With Sterling Officially Out, Clippers Welcome Distraction-Free Season | IXGAMES
The Donald Sterling saga is officially over, so the Los Angeles Clippers can get back on track. With no shortage of racially-charged distractions last postseason, the franchise failed to live up to their NBA odds. To make matters worse, they haven’t been particularly impactful this offseason. Now with all the Sterling drama in the past, the club can redeem itself and return to the league’s elite. On paper the Clippers are a force in the west (12/1 to win the NBA championship). However, the truth is that they have stayed relatively stagnant while other teams around the league have improved. Chris Paul (19.1 PPG, 10.7 APG) and Blake Griffin (24.1 PPG, 9.5 RPG) will return to the Clippers, a team that went 46-35-1 against the spread last season, but if they want to cause damage in a grueling conference, they’ll have to show that they can handle teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game set. Considering the competition they’ll face in 2014-2015, the forecast looks rough, but don’t overlook the fact that six months ago the Clips were as intimidating as any team in the west. Now that Sterling is officially out of the picture, anything can happen.