[外電] 30 teams in 30 days - Clippers
30 teams in 30 days - Clippers
Tim Chisholm
9/22/2006 7:28:51 PM
TSN.ca basketball columnist Tim Chisholm is looking at one NBA team each day
for the month of September.
Season Preview
LA Clippers
For the last month, I've been writing a lot about players who just seem to be
missing that ability to elevate their teams to victory. Among the few players
who seem to have that trait, however, is Clipper guard Sam Cassell.
Love him or hate him, winning follows Cassell like a disease. At nearly every
stop he's made, Cassell has been a key contributor to a winning team. In
Houston, he won two titles, in Milwuakee his Bucks were always among the best
teams in the East. In Minnesota he led the Timberwolves to their first ever
playoff series win, and had he not gotten injured, he probably would've
marched them into the Finals.
Related Info
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But last year he cemented his reputation as a winner. No player has come
through the doors of Clipperdom and turned around their fortunes like Cassell
did last year. It wasn't about whether or not this team had talent, because
they always seem to have talent, yet even with a player like Elton Brand, who
is clearly their best player, they couldn't turn this franchise into a playoff
contender. Enter Cassell, and all of a sudden all those close losses are
coming out as Clipper wins. All of a sudden the playoffs aren't the question,
but how deep they can go. Cassell may not have won them each and every game,
but his presence on this team did give them that nudge each and every night.
The simple fact is it isn't that often that a guy comes along who knows how
to win basketball games like Cassell. He's the kind of player who knows how
to read a game, he knows when he's needed to score, he knows when he's needed
as a playmaker, he's knows when he has to pick his teammate up or tear him
down. He just knows.
Sure he's brazenly cocky with ego to spare, but if he doesn't deserve to be,
who does? Sure, he's not the most talented guy in the league, far from it.
But he knows his game, he knows what he can and can't do and he doesn't try
and convince himself otherwise. Re-signing him may be the most important move
this team has made since moving to LA outside of re-signing Elton Brand.
The bottom line is there is a lot to like about this team. They won last
year, and they won well. Brand finally cemented his place among not only the
best forwards in the league, but among the best players, period. He slimmed
down his playing weight and beefed up his presence and he had a true career
year, where he had his best statistical output in the same year as he won.
That shouldn't be overlooked since it's easy to pump up your numbers when
your team is tanking because it doesn't matter how selfish you are with the
ball, you can feel free to run up your stats till the cows come home. But
it's another thing altogether to elevate your game individually while at
the same time elevating your team as well. For all that Cassell pushed this
team over the edge, it was Brand that got them to that edge and kept them
there. He's just now entering the prime of his career and looks ready to
challenge the big boys like Duncan and Garnett for supremacy at their
position.
The only question mark for this team right now seems to revolve around the
future of forward Corey Maggette. He is the team's second best scorer who
was relegated to the bench last year after his inability to play defense
wore out the patience of head coach Mike Dunleavy, who opted to go with
Quentin Ross for the bulk of the season. Maggette made no bones about his
dissatisfaction with this move early on, but seemed to quiet down as the
winning continued. However, Maggette is still seen by most teams as readily
available if the price is right and could be used to nab some help to
bolster their good, but not amazing, bench.
All in all, the Clippers have a lot to look forward to, especially since
they have got Cassell locked up for two more years as they groom Shaun
Livingston for the starters' spot. While the two have little in common in
terms of their style of play, Livingston has one of the smartest players of
his generation at his disposal as a mentor, which might be the best thing
for young Livingston going forward. The rest of the team is young and primed
for a long run together.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP
PG - Sam Cassell
He may be getting up there in years, but his game is still effective and his
pull-up jumper is still the best in the business. There are so many point
guards in the league who, intentionally or otherwise, try to emulate his mix
of offense and playmaking, and it's a testament to Cassell how few get that
mix right. He could probably average far more points than he does if he chose
to dominate the ball like the Stephon Marbury's and Mike James' of he world,
but instead he has an innate ability to know when to use his offensive game
and when not to for the sake of the team. You don't have to like him, but you
probably should respect him.
SG - Cuttino Mobley
After being traded to the Magic in the Tracy McGrady deal alongside Steve
Francis, it looked like Mobley's career had been seriously derailed. He was
playing ten fewer minutes per game, and his role on the team bordered on
irrelevant, despite maintaining his career scoring averages. A mid-season
trade to Sacramento at least got him back onto a playoff-caliber team, but
he still seemed to lack the presence he had in Houston.
Last year in LA, though, he seemed to find a happy medium between the life
he had and the life he was coming to know. He's not as integral to the
Clippers' fortunes as he was to the Rockets, as his lowest per-game scoring
average since his rookie year bears out, but he's also not as irrelevant as
he was playing for a lottery-bound Magic team, either. Instead, Mobley is a
contributor on a team with serious expectations going into the season, and
he should be glad he's been given that chance, because the way his career
was going he was lining up to be the next Steve Smtih/Derek Anderson-type of
one-time contributor who takes on the veterans minimum just to stay afloat.
He still young but he doesn't really have a unique game that commands
respect. He shoots a poor percentage and he rarely contributes in any other
area of the game, but in LA he's found a team that can use him and that
should make him pretty happy now that he knows what his alternatives are.
SF - Tim Thomas
One of the larger factors to Thomas bolting from Phoenix to LA this summer
was (aside from more money) presumably a guaranteed starting role. While
this team neglected to play Corey Maggette as a starter because of his lack
of defense, I can only imagine what they expect to get out of Thomas. He's
in a special situation this year since he had been all but written off as a
player until the Suns revived his career, and it's now up to Thomas to prove
that he can be a consistent weapon for this Clipper team, a trait he has yet
to demonstrate in his nine years in the league. He can be deadly when he
wants to be, it's just up to coach Dunleavy to make him want to be on a
consistent basis.
PF - Elton Brand
He finally broke through last year and proved Jerry Krause wrong in his
assertion that he would never be the kind of player who could lead a team
to success. While I have said it was Cassell who put them over the top,
Brand was the guy who put them in that position. He elevated his game to an
elite level, and the fun part now is to watch him dominate as he enters his
prime. While all the Bulls have to show for drafting Elton Brand is P.J.
Brown (after they traded Tyson Chandler to New Orleans), the Clippers now
have legit title hopes for putting their faith into the 6'8" forward that
could.
C - Chris Kaman
One of the league's quirkiest cult figures, Kaman came on strong last year
as a legit force at the centre position, going nearly 12 and 10 on the year
and providing a nice compliment to Brand in the post. Kaman is one of the
forgotten men from the spectacular 2003 Draft since there was little-to-no
fanfare about his selection and the fact that until this year few outside
of LA really paid much attention to his game. Last year, he had his coming
out party along with the Clippers franchise, and now it's time to see what
he's going to do now that the whole league is watching. You'd think the
Clips would want to lock this guy up to an extension before other teams get
a chance to try and pry him away with the promise of millions. It's not to
say he'd leave, but why take the chance at losing an ambidextrous 7'0"
centre?
http://tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=178407&hubname=nba
--
你們認為海南高高在上，位於雲端嗎？他們真的就這麼高不可攀嗎？
他們的成績的確是有目共睹的。以他們過去的戰績來看，我們和海南的確有天壤之別。
但是----
我在睡前，都會想像著有一天......
我每晚都在腦裡描繪我們和海南大學附屬高中參加IH的戰況。
從那一年前起，每晚都如此！
--
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