How Does the Clippers Team Fix The 2014-15 Season?

I didn't read the Atlanta thread at all because I was so pissed. I once said that the difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that the pessimist is better informed. Maybe it's time to say that the emperor has no clothes. This team is mediocre at best.

With the exception of GSW we've never beaten a good team and Bogut was out. The teams we have beaten are sub 0.500. We almost lost to PHX at home. Denver is good at home but they are sub 0.500. We have been at full strength and most other teams have had a franchise player out. Rose, Durant, Bogut, DeRosen, Aldrich. We soon will have a steady diet of GSW. OKC, SAS etc. I don't think we can beat them.

We are one injury away from not making the POs. I think we can work around BG and JJ but if CP, Jamal or probably Matt get hurt we're screwed. Reggie can start but that means CDR or Hedo. If Hawes gets hurt maybe Udoh. We don't have Bledsoe or Collison to pick up the slack. If CP is out forget the POs.

I have to work on the day of the Lakers game. Normally I can get somebody to cover me. This time I can't so a Clipper fan gets it but I'm not sure we can beat the Lakers and I really don't want to be there if we lose.

With the exception of Farmar, on paper we are as good as last year. We are however a pure jump shooting team and the games go like this. --JJ shoots threes off multiple screens and we're up 8 then we fall apart. When our shots don't fall we're screwed. Bledsoe and Collison could crash the boards. I know we couldn't have kept him but I'd love to see Eric start at SG instead of JJ.

Farmar has to go. BG has to stop the fancy schmancy dribbling. He get stripped a lot. CP has to get aggressive early. Three points in the first half doesn't cut it. Hawes is a stretch 4 or 5. He's too clumsy to have post moves. He and DJ were supposed to be our twin towers not Faulty Towers. Reggie needs more touches. Can he post up? CP is our best back to the basket guy.

Get rid of Farmar. It's been my contention all along that SF wasn't the problem. It is a bench PG and a player who can crash the boards. Maybe we should start Reggie and have Matt come off the bench. Hawes, Baby or Hedo, Matt and Jamal ain't bad. Everybody talks about how the Spurs can tank the first half of the season then pick it up. Those guys have multiple rings.

No BS. I watched DJ in shoot around the last two games he's hit 10 out of 12 jumpers but unfortunately he's missed all of his back to the basket lay ups.

we need a post up game...

a center who has an offensive game..

who can get the other teams big guys in foul trouble..

one who can shoot free throws..

and a small forward who can defend first...but also score..

there are some centers out there.

we can trade either dj or crawford and get one..

denver is trying to trade their center..

new york let go of theirs..

we can trade for a small forward and a younger center..

I agree with you..

we cannot win with the current team..

last year we won the first round by default...golden states center was out and their back up center got hurt,

we do not need a better bench..

we need a great starting 5..

we have a great starting 3..

dj is leading the league in rebounding..

but we are getting out rebounded by our opponents..

hopefully doc will get it done..

I am not a pessimist...I am a realist..

I live in reality..

watch other teams play besides the clippers..

I know what is out there..

and who is better than us..

this team is not better than last year or the year before..

and the other teams have improved..

Lets hope for a miracle..

You want to trade one of the best defenders in the game (DJ) for a center with more offense, when we're already #3 in the league in offense? Dumb.

You really want Spencer "Dudley" Hawes as our starting center?

We've also beat Portland and Houston. That is 3 of the 5 teams ahead of us in the West and we haven't played Dallas yet.

Our biggest issues are Farmar and Griffin underperforming. Not much we can do about Griffin except hope he does better. I have a suspicion he's not fully healthy though. Farmar we can try to move for another PG or hope he plays better, there are likely several veteran PG available if we are interested. Hawes might be worth moving too, he's not completely useless, but I don't think he's really worth his contract either.

We're 23-12 despite playing like crap on a regular basis, there are worse situations to be in and it's better to peak in May than in January.

I think it was a joke... at least I hope it was.

Let's try having Blake put an end to his experiments playing both guard spots and get back to him playing power-forward.

It's a long-shot, but it just might work.

