The Los Angeles Clippers Are BROKEN

The Los Angeles Clippers Are BROKEN

The Clippers have looked like a disaster this season, starting off 3 and six. And in today’s video, we’re going to analyze where the Clippers are going wrong and how they can get back on track. Don’t forget to like and subscribe and let’s get right to it. Last season, the Clippers outplayed their expectations without Kawhi Leonard for a majority of the regular season with an old James Harden leading the team. They climbed to a top four seed in the Western Conference backed by a scrappy defense featuring studs like Chris Dunn, Derek Jones Jr., and Avita Zubots. Paired with the smart, patient offense from James Harden, Norman Pal, and Kawhi Leonard. They ultimately fell short in the first round to Denver, keeping the series quite close and taking it to seven games. But it was clear this team didn’t have enough firepower to compete in this loaded Western Conference. So, in the offseason, the team traded Norman Pal for John Collins. In free agency, they signed Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, and Chris Paul. Despite the age and durability questions of these new pickups, the team looked better on paper with these new additions. John Collins brings a bigger defensive body to the front court and a well-rounded offensive game, getting good looks at the rim, catching lobs, and shooting 40% from three. Derrick Jones Jr. and Nicholas Batum have been great for this team, but a more versatile big was needed, and John Collins looked to be a great fit next to James Harden. Chris Paul now entering his 40s and likely playing the last season of his NBA career was seen as a solid pickup for a team that needed a secondary playmaker off the bench. The Clippers inconsistent guard play when James Harden was on the bench continued to be an issue last year and Chris Paul was brought in to solve that problem. Brook Lopez at age 37 clearly on his last legs in the NBA found a solid role as a Vita Zubat’s backup in LA. The Clippers have been missing a competent backup center for years now, and Brook Lopez fills that hole. Bradley Beal was a low-risk, high-reward pickup for 5 million as the shooting guard replacement for Norman Powell. Coming off a disastrous run in Phoenix, the expectations were low for Beal, but the Clippers took a flyer on his scoring ability. Now, these pickups, in theory at least, should make the Clippers a better overall team with more lineup versatility and depth. However, the Clippers have not been as advertised to start the season. And even with a rare fully healthy roster, their season started with a relatively easy schedule facing the Jazz Suns, Warriors, and Pelicans. The Clippers went just two and two through this stretch with two embarrassing blowouts against the Jazz and Warriors. The Jazz loss on opening night could be written off as just the first game of the year. Not everybody’s on the same page. But the loss to Golden State was even harder to watch somehow as the Clippers only put up 79 points in an NBA game in the year of 2025. This game is where I believe the absence of Norman Pal was felt the most. A shifty offball shooter with a decent floater and a deep scoring bag. It was always going to be hard to replace the production Norm provided. But Bradley Beal’s struggles so far with this team have not made that any easier. Beal has missed three out of eight games so far this season, averaging an inefficient seven points in 20 minutes per night. Bradley Beiel even got his chance to shine against his former team in Phoenix without Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. And he put up 14 shots for five points. I can’t harp on a loss, missing the team’s top two players. But Beal was disastrous in this game where a handicap Clippers team needed him the most. The Clippers managed to be a really good team defense with Norman Pow on the perimeter last year who’s a bad defender himself. Yet that’s not the case with Bradley Beal in this team. They are dramatically worse defensively with him on the court. Now, I’m not writing off Bradley Beal. The Clippers should still be high on the upside he can bring to this team offensively. He hasn’t been productive so far, but as he gets acclimated to the offense, he could have a huge turnaround. And truly, it shouldn’t be that difficult for a player of Bradley Beiel’s caliber, as the team really only needs him to space the floor and handle the ball. Chris Paul, on the other hand, has honestly been much worse. Through eight games, CP3 is averaging two points on 24% shooting with downright awful defense. Obviously, nobody expects a 40-year-old Chris Paul to be a locked down defender, but he is getting torched out there while making plenty of mistakes offensively, which a veteran shouldn’t be doing. The Clippers are a much worse team when James Harden rests, and Chris Paul was supposed to be the solution to a problem that has somehow become much worse. James Harden has been lights out for the Clippers this season, and in my opinion, he’s been the team’s best player. Now, he isn’t perfect. He’s been careless with the ball and isn’t a great defender himself. However, he is overperforming to start the year, averaging 23 points, eight assist with a 42% three-point shot. He is the entire engine of the Clippers offense. He is playing 39 minutes in back-to-back games as a 36-year-old point guard. At this point in his career, he’s become underrated and he deserves his flowers. Kawhi Leonard has been about as good as you could have expected so far. Definitely not MVP status, but he’s been solid, though he definitely has his moments of being disengaged with the offense and playing oddly bad defense at times. He’s still a phenomenal player entering his mid30s with multiple surgeries done. You can’t ask for much more than 24 points per game on good efficiency. The main player who has heavily disappointed me so far is Avisa Zubots, who was undeniably one of the best big men in the league last year. Hasn’t played with the same aggression and confidence this year. Zoo has been soft on the glass, getting outrebounded and out positioned in ways that used to not happen. His hook shot hasn’t been the automatic weapon it was last year, and his impact at the rim hasn’t controlled the game. But I am more than confident that he will break out of this dry spell. Zoo at his best can win you games and has become a central point of the offense over the years. I believe he should be more involved in the offense and if this team is serious about winning, they’ll give him a bigger role. So, the team overall has come out flat to start the season. What can they do? Maybe the Clippers have a move up their sleeves to fix these problems. They have the contracts of Bogdon Bogdanovic who’s been really a non-factor for this team this year. a third-year Kobe Brown, who’s been underwhelming to say the least, and Nicholas Batum, who are all