Game #6: LAC (3-2) @ KNICKS (2-4) MON 11/6 4:30 PM

[donemilio21]

Read on Twitter

Remember all that talk over the summer about taking the regular season more seriously? LOL.

Lue can you know what with this 10 game sample stuff. It hasn’t worked yet.

sounds like Lue is already feeding media with potential excuses for bad performance. that's something he learned from Doc.
Watch: Until March he is gonna keep saying that "We are new team, still finding chemistry" dude gtfoh

[madmaxmedia]

Read on Twitter

Remember all that talk over the summer about taking the regular season more seriously? LOL.

LOL. Because our season DID start tonight? With less than a week of "camp" with Harden? Duh.

Because almost half the projected Clippers rotation who started the season here were playing for Philly tonight you mean?

Sixers 146 Wiz 128

Batum--17 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebs, 0 assists, plus+30 [TEAM HIGH]
RoCo 4 minutes of garbage time
Mook: 6 minutes of garbage time
K Martin 4 minutes of garbage time

sounds about right

About the same as if they were still here. How interesting...

Basically the only useful player for THIS year Morey got was Batum. [It was either him or Mann.] We got Harden.

The rest is talk.

How more obvious could the context be of a 10-game sample since this is a fundamentally changed team? We need to know exactly how bad we are lacking in the front court, because we need to assess what we're going to pursue in terms of compensating for losing 4 power forwards. None of the 4 guys are huge impact guys any more (God bless Nico though, and RoCo for his shorter stint with us), but they were versatile bigs that contributed a lot of minutes. We also need to figure out what the best lineups are, starting, finishing, and otherwise.

This is all why if we were going to trade for Harden at all (and I understand there are arguments for and against), it needed to be done at the beginning of the season and not at ASB. It would have been a hopeless situation at ASB, unless we also swung another deal at the same time for a true starting caliber PF (which I doubt is a realistic scenario at all.)

I think it is possible Norm can be moved for front court help, but the right trade has to materialize. It's not going to be a great player, the most realistic scenario is the forward equivalent of Norm- competent at the position, can play reasonable minutes without hurting your team, not a bargain contract-wise.

[MartinToVaught]

We need to know exactly how bad we are lacking in the front court

Lue doesn't think we're lacking at all. He can't wait to give all of Morris' old minutes to PJ.

It also shouldn't take ten games to see what was already obvious when the trade was made. Actually, make that 12 games since Lue is conveniently not counting these last two losses. Lue and Frank have instead compounded the problem by overplaying PJ and trading Petrusev for nothing. Tucker is 38 years old and his last two teams couldn't wait to be rid of him. It's not exactly guesswork to assume he can't play anymore.

I'm just tired of being told to wait x number of games for the team to click and then it never does. And then there's always a litany of excuses after the season so everyone keeps their jobs and we end up in NBA purgatory for another year. The problems on this team aren't the kind that can be solved by "clicking" or "flipping the switch" anyway.

[nickhx2]

I think some of the takes here overtake the reality of the situation by several degrees here, on numerous fronts, but I feel like a few things are worth mentioning for the sake of discussion, if nothing else.

- Huge overreaction trying to be dismissive of lue by saying his "10 game sample size" is some kind of automatic failure. I mean what you guys are really doing is reaching for some way to devalue him and what he's doing. It was EXTREMELY obvious to anyone watching the first quarter that these guys had no feel for each other in the new lineup and they were all tip toe-ing on eggshells. They don't know what's going to work together, and if they don't then neither does lue. Does it not stand to reason that adding in a gigantic, new piece will require time to integrate? Does it not stand to reason that allowing for a fair amount of time in order to make the best evaluation possible is a much better thing to do than to not? Does it not stand to reason that is a legitimate reset that will require x amount of games before anyone knows what positive on-court functioning look like, let alone optimal? So yeah, i basically agree with everything mmm said. (That said, I will say his insertion of diabete at the end, and then basically just giving up on the game was perplexing/psychotic to me).