First, those who have questioned CP3 and Blake's heart need to wake up. Those guys are major stars who put as much passion and effort into their game as anyone and more than most.

The problem with this team is fairly simple. We were very good last year, but did nothing to improve our personnel in the off season and, as a result, have gone backwards because other good teams have improved.

The real problem is Doc as GM. He's great coach, but look at the trades he's made. We've gotten fleeced in every one. We give up Dudley and get Delfino and Rad-something. I believe we also gave up a first round pick in this one� We then dump Delfino and Rad-something and use the money to get who? Farmar and CDR?

Then there is the mother of all our bad trades, Bledsoe for JJ and Dudley. We didn't feel the loss of Bledsoe that first year because Collison was excellent, but we are sure feeling it now. I like JJ. He plays hard and shoots it really well, but he's got some holes in his game. He's short and a marginal defender because of it. He's a shooter, rather than a playmaker, which is what you really want from a shooting guard. Klay Thompson didn't become great until he added other elements to his game. Defend, create for himself, create for others. JJ does none of that well.

The bottom line is, this teams needs a full time GM to partner with Doc. Even the Patriots, as powerful as Belichick is, has a GM that he works with and he respects, who can evaluate talent and get them the pieces they need to maintain a high level.

We don't have that.

Are we a championship contender? Yes, but barely. I think we can win a playoff series against anyone, since in the playoffs you get more rest between games and can play your starters longer. Problem is, we can also lose a playoff series to anyone.

Bottom line, don't blame the players. They are exactly who they have always been. Blame the GM, who thought they were exactly what we needed and was wrong about that.

Great posts like always Sam. I've been saying we need a GM for the longest. I love Doc as a coach but his GM skills are very suspect. Things fall apart when we lost Olshey. There's no direction of where this team wanted to go. Gotta give VDN credit as a GM, he wanted to play ISO game so he got a bunch of ISO players who can get to their shots. Not the prettiest thing to watch, but at least he had a vision and went with it. I like Doc's vision but how he's going about it is very strange to say the least. He preached defense but picked up Wilcox and Bullock and gave up and traded Bledsoe in a heartbeat. He wants ball movement which is great but why pick a bunch of mediocres shooter. Ball movement only works if you surround yourself with shooters.

A little further evidence that Doc has been a disaster as a GM.

CP3, Blake and DJ are all great players who can be built around. It's an amazing place to start. You are guaranteed 45-50 wins with that threesome. So the GM's job is to find players who will bring another 10-15 wins.

Every other guy on this roster has been brought in by GM Doc, with the possible exception of Jamal. I don't remember if he predated Doc or not.

And look at it� We have too many guys on this team who aren't assets in any way. Farmar, CDR, Udoh, Baby, Wilcox, Bullock, Cunningham, Hedo. That Is more than half the roster with guys who don't help us win. Baby picks up a charge now an again, but he's worked himself out of the rotation. Really, how many wins has that group of eight players brought us? Clearly, they have brought us more losses than wins.

Then we have:

Hawes, a solid backup center.

Crawford, who is excellent when he plays within the offense. Otherwise a gunner who can light it up at times, but causes other players to stand around and watch him take tough shots.

Barnes, a tough hustle guy who has always been better suited to coming off the bench

JJ, a one-dimensional shooter.

Again, how many games do we win because of this group? Clearly, there are some, but think of it in terms of the rosters of other very good teams. It might be one of the weaker 4-7 players of any competing team. Our 8-16 roster spots are worse still.

I think that says what is wrong with this team. GM Doc. Problem is, Balmer has to recognize the problem first. Bring someone in, second. Then give that person time to work and fix the problem, all while CP3 is getting older.

Evidence of how hard it is to win a championship. Even when you get there, the window can close quickly.

The problem is Balmer will never realize it u til it's too late. He hire some GM a while back and I think his last GM position was back in 1998. This world of sport is very new to Balmer. By the time he realizes that that the front office is the issue, CP would have declined greatly.

