NBA PREVIEW : CAN THE CLIPPERS BE FIT FOR A GOOD SEASON?
As they gear up for the 2023-24 season, the Los Angeles Clippers are leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of championship glory.
This time around, however, the air is rich with anticipation and renewed vigor as both George and Leonard are expected to be fully fit and ready to hit the ground running at the start of the training camp. With the dynamic duo at the helm, alongside an expertly crafted support cast of seasoned veterans and high-potential young stars, the Clippers have a golden opportunity to reshape their narrative and reclaim their status as a top contender in the competitive Western Conference.
Despite another disappointing season which ended in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs the Los Angeles Clippers are running it back. Health has been the biggest hindrance to Los Angeles’ championship aspirations, but the potential of what this team could be with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George remains so it makes sense to keep this experiment intact.
Most teams that finish in the top six (5th overall) in a tough Western Conference, having dealt with injuries and changes to their roster by the trade deadline, would look at their regular season as a success, but it was another disappointing ending to the 2022-23 season for the Los Angeles Clippers. They fell short of their expectations of playing into late June after being bounced early in the first round. Head coach Ty Lue had his team finish six games above .500 (44-38) despite two of his best players only playing in 38 games together, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Yet another season coach Ty Lue led the Clipper team has fallen short in the playoffs without having one or both of his stars available and healthy. This would be frustrating for any coach, organization, and fanbase.
When Leonard and George were on the floor together last season, the Clippers outscored opponents by 8.3 points every 100 possessions. Almost every metric tied to the duo was well above average. Their offensive rating of 120.3 ranked in the 91st percentile of qualified lineups. They averaged 144.3 points per 100 plays in transition which ranked in the 97th percentile. Opponents were limited to 112.0 points per 100 possessions as well.
But none of this should come as a surprise to those reading this. We know that Leonard and George are great when they are available, but when will they be available? How do you handicap a team whose stars have played 142 games together since they became teammates, 38 of which came last season?
Even if both Leonard and George surpass what we’ve seen in terms of availability, questions about this team need to be answered.
Westbrook was very good in his time with the Clippers last season. He averaged 15.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 7.6 assists in the 21 games he played with the team, and he did it on an efficient 48.9% shooting from the floor while putting up the best points per shot attempt mark of his career (112.3). Westbrook could replicate that production once more over a full season, or he could regress to the player cast out by the Lakers less than two seasons after acquiring him.
Lue must also figure out what has ailed this offense each of the last two seasons.
Los Angeles has consistently been one of the best shooting teams in the NBA for some time, and last season was no different with the team finishing fourth in 3-point accuracy (38.4%). However, the team was 22nd in non-garbage time offensive efficiency (114.4), making it the second consecutive season in which the Clippers finished in the bottom 10 of teams in offensive efficiency.
This is also one of the oldest teams in the league, especially at the top of the depth chart. The front office has done a good job in getting younger depth, which should help offset time missed from the veterans on this roster, which seems to be a given.
Terance Mann is a steady young guard who can run the point if needed, and he improved the Clippers’ offensive rating by 2.5 points every 100 possessions on the floor. KJ Martin is an extremely athletic forward who makes a deadly transition team even more lethal. Bones Hyland has promise as a scoring option off the bench as well, and in a short sample size, he improved Los Angeles’ net rating by 7.9 points every 100 possessions on the floor.
Norm Powell, Mason Plumlee, Robert Covington and Marcus Morris all return as well, making this team just as deep as it was a season ago.
CHALLENGES
The Western Conference has not gotten any easier as teams have retooled to make a push to contend for a spot in the top six. I don’t believe there are going to be any easy games for LA, especially against teams in their same conference.
It starts with the defending champion Denver Nuggets, who swept LA in four games last season and has the reigning Finals MVP and two-time MVP in Nikola Jokic. The Phoenix Suns added Bradley Beal, who averaged 22.1/ppg last season in his 11th season with Washington, to go with the dynamic pair they already have and who are the favorites by many to represent the West this season in the Finals. The team that caught everyone by surprise last year was the Sacramento Kings, led by two All-Stars in De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, which finished 3rd in the West. You have the cross-town rival Los Angeles Lakers led by arguably the greatest to ever lace them in LeBron James, who surprised everyone by getting to the Western Conference Finals last season, had the best off-season with all the different additions they made according to several around the league.
The Golden State Warriors added future Hall of Famer Chris Paul to a roster with two of the best shooters ever. The Dallas Mavericks didn’t make the playoffs, but now Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving (who resigned this summer) will get a full training camp together to see what that ultimately will look like. The Memphis Grizzlies will be missing their star in JA Morant for the first 25 games to start the season, but under coach Taylor Jenkins they have always found a way to be in contention.
