1996-97

Preseason picks by nearly everyone to finish at or near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, Head Coach Bill Fitch and the Clippers spent the 1996-97 season proving the experts wrong, posting 36 wins and earning their first trip to the playoffs since the 1992-93 season. The Clippers overcame the free agent departure of Brian Williams and injuries to three big men to reach the postseason party, compensating for their lack of size with true grit and team basketball. On their way to the playoffs, the Clippers handed the Utah Jazz one of their 18 losses, posted wins over the Rockets and Sonics and notched two victories over their crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. Utah exacted its revenge with a first-round sweep of the Clippers in the playoffs, but that failed to diminish the positives. Loy Vaught, one of the game's most underrated players, tied for eighth in the league in rebounds (10.0 rpg) and was the team's high-scorer (14.9 ppg). Vaught was surrounded by an unselfish nucleus that included guards Malik Sealy, Darrick Martin, Terry Dehere and Pooh Richardson, forwards Brent Barry, Rodney Rogers, Charles Outlaw and Lamond Murray and center Lorenzen Wright. Each averaged better than 14 minutes per game for Fitch, who produced one of his best coaching efforts after undergoing emergency triple-bypass surgery two months before training camp.