The Doc Rivers Affect
Our biggest X-Factors for the upcoming 2014 season is by far, the Los Angeles Clippers. In our opinion, the Clips are the biggest threat to the Miami Heat, from coaching to players. Doc Rivers is the second best coach in the league behind Gregg Popovich and is only one of four active coaches that have won an NBA title. Chris Paul has the mindset to lead the Clippers to an NBA championship, but has lacked talent solidified talent around him (more in particular Blake Griffin).
The player with the most pressure this year in our opinion is Blake Griffin. With added depth at long-range shooting from Jared Dudley and J.J. Redick to join Jamal Crawford, the Clippers will be a team no one will want to play a 7-game series against. Doc Rivers is known for being a defensive-minded coach, and will bring his experience from Boston to Hollywood this year. This will particular benefit stretch big-man DeAndre Jordan to anchor the team on defense, and also end the discussion of Blake Griffin being described as “soft”, (see past two Memphis Grizzlies series).
At the tender age of 24, Blake Griffin is still missing a solidified post-game along with that killer instinct Doc Rivers can implement into his arsenal. On the court, there’s not a single point guard in the NBA anymore (now that Jason Kidd is retired) that has a higher IQ than Chris Paul. CP3 is essentially an on the court coach and will listen to Doc Rivers unlike one of our favorite players Rajon Rondo. CP3’s only focus is to win, which will free up Doc’s ability to implement a defensive system to his cast of 3 pointers; also making his front court one of the scariest in the league. The Clippers are our personal picks to win the Western Conference this May.