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In

^{John Collins (PF)
Bradley Beal (SG)
Brook Lopez (C)
Chris Paul (PG)}

Rookies

• Yanic Konan Niederhauser (C) – Pick #30
• Kobe Sanders (SG) – Pick #50

Out

^{Amir Coffey (SG)
Norman Powell (SG)
Drew Eubanks (C)
Ben Simmons (PG)
Patty Mills (PG)}

Depth Chart

PG – James Harden
SG – Bradley Beal
SF – Kawhi Leonard
F – Derrick Jones Jr
C – Ivica Zubac
6th Man – John Collins / Bogdan Bogdanovic
Rotation players – Brook Lopez / Chris Paul / Kris Dunn / Cam Christie / Nico Batum

^{Los Angeles Clippers Profile}

Team Ceiling

2nd Round – They are too old to get further, if they even get here. Their experience is their advantage though. Health is another issue here, can they stay healthy during a whole Playoff run? It’s a similar case as the one with the Warriors, but I’d say even worse. In any case, they might surprise us.

Team Floor

1st Round – As mentioned, their age and the wild West can make their run short. Their average YoE is almost 11. That’s quite good if you have some young talents in your team, which doesn’t happen here. Because of that, and also that they are still a good team, they might get to the 2nd round, but that will depend on their opponent.

X-Factor

Bradley Beal – Both an X-Factor and a possible bust.

Bust

Bradley Beal – Beal is far from the player we saw in Washington 5 years ago. Since that year, and especially after joining the Suns, Beal has been a disaster. He already played only 2 games, averaging 5.5 PTS. Are we witnessing the end of Beal’s career? I will watch some games from this start of the season to analyze what’s happening to him. Good thing is that the Clippers got him for a great price, only $5 million per year during 2 years – next year is a player option.

Dark Horse

John Collins – He arrived to the Clippers as part of the Powell deal, with only this year left in his contract. Unluckily, it seems that he’s lost all relevance he had in his previous teams. But if Tyronn Lue gives him an opportunity, he can be a great addition to this team. He joins youth – in comparison with his teammates – and experience. He will come off the bench, but if Collins understands his position during this years and knows how to adapt, he can be a power injector for this Clippers team. Also, he needs to earn his next contract, which is always of great motivation.

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The Clippers is a team a lot of people have put faith in during these last years, but they haven’t been able to make it past the 1st round in the last 5 years. Why should this year be different? They are weirdly built, with many old stars in the same team, giving zero opportunities to younger guys like Bogdanovic or Collins.

What worries me the most is that they haven’t tried to build any king of future. So many years with late 2nd round picks, and the same for the future years. Once all their old stars end their contracts, they will have plenty of money to play in the market, but will that be enough?

Apart from that, all the scandal regarding Kawhi’s contract and all that surrounds it is the cherry that was missing on top of the cake for them, in a bad way.

My prediction: another irrelevant year for the Clippers. What we love from the NBA is that it always surprises you.