Clippers Lack Depth in Loss at Indiana

The Clippers lost 89-102 at Indiana just one night before going to face the league’s second and fifth leading scorers and Western Conference first place team Oklahoma City. Tonight though Indiana’s depth both showed why they are a top team in the East, and what the Clippers are lacking.

Danny Granger is an NBA All Star, part of the Team USA roster, and led the way for the Pacers with 27 points. David West is a multiple time All Star in the West with the Hornets, and is in his first year with the Pacers. The starting five is rounded out by above average center Roy Hibbert who averages 13 points and 9 boards, rookie slasher and defender Paul George out of Fresno State who averages 12 points a game, and the steady LA native and former Bruin Darren Collison.

That is a solid starting five that is productive at every position. It lacks the star power and frankly superstar players and personalities of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Even better for the Clippers is Griffin and Paul make each other better. And really to set up a top team, a championship team, the superstars are more important than depth. The Mavericks last year had the least amount of superstar talent than any team in recent memory who won the championship, but they had Dirk who was the most unstoppable man in the playoffs.

Drafting a roster between these two teams though, after Paul and Griffin, the next 7 or 8 players I would want are all Pacers.

DeAndre Jordan is the next highest paid Clipper, and his blocked shots, rebounding, and explosiveness make him a coveted player, but Hibbert is a much more accomplished scorer and can create his own shot. Today DeAndre is just not an offensive threat. Caron Butler has been an All Star, and is effective at all parts of his game at both ends of the floor, but after all his injuries he has become a jump shooter almost exclusively, and more than a step behind most of the players he matches up against. Mo Williams was Lebron’s side kick in Cleveland, and coming off the bench is one of the best players in the league in that role of instant offense.

But the Pacers players all have so many more tools at their disposal. They defend rebound and score, and I would readily take Granger, Hibbert, West, Collison, George, Hansbrough, and even George Hill before any of the Clippers not named Paul, or Griffin (or Billups). When Tyler Hansbrough and Tony Parker’s disciple George Hill and Leandro Barbosa come off the bench, I think the Pacers have much better scoring plus defensive options than the Clippers.

The Clippers have added pieces to improve their depth. Both signing Kenyon Martin and now trading for Nick Young are supposed to give the Clippers depth. But the second unit is usually inconsistent and has trouble scoring. A couple games this year the Clippers have gotten balanced scoring from their starting five and bench, and when five or more Clippers are in double figures is when they are at their most dangerous.

But with the addition of Nick Young, the Clippers add a talented player who has been more of a detriment than helpful since he joined the Wizards four years ago. He puts his own ambitions before the team’s. At least he had productive, mostly untroubled years in LA while at USC. That may put him on the right track. But even at USC he put himself before the success of the team. You can’t really fault someone for wanting to get paid for what they do, but when OJ Mayo came in as a freshman at USC, Young could have stayed and played alongside him to be a very dangerous team. Instead he (and Gabe Pruitt) bolted for the NBA and left Mayo to be a star on an average USC tournament bound team.

The Clippers have two All Stars, which ultimately in the NBA is more important than depth, but they will not be where they want to be without depth either. And adding depth can be problematic, because the depth they did add is problematic.

If only there had been one more year before the signing of Chris Paul. Then the Clippers would have added one more lottery pick to the roster (because the Clippers would never have made the playoffs this season without Paul) to add some talent. Or better yet, if the Clippers 2011 first round pick wasn’t traded to Cleveland the problem of young talented depth might have been resolved.

Instead that 2011 pick ended up being Kyrie Irving, whom the Cavs got with the Clippers’ top pick in the draft. Yes, the clippers traded away Baron Davis and Kyrie Irving, for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Keep shooting Mo.