As the offseason continues to trudge along, publications are putting out rankings and predictions and prognostications of all sorts as we draw closer to the start of the training camp in late September. In all of them, the LA Clippers seem to be doing quite well.
Choosing not to be outdone by their competitors at ESPN, NBA.com has opted to put out their own power rankings ahead of the upcoming 2022-23 season and, as you would imagine, the Clippers came out looking pretty, pretty good.
John Schuhmann had the Clippers third in his Western Conference power rankings behind the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, adding (emphasis mine):
This might be the best team in the league. It’s certainly the deepest on the perimeter, with a ton of shooting surrounding multiple guys who can handle the ball and make plays.
With coach Tyronn Lue at the helm and a front office that prides itself on constantly looking at ways to tweak the roster in order to maximize the team’s title chances, you can see why they’re so highly thought of when it comes to these sorts of things.
The Clippers have received a ton of praise this offseason for how they’ve been able to build around their two superstars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. A large part of that has to do with the amount of worthwhile shooters on the roster, a fact that Schuhmann also points out (emphasis mine):
The Clippers saw the league’s second biggest drop in 3-percentage, but still ranked third at 37.4% and were still one of three teams with two players – Luke Kennard (44.9%, first) and Norman Powell (41.9%, eighth) – in the top 10 among qualified individuals. As rosters currently stand, they’re the only team with eight the 139 players who shot the league average or better on at least 100 3-point attempts last season.
The ability to space the floor around their two best players will almost certainly lead to a 12th consecutive winning season and a potential offensive juggernaut. Will that end up with the Clippers living up to the moniker of being perhaps the “best team in the league”? That remains to be seen.
But what we’ve seen enough of is how universally praised the Clippers have been this offseason. When the season kicks off in October, we’ll finally be able to see if the prognosticators were right.
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