Los Angeles Clippers: 2014-15 is a Boom-or-Bust NBA Season

The Los Angeles Clippers aren’t used to being the hunted. The Clippers are an organization that, in over 40 years of NBA existence, has never once made it past the Western Conference Semifinals.

Ever since the Clippers traded for seven-time All-Star Chris Paul, much of that has changed. Just as much has remained the same.

Paul has led an unprecedented turnaround in Los Angeles, leading the organization to more wins in three seasons, 153, than it had in the previous five combined. He, Blake Griffin and company did it with a lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign included.

Unfortunately, the one thing that remains the same is the one thing that actually matters: the Clippers still haven’t made it past the Western Conference Semifinals.

In 2014-15, Los Angeles will endure a season that it’s not accustomed to experiencing. It’s a championship favorite, a Western Conference power and, with all things considered, a team with as much to lose as it has to gain.

For the Clippers, 2014-15 is the very definition of a boom-or-bust season.

Can This Core Win?

The Los Angeles Clippers can comfortably move forward with a pairing of point guard Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. The two MVP candidates work together in almost perfect harmony, and to disband that duo would be both premature and senseless.

The question is, should Los Angeles actually pay DeAndre Jordan as a tertiary star?

Jordan is entering the final season of a four-year, $43 million contract. It wasn’t until 2013-14 that he started to live up to the money, when head coach Doc Rivers helped mold him into a legitimate defensive anchor.

As his pending free agency nears, the Clippers’ success in 2014-15 could very well determine Jordan’s potential pay scale. The 26-year-old is still rapidly improving, but if he doesn’t give L.A. a chance to win right now, it may pursue another avenue.

If it does win, he’ll be rewarded handsomely.

Jordan led the league in rebounding and ranked as one of the better rim protectors in 2013-14. He also shot 42.8 percent from the free throw line and remained a hack-a-Shaq target for opposing teams late in games.

The reward is immense with Jordan, but the Clippers need to ask a very important question: is he going to help the team win a championship?

If the answer is no and the Clippers suffer another early exit, Spencer Hawes steps in as something of an insurance policy. If Jordan prices himself outside of Los Angeles’ feasible budget, the 7’1″ Hawes is more than capable of stepping in as the starting center.

Hawes, 26, is signed until the summer of 2018. One has to imagine this potential scenario is a major reason why.

For all of the risk involved, the trio of Griffin, Jordan and Paul appears to be championship-caliber. The fact that Rivers’ resume includes a title and a pair of NBA Finals appearances only improves their standing.

To round it out, the Clippers’ bench is as strong as any team in the league. Two-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford and the previously alluded to Hawes anchor that unit.

With a roster that strong and a head coach as prolific as Rivers, depth isn’t the issue. In fact, nothing really is.

Thus, paying Jordan max contract money may not be in the cards without a significantly deep postseason run. Tying up money into one player only makes so much sense when the current combination of star power and depth achieves so little.

Another Western Conference Semifinals exit could spell trouble for Jordan’s future in Los Angeles. It would also force the Clippers to ponder the reset button.

Defining the Boom & Bust

It’s easy to say that a pending season is a boom-and-bust without actually setting guidelines for what that means. While the term seems pretty cut-and-dry, it’s not the same for every single organization in every single sport.

For as much talent as they have, the Clippers’ bust isn’t necessarily failing to win an NBA championship. It’s failing to improve upon the success that’s already been built and put in place.

Anything less than an appearance in the Western Conference Finals is a bust. Reaching that stage is the start of the boom.

Anything less than an appearance in the Western Conference Finals is a bust. Reaching that stage is the start of the boom.

The Clippers have won four total postseason series since the organization entered the NBA in 1970. Two of those series victories have come since Chris Paul arrived, including a seven-game defeat of the Golden State Warriors in 2014.

In order to truly make the next step towards being a legitimate NBA power, the Clippers must at least get past the second round.

