If they lose this game at home and with Gobert out? Wow. Talk about choking.
The Clippers have had so many excuses over the years but the reality is they're just not a great team. A very good team but if they had gotten a few breaks over the years, they just would have lost to LeBron in the Finals. The fundamental problem is they overvalued Jordan and that affected every other decision they've made constructing their roster. They've acted like he's their third superstar but he's really not.
Mike
He was an All-Star this year.
Know who else has been an All-Star? Tyson Chandler, Chris Kaman, Jamaal Magloire, Mehmet Okur and Theo Ratliff. That's where Jordan belongs. He's not in that top tier with guys like Shaq or Patrick Ewing. He's not even in the second tier with guys like Alonzo Mourning or Rik Smits.
He's in that third tier, but the Clippers have paid him and built their team like he's lock for the hall of fame.
Mike
He is an All-Star and is paid like an All-Star. Picking the worst big-men All-Stars you can find and saying "see" is not a debate. And no one is saying DJ is Shaq.
The Clippers problem is that Blake Griffin is no longer a dominant player.
4. I could go into more detail on the salary cap and on court problems that flow from treating Jordan like he's a lot better than he is, but I get the sense you are committed to deliberately not understanding any of them.
Mike
Please do. Seriously, state your case Mike because I think you have no idea what you are talking about right now.
I would love to see you justify this point considering they were already over the cap when they re-signed him which means it was give him the money or... don't. There was no alternative, it was give DeAndre the money or don't spend it at all. That isn't money you can then spend on other players.
He's an offensive force, a phenomenal rebounder, plays within himself, and is a mobile shot blocker. He's a very good player, being paid like a very good player. Artificial max contracts mean that guys worth 80 million get paid 25, guys worth 50 get paid 25, and guys worth 25 get paid 25. (those are estimates, but you get the point in terms of the max contract's impact). DeAndre gets paid what he is worth, he probably does not exceed that much but he's not overpaid by any stretch.
Doc giving away draft picks, trading for guys who had a good game against him once, dumping Bledsoe cuz reasons, getting bamboozled into taking his son because Ainge was D League-ing him, and generally not having any idea how to run a franchise are why they are where they are.