# Clippers Are Actually Building A Championship Team



## Mecca (Jul 3, 2005)

Yeah I said it, I think about Clipper fans, the signing of Cuttino Mobley that resulted as the biggest free agency player they ever picked up since Bill Walton while they were in San Diego in the year of 1979. Before that, they pursued Larry Hughes, Ray Allen, Michael Redd, Kobe Bryant & Gilbert Arenas but failed because of their franchise history with DTS but we have Elton Brand & Corey Maggette locked up for 4 more years. Signing a GOOD coach in Mike Dunleavy since the hiring of Larry Brown 10+ years ago. Now they are pursing very talented players in Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vladimir Radmanovic, Bonzi Wells, etc that in pervious years, they would just sign a bunch of scrubs that will never make the NBA. This is the most active the Clips had ever have & it just been about two weeks. Even if you think they sign scrubs now, talk to Mikki Moore, Zeljko Rebraca & especially Quinton Ross. They're actually finding diamonds in the rough or talented players that never had a chance in the big stage. 

I was thinking the first time drafting Korolev was a bad idea because Antoine Wright, Gerald Green, Danny Granger was still on the board but Granger has a consistent knee injury that hasn't gone away which they don't need a player that is injury-prone because we have enough of those already. Even though Gerald Green has big dunk against the Clips, he just averaged 8 ppg, 1.3 rpg, .3 apg. Green was drafted by potential & those other teams that ditch him knew what they were going in to. Antoine Wright had a good summer league but I think he's going to suffer in New Jersey Nets because of Vince Carter & Richard Jefferson & probably be a talented journeyman. The Clippers had scouted Korolev when he was just 15 years old so, I trust Dunleavy with this pick & if he can play legit defense while he's at the U18 tournament right now as I speak, we will see him a Clipper jersey next season then the CSKA Moscow jersey. 

Shaun Livingston has been compared to the greatest point guard in my opinion, Earvin "Magic" Johnson & last season, he shown those flashes of that man. I believe the Clippers are actually thinking big than small this time. 

Everybody's goal for the Clippers is the playoffs because they never think we will see a parade at Staples Center that has the colors of Red, White & Blue all over it but the front office is finally thinking big. They just don't only want to be a playoff team, they want to be a championship team, The Clips want to have the Larry O' Brien trophy, & they want a banner that has the Clippers' name on it besides the Lakers if you ever went to Staples. I'm thinking realistically if y'all see what's happening right now & I heard about quote "One Step At A Time" but ask the Clips that quote, they feel like hopping a couple of more steps. 

One fan on another forum, has been saying the Clippers will win a title in the 2006-07 season, I never believed him but if the Clips keep playing there cards right, that may just happen.

GO CLIPS FOREVER


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## arenas809 (Feb 13, 2003)

You posted a lot there but said very little...

Right now we can hope for a 8th seed and that would be great, talking championship when we haven't been in the playoffs in 8 years is rather silly.


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## hirschmanz (Jun 3, 2005)

look at the team for a second, the players not the clippers.

You have at the point guard position livingston, an up and coming point guard in the league with loads of potential who is already pretty good.

At shooting guard now is cuttino mobley, a more than capable shooter

At small forward is corey maggette, capable of carrying a team offensively and no defensive slouch either.

At power forward is elton brand, one of the most underrated power forwards in the league.

ok, so they're weak at center, but this is far from a bad team.


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## arenas809 (Feb 13, 2003)

hirschmanz said:


> look at the team for a second, the players not the clippers.
> 
> You have at the point guard position livingston, an up and coming point guard in the league with loads of potential who is already pretty good.
> 
> ...


We're weak at center?

We have one of the deepest frontcourts in the league...

It's fun when people love to pretend they actually know something about the Clips.

Right now our bench is nonexistent (in terms of who's under contract), we still have work to do just to even feel good about our playoff chances, if we hadn't got Mobley I would have said we'd be in the Rudy Gay sweepstakes, but as it is we shouldn't be horrible.


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## hirschmanz (Jun 3, 2005)

arenas809 said:


> We're weak at center?
> 
> We have one of the deepest frontcourts in the league...
> 
> It's fun when people love to pretend they actually know something about the Clips.


I said nothing about depth, just that you have better players at the other positions than you do at center. Wilcox and Kaman need to show me something before I include them.

And its not fun when people create an environment where casual fans are called out for being casual fans. I would love to see the clippers beat the lakers in a playoff series, or just in general. Also, corey maggette is one of my favorite players.


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## Drk Element (Nov 10, 2004)

If Chris Kaman can pick up the scoring, you guys have a playoff team.


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## RD (Jun 10, 2002)

THe team is definitely putting in the work to improve. Nobody can deny that.

However, I think its premature to say we're building a championship team. The team hasnt even made the playoffs yet.

A better title would be that thye are building a playoff team. After that, the moves they make to tinker with the roster would be considered building a championship team IMO.


