Chris Paul Trade: How the Clippers Rank Against the Rest of West
Now that our national nightmare is finally over and David Stern has allowed the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets to trade star point guard Chris Paul for less than an entire team's eight-man rotation, it's time to take a look at where Paul's new team, the Los Angeles Clippers, stacks up against the rest of the Western Conference.
The Clippers are coming off a typically bleak season, one that saw them finish 32-50, fourth in the Pacific Division and 13th out of 15 teams in the West. Now that Paul, arguably the best point guard in the NBA, is on board, the fortunes of L.A.'s red-jerseyed stepchildren should change for the better, and then some.
But there's a truckload of competition out west, where the defending champion Dallas Mavericks lurk, young, up-and-comers like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies dwell, old, proud, former champs like the San Antonio Spurs remain and the Clippers' fellow tenants at the Staples Center, the Lakers, still pose a threat.
And of course, let's not forget the rest of the Western Conference, either, whether it's a team on the cusp of something potentially significant like the Houston Rockets, or a floundering franchise with newfound hope like the Golden State Warriors.
The Clippers are better, but how many of their conference rivals have they surpassed? Let's take a look, division by division.
Pacific Division
After finishing ahead of only the Sacramento Kings last season, the Clippers look to have moved past both Golden State and the Phoenix Suns headed into this season.
The Warriors, with new coach Mark Jackson trying to encourage someone in the organization to play defense for the first time in years, have the high-powered guard combo of Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry (a rumored chip in a potential Warriors play for Paul last week), not to mention high-energy overachiever David Lee anchoring his frontcourt.
But the Warriors, who won 36 games last season with a similar core group, can count Kwame Brown as their only significant addition.
As for Phoenix, the window that's been closing on the amazing Steve Nash for a few years now is officially shut, locked and saran wrapped for the winter. The Suns, likely to Nash's dismay, always seem to be in cost-cutting mode thanks to an owner who doesn't seem to really want to own.
Rookie first-rounder Markieff Morris should help a little, but after that, it's just another go-around for Nash with the likes of Hakim Warrick, Robin Lopez, Channing Frye, and the great, venerable but really old Grant Hill.
When your two biggest free agent acquisitions are Shannon Brown and Sebastian Telfair, you can probably bet at least something that Nash could be plying his trade elsewhere come the trade deadline in February.
The Kings, despite the drafting of potential folk hero Jimmer Fredette out of BYU, and having a slew of young talent (Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Marcus Thornton, J.J. Hickson) that may well come together down the road with a little seasoning and experience, are probably still a year away from threatening to make the postseason.
This leaves the Lakers, likely reeling that thanks to Stern, they didn't acquire Paul themselves, are now without reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom and Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. But they still have Kobe Bryant, not to mention a still effective Pau Gasol and young super-phenom/knucklehead Andrew Bynum. The well dries up in a major way after those three, and if Kobe walks all over new coach Mike Brown the way LeBron James did in Cleveland, the shortened season could well feel a lot longer.
But the Lakers and their experience, history and complete stranglehold over the Clippers in pretty much every department, basketball and otherwise, should bag them another division title, maybe three or four games out in front of the soon-to-be second place Clips.
Southwest Division
Here's where the real iron of the West resides. No fewer than four of the five teams in this division should make the playoffs, with the other, Paul's former team—the Hornets—not nearly as poorly off as one might expect thanks to the haul they got back from the Clippers.
The Mavs are still pretty loaded; they of course return Finals MVP/super-duperstar Dirk Nowitzki, as well as the best of his running mates, Jason Terry. Point guard Jason Kidd, who seems like he should be about 57 years old, played well enough last season to suggest he still has something left in the tank.
And, the Mavs were still able to import a handful of capable, experienced veterans like Odom, Delonte West and even (gulp) Vince Carter to hold the fort down until the summer of 2012, when they have a slew of salary cap room and can make a run at someone like Dwight Howard.
The Spurs went out in the first round at the hands of Memphis last season, and they looked very old, very vulnerable and pretty washed up in doing so. But as Rudy Tomjanovich once said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion."
Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, the spectacular Manu Ginobili and Hall-of-Fame coach Gregg Popovich are all still there, and there is also a modicum of young talent around to spell all those veterans. The Spurs are still a threat, believe it.
