Building the Ultimate Los Angeles Clippers Team

The Los Angeles Clippers have been the worst team over the history of the NBA, the exact opposite of their crosstown rival. Blake Griffin is bringing the Clippers fans hope that things could be turning around though. 

What would happen if you were to assemble the greatest individual seasons in Clipper history though? Would you be able to build a championship-caliber team out of them? 

I've been building the ultimate teams. This is the fourth article in the series after assembling squads for the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. 

The rules are simple: pick the best individual seasons to pick a starter and a backup at each of the five positions. Players have to play their true position and they can't back themselves up. 

PG: Norm Nixon

Starter

Norm Nixon becomes the first player to appear on two Ultimate Teams, as he backed up Magic Johnson on the Lakers squad. In 1984 he averaged 11.1 assists and 17.0 points for the Clippers. His 914 total assists led the NBA that season. 

Backup

The only other player in Clipper history to average 15 points and eight assists is Baron Davis, in 2010. B-Diddy barely accomplished it averaging 15.3 points and eight assists. 

SG: World B. Free

Starter

In their entire history the Clippers have accrued 1.5 years of Hall of Fame play form their guards. Even then it was more guard-forwards than pure guards that spent more time at forward than guard. That's it. There was half a season with Dominique Wilkins and there was Adrian Dantley's rookie year. 

That's why it's somewhat impressive that they still can field a pretty respectable season from a shooting guard. The flamboyant, high-flying, acrobatic World B. Free averaged 30.2 points and 4.2 assists for the club in 1980. The team was still only 35-47, but at least the fans had something worth seeing. 

Backup

As a further sign of their ineptness as a franchise, there's this little fact: The Clippers, in 41 years of history, have won two postseason series. Randy Smith was the starting shooting guard for the first team that won a series, when the team was the Boston Braves. 

Smith averaged 24.6 points, 5.6 assists and 3.8 boards for the team. They went on to beat the Philadelphia 76ers two-games-to-one in best-of-three series that year before getting ousted by the Boston Celtics. 

SF: Jim McMillan

Starter

Again, not a lot to choose from here. In fact, the Clippers history at small froward might be even thinner than at the guard positions. Adrian Dantley's rookie season—and only season with the Clippers—is the best there is to choose from.

Dantley averaged 20.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in his freshman campaign in 1977. Of course he played his best basketball after he left he team. 

Backup

Jim McMillan's year in 1974 is the next best season I can find by a Clipper. You'd have to be either a pretty big student of history, or in at least your mid-to-late '50s with an impressive memory to know who McMillan was. He only had a nine-year career, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't great. 

McMillan had 18.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists for the Braves. That's the second-best they've ever had. Corey Maggette's 20.7-point, 5.9-rebound, 3.1-assist 2004 season could have a case too. 

Either way it says something about the Clippers history at the position that those two become the discussion. 

PF: Elton Brand

Starter

In 2006 Elton Brand had 24.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists for the Clippers. That year was only the second time in franchise history the Clips had ever won a series, and it was the first and only time ever that they won a seven-game series.

Backup

Terry Cummings averaged 23.7 points, 10.6 boards and 2.5 assists for the Clippers in 1983 when the team was still in San Diego. He led the team in both rebounds and scoring. 

C: Bob McAdoo

Starter

Bob McAdoo is the one true Hall of Fame player the Clippers have had. His best years were spent as a Buffalo Brave. His best season was 1975 when he scored 34.5 points and added 14.1 rebounds for the club. It was enough for him to win the MVP. The Braves lost to the Washington Bullets in seven games though in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Backup

In 2010 Chris Kaman averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. It was the second-best season by a Clipper at the 5. 

That's the best Clipper team I could come up. Would this hypothetical team be enough to finally win a championship?