After having a heated first-round matchup with the Golden State Warriors in last year’s playoffs, the NBA stratosphere took notice of how promising the Los Angeles Clippers looked. Do you know who else took notice of how promising the Doc Rivers led Clippers looked? Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The Clippers have now gone from being an eighth seed team in the Western Conference to being title favorites after this summer’s roller-coaster NBA Free Agency. With this in mind, can the Los Angeles Clippers ride the “fun guy,” wave and claim their first NBA title as the Toronto Raptors did with Kawhi Leonard leading the way? Let’s dive right in and analyze their upcoming season.
Los Angeles Clippers Season Preview
How the Los Angeles Clippers can Claim Their First Title
Of course, whenever you bring in the talents of Paul George and the Klaw, your team is going to get instantly better. However, like many other teams who made big splashes in free agency, it will take time for the team to gel and figure out the chemistry. Not all hope is lost though. The Clippers are now title favorites and with good reason. We already discussed the additions of the two stars, but what goes overlooked is the rest of Los Angeles’ supporting cast. If the Clippers can maintain their supporting cast around Leonard and George, they will be in great shape. Lou Williams is making a case as the greatest Sixth Man in NBA history and Montrezl Harrell has a great engine and is only getting better.
Not to mention, the Clippers possess a fringe big three with Lou Williams having All-Star potential. Let us not forget, Doc Rivers is considered one of the better head coaches in the league and does have a championship on his basketball resume. Rivers is smart enough to know the two superstars won’t be enough to get the team to the promised land, so he will make sure to utilize Williams off the bench and continue developing the rest of the supporting cast. Being able to rest stars like PG13 and the Klaw and parade out another talented lineup led by Sweet Lou is a luxury only the Los Angeles Clippers possess right now, and it could very well lead to their first NBA championship.
Los Angeles Clippers: Players to Watch
Kawhi Leonard: Obviously Kawhi was the big fish in the free agency pool this past summer. The Clippers landed him and now they have a big decision to make regarding the two-time Finals MVP. It will be interesting to watch if the Clippers take the load management route with Leonard like the Raptors did last season. Kawhi has a legitimate argument for being the best player in the league now and we will see more of it this coming season.
Lou Williams: Williams is coming off his second straight Sixth Man of the Year award. Last year, he averaged 20 points per game to couple with an effective field goal percentage of 47.1 percent. He will finally have much of the offensive load lifted off his shoulders this coming year thanks to the additions of PG13 and the Klaw. With this in mind, we very well could see Williams have another great year off the bench now that he doesn’t have to shoulder the Los Angeles Clippers offense.
Montrezl Harrell: Harrell seems to be a Kenneth Faried prototype. He has a high motor and his specialty is crashing the glass. The good news is that he is improving year after year. Last season, he averaged a career high 16.6 points per game after tallying 11 points per game the season before. We should also see his 6.5 total rebounding average sky-rocket this year as well with the way Harrell is developing. Harrell is another great piece the Clippers have on their second unit.
Road Trip to Watch
The Clippers will start a difficult road trip come December 6 as they travel to Milwaukee to battle the reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Clippers then head to Washington to start a back to back with them heading to Indiana to take on Victor Oladipo and the Pacers the next night. On December 11, the Clippers battle the defending champions in Toronto against the Raptors led by Kyle Lowry and then round out the road trip with games in Minnesota and Chicago.
Final Prediction
Overall, it is championship or bust for the Los Angeles Clippers this coming season. Anything less will be unacceptable with the free agency they had this past summer. Yes, they are even deeper than the in-town rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. With this in mind, the Clippers have the makings of a title team this season. With that, they should at the very least make the Western Conference Finals. It will be interesting to see how the star duo of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard click and how far they can carry this young and promising squad this coming year.
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