Paul Pierce thinks his Los Angeles Clippers are a superteam.
Most likely.
The 38-year-old forward, who will retire at the end of 2016-17, basically talked himself into calling the Clippers a superteam at their media day, per the Los Angeles Times‘s Jesse Dougherty:
“To me, I think we have a super team here,” Pierce stated at Clippers media day on Monday. “You look at Chris Paul who’s been first-team all-NBA … Blake Griffin first-team … DeAndre Jordan currently first-team All-NBA.
“I mean how many teams can currently say that? You have the best three-point shooter in the NBA (J.J. Redick). You have the Sixth Man of the Year (Jamal Crawford). I mean why is this not a super team? What defines super team? When you look at those stats and you hear when I’m saying, this could very well easily be what’s considered a super team.”
It’s okay, Paul. You don’t have to equivocate.
The Clippers are a superteam.
Any squad with a Big Three can typically lay claim to that honor. The Golden State Warriors and whatever team LeBron James plays for have turned that criteria inside out in recent years, usually running significantly deeper, but, in my book, if you have a trio of legitimate superstars, this designation is all yours.
Some will be quick to point out Blake Griffin’s injury history, or the fact that DeAndre Jordan can’t score unless he’s dunking. Fine. Go ahead and do that. But Griffin is still a top-12 talent at full strength, and Jordan has morphed into a genuine Defensive Player of the Year candidate under Doc Rivers, in addition to being one of the league’s most dangerous pick-and-roll finishers. Plus, Lob City also has this guy Chris Paul. Maybe you’ve heard of him.
Granted, the Clippers don’t stretch much deeper than their starting lineup. That’s the inherent risk of employing three superstars on market contracts. Still, when those three are on the court, along with J.J. Redick, Los Angeles plays like the best team in basketball, per NBA.com lineup data.
For now, maybe it’s fair to say there’s a debate to be had. But if the Clippers’ bench, its best attribute at this point being continuity, improves upon last season’s performance, Pierce won’t have sound so unsure the next time he deems this squad a superteam.