Agreed. In any event, I don't think the team can be fixed this season. We will have to resign ourselves to being a 6 - 12 level team capable of making some noise in the playoffs. As compared to the last 30 years, we should be thrilled with that.

How quickly we've gotten spoiled.

It also shows how hard it is to make it to championship calibre. Look at how many teams have been very good, for a long time without winning one. Utah back in the 90's. Indiana during the same period. Now, Memphis, OKC, Chicago and a few others have been excellent for five or more years, but failed to bring home the trophy. We've been good since the 11-12 season, peaking last year, apparently.

Two problems have caused these issues: 1. Blake and CP3 not playing hard and 2. The bench is horrible.

1. Yes Blake had 26 points yesterday, but he looks so timid. He doesn't bully himself to the rim like he did last year. On the pick and roll he rarely rolls and settles for the LONG jumper. He plays with 0 passion and 0 energy

Same for CP3. His defense has been horrible most of the season. He isn't aggressive enough. It looks like he has lost a step.

Clippers will be lucky to win a first round playoff series.

1. The bench is horrible. I have nothing else to say about the bench. All of them are horrible.

Bill Simmons tweeted that the clippers look like they don't like to play with each other and I think that is true because there is no trust between those guys which is why the team is so bad.

I agree with everything accept Bill Simmons. He hasn't said anything good about the Clips since Doc left his beloved Celtics. Doc and Bill are always trading jabs and it seems personal.

Did Doc bring in mediocre shooters, or did players just get transformed into mediocre shooters after they got here?

Doc's acquisitions: Redick, Dudley, Mullens, Jamison, Hawes, Davis, Udoh, CDR, Bullock, Wilcox, Hedo, Cuningham, Farmar

Inherited / re-signed players: Paul, Griffin, DJ, Crawford, Barnes

Dudley was an elite role player shooter before the Cłippers, sucks with the Cłippers, 43.8% FG, 36% 3PT, 65.5% FT and now he's shooting 49% FG, 43.7% 3PT and 77% FT and even grabbing 4.7 rebs/36. Seriously?

Hawes was a 41.6% 3PT shooter last season, 35.6% he season before and now he's shooting 31.8% 3PT, looks like Mullens out there

CDR had a career high 38% 3PT last season and now he can't buy a bucket

Redick of course has been elite. 70 games as a Cłipper, 15.2 PPG, 46.4% FG would be a season high for him, and 41.1% 3PT would be his second best mark. His 42.5% 3PT in 35 games this season would be a career high for a season.

So at least one guy worked out, lol

There is no solution to fixing this team, not without trading a major piece on this team(CP, Blake, and DeAndre). Trading Jamal IMO is not an option because we would become a much weaker team. I'm not a Jamal fan and have often criticized his style of play, but no one else on this team can score at will like he can. CP used to, but he no longer is able to. I don't know if he's lost a step, if he's hurt or is upset at someone, something isn't right. Blake has been timid but often is the only guy really doing anything on the court. But it's pretty clear to me that something is going in that locker room. I don't really care what Simmons thinks but when I saw the Aldrige report that the players don't like each other it concerned me because it did look to me that the team doesn't play like they have each other's backs.

I thought Fred Roggin said it best on 980 yesterday. The Lakers are horrendous but for the most part they seem to enjoy playing with each other. The Clippers, on the other hand, are supposed to be an elite team yet they don't play as a cohesive unit. He also said that the Laker fans are still loud and bring a great atmosphere even with an awful record. I'm not saying that our crowd hasn't been good, but it's pretty clear that don't have a home court advantage. Clipper fans need to into it early and often and be loud for the entire game, and let the opposing fans take over.

We'll see. Still a long way to go, but if this team doesn't get it together fast, I could major changes to the roster coming.

LMAO on Dudley as elite hahahaha. He can only do hat on .500 team you lost me there

I don't agree with this at all. Fans part with their hard-earned money to be entertained... players are paid 7-figures plus to perform to certain standards that their salaries dictate.

Most analysts predicted us being at least as good as we were last year and so far, the team has enjoyed good health by NBA standards.