EXPECTATIONS
This team has not been able to finish any of the past four seasons with Leonard and George both healthy, so what indication does anyone have that this upcoming season will be any different? Leonard has not played in more than 57 games in a Clipper uniform, and George has only played in 189 games out of 308 games in four years. They went 24-14 last season when the duo was on the court together, which gives this organization some optimism heading into this season. Relying on players the likes of Terrance Mann, Bones Hyland, Norman Powell, Nicolas Batum, and Marcus Morris Sr., amongst others, just won’t be enough to keep pace in a grind-it-out Western
But coach Ty Lue and prideful owner Steve Ballmer have been looking and waiting for the results. They will finally get their own arena to begin the 2024-25 season located in Inglewood, CA, that will be called the “Intuit Dome,” and this move allows them to get out of the shadows of the team that gets all the recognition in the Lakers (rightfully so). ESPN’s NBA analyst and former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins said on the NBA Today show during the summer, “This is the make or break season, if they don’t get to the Finals, the Clippers have to move on from both of them (Leonard & George).” If they don’t get there because they weren’t on the court to finish the season, I don’t think many people would disagree.
STAR WATCH
RUSSELL WESTBROOK
When it was rumored that the LA Clippers had major interest in Russell Westbrook when he joined the buyout market following the NBA trade deadline, the fanbase was torn. Westbrook struggled in his one and half seasons with the LA Lakers and fans wondered how he would fit on the team.
The LA native decided to re-sign for a two-year $7.8 million this past summer after they were able to acquire him last season once he hit the open market after he was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers. A former MVP (2017) and member of the NBA’s 75th-anniversary team will now get a full training camp under coach Ty Lue as well as with his teammates heading into the season. He was thrown right into the starting lineup last season, where he averaged 15.8/ppg and 7.6/ast in 21 regular season games.
By the end of the regular season and playoffs, it was safe to say that Clippers fans were pleasantly surprised by Westbrook’s production. He didn’t try and do too much, he fit in with the lineup, and provided the Clippers with a much-needed ball-handler and playmaker.
His value was shown the most for this team in that first-round playoff series loss to the Phoenix Suns in five games. The stats were there as he averaged 23.6/ppg, 7.6/reb, and 7.4/ast and was the catalyst on the defensive end in their lone Game 1 win (115-110) as he defended Suns superstar Kevin Durant making things consistently difficult for him. Coach Lue said after that game, “that his scoring wasn’t that important and you bring us way more than scoring the basketball (when asked about Westbrook’s tough shooting night),” and he showed that throughout that series.
With the health of Leonard and George always in question, Westbrook’s ability to affect the game in different ways will be key for this team this season. His availability will be just as important because he is not usually one to sit out for “rest.”
STRENGTH
Westbrook has always been a gifted playmaker throughout his career. He has amazing court vision, can find the cracks in the defense, and get teammates scoring opportunities. The Clippers didn’t have a true point guard on the roster and when Westbrook arrived, the difference he made in that regard was highly noticeable. He took a lot of pressure off Leonard and George from having to be primary ball-handlers and facilitators.
Westbrook is also one of the top rebounding point guards in the league. There’s a reason why he once averaged a triple-double for an entire season. His rebounding prowess was especially on display in the playoffs against the Suns. He creates second shot opportunities and helps keep possessions alive.
Let’s not forget about his scoring ability as well. While he has been criticized in the past for at times trying to do too much on the offensive end as well as his shot selection, that wasn’t much of an issue with the Clippers. He’s capable of providing a scoring boost if needed. One of the Clippers best wins of the season came in Memphis when both Leonard and George were sidelined and Westbrook put on an offensive clinic to lead the team
WEAKNESSES
Shooting efficiency has never been one of Westbrook’s strengths, especially from long-range. He’s a career 30 percent shooter from the three-point line. Oddly enough, Westbrook had one of his most efficient shooting stretches in the 21 games he suited up in for the Clippers. His 48.9 percent shooting from the field and 35.6 percent shooting from three-point range were career-highs. He was taking around 12 shots a game including almost four attempts from three. It’s up to Westbrook to show he can maintain similar shooting percentages for the entirety of an 82 game season.
Turnovers have sometimes been an issue with Westbrook, but again, the 3.4 turnovers per game he averaged with the Clippers was the second lowest mark in his career. The Clippers struggled to protect the ball as a whole, and like his shooting, Westbrook will have to show he can maintain that for the duration of the season.
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