Posts

Showing posts from February, 2016

Clip Trade Grades

Image
At the buzzer of Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline, the Clippers sent the athletic yet erratic Lance Stephenson along with a future first round pick to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for forward Jeff Green. The Clippers, who boast the fourth-best record in the Western Conference, are currently overshadowed by the dominance of the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and of course, the defending champion Golden State Warriors. This will be Green’s fifth NBA team, and the fourth time a team has pinned him as their “missing” piece. Unfortunately, Green has never been up to the challenge, proving how maddeningly inconsistent he can be. Green has previously flashed major potential, such as dropping 42 points against the Lebron James led Miami Heat in the 2012 playoffs. But now, at the ripe age of 29, Green has been averaging a measly 12.2 points per game and is showing no signs of improvement. A free agent at the end of the year, combined with an increasing salary cap, m

The Clipper Conundrum

The goal for all contending teams in the NBA right now is to crack the Warriors' code. So far...well...um...that hasn't been done yet. It is common knowledge that the three teams with the best chance to dethrone the Warriors are the Cavs, Spurs and Thunder. A smidge below those teams, are the Los Angeles Clippers. Yes, the perennial blow-it-when-it-matters Clippers. Aside from the jokes, the Clips have a real chance to beat this superpower, but only if they have a swift game plan, and execute that gameplan to perfection. One totally meaningless stat since it happened before the Warriors blossomed into THE Warriors is that the Clippers are the last team to defeat them in the playoffs, meaning they have some blueprint to beat this team. The one, undeniable and hard-to-face fact is that the Clippers, when fully healthy against this Warriors team, simply cannot beat them playing DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin together for long stretches of time. It sounds crazy. How can a