Game #23 Clippers @ UTAH Wednesday 11/30 6pm [NOTE TIME]

[TheNewEra]

and all of a sudden it's 86-74

dang

this happened a game or two ago--after a good first half J-Wall completely fell apart in the 3rd quarter

That’s a bit unfair because Wall missed 2 3s but Morris and Mann were missing a good chunk of shots didn’t help the situation. Then Zubac snapped not getting the ball.

Well, I was holding off on this, but looking at the plus/minus stats today, over the last 5 games before this one, Senior, Mann, and yes Zubac [even including his 'breakout' game] were all about minus-8 per game. No other Clipper was worse than minus-1.

Wall did fine after Ty put in the kids. Both he and Reggie finished at minus-9 and minus-7 respectively in 25 minutes each. Senior, Mann, and [yes] Zubac are the worry here, especially since 2 of them are starters. They do not play well together, and neither Reggie nor Wall is to blame.

Makes sense with the starters playing against difficult competition and starter level talents missing star players. Besides the Nuggets game Morris has been shooting under 40%. Amir has struggled with his scoring and Mann was off these last two games. Reggie tends to have the better plus/minus getting benched and coming back with the better scoring group as a small ball 3.

This starting lineup isn’t ideal at all but without someone coming back it’s the best we can do for now.

The team really didn’t get the best combination for the starters until they had Kennard with George then we had Leonard and George for half a game. Not surprised this unit struggles.

[Clemenza]

John Wall kept us both in and out of the game tonight. Not too much from Morris, Coffey, Mann, Zu, etc. either. Good to see Boston get some run. He needs minutes but its just too many bodies in his way to jump start his career. We could use a trade but not to acquire more players but to subtract and open up some room. Maybe try to get a first rounder for somebody. Diabate has a bright future

[nickhx2]

i think we can all be excited to see moussa not just get more burn, but continue to show off his potential

[PeteyPablo]

Utah Jazz played their asses off and wanted this win coming off a 5 game loosing streak.

They also hit 14 threes. Clippers shot 39.8% FG and 33.3% 3pt.

Clippers will get some days rest and come back on Saturday vs Kings.

[Roscoe Sheed]

The Clippers always seem to get the short end of the stick in terms of scheduling.

They have so many back to backs and such a front-loaded schedule.

I wish Ballmer could expedite the Intuit Dome so it could be ready for next season.

As it is now, they essentially have 5 games a season at least that you can chalk up to be a loss due to the schedule- like last night

[Akklaim1]

We are what we are without the 2 stars. A .500 team at best and that’s exactly what we got in the last two games.

[madmaxmedia]

We are what we are without the 2 stars. A .500 team at best and that’s exactly what we got in the last two games.

Considering they are both HOF players (when actually healthy), it's simultaneously impressive ands depressing at the same time.

[madmaxmedia]

John Wall kept us both in and out of the game tonight. Not too much from Morris, Coffey, Mann, Zu, etc. either. Good to see Boston get some run. He needs minutes but its just too many bodies in his way to jump start his career. We could use a trade but not to acquire more players but to subtract and open up some room. Maybe try to get a first rounder for somebody. Diabate has a bright future

Boston shot pretty well in the G-League last year, hopefully he can continue to improve on that end. I feel like his way up and down shooting (and general FG%) is his greatest obstacle to getting regular NBA minutes right now.

I am guessing the FO would love to pull a good consolidation trade, but it's gotta be either good value or at the right position to make sense. We got lucky landing Norm and RoCo, let's see if we can pull another rabbit out of the hat this trade deadline...

[nickhx2]

John Wall kept us both in and out of the game tonight. Not too much from Morris, Coffey, Mann, Zu, etc. either. Good to see Boston get some run. He needs minutes but its just too many bodies in his way to jump start his career. We could use a trade but not to acquire more players but to subtract and open up some room. Maybe try to get a first rounder for somebody. Diabate has a bright future

Boston shot pretty well in the G-League last year, hopefully he can continue to improve on that end. I feel like his way up and down shooting (and general FG%) is his greatest obstacle to getting regular NBA minutes right now.

