In order to do justice to the basic thought of this article we need a quick recap of the Clippers history in L.A. Don't worry, I promise it will be quick and painless. The franchise moved up the 5 freeway from San Diego in time for the 1984-85 season. For most of that time through to today they were bad, laughably  bad. They were good four times over that span. By "good" I mean they finished above .500 and/or made the playoffs.  1991-92 Record: 45-37 Coach: Three, most prominent was Larry Brown Best Player: Danny Manning Playoff: Lost WC 1st round 1992-93 Record: 41-41 Coach: Larry Brown Best Player: Danny Manning, Mark Jackson Playoff: Lost WC 1st round 1996-97 Record: 36-46 Coach: Bill Fitch Best Player: Loy Vaught Playoff: Lost WC 1st round 2005-06 Record: 47-35 Coach: Mike Dunleavy Best Player: Elton Brand Playoff: Lost WC Semis It is not much of an exaggeration to say that in between those times the team was bad. Again, as mentioned above, laughably ba...

Here come the Rockets ! Houston is looking more and more like the team from Nor Cal in terms of their explosiveness and ability to defend. Today's NBA is all about multi-tasking players who can shoot from distance and defend. The Rockets are built do do just that. Can any team other than the Spurs continue to win without their alpha player over twenty plus games? The Pelicans are an aberration in terms of being built against the agreed on template (see paragraph above). Yet, they continue to win and lead the WC in Quality Wins. The experiment in Oklahoma City was bound to have it's ups and down. This week saw more downs than ups for the Thunder . The Thunder have nothing on the Clippers however who lost Blake Griffin for two months. As mentioned earlier, no team outside of San Antonio survives this type of loss. Combine that with the loss of Patrick Beverly, Milos Teodosic and Danilo Gallinari you are left with a team that might compete against G-League competition.  The Lake...

It's unlikely that many are surprised to see the teams rising to the top of the Western Conference rankings. The Warriors were the prohibitive favorites, the Rockets and Timberwolves improved in the off-season and the Spurs have a perpetual top spot guaranteed to them by NBA contract. Well, that an incredible coaching, good players and a system that works. After that though, the West gets murky. The LAPB is not sold on the Pelicans , but they continue to win and are tired for most Quality Wins. The Nuggets and the Blazers look to be interchangeable while the Thunder are still trying to find themselves. The Jazz and Grizzlies both started strong and are settling into where they will most likely end their season. Which leads us to the interesting part of the rankings this week. The Clippers come in at the 11 spot. Injuries have taken their toll, again, while the evolution of Blake Griffin as "the man" has seen its ups and downs. There are lots of problems with los...

I love to write. It's an odd passion for someone working in technology who didn't do particularly well in High School when writing was a requirement. My passion came to light later in life unfortunately. I started writing in the technology sector after buying and loving the very first Android phone ever sold, the G1. I am still grateful to AndroidGuys.com for giving me my start and pointing me in the "write" direction. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It wasn't long after I started to write that I began to merge my new passion with my old one, sports. From AndroidGuys I went to OCMetro where I covered the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California USA World Universe Milky Way. Which is, in fact, their real name.  Or not, I'm not sure. Then BleacherReport came calling and I became the Featured Columnist for the Clippers. Well, they didn't really call, they more replied to an email I sent, but you know, they wanted me! When I started writing for the Clippers...

Last week we talked about the possibility that the West is a two team race. Nothing in the fifth week made us think it isn't going to be. Are the Rockets really as good as their record? We are not sold at the LAPB, but you can't deny that they are the only team in the Western Conference who has yet to post a Bad Loss! That is impressive.  The fact that the Spurs are this good without their best player is frightening and telling. Frightening for the rest of the Association and telling in regards to just how good a coach Pop is. I know that's not new, but it's easy to forget. Popovich coaches a team, not a group a players. May seem like an odd distinction, but we believe that's the secret of the Spurs success. Play like a team regardless of who puts on the jersey. Not many coaches can pull that off, Pop can and Pop does. The middle tier of teams are boring.  The Clippers are hoping to claw their way back up to the boring middle tier soon. The panic button is not re...

Is the Western Conference going to be a two team race? I doubt it. Although, the Rockets are making me look bad by being so good. The team from Houston moves up while the team from the Golden State is destroying teams on the regular after a slow start. I'm not sold on the Pelicans , but scoreboard does not lie. This might be the season DeMarcus Cousins gets to play his first playoff game. The Nuggets strike me as the team most likely to implode. Weird to see the Clippers come in at 8 with a 5-7 record but when you consider that they were 10-2 after twelve games last year it may not be a bad thing. The team fizzled quickly after a hot start, maybe this time they catch fire at the right time? The Lakers are 5-8 but are in most of the games the play. More important, they seem to care on the defensive end from time to time which is a huge improvement from last season. They start two pretty impressive rookies so the future is indeed bright for the Purple & Gold. The Kings will ...

