WESTERN CONFERENCE PACIFIC DIVISION Los Angeles NBA actors Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan would have been all too happy to get their Jerry Maguire on and re-enact the You-Complete-Me scene with backup bigs Spencer Hawes, Ekpe Udoh and Glen Davis. After years of coming up short in their search for second-string power forwards and centers, the Clippers on the court continually came up short in playoff bids to go beyond the Western Conference Semifinals. As great as Griffin was, as much as Jordan would improve and as well as Paul would lead, it was never enough. Simply put, it was because the L.A. Clippers were never big enough. It helped a bit when Big Baby Davis joined L.A. for half a season last year. But the Clips still never had a stretch big, who could open up the floor. They seldom had an imposing force to protect the paint. They rarely had a big, who was, you know, really big, as in wide big. Now they have all three, respectively, with Spencer Hawes, Ekpe Udoh and Davis. Big-man depth is what you need when you go up against the Spurs, Thunder and Grizzlies in battling for those Final Four berths. And the Clippers are now complete, now that they have that. DEFENSE While Doc Rivers got Jordan to buy into the defensive program and play D like no Clippers’ center since Marcus Camby (a Clippers mentor during Jordan’s rookie year), this year’s challenges for Doc are much bigger. Now Rivers must convince the entire team to buy in to a system he and Tom Thibodeau once devised for a Kevin Garnett-led championship squad. To put it lightly, it’s still a work in progress. The Clippers were good enough on D last season, posting a 102.1 points allowed per 100 possessions, ranking seventh in the League, while Jordan himself became a top 10 defensive center. The team, however, has much room for improvement, especially when it came to bench play from the bigs. The stat that glaringly stood out was how the Clips only retrieved 49.6 percent of their rebound opportunities, ranking 20th in the league. But that’s what happens when none of your players who log 500-plus minutes— Chris Paul
LA Clippers Gameday HQ
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