Absolutely championship or bust for the Clippers this season, it seems
The Russell Westbrook experience has been getting a lot of positive momentum since the playoffs last season and the LA Clippers have been healthy to start the campaign. As long as those statements hold true, it is indisputable that they have more than just participative power in the championship conversation this season.
But of course, a franchise with inherent inferiority complex due to its lack of purposeful banners is not satisfied with having its chances completely depend on what ifs. So, they decided to go all-in this year — like an annual tradition — and grabbed Harden from a 76ers franchise dying to have someone initiate the legerdemain.
Good for LA. However, how they did it was…absolutely peculiar, but tremendously delightful for the Sixer fan. The Clippers gatekept Terance Mann, a role player in his prime, but decided that the robust draft capital they just gifted the 76ers is the more prudent undertaking when Philly would have been more than astounded at the prospect of having Mann. Just Mann.
As if that’s enough, LA sapped its prized forward rotation because of PJ Tucker and their puzzling desperation to also keep Norman Powell — whose role Harden will cannibalize anyway. Nevertheless, the Leonard-George-Westbrook triumvirate needed smoothening out. That sojourn started off on a good note, so naturally, it would be very conducive to adding a fourth ball-dominant guard, right? Precedence in the NBA says that’s too many mouths to feed.
Anyway, if the LA Clippers fail to win the championship season with basically their entire volley of stars approaching free agency and the franchise salvaging almost all its draft picks, this would be an all-time mistake. After all, there was an easier route widely available to them in the first place.
Grade: F