I am guessing the FO would love to pull a good consolidation trade, but it's gotta be either good value or at the right position to make sense. We got lucky landing Norm and RoCo, let's see if we can pull another rabbit out of the hat this trade deadline...

boston's just such a streaky shooter, i can't figure it out. like when he's off, he's just EXTREMELY off. but the real stars supplement bad shooting nights with impact on closer-range shots and obviously the non-scoring things, and if he's not doing that yet, he's not gonna give us what we need right now. i kinda hate watching him because i see shades of jamal crawford (like, the bad shades) and he's this || close to going to the dark side after any given shot. i just hope he keeps getting the right coaching and development he needs to be a complete player.

as far as bodies: i mean what can we say that hasn't been said already? we've got too many legit players, and if diabete's throwing his hat into the ring as an impact big, now we are just gonna be overrun with said legit players. it's unfortunate because i like all our guys, and even i have to admit that morris is giving us pretty solid value in his role, so much so that maybe you almost don't wanna let him go. and seeing kennard, mann, covington, etc. on another team would actually make me pretty sad. but that's the cost of doing business if you want to win, and a consolidation trade will not only clarify roles for some of the guys who could really use it (mann a prime example), but bring in a higher profile player - theoretically, anyway.

push comes to shove? i think we have to move morris still, and as much as it pains me to say it, mann, too. because he's a guy who performs best when he's out there doing his thing like a bowling ball. but if you have kawhi and pg back, and powell/wall want to hold the ball a bunch too, we need mann a lot less. i'd think that many teams can see his potential given a 30mpg starting role too, so yeah - it's gotta be those guys as the core of any trade. unfortunately even if we trade those two, we still have a logjam problem lol. but not as bad of one as before.

[Clemenza]

John Wall kept us both in and out of the game tonight. Not too much from Morris, Coffey, Mann, Zu, etc. either. Good to see Boston get some run. He needs minutes but its just too many bodies in his way to jump start his career. We could use a trade but not to acquire more players but to subtract and open up some room. Maybe try to get a first rounder for somebody. Diabate has a bright future

Boston shot pretty well in the G-League last year, hopefully he can continue to improve on that end. I feel like his way up and down shooting (and general FG%) is his greatest obstacle to getting regular NBA minutes right now.

I am guessing the FO would love to pull a good consolidation trade, but it's gotta be either good value or at the right position to make sense. We got lucky landing Norm and RoCo, let's see if we can pull another rabbit out of the hat this trade deadline...

boston's just such a streaky shooter, i can't figure it out. like when he's off, he's just EXTREMELY off. but the real stars supplement bad shooting nights with impact on closer-range shots and obviously the non-scoring things, and if he's not doing that yet, he's not gonna give us what we need right now. i kinda hate watching him because i see shades of jamal crawford (like, the bad shades) and he's this || close to going to the dark side after any given shot. i just hope he keeps getting the right coaching and development he needs to be a complete player.

as far as bodies: i mean what can we say that hasn't been said already? we've got too many legit players, and if diabete's throwing his hat into the ring as an impact big, now we are just gonna be overrun with said legit players. it's unfortunate because i like all our guys, and even i have to admit that morris is giving us pretty solid value in his role, so much so that maybe you almost don't wanna let him go. and seeing kennard, mann, covington, etc. on another team would actually make me pretty sad. but that's the cost of doing business if you want to win, and a consolidation trade will not only clarify roles for some of the guys who could really use it (mann a prime example), but bring in a higher profile player - theoretically, anyway.

push comes to shove? i think we have to move morris still, and as much as it pains me to say it, mann, too. because he's a guy who performs best when he's out there doing his thing like a bowling ball. but if you have kawhi and pg back, and powell/wall want to hold the ball a bunch too, we need mann a lot less. i'd think that many teams can see his potential given a 30mpg starting role too, so yeah - it's gotta be those guys as the core of any trade. unfortunately even if we trade those two, we still have a logjam problem lol. but not as bad of one as before.

