The Utah Jazz just sent the Clippers home in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. How? The Clippers on paper seem to have a big three: Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Deandre Jordan. Each are arguably one of the best 3 guys at their position in the whole league. How they managed to lose in the first round to Gordon Hayward and an aging Joe Johnson still baffles me. They should be competing for titles, but instead they are dumpster diving, yet again.
So should the Clippers break their nucleus and start over? The truth is the Clippers don’t have an option. Both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have player options and can return if they want to. The Clippers themselves may not have a choice. But aside from that, I think they should keep their core together and at least be good.
I understand that everyone wants to think they are striving to put together a championship team, but only one team wins. Being a Jazz fan, they never won a championship, but 18 years of being really good was still a ton of fun. Blowing up the Clippers and starting over sounds good, but in reality they will be mediocre bottom feeders. The Clippers are putting together fifty win seasons and because of injuries haven’t had that many great chances. The choice between winning 50+ games with an outside shot of making the Western Conference Finals, sounds a lot better, than 5-6 years of trying to rebuild and sign a Chris Paul and Blake Griffin type player. Also, don’t forget one big fact:
The Clippers are the Clippers
If you think you are going to rebuild this team into a winning team think again. This is by far and away the most success they have ever had and I doubt they get back to this level anytime soon. You have the Donald Sterling curse, karma, plus your owner is a bafoon who couldn’t even realize the iPhone was going to be a success. Stick it out and until you only win 40 games a year, enjoy them as long as you can.