Los Angeles Clippers: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason

4. Shore up the defensive end of the floor

Considering the turnover of the roster, it was understandable that this area would take a bit of a dip this season. After finishing the previous season in 13th place overall for defensive rating, the Clippers slid to 19th by posting a 107.7 rating.

Not only did the team lose Chris Paul, chosen to the NBA All-Defensive First Team on seven occasions this past offseason, they only received 11 games from incoming guard Patrick Beverley, one of the key components of the blockbuster Paul deal. In his last full season with the Houston Rockets, Beverley himself was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.

A perfect case in point of their defensive struggles from this past season was the three-man lineup of DeAndre Jordan, Tobias Harris and Lou Williams. While they posted an elite offensive rating as a trio at 111.1, their defensive rating of 115.6 was simply abhorrent. Considering they were the three best players on the roster over the course of the season, this clearly doesn’t bode well moving forward when looking to raise the success level of the franchise.

As a team, the Clippers allowed 109.0 points per game, which ranked 24th in the league. In fact, on the 12 occasions in which they allowed 121 points or more to the opposition, they posted an 0-12 record. Furthermore, of the 15 games in which the Clippers held their opposition below 100 points, 12 of these were against non-playoff teams.

Overall, the Clippers had a 14-32 record against teams that advanced to this year’s postseason, and a 28-8 mark against those that missed out. In fact, over the 32 losses to playoff teams, the Clippers allowed 115.1 points per game to the opposition.