potential trade candidates for this team at the deadline. That’s about $25 million in salary along with your 2027 first round pick and your 2029 swap. You could use these assets to acquire a difference maker or make some changes around the edges. Even so, this team could ride the storm and come out fine. I think this team’s slow start was startling because they acquired veteran win now players in the off season to a team led by a 34year-old Kawhi Leonard and a 36-year-old James Harden, which makes up the oldest roster in the NBA. This team has quite literally no young core. So, you expect consistency, better decision-making, and less turnovers from players that have been doing it for so long. However, honestly, it’s not all doom and gloom in LA. You start off slow, yes, but this team has more talent than the team that won you 51 games last year, and that should show as the season goes on. For the Clippers to secure a playoff spot in this regular season and compete as a true threat in the playoffs, there must be a few changes made, though. One, you have to consider starting Chris Dunn in the back court with James Harden. Chris is a phenomenal on ball defender who plays the passing lanes exceptionally and flies across the court. The starting lineup needs the energy he brings from tip off and Beal could hopefully thrive more in a six-man role anyway. Also, start John Collins. He’s literally perfect for this team as a three-point shooter and lob catcher. Two, you have to get Ivita Zubots going. Zoo dominated the paint last year with 16 points and 12 rebounds a night as the defensive anchor of this team being a legit rim protector. He’s also a great screen setter and he has some good post moves at his disposal. He has earned more freedom within the offense. Three, Tyron Lou has to step up. Ty Louu often avoids scrutiny by the masses of NBA fans, but he makes some truly game-breaking decisions that lose games often. The lineups are unbalanced and make no sense sometimes. The offense also needs some adjusting. It’s a lot of iso ball with last second throwup shots and continuously goes dry for long stretches. This team has to bounce back ASAP from this three and six start because the Western Conference is absolutely loaded and nobody’s waiting on you to figure it out. And I would say this team’s bounceback falls almost entirely on Tyron Lou. This is a coach with a championship, multiple conference finals appearances, and a good overall track record around the NBA. Yet, he has an uber talented roster in his hands that he is not maximizing to the fullest of its capabilities. And it’s the simple things like running Chris Paul Brook Lopez lineups, giving a near 40-year-old Nicholas Batum more minutes than John Collins, who’s a much better player, and running one of the most bland, predictable, and very much stoppable offenses you’ll ever see. But the problem extends even further than the offense. The defense has taken a huge hit as well. Kawhai has not looked like the Kawhi Leonard we are used to seeing defensively. If a Zubots has yet to impose his will defensively, and teams are running through the Clippers defensive assignments with ease. The pesky, gritty defense that carried this Clippers team to a top four seed in the West last year hasn’t been this team’s strong suit to start off. And with the offense lacking shot creation and overall creativity, you have to create it through the defense. And that’s where this team has to find their stride. The Clippers are entering one of the easier stretches of their schedule and they cannot afford to lose games to teams like the Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks with no Trey Young, and Boston Celtics. Not that any game in the NBA is a free win or an easy matchup, but this team cannot be relied upon to beat teams like OKC, Houston, or Denver consistently. So, take advantage of the weaker matchups. This team time and time again plays down to their competition. And that’s a trait you wouldn’t expect to see out of the oldest roster in the NBA. Yet, that’s the brand of basketball they’re playing. This team isn’t built to be a juggernaut. It’s built to play a steady, smart offense with great defense with urgency and intensity to feed off of. While I’m not yet out on the Clippers, I do think their age and durability is going to prevent them from being a top four seed again this year. But with all the negativity out the way, I do want to highlight some positives from what I’ve seen from the Clippers so far this year. Derrick Jones Jr. was a huge pickup for this team last year in free agency, and he’s been immensely important since. This season, he’s averaging 11 points and shooting 42% from three, which is something we’re not used to seeing from Derrick Jones Jr. Now, I expect his shooting splits to go down over time. However, he’s been awesome for the Clippers to open up the season, and he’s one of the very few players you can say that about. So, shout out to Derrick Jones Jr. Also, Cam Christie, who the Clippers found in the late second round of the 2024 draft, has played quite well for them over their last two games against Phoenix with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard getting rest. We finally get to see what Cam Christie looks like on the NBA court, playing solid defense, and the three-point stroke looks great. If the Clippers could see real production out of Cam Christie, that would be awesome, considering this team has been pretty much awful at drafting over the last few years. to finally get a steal in the second round would be great for this team. Also, John Collins has looked really good for this team so far. He himself is shooting 45% from three to start the season. I love the John Collins pickup for the Clippers, and I think that move is only going to look better and better as time goes on. And I hope Tyron Lou doesn’t plan on playing Jon Collins only 25 minutes a night for the rest of the regular season. All three of those guys deserve more minutes going forward. And I do think there’s a path to success with this team if they continue to see all-star level production from James Harden alongside a ramping up Kawhai Leonard who can play like one of the best players in the world for stretches with Big Zoo and a well-rounded veteran roster. They should be due for a good run soon. But anyways, if you guys did enjoy the video, please be sure to hit the like button and subscribe. Thank you for watching all the way to the end. I hope to catch you guys in another video soon. Until then, I’m out. Deuces.

The Los Angeles Clippers Are BROKEN

In today’s video, I discuss how I believe The Los Angeles Clippers Are BROKEN. James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Ivica Zubac and the Los Angeles Clippers have gotten off to a rough start and I discuss how the LA Clippers can turn around their NBA season.

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