Game #53 Clippers @ CAVS Sunday 1/29 4PM

[Clemenza]

The kids looked much better in the second half. Moussa isn't going anywhere and I'd hold off on trading BBJ if it came down to it. It usually takes like three years for guys that didn't play much college ball.. If they reach their full potential that is. I'm still having a tough time trying to see what areas Preston excels at. Good that these guys got some playing time tho

[madmaxmedia]

BBJ is shooting 19/42 for month of January, good for 45% FG, so that's something.

He probably has less trade value right now than his actual value, so hopefully between this year and next he can gradually earn more PT with us. His floor is still low, but his ceiling is still very good IMO for his draft position.

[nickhx2]

yeah i can't lie saying i didn't have higher expectations because of his flashes last year. but i guess it goes to show you that patience is required for any prospect. I'm glad he's getting some decent reps but also glad we're not forcing him to be in any important roles. he's just not doing the consistent impact things you need to be doing as a wing if your shot isn't falling.

[madmaxmedia]

yeah i can't lie saying i didn't have higher expectations because of his flashes last year. but i guess it goes to show you that patience is required for any prospect. I'm glad he's getting some decent reps but also glad we're not forcing him to be in any important roles. he's just not doing the consistent impact things you need to be doing as a wing if your shot isn't falling.

Right- he gets more leash of course because he's developmental and is expected to improve, but he's got to either shoot more consistently, or do more other things on the court to get consistent playing time.

Right now it seems more G-League minutes is better for him, but he might have somewhat of a shot of sticking on the big team next year? It would be nice to have another young player on the court for 10 MPG or so. Of course would bring up the follow-up question of where he actually gets minutes, but I imagine the FO will keep that in mind in their offseason roster management.

Guys like Boston, Diabate, and Coffey are not going to become star players, but if they just became good role players that would help the roster a lot. Usually that starts with your defense.

[esqtvd]

yeah i can't lie saying i didn't have higher expectations because of his flashes last year. but i guess it goes to show you that patience is required for any prospect. I'm glad he's getting some decent reps but also glad we're not forcing him to be in any important roles. he's just not doing the consistent impact things you need to be doing as a wing if your shot isn't falling.

Right- he gets more leash of course because he's developmental and is expected to improve, but he's got to either shoot more consistently, or do more other things on the court to get consistent playing time.

Right now it seems more G-League minutes is better for him, but he might have somewhat of a shot of sticking on the big team next year? It would be nice to have another young player on the court for 10 MPG or so. Of course would bring up the follow-up question of where he actually gets minutes, but I imagine the FO will keep that in mind in their offseason roster management.

Guys like Boston, Diabate, and Coffey are not going to become star players, but if they just became good role players that would help the roster a lot. Usually that starts with your defense.

FYI--Boston just turned 21 in November so that's a big plus. Jason Preston turns 24 in August. That's a big minus. These days, 24 is entering your prime.

[nickhx2]

yeah i can't lie saying i didn't have higher expectations because of his flashes last year. but i guess it goes to show you that patience is required for any prospect. I'm glad he's getting some decent reps but also glad we're not forcing him to be in any important roles. he's just not doing the consistent impact things you need to be doing as a wing if your shot isn't falling.

Right- he gets more leash of course because he's developmental and is expected to improve, but he's got to either shoot more consistently, or do more other things on the court to get consistent playing time.

Right now it seems more G-League minutes is better for him, but he might have somewhat of a shot of sticking on the big team next year? It would be nice to have another young player on the court for 10 MPG or so. Of course would bring up the follow-up question of where he actually gets minutes, but I imagine the FO will keep that in mind in their offseason roster management.

Guys like Boston, Diabate, and Coffey are not going to become star players, but if they just became good role players that would help the roster a lot. Usually that starts with your defense.

yeah, i mean it could be a thing if he were more mann-like in his play where he's just all over the place, getting into all the action, and enabling the other 4 players on the team - which, as a corollary, is why mann's the ideal starter over reggie. unfortunately boston's a coinflip away from being jamal crawford 2.0, (which is a very, very, very, very bad thing for a guy with his length and potential to be a better overall player). i mean i could even go "ok, yeah he can do some things" if he were decent as a rebounder or passer in spite of bad defense but that's not there either lol.

in some ways i think him g-leaguing it up is kinda bad because i think he needs a good amount of discipline and i think he'd be getting more of that with the main squad. additionally i do think one thing that is an issue for him is just getting his timings right with NBA action, and you can only get that by playing actual nba games. i'd also add that being next to kawhi day in and day out is pretty much exactly how you observe WHAT more you can do and what it takes to be THAT guy. unfortunately, that's not a viable day to day option.

anyway, what can you do? fwiw i don't watch g-league games so i don't know if they're letting him shoot all willy nilly or actually working to develop his shot selection and decision making. sure hope they are, though, because that's pretty much what he needs.

