The Olympics are in the rearview mirror and NBA teams are beginning to prepare for training camps. Our attention turns to a Clippers team opening their new Inglewood arena without perennial All-Star Paul George in the picture. In these previews, we will take a look at each team’s key acquisitions, fantasy stars, and predicted finish.
Key Acquisitions
With Paul George having jetted off to Philadelphia as a free agent, the Clippers were forced to scramble to replace his minutes on the wing if they were to be any chance of a semi-competitive season.
They signed Derrick Jones Jr. to a three-year, $30 million deal and brought in Nicolas Batum, Kevin Porter Jr., and Kris Dunn.
Jones Jr. is coming off a career year with the Mavs in which he started all 22 of their postseason outings shooting nearly 37% on 3.0 three-point attempts per night whilst also proving to be a plus-defender.
Fantasy Stars
Kawhi Leonard (49th overall, 22nd SG/15th SF/19th PF) remains the Clippers’ franchise guy and is fresh off his best year health-wise in seven seasons.
The 33-year-old underwent offseason knee surgery after being scratched from Team USA’s Olympics campaign late and again appears destined to slide in and out of the lineup as he deals with injury concerns.
James Harden (15th overall, 5th PG/6th SG) enters his first full season with the Clippers having put up 16.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, and 8.5 apg on 61.2 TS% in 72 starts a year ago.
Projected Finish
The loss of Paul George is a tough pill to swallow for the Clippers and puts a cap on their short- and long-term ceiling whilst the ill-health of Leonard and continued decline of Harden puts them in murky territory headed into the season.
There is still a level of auxiliary talent with the likes of Jones Jr., Terance Mann, Norm Powell, Amir Coffey and Ivica Zubac but, unless Leonard and Harden put together All-Star campaigns, they may struggle to keep up with the rest of the conference.
They won 51 games a year ago – including a two-month stretch in which they went 26-5 – but again flamed out in the postseason with Leonard missing four games.
The Clippers will regress this season with Leonard’s health likely determining whether they fall back into the play-in mix or even lower.
