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Over the past 7 years, the Los Angeles Clippers have been building momentum. With their Staples Center rivals struggling, they have made major strides to try and break away from the notion that they are the Lakers’ “little brothers”.
They are gaining respect from every avenue; the fans, the media, and other executives around the league. And now in less than two weeks, we’ll see if they gained enough respect from the people that matter most, the players.
Guys like Jerry West, Doc Rivers, Lawrence Frank and Michael Winger, have been working around the clock to show players that these aren’t the Clippers from your parents’ days. It seems like they are universally regarded as the place to go for free agents this year by most in the media and other front offices. When you look at their track record, it’s easy to see why.
They pushed a fully healthy Warriors team to 6 games, have great pieces with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Landry Shamet, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, and a great coach in Doc Rivers.
The front office has made a plethora of savvy moves that should give players confidence that they can build a championship roster around them for years to come. They have spent a better part of the past decade climbing the mountain to unseat the Lakers as the premiere franchise in LA and they are starting to see the top of the mountain.
However, an avalanche is now barrelling towards them. The Lakers have added Anthony Davis into the fold and have some flexibility to try and create another max slot. This puts pressure on the Clippers to act fast to make sure all this momentum is not lost. They need to make a splash in free agency, and it really needs to be Kawhi Leonard. If they fail, I fear that the Lakers will once again over shadow this franchise and undo all of the progress they’ve made. If they succeed, this team instantly becomes a championship contender and gives them the extra push needed to get through the avalanche coming towards them.
