In July and August, NBA conversations tilt towards teams in rebuild mode. Between the NBA Draft, free agency and Summer League, it’s fun to get into the weeds on teams like Denver, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. But as Fall draws near, it’s time to talk about teams that have a fighting chance against the Golden State Warriors.

The Cavaliers are the defending champions, have LeBron James and are in the East. Barring freak injuries, they’re a lock for the Finals. While Kevin Durant’s departure to the Warriors certainly eliminated Oklahoma City as a contender out West, there are two teams that have still have title-caliber pieces. I wrote about the Spurs still being in contender mode earlier this summer. The Clippers are right there, too.

The Clippers basically held serve this offseason and filled out the roster with veterans. Doc Rivers decided to roll out the same team and hope for a better result. When you have Chris Paul (31), Blake Griffin (27), DeAndre Jordan (28) and J.J. Redick (32), that’s not the worst plan. These guys are essentially in their primes, and hitting the reset button doesn’t guarantee anything. In a league where the odds to win a title are so low, being one of four teams in the conversation for a title is all you can ask for.

Doc Rivers threw three years and $35 million at his son Austin Rivers and three years and $42 million at sixth man Jamal Crawford. He also re-signed Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Wesley Johnson, and added Marreese Speights, Brandon Bass, Raymond Felton and Alan Anderson. With Paul Pierce returning as well, and rookies Brice Johnson and Diamond Stone in the mix, the Clippers now have 15 players that could play a role and contribute in some capacity.

However, the Clippers failed to address their hole at the small forward position and will seemingly enter this season with Mbah a Moute, Johnson and Pierce as their options at the three. Given that Crawford can play crunch-time minutes, starting Mbah a Moute for a few minutes at the beginning of the first and third quarters is passable in a long regular season. But Mbah a Moute posted just a 7.3 player efficiency rating (PER) last season. He’s never been at or above the league average in PER in his career. When your competition on the wings is Klay Thompson and Durant, and Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, you simply need more production at that position. Some Clippers fans are excited about Anderson, who could slide over to the three, but he’s just a career 34.5 percent 3-point shooter, right about where Wesley Johnson is at 34.4 percent.

The Clippers offense is centered around the high pick-and-roll with Blake and CP3, and some off ball screening by DeAndre used to free Redick. Even with Griffin missing 47 games last season, Paul’s vision and the Clippers continued improvement in using off-ball action led to finishing sixth in offensive efficiency. And with DeAndre anchoring the defense, they finished fourth in defensive efficiency.

And yet, what really matters is the playoffs. To play with the Warriors — and even the Spurs — giving Mbah A Moute and Wesley Johnson 17.0 and 20.8 minutes respectively is too risky. The best teams will expose you for having an offensive liability on the court. This happened to the Memphis Grizzlies with Tony Allen in 2015, and to Andre Roberson and the Thunder this past season. Other than playing Crawford huge minutes, trying Paul alongside Rivers, or hoping Anderson has a career year, the Clippers will have to be creative to fill those minutes on the wing.

Los Angeles Clippers Magasin,If they can’t, Doc Rivers will have some questions to answer. The Clippers took Johnson 25th in the draft, which brought them good value that late in the first-round. But in doing so they passed up on the following wing players: Furkan Korkmaz (26th), Malcolm Brogdon (36th) and Patrick McCaw (38th). By drafting point guard David Michineau (39th) and center Diamond Stone (40th), they also passed on small forwards Jake Layman (47th) and Paul Zipser (48th). Given how they filled out their roster, the Clippers may regret not taking a wing player. Or, if they were completely sold on Johnson, why did they spend $35 million on Rivers rather than on a small forward?

There’s no silver bullet to this situation, and the Clippers should cruise to 50 wins regardless of how they divvy up their minutes during the regular season. But if the Clippers are all in on the CP3/Blake/DeAndre/Redick tandem, they need to make sure the supporting cast is there. There’s no shame in losing to a Golden State super team, or falling to San Antonio’s No. 1 defense. But they can’t allow the inability to fill one position to cost them a shot at the title.