17-12, 5th in the West. Before the Christmas game, the Clippers did reverse the decline, with a wave of nine consecutive wins, pulling the Clippers out of the quagmire, and they have long since escaped the poor situation of hovering in the West. Obviously, the Clippers gradually played the performance that fans wanted to see, when the core lineup remained healthy enough, the Clippers showed their strength, they have the capital to compete with any team in the league, whether it is the core, or the role lineup, the Clippers This "Galaxy Battleship" is worthy of any team, and the addition of Harden also makes up for the only remaining loophole problem on the Clippers' surface. 94.43 million in 2 years, goodbye Clippers, strength is questioned, Harden can only rely on Leonard if he wants to win the championship.
A wave of nine consecutive wins has woken up the Clippers from their nightmare. However, just when fans thought they were about to spend Christmas in a calm and relaxed state, the Clippers' two-game losing streak brought a hint of pessimism to the team. Of course, the Clippers can still make excuses for the heavy defeat to the Thunder, they are back-to-back away games, and with Leonard's absence, the team is understandably uncomfortable for a while. However, the Clippers were then bloodied by the Celtics at home, which made some people completely unable to sit still. The outcome of the loss may have been predicted, but the successive fiascos are really incomprehensible. And during this time, the performance of the Clippers' core forward Paul George also brought him some doubts.
Of course, from the perspective of play, the two heavy defeats, George's personal performance, it seems that there is not much of a problem, just after the comeback, he scored 22 and 21 points in a row, and the three-point shooting rate reached 533%, this kind of efficiency, can even be described as top-notch. However, as the Clippers' second-in-command, George didn't play as expected by the team, and that's true. Especially in these years, George has not lived up to the team's expectations of him, and his individual performance has also been problematic. One thing that is embarrassing is the fact that George is absent, Leonard led the team to continue the winning streak with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, and even if Harden is only 2-of-8 from the field, Leonard can lead the team to victory.
And once Leonard was absent and George led the team, the Clippers were hard to find, not only losing, but the key was that the Clippers lost without any temper and were knocked down early, and when the team needed George to step up, he proved that he was not trustworthy with his performance. Over the years, George's positioning has been very embarrassing, you say he is a giant, he will always use unstable performances such as "one god, three ghosts" to make people feel depressed about him. You say he pulled his hips, he was named to the All-Star team at least twice in his Clippers career, and it wasn't so useless. To sum up, George's star level is not enough, at least compared to Leonard, he has a certain gap in terms of grade.
From the perspective of salary, George and the Clippers have 2 years and 94.43 million US dollars left on their contracts, and Leonard's contract is 2 years and 94.44 million US dollars. And for George himself, the Clippers gave him enough respect, which must be acknowledged. Before Harden joined, whether on or off the court, the Clippers gave George enough face, sometimes judging from the ball and off-court interviews, it seems that George is the boss of the Clippers, and it is precisely because of the team's connivance that George dared to help his good brother when Wei Shao was in trouble, if there were no privileges given by the Clippers, George may not be confident that he can persuade the Clippers to sign Wei Shao.
It's a pity that the Clippers' hard work failed to exchange for George's rise, with the addition of Harden, to be honest, George can't even sit firmly in the position of the second leader of the team, although the team still gives George enough face, but from the perspective of the effect on the court, George is not the one who can carry the banner. The problem for the Clippers is that they rely heavily on Leonard, who can stay healthy, the Clippers can compete with any team, and the Clippers will not lose their competitiveness even if everyone else is absent. And once Leonard falls, the competitiveness of the Clippers will be greatly reduced, at least three notches down, and the continuous fiascos are the best proof.
George himself has reached a crossroads in his career, and it stands to reason that he and Leonard should both be signed with a contract extension if they have a player option for the remainder of their contracts. However, it now seems that no matter what, the Clippers will find a way to complete a contract extension with Leonard in the future, even if it is an average salary of $60 million, Leonard is worth it. But George is not so lucky, in terms of personal ability and ability to lead the team, George is not the top, as the second leader of the team, he does not seem to be the strongest class, and he is 33 years old, and he is about to enter the twilight of his career, and the situation is becoming more and more embarrassing.