There’s no question that winning the NBA championship should be Los Angeles’ primary goal. This is not to downplay the merit in achieving that feat, nor is it to suggest that the Clippers can deem a trip to the Western Conference Finals as incomparable success.

The Clippers simply have a hump that they can’t get over, and that’s the Western Conference Semifinals.

Head coach Doc Rivers has made three Conference Finals appearances himself, most recently appearing in 2012 with the Boston Celtics. Now a coast away from Boston, it’s on Rivers to lead Los Angeles as he did those aging Celtics.

It all comes down to late-game decision making on his behalf and that of his players.

In the 2014 Western Conference Semifinals, the Clippers lost Game 3 by six points after leading entering the fourth quarter. L.A. blew a 13-point lead with 3:30 left on the clock and ended up losing Game 5 by just one point.

Los Angeles would’ve taken a 3-2 series lead if it had held on to what seemed like a safe 13-point advantage.

The series-deciding Game 6 was a six-point Oklahoma City Thunder victory. Los Angeles lost despite leading for almost three full quarters.

L.A. was on the brink of breaking through, but it failed to seal the deal.

What this says is that the Clippers aren’t a few players away, but instead lacked the maturity and experience to make the leap. A stacked Western Conference makes everything difficult, but that’s what Los Angeles inherently faces.

Anything less than the Western Conference Finals is a bust of a season. Anything more is the necessary boom to prove that this core should stick together.

Why You Should Believe

The Los Angeles Clippers have spent three seasons with the dynamic duo of point guard Chris Paul and power forward Blake Griffin. The organization has experienced success like never before, but it’s also come up short in the playoffs.

Before you write this team off, infuse some logic into your debate.

First and foremost, 2013-14 was the first season that Doc Rivers coached the Los Angeles Clippers. All he did was lead L.A. to a franchise record in wins, its fourth ever playoff series win and develop Griffin and DeAndre Jordan into vastly superior players to where they were the season before his arrival.

Not enough credit goes to the latter point.

Before Rivers’ arrival, Griffin and Jordan were supremely athletic dunk artists with little else to offer. There were signs of being capable of more, but neither player managed to put it all together.

In one season, Rivers helped Griffin finish third in MVP voting and Jordan become a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

In 2014-15, Rivers gets to work with them without Donald Sterling’s cloud hanging over them.

Most significantly, 2013-14 was a season in which the Clippers simply couldn’t stay healthy. It wasn’t just injuries to one player here and there, but to key players throughout the entirety of the year.

Starting point guard CP3 missed 20 games due to injury. Starting shooting guard J.J. Redick missed 47 games and starting small forward Matt Barnes was sidelined for 19 with respective ailments.

Even Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford was absent for 13 games.

In other words, the Clippers spent extended time without their entire starting perimeter. They missed Redick, the starting 2 who was acquired to be the floor-spacing sharpshooter, for more than half the season.

Through all of these injuries, specifically the 20-game absence of the franchise player, the Clippers still managed to set an organization record for wins in a single season.

In 2014-15, the Clippers are expected to have a healthy Paul, Redick, Barnes, Griffin and Jordan for the starting lineup. Crawford is also expected to be in good health.

Prior to 2013-14, he hadn’t missed more than six games since 2008-09.

With all of the absences, the Clippers were one of three teams ranked No. 7 or better in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The other two teams were the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Again, the Clippers did all of that without their entire starting perimeter for roughly one-fourth of the season.

In 2014-15, the Clippers have the confidence that they can not only turn to Griffin, but run their offense through him. When that fails, Paul is the widespread choice for the best point guard in the league and Crawford is a two-time Sixth Man of the Year.

Throw in a healthy and sharpshooting Redick—a players who struggled to develop chemistry in 2013-14 due to his 47-game absence—and the Clippers are one of the best teams in the world.

Unfortunately, talent doesn’t tell the entire story. It also doesn’t silence critics or live up to expectations on its own.

Thus, the ultra-talented Clippers must come together and look at 2014-15 as it is: boom-or-bust.