When it comes to creating an All-Time starting 5 there is always bound to be snubs. Despite that notion there's always a large group of people who invalidate lists like these simply cause of one "robbery". With that being said, here is my first article in a series where I will give my All-Time starting 5 regarding every NBA team. Starting with of course, the Clippers.
At point guard to me there is only one option, and that would be none other than Chris Paul. Paul was an All-Star every season with LA. In addition to that he made an All-NBA team every season. Although Paul wasn't playing to the level of his New Orleans days, he was still a very good player that brought consistency to a franchise that was undoubtedly one of the worst in the NBA. He took the Clippers to the playoffs every year he spent with the franchise, a grand total of 6 times. Just to put it into perspective for how huge that is here's a crazy fact. Before Paul was in LA, the Clippers had made the playoffs just 7 times in the entire team's history. That's including the franchise's days in Buffalo and San Diego. He by no means carried the team and he for sure had help, but that doesn't take away from the impact he made on the franchise despite never making a conference finals.
At shooting guard gimme Paul George. These last couple years George has easily became my favorite Clippers of all time. He's made such a huge impact on the team and even in his faults has persevered to improve on those faults. He's been with the team 3 years going on 4 and has been great in all of them. Sadly due to injuries he has only made 1 All-Star team and 1 All-NBA team, both in the 2020-2021 season. Despite claiming to be the number 2 option to Kawhi Leonard, he has more often than not been the number 1 option and has stepped up more than Leonard. With Kawhi missing all of 2020-2021 with an ACL injury, George was the backbone of the Clippers leading them to a 47-25 record as well as the 4th seed. With Kawhi still injured, George was stellar in the playoffs leading the team to it's first and ONLY conference finals appearance in team history, where they took the Suns to 6 games before falling. I don't think George gets enough credit for his accomplishments with this team and he deserves more credit. Kawhi even before coming to LA was a huge load manager and he's continued to do so and lumped the team on Paul George. Who mind you STILL says he's the number 2 option. Hopefully he stays healthy and can continue to lead this team to this promise land.
At small forward gimme Corey Maggette. Maggette isn't a franchise changing player by any means, but what he provides on offense is super helpful to the franchise. He doesn't have any accolades and only made the playoffs once with the team. But he had 3 20+ PPG seasons and was consistently averaging over 15 points a game for the Clippers. Not much more to say about Maggette but I'll take him here at small forward
At power forward I'm taking Blake Griffin. Whilst I don't believe Griffin is a hall of famer, he is for sure a franchise icon for the Clippers. Lob city despite not amounting to much success was surprisingly the best era of the Clippers history, and Blake Griffin was a huge part of that and deserves props. He was drafted 1st overall by the Clippers in the 2009 but didn't play due to injury. He then exploded into the league and won rookie of the year the following season. With LA he made 5 All-Star teams and in addition made 4 All-NBA teams. Although Griffin's latter end of his tenure with LA was not great, most people will remember Griffin for his amazing dunking ability and athleticism. Truly one of the best dunkers of his era.
To end the starting five I'll take Bob McAdoo at center. McAdoo was drafted 2nd overall by the, then Buffalo Braves in 1972 and he immediately backed up his selection winning rookie of the year. McAdoo didn't spend that much time with the franchise only playing from the 1972-1973 till the middle point of the 1976-1977 season. But in that short time he averaged 30 and 12 for three straight seasons and is still to this day the only MVP in Clippers franchise history. He wasn't the tallest center at 6'9 but that didn't matter. He was a bucket and is currently in the hall of fame. The only Clipper on this list CURRENTLY in that club.
Yorumlar