This topic contains 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by AvatarAvatar canesboy6 13 years, 3 months ago.

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  • #24201
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    valentine

    Forget the Los Angeles Clippers‘ off-court melodrama and their league-worst record. Beneath the carnage of 20 losses and the oppressive cloud of owner Donald Sterling, the Clippers are one of the most fascinating squads in the league. They’re the NBA’s version of a car wreck — equal parts painful and captivating to watch.

     

     

    The Clippers’ woeful 5-20 record places them at the bottom of the league standings, but few teams can rival their bounty of talented youth. To put it in perspective, Eric Gordon, Eric Bledsoe, Blake Griffin, Al-Farouq Aminu and DeAndre Jordan weren’t even alive when Michael Jordan won his first MVP in 1987-88. And yet, despite the relative lack of experience, this group of NBA toddlers has hard-fought victories against the 20-3 San Antonio Spurs, the 17-8 Oklahoma City Thunder and the 14-10 New Orleans Hornets. What’s more, the team had wins wrapped up against the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz if it weren’t for last-second heroics from Derek Fisher and Deron Williams.

     

     

    It’s difficult to capture how explosive and destructive Griffin has been this season without watching tape, but here are some numbers to chew on: No one has more dunks this season than Griffin’s 53. (Fittingly, Amar’e Stoudemire — his most oft-compared colleague — has 53 as well); his 22 and-ones rank only behind veterans Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Stoudemire, according to Hoopdata.com; and the last four players to average 20 points and 11 rebounds in their rookie seasons were Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon. Not bad company.

     

     

    Between Griffin’s superhuman assault on the league, the litany of heart-breaking losses and the circus surrounding Sterling, the team is nothing short of riveting NBA theater. But there’s more to the Clippers than that drama.

     

     

    Let’s start with the transformation of Gordon, who, outside of Dorell Wright, has added more points to his scoring average this season than any player in the NBA. It’s incredible to see a player jump from averaging 16.9 points per game to 24.5, but it’s even more fascinating once you consider how he’s made the leap.

     

     

    Guess who’s the worst high-volume 3-point shooter in the NBA and who’s also tied with Wade for most free throws per game among guards? Both superlatives belong to Gordon, the same guy who entered the season nailing 38 percent of his 3-pointers while holding the reputation as one of the best spot-up shooters in the NBA. Now, with a 27 percent conversion rate from downtown, this is not the same player who seemed to alternate between dunks and 3-point shots in his sophomore campaign just a season ago.

     

     

    Two things have changed: the boost of confidence playing for Team USA and the partnership with Griffin. Gordon’s FIBA experience did wonders to help him bloom into a multi-dimensional offensive force. Over the summer, the league’s elite treated him as an equal on the floor in Turkey, and now he’s responded by joining them on the scoring leaderboard. Furthermore, the pick-and-roll pairing of Griffin and Gordon has quietly become one of the league’s most arduous to defend. Last season, Gordon derived only 14.4 percent of his offense from the pick-and-roll game, but that rate has surged to 33 percent this season. Among the 36 players with at least 75 pick-and-roll plays, Gordon ranks first in efficiency ahead of pick-and-roll enthusiasts Chris Paul, Steve Nash and LeBron James. The 22-year-old has proved he’s not just a dunker but someone who can also finish with his opposite hand, float it over a defender and use the glass in traffic.

     

     

    But Gordon’s plummeting 3-point percentage is just one of the team’s baffling developments from downtown. No one expected to see such strong marksmanship from Aminu. The 6-foot-9 forward, whose first name literally translates to "the chief has arrived," has doubled his 23.8 collegiate 3-point percentage at Wake Forest to nearly 50 percent in his rookie season (making 25 of 52 attempts). The 20-year-old insisted that he had a 3-point shot in college, but his spotty J was always seen as a weakness that would hold him back from becoming an elite small forward.

     

     

    Against all odds, Aminu and veteran Brian Cook have become the lone bright spots from beyond the arc for the Clippers. Outside of Aminu and Cook, the Clippers are shooting a putrid 28.3 percent on 3-pointers as a team. It would probably do some good if Baron Davis, who’s missed 23 of his 27 attempts, eliminated the shot from his arsenal altogether.

     

     

    It’s a bizarre season in Clipperland, but the trio of Gordon, Aminu and Griffin have delivered L.A. fans a glimmer of hope, developing faster than anyone could have reasonably anticipated. Sterling’s antics have stolen the headlines recently, but these youngsters have given us plenty of reason to watch.

     

     

    Tom Haberstroh is a frequent contributor to ESPN Insider and ESPN.com’s Heat Index

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  • #462199
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    boxn1
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    They have some young talent, a few good veterans, and a decent coach, The clippers are just cursed. They need to move from L.A. Maybe back to San Diego

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  • #462214
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    boxn1
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    They have some young talent, a few good veterans, and a decent coach, The clippers are just cursed. They need to move from L.A. Maybe back to San Diego

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  • #462533
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    canesboy6
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    What good veterans do they have?  They have a couple old guys who dont play D and are good enough to inefficiently get their numbers so it looks like they aren’t over the hill. And Blake Griffin, and then a bunch of sloppy young kids. Gordon will be a good player but he is still a kid, not ready for the size role they are forced to rely on him for.

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  • #462548
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    canesboy6
    Participant

    What good veterans do they have?  They have a couple old guys who dont play D and are good enough to inefficiently get their numbers so it looks like they aren’t over the hill. And Blake Griffin, and then a bunch of sloppy young kids. Gordon will be a good player but he is still a kid, not ready for the size role they are forced to rely on him for.

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