5 reasons the Los Angeles Clippers are for real
By John Buhler
The Los Angeles Clippers are 10-1 through their first 11 games of 2016-17. Here are five reasons this team is a real NBA Championship contender this season.
Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers are the best team in the NBA through 11 games. They are 10-1 with their one loss being by two points to Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder, 85-83. Many expected the Clippers to be a top-four team in the Western Conference that was capable of winning 55 games.
However, few thought that they would get off to this hot of a start in 2016-17. The Clippers aren’t going away this season. Here are five reasons that Los Angeles is a serious threat to contend for the 2016-17 NBA Championship.
5. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute: The answer at the three?
The Clippers have been a strong team for much of the last decade. However, they have had three primary issues as a basketball team: 1.) Overcoming the limitations associated with Doc Rivers as general manager. 2.) A largely unimpressive bench (more on that in a minute). 3.) Who is the Clippers’ fifth starter at small forward?
Rivers is what he is as a front office executive and the bench seems to be better, but could the Clippers have their answer at the three in veteran Luc Richard Mbah a Moute? While Mbah a Moute is only averaging 5.9 PPG in 23.5 minutes per contest, he is showing signs of the three-and-d guy the Clippers have coveted for the entire Rivers era in Los Angeles.
Mbah a Moute is shooting .565 from the field, .429 from three, and has an effective field goal percentage of .630. In his ninth NBA season after starring collegiately for the UCLA Bruins, Mbah a Moute is playing the best defense of his basketball career. He already has 0.5 Defensive Win Shares and has career highs in Defensive Box Plus/Minus (3.8) and Box Plus/Minus (4.1).
For Los Angeles to be successful come playoff team, the Clippers can’t lose games at the starting small forward position. Not only can the Clippers tread water with Mbah a Moute at the three, he is grading out as a plus defender and a reliable jump-shooter for them in the early part of the 2016-17 NBA season.