Los Angeles Clippers 2014-15 Preview

Doc Rivers has established his system and has a year under his belt with his new group in LA. After falling in the second round of last year’s Western Conference playoffs, are the Clippers ready to make a run for the hardware?

Here is a snippet of my Los Angeles Clippers 2014-15 season preview from CelticsBlog.com, which is part of SBNation’s annual season preview project.

X-FACTOR – Team Defense
Doc Rivers has a couple of incredible defensive anchors in DeAndre Jordan and six-time NBA All-Defense selection Chris Paul, but he’s going to need the entire group to be in sync with one another. Certain guys have to improve defensively from an individual standpoint and those rotations are going to have to be crisp in 2014-15.
Especially in a best-of-seven playoff series, one mistake can kill your defense and the Clippers experienced far too many defensive breakdowns last season. This team is arguably the most talented in the league and they’ll never have problems putting the ball in the bucket, but they need to be able to get multiple stops on a consistent basis before they have a chance to make their first run to the NBA Finals in franchise history.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2014-15
There is no doubt that this year’s Clippers team is going to be one of the best squads the NBA has to offer, and they will certainly be in the mix in the Western Conference. With Kevin Durant out of action to start the season, LA has a great opportunity to start strong and gain an advantage in the standings from the jump, and they’ll want to capitalize on that.

The Western Conference is no joke, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any “easy” matchup in the playoffs out there, but you’ll also have a hard time finding tougher opponents than the Clippers. I can’t believe I’m saying this (which I will say until the Clippers actually win something), but if all goes well, the Clippers are going to have a strong chance to compete for a championship.

PREDICTED STANDINGS
1st – Pacific Division
3rd – Western Conference

FULL ARTICLE – LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 2014-15 PREVIEW – CELTICSBLOG.COM

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