With Paul gone, it’s Griffin's team
LOS ANGELES — It's a very different and uncertain Clippers team that will open the upcoming season.
Los Angeles sent Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets in the offseason and the Clippers are now very much Blake Griffin's team.
Griffin and center DeAndre Jordan will be surrounded by three new projected starters and nine new players on the roster.
That's a lot of turnover, creating numerous questions with very few early answers. That's been exacerbated by all three new starters — forward Danilo Gallinari and guards Patrick Beverley and Austin Rivers — fighting nagging injuries and being unable to finish the preseason playing together.
“I jokingly said before camp the one thing you don't want to have is injuries to key guys in training camp,” said coach Doc Rivers. “It's not a joke anymore.”
Paul is one of the NBA's finest point guards and replacing him creates numerous challenges. Rivers said he doesn't necessarily need a traditional point guard, just two guards effective at passing. Still, the primary responsibility figures at first to go to Beverley, who came over in the Paul trade and served in that role with the Rockets.
Beverley averaged 9.5 points per game for Houston last season and 4.2 assists. Should he falter in LA, the Clippers have an intriguing option in Milos Teodosic, the all-everything player from Europe once dubbed the best player not in the NBA.
Teodosic is a passing wizard but he's also 30 and not exactly heralded for his strong defense.
“His core vision is crazy,” said fellow new Clipper Wesley Johnson. “The way he passes the ball, it's been fun to see.”
How fun a rebuilding team coming off five consecutive 50-win seasons is without Paul remains unclear.
When the game was on the line in the closing seconds, there was never any doubt the ball would be in Paul's hands. And most likely he would take the final shot.
Now that he's gone, does the game-winning attempt fall to Griffin, Gallinari or sixth-man Lou Williams?
LOS ANGELES LAKERS