In the Association, like in most every professional sports league, the very worst place to be is in the middle. Teams that are mired at or near .500 are boring. They win, they lose, they never improve. It is professional sports league purgatory. Why else do you think teams tank... allegedly. Its because the prospect of being really bad in order to get a better draft pick and the potential to be really good far outweighs the horror that is mediocrity. Being stuck at or near the 40 win plateau for an NBA franchise is simply not where they want to be long term. In that regards the Clippers are in fine shape. Over the last five seasons they have averaged almost 55 wins a season. By all accounts, a very impressive run. The problem, as any Clipper fan will tell you with disgust and every Lakers fan will tell you with glee is that the franchise can't seem to win in the playoffs. In two of those five seasons the club lost in the Western Conference semi's. The other three seasons that 5...

Now its getting interesting. Was anyone really worried about the Warriors ? Not the Warriors, I'm sure. They are back at the top after a rough start. In fact, we have a new leader and a new bottom-feeder as we end week 3. Rockets fans have a right to be mad. Remember though, this is all about the math. The Rockets are winning, to be sure, however its more about who they are beating that keeps them at the 4 spot. Remember that quality wins matter here. The Spurs took a tumble but the Suns look like a new team. It couldn't of been Earl Watson's fault, right? Despite the recent winning after a truly horrible start the Suns only managed to jump up one spot. The Lakers are winning and looking good doing it. Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady even feels this is a team that can beat anyone! The only problem with the purple & gold at the moment is that they are still in the Western Conference which means they come in at the 13 spot. Weren't the Kings supposed to be better tha...

For those that need a refresher, click here to read how we arrive at these rankings. This is the only non-biased, no emotion ranking system devoid of gut feel. Covering games through Saturday, October 28, 2017 Notes and observations Are the Grizzlies for real? I'm not sold, but numbers don't lie. They lead the NBA in wins and more importantly, in Quality Wins. At the start of the season the Griz were labeled a Good team, not a Quality team. Keep this up and it will be time to re-think that. How are the Spurs still good? I have been asking the s ame question every season dating back a few seasons. Smoke, mirrors and Popovich, I guess. All the Clippers had to do to take the top spot was beat a mediocre team from the East. They led against the Pistons and looked like they might be able to get a win and go into week 2 as the #1 team. Clearly the pressure of being on top of the LAPB mathematically inspired ranking system was too much for the Clips. Despite the Bad Loss they still mo...

It's rough being a Clippers fan. I mean, lets start with the obvious, they are based out of Los Angeles. Home to the franchise with the second most NBA Championships ever. As if that wasn't bad enough they share the same home court as the aforementioned former champs.  To say the Clippers live in the Lakers shadow is like saying the sun is bright. Duh. While the past is a clear win for the Lakers, the recent past belongs to the Clippers. They are the better team and have been for years. The Lakers haven't won a season series against the Clippers since the 2011-12 season. In fact, their record against the Clips since the 2012-13 season is a dismal 2-19. Obviously Los Angeles is now a Clipper town, right? Not exactly. Actually, not even close. Lakers fan are a committed bunch. To the Clippers credit, as a franchise they don't seem to care. Los Angeles is very much a show-me city (apologies to Missouri) in that they love a winner. The Clippers are concerned only with impro...

Why just the Western Conference? What about the East? You are so biased! I hate you, i hate you, I hate you!!! If your initial reaction to this post fits into the general opinion outlined in the above paragraph, please click here  for a detailed explanation. For the rest of you, please read on. Covering games through Saturday, October 22, 2017 In addition to tracking wins and losses we are going to track a Quality Win (QW) and a Bad Loss (BL). Identifying a win against a Quality win or a loss against a Bad team will help to see why the rankings play out the way they do week to week. After just a few games it really is difficult to gauge the talent of a team. Wins and losses do not lie however so after adding the numbers into our closely guarded spreadsheet, the Grizzlies officially won Week 1. Notes and observations In addition to being 2-0 they beat the defending champs which, as explained above, is a Quality win. They also beat the Pelicans who, for now, are designated ...

I have to begin by stating unequivocally that I know bad basketball. I used to cover the Clippers before they drafted Blake Griffin for Bleacher Report. In fact, I admit to watching the team play, and I use the term lightly, even before they landed BG.  It's true, I know bad basketball. So, please believe me when I say that tonight's game between the two powerhouse professional teams in Los Angeles was bad basketball. No really bad. The teams combined for 50 turnovers and a staggering 57 fouls. The Clippers get a pass of sorts in that they started and played players that should either still be in college, playing overseas, or not playing at all. At best the majority of the team with Clippers jerseys on tonight were G-League players. This was a group that hadn't played together and it was understandable that they looked as sloppy as they did accounting for 23 turnovers and 27 fouls. The Lakers on the other hand started the group that is likely to start when the season begi...

Much like our President who recently requested equal time from the late night hosts who he feels aren't fairly allocating their evening barbs, the Clippers of Los Angeles recently reached out. In a now deleted tweet they lambasted LAPB for ignoring the other professional basketball team in LA. After all, we do claim to be the authority on everything Los Angeles professional basketball. For years it was easy to dismiss the Clippers. Yes they played in LA. Yes, they were professionals in that they got paid to play. But, was that really basketball? Back in the era before Doc Rivers it really was a debate worth having. It's honestly very cool to have to remind young fans that the Clippers were bad once. No, its true. They weren't as bad as the Lakers but they were bad!! Ok, ok, I will come clean. There was no tweet from the Clippers. The Lakers, as bad as they have been over the last few years, have nothing on the badness that was the Clippers. Finally, no, our President...