Ahead of the NBA playoffs, FoxSports will find the best-case scenario for all 16 qualified teams and make the case for why each could win the title.
The acquisition of Chris Paul was supposed to turn the Clippers into title contenders. The team had an intriguing core, highlighted by Blake Griffin, and a chance to make waves in the Western Conference. If DeAndre Jordan developed and some good moves were made, the Clippers would be a perennial powerhouse.
Since then, the Clippers have been consistently good, but they haven't been able to get over the proverbial hump.
The Warriors have risen to power and the Spurs have continued their reign of excellence, and Paul has only gotten older. He's yet to play in the conference finals.
Last year, the Clippers choked away a 3-1 series lead to the Rockets in the Western Conference Semifinals, and the future looked murky.
It looked murkier after Griffin went down with a partially torn quad and then punched an equipment manager during his rehabilitation, breaking his hand and earning a four-game suspension in the process.
Suggestions flew that the Clippers should trade CP3 — perhaps to the Cavs in a straight swap for Kyrie Irving. Surely, Lob City had reached its end with little to show for it.
Only the Clippers kind of, sort of, and totally improbably thrived with Griffin out of the lineup. Usually losing an All-Star is a recipe for disaster for a team on the brink, but the Clippers looked pretty good without No. 32 on the court between Christmas and last Sunday.
The big reason: CP3.
The absence of Griffin meant that the entire Clippers offense had to go through Paul, and he and the Clippers have taken to the unification.
The big stat: since the calendar flipped to 2016, Paul has led the NBA in time of possession at 8.5 minutes per game, up a minute from before Griffin's injury. Paul might not be putting up the preposterous numbers he posted earlier in his career, but he's still one of the game's deftest players — you want the ball in his hands.
Griffin's return to the lineup shouldn't change that fact. And while this will push Griffin to something close to a secondary role, it will help the Clippers' cohesion and offensive balance. No more isolation sets at the elbow for Blake — it's all pick-and-roll and Paul iso sets now. Flow has been a problem for the Clippers in recent years, and this change could correct that problem.
Add in a roster that has the pieces to ratchet its already top-10 defense to another level come the playoffs, and you have a recipe for success. But it's only a recipe for now.
We think we know the Clippers, perennial underachievers, but the mid-season crisis, paired with the desperation of a window closing, might have uncovered something resembling the best version of the team.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has slid into the starting lineup and has proven to be a calming force. Paul Pierce found his second (or third, or fourth) wind in Griffin's absence, and the acquisition of Jeff Green — the ultimate wild card — gives the Clippers a possible second ace on the second unit to go with Jamal Crawford.
There are points where you can see this all working — glimpses of a team that could beat the West's elite. But it's all so new, and at this late point in the season, it seems to be a feast-or-famine scenario.
If the Clippers get through the first round (feast-or-famine..) they'll likely find themselves in a second-round series with the Warriors. If they can come through in those circumstances, all bets are off.
The Clippers can't really afford to get any better than they are right now, so this might be the best chance Paul has a chance to make a title run. They've signed the team over to him and admitted that they'll only go as far as he takes them.
It's not hard to imagine him thriving and surprising the NBA in the process.
(Also, Chuck is cheering for them. You can't root against Chuck...)
