If everyone is dialed in (AHEM! PG13 AHEM!) and healthy (Morris if he doesn’t get moved), this team has the ability to make it to the finals.

Then they have their shot IF fully healthy. Would they be favoured in any of those series? Not really. I think dangerous, gritty underdog team is the most suitable role for the Clippers, one they can embrace. Going from there as a fan, not much to lose, a lot to look forward to. I’d be a bit disappointed if it’s a first round exit, depends on the circumstances. Losing to the Suns was no shame. 2nd round seems most realistic. I just hope they meet the Lakers in the playoffs XD Dallas would be nice. Memphis could be pretty cool and a great battle.

What series would you enjoy and why?

– your accurate criticism of the coaching, with Morris’ role being both a coaching and front office issue
– a relatively old roster AND injury-prone stars
– a roster that’s slightly worse than last season after losing Eric Gordon (hopefully the minutes at the 4 get better, minutes at the 2/3 should get worse on average)
– an unbalanced roster that lacks point guard depth, quality to back up Kawhi and matchup versatility at the 5 (Zu is that much better than any small-ball 5 that the upside of having a stretch 5 on offense gets lost elsewhere)
– Russ’ leadership was mentioned. What wasn’t stated: if your new guy becomes your leader that quickly, without being your best player, that says a lot about the leadership void otherwise. So did the lackluster performances prior to the trade deadline.

Homework needs to be done first, truly contending is an incredibly unlikely scenario. But – having accepted it, competing and seeing entertaining basketball with some gritty defense and offensive highlights is what I look forward to.