Time is Already Running Out For The Los Angeles Clippers

Blake Griffin exits the shower, kicks off a squeaky pair of blue flip flops adorned with the Los Angeles Clippers logo, and starts to dry himself off. He eases his way into a pair of light blue jeans that are intentionally shredded just above the knee, then takes a seat at his locker—two small oranges rest by his side while a baby-sized red Powerade sits half empty on the floor.

Cloaked in a shearling coat and milk-white sweater, Griffin saunters across the room to face about a dozen media members. In what can most politely be described as dry, filtered analysis of the 22-point loss Los Angeles just suffered against the New York Knicks, Griffin squints through a series of questions about his team’s now nine-game losing streak, the longest of his eight-year career.

On this night, and for the foreseeable future, he's the organization's sole mainstay. Chris Paul is in Texas. DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent whose name will swirl in rumors until he’s either dealt or the trade deadline passes. Doc Rivers was demoted from his President of Basketball Operations duty a few months ago, and entered the season with Las Vegas believing he was likely to soon lose his head coach job as well. The harsh reality of NBA life with one, and not two, top-20 players battling on your behalf has officially smacked Griffin and the Clippers in the face.

All three of their most important offseason additions—Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, and Milos Teodosic—have already missed significant time, forcing Rivers to not only throw Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers, and 23-year-old rookie Sindarius Thornwell into the starting lineup, but also piece together bench units that feature several new faces who’re unsure of their role in a fresh environment.

“I fell into a good situation in Houston where I was a main catalyst for the second unit,” new Clippers forward Sam Dekker told VICE Sports, right as Jordan strode by flashing a genial middle finger in our direction. “And now I’m trying to work to get into that role here in L.A., and at times it hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d like. But that’s okay. That’s basketball.”

Now 5-11 and at the mercy of a cutthroat Western Conference, Los Angeles’s season might have derailed before it could leave the station. According to FiveThirtyEight—a prognostication that doesn’t factor in poor health—the Clippers have a 27 percent chance to make the playoffs. They’re on pace to win 36 games (one fewer than the Knicks and the same as the Orlando Magic), and finish 11th in their conference.

With Paul and J.J. Redick gone, they lack a nightly identity, curiously attacking the offensive glass despite transition defense being a core tenet of Rivers-coached teams for the past decade. They rank fifth in offensive rebound rate, after placing 24th, 29th, and 24th in the three previous seasons, and one side effect is that the percentage of their opponent’s possessions that start in transition leads the league. (Not good.)

Even though they manage decent looks whenever an opponent doubles Griffin on the block, only two teams have a lower assist rate than the Clippers: the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. “When the ball sticks we aren’t as good of a basketball team,” Dekker said. “When the ball is not moving you’re easy to guard, and we know that. So we have to do a better job of moving the ball and cutting and playing with pace and putting energy in the ball. That makes the game so much easier.”

The uphill climb is understandable—considering almost every player on the team, healthy or not, is making some kind of adjustment inside this overhauled roster—but still worrisome. Griffin’s True Shooting percentage is at a career low and he’s shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, in large part because only 19.8 percent of his two-point field goals are assisted (down from a career average of 63.3 percent before this season began).

That 19.8 percent is nearly 10 percent lower than LeBron James right now, and anyone who’s watched the Cleveland Cavaliers play basketball this year knows how much offensive responsibility weighs on the four-time MVP’s shoulders.

Griffin’s situation isn’t dissimilar. The percentage of his shots launched with seven or fewer seconds on the shot clock is up approximately eight percent compared to a couple seasons ago, L.A.’s offense is 9.5 points per 100 possessions worse when he sits, and he’s surrounded by inexperience and unfamiliarity for the first time in over half a decade. Different teammates are learning how to contribute in a new system before they can grasp how to accentuate their franchise player’s strengths.

“I’ve always been that go-to guy, whereas now I’m learning to be that role guy,” Thornwell told VICE Sports. “It’s good because I get to see the other side of the game, and learn how to play off the ball and stuff like that, but it’s kind of frustrating in a sense because I still want to score.”

Before Monday’s loss, I asked Doc Rivers if there was anything he could point to, besides the injuries and late-game woes (L.A.’s crunch-time offense is worst in the NBA—a predictable script that droops between Griffin post-ups and Austin Rivers unhinging himself from reality), that might explain his team’s inability to end their streak.

“Probably what you just said, the injuries and the crunch-time woes,” he chuckled. “Because of the injuries, there’s not much you can do, but I like the fact that we’re still in every game. You take three of your top six players out of your lineup, you’re gonna probably struggle. But we’ve had a chance in all but two I would say, and two of them we should’ve boarded the bus before the game.”

Despite their unlucky health, New York represented a golden opportunity for the Clippers to turn things around and sink their teeth into a marshmallow-soft schedule. Their next five opponents are NBA punching bags (the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, the Rudy Gobert-less Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks), and Beverley is finally back in the starting lineup.

They’ve outscored opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions when Jordan, Gallo, and Griffin share the floor, and Teodosic’s intoxicating pass-first mentality may singlehandedly reverse the team’s self-serving modus operandi. But a long-term solution for some of this team’s problems might not exist. Their defense, for example, is filled with miscues, hesitation, and physical shortcomings.

Only 8.1 percent of their opponent’s shots are attempted with a defender inside two feet of their airspace (coverage defined as “very tight” by NBA.com), which is a league low. Meanwhile, 29.7 percent of their opponent’s shots are “open,” and just two teams allow a higher percentage. This is bad. Watch below as Griffin and Johnson needlessly miscommunicate a switch, leading to an open three for Jae Crowder.

And here’s Rivers turning into a statue as the weakside defender who shouldn’t be afraid to help off Dwyane Wade to prevent LeBron from waltzing in for an easy dunk.

The personnel doesn’t help. Whenever it makes sense to do so, offenses are happy to throw their playbook out the window just to exclusively set ball screens with whoever Lou Williams is guarding. They then watch with Mr. Burns’s finger-tapping delight as the Clippers combust into ashes. (The Clippers play like a 55-win team when Williams is on the bench, per Cleaning The Glass.)

Add everything up and it’s both hard to envision Los Angeles making the playoffs and unfair to count them out. It’s a long season, and who’s to know if the Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Portland Trail Blazers won’t suffer a series of crippling injuries right as the Clippers find themselves on the mend.

But this is a contract year for Williams, and both Jordan and Austin Rivers can opt out of their deals in July. Doc's job security isn't great, and just like last year, L.A. may soon find itself in a situation where too many players have one eye on the future instead of being all in on today.

“It comes down to playing hard and sticking together, and when things are going good, staying level headed, and when things are going bad, staying level headed.” Dekker said. “There’s some times we could do that better, and that’s where teams have taken advantage of us. We’ve got to stay positive, keep working, and know that things will turn around. And they will.”