You may like or hate the trade. We can argue back and forth if it ultimately made us better or worse. The fact is that the quality of basketball being played right now is way below what we should be seeing despite how you feel about the trade.

We had two good, competitive games just after the trade and before Harden officially started playing. We split those games and the second against the Lakers went to OT and could have easily been won. We didn’t have Mann in the rotation yet and the defense wasn’t half as bad as we’ve seen the last few games. Plums is definitely a part of our struggles but his role alone cannot account for this massive drop off.

The truth is this is not the peak we should be expecting from this squad of guys. There’s no way you add Mann and Harden to that same team that played the Lakers and you drastically start shitting the bed on defense and struggle to hit 100 points on offense.

What I am saying is we haven’t seen the best of this current squad just yet. They have to collect their minds back together and put their pride back on the line. A lot of this is poor effort and dumb mistakes. Not boxing out. Slow decision making. Too much deferring and not enough pride on the defensive end.

The guys, especially the main 4 have to get their shit together right now. Fortunately, I believe we hit rock bottom last night. Tomorrow we may get beat down but I have some hope that we’ll get up to play the champs and give them something resembling a competitive game.

Get your shit together Clip Nation. Clip Gang or Don’t Bang!