The season has a long way to go, and things can change fast, but it's not fair to blame the fans for these piss-poor performances. Besides... we're barely over .500 on the road. Can't blame L.A. Clippers fans for that.

...and the lakers are sh*t. Loud sh*t, maybe... but still sh*t.

He's been further in the playoffs than either Griffin or Paul. He played poorly for us last year, but someone in the organization needs to figure out how much of that was him and how much it is something we were doing as an organization. CDR and Farmar were a lot better last year as well, so we might have some systemic issue that makes it difficult for supporting players to do their best or it might that our health and training team is terrible. If a bunch of guys do better for other teams than for us, then it might be more about us than them.

Dudley was a bench guy who only takes wide open shot for Phoenix. Farmar was a product of the triangle. It's easy to inflate shot efficiency line Dudley when you ONLY take wide open shots and the other team don't game an for you. Once he was put on the spotlight as a starter he choke and showed all his weaknesses

Farmar's best seasons were with the Nets, who did not play triangle. Dudley attempted more two pointers and more shots per minute in general for Suns than he did for us, his years starting for Suns were much better than what we got out of him. CDR was playing crunch time minutes in playoff games the Bobcats last year. If anything we've asked them to do less than usual, not more.

It's easier to simply say all these guys suck, but it's becoming a regular enough occurrence that there might be some other underlying causes coming from our organization.

The point I was trying to make is that the Lakers have a much stronger fan base, even when they are losing. They still have a large presence of fans on the road. We have been taking over by Bulls fans, Warriors fans and even Raptors fans. It's one of the things that will always make the Clippers the 2nd team.

And you're right, the is living up to standards, if you think losing in the 1st or 2nd round is the goal. If you think the goal is to win a championship, then you'll these results aren't acceptable. If you can't beat teams that are as good or better, then you aren't a contender. Period, end of story.

He said Dudley was an elite role player shooter, not an elite player. That was the thought and by the looks may be the case seeing this year play out, the injury last year could have been the factor.

I don't get it. That's why he's an elite role player shooter. Role players jobs are to only take wide open shots and shots that they can make and to not try to do things outside of their abilities. Hence the qualification of elite with "role player" shooter, not elite shooter in general which is what J.J. Redick would be and certainly not elite player. If he was going to be taking contested shots and teams were game planning for him on offense, then he's no longer a role player.

Dudley started 110/144 games the two seasons before becoming a Clipper while playing 29.1 mpg, he played 82 regular season games for a 54 win team that was the 3rd seed that year and played 16 playoff games for that team with 23.6 mp as they went to the WCF. If his weaknesses weren't already realized from 6 seasons of 24 mpg and 147 NBA starts, then the front office wasn't doing their homework.

After farmar played with the nets he went to Israel that should tell you where his skills are. Teams get up and play against the clippers. You gotta move the ball quick, penetrate, and take the **** given to you. In dudleys case he didn't want to take open shot if it has a chance of being a brick. Like I said Dudley as a starter teams actually game planned for him and ran him off his set shot. After he's out of position he can't dribble, penetrate, and too slow to move the ball. So yea Dudley is good if he comes off the bench and surprise the opposing team but he can't and hadn't competed as a starter in elite level

Or and another thing. When Dudley was on the Suns do team game plan for him or did they game planned for Nash and Amare. Dudley assumed his largest role ever as a clipper and failed miserably.

Teams game planned Dudley rather than Paul or Griffin who are better than Amare and Nash? Who are they game planning for the Bucks this year? Giannis and Knight, who are apparently much scarier than Paul and Griffin as well?

Dudley did not have his largest role ever last year, he had a career low in usage and his lowest assist rate of the last four years. He played more minutes and took more shoots per minute each of the previous four seasons in Phoenix. His biggest role was with 11/12 Suns.