Memphis lost glue guy Shane Battier, but they get star scorer Rudy Gay back in an effort to build on its surprise journey to the Western Conference semifinals. So much of whether or not the Grizzlies succeed depends on big man Zach Randolph, who was sensational last year (especially in the postseason), but, to put it mildly, is a time bomb.
Grizzlies coaches, execs and fans have to be wringing their hands in wonderment regarding whether the Z-Bo from last year or of previous, massively unappealing vintages will show up. If it's last year's edition, watch out for Memphis.
The Rockets were ready to give up a ton as part of last week's wiped out deal with New Orleans and the Lakers in order to get Gasol. But as it stands, new coach Kevin McHale still has a lot to work with in attempting to get Houston, who barely missed the playoffs last year, into the postseason this year, beginning with big man Luis Scola and two-guard Kevin Martin, and continuing on with resurgent point guard Kyle Lowry and youngsters like Patrick Patterson, Jordan Hill and newcomer Jonny Flynn.
As for the Hornets, it will be tough for them to get back to the playoffs without Paul, but at least they addressed some needs (scoring, rebounding, depth) by getting Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and Al-Farouq Aminu from LA. The Clippers likely won't have to worry about NOLA en route to the playoffs, but at least three—maybe all four—of the other teams from the Southwest should be standing in their way.
Northwest Division
There could be clearer sailing for the Clippers to hurdle some of the usual suspects from this group than in other years. The only sure thing in the Northwest Division is the Oklahoma City Thunder, who took a huge step in getting to the Western Finals last season and are still young and sickly talented, but with a year of important experience under their belts.
There is talent everywhere on this roster, in all roles, starting with arguably the league's best player in Kevin Durant and a top-five/still learning point guard in Russell Westbrook. Big man Serge Ibaka is growing into his immense upside, and swingman James Harden came into his own after the Thunder hornswaggled the Celtics into taking the overrated, underperforming Jeff Green in the Kendrick Perkins trade.
There's no reason to believe this team will miss a second straight trip to the conference finals; this year, they could take it a step further.
Next in line come the Denver Nuggets, who surprisingly flourished after trading away Carmelo Anthony last year, and the Portland Trailblazers, who always seem to be just good enough to not quite be good enough.
The Nuggets return most of their core from last year's playoff run while also replacing point guard Ray Felton with veteran and former Nugget Andre Miller and adding depth with guard Rudy Fernandez and forward/defensive maven Corey Brewer.
Portland lost perennially injured Brandon Roy to early retirement, but are still very talented in the backcourt with Felton, Wes Matthews and just-signed Jamal Crawford, as well as up front with budding superstar LaMarcus Aldridge, versatile Gerald Wallace and old but still good Marcus Camby.
After that are the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz, two teams seemingly going in opposite directions.
The Jazz's years and years of consistency crashed down around the the blowup between longtime coach Jerry Sloan, who resigned, and point guard Deron Williams, who was traded. Utah missed the playoffs last year for the first time in five years and just the fifth in 30. This year, with Devin Harris, Al Jefferson and youngster Derrick Favors at the forefront (read: the same cast as last year), doesn't look to be much better.
The T-Wolves are better, though it would have been hard for them not to be given their standing as the worst team in the West last year. Forward Kevin Love is a top-10 player and with overmatched coach Kurt Rambis replaced by proven winner Rick Adelman, Minnesota should make a leap toward being a, legit threat come 2012-2013.
Rookie Derrick Williams may already be the second best player on the roster, forward Michael Beasley could well be a big star if he could get out of his own way and Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio has finally arrived stateside to solidify the backcourt. The Wolves will be a team to watch.
Based on all of this, the newly constituted Clippers, with their core of Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler, Mo Williams and Eric Bledsoe, feel like a 6 or 7-seed out west. Given the history of this woebegone franchise, their long-suffering fans will surely take it.
Here's a prediction of the Western Conference's top eight seeds with the start of the regular season barely a week away.
1. Dallas
2. Oklahoma City
3. LA Lakers
4, Memphis
5. San Antonio
6. LA Clippers
7. Denver
8. Houston/Portland
