Will Chris Paul's Return Throw Off Chemistry?

You'd think I'm excited for CP3 to return right? Instead I'm apprehensive. This team is surprisingly more enjoyable to watch and plays harder. I'm seeing the first true, undisputed superstar go to option for a championship caliber team EXPLODE. Blake is looking like prime Karl Malone in year 4. CP3 is a great player and makes us better, but will the long term consequences be worth it?

My opinion is that if CP3 continues playing off the ball more and spoon feeding Blake... like he did 10 games before injury, we are a finals team. If at ANY point he reverts back to ball dominant, this is my team CP3, we don't get passed 2nd round.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/02/07/stretching-field-will-cp3-return-spoil-show/

Here's an article expressing similar concerns.

Sorry meant first superstar go to option of this Clippers era in Los Angeles. More so than Brand was.

CP3 gives this team different ways of winning and also is a pit bull rebounding. Collision going back to the bench only helps balance out the scoring and we need Paul to beat the better teams and get over the hump.

The player that is probably most excited about CP3's return is Dudley. He'll get his easy looks now at the basket. I think overall, the chemistry will be fine.

CP3 needs to come to term that this is Blake's team. Just like Wade came to terms that it's Lebron's team. I've said it before that CP3 is a ball hog. Not Kobe or Melo ball hog where they shoot too much but he's literally a ball hog where he holds on to the ball for way too longs he needs to adapt an d learn to move without the ball.

Might take a couple of games for the team to really connect, but overall, CP3 and JJ coming back can only be a good thing. We can't expect Blake to carry the whole team on his back for another 30 games.

I've never seen him play like this before. He's like the terminator... whatever you do to him, he just keeps coming at you, relentless, indefatigable.

That's what we'll need down the stretch in playoff games, but until then let CP3 spread the wealth and keep the other guys engaged defensively because they're getting theirs.

Paul's a smart guy. He sees what Blake has done. It's up to Blake to take charge when he gets the ball, also. As mentioned above, Paul adds a surprising number of rebounds for a small point guard and I think we all miss his ability to force turnovers. I'm excited to see what happens.

Paul's a smart player. He's been criticized for over passing and not shooting enough to holding the ball too long. Like you said, the 10 games before CO went down, Blake was doing 26/11/3. Guess what CP was doing? 21/5/11. Paul producing and Blake producing can definitely go hand in hand. Actually if we look at last season for examples the difference in Blake isn't the touches. It's what he does with them. If you remember many times, Blake would get the ball, survey, then just pass back out and reset. Now, Blake gets the ball and he attacks. Blake's mentality....

Has Chris Paul said anything about Blake's improved play?

Pretty much this. With BG and his improved game and CP3 coming back I see us going on a serious run. I think we can potentially get the 2nd seed and will almost definitely get the 3rd seed.

I see Blake scoring around 24 ppg with 10 boards and around 4 assists per game. Paul will have something around 19-20 ppg/11 apg like before.

Now while Blakes scoring will definitely go down, I think CP returning will only do us good.. This was a great run and showed me this team has game and BGs maturation and game have gone to another level.. I believe we will be fine.

I want to see more staggering of CP3 and Blake's minutes so that either CP3 or Blake are on the floor at all times. This would make our offense run smoothly for 48 minutes and would allow both players some time to have the ball in their hands more.

One thing that I know will change is when we used to need an instant bucket from Blake, we would only create it through a pick 'n roll. Now Chris can just dump it to Blake from anywhere and let him do what he does.

Dudley's only hope of getting somewhat back to form relies heavily on CP's return.

I could see us potentially snag that elusive 2nd seed and fix our defensive woes along the way.

I agree, that's the one thing I respect about Scott Brooks. He's very good at making sure Star power is always on the floor.

I hear what you're saying but I don't think that our chemistry will go down. I think that it will actually go up and we'll starting climbing the western conference ladder. I think that this time without CP3 has really helped out a lot of guys with their confidence mainly Blake and DJ. Now our guys are thinking, 'ok we can do this on our own and when Chris gets back things are going to be even easier'. There may be some hiccups here and there but it should be an extremely easy transition. I had the Clippers going 72-13 before the season started and they are very far from that but I still believe we can be that good, getting CP3 back will really help us with that bump over the top.

It is not blake's team. So far, if you look at the team's they were playing, it was pretty bad teams. They faced like 4 teams, that have a high chance of winning a championship.... This is Paul's team... But, since he went down, Blake improved a lot. Paul see's that, so that means more passes to blake.

This is still Paul's team... Now since Paul coming back.... We will see what the clippers are made of

Agent great point. CP3 returning has huge benefits.

