It’s full exposure for Clippers

No Elton Brand? No Shaun Livingston? No problem.

For four games at least.

When the Clippers surged out of the gate 4-0 this season, it appeared they had pulled one on everyone -- themselves included.

“For a while it looked like they were ahead of the curve,” said Denver Nuggets Coach George Karl. “Then it seemed like everyone kind of caught up to them.”

The absence of Brand and Livingston, and a significant number of other injuries, are hindering the Clippers. But after the quick start, players and scouts say the team’s play changed as opponents designed game plans on center Chris Kaman.

Teams are packing the middle around Kaman, who is having a resurgent season, and exposing the Clippers’ poor perimeter shooting.

“As the season has progressed, teams know that the only true inside threat is Kaman, so they focus on him,” said a Western Conference advanced scout. “Watching them sometimes [now], it seems like guys are competing with each other on the court and that’s not good.”

The tailspin, in which the Clippers have lost 20 of their last 26 games, is leaving the organization in a familiar rallying cry -- looking toward the future.

Some Clippers have quietly lamented selfish play, others that the offense is too predictable.

“The first four games, we played hard, played together. I think the games after that we tried to take it on ourselves more individually to try and win. It didn’t work out the way we wanted to, coupled with the injuries that we’ve had,” said point guard Brevin Knight.Said Kaman: “We don’t play together anymore. The first four games, we were really moving the ball, executing properly, and it was more of a team effort than what it’s been now. It’s kind of more of a one-on-one effort now and our one-on-one isn’t very good. We need to get back to the team stuff and the execution.”

Coach Mike Dunleavy said the organization’s hands are tied as it waits for Brand and Livingston to return from serious injuries. Both are hoping to return sometime after next month’s All-Star break.

“There is nothing to really do from a [salary] cap standpoint,” Dunleavy said. “And as far as any kind of trades, it’s very hard to find trades that are good for both teams.”

Still, larger issues will loom after this season.

Brand, recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, can opt out of his contract afterward. The team’s leading scorer, Corey Maggette, can do the same.

Maggette declined a contract extension last summer, and all indications point to his opting out of the final year of his six-year, $42-million deal. That contract is on the low end for a 20-point scorer, and if he opts out, Maggette can still re-sign with the Clippers for a longer contract than with any other team.

Also, a number of other key players -- Sam Cassell and Quinton Ross among them -- are in the last season of their contracts.

Dunleavy is looking at the limited positives, mainly that of Kaman, averaging a career-best 18 points and 14 rebounds in the first year of his five-year, $52-million deal after a disappointing 2006-07 season.

“The overall thing that we absolutely needed to have happen, is we needed confirmation that the money we spent on Chris Kaman was money well-spent and that’s been absolutely confirmed for us,” Dunleavy said, adding that he also expects rookie Al Thornton to develop into a major contributor.

“As far as where we are and where we are headed, you would like to win more games, there is no question about that, and you would like to play at a higher level and play better, but knowing what we have and the pieces in place and our direction, I am excited about our future and what we can do.”

Others in the league seemed to agree.

“They have a guy [Brand] sitting out that you can arguably say should have been MVP a couple years ago,” said Suns assistant Alvin Gentry, a former Clippers coach. “You can’t lose him, you can’t lose Shaun Livingston, who was one of the up-and-coming players, and expect to stay at the level that they were.

“I think you have to wait until those guys come back and they are healthy and Elton is playing and Shaun is playing and look at the team after the chemistry thing is settled. Then you can look at them and see, because I think they are going to be a pretty good team.”

That pretty good team, Dunleavy envisions, will be Brand returning at full strength along with Kaman, plowing the post together in a pairing unseen in the league since Tim Duncan played alongside David Robinson for the Spurs.

“That’s why,” Dunleavy recently said, “I’m not exactly ready to jump off the Empire State Building.”

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com