Dudley's role on the Clippers was arguably even less than his role on the Suns with Nash and Amare, and even less than his role on the Suns the season before he became a Clipper and no different than his current role on Milwaukee. You think teams were game planning for Dudley instead of CP and Blake, or even Redick or Jamal? Are we suggesting that all of Dudley's career he had never seen quick close-outs and tough defense until he became a Clipper or that teams were surprised by a players abilities after he had played 223 regular season games because he's coming off the bench? Is no one scouting? The guy played 16 playoff games vs Portland, SA and LA Lakers and shot 47/42. 50/42 vs SA and 50/50 in the 6 game WCF vs the Lakers and now he's terrified by regular season defense and close-outs and the pressure of the regular season? If anything we could say playing in front of family or something like that, but on court pressure and role were not even relevant for him.

He had the same role he's had his whole career, come in, knock down open shots, put out effort, and he couldn't do the exact same thing, but now on Milwaukee, somehow he remembered how to do those things again. Dudley shot more mid-range with Phoenix also because they ran a few more pin downs for him, and he was actually quite good at the one dribble pull up mid-range jumper. Even last year he shot like 50% on long mid-range jump-shots.

All that means is that he wanted a large pile money during the lockout. He was getting 2.7 million Euros a year, after taxes in Europe, roughly equivalent to an $7 million NBA contract.

I have noticed this first hand this year. UP until CP3 came onboard with BG32 it almost always felt like an away game anyway because we would be sharing the arena almost 50-50 with fans from whomever we played against. Sort of sucked not having a nice home crowd (and home cooking refs) and forget Laker games,we were the visitors. Then last season and the one before is was different. Clipper Nation owned the building and out numbered everyone all the time. Loud and proud.

Not so much anymore. With a way better team the fans are starting to sell out to opposing fans and it is beginning to feel like we lost our home court again. I think much of that is due to brokers now owning a goodly chunk of the seating there. I know there are no STH in my row or the row behind me,all broker's seats. Hard to get that home court edge. Two games ago I watched Balmer on his feet and clapping his hand when the video board told us too, but no one around him did. He started to get the dead arses where he sits off of their arses and to cheer.

Fix the team by bringing Clipper NAtion back (and getting us a real backup point guard).

i would say a trade that shakes things up, Jamal and possibly JJ together. I would say if we can get Afflalo and W. Chandler for them 2 and a rookie deal maybe get Nate for Farmar to replace the Jamal effect. They would add toughness and defense while not losing so much offensively.

Dudley is averaging 7 points a game in Milwaukee. He didn't rember anything

Dan Woike: Clippers expected to waive G Jared Cunningham, per source. Twitter @DanWoikeSports

If any teams were "game-planning" for Jared Dudley in 2013/14, they most certainly stopped doing so a month into the season.

"Goals" and "expectations" are very different things. I would imagine that every team's "goal" is to win the championship, but that is clearly not realistic for many teams each year, which is where expectations come in... The Clippers were almost universally expected to be better than they were last year at the very least. Champions? ...depends on who you asked - but they were most definitely expected to be championship contenders. The lakers were not... despite Kupcake's assertion that a championship was "the goal" at the outset of this season. The fact of the matter is that at this point, the lakers have had a more successful season than we have... at least relative to the expectations of professional commentators and prognosticators. Their fans have every right to be happy right now. If you're projected to finish with the 28th best record and you actually finish with the 23rd best record, that's a good season relative to expectations. But the Clippers had the third best record last year... and with another year in the same system, better team health so far, continued growth from our young front court, a supposedly reliable third big and Donald Sterling in the rear-view, we were supposed to improve, not take a step backwards. Disappointment from Clippers fans is perfectly understandable. Add to that the fact that we PAY these guys handsomely to play a game, and that there is apparently no sense of urgency, accountability or even flat out embarrassment being shown by players or FO/coaching staff for getting regularly schooled in that game by teams with less talent, and I can appreciate why yelling one's throat hoarse for a team whose hearts barely seem to be in the game would feel futile. I'm not going to pout if we don't win the title... I understand that it's incredibly....

At least we can agree on that. I'm certainly disappointed in I've seen so far. We have almost the same team from last year and yet they've gotten worse. I don't know if Doc is to blame or the players, but it's very discouraging to see. At the very worst I thought the Clippers would be able to make it to the WCF. Now this team is in danger of not even making the playoffs. I think eventually they will but the West is very deep and there will be at least 2 solid teams on the outside looking in and if they're not careful the Clips will be one of those 2 teams.

