The Clippers are already there. The Lakers and Denver are in the same situation as us. We're all missing key pieces and are a move or two from being contenders. We know what we need; getting them while still retaining talent is the hard part.
Don't overrate the Clippers. They were not even that good last season. After a hot start, they finished the last 3 months 22-17 and the last two months 12-11. They have too many shoot first players and play mediocre defence. They managed to beat the bad teams consistantly, so give them credit for focus, but their weaknesses were exposed by the good teams. Last year here are their records against the best:
Sacramento - 0-4
Dallas - 1-3 (their win was against Dallas' bench the last game of the year)
San Antonio - 1-2
Memphis - 1-3
Detroit - 0-2
Miami - 1-1
Phoenix - 1-1 (Before KT got hurt for the year, they were 2-2 anyway)
Total: 4-16
By the end of the regular season, people were already starting to discount the Clippers. The only reason why people seem to think they are a near powerhouse team is because they were lucky enough to be on the JV side of the playoff bracket. So they beat Denver, who by that point was completely falling apart and was not playing like one of the top 8 teams in the west. Then they had a competitive series against a Phoenix team playing with no inside presence. The Suns were a taylor-made matchup for the Clippers. They had Marion and Diaw at the PF/C spot where the Clippers had Brand/Kaman. If Phoenix had Thomas and Stoudamire, it would have been a 5 game series at best. The truth is that the Clippers would have lost to San Antonio, Sacramento, or Dallas in a playoff series.
I don't want to go overboard with this. The Clippers are a good team. And they have some talented young players and could improve. However, people tend to remember them as a lot better than they actually were because of their success in the JV bracket. It happened to all of the teams on that side. People are way too high on the Lakers after watching them take Phoenix to 7 games, in a series where Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm looked good playing against the Suns vastly undersized frontcourt. Sportsguy was ready to give Amare the Ewing award after Phoenix beat two very flawed LA teams in 14 games. And people are overlooking a very poor second half of the season for the Clippers.
The Clippers also have some concerns for the future:
1 - The wheels could fall off their Cassell (37 in Nov.)/Mobley (31 on Sept. 1) backcourt at any time. Both are old and if the Clippers do resign Cassell, they will both be locked under big contracts for several years.
2 - Elgin Baylor is their GM. He did a nice job finally getting this team together, but look at his track record, do you really trust him too keep filling the holes and take them to the next level?
3 - Sterling is still notoriously cheap. It was nice that he shelled out money this past offseason. However, if their young players do develop at all (which they will need to for the Clippers' success), both Livingston and Kaman will command high salaries when they are free agents.
4 - Speaking of Livingston, the Clippers need him mature to go to the next level. However, he is still rail thin and already has a history of injury problems. Considering Cassell also has been spending more time on the DL, it seems realistic that the Clippers could spend long stretches without either of them.
