The Los Angeles Clippers are quietly playing a very respectable season. They are 17-18 and 12-8 at home at the Staples Center. Suddenly those with Clipper tickets are getting a quality basketball product. The team is averaging 96.2 points a game, but has the tendency to get blown out, as evident by the 98 points a game they give up.

The leading scorer on a team with a great point guard in Baron Davis and an up-and-coming shooting guard in Eric Gordon is center Chris Kaman. Kaman often gets left out of the discussion of good centers in the NBA. He is not going to go up for lobs or lead the league in blocks, but he is a solid player that averages 20.4 points and 9.4 rebounds a game. He is simply good around the basket and can pick up some blue collar points.

Davis is having a good season, not a great one. At the age of 30 is no longer a perpetual 20-10 points-assists threat, but he can still pull out one of those games on occasion. Gordon is having a great second season in the league though. He is averaging 17.3 points a game. He also is proving that he has quick hands with 1.5 steals a game.

Marcus Camby is great defensive stopper at the power forward position. Camby may not be an offensive factor, but there are enough offensive factors on this team to cover for him. Al Thornton is has found his role in the starting lineup as a sometimes scorer with tremendous athleticism. This Clippers team would definitely be making the postseason if they played in the Eastern Conference, but they play in the Western Conference and are not even the headliners at their own arena, playing second fiddle to the Lakers.