Twenty-nine different opposing NBA teams will walk through the doors of Target Center to play the Wolves this season, and we want you to know as much as you can about all of them. We’re going worst to first in order of last year’s standings and telling you everything you need to know. Next up, we have a Clippers team that lost the last member of Lob City this offseason.
Notable Players Acquired: G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (draft), G Jerome Robinson (draft), F Luc Mbah a Moute (free agency), C Marcin Gortat (trade)
Notable Players Lost: C DeAndre Jordan (free agency), G C.J. Williams (free agency), Austin Rivers (trade)
Recapping 2017-18:
The Clippers were right there… until they weren’t. After trading their best player in Blake Griffin, LA fielded a scrappy, exciting team led by the eventual Sixth Man of the Year winner Lou Williams and talented forward Tobias Harris. The Clippers were a tough out every single night and went toe-to-toe with the league’s best as they fought for a playoff spot.
Thing is, they didn’t make it. With the Wolves earning the No. 8 seed, the Clippers and Nuggets were the odd teams out. This left the Clippers at somewhat of a crossroads. They weren’t good enough to put themselves over the top, but they weren’t bad enough to draft a potential superstar. In the draft, the Clippers took Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson, two guards with very high ceilings who will be given a chance to develop as the Clippers’ backcourt of the future while Williams, Pat Beverley and Avery Bradley are still in their primes. The two rookies, along with Harris, project as the core for the next era of Clippers basketball.
DeAndre Jordan, the last remaining member of the ‘Lob City’ era, departed for the Mavericks in free agency, and LA shipped out Austin Rivers for Marcin Gortat to fill the hole in their frontcourt. Additionally, the team signed Luc Mbah a Moute to shore up the wing. While both are solid veterans, neither are stars. Last season the Clippers showed everyone that a motivated young team can make noise in the league, but they also demonstrated that without an established star the ceiling for these kinds of teams is relatively low.
The Big Question:
What’s next?
The Clippers have invested in their backcourt, and should have one of the best defensive guard rotations in the league, but now that their backcourt of the future is set, they’re running low on assets and still need more talent in the middle and on the wing to consider themselves serious contenders. The Clippers will certainly try to leverage their large market into a free agent signing or two next summer, but it would also not be surprising to see them consolidate some of their young talent and try to trade for a star. The Clippers are in a decent spot as a franchise, but the next year will be critical. It’s easy to have potential—actually capitalizing is significantly more difficult.
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How Do The Wolves Beat Them?
Play smart. Williams has a killer instinct and can capitalize on defensive mistakes and Harris is no slouch. The Wolves need to talk and play solid team defense to avoid getting into bad one-on-one matchups. Additionally, the Clippers’ backcourt is going to be incredibly difficult to score against. Getting the ball inside to Karl-Anthony Towns and making the Clippers guards and wings double will be very important. If the Wolves can get the Clippers’ defense on their heels and running around the court they’ll be in a way better position to put the ball in the hole.
Andrews’ Prediction:
In Beverly, Bradley, Gilgeous-Alexander and Robinson, the Clippers have an exciting backcourt rotation. However, it’s hard to say how they’ll handle their frontcourt. Harris is solid at the power forward spot, but I’m not sure about Gortat at center and Danilo Gallinari is infamously injury-prone. Mbah a Moute is a solid wing, but he’s not a go-to scorer. If the frontcourt can step up and the Clippers find success playing smaller lineups with a few of their bigger guards spending time on the wing I could see this team being pretty darn good, but I’m not sure they’re any better than they were last year. In a brutal Western Conference, I would not pick this Clippers team to make the playoffs. They were a pleasant surprise last year and they’ll win a lot of games against good teams, but expect a finish around the No. 10 or 11 seed.
Describe This Team In 15 Words Or Less
No fun to play against, but only a fringe playoff contender
So When Can I See Them?
The Wolves play the Clippers in LA on Nov. 5 and host them on Feb. 11.