If the next few months are spent analyzing the future Yannis Antetokunmpo and his future with the Milwaukee Bucks will be fair to bring attention to the Los Angeles Clippers right now.
Strikingly, this is where the Clippers are after the Denver Nuggets finished another 3-1 comeback, taking Game 7 104-89 and the Western Conference playoff streak in the second round on Tuesday night. This season has been marked by Clippers excellence, not a failure, but things are moving fast in the NBA.
After such an odious loss, it should be noted that the Clippers’ season was a failure. It must be reported that the stars Kawaii Leonard and Paul George are one season away from becoming a free agency.
And any discussion of the Clippers situation should start with an explanation of those rates. Los Angeles sold a potential franchise cornerstone to Shai Gilgeus-Alexander and unprotected first-round elections in 2022, 2024 and 2026 (plus election swaps in 2023 and 2025) in Oklahoma City Thunder for the opportunity to compete for titles with George and Leonard now… The Clippers traded their pick in the first round of 2020 for an agent soon to be free Marcus Morris Sr.…
They are in a critical situation. This offseason, the Clippers may offer George to extend his contract for up to three years. When everything is for sale, they have to offer it. But George currently has the choice of becoming a free agent in 2021 (due to player choice) or 2022, and there is a reasonable chance he could pass the offer to the Clippers. Leonard has the same deal.
Where it would leave the Clippers until next season, exactly the same place as a host of other teams like the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks: standing by a cliff, plotting a leap of faith. The Bucks, who have settled on the edge of the cliff with Antetokunmpo after spending some time deciding whether to sign the upcoming renewal offer, would not mind the company.
Once this business is pushed aside, many in the league think the Clippers will feel the need to conduct a top-down analysis of how things got so far from their title favorite.
In some cases like Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams They were stuck in a tailspin in Florida after a long absence due to family deaths and quarantines, just unforeseen circumstances went against them.
But many of the flaws that the Clippers have absorbed over the past week in three consecutive losses were not new.
Of course, there are some problems with the circuit. Coach Doc Rivers may not have been using enough pick-and-rolls when the offensive ended. It may have been a mistake to rely on a bench that had a lot of points but little protection. maybe Patrick Beverly had to stop trying to be such a pest in defense that he was in constant trouble. Perhaps it was necessary to smooth out George’s striped attacking play. Perhaps Leonard’s incredible skills made him less inclined to be a playmate for teammates under the pressure of the playoffs.
These are all reasonable factors that contributed to what happened. But the Clippers were thoughtfully designed to adapt to any opponent. They can play big, they can play shallow, they can play fast, they can play slow, they can set up shots or rebound lineups. In theory, they should have survived any of these problems.
Leonard has two rings to prove this. And here’s one of his thoughts as he tries to get some sleep in the offseason: If he had stayed in Toronto, he would almost certainly be closer to the third ring.
It will be a tough offseason, but it won’t bring the big changes that rival executives expect. The Clippers will likely try to re-sign the free agents of Harrell, Morris and JaMychal Green (if he refuses).
With this trade of George, they are already deeply in trouble, and they need all the minor characters they can leave; if you don’t return it in full, then at least keep the opportunity for transactions. League sources believe that if they are willing to make long-term money in the face of financial uncertainties and wage caps, the Clippers could gather several players from their squad to strike a deal to attract more talent.
Their owner is now worth over $ 70 billion, and Steve Ballmer is unlikely to express concern about the luxury tax.
As hard to believe, with two of the top three finishers in Player of the Year voting for Harrell and Williams, the Clippers may need to upgrade their bench – and these contracts can help.
As one competing executive said, “Have you heard the saying,“ For a cent, for a dollar ”? Well, they cost 95 cents a dollar. “
The poker guide is good. You can debate whether Los Angeles had a pair of aces hacked by the Nuggets on the river card, or whether their hand was just a bad combo draw. Secret as it was, it was the right move. The only true option is to survive the defeat and try to play the hand again in the hope that the odds will equalize with the team that the Clippers put together.
This is what a commitment to a bank looks like. The award was intended to be a great window of contention over the title, making Leonard’s decision not to sign a maximum four-year contract in the summer of 2019 irrelevant.
But when the dust settled on this mid-summer coup, the Clippers actually only secured themselves two years. Now the first year has passed.
As dizzying as it is to realize it, the clock is ticking.
