It’s a Rebuilding Season for the Clips, Back Off

So the Clippers have slipped a little in the power rankings. It happens. All the powerful ones fall, Genghis Khan, Dave Chappelle, Normann Stadler, Michael Phelps. On a side note Phelps was in Sacramento on Tuesday for an inspirational speech, which just happened to be the day the Sac Bee ran a cover story on legalizing ganja. I chuckled.
With that said, people need to lay off the Clips. They’re rebuilding. Yeah, they may have 14 wins so far this season, but give ‘em time, the All-Star game just happened. Do you expect them to blow teams out from day one?
They have a roster full of super stars. Chris Kaman is getting over the flu and an injured foot (plantar fasciitis hurts, I know), Al Thornton (sore right foot), Marcus Camby (old), Zach Randolph (likes to punch people).
Just wait till all these guys are back and can play with the likes of Eric Gordon (6-7 from behind the arc for 27 points Tuesday), Baron Davis (25 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists against Golden State) and the surging Fred Jones.
Jones exploded for two highlight-worthy dunks on Tuesday, driving past and over Ronny Turiaf (ex-Laker) for a one-handed jam and bringing Clippers reserves out of their seats with a second one.
Just think about that. Jones’ dunk gave players riding pine for the Clippers something to stand up and be happy about. I mean, they’re riding pine for the Clippers. Next week they could be throwing up air balls at the blue court with my old boss. Jones has the power to inspire those in the depths of despair.
Consider the facts.
The Clips are only three years out of going to the second round of the playoffs (2005-2006). They took Phoenix to seven games in that second round series. That was the same Suns team that came back from a 3 game to 1 deficit to beat the Lakers the week before. That’s three years away from being the best team in L.A.
So they’ve had some tough seasons, who hasn’t? In 2004 the Lakers finished 34-48 and Ryantific cried himself to sleep, all 48 nights spooning with his dog, Mandy, in that cool garage that he used to live in.
Let’s not forget that on March 1, 2006, the Clips held the New Orleans Hornets to an NBA record low 16 points in the second half. That’s oppressive. Since the introduction of the shot clock, no team has scored less then 19.
As if further evidence was needed, on March 23, 2007, Utah (44-23 at the time) lost to the Clips (32-36 coming into the match) 104-72 in Los Angeles. That was the largest margin of defeat by an NBA team at least 20 games over .500 to a team under .500 since the Houston Rockets lost in Orlando 114-82 on March 30, 1991.
I could go all day.