I am so over the Aspiration nonsense.

Let’s play ball.

I finally figured out who this iteration of the Clippers reminds me of and it’s the 96/97 Rockets who assembled a collection of aging stars to make one last run at the chip. Both Hakeem and Barkley were 34, and Drexler was 35. They also added former Allstar Kevin Willis 35, and former 6MOY Eddie Johnson who was 38! Rounding out the rotation were Mario Elle 34, Sedale Threat 36, and 40 year old Charles Jones as their third Big. Although people claim we are the oldest team in history it’s difficult to imagine it wasn’t these Rockets. 

Anyway, they opened the season 21-2 including Barkley’s Rockets debut against his former Suns where he had 20 points and a career high 33 boards. Hakeem and Clyde were also tearing it up and it was a foregone conclusion that there would be a Rockets-Bulls team-of-the-decade Finals showdown. Many pundits were even claiming both teams might win 70 games. Then, predictably, the old men started breaking down to where Chuck missed 29 games and Clyde 19 and they began to crater. Nevertheless, they gutted out 57 wins, the 3rd seed, and made the conference finals before losing to the Jazz in 6. Although NBA fans didn’t get to see the Michael vs Hakeem showdown, the season was still a seriously fun ride. Given this precedent, perhaps what we’re trying to do isn’t as crazy as it all looks. 

The depth is the key. There are at least 10 storylines with the Clippers, and probably a lot more. Maybe it’s 11, one for each quality rotation player. But I had forgotten about Konan, and he’s going to be an interesting training camp/preseason item, along with the non-rotation players.

Clips will be dismissed–so much Clip bashing the last two weeks!–on age and now cap circumvention/Kawhi. They’re going to have to weather multiple hits on both fronts through camp and preseason, all the way up until real basketball begins. Increasingly looking like there will be nothing to say or think about Aspirationgate until after the All-Star game at Intuit, or at least until the end of the calendar year, which means that the focus will eventually turn to basketball and actual games.

If depth is #1, my personal #2 might be Zu. Just read Hollinger saying that Zu will regress, even while he was picking the Clips to get the over and win more than 50 games. My view is that Zu is a completely different player than he was at this time last year, both in terms of his actual game and his reputation/acknowledgment/profile. On top of that, the team is going to be building around him. Where does he stand in the line behind Jokic for the best centers in the league? It’s a good question, but he’s a lot higher than he was last year at this time. Harden was a big factor in his rise and excellence last year, and that will continue, but now he’ll have Chris Paul (as a modest upgrade from Kevin Porter Jr.!!), and Bradley Beal, along with Brook Lopez and John Collins joining him in the frontline rotation. His numbers might not jump, but his effectiveness and recognition should make a significant leap. I can’t wait to see what he’s added to his game, his refinements on last year’s breakout, and how the new roster and rotation plays out.