How About Them Clipps?
Who woulda thunk it? The Los Angeles Clippers, tied for first place in the Western Conference! Granted, it's very early in the season, and two of their six wins have come against the Atlanta Hawks, one of only two winless teams left in the League, but this is still better than even the most optimistic Clippers fan could have hoped for, after losing Bobby Simmons and having the young, hopeful Shaun Livingston sidelined by back problems. But the Cassell trade has worked out probably better than anyone expected. So far.
Of course, Murphy always seems to have a way of crashing the Clippers season at some point, but who knows, maybe this year will be different! (Yeah, right.) What's kind of sad is that the Clippers, last year, ended up with a better record than the Lakers (37-45 versus 34-48). With the Lakers off to a rather ho-hum start (3-4), I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the Clippers outpaced the Lakers yet again this year.
Speaking of playing well, the Detroit Pistons remain the only undefeated team in the L, blowing away the Celtics last night, 115-100. I watched part of their close game against the Blazers last week. I like what the Pistons did in the offseason - focus on keeping the core talent (Prince, for example) and add trusty veterans who know their place and are starving for a ring (Evans and Davis)... although Davis has not seen much court time, but Evans is playing well and contributing.