LA Clippers: A first championship would mean the world for this team
The Present and future of the franchise
The LA Clippers have flipped the franchise around. Once they were not even a playoff team and now they are a contender for the title. They have had great players before but the players they have now are great and unselfish.
Kawhi Leonard plays both sides of the ball. While he is a top-three player in the league he still plays defense. Kevin Durant and LeBron James are great but they have never won a Defensive Player of the Year award. Leonard is also a hard worker. Patrick Beverley recently spoke on Leonard’s amazing work ethic.
"“Let call Kawhi. I go down there and worked out with him. I thought I was a guy who worked hard when I left there, working hard was a very different mindset to what I thought I had. Working out with that man change my whole life, changed my whole game. He’s a human-machine.”"
When your best player works hard that means your whole team will work hard. Paul George has been able to put his pride aside and become the robin for this team and it’s after his MVP candidate season last year.
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The next two best scorers on the team are bench scorers. This team is together. They play great team defense, share the ball and set each other up for points.
The success of this team has led them to get out of their big brother’s shadow. The Clippers are moving to the Forum’s location and will have their own stadium in 2024.
Clippers owner Steve Balmer said about the new stadium:
"“For me growing up in Detroit, it’s the Pistons. It’s always the Pistons,” Ballmer said. “But in L.A., you have to think about it differently. Not only do we play in the same building, we don’t have the championship pedigree. So you know what, we need our own house. We’re going to define our own identity, in our own house.”"
“We’d like to build a team that’s tough, competitive, hard-playing guys. I’m not saying every team doesn’t have some aspect of that. But I want that to be our tone … tough, competitive, gritty and resilient. And I think you have to give people their own house to go and do it. We’re doing it all, the practice facility and everything. And in 2024, we’ll be the newest stadium out there.”
A title will complete the transformation for this team from being a dud to being relevant again. The future looks bright for this team.