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## hirschmanz (Jun 3, 2005)

RD said:


> THe team is definitely putting in the work to improve. Nobody can deny that.
> 
> However, I think its premature to say we're building a championship team. The team hasnt even made the playoffs yet.
> 
> A better title would be that thye are building a playoff team. After that, the moves they make to tinker with the roster would be considered building a championship team IMO.


good post :clap:


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## yamaneko (Jan 1, 2003)

On paper, this team is not that different than the championship team, the pistons when they won it. However, that is what, one of the only, if not the only team in the last 20 years that won a championship without a superstar player? Odds are agasint the Clippers, but the pistons showed that every now and then, good coaching can bring the best out of a group of guys.


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

I am not sure about a championship team but a playoff, no doubt. I like to read around this message board about how other people think the Clippers will do. Right now mostly everyone thinks the Clippers have either no chance or little chance of making the playoffs. They forget the countless injuries sustained to the team. I think this team has the type of players that can do well, right it is just missing some backups.


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## qross1fan (Dec 28, 2004)

Championship team in 2/3 years maybe, first we need to make playoffs and advance to round 2 and then from that to the conf finals and so on . . . before we talk about winning aring, let's win a playoff series first


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## swift88 (Jul 4, 2004)

Championship team?? I duno about that. First thing first, playoff, then we'd scrap every single pieces possible.


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## hirschmanz (Jun 3, 2005)

qrich1fan said:


> Championship team in 2/3 years maybe, first we need to make playoffs and advance to round 2 and then from that to the conf finals and so on . . . before we talk about winning aring, let's win a playoff series first


make it against the lakers.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Championship team? Is everyone drinking "Magic Berry" Koolaid today? C'mon now.


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## leidout (Jul 13, 2005)

the comments about center are true, compare kaman's ability at center to brand, maggette, mobley and livingston at their positions. right now, kaman isn't in the same class, but we'll see, if he can carry some of that summer league momentum, he might be a changed player... we hope.

the clippers are not building a championship team right now, we're building a contender, a team going for more than a playoff seed, we're going for the 2nd round or more. once we become a contender, then we can start luring the BIG free agents, so that guys like ray allen and michael redd take a good, long look at the clippers before they sign with other teams for more money. if you red articles in seattle and milwaukee neither of these guys were taking the clippers seriously... but that's fine, at this point, i don't blame them.

the main reason for this change i suspect is that elgin baylor has become a figure head, he's the longest running GM at 19 years with only 2 playoff appearances, a little over 10% making the playoffs.... the next longest running GMs at 10 years make the playoffs 80% of the time.

it's clear that dunleavy has been given the keys to the vault, this change in authority is the reason we're fast becoming a lot more than doormats.


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## Dynasty Raider (Nov 15, 2002)

Weasel said:


> ... like to read around this message board about how other people think the Clippers will do. Right now mostly everyone thinks the Clippers have either no chance or little chance of making the playoffs ...


Do you suppose the mere discussion of the Clippers is because they sense something is happening with the team, but don't know WHAT, so they go with what they know to be true from history? I'm encouraged by all of the sudden interest in our team. We're normally an after-thought.

I'm slowly getting over the loss of Bobby and how it was handled, and I am a fan. I imagine the casual observer saw that as more of the same so are afraid to assume positive things for us. I also imagine that most are secretly hoping that the Clippers will get it together and beat the Lakers at every turn and even take over LA.

The signing of Mobley brings many intangibles to our team in additions to the needed scoring. Whether Mobley knows it or not, there is an awful lot of pressure on him and I believe he is up to the challenge.


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## hirschmanz (Jun 3, 2005)

Dynasty Raider said:


> I'm slowly getting over the loss of Bobby and how it was handled, and I am a fan.


Any other team and I would too be upset over Bobby leaving, but he picked the right ship to set sail on. Getting Mobley has ot ease some of your pain, though.


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## RD (Jun 10, 2002)

Im not sure I understand the 'how it was handled' part.

Bobby was made a priority, offered a very fair contract(in his own agents words), but Bobby chose more money.

The Clippers didn't do a SINGLE thing wrong in the Bobby situation.


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## C-Mag fan (Jun 23, 2005)

I'm still a bit shakey on this offseason.

Yeah, we got Mobley, and that is a good start. But we are far from done if we want to make a dent..or even make..the playoffs. If we can work some sort of sign and trade for Vlad Ram, I would feel alot more confident about the coming season. If we can SAR or Bonzi, that would help. And of course, we have the Jaric issue. 

So, we might be able to make the playoffs with what we have, and some additions. The Western Conference is not getting any weeker, so we need to step our game up to crack the top 8. We are making steps, but we are not there yet.


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

RD said:


> Im not sure I understand the 'how it was handled' part.
> 
> Bobby was made a priority, offered a very fair contract(in his own agents words), but Bobby chose more money.
> 
> The Clippers didn't do a SINGLE thing wrong in the Bobby situation.



RD said it the best right here.


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## Free Arsenal (Nov 8, 2004)

Yeah, I think Milwalkee did a bad thing offering Simmons that much. They have a solid line up yes, spectacular no. They will make the playoffs, definitely, win a championship? Not a chance...


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