The Los Angeles Clippers: Pretenders or Contenders?

Taking the Next Step

What can the Los Angeles Clippers do to finally be considered as the alpha male of the NBA?

– One: Experiment with style of play.

Mixing in the electrifying fast break and half court execution will only benefit the Clippers. Say when they play below .500 teams, the Clippers can primarily run half court sets and rely less on fast break opportunities. Don’t worry “Lob City” fans. They will not completely forget about you guys, but adjusting to different styles of basketball will help the Los Angeles Clippers reach the NBA Finals.

– Two: Resting key players and trusting the bench.

The Clippers do not have a bad bench. Jamal Crawford can provide instant offense whenever he steps on the court. Reggie Bullock is a solid 3 and D-type player. Spencer Hawes is a nice perimeter shooting big man and Jordan Farmar has proved he can hold his own as the backup point guard. In the last three seasons, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul have averaged 35 minutes a game in the regular season. Both of them faced little injuries in the playoffs last, mostly due to lack of rest. The San Antonio Spurs did not have a player average 30 minutes a game and they won the NBA championship. The Los Angeles Clippers can copy the same rotation schemes and the bench will gain valuable experience heading into the playoffs.

– Last but not least: A more aggressive Chris Paul

In my eyes, Chris Paul is not aggressive as I want him to be. I understand having a stud of a player in Blake Griffin and I like the idea of running the offense through the high post with him, but please take over more, Chris Paul. Blake Griffin currently averages more shots than Chris Paul. Griffin averages 18.5 shots a game in the 2014-2015 season while Paul averages 13.0 shots. Chris Paul is a great shooter, shooting 53% from the field with the Clippers and 42% from 3. This season, he is averaging 9.6 assists per game and only 1.5 turnovers per game. That is right. He isn’t even averaging above two turnovers per game. So with those averages, I would love to see Chris Paul become more aggressive.

Following all these suggestions, the Los Angeles Clippers can go from pretenders to contenders in, not only the Western Conference, but the NBA.

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