Defense Wins Titles, But Offense Gets You To NBA Finals

It is very true that defense wins championships, but in today’s NBA, where scoring takes precedence over everything else, you need to have one of the better offensive teams in the league in order to make it to the NBA Finals. Last season, the Lakers and Heat were two of the better offensive teams in the league and the year before that, Golden State and Toronto were both Top-10 teams in offensive scoring. 

While it is true that the last two championships were won by the better defensive teams, they would not have gotten there without the offensive production they received along the way. Eric Bledsoe is a great scorer and will go out and give the Clippers 12+ points per night, but when it matters most, he will also step up and be a great defender for them. 

Over the course of his career, Bledsoe has averaged 1.4 steals per game and has always been respected as a great one-on-one perimeter defender. His defensive rating has always been one of the best amongst point guards in the league and with the Clippers, that would be no different. 

He is not as good of a defender as Patrick Beverley is, but he is more than capable of holding his own and keeping the Clippers as a Top-5 defensive team without Beverley. It does not sound flashy having a three-man core of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Eric Bledsoe, but that is enough all-around production to finally get this team to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in team history. 

What happens after they get there is to be determined, but by acquiring Eric Bledsoe, there is no reason why the Clippers should not make the Western Conference Finals, assuming they are fully healthy. They would have the veteran leadership, the two dynamic superstars and the two-way play up and down their roster to finally break through in a big way.