- Harden's bringing some good things, and some bad things. That much is evident, based off of his shot-making, his passing (really foreshadowed what he could do with zu early in the first), and his, uh, usual level defensive ability. I mean the ceiling for the team certainly goes up because it's those end-game situations where I feel like this team is capped out on what it can do, because we have thus far not found a way to get kawhi/pg into the right spots to let them do their thing. This much was evident when jordan clarkson (of all people) denied kawhi a decent enough look in the jazz game. And really all it was, was just being too far out, whereas if kawhi was able to be fed closer to the post or in whatever spots he fancies, it likely woulda been his typical easy for him, hard for everyone else, clutch as hell shot. Harden facilitates that, but of course there's a cost.

- Yeah... I mean i wasn't expecting much on the defensive side, and actually was a bit impressed with his attempted efforts earlier on in the game. But effort or not, you could tell the team was totally discombobulated (whether that was just due to him being brand new with no training camp or because he was james harden, or both, don't think i would be able to say with complete assurance). It was kinda to the point that i felt like i was watching last year's team with marcus morris's presence on the court, functionally allowing the defense to be caved in simply because he couldn't move. My hope is that it gets better with familiarity, and that lue will find ways to tactically integrate (hide) him somewhat - because this team moving and swerving and swarming on defense is a sight to behold, and the fact that we were doing that WITH westbrook as a big part of that is meaningful, and something we should NOT give up on. I fear that harden's presence won't allow us to do that any longer, but sure hope that they can find a way to keep at least some semblance of that defensive presence.

- PG: ya he made me mad. Big mad. What the ????????????????????? Dude gets literally one of the best passers in the game by his side, has been pretty much best player on the team for the start of the season, isn't doing any of the insane stuff he was doing for the past couple years, and now he goes back to that? Bro. Like seriously, BRO, come ON.

- I'm sad for MP. Hopefully he's just out for a couple months but getting carried off is clearly no good sign. Glad we have powell as trade bait, I guess. But who's even out there that makes sense?

Anyway, blah blah blah, we need more time, freak out or don't freak out if you want to, but seriously. Don't freak out because it's not worth it and it doesn't make sense.

[esqtvd]

Read on Twitter

Remember all that talk over the summer about taking the regular season more seriously? LOL.

LOL. Because our season DID start tonight? With less than a week of "camp" with Harden? Duh.

Because almost half the projected Clippers rotation who started the season here were playing for Philly tonight you mean?

Sixers 146 Wiz 128

Batum--17 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebs, 0 assists, plus+30 [TEAM HIGH]
RoCo 4 minutes of garbage time
Mook: 6 minutes of garbage time
K Martin 4 minutes of garbage time

sounds about right

About the same as if they were still here. How interesting...

Basically the only useful player for THIS year Morey got was Batum. [It was either him or Mann.] We got Harden.

The rest is talk.

How more obvious could the context be of a 10-game sample since this is a fundamentally changed team? We need to know exactly how bad we are lacking in the front court, because we need to assess what we're going to pursue in terms of compensating for losing 4 power forwards. None of the 4 guys are huge impact guys any more (God bless Nico though, and RoCo for his shorter stint with us), but they were versatile bigs that contributed a lot of minutes. We also need to figure out what the best lineups are, starting, finishing, and otherwise.

This is all why if we were going to trade for Harden at all (and I understand there are arguments for and against), it needed to be done at the beginning of the season and not at ASB. It would have been a hopeless situation at ASB, unless we also swung another deal at the same time for a true starting caliber PF (which I doubt is a realistic scenario at all.)

I think it is possible Norm can be moved for front court help, but the right trade has to materialize. It's not going to be a great player, the most realistic scenario is the forward equivalent of Norm- competent at the position, can play reasonable minutes without hurting your team, not a bargain contract-wise.

Yes, Norm is redundant. Plenty of guards, and Mann is really a 2 as well.

As for the 4 guys above we traded, I see no reason to think they would made the team a top contender. Batum has jumped to the top of the pack--just as here--but the rest are already big question marks in cracking the Sixer rotation. [After a decent first game, RoCo was flirting with a DNP-CD until the Sixers made it a blowout.]

Harden might not work out but there's no clear alternative to Ballmer's dice roll. We had little in assets and fortunately nobody wanted Harden either.