1. Collison can help the bench out.

2. Cp3's huge boost in defense and rebounding over Collison.

3. Dudley will likely play better.

4. CP3 gives us an elite closer we have lacked, costing us games against teams like Miami.

Masta this most assuredly is Blake's team. Everybody knows he's more vital to our success than CP3 and even CP3 has said it multiple times. 6'0 PG's don't carry teams, but he will surely be the closer. Blake is the face of the franchise and always will be. Glad the front office, fans and coaches agree with me.

This is Chris and Blake's team. Simple. We're forming our own version of Stockton and Malone here. Chris is far too smart and talented to screw up the chemistry of this team when he comes back. He is the best pg on earth and should always have the ball in his hands- that's the whole idea. Blake has been very impressive lately, but please, don't act like he should suddenly be crowned point-forward while CP3 plays off ball. Chris will hit Blake in his spots. He always does. He's an all-time great point guard.

We took a vote on this and with hundreds of votes Blake won 90 percent in a landslide. He's the face of the franchise and more vital now and in the future to our success. CP3 would be traded well before Blake.

We have two dynamic superstars - no excuses. Supporting cast has to play their hearts out.

That Is nice and all and I agree but what is the point of this post? These Cp3 vs BG posts are annoying and just seem to stir up controversy when there is none.

They are both our superstars and play on the same team. Its annoying that I constantly have to see post like this as if they were on different teams.

Not worried at all,they will get even better.

The point of it is that many misinformed people think all this team is... is the CP3 show. Hell most of the newer posters here actually said or implied it before this recent stretch. Time to eat some crow.

It would have been nice to beat one team ahead of us on the standings without Chris, but on the whole the team played well.

Before the season I predicted that Blake would need an MVP type season to push the Clippers deep into the playoffs. I'm glad Blake has gone off on a tear. Hope he keeps it up.

In my opinion, If the Clippers were to be a first or second round exit this year, I'd be open to trading CP3. I know this is just a small sample size of games w/o Paul, but if CP3 is stunting Blake's growth then maybe Chris should go. Plus, the return for a CP3 might be enough to cover a lot of gaping holes.

Don't get me wrong, CP3 is great and it's great that he's on our team but he's peaked while Blake's upside is through the roof.

We increased our win percentage and closed the gap on 1-3 seeds. When CP3 went down the team was nowhere close to the 2-3 seed. Like literally 7-8 games back if I recall. Beating good teams is great for confidence and not much else at the end of the day. The team competed with the elite and beat most of the teams they should.

That's what I think too. CP3 needs to make feeding Blake and creating plays for Blake the #1 option. Also needs to get DJ more involved. Our team won't go deep relying on our outside shooting its way too sporadic. Lower the amount of outside shots and pound it in through Blake and DJ. That will by default open up the perimeter. I like how the team looks with Blake as our premier offensive weapon.

I agree Clipset. I'd move CP3 for a package to fill all of our holes if he doesn't mesh right and we have another early playoff exit. A trade like the Nuggets pulled off when moving Melo.

Unless your getting Lebron or Durant no one else makes sense.

The amount of ignorance and overreactions on this thread are ridiculous. I am out.

You don't trade Blake and you don't trade Chris mf'ing Paul. It's like people forgot how GREAT Chris Paul is or something.

Cp3 for Westbrook, Thabo, and Steven Adams?

Cp3 for Damian Lillard and Batum

Has nothing to do with Chris. If our stars don't mesh and carry us frther, one may need to go and it won't be Blake. I doubt that willl happen though. I presume CP3 is smart enough to know this is Blake's team right now ad he needs to adjust more.

No way will he make the team worse!!

CP3 is smart and I am sure he took mental notes on what Blake did to play at the level he is playing at now. cp3 will help Blake get easier baskets.

But like some other people said hopefully he doesn't ball hog as much and lets Blake do his thing

Are you trying to make the Clippers better or the Thunder better?

Good way to make the Thunder a Finals lock for the next four seasons.

If you think CP3 makes "Blake worse" I can't wait to see what you would think if WB hogged 18+ shots per game on sub-par efficiency. Durant's numbers after WB went down have improved more than Blake's numbers after CP3 went down.

This is not CP3 or Blake team, This is Sterling's team, not even Doc. Why people said Miami is LBJ's team after DWade. can they not work together?

There are a million trade scenarios we could do with Chris, but only 2 of them would potentially be a positive trade. LBJ & KD and that's not gonna happen.

I'm sure Kareem could've won multiple championships without Magic in L.A. but that doesn't mean they should've traded Magic.

We could easily trade CP for players that fill our CURRENT holes on our team, but then we'd just be creating an even bigger hole, we'd be without an All-World PG. That's a pretty damn big hole.

Love these 2 quotes.

