Chris Paul Trade: Los Angeles Clippers Still Have Long Road to Contention

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Clippers!

Thanks to the emergence of Blake Griffin as the NBA's next young superstar and DeAndre Jordan as a possible top-tier center, the Clippers were able to convince all-everything point guard Chris Paul to throw his eggs in Donald Sterling's basket and, as a result, make the prospect of sending Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and Minnesota's first-round draft pick in 2012 that much more palatable.

Now comes the hard part—putting it all together and winning.

The Clippers have more than enough pieces, as currently constituted, to at least pencil themselves in for their eighth playoff appearance in their more-than-four-decade franchise history.

They have two elite players (Griffin, CP3), a rising All-Star (DeAndre Jordan), three former All-Stars (Caron Butler, Mo Williams, Chauncey Billups), a former NBA Finals MVP (Billups) AND Brian Cook.

(Cook is the key ingredient here...obviously).

On talent alone, the Clips are a top-four or -five team in the Western Conference, amongst the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks, the Oklahoma City Thunder and, say, the San Antonio Spurs.

Unfortunately, talent alone doesn't guarantee championships. Just ask the Miami Heat.

Okay, so maybe the Clips can't quite match the trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Still, the point remains, winning requires chemistry, a quality coach and a well-run organization.

The Clippers have never played with CP3, Chauncey or Caron Butler.

They've only played with Blake Griffin for a year.

More importantly, they have two weeks to gel as a team, with Paul and his achy knees manning the point.

And who's coaching these fellas up? Why, Vinny Del Negro, of course! The giant-killer himself. Not exactly a guy you'd mistake for Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich—in person or in the history books.

Oh, and am I mistaken, or is Donald T. Sterling still the owner? It's tough not to imagine the Clips going wrong, in some way or another, as long as "The Donald" is in charge.

It'd be a shame, too, since the City of Angels could use a great basketball rivalry, above and beyond that which exists between the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.

Certainly, the Clippers are better situated to win now than they were before CP3 (prematurely) turned L.A. into "Lob City." Interest is up, as are ticket sales, and rightfully so.

Chris Paul is a once-in-a-generation-type talent at point guard, easily the best to call L.A. home since Magic Johnson last donned a Lakers jersey.

Just, please, Clippers fans (e.g. Clipper Darrell, Penny Marshall, Billy Crystal and Bill Simmons' kids), give these kids time. They've got their whole primes ahead of them and smart basketball people (i.e. Neil Olshey and Andy Roeser) in charge to fill out the roster.

But winning championships takes time, unless you're bringing veterans together (cf. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce in Boston).

This could finally be the dynasty-in-the-making to give the Purple and Gold a much-needed scare.

All we basketball fans ask is that you don't screw it up this time; that you allow the championship spirit to blossom into rings.

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