Los Angeles Clippers: Is Paul Pierce Right To Call LAC Super Team?
Paul Pierce recently called the Los Angeles Clippers a super team. He may or may not be proven right, but he isn’t wrong to believe they should be.
The Los Angeles Clippers have three All-NBA players: Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. Los Angeles also has the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, an elite 3-and-D role player, a Hall of Fame leader, and a Hall of Fame head coach.
Thus, the question beckons: why exactly are people upset with future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce for calling the Clippers a super team?
Los Angeles’ reputation is clearly influencing the response to a statement that fits the Clippers. Los Angeles still hasn’t made it beyond the second round of the NBA Playoffs—ever—but it has an extraordinarily high level of talent on the 2016-17 roster.
According to Jesse Dougherty of The Los Angeles Times, Pierce slapped the Clippers with the label of a super team.
"“To me, I think we have a super team here,” Pierce stated at Clippers media day on Monday. “You look at Chris Paul who’s been first-team all-NBA … Blake Griffin first-team … DeAndre Jordan currently first-team All-NBA.“I mean how many teams can currently say that? You have the best three-point shooter in the NBA (J.J. Redick). You have the Sixth Man of the Year (Jamal Crawford). I mean why is this not a super team? What defines super team? When you look at those stats and you hear when I’m saying, this could very well easily be what’s considered a super team.”"
Stephen Curry might have a bit of a gripe with the comment about Redick, but Pierce makes one heck of a point.
In contrast to Derrick Rose, who called the New York Knicks a super team, Pierce has won an NBA championship. More applicably, Pierce played on what one might argue was the original manufactured super team.
In 2007, the Boston Celtics brought Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in to play with Pierce—a venture that resulted in the three winning their first career championships.
On pure talent, a healthy Clippers team should be able to defeat 26 other NBA teams in relatively convincing fashion. The only three teams it should routinely go to war with are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and San Antonio Spurs.
Other than the consensus Top 3 teams in the NBA, however, there isn’t a team that can even come close to matching the Clippers based on pure talent and accolades.
Paul is a four-time All-NBA First Team honoree who made the All-NBA Second Team in 2015-16. Jordan made the All-NBA First Team in 2015-16 and has led the league in rebounding in consecutive seasons.
If Griffin is the proverbial question mark, then Los Angeles can sleep easily knowing its uncertainty revolves around a 27-year-old who’s already a four-time All-NBA honoree.
Furthermore, Redick averaged 16.3 points and converted 200 3-point field goals on 47.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc in 2015-16. Jamal Crawford won his third Sixth Man of the Year award in 2015-16, as well.
That gives Los Angeles three All-NBA players in their prime, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, and an elite 3-point shooter.
With five extraordinary talents at the top, the only thing holding Los Angeles back from super team status is depth. The offseason was more productive than it may have seemed, however, and that rounds out a talented roster.
Luc Mbah a Moute is an elite defensive player at forward, Brandon Bass is a workhorse at power forward, Marreese Speights has range at the 5, and Raymond Felton provides depth at point guard.
If healthy, there’d be no excuse for Los Angeles to win anything less than 60 games.
The Clippers’ reputation looms large over it whenever potential success is discussed. The talent is in place for a run at an NBA championship, however, and that should be the goal for Doc Rivers’ crew in 2016-17.
Thus, while the Clippers have long been the laughing stock of the NBA, Pierce isn’t wrong.
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The question is: will the Clippers finally stop underachieving in 2016-17?