Common sense is alive and well on CTB... albeit in small doses relative to the amount of nonsense.

I can't believe I just read "trade CP3" from multiple people. A lot of Clipper fans have become spoiled and unappreciative... 5 Years ago real clipper fans would have begged for CP3, now you want to trade him? lol People obviously don't know that this is a league of superstars and superstars win Championships. 1 Superstar in Blake Griffin isn't gonna win it as we saw when we played against the heat. He scored 43 points and we still lose. If we had CP3 we would've won... You can't blame CP3 for Blake not performing the same before the injury, that is blakes fault. Only blake can become more aggressive, Only blake can become a better shooter, only blake can become a better rebounder, only blake can make his free throws. How dare anyone blame CP3 for blakes play and hindering him. CP3 has been Blakes biggest supporter since day one and wants to win. And to the guy who said CP is a ball hog..... You know nothing about POINT GUARDS lol

Cp3 has never been lock to go to the final. Just throwing names out there

He won't make the clippers worse. But I think what some are saying that CP3 needs to readjust his game to fit BG like moving without the ball.

For the past 2 1/2 years Blake has been the brunt of the criticism. CP3 has gotten away while. Blake the most consistent clippers was ridiculed,and criticized. Is it really that unfair to question CP3 if things don't work out. Let me repeat if things don't work out?

Also in the 2 1/2 years it's Blake who's doing all the adjusting in his game. Again is it really unfair to ask CP to adjust his game. After all BG has the higher upside ATM

I'm not a huge fan of the "this or that guys" team kind of stuff. Who cares who's team it is, they are both top players at their positions. It is both their teams in terms of who is most important to getting this team to a high level, we need both. It's about them playing together and complementing each other. Like I said before, you have to look at touches primarily: http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingTouches.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&sortField=TCH&sortOrder=DES The top 25 players in the league in touches / possession are all guards except for two people. Blake Griffin and Kevin Love. PG's will have a lot of touches....

No, it shouldn't. Chris always said he loved playing off ball when Billups was here. Now he gets to do the same as he begins to trust Blake and his improved playmaking ability.

If the Clips can find a way to share possessions between these two dynamic players, our offense will be very very hard to stop.

No your just thinking of awful trades that don't make us better. Last time I checked CP3 never had a Durant caliber player on his team not to mention our 2nd best performer in the playoffs last season was Matt Barnes.

Try again.

We have been watching this team on TV or in the stands. CP3 has been with the team watching in practice and from the bench. I'm sure Chris knows what is up. With Chris, we will beat the best teams. At least we would have beaten Denver and Miami with a healthy Chris Paul.

Stupid whoever says we do not need cp3.. cp3 is a superstar... Without him we will lose. Blake is a beast... not a superstar.. Paul is a beast and a superstar.. Blake needs to play good defense first..

It's like this every year,many people play fantasy basketball and want to just move pieces because it is so easy when it isn't real.

We have THE BEST pg in the league and a top 5,okay top 3,PF in the game on our team yet many are so afraid it won't work. That is why they both got mega-contracts,so they could be traded away for a package of somebody elses.

Lame.

Hey i'm a new user on this blog. Holla from Paris.

Big ClipperFan, but i'm fed up with all those useless post. That's why i wanted to wright something about it.

Blake Griffin is becoming a real beast since mid-december. (Game againts The Spurs). And yeah, since Paul is out, we still up in the standing, and near the 3rd spot. But take a look at our shedule. We essentially beat out some scrubs team. The only " good " team we won againts was Dallas.

Spurs, Indy, Miami, Denver, GS = > 5 losses.

So yeah, we had a good strech, and our role players like Redick, Jamal, Collison, Jordan are playin better. That's good for our futur, but we need Chris Paul back to close thoses tough games. Dude is a killer, a bulldog on the court. A good defender. He has the best IQ in the NBA. He is smart, and knows what to do to win.

The past 2 years Blake was nowhere to be found, and Paul hepled us stay alive in this league. So how could u make some real bad statement like those about him.

Without Chris Paul, we can't go deep in the PO. Blake is playing great since 2 months, Paul, for 3 years now with ClippsNation, (and is having a stella year), and u are telling that u would be open to trade one of the hardest player to ever play the game in Clippers History ?

Well, that's nonsens sir.

With him on the court, and Blake at a AllStar Level, we can only go deep. It's up to the roles players to get ready.

See u in June.

Hope my english not bad. I'm out

This is what i am talking about. It was ALL Blake fault last year in the playoff? A certain 8 point game had nothing to do with it. Matt Barnes had 1'good game. He wasn't the 2nd best performer.

Just throwing out names in trade since u mentioned unless we're getting Lebron or Durant. How,about the splash brothers?