The 15th and final installment of the offseason guides brings us to two teams looking to improve upon last season's disappointments. However, it'll be hard to do considering their limitations in free agency. Part 15 features the Los Angeles Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Los Angeles Clippers have had quite possibly the most disappointing offseason in the entire NBA. The main cause of it is they lost Paul George for absolutely nothing and let him walk in free agency. This ended the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George saga and one of the most unsuccessful superstar pairings in recent years. In 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers were determined to get out of the Lakers Shadow. The Lakers had landed Anthony Davis in a trade with the Pelicans. The Clippers were then determined to make a move to have them be competitive in the Western Conference. In a trade involving the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Clippers gave up essentially their entire imminent future to land Paul George, a move that was necessary to sign Kawhi Leonard in free agency that same offseason. Leonard had previously stated that he wanted to play with George and the Clippers made that happen. They gave up essentially every first round pick they had plus three players, one being a young Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Before covid shut down the NBA for three months they were one of the best teams. However in the bubble, the Clippers flamed out in spectacular fashion blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets. In game 5 they were up 18 in the second half before blowing the lead, game and eventually the series. The following year they had their most successful playoff run. Paul George was able to rebound after his horrendous bubble performance and lead the Clippers to the conference finals. However, this would be the last playoff series the Clippers would ever win with Leonard and George on the roster.This leads us to the Paul George contract saga that began earlier this season.
Paul George gave the public a very real, authentic account of his side to the contract negotiations between his representatives and the Clippers. He said early in the season he was offered a 2 year, $60 million deal which, If true, is lowballing him significantly. The Clippers probably tried to convince him to take a pay cut in order to build the roster around him and Kawhi. In January, the Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard to a 3 year, 152 million dollar deal. George, at this point, had not been signed and was still playing on his 48.7 million dollar player option. The Clippers, when negotiating with Geoge, did not want to pay him the contract that Leonard had. He asked for what Kawhi got and felt like he deserved it. However, he also wanted a no trade clause. The Clippers again were hesitant because if they felt like they could trade him for value they eventually would. George instead wanted to sign the 4 year, $221 million contract. However, the Clippers were again reluctant to give George that contract. The Clippers said the 4th year would put them over the second apron. At this point in negotiations this meeting was taking place after James Harden was signed for 2 years and 70 million dollars. The Clippers believed that the 4th year would put them into the second apron and they wanted to avoid that. However, that doesn’t seem likely because they would be off the Harden contract and eventually Leonard would also be off the books as well. It seems like the Clippers felt George's reliability to remain healthy was an issue for Clippers management. They probably felt that George’s injury history was too unreliable for them to give him 50+ million dollars a year over 4 years. Ultimately, George signed with the 76ers and the Clippers never got anything in return for the draft equity and players they gave up for him.
