It wasn’t all that long ago when the Los Angeles Clippers were the most-exciting team in the NBA. The Clippers were famous losers in the NBA, but it changed when Blake Griffin was drafted. A couple of years later, they traded for Chris Paul.
When Blake Griffin and Chris Paul came together, the Clippers immediately became a good team. Like all other Western Conference upstarts, the Clippers soon got beat by the Spurs in the playoffs. That has become a necessary building block.
Early on, the Clippers just getting to the playoffs was a good sign. Now, it’s time for them to do something, but they keep getting beaten in the second round. In 2014 and 2015, the Clippers looked ready to make the next step and, briefly, they had a “little brother” rivalry with the Golden State Warriors.
With all the winning the Warriors do, the Clippers are the little big brothers now and that rivalry is dead. Just like the Clippers, the Warriors had a losing culture, but they didn’t waste time being mediocre, they went from decent to a championship, to all-time greatness, to now. Meanwhile, the Clippers are sitting here still trying to figure it out.
This afternoon, the news broke of the Clippers hiring Kevin Garnett as a consultant. The Minnesota Timberwolves all-time great played under Doc Rivers when he played for the Celtics, winning his and Doc’s lone title in 2008. The hope is for this reunion to wake the Clippers up.
Million dollar question, though, is Kevin Garnett the piece the Clippers need, mainly Blake Griffin. Understand, without his superteam, KG didn’t do much better than Blake Griffin. But, even with all of his first round losses, seven straight, even KG managed to get past the second round.
