What happened to the Clippers in the 2002-03 season?

[pandiani17]

I remember the Clippers being 42-40 in the 2001-02 season, and making what it seemed a suberb trade at the time for Andre Miller in the summer (a good PG was all they needed). Post-season seemed something pausible for a franchise that had been in the playoffs only a couple of times in 20 years. However, they managed to win only 27 games with a line-up that featured:

PG-Andre Miller
SG-Corey Maggette
SF.-Lamar Odom
PF-Elton Brand
C-Michael Olowokandi

Bench: Keyon Dooling, Marko Jaric, Eric Piatkowski, Quentin Richardson, Chris Wilcox, Melvin Ely

What happened there? Did saying goodbye to Darius Miles affect chemistry? Did they have too many players in their option-year (4)? Was the Western Conference too strong at the time? A little bit of everything? I remember being surprised at the time with their poor season.

P.D. Another day we can do a similar post about the 2001-02 Milwaukee Bucks.

[MrFonzworth]

What does this have to do with LeBron?

[John8204]

The eight teams ahead of them were better. It was musical chairs and an Elton Brand led team wasn't going to overtake the HOF stacked west

Utah - Stockton/Russell/Kirilenko/Malone/Collins
Seattle - Payton/Barry/Lewis/Mason/Baker
Portland - Stoudemire/Patterson/Pippen/Wallace/Davis
Minnesota - Billups/Smith/Szczerbiak/Garnett/Nesterović
Dallas - Nash/Griffin/Finley/Howard/Dirk
Lakers - Fisher/Bryant/Fox/Horry/Oneal
Spurs - Parker/Smith/Bowen/Duncan/Robinson
Kings - Bibby/Christie/Peja/Webber/Divac

[ArbitraryWater]

Odom wasnt all there yet.


Weird lineup.

[StrongLurk]

In hindsight, the lack of long range shooting in the early 2000's is wild. I loved that era, was in middle school for it, and never realized the lack of shooting because it was standard across the league. Crazy how much has changed in 20 years. The difference between 1984 NBA to 2004 NBA feels a lot less compared to 2004 and 2024.

[iamgine]

The main difference is Quentin Richardson suck in 2003 and Darius Miles gone. In addition to Andre Miller not being that good that year.

[L.Kizzle]

The eight teams ahead of them were better. It was musical chairs and an Elton Brand led team wasn't going to overtake the HOF stacked west

Utah - Stockton/Russell/Kirilenko/Malone/Collins
Seattle - Payton/Barry/Lewis/Mason/Baker
Portland - Stoudemire/Patterson/Pippen/Wallace/Davis
Minnesota - Billups/Smith/Szczerbiak/Garnett/Nesterović
Dallas - Nash/Griffin/Finley/Howard/Dirk
Lakers - Fisher/Bryant/Fox/Horry/Oneal
Spurs - Parker/Smith/Bowen/Duncan/Robinson
Kings - Bibby/Christie/Peja/Webber/Divac

This. There are teams with Hall of Famers and multiple All-Stars on these teams. There best player here is Elton Brand, and he's probably the 6th best PF of the 8 you listed.

[HoopsNY]

The West was pretty stacked then, and team chemistry seemed to have been an issue. But there were a lot of injuries too.

Brand: 20 Missed games
Olawakandi: 46 Missed games
Odom: 33 Missed games
Maggette: 18 Missed games
Q. Rich: 23 Missed games
Piatkowski: 20 Missed games
Parks: 52 Missed games
Jaric: 16 Missed games
Dooling: 27 Missed games

Come to think of it, the whole team was injured with the exception of Miller. That was probably the greatest reason they didn't play well at all.

[RRR3]

The West was pretty stacked then, and team chemistry seemed to have been an issue. But there were a lot of injuries too.

Brand: 20 Missed games
Olawakandi: 46 Missed games
Odom: 33 Missed games
Maggette: 18 Missed games
Q. Rich: 23 Missed games
Piatkowski: 20 Missed games
Parks: 52 Missed games
Jaric: 16 Missed games
Dooling: 27 Missed games

Come to think of it, the whole team was injured with the exception of Miller. That was probably the greatest reason they didn't play well at all.
Olowokandi missing games would have helped them, he was maybe the worst bust ever. Absolutely horrendous player.

[pandiani17]

The eight teams ahead of them were better. It was musical chairs and an Elton Brand led team wasn't going to overtake the HOF stacked west

Utah - Stockton/Russell/Kirilenko/Malone/Collins
Seattle - Payton/Barry/Lewis/Mason/Baker
Portland - Stoudemire/Patterson/Pippen/Wallace/Davis
Minnesota - Billups/Smith/Szczerbiak/Garnett/Nesterović
Dallas - Nash/Griffin/Finley/Howard/Dirk
Lakers - Fisher/Bryant/Fox/Horry/Oneal
Spurs - Parker/Smith/Bowen/Duncan/Robinson
Kings - Bibby/Christie/Peja/Webber/Divac

One thing is missing the playoffs, another different matter is not even winning 30 games. And Malone and Stockton were in their 39-40. Also, that Sonics team is from the previous seasons (2002 playoffs), they traded Vin Baker to the Celtics in the summer of 2002 and Gary Payton to Milwaukee midway through the 2002-03 season. The Suns of Marbury, Marion and rookie Amare made the postseason that 2002-03 season.

But well, overall, thanks for the asnwers guys, injuries, team chemistry and some players having bad seasons could be the reasons for that awful seasons for a pretty decent roster.

[HoopsNY]

Olowokandi missing games would have helped them, he was maybe the worst bust ever. Absolutely horrendous player.

He was a bust, but he was a big body in an era that needed a low post presence. They had a 37-43 record with him in 2002. The next season, they had a .361 win percentage with him and a .300 win percentage without him. Given the alternatives, I think he was at least not a net negative. He also averaged 2.2 blks that year

But up and down the roster was just filled with guys who missed significant amounts of time. I don't remember them having any hope, but it wasn't because of a lack of talent. This happens almost every year. That one team that has a lot of youthful talent but can't get it together.

[RRR3]

He was a bust, but he was a big body in an era that needed a low post presence. They had a 37-43 record with him in 2002. The next season, they had a .361 win percentage with him and a .300 win percentage without him. Given the alternatives, I think he was at least not a net negative. He also averaged 2.2 blks that year

But up and down the roster was just filled with guys who missed significant amounts of time. I don't remember them having any hope, but it wasn't because of a lack of talent. This happens almost every year. That one team that has a lot of youthful talent but can't get it together.
What low post presence? His career TS% was 45.7 TS%, that's all time bad. Literally one of the worst starters ever.

[HoopsNY]

What low post presence? His career TS% was 45.7 TS%, that's all time bad. Literally one of the worst starters ever.

Meant defensively. Just having a player of his size was a plus. He was 7'0" 280 lbs.

[RRR3]

Meant defensively. Just having a player of his size was a plus. He was 7'0" 280 lbs.
Was it? He's literally infamous for being bad (for NBA standards), like literally the only reason he's remembered is for being notably bad, like Darko Milicic. He also turned it over a ton for a guy with his usage, genuinely one of the worst offensive players I've ever seen statistically speaking. On/off would bear that out, the Clippers were always worse with him on the court despite whatever defense he may have offered.