I guess Doc hates guys named Jared. I assume that includes Jared from Subway too!

Addendum... I have beewn very positive thus far. BUT, if we lose to the Lakers, then we are in trouble. This is what I call a "reverse statement" game. If we lose, you might as well pack the season in.

Addendum two: WTF is Doc waiving Jared Cunningham? At least get SOMETHING for him! Am I crazy, or is Doc losing it as GM?

clippers 2012-2013 roster was better than the current roster..

look at the rebounding comparison..

odom..5.9...rebounds per game.....nobody has taken his place????..jj...1.7...

blake was getting 8.3 per game..7.7 worse

paul..3.7...4.7...better

matt...4.6...3.1...worse

dj..7.2..13.7...better..

bledsoe..3.. farmer...1.2

caron butler..2.9

12.3 offensive rebounds..currently..8.7

47.7 total rebounds....currently 41.1

rebounds...@*%$#*@

I expect better from you than this type of shoddy analysis and to say things like this. Don't be one of this "ahfah PPG hfahd" type people with no relevance to minutes, efficiency, non-scoring production, role or anything else. Dudley isn't a "scorer", why would his PPG in 22 mins be the most relevant aspect of his production. Yea, 7 ppg in 21.9 mpg, compared to 6.9 ppg last season in 23.4 mpg, shooting 5% higher FG%, 8% higher 3PT%, 11% higher FT%, TS% is up 6%, up 0.7 RPG, Ortg from 107 to 121. If you like any of those stats, PER is up from 8.9 to 14.0. I'm not really sure what caliber of playing you think Dudley is if 7/3/2 in 22 mpg is bad for him. His career average is 9/3/2 in 24 mpg.

Barnes for example is averaging 8/3/1 in 27 mpg this season.

Don't want to guarantee his contract because the team wants to have roster positions and enough room available under the hard cap to be able to pick up any possible later season waiver acquisitions that might be able to help.

This is the main problem I have from you. Sure he has great number statistically but does he really help the team if he only shoot 3-5 shots and all of them are wide open while in the process can't do anything else? If his number is so great how come he's not playing 29-32 minutes producing at least double digit numbers. We've seen first hand for an entire season what efficient number from dudley is. It means he gets burned on defense, can't penetrate, and only shoots open shots. At the end of the day he's a 7 point scorer on limited minutes and that's all he'll ever be on limited minutes and shouldn't start on a contender.

Why would you have this problem with me when I don't believe that? Firstly, Dudley wasn't great statistically for the Clippers, which was part of the whole issue, and Dudley didn't do the non scoring things that he had previously done with Phoenix (hustle, rebound, get to spots on defense, steals) and is currently doing with Milwaukee which was what exacerbated the problem. How many shots he takes doesn't matter. Dudley better not have taken more shots with his efficiency last season when you have the guys the Clippers have. What you want from a guy like him is spacing and efficient shooting (he wasn't efficient last season). His career average of 10 FGA/36 is right in line with his caliber of player. It is the same as a Kyle Korver who takes 10.8 FGA/36 for his career, higher than Shane Battier who took about 8 FGA/36, etc. Now Korver is a different caliber of shooter, but you need to understand that these type of players don't take contested or difficult shots and aren't expected to. They shoot open shots, that's their role. If they aren't open they pass and they let the better players/shot creators take the hard shots, that's why they are complimentary pieces. Their role is to make the open shots at a very high level which helps to compliment the team offensive production and make it more efficient while allowing the superior players to do their thing. He had the worst season of his career last season. Ideally he was supposed to be a good hustle player and average defender due to fundamental defense and positioning despite being slow footed, and he was supposed to be a decent rebounder. So he wasn't capable of doing the things he was supposed to do and had previously done, and actually he....

It's funny how the team acts like they don't care what seed they are, but statistics prove we are seriously f'd if we don't have home court. Even though for about half the playoff teams we have to worry about them "taking" over Staples.