Paper Guiluo City | There is no hope of winning the championship, overdrawing the future, and the Clippers are making fun of themselves and others

Basketball in L.A

2024-05-07 19:29Posted in Jilin Sports Creator

Paper Guiluo City | There is no hope of winning the championship, overdrawing the future, and the Clippers are making fun of themselves and others

The Clippers' championship window became clear when Kawhi Leonard signed a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2021, tying him to Paul George's contract and offering the two stars player options for 2024-25.

They have 3 years to win everything.

But that window closed last week when the Clippers lost to the Dallas Mavericks in their first-round playoff series, the third year in a row that they failed to advance to the second round. Another season for the Los Angeles Clippers is over, and it's hard to even break through the playoffs, let alone win a championship.

It was the disappointing end of the Clippers' basketball era, and few could have predicted it a few years ago, when Leonard had just played his best one-year season in NBA history with the Toronto Raptors, the 2019 championship team, and George was accompanied by 2019 MVP and DPOY lists.

In the trade that sent George to the Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder paid off handsomely. George never won a playoff series in his two seasons with the Thunder, when he was partnered by 2017 MVP Russell Westbrook. And the Oklahoma City Thunder got the following in the trade:

- Class of 2018 first-round pick Shay Gilgeous-Alexander

- Starting striker Danilo Gallinari

- 2022, 2024 and 2026 Clippers first-round picks

- 2021 and 2023 Miami Heat draft picks

-2023年和2025年选秀权交换

Oklahoma also made the 2020 playoffs after trading Westbrook for Chris Paul for a year after trading Thunder icon Westbrook for more future assets. At the same time, Alexander evolved from a top prospect to an MVP candidate. The Thunder then also acquired first-round picks Josh Giddey (6th pick in 2021), Chet Holmgren (2nd pick in 2022) and Carson Wallace (10th pick in 2023).

When the Clippers missed the 2022 playoffs, the 2022 first-round pick in the hands of Thunder general manager Sam Presti moved up from the 15th to the 12th pick. The Thunder were able to use the Clippers' draft pick to select Jalen Williams with the 12th pick, and he is now firmly on the spot for the Thunder's Big Three.

Presti spoke in April 2022 about benefiting from the Clippers' underperforming season because it had to do with the draft assets owed: "The Clippers, like I said before, I don't think we're going to pay attention to that anymore, I think they're probably going to be the favorites to win a championship in the [soon-to-be] future." "

While the Clippers have failed to win a playoff series in the past three years, this is the first time in five years that Oklahoma City has outperformed the Clippers, and even more sadly, Alexander won't turn 24 until July. At the same time, the Thunder, as well as other teams in the Western Conference, are overtaking the Clippers.

The Denver Nuggets are the defending champions and boast two-time MVP winner Nikola Jokic, who is also the 2023 NBA Finals MVP winner and turns 30 in February. The Minnesota Timberwolves won their first playoff series in 20 years last month, and 2020 No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards is leading the team forward, and Edwards won't be turning 23 until August, and he's going to be higher than Alexander or Jokic in terms of physical fitness alone.

Even teams that have failed to win a playoff series this season like the Clippers have a brighter future, or at least have achieved something since the Los Angeles Clippers reached the division finals for the only time in 2021. In 2022, the Phoenix Suns, Memphis Grizzlies, and Golden State Warriors all won playoff series as top three seeds, with the Warriors winning the championship. In 2023, the Los Angeles Lakers will reach the Western Conference Finals. Eight Western Conference teams have won playoff series in the last three years, and the Clippers are one of them.

Of the other six teams that haven't won a playoff series since 2021, one need only look at the chances they all have to improve. The New Orleans Pelicans are still waiting for Zion Williamson to be fully healthy in their first playoff game, but they're also the team responsible for ending the Los Angeles Clippers' 2022 season, and they've been able to pick off the Clippers every year. The Sacramento Kings are on a two-season winning streak for the first time since 2006, and although they missed the playoffs this year, they kept a lottery pick. After trading James Harden in 2021, the Houston Rockets went from being the worst team in the league to a team with a win percentage of 50%. The Utah Jazz, who were also defeated by the Mavericks two years ago, are rebuilding with draft picks traded by Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. It's not time to make a decision on Scott Henderson, but the Portland Trail Blazers got five first-round picks by trading Damian Lillard. Not to mention that the San Antonio Spurs have a monster like Victor Wembanyama.

What do Clippers have? They are stagnant. They are the NBA's oldest team, but when they unveiled the Intuit arena in Inglewood, California, later this year, they were in deep trouble. They certainly can't blow it up because while waiting for the lottery picks, they have to deal with a mess for the team.

People have reason to believe that they have the opportunity to do something special. Injuries are unfortunate, but they are also a harsh reality, especially for this team in recent years.

The first year of the Clippers' three-year championship window was understandable, but it gave the team a false sense of optimism that all the team needed was the health of the two stars. 2022-23 is its second year, and the Clippers are clearly far from competing for a championship, at least under the cloud of load management. This season, the Clippers have worked harder than ever before and handed over the last trade chips. And they only got two playoff wins from it.

Leonard signed a contract extension in January of this year, but no matter how good he is, he can no longer be the best player on a championship team, for the simple reason that his body does not allow him to do so; Leonard's right knee has kept him out of all four seasons with Tyronn Lue coaching the Clippers.

George has the option to jump out of his contract this offseason and is a solid second option, but his own age, durability issues and declining form make him unfit to be the best player in any situation where Leonard is unavailable. Harden, who became a free agent this summer, is a solid No. 3 option, but the same factors make him unfit to be the second-best player in any situation. The Clippers wanted the two players to return with Lue, but the team ceiling they had hoped for had become unrealistic.

This season, Leonard, George and Harden have all played their most games in five years. Norman Powell, who has been playing professionally for nine years, has equaled a career-high number of appearances this season. Russell Westbrook has been added to the roster, completing the dream connection to the Future Hall of Fame of Southern California. Clippers veterans Terrance Mann and Ivica Zubac have started the season and have been in the spotlight more than ever.

The Clippers have won more than 50 games for the first time since the breakup of the empty city in 2017, and it's been nothing short of a grind. The Clippers' rotation was so rudimentary that it allowed PJ Tucker to start in a playoff game. A lack of athleticism and size put pressure on the Clippers' offense, and fears of relying on execution rather than talent to win were validated against the more well-coordinated Dallas Mavericks, despite Luka Doncic shooting 40.5 percent from the field in the series.

Even if the stars, head coach, and management all return, things will be different for the Clippers, at least from an expectation standpoint. For the past three years, the Clippers have been watching to see if the team led by Leonard and George can win, or at least compete for a championship. As it turned out, they couldn't.

The Intuit Dome couldn't be unveiled with championship ambitions. It's just the final resting place of the Clippers' era, and the Clippers hope to keep their win rate above 50 percent in this brutal league.

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