Can Clippers ever catch a break?
It has to be a curse. It just has to be.
No other team in basketball has worse luck than the Los Angeles Clippers. Sometimes I feel it may be the ghost of Donald Sterling cackling over torn ligaments of star players. Sometimes I feel that the hideous new mascot, Chuck the Condor, brought this misery upon the franchise.
Then I realize that it has been this way since the dawn of time, way back to the Michael Olowokandi days. From 1998-2010, the Clippers had managed to work their way into the lottery every single year. They were incompetent for 12 straight years and kept busting on draft picks and cycling coaches under a racist owner (though nobody knew he was one yet).
Then Blake Griffin was drafted, and everything started to change. Once Griffin evolved into an all-out star (of course after missing his entire rookie year due to injury, because... they're the Clippers), Chris Paul came to town in 2011. With two stars plus an emerging DeAndre Jordan on board, the Clippers were ready to soon take their first legitimate bite at the championship apple.
They fell short during the "Big 3's" first two seasons together. As a result, coach Vinny Del Negro was shown the door.
In came Doc Rivers, a coach with a championship pedigree. He traded for sharpshooter J.J. Redick, adding another quality piece to the Clippers' already impressive core.
What has followed since has been successful regular seasons in which the team regularly topped 50 wins, a brand new development for the Clippers as a franchise.
But, through injuries or luck or plain bone-headed plays, the Clippers have still not reached the conference finals. In 2014, it was owner Donald Sterling and his racist comments that led him to be banned from the league for life. It was also an epic collapse against the Oklahoma City Thunder ,when the Clippers led by 7 points with 49 seconds left in game 5.
In 2015, Clippers reached their peak, collapsing and surrendering a 3-1 series lead to the Houston Rockets.
In 2016, both Paul and Griffin got injured, and the team washed out in round 1 against the Portland Trail-Blazers.
It seems whenever the Clippers are ready to all be healthy and compete for a ring for real, their true nature keeps creeping back.
One of Paul or Griffin has always missed a huge chunk of the season. Of course one of the ways Griffin has gotten himself injured was when he punched a team staffer. It's still hard to believe. No way that happens to a San Antonio Spurs player. Meanwhile, in the playoffs, the team either collapses mentally or is missing one one of their stars due to injury.
Fast forward to 2017 and it is the same story. Griffin is sidelined with a torn meniscus, and now Paul a torn thumb ligament. The team still bickers with officials, Doc Rivers still proclaims they will be fine come playoff time and the whole thing feels so deja vu.
Things seem poised to end the same way they always have over the years. The Clippers will probably not make it to the conference finals this year and then what? More urging from players and coaches that next year will be different?
Sadly, the Clippers are stuck on a never-ending merry-go-round. We are all just along for the ride.
No other team in basketball has worse luck than the Los Angeles Clippers. Sometimes I feel it may be the ghost of Donald Sterling cackling over torn ligaments of star players. Sometimes I feel that the hideous new mascot, Chuck the Condor, brought this misery upon the franchise.
Then I realize that it has been this way since the dawn of time, way back to the Michael Olowokandi days. From 1998-2010, the Clippers had managed to work their way into the lottery every single year. They were incompetent for 12 straight years and kept busting on draft picks and cycling coaches under a racist owner (though nobody knew he was one yet).
Then Blake Griffin was drafted, and everything started to change. Once Griffin evolved into an all-out star (of course after missing his entire rookie year due to injury, because... they're the Clippers), Chris Paul came to town in 2011. With two stars plus an emerging DeAndre Jordan on board, the Clippers were ready to soon take their first legitimate bite at the championship apple.
They fell short during the "Big 3's" first two seasons together. As a result, coach Vinny Del Negro was shown the door.
In came Doc Rivers, a coach with a championship pedigree. He traded for sharpshooter J.J. Redick, adding another quality piece to the Clippers' already impressive core.
What has followed since has been successful regular seasons in which the team regularly topped 50 wins, a brand new development for the Clippers as a franchise.
But, through injuries or luck or plain bone-headed plays, the Clippers have still not reached the conference finals. In 2014, it was owner Donald Sterling and his racist comments that led him to be banned from the league for life. It was also an epic collapse against the Oklahoma City Thunder ,when the Clippers led by 7 points with 49 seconds left in game 5.
In 2015, Clippers reached their peak, collapsing and surrendering a 3-1 series lead to the Houston Rockets.
In 2016, both Paul and Griffin got injured, and the team washed out in round 1 against the Portland Trail-Blazers.
It seems whenever the Clippers are ready to all be healthy and compete for a ring for real, their true nature keeps creeping back.
One of Paul or Griffin has always missed a huge chunk of the season. Of course one of the ways Griffin has gotten himself injured was when he punched a team staffer. It's still hard to believe. No way that happens to a San Antonio Spurs player. Meanwhile, in the playoffs, the team either collapses mentally or is missing one one of their stars due to injury.
Fast forward to 2017 and it is the same story. Griffin is sidelined with a torn meniscus, and now Paul a torn thumb ligament. The team still bickers with officials, Doc Rivers still proclaims they will be fine come playoff time and the whole thing feels so deja vu.
Things seem poised to end the same way they always have over the years. The Clippers will probably not make it to the conference finals this year and then what? More urging from players and coaches that next year will be different?
Sadly, the Clippers are stuck on a never-ending merry-go-round. We are all just along for the ride.
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