Clippings: You don’t know what you got till it’s gone

During this NBA hiatus, there has been little to do but reminisce about former players and big moments in franchise history. The Lob City Clippers have been doing the same over the past few days, as they’ve taken to social media to relive the halcyon days of the early 2010s.

Chris Paul went on the “All the Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes (on the Clippers from 2012-2015) and Stephen Jackson (played nine games for the Clippers in 2013-14), and naturally they talked about their time in Los Angeles. (Warning: it’s very fun to listen to, but there is a lot of explicit language in that clip.)

Barnes thinks that those Clippers are one of the greatest teams never to win a title, and Paul and Jackson agreed wholeheartedly. None of them brought the team’s postseason failures during their conversation, though. Instead, Paul said, “I think about all the dope teammates I got to play with.”

He also spoken fondly about his time with Blake Griffin, even though of the two of them quite famously didn’t get along at certain points.

“It’s seriously one of those things you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone. I think about it at times,” Paul said. “And me and Blake absolutely had our issues here and there, but I actually appreciated Blake probably a lot more after I left. And then especially once he started shooting them threes.”

Paul had a great story about throwing lobs to DeAndre Jordan as well. He said once he got to Houston, Clint Capela asked him why he never threw him high lob passes like he did to Jordan. Paul said it was partly a function of how the offense in Houston worked, and that it was easier to throw bounce passes into the paint so they wouldn’t get deflected.

He then added, “When I threw the lob to DJ, all I had to do was keep it in the arena. There didn’t have to be no accuracy, no nothing.”

Although it can be human nature to look back and wonder might have been, it certainly sounds like the players generally have positive associations with their time as Clippers, even if they didn’t relish the moment at the time. These three still enjoy being around one another, and Paul said he and Jordan text each other just about every day.

The Clippers were a fun team to watch and root for during Lob City. Their perceived lack of success doesn't change that.

On to the links...

• Austin Rivers also spoke about his memories from the Lob City era.
• Caron Butler shared a video of the initial moment of Lob City.

• In non-Lob City news, Doc Rivers talked about his impressions of Lou Williams when he first arrived to the Clippers.
• The NBA is discussing a H-O-R-S-E tournament to be televised during the league suspension. This would be in addition to the NBA 2K tournament, which Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley are crushing.
• Here’s another great historical dive into former San Diego Clipper Terry Cummings.