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The Los Angeles Clippers can't even lose correctly.

If they're not going to ascend, the least they could do is nosedive. Instead they're just trudging along into the worst region of the NBA, that seedy border town at the bottom of the playoffs or the low end of the lottery odds, probably out of Greg Oden-Kevin Durant range.

This isn't a new development for them. As bad as they've been historically, they've never been consistently horrendous at the right times to get the right players.

The last three teams with 15-game losing streaks wound up with the No. 1 pick in the draft. The Los Angeles Clippers were noticeably absent from that list.

They had a 13-game losing streak near the end of the 2003-04 season, part of a skid in which they dropped 18 of their final 20 games. The Los Angeles Clippers finished 28-54 that season, but Orlando was 21-61 and wound up with the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery.

And the Los Angeles Clippers picked fourth and selected Shaun Livingston.

Fast-forward to today, and the current issue of ESPN magazine sums it up best. Howard is on the cover, anointed as the newest "Next." Inside is a story on Shaun Livingston and how everyone — including Shaun Livingston himself — is waiting for him to finally live up to his potential.

They could have planted Howard at center next to Elton Brand and had one of the top frontlines in the NBA, regardless of who played small forward.

But these being the Los Angeles Clippers, you wonder if they would have made the wrong call and selected Emeka Okafor instead of Howard.

You want Dunleavy the coach, not the executive. He coaxed a past-its-prime Lakers team to the NBA Finals in his first coaching gig. But when he held both coaching and general manager duties with the Milwaukee Bucks, the team never had a winning record in his four years there.

The Los Angeles Clippers' loss to Indiana on Sunday was a reminder of one of Dunleavy's personnel gaffes. Danny Granger was on the board when the Los Angeles Clippers had the 12th pick in the 2005 draft, but because of Dunleavy's fixation on Yaroslav Korolev, the Los Angeles Clippers took the Russian teenager.

But the move that might hamper the Los Angeles Clippers the most is the four-year contract extension Dunleavy signed. If things don't improve on a roster loaded with locked-in players.

We didn't think this would even be a question after the Los Angeles Clippers had their best postseason.

Dunleavy's already inhibiting one key player: Corey Maggette. His refusal to play Corey Maggette more is keeping one of the top scoring threats off the court and isn't helping the cause of a team that ranks 19th in the NBA in points per game.

The most effective Los Angeles Clippers lineup has been Shaun Livingston, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas, with a plus/minus of plus 38.

And when it comes to providing the spark that Chris Kaman needs, shipping Corey Maggette would be about as effective as Chris Kaman's haircut. It wouldn't help Sam Cassell pull out of his worst shooting season since the 1999 lockout year. It wouldn't remind the rest of the players to keep pounding the ball in to Elton Brand.