Examining Chris Paul's Impact on Rejuvenated Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers, the organization that has spent its entire existence redefining terrible, is on the verge of advancing past the first round of the NBA playoffs because of Chris Paul. 

Anyone who saw Paul score eight of the Clippers' 14 overtime points to help his squad take a 3-1 series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies can tell just how vital he is to this team's success. 

That overtime is not an outlier in their season either. Paul has been doing that for the Clips since "basketball reasons" helped him land there. 

Sure, the high-flying Blake Griffin deserves some credit for the transformation of this franchise, but Chris Paul is clearly the Pied Piper leading the demons out of their uniforms. 

He began this process simply by joining the team. There is little doubting the fact that accomplished players like Chauncey Billups and, later, Kenyon Martin were swayed to join the former wasteland known as the Clippers largely due to the fact that Paul was on the team. 

Still, the biggest reason is Paul's play on the court, and there the conclusion is clear: Chris Paul is an amazing basketball player who should probably be tested for illegal magical powers.

Let's put aside the fact that this dude is more mystically gifted than Harry Potter, and find something a little more concrete for how Paul could take a team that finished last season 32-50 to the one that was the fifth seed in the West this year. 

To do that, we have to start on the offensive end. 

The Clippers finished fourth in offensive efficiency this season. Last season, they were 22nd.

This is a remarkable turnaround. And it is important to note that they didn't just add Chris Paul. They had to ship off their second-leading scorer from last season, Eric Gordon, to get him. 

Also making this efficiency mind-boggling is the fact that the Clippers do not score many easy baskets in transition offense. Nor does it come from the product of meticulous set plays (is anyone even sure Vinny Del Negro knows what a set play is?). 

Paul has turned the Clippers into a wonderfully efficient offensive unit by his mastery of the half-court game. He has an amazing sense of the flow on the court and he can dictate that flow and break down a defense. 

Typically, he does this with the pick-and-roll. Paul knows how to eliminate any space between himself and the screen. This leaves the only option for a defender—that doesn't involve slamming into a player setting a pick—as running under or over the screen, or switching off. 

Either way, Paul wins. This either going to set him up for an easy drive to the basket, open jump shot or give his teammate a path to the basket. And we all know what happens then: Lob City. 

Paul's game is not dependent on the pick-and-roll either. He is a master of every skill of which you want a point guard to be a master. He has tremendous ball-handling, a good jump shot, a quick first step, tremendous court vision and amazing pass accuracy.

This guy can thread the needle on passes few would even attempt.  

Oh yeah, he is also a ball-hawking defender with an inherent clutch gene. 

Chris Paul is a winner of the highest order—literally. He turned the Clippers into winners and there has never been a more formidable challenge in sports than that.