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The 2021-22 Clippers are Unique But Possess Qualities of Past Squads.
The Clippers are roughly a quarter of the way through the regular season and there’s a lot to dissect. Injuries, questionable rotations, and inconsistent player production have been the centerpieces of what has suddenly become a funky first quarter of the season. The Clippers are planted at .500 and have stumbled into December with a considerably different vibe than what we’ve grown accustomed to. While fans were hoping the team would ride the high of last postseason and witness a repeat of last season’s “Canoes,” “Cockroach Clippers,” or whatever beloved version of the 2020-21 Clippers, I can’t help but feel like this year’s squad is much more similar to the latter-stage Doc Rivers squads. Let me explain.
During the 2020-21 season, the Clippers had their cake and ate it too. Their star players performed as such, but the complementary pieces were above and beyond what the front office could have imagined; it was so out of left field. Nico Batum and Reggie were revived from borderline NBA death, Terance made a gigantic leap, and Marcus was statistically one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, all things that no one would have dared thought of before the season. So on the heels of last season, we may have been a little too optimistic coming into the year.
What’s actually happened through 22 games is the guys have all been about what they’ve always been throughout their careers; no better, no worse. However, players have been asked to elevate their play and step into larger roles that aren’t naturally suited for them. Is that fair to ask? Sure, they’re the best basketball players in the world and a little bit of overachievement should be in the realm of possibility. But no matter how you slice it, Eric Bledsoe isn’t a Pat Bev level of shooter, Luke and Terance will never be Lou Will or Jamal Crawford no matter what keys they have to the second unit, and Justise Winslow isn’t going to magically become the best version of himself following a hip replacement surgery. Perhaps the Clips’ coaching staff and front office were optimistic that such things could happen as the team managed through Kawhi and Marcus’ knee injuries while monitoring the PG and Nico’s minutes in a way that allowed for guys to make it to the finish line whole.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? A constantly banged-up roster trying, but failing to form an identity while its superstar player rehabs from offseason surgery? This season feels a lot like the 2019-20 season in some ways, minus the locker room issues and high expectations. Similarly, the 2017-18 team comes to mind when I sometimes glance at the court and see who is out there. On more than one occasion, I’ve had flashbacks to the Sindarius Thornwell-Juwan Evans-Ty Wallace iteration of the Clips when Amir Coffey, Terance Mann, and Isaiah Hartenstein are getting significant reps in. That’s not a slight to any of those guys, by the way; they are (were) all fun, gritty, and productive pieces to their Clippers team. Moreso, it’s just so interesting how drastically different things can become in the blink of an eye when teams are forced to find resolutions to injuries.
Unlike that 2018 team that missed the playoffs, though, these current Clippers are actually a good basketball team when healthy; their seven-game win streak is proof of that. Although that may feel like a distant memory, it was a real thing that happened just a short while ago. A lot went right during that time; PG was superhuman, Luke, Terance, and Isaiah stabilized the second unit, and Nic Batum played like an all-defensive team guy while also being a legitimate scoring threat. Even Reggie turned back the clock a few times to replicate some of his 2021 postseason performances. And here’s the thing; those things are replicable when the stars are aligned. While the injury-hit LA team we’ve seen struggle over the past week may lack the firepower to form a competent offense, a more intact version of the team, in theory, should be capable of forming a committee of sorts to get the job done.
Reggie, Nico, Marcus, and to a lesser extent, Serge, Luke, and Bled, are all capable of pumping out productive offensive outings in rotations of games throughout the calendar. Such an opportunity could present itself if the guys can figure out a way to get on the court together at once, but that’s a huge if. For the sake of this lengthy process that has consumed the past few years, let’s hope that and the Clips are soon able to form an identity that differs from the teams of yesteryear.
The 2021-22 Clippers are Unique But Possess Qualities of Past Squads.
Cole Huff