With All The New Moves This Off-Season, The Battle For LA Will Be Beautiful
By Keith Rivas
The latest moves by both the Lakers and Clippers might be just what was needed to spark up the battle for Los Angeles again and make it more than just lop-sided basketball.
After Paul Pierce found a new home in Lob City reuniting with Doc Rivers and the Lakers added Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams, and Brandon Bass to the team, one could only wonder what that meant for the battle for Los Angeles.
The battle for LA will mean much more as we dive head first into next season for one reason above all else — loyalty.
Pierce’s loyalty showed two fold in the move to the city of angels.
First was paying homage to his hometown, then came not passing up the idea of playing under the familiar face he helped represent back in Boston.
More from LA Sports Hub
- Lakers: 5 Players to Target Through Trades to make another championship run
- LA Chargers: Week 8 against Denver Broncos is a must-win
- LA Rams: Jared Goff wants to keep the Los Angeles title streak going
- Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles Clippers interested in Rajon Rondo
- LA Chargers: Justin Herbert wins AFC Rookie of the Month
While both Rivers and Pierce seem to have moved on past their glory days with the Celtics, the underlying tone remains the same in their understanding of the game.
Beat the Lakers.
Pierce had the opportunity to join the Lakers, but he decided to rather add a third tier to his loyalty resume in that he’ll never give the Lakers the satisfaction of having him on their side of the court.
Even if it meant the chance for more money.
But hey, you can’t buy everything, can you?
On the flip side, the Lakers look like their ready to finally stop being the laughingstock of the Western Conference as well as the rest of the NBA.
With the Kobe Bryant hype coming to a close shortly, the move towards the future is more obvious than ever.
Drafting D’Angelo Russell and trusting Jordan Clarkson more is all the proof we need of that.
Jordan Clarkson can only get better after shutting us all up with his stellar rookie season in last year’s campaign, so there’s no doubt that he’ll make his teammates that much better with improved leadership and efficiency on the floor.
Live Feed
Air Alamo
Another good bit in favor of the Lakers is that they won’t have to throw all of the championship expectations on Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell alone — they’ll have all the help they need for the immediate future.
Sure, the Lakers are questionably even a playoff team at the rate they’re going, but at least they’re making a step in the right direction.
The focus here though isn’t whether they’ll be in the post-season or not, but the chances of them actually putting up a fight against their in-town rivals.
And the odds are ever in their favor.
Julius Randle, above all else, will be the deciding factor in how well the Lakers can handle the pressure from Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
He’s the best thing that the Lakers can use to counter those punches, and then when you factor in Roy Hibbert’s expected contributions things look pretty bright down low defensively.
And that takes away a big chunk of the Clippers’ life line.
It took a full seven games for the Clippers to get by the San Antonio Spurs’ core in the first round of the playoffs last year.
Bottom Line: Young blood is about to take on a whole new meaning.
It should have taken them six at the most.
While there’s definitely respect to be given to the push they made last time around, the fact that they struggled against a much older core should be a red flag in their match up against the Lakers.
The purple and gold are bringing nothing but youth and fearlessness to the table.
And it might just work out perfectly.