Clippers star PG Chris Paul suffered a torn thumb ligament vs the OKC Thunder Monday night when he jammed his hand against Russell Westbrook’s leg, & will need surgery to repair it.
Before the injury, Paul was having a pretty pedestrian January for his standards; averaging 17.8 points, 12.3 assists and six rebounds per game. He’s now slated to miss 6 to 8 weeks–just enough time for the already-middling Clippers (currently sitting in 4th place in the Western conference) to slip to the bottom of the standings; and eventually, possibly out of playoff contention. What that really means is: ITS TIME TO BEGIN THE REBUILD.
If the Clips need references on when it’s time to blow it up, the needn’t look any further than their Staples Center landlords, the Los Angeles Lakers.
They allowed the team to venture past the point of no return, leaning on an aging, beat-up Kobe Bryant to keep the team relevant as long as his legs could hold out. The consistent loser of a franchise left behind in Kobe’s wake is the direct result from the Lakers front office allowing the team to decay on false pretenses, rather than take some action to keep the franchise winning, as well as trying to sell tickets.
Blake Griffin can’t stay healthy on a consistent basis either, undergoing a procedure earlier this season on his troubled right knee.
Add to this, the team is aging QUICKLY, with the youngest star on the team (Griffin) 27 years old. The best teams in the west are younger, and much deeper than the top heavy Clippers.
The Clippers are simply not good enough to win a championship, especially competing in the west; and would be wise to recognize this sooner than later while they may still be in position to get some trade value on some of their talent.
They could also choose to keep rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, because make no mistake about it; the Clippers have seen their best days as a team…and their championship aspirations will remain just that.