I’m getting a kick out of all the people arguing about the Los Angeles Clippers being NBA title contenders now that they’ve acquired Chris Paul.
For everyone who considers themselves an NBA insider or a guru of some sort, let me make your like really simple.
The Clippers, while certainly improved with the acquisition of Paul, are no better than the sixth-best team in the Western Conference.
As such, you can technically say the Clippers are championship contenders because they’re likely to be one of the eight playoff teams in the West, but that’s where their title hopes end.
For all their offseason moves, the Clippers still lack depth and they’re not very good defensively. Every team the Clippers would have to beat to win the Western Conference are all deeper and play much better defense.
A lot of people anxious to see how Blake Griffin and Paul will coexist, and there’s nothing to suggest they can’t play well together.
But in a shortened season, a trade like this doesn’t have the same impact had it taken place during a normal offseason.
Paul isn’t going to have the luxury of working with his new teammates like he normally would, and we all know it takes time for a newly formed group to gel.
Look what happened last season when LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade teamed up in Miami.
A quarter of the way into the season the Heat were 13-8, and that was after the three of them had a full offseason to work out together.
The Clippers made some good moves aside from acquiring Paul, snatching up Chauncey Billups from the Knicks via the amnesty clause, signing Caron Butler to a free agent deal and resigning DeAndre Jordan.
There’s no question all of those additions have made the Clippers a better team, but the short term effects will prove to be less fruitful than the long term.
I expect the Clippers to win between 30-35 games this season. And that’s a number of wins in this shortened season that should be good enough to earn a playoff spot.
But if anyone thinks the Clippers are going to get past Dallas, the Lakers, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Portland and Memphis, they can forget about it.
The Los Angeles Clippers are team to be reckoned with in the future, but not in the present. There are at least six teams that have legitimate NBA championship potential, bu the Clippers aren’t one of those teams – at least not this season.
