Do the Los Angeles Clippers Still Have Hope?

This was the season.

Yes, this was the season.

This was the season Donald Sterling’s magical nightmare known as the Los Angeles Clippers—a team that’s struggled mightily to maintain some standard of relevancy over the last three years, a franchise that’s lived in the shadow of crosstown heroes, the Los Angeles Lakers, for their entire existence and a group that’s been the butt of jokes and wisecracks for the better part of ever—were going to buck the trend and rise to relevance in the National Basketball Association.

The pieces to the puzzle were all seemingly sitting right there just waiting to be put together for a team that was bestowed with notorious “under the radar” label.

The fresh new savior, Blake Griffin, who brought with him youth, energy and hope. The wily elder statesman, Baron Davis, who was supposed to be divinely inspired after carrying a burden of past struggles and criticisms. And the crestfallen leader, coach Vinny Del Negro, who was searching for redemption after being ousted in Chicago and given such with a fresh start to write his story out on the West Coast.

Those three along with a host of other characters were the cast for the rising show that was going to inspire belief in the dwindling, frustrated followers.

Sure, during the summer the team had to settle for lesser names like Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes and Brian Cook in lieu of hot ticket, big name free agents like LeBron James and Amar’e Stoudemire. But somehow, it seemed like it would all be OK.

The team had a roster that included power forward Blake Griffin and shooting guard Eric Gordon, two of the brightest young names in the game. They finally had a face.

So far though, the Los Angeles Clippers have been anything but OK.

The Clippers are now sitting at 1-6 at this early juncture in the season, and their play has only inspired fear that this team may just be “the same old Clippers.”

The team started the season off on a four game losing skid, losing each of their first three games by double digits. But Los Angeles' latest defeat may have been the most heartbreaking yet as the Clippers came up two points short in a double overtime loss to the Jazz on Saturday night.

The finger pointing and blame game has already commenced with many questioning whether Del Negro’s faint message is really reaching this team. We saw in Chicago that players had a knack for tuning the coach out, and that trend is already starting to manifest at the Staples Center.

You can’t lay all the blame on Del Negro, however, because it is in fact the player's duty to go out there and perform, and so far that just hasn’t happened for whatever reason.

The players on the court haven’t delivered as they should yet, but one of the real centers of drama and tension has been surrounding a man that’s not even lacing them up right now—point guard Baron Davis.

We were promised a new look Baron Davis, with a new number and all this season. Yet the same intensity and commitment issues still loom for the new No. 5, who has already been publicly criticized and questioned by Del Negro for his lack of conditioning and passion.

After missing a considerable amount of time with a sore knee, it’s becoming clear that Davis no longer wants any real part of the Clippers and the the franchise reportedly shares a mutual sentiment. But the obvious fact is, there aren’t going to be a lot of eager takers out there in the current NBA landscape looking for a 31-year-old leadership-challenged point guard with bad knees and an even worse contract.

The whole returning back to the city of Los Angeles, where Davis was born and played college basketball for UCLA, just hasn’t worked out and it looks like it might be time for the Clippers to cut their losses if they can and move on.

Even if the team is able to move Davis, that still leaves a squad that’s only averaging 95 points per game.

There’s been an expected learning curve for rookie point guard Eric Bledsoe, who came into the league after sitting in the shadows of John Wall at Kentucky for one season. Bledsoe has filled in admirably for Davis, and while his competitiveness is evident, his lack of experience is as well.

Bledsoe shined in the Clippers’ only win of the season against Oklahoma City, finishing with 17 points and eight assists, but he’s also had his fair share of rookie mistakes and brain buzzes.

Helping Bledose adjust to being thrown into the fire is talented shooting guard Eric Gordon, who leads the team with 21 points per game.

Gordon along with rookie of the year frontrunner Blake Griffin are the true shining lights for a team that still has a lot of growing left to do if they hope to rise above this tough start to the season.

Is there a glimmer of hope that the season can be saved?

Yes, and it starts with Griffin, who has looked every bit as good as advertised, along with Gordon and it diffuses to the team’s young talent that needs to grow up in a hurry.

If L.A. were somehow able to unload Baron Davis it would be like getting a giant miserable monkey off their back. It would allow younger players like Eric Bledose the chance to grow and develop and allow the team to form some type of solid, consistent nucleus.

This is far from the end of the road for this Clippers team, and while it may be trendy to write them off once again, you have to figure that with time will come chemistry.

No, the Clippers aren’t about to shed their “Los Angeles’ second team” label just yet, but the talent is there for a definitive turnaround.

The team has to buy into what Del Negro is saying, and luckily for the coach, he has a few impressionable and less jaded younger players like Bledsoe to preach to .

This team will get better. How much better still remains to be seen.