The summer of 2017 represented the end of an era for the Clippers, who sent nine-time All-Star Chris Paul to Houston in a blockbuster trade that helped replenish their depth, but cost them a superstar. While the Clips did well to extract several pieces of value for Paul, who could have joined the Rockets as a free agent, the club will face a challenge as it enters the coming season without its longtime starting point guard.
With Paul, J.J. Redick, and Raymond Felton all gone, the Clippers’ new-look backcourt will be fortified by Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams – two players acquired in the CP3 trade – and international import Milos Teodosic, who will get his first taste of NBA action after years of starring in Euroleague play.
Meanwhile, the frontcourt no longer features Luc Mbah a Moute, Marreese Speights, Paul Pierce, or Brandon Bass, but Danilo Gallinari was a big acquisition for the Clippers, Willie Reed should provide solid minutes off the bench, and the trade with the Rockets also provided a couple interesting young forwards in Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell. Of course, Blake Griffin – locked up to a new long-term contract – and DeAndre Jordan are still the mainstays up front.
The Clippers look deeper and more balanced than they have in recent years, but losing Paul will hurt. The club has played a certain style with CP3 leading the way for years, so it will be interesting to see what adjustments Doc Rivers makes with his new group. It also remains to be seen how Gallinari will acclimate to his new team — he looks like a natural stretch four, but he’ll likely end up spending more time at the three if he plays frequently alongside Griffin and Jordan.
The Clippers have won between 51 and 57 games in each of the last five seasons, but oddsmakers aren’t as enthusiastic about the new-look roster, with offshore betting site Bovada putting the team’s over/under for 2017/18 at 43.5 wins.
What do you think? Will the post-Paul era result in some struggles for the Clippers in a tough Western Conference? Or does the team still have enough talent to win 44 or more games this year? Vote below in our poll and then jump into the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!
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Previous over/under voting results:
- Golden State Warriors: Over 67.5 (53.57%)
- Boston Celtics: Over 55.5 (63.5%)
- Houston Rockets: Over 55.5 (65.57%)
- San Antonio Spurs: Over 54.5 (67.74%)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Over 53.5 (68.82%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Over 50.5 (71.77%)
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Over 48.5 (55.69%)
- Toronto Raptors: Over 48.5 (64.21%)
- Washington Wizards: Over 47.5 (71.29%)
- Milwaukee Bucks: Over 47.5 (63.88%)
- Denver Nuggets: Under 45.5 (50.44%)
losing record in my opinion. Blake and Gallo will miss at least 30 apiece
I don’t see how it’s going to be anything other than a clogged lane with those three front court players. And anyone who claims Blake can handle the ball or play point forward clearly hasn’t watched enough of him careering into defenders – he looks like an offensive foul waiting to happen every time he handles the ball.
quite the opposite. Anybody who has watched 5 minutes of blake with no chris paul knows he is a great playmaker and is unstoppable in full court. You have it way wrong
i am personally a big fan of what the clips have done this post season. they lost cp3 of course, but they got some very good pieces in the trade. if healthy i could see 47-50 wins.
Over. I actually am going to hold the unpopular opinion that Clippers got BETTER after moving CP3. Netting Gallinari and Tedosic was huge and they got back some pretty solid pieces in the CP3 deal. If Blake and Danilo stay healthy, they can make some noise again.
You don’t get better from losing a top 3 point guard. They’ll still be solid but thinking they’ll be better is dumb.
More like 10-15th best pg who is never healthy
Not a clippers fan but name the 10-15
That’s better cp3
Curry>Westbrook>cp3 and wall>everyone else
Looks about right!
Over. Griffin believing himself to be point-anything pulls him out of his mini-battles and into the team battle. Plus he seems to be pretty good at it; for a big man it’s really about having the fuel and he has that.
They lost, they gained. It’s hard to sort. Maybe they will quit screwing it up. The firmest prediction is that Milos is sending postcards from LA.