Ready or Not, the Los Angeles Clippers Are...Cool

Perceptions change, but rarely for the better. Bad reputations stick like a bare, sweaty back to leather, and usually smell just as bad.

In less than a year, the Los Angeles Clippers have defied the norms. After they finally, mercifully acquired Chris Paul Wednesday night, Blake Griffin couldn't contain his excitement. He was giddy. He was pumped. It might be the only verifiable proof of anyone being excited for an upcoming NBA season in L.A. and it having nothing to do with the Lakers.

Remember, this is the Clippers we're talking about. The Lakers are renowned for fleecing Hall-of-Fame centers and boasting devastating scorers. The Clippers are renowned for disastrous draft picks and knee surgeries.

These are the Clippers. And they are cool.

Suddenly a white, red and blue L.A. jersey is in. It even looks retro when the name Griffin or Paul is on the back. That's what those two have done for this franchise. The joke is no longer on them, but on the rest of the league.

Every time Paul connects with Griffin or DeAndre Jordan (No. 2 and 3 in dunks last year, respectively), they won't just be hammering home a dunk. They'll be hammering home a point: that these Clippers aren't your older brother's Clippers, your father's Clippers or your grandfather's Clippers. These are today's Clippers, and they're pretty freaking good.

It was just two years ago Griffin went down in his final preseason game of his rookie year. Everyone thought it was just more evidence that the Clippers are cursed, that they would never amount to anything. Now he's the most electric, the most YouTubed, the coolest athlete in the league, rivaled perhaps only by LeBron James.

The best part for Clipper fans (which are growing by the second) is that they now have the only thing that could unleash Griffin even further. Fans of any team with a good point guard (Boston, Chicago, Phoenix) know how much easier a table-setter makes it for the guys around him. Guys like Steve Nash and Paul spoon-feed an extra 10-30 points a game their team might not otherwise get.

Given that Griffin averaged over 22 points per game last year, what's his ceiling this year? 28 PPG? 30?

It won't even matter if Paul/Griffin can't get the Clippers better than the No. 8 seed. If you don't believe me, just remember how high everyone was on the 2009-10 Thunder.

They sneaked into the playoffs, won two home games, then bowed out to the Lakers. Nothing extraordinary—except the way they did it. Durant and Westbrook were fun, talented, athletic and cool, just like the Clippers are now.

Except the Clippers had years—no, decades—of stink to wash off. Yet here they are, the newest darlings of the NBA, the team everyone wants to be as good as they look on paper—you know, because they actually look good on paper.

I went to the Suns vs. Clippers Game 6 back in 2006. The whole theme was Clipper nation, a notion I thought idiotic. It was a one-year run based on Sam Cassell and Elton Brand. This? This is something else. It could be long-lasting, a permanent change to what we've come to expect.

Sure, it's the Clippers. But that's what makes this so exciting in the first place.

Matt Petersen covers college and high school sports for the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah. You can follow him on Twitter @SportsWriter93.