The Clippers had a weird regular season with some injuries, some load management, a lack of chemistry that got them some terrible losses against some not so good teams (spanked at home against Memphis and Sacramento for example). Still, they managed to have a nice stretch in early March where they won 7 of their last 8 pre-bubble games while having their best rotation finally fully available.
Then COVID came and in the bubble, they showed poor chemistry once again as Lou Williams, Harrell and Beverley all missed games. They were just too good for Dallas in the first round of the playoffs but then they had a meltdown against Denver in the second round as they were up 3-1 in the series just to lose it in seven games.
The most incredible fact of these three losses was that the LA team led at halftime in every game, including 12 and 16 points leads in Games 5 and 6, just to collapse incredibly in the second half. Paul George was awful and the Clippers just couldn’t stop Jokic from dominating them in the half court.
It would be hard not to have any serious consequence from this collapse and so, Doc Rivers got fired. Ty Lue was promoted to head coach and as he witnessed the meltdown inside the team, he should know how to deal with the players.
There were some reports during the offseason that cited lack of chemistry and even resentment from the players from how Kawhi Leonard was treated in the organization. Once again, team chemistry will be the Clippers’ biggest challenge this season.
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are back to lead the team and unlike last season, they look healthy and fresh to start the season at their best. George was recovering from preseason surgery on both shoulders while Leonard was still exhausted from his effort to lead the Raptors to the NBA title in the previous season.
In this offseason, the Clippers basically exchanged Luke Kennard for Landry Shamet and while Kennard is another decent playmaker for the roster, Shamet was a better pure shooter.
The backcourt and forward positions look basically the same as last season, while there were some changes in the frontcourt. Reigning 6th man of the year Montrez Harrell signed with the Lakers, so the Clippers got Serge Ibaka to replace him. The trade is quite obvious as Harrell is a better offensive player but Ibaka is a much better defensive player. While that could hurt the Clippers during the regular season, the LA team could also become a stronger team in the playoffs where defense is more important.
While they ended up never meeting in the playoffs last season, the Clippers with Harrell would have problems to stop Anthony Davis, something that Ibaka is more suited to attempt.
After a humiliating loss to Denver in the playoffs last season, the Clippers should come back this season with plenty of motivation. If they don’t, then the team chemistry issues are indeed too big and tough to overcome. This would possibly mean that the Leonard & George duo won’t work well in the long haul for the Clippers.