[esqtvd]

Clipper Twitter Nation war vs Tomer Azarly about Zubac/Westbrook TOs


Tweets not automatically coming up. WTF

[The High Cyde]

I’m not gonna sit here and fault Lue for taking time to figure things out with this roster after having the deck shuffled yet again. The best thing I think the coaching staff can do about these four stars is just let things play out naturally for about 15-20 games and then start tightening the rotations, see who starts, who staggers with who, who closes, etc.
It’s obvious losing Plumdog will hurt and will make the process even more precarious until we get some size again. We could go after Boogie but I’m not sure what he has left in the tank. Maybe somehow trade for McGee or Drummond? Might be out of our price range though.

[Ballings7]

Available 2023 NBA Free Agents
Centers

Khem Birch (31)
Tony Bradley (25)
DeMarcus Cousins (33)
Dewayne Dedmon (34)
Gorgui Dieng (33)
Derrick Favors (32)
Taj Gibson (38)
Montrezl Harrell (29)
Kai Jones (22)
Meyers Leonard (31)
Nerlens Noel (29)
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (23)
=================================================================

I wouldn't mind bringing in a defensive minded big like Nerlens Noel, who's not too old and washed.

They should also look into Blake Griffin- not just for sentimentality sake but he is strong and likely could still catch some lob passes from Harden

Wouldn't mind any of these guys:

Tony Bradley
Dedmon
Dieng
Favors
Noel

Noel agile team defender, rim roller, goes after boards..

Dieng and Dedmon can space the floor and roll. Favors has always had a mid-range jumper and is a bruiser, can board.

Harrell, no..

[MartinToVaught]

Huge overreaction trying to be dismissive of lue by saying his "10 game sample size" is some kind of automatic failure.

You'd have a point if this was new and not the same excuse he's used in the past to keep playing his favorite veterans who clearly don't have it anymore (i.e. Reggie). It's like his "experimenting" and "tinkering" that never seems to affect his favorite veterans' minutes.

[esqtvd]

FTR, Montrezl tore his ACL and is finished for the year, if not forever.

Maybe not the best week for Meyers Leonard, who used an anti-Semitic slur in 2021 and was out of work ever since, until the Bucks signed him at the end of last year.

allegations of anti-Semitism in the spring of 2021 after using an anti-Semitic slur during a video game livestream.

'F***ing cowards,' Leonard, is heard saying during the live stream. 'Don't f***ing snipe me, you f***ing k*** b****.'

Leonard later said he was unaware of the meaning behind the term, adding that there was still 'no excuse' for saying it.

Meyers Leonard is coming off a year where he played in nine regular season games for the Milwaukee Bucks (he also appeared in two NBA playoff games).

He averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest while shooting 48.3% from the field and 38.9% from the three-point range.

https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fastbreak/news/why-is-this-former-miami-heat-starter-still-a-free-agent-meyers-leonard

[esqtvd]

Huge overreaction trying to be dismissive of lue by saying his "10 game sample size" is some kind of automatic failure.

You'd have a point if this was new and not the same excuse he's used in the past to keep playing his favorite veterans who clearly don't have it anymore (i.e. Reggie). It's like his "experimenting" and "tinkering" that never seems to affect his favorite veterans' minutes.

FTR: Reggie played hurt last year until he was traded for Mason Plumlee, filling a glaring need for a backup center.

This year for the World Champion Denver Nuggets, Reggie Jackson is averaging 21.9 mpg, 8.2 ppg on 42%/34.5% shooting, with 3.5 apg, 1.3 TOs and 1.1 steals per game.

[madmaxmedia]

We need to know exactly how bad we are lacking in the front court

Lue doesn't think we're lacking at all. He can't wait to give all of Morris' old minutes to PJ.

It also shouldn't take ten games to see what was already obvious when the trade was made. Actually, make that 12 games since Lue is conveniently not counting these last two losses. Lue and Frank have instead compounded the problem by overplaying PJ and trading Petrusev for nothing. Tucker is 38 years old and his last two teams couldn't wait to be rid of him. It's not exactly guesswork to assume he can't play anymore.

