Los Angeles Clippers: Road To Rehab

When the season began, many people thought that the Clippers of the old were back again, with players constantly leaving Los Angeles for other teams. When Elton Brand left, it was a huge blow to the Clippers, and a huge surprise to Baron Davis. But Dunleavy, both the coach and GM aimed to bring the Clippers some level of success without Brand, and immediately brought in Marcus Camby, trading almost next to nothing (draft picks) to Denver and all of a sudden the Clippers front line of Camby and Kaman seemed to be quite a threat. Throw in Baron Davis, the growing Al Thornton and Cuttino Mobley along with Ricky Davis, Tim Thomas and rookie Eric Gordon off the bench, and you had a pretty solid Clipper squad.

But the injuries piled on. Davis and Camby didn't start the season. Chris Kaman has been in and out of the lineup. So Dunleavy had to make a move, and he willingly did so, trading Mobely and Thomas for big man Zach Randolph on the Knicks.

Proving to be a good move with some lucky timing, Mobely was forced to retire due to a serious heart condition. Upon joining the Clippers, Randolph immediately began to flourish, but he too injured himself, and missed 2-3 weeks.

Out of a total 53 games this year, Baron Davis has only played 38. Marcus Camby has played 43. Chris Kaman has played only 15. Ricky Davis has been in 28 games.

It's been a terrible season for the Clippers, and many within the organization thought that they would be competing for a lower seed in the playoffs. Today, that idea is simply an after thought, with the 8th seed only having 23 losses, it will be a miracle of the Clippers make the playoffs, and very unlikely. However, things have come out to be pretty positive with the Clippers after all has been said and done.

Elton Brand, who signed with the 76ers, injured his shoulder on Dec. 17, and opted to rehab on his own for 6 weeks without surgery. Returning a tad bit rejuvenated, Brand hoped to lead the 76ers into the playoffs, only to re-injure the shoulder again. On Monday, Brand had a season-ending surgery on his shoulder, labeling the first year of his 5-year-$80 million contract a complete waste. Somewhere, Donald Sterling and Mike Dunleavy are smiling.

Ironically, around the same time, Baron Davis, Marcus Camby and Ricky Davis returned from their injuries to begin playing in limited minutes. But some good did come out of the time missed by the players. The injuries allowed players like Thornton, rookies Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan to evolve and grasp the idea of playing the NBA against other superior athletes. And now letting these players mesh with former All-Stars, the team's potential began to show some light. In a recent back-to-back road games series last week, the Clippers played the Memphis Grizzlies one night followed by the Atlanta Hawks.

They defeated both teams by over 20 points, becoming the first team in the league to do that on back-to-back road games this year. Not a big accomplishment, but a deserving applause for the once-crippled Clippers.

It's important to note that the following game, in Charlotte, the Clippers were blown out by a the Bobcats and newly acquired Vladimir Radmanovic, once also a Clipper.

But tonight was another example of how good the Clippers could be, when at almost full strength. Davis no longer restricted by limited minutes as recommended by team physicians, the Clippers came to play tonight.

Zach Randolph had 22 points and 16 rebounds while Eric Gordon led the team in scoring with 30. Al Thornton also had 20 points, and sharp shooter Steve Novak had 23 off the bench. Davis struggled with his shot and only wound up with 13 points, but had 20 assists. Unfortunately, Camby didn't play tonight due to a migraine headache, and Kaman is still out with an injury.

The Clippers are not going to make the playoffs. That's already understood. The fact that they deal with injuries so often, they'll most likely remain in the lottery, but on paper this team is talented. And maybe the remaining twenty-nine games is all the Clippers need to truly prep themselves for next season. Not having a true training camp, playing together never became natural, and its clearly evident on the floor night in, night out.

But the end of this season could very well be the beginning of a great start to next season, because when the everybody is healthy enough to play, these Clippers look like they are having fun while playing basketball, and are - believe me when I say it - an entertaining ball club to watch with Baron Davis leading the pack.

Add a top 10, top 15 pick to this Clipper squad and you never know, they just might have an All-Star next year.