Chris Paul Walks Out On the Clippers - Team Analysis With Grades! - June 28th, 2017

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Chris Paul Walks Out On the Clippers - Team Analysis With Grades!
June 28th, 2017
The 2017 NBA Offseason has been like Christmas morning for all of us NBA fans. We love it, keep it up! It is not good NBA drama without Los Angeles being involved. Reportedly, today is the day where both the Clippers and the Houston Rockets made deep splashes with the Clippers acquiring Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Lou Williams and a 2018 1st-round pick and the Rockets acquiring Chris Paul. Overall, solid trade but lets look at it from both perspectives.
The Houston Rockets made a statement to the league, "Hey guys, we are here to win and we are not going to roll over for LeBron or them boys in Oakland." Obviously the move is box office and I am looking forward to tuning into more of their games and they are emerging as my team for NBA 2K18 (yes I will beat you) but this screams immediate help and not team longevity.

Chris Paul has proven that he still is a top tier point guard with averaging 18 & 9 last year and he is on a mission to finally make that move to the Western Conference Finals. However, I am not completely sold on the move. Chris Paul and James Harden are a mouthful in the backcourt but they are both ball stopping and ball dominant players so I do not know how this will mesh given Harden just led the league in assists and was top three in scoring in his MVP caliber year but lets see how Coach of the Year Mike D'Antoni makes it work. Moreover, I have to look at what they gave up...BEVERLEY. Patrick Beverley was very crucial for the Rockets as of late providing pesky defense and the improving ability to knock down shots without ego and requiring multiple isolations per game. He was the enforcer for the team who had no issues rebounding and he had a team friendly contract. Even though they kept 6th man of the year Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza, they lost their other bench force in Lou Williams who has to be the most valuable dispensable player in the NBA. With both of these hits along with Dekker and their pick it hurts their bench and their offseason for next year but it makes them a definite problem this season. Additionally, this trade poses the question: Who's going to guard Klay and the 2017 Finals MVP assuming CP3 has defensive duties on Curry. However, whenever you acquire someone of Paul's caliber it is a solid move so I give it a B+. Reports also let us know that they are trying to make a push on Paul George so lets sit and wait to see if they can grab him or another established free agent.
To the Clippers point...CAN YOU START YOUR REBUILD NOW? We found out in reports that they have no possibility on getting LeBron, Doc Rivers has caused rifts with players, no growth, I guess there is an injury plague has been prevalent in their facilities, ongoing chemistry tension and no roster moves were made to make it past the first and second rounds of the playoffs. Start over! Trading CP3 was first. I love how they got assets for Paul instead of letting him go for nothing. James Harden's recruitment was enough for CP3 to let Jerry West and company know that he was not going to return because of the dysfunction of the team and reports let us know that he did not appreciate Doc Rivers not agreeing to let go of his son to acquire Melo (Doc I am mad at you too.) The only knocks I have against the trade for the Clips is not getting another draft pick and getting an older, undersized, scorer with no defense in Lou Williams (sound familiar? Yeah, his new teammate Jamal Crawford.) Moving forward they should keep this trend going and get a fresh start. Because of the circumstance, I give the Clippers an A- in this trade.


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