at his position for years. Granted his passion and intelligence, he is still one of the best players in the league, but as of yesterday his tenure with the Clippers came to a halting stop as he was traded to the Houston Rockets . Rumors started circulating after the first round that he was looking for other options. The front runner for the floor general was rumored to be the Spurs, but Chris Paul’s desire to play with James Harden seemed to shift the momentum in the Rockets favor. His unhappiness with organization clashed with his love for them, prompting CP3 to vent on Twitter that he was overwhelmed with emotions. As arguably the best player the Clippers had, there is an apparent power vacuum in LA. With the free agency so close and players like Kyle Lowry available, now may be the best time to fill the gap. In fact, now it may be the best time for the team to start from scratch.

Reboot

DeAndre Jordan may be the only member of the Clippers big 3 to remain after this summer. With the wealth of players in the free agency, now may be the best time for the Clippers to restructure their team around a new set of stars in hopes of winning a championship. Of course no one wants to see the end of a great era, but with so many unsuccessful attempts at getting to the finals an overhaul of the current team may be the only option for the frustrated Clippers. Of course there is no guarantee that a change up will ensure them a championship, but it may their best shot at one. It’s clear that something isn’t working in LA and perhaps signing some new blood will be the best option for the Clippers to finally get that shiny circular thing that every player in the NBA wants.

The Clippers have been pretty good for a good time now, but clearly it isn’t good enough. Whether it be they sign some new players or part with their old ones or even a combination of both, something has the change if the organization hopes to win a championship. It will be sad to watch a possible split up happen, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Andre Oge

Old School vs. New School: How To Rank Greatness

It seems as if this week is the week in which former NBA players decided to defend their eras and their players. You had Stephen Jackson who was on the 2006-2007 Warriors that beat the top seeded Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs as an eighth seed. Then, you have NBA legend Oscar Robertson saying this. You have Isaiah Thomas saying this, too. So, this week was the week in which former NBA players, some all-time greats, told us how they really feel.

People are putting Stephen Curry in the category with all-time great point guards already. Former players are complaining. He’s having fun with the whole thing, though. This is not anything new. In many sports, when a generation of players retire and the new generation of players reach their primes, the old generation tends to complain. They want to hold on to their spot. They feel the need to remind the fans that were either very young or not born at the time of their primes of how good they were. Some take it to the extreme and don’t just say they were good back in the day, but that they are good now after retirement. This is not an NBA dynamic. This isn’t just a player dynamic either. This is a dynamic in all of sports.

You guys ever argue with an older person about sports? You already know how it goes, (unless you are an older person reading this, don’t stop reading though). The first thing you are going to hear about is how good the players back in their day were. Stats not even something that is brought up. You are probably going to bring up stats before them. All they would talk about is impact and what they saw with their own eyes. This is something that is very important. I personally feel that statistics hold too much weight in the sports world today because statistics could be deceptive sometimes. However, they’re going to use feelings, memories, and “vibes” to discredit the current players of your generation. The next qualifier that older fans are quick to bring up are rule changes. For the NFL, it got softer. For the NBA, it got softer. For the MLB, the game was much better back in the day because guys were better; more home runs. “But, they were on steroids. That’s why.” “Steroids don’t make you make contact with ball, trust me I’ve been watching the game since you were a baby.” On and on and on, you guys know how it is. Legitimate facts and claims might be brought up. This is a fundamental aspect of every good argument/debate. Both sides must bring up legitimate facts that both parties can agree on in order to argue about what they don’t agree on. Rule changes do change the way sports are played making the games different. However, if both sides were to be honest, there’s just a generation gap. You will never fully understand how great the former players were despite how many YouTube videos you saw of them because you weren’t alive or old enough when these players were playing. The older person may never fully understand how great this generation of players are despite rule changes because they’re so used to seeing a certain style of play, seeing how great their generation of players were, or stubborn. It’s different when you experience greatness at the time when they were great because you understand the impact. However, anybody can over or underestimate people.

Now to Stephen Curry.

He’s on pace to break several offensive records this year and he has his team on pace to win the most games in NBA history. The team that they might surpass for the most wins in NBA history is the NBA champion 1995-1996 Bulls. This is a win total that many people didn’t think would be passed for a long time. Some teams have won 67 games, but nobody has even reached 70 since the Bulls set the mark at 72 wins 20 years ago. In other words, Stephen Curry and the Warriors are having a historic season.

How do you discredit a person’s greatness when the numbers show you how great they are? You discredit everything else surrounding them. Their team was really good, he or she was just along for the ride. Or in Stephen Curry’s case, the league isn’t as good anymore and the rules changed so its easier to play the game. THEY COULDN’T PLAY IN OUR DAY! Numbers do lie sometimes. It feels like every year, a different quarterback throws for the most yards in a season. Out of the top 15 seasons for most passing yards, 12 of those seasons were had in the last 5 years. A statistic like that will show you why having the most passing yards in a season is probably not the best indicator for how good a quarterback is historically. The increase in passing yards are directly correlated with the rule changes in the NFL that make it easier for offensive players to produce.

However, the decrease in home runs over the years due to the fact that guys aren’t using steroids anymore (at least most guys). This decrease does not mean the players are worse now than they were back then. They just don’t cheat…as much. Are rules in the NBA different than they were back in the day? Yes. No hand checking. The definition of a flagrant foul has changed. However, the skill level of the competition is not the same as it was back in the day. Today’s NBA has more athletes. Today’s NBA athletes are better shooters and I know that Oscar Robertson doesn’t like that. OK, let’s be real. It was never OK to hit people in the face as they are shooting. In any era, that’s a foul. This is what you would have to do in order to stop Stephen Curry from making a three and even then it’s not promised that he is going to miss. I have literally seen Chris Paul have his hand on Stephen Curry’s chest as he’s shooting and he still made it and he turned around a looked at his coach Doc Rivers and basically told him that he had his hand on his chest so he tried his best. I think it was the same game that this happened. Shooting the basketball is shooting the basketball and I find it hard to believe that guys aren’t getting up in the best 3 point shooter in NBA history’s face to try and make him miss, despite what the legend Oscar Robertson says.

The generation gap is real. The generation gap in sports doesn’t just affect fans. It affects players, as well. When you have an NBA legend discrediting your career and accomplishments, it can hurt your career. It may not prevent you from winning rings, but it can prevent you from being thought of as highly as you would like to be at the end of your career because knowledgeable voices have influence. It can even prevent you from making halls of fame, ask Terrell Owens. I believe that in our society, we need to emphasize how influential generation gaps are in our perception of sports. Think about it, if Kobe didn’t start his career while Michael Jordan was playing and several years after like around now, maybe people wouldn’t be calling him this generation’s Michael Jordan, but the next Michael Jordan. Maybe Kobe played to close to Michael Jordan’s era so his impact was still fresh in the minds of NBA fans back in Kobe’s prime. Who know’s? Comparing players is fun is fun for fans and analysts. That’s part of what makes sports interesting. But, when well-respected former players start publicly discrediting current player’s accomplishments and the whole league, that might be a little too far. We, fans and players young and old, need to understand that we cannot completely and fairly judge a person’s career until after it’s done. Doing that might prevent us from recognizing that we are watching the best player in history, or fool us into thinking that we are watching the best player in history. While a player is playing, all we can do is speculate.