I'm just tired of being told to wait x number of games for the team to click and then it never does. And then there's always a litany of excuses after the season so everyone keeps their jobs and we end up in NBA purgatory for another year. The problems on this team aren't the kind that can be solved by "clicking" or "flipping the switch" anyway.

You're right, I would say it's obvious that our roster is imbalanced and no one needs 10 games to know this. I think we can assume that our FO is going to be on the lookout for any potential moves to correct this, starting the minute we traded away 4 power forwards. Whether we need a big time move, or possibly 2 or more moves, remains to be seen. But yes, we should have started looking the moment we agreed to the Harden deal. A FA signee probably will come first, and hopefully a more significant addition via trade at some point in the year.

As far as clicking goes, we have clicked pretty well as long as we actually were healthy. I don't think we were good enough to seriously contend for a WCF before the Harden trade, now I think we could be. But whether you call it a '10-game sample' or 'playoffs start today', its going to take time for this team to gel and get to whatever ceiling is possible. Trading for Harden after 5 games is a lot better than trading for him after 59 games, so we'll see how it goes.

[og15]

I want everything and I want it now!

The front office is not unaware of the fact that the team needs more size. A lot of things are easier said than done.

Lue is not unaware of the teams needs, it's funny how fans just think everyone is an idiot and aloof vs the reality of a couple of things: 1) there are competing interests, size vs spacing, size vs mobility, cost, etc. and 2) everything a coach or GM says in public is not what they think (eg: that's why Calvin Booth's comments were all the rage).

When a coach says certain things in press conferences etc, to take that as the whole story would be naive.

Yes, everyone knows the needs. Maximizing assets to cover those needs is what is important. You don't need to have every need covered 10 games into the season. A lot changes as the season goes along, if you make a trade just because a need arises and you can get a better trade by waiting, you are mismanaging assets. Front offices are always scouring the market, but the Clippers need to see what the pieces look like together, which players mesh best together, see what other teams start to gravitate towards as more of the season progresses, then they can make a fully informed decision on filling out the primary roster, that is, players who will be in your 8-9 man playoff rotation.

Unless a can't miss trade comes up (it rarely does at this time in the season), you don't just trade an asset for whatever you can, because, "well we need rebounding and size".

[MartinToVaught]

I think we can assume that our FO is going to be on the lookout for any potential moves to correct this, starting the minute we traded away 4 power forwards.

You have a lot more faith in them than I do. They already let half the season go by without getting a backup center last year when it was obvious we needed one thanks to their previous bad decision to let Hartenstein walk. Their first move after trading all our PFs for Harden was to gift another big man to the Kings for free, which opened up another roster spot for them to use on a guard.

I think this front office is incompetent and only cares about slapping big names together like they're playing 2K, because when you look at the moves they make objectively, it's hard to come to any other conclusion.

I don't know what happened, because there was a time when they were able to find hidden gems (Ty Wallace, CJ Williams, etc.), at least hit on some draft picks (Shai and Mann), and made solid value trades (Tobi and Zubac), but from the PG trade onwards they've become one of the worst front offices in the league.

[MartinToVaught]

FTR: Reggie played hurt last year

That just makes Lue's overuse of him even worse.

[MartinToVaught]

I want everything and I want it now!

I want a serious franchise, and after 53 mostly unserious years, I don't think it's an unfair thing to ask.

[esqtvd]

Reggie Jackson is a Clipper hero. He was "Mr. June" leading to the only Conference Finals appearance in franchise history. Last year he played hurt and kept us in the playoff hunt. We were 31-27 when he was traded for a much-needed backup center. He is now getting over 20 mpg for the champion Nuggets and is clearly not baked. There is no fingerpointing to be done here.

[KL2]

Read on Twitter

[NickP]

I'm going to give the 4 stars a few games to figure it out. And I have no doubt that they will.

[esqtvd]

Read on Twitter

If you have a grade 1 MCL sprain, you could fully recover within as little as 3 weeks. If you have a grade 2-3 MCL sprain, you can expect to need at least 4+ weeks to recover. Thankfully, MCL tears rarely require surgery, which allows them to have less recovery time than some other sports injuries