Last season the Los Angeles Clippers lost in the first round of the playoffs, falling short again because of injuries to key players. Could their offseason acquisitions finally take some of the pressure of their stars and help get them to the conference finals?
The 2015-16 season was another one that ended in heartbreak for the Los Angeles Clippers. They had an incredible regular season, finishing with a 53-29 record, good enough for second place in the Pacific Division behind the Golden State Warriors.
The Clippers’ first round exit in the playoffs at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers can be attributed to injury, but it also showed their lack of depth on the bench.
In Game 4 of their first round matchup, Chris Paul broke his hand, ruling him out for the rest of the series. In the same game, In the same game, Blake Griffin also re-aggravated the quad injury that sidelined him for much of the season.
In addition to these two devastating injuries, J.J. Redick was struggling with a heel injury from the final weeks of the season. DeAndre Jordan turned his ankle in the final game of the season and Austin Rivers had to get 11 stitches over his right eye.
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There are no teams in the NBA who could lose their top two players and expect to have much success. Even Golden State looked shaky in some games against Portland without Stephen Curry. When they lost Andrew Bogut in the Finals, coupled with Curry playing injured, the Cleveland Cavaliers took full advantage, winning the Championship.
With the coming of the 2016-17 season, the Clippers have again attempted to address their bench depth, and this time I believe that they have added the pieces to take them further into the playoffs by signing Raymond Felton and Marreese Speights.
Raymond Felton
Raymond Felton is a journeyman point guard who has played for five teams in 11 seasons. The Clippers will be his sixth team. Through his career, Felton has averaged 12.4 points, 6.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
In his last season with the Dallas Mavericks, Felton averaged a respectable 9.5 points and 3.6 assists per game — acceptable numbers for a backup point guard.
Last season, Los Angeles did not have a quality, true backup point guard. They preferred to use Austin Rivers in that role. Rivers is a good player, but I do not believe that playing him out of position as a point guard will benefit this team in the long run.
By signing Felton, the Clippers have managed to get a true point guard who gives them options. It also allows Paul a greater ability to rest, something critical in the 82-game grind of the regular season.
Having Felton run the second unit means that head coach Doc Rivers has a greater ability to rotate his guards. He can even play a small-ball, run-and gun-offense with Felton and Rivers as the guards and Jamal Crawford as an undersized small forward.
What Felton does provide is a high quality guard should anything happen to CP3 again.
Marreese Speights
Marreese Speights is another journeyman player who joined the Clippers in free agency. He has played for four teams in eight seasons. The Clippers will be his fifth. Speights is a high volume scorer in limited minutes.
For his career, Speights has averaged only 15.2 minutes per game. In that time he has averaged 7.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Per 36 minutes, this equates to 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds, which would help any second unit in the league.
Speights is not, however, a rim protector of any great note. This was on display when Andrew Bogut went down in the Finals series against the Cavaliers. Speights was unable to stop LeBron James from driving into the lane and scoring, almost at will. Mind you, Festus Ezeli had no luck stopping James either.
However, rim protection will not be Speights’ main brief. DeAndre Jordan is one of the best in the league, finishing second in blocks per game last season with 2.3 per game, helping his career number improve to 1.8 per game. Scarily, for the rest of the league this means he is getting better at his craft.
Speights will come on to give Jordan a rest. When he does come on he will space the floor with his shooting in a way that Jordan can’t.
Last season Speights took 62 total three-point attempts, making 24 of them. This translated to a shooting accuracy from beyond three of 38.7 percent. Compare this to Cole Aldrich, the player that Speights is effectively replacing and there is a marked difference, since Aldrich has never taken a three-point shot.
Why It May Be Critical For Them To Produce
I will not say that the championship window is closing for the Los Angeles Clippers, but next season, both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin can opt out of their contracts to become free agents. This may spell the end of an era in Los Angeles, but it may not.
Considering that both Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant may be on the market next summer, anything could happen.
If this is the last season that Paul, Griffin and Jordan play together, it is imperative that the second unit produces.
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I am not sure if it is championship or bust for the Clippers, but it might be. Hopefully Felton and Speights can move them closer to championship rather than bust.