What does help Diabate out is that he's a big and not a wing so even with a glut of legit players he's off on a different island with Zu and Moses Brown. If Diabate continues to kill it on defense, and when/if Kawhi & PG return, then that means a guys like Morris, Batum, or maybe RoCo would have to sit as they play the big man role in Lue's small ball offense. I do sort of agree that Morris and Mann could be the odd guys out if a trade were to occur. And I'm not sure they would need players back in a deal. Draft picks if possible would be the route to go. Its great to be deep but at the same time our wing log jam is starting to suffocate and handcuff the team. Also supposedly Diabate has a three point shot. Probably won't see much of it this season but if that were the case then that would make Morris completely expendable on the spot.

Gotta give Boston a bit more time. I see him as a good building block for the team but he's not there yet. A lot of these players are taking three to four years to develop and get right. SImons for Portland took damn near four years. Killain Hayes for the Pistons is finally looking like something in his third year. Boston simply needs time and minutes. He'd easily hit 20 minutes per game if he was on a different team right now

[madmaxmedia]

John Wall kept us both in and out of the game tonight. Not too much from Morris, Coffey, Mann, Zu, etc. either. Good to see Boston get some run. He needs minutes but its just too many bodies in his way to jump start his career. We could use a trade but not to acquire more players but to subtract and open up some room. Maybe try to get a first rounder for somebody. Diabate has a bright future

Boston shot pretty well in the G-League last year, hopefully he can continue to improve on that end. I feel like his way up and down shooting (and general FG%) is his greatest obstacle to getting regular NBA minutes right now.

I am guessing the FO would love to pull a good consolidation trade, but it's gotta be either good value or at the right position to make sense. We got lucky landing Norm and RoCo, let's see if we can pull another rabbit out of the hat this trade deadline...

boston's just such a streaky shooter, i can't figure it out. like when he's off, he's just EXTREMELY off. but the real stars supplement bad shooting nights with impact on closer-range shots and obviously the non-scoring things, and if he's not doing that yet, he's not gonna give us what we need right now. i kinda hate watching him because i see shades of jamal crawford (like, the bad shades) and he's this || close to going to the dark side after any given shot. i just hope he keeps getting the right coaching and development he needs to be a complete player.

as far as bodies: i mean what can we say that hasn't been said already? we've got too many legit players, and if diabete's throwing his hat into the ring as an impact big, now we are just gonna be overrun with said legit players. it's unfortunate because i like all our guys, and even i have to admit that morris is giving us pretty solid value in his role, so much so that maybe you almost don't wanna let him go. and seeing kennard, mann, covington, etc. on another team would actually make me pretty sad. but that's the cost of doing business if you want to win, and a consolidation trade will not only clarify roles for some of the guys who could really use it (mann a prime example), but bring in a higher profile player - theoretically, anyway.

push comes to shove? i think we have to move morris still, and as much as it pains me to say it, mann, too. because he's a guy who performs best when he's out there doing his thing like a bowling ball. but if you have kawhi and pg back, and powell/wall want to hold the ball a bunch too, we need mann a lot less. i'd think that many teams can see his potential given a 30mpg starting role too, so yeah - it's gotta be those guys as the core of any trade. unfortunately even if we trade those two, we still have a logjam problem lol. but not as bad of one as before.

I feel like the problem with Boston is he can almost always get a reasonable shot off on defenses, the problem is his shot is never really the same way twice. I think he's fundamentally a potentially good shooter, but not nearly good enough to take a bunch of shots leaning different directions, having to twist in air first, etc. You can gradually get better doing that, but you have to have a lot of discipline at first so you have a reasonable chance of converting at at least an average rate.

I think we're all in agreement Morris is playing better this year and healthier too. I think most of us would still move him but I don't think he has the trade value of guys like Mann, unless there's a situational fit with a specific team that could use him. He's a really good vet, but not quite an expiring contract yet which would have improved his trade value given his age. I think we'd actually need his skills less than Mann with a healthy Kawhi and PG as we'd need his scoring less. At this point any fair value 2 for 1 trades involving our rotation players would probably help LOL. And yeah, if Kawhi and PG were 100% healthy our logjam would be even worse.

[madmaxmedia]

Yeah the great thing about Diabate playing well is he actually plays a position of need for us, and also makes us faster and more athletic.

I agree Boston needs more time, he's a willing shooter which is actually great but needs to refine his skillset. I think his FG% last season in G-League was a very promising sign, given what he shot in college.