LA Clippers: 3 reasons they will not win the 2020-21 NBA title
3. It will be hard to shake the failure of last season for the LA Clippers
It is true that failure at the end of one season does not mean a team is doomed for the following season; if it was, the same team would win year after year. Yet two reasons, one objective and one subjective, make the path harder for the Clippers.
The changing of the guard at the top of the league tends to happen for one of two reasons. First, a team assembles new star talent. The 2020 Los Angeles Lakers, the 2019 Toronto Raptors, the 2008 Boston Celtics — all of these teams added a star player to propel them to a title. The other reason is young talent taking a major leap forward; this would be the 2019 Raptors again, or the 2015 Warriors.
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That’s not always the case, but it’s the trend. The Clippers did shuffle their guard and center rotations, but at most they changed one starter and their two tentpole stars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, are the same. At 30 and 29 years old respectively, they are not in the category of rising stars ready to take a leap.
The Clippers will instead look for a new mix around them, a new coach, and a new motivation to shake the demons of last year’s loss, the 3-1 collapse against the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs. But that loss was not your run-of-the-mill playoff loss. It was a complete and utter collapse, with shots clanking off the side of the backboard. The Clippers lost their nerve, and it sent shockwaves through the organization.
That’s the kind of loss that sticks with a team. The players on the team look to their right and their left and have to ask “can this guy handle the pressure?” Leonard is a decorated playoff veteran, but he’s not a leader. The San Antonio Spurs had Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili; the Toronto Raptors had Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol. Who do the Clippers have to step up and fill that void? Marcus Morris? Title teams need a star leader, and the Clippers don’t have that.
Without someone to lead them out of the valley of the shadow of death, the Clippers are heading for a repeat future. They not only have to defeat the team in front of them; they will have to defeat the specter of the past. Until they do so, we have to assume that they will not.