(09-16-2020, 03:26 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: The reason why I think the Clips are in a dire situation is precisely because of how all-in they went. Both Kawhi and PG are going to be free agents next year. They're at a crossroads. Do they try one last time, to compete with this same roster? If they turn out another disappointing season, it dooms that franchise for at least half a decade. Or they can flip all their assets now near their highest value to try and recoup whatever assets they shipped out and try again growing a team?
Of course they will try it again, nothing else is an option. They win in next two years or the franchise will be doomed for a decade, as you said. I think it is a natural cycle of every NBA team. Winning a title is very difficult and not every plan works. You don't just quick after one failure. Mavs will not quit KP after one injury.
If we look beyond internal lack of chemistry/bad coaching problems, their biggest need might be a capable point guard. Bev just plays defense, Williams is more scorer than PG and Jackson is a disaster. Other than that they are fine. Zubac is a good centre and he wasn't a problem.
The other problem I think they have is, that Kawhi is not really a leader. He is a robot who scores 30 points a night unless he is playing Nuggets, but doesn't really lift the team with his lack of charisma. He had true leaders like Parker in Spurs and Lowry in Toronto. I think Clippers are expecting too much from him in this area. George is just looking for excuses. He is the one who should step up as leader.
Still, if I look for a bit of excuses for them myself, it has to be noted that they were not really prepared physically. Especially Williams and Harrell were just shadows of their regular season selfs.
(09-16-2020, 03:26 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: They have almost zero draft capital to sweeten any trades.
They have good young players like Zubac and Shamet. Kabengele and Mann as development projects. They can survive losing all of them. And they have a very rich and passionate owner. If he is willing to spend they can bring back whole team and someone for MLE. Experienced playmaker like Dragic perhaps?