So where does this currently leave the Clippers? Essentially, their trade assets are owned by the Thunder. They have Leonard and Harden under contract for the next two years. Westbrook is gone and they signed Derrick Jones Jr. in free agency, however what in the world are the Clippers currently? Where do they go now? They need depth in the back court as there’s no one backing up Leonard or Ivan Zubac at the moment. They also need a point guard. The Clippers are currently an older team now with very few resources to try and make a push in the Western Conference and they do not have any draft assets to get younger players. It’s a difficult situation for them to be in. I think sticking it out similar to how the Nets did when they traded everything for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett would be the wise decision. They do not need to give the Thunder anymore high quality picks to an already loaded roster. Making a deep push seems almost impossible if Leonard is hurt and James Harden is not invested in the makeup of the team. Unfortunately, it’s another rise they’re going to have to take. Ultimately, losing George for nothing was a mistake, but an even worse thing they can do is tank and give the Thunder more young talent. The Clippers are in a sticky situation and they’ll need to make smart moves over the next couple of years in order to get back to a better place
The second team featured is the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are another team that have had a disappointing offseason. However, they’ve made some smart decisions in order to save some face. The Bucks swung for the fences last offseason by landing Damian Lillard in a trade with the Trailblazers. However, they sent Jrue Holiday to the Blazers and he was eventually acquired by the Celtics. On top of landing Lillard, they hired a new head coach, Adrian Griffin. But he only lasted 44 games despite going a surprising 30-14. The problem was there were issues internally with multiple sides of the franchise. During training camp, Terry Stotts decided to step down as an assistant coach to Griffin. This surprised a lot of people as moves like this do not happen often, especially during training camp. The players, specifically Giannis, had an issue with Griffin’s defense. Under previous head coach Mike Budenholzer, the Bucks played mostly drop coverage on pick and rolls with center Brook Lopez. However, Griffin, who was on the Raptors staff prior to being hired, blitzed a lot of pick and rolls. The Raptors liked to use their length and disrupt opposing offenses that way, However, that was a stark contrast to how the Bucks, and especially Lopez played. They struggled on defense and gave up close to 120 points per game in their first 40 games or so. The struggling defense was highlighted in the In-Season tournament when they got bounced by the Indiana Pacers and gave up 128 points and saw Tyrese Haliburton dice them up in the Pick and Roll all game long. Shortly before the All-Star break, Griffin was fired and they hired Doc Rivers to be their head coach. Even though Rivers helped the defense, the offense began to struggle. Lillard and Giannis never seemed to click together and couldn’t figure out the most efficient way to play together.
Towards the end of the season Giannis suffered a calf injury that kept him out the entire first round series against the Pacers. Lillard was in and out of the lineup and Kris Middleton also had trouble staying healthy in the series and in the entire season for that matter. Who’s to say how far the Bucks would have gotten if all three were healthy, but unfortunately that’s the reality in the NBA. The Bucks would end up losing the series in 6 games and ultimately get bounced from the postseason. So where does that leave the Bucks now?
Milwaukee is very limited financially. They’re just under the first apron right now, but once they officially fill out the roster they’ll be a second apron team. The Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard trades have crippled their draft assets as they have traded first round picks to various teams over the next 7 seasons. They only have one second round pick available to trade. The Bucks signed Taurean Prince and Gary Trent Jr. to team friendly deals. Trent’s contract is 1 year for $3.3 million and is a steal for the Bucks. He’s a terrific shooter and will help space the floor nicely next to Giannis. Ultimately, the Bucks needed a defender and signing Prince helps them. But it also does something else; it buys them 1 more year to develop their young guys. Marjon Beauchamp, AJ Green, Andre Jackson Jr. and their two pick picks in AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith will need to help out this year at least during the regular season. The Bucks do not have much flexibility to make mid-season trades to shore up the roster. Jackson is a potential candidate to help out more than the others because of his excellent defense. He’s long and plays extremely hard; he'll deserve a fair chance to guard the other team’s best players. The reason why many people had questions about the Bucks draft is that both Johnson and Smith are extremely young and are projects to develop into rotational pieces. The Bucks drafting a pair of NBA ready college players would make more sense with their current situation, but that remains to be determined.
The final piece to success for the Bucks next season will be figuring out the Lillard and Giannis connection. They ran only 8 pick and rolls a season ago. The whole reason for getting Lillard was to try and enhance a dominant pick and roll. Lillard is arguably one of the best shooters and scoring in the NBA coupled with Giannis rolling or popping on a screen makes for an unstoppable duo. Doc Rivers getting a full training camp with the roster and duo will surely help solve some of the miscommunication they were having last season.
The Bucks have a lot to be excited about. They have two bonafide superstars and good players around them. The older roster is a concern and most of the players who won the 2021 title are still with the team.
The Bucks can be dangerous, but if they’re not healthy or can’t figure out the chemistry between their best players it will be challenging to advance out of the tougher Eastern Conference.
As always feel free to comment below and any news that occurs after the release of this article will be updated prior to the start of next season.
Add comment
Comments