[madmaxmedia]

FYI--Boston just turned 21 in November so that's a big plus. Jason Preston turns 24 in August. That's a big minus. These days, 24 is entering your prime.

100%- whatever Preston is now, you kinda need to compare to where Boston will be 3 years from now.

in some ways i think him g-leaguing it up is kinda bad because i think he needs a good amount of discipline and i think he'd be getting more of that with the main squad. additionally i do think one thing that is an issue for him is just getting his timings right with NBA action, and you can only get that by playing actual nba games. i'd also add that being next to kawhi day in and day out is pretty much exactly how you observe WHAT more you can do and what it takes to be THAT guy. unfortunately, that's not a viable day to day option.

anyway, what can you do? fwiw i don't watch g-league games so i don't know if they're letting him shoot all willy nilly or actually working to develop his shot selection and decision making. sure hope they are, though, because that's pretty much what he needs.

I was actually considering that exact thing when I wrote my post. In the days before teams had their own G-League affiliate, you didn't really have control over how a player could be developed. But I would imagine now there is at least supervision by the Clipper staff over how guys like Boston, Preston, Diabate are being coached in the G-League. But I don't watch much G-League either.

In the long run I think it's actually good that we have a guy who right now is always looking for his shot, with some discipline he might become a decent scorer. He can be sort of all over the place, but the fundamentals are there I think. As opposed to Luke who we are begging to take more shots, or Mann who doesn't score consistently enough to start at wing for us.

[esqtvd]

yeah, i mean it could be a thing if he were more mann-like in his play where he's just all over the place, getting into all the action, and enabling the other 4 players on the team - which, as a corollary, is why mann's the ideal starter over reggie.

Leonard-George-Mann per 100 plays: plus+5.3
Leonard-George-Jackson per 100 plays: plus+11.9



https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?GroupQuantity=3&PerMode=Per100Plays&TeamID=1610612746&dir=D&slug=traditional&sort=PLUS_MINUS

[nickhx2]

yeah if i recall correctly, the FO/staff do have some sort of direct relationship with the G-league coaching staff in the sense of what they want to have happen down there, developmentally. but that's a vapor of a vague recollection so i could be totally wrong.

i think you probably are right, in terms of long run. one day kawhi and paul george won't be THOSE guys anymore (though given kawhi's play, i think he'll be that guy for at least 2+ years: caveat being that he's not that guy when he's not playing lol). and you need someone to be THAT guy. boston has enough potential that he could go many ways, but when your natural instinct is to score, i think developing him in his direction makes more sense. like, if you look at the best scorers the league has to offer, they all seem to have a special instinct in regards to finding multiple ways to score and knowing when they catch fire, that everyone else is playing their game.

and i think he has that. it's just, you know, you gotta be able to hit your shots, too lmao

[clipperlover]

By my count we still have 4 back to backs, so it looks like tomorrow starts our only chance to have a winning streak of more than 5 games this season.

[wakelaunch1]

yeah, i mean it could be a thing if he were more mann-like in his play where he's just all over the place, getting into all the action, and enabling the other 4 players on the team - which, as a corollary, is why mann's the ideal starter over reggie.

Leonard-George-Mann per 100 plays: plus+5.3
Leonard-George-Jackson per 100 plays: plus+11.9



https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?GroupQuantity=3&PerMode=Per100Plays&TeamID=1610612746&dir=D&slug=traditional&sort=PLUS_MINUS

Thats why stats lie sometimes. If you watch the games, you clearly see Mann does so much more for this team. Reggie is one of the worst defenders on the team which is why he is better off the bench. In the Denver game, he was a layup line.

[esqtvd]

yeah, i mean it could be a thing if he were more mann-like in his play where he's just all over the place, getting into all the action, and enabling the other 4 players on the team - which, as a corollary, is why mann's the ideal starter over reggie.

Leonard-George-Mann per 100 plays: plus+5.3
Leonard-George-Jackson per 100 plays: plus+11.9



https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?GroupQuantity=3&PerMode=Per100Plays&TeamID=1610612746&dir=D&slug=traditional&sort=PLUS_MINUS

Thats why stats lie sometimes. If you watch the games, you clearly see Mann does so much more for this team. Reggie is one of the worst defenders on the team which is why he is better off the bench. In the Denver game, he was a layup line.

The stats don't lie, MTV. They just have to be understood properly. The scoreboard doesn't lie--that's what the stats are based on. "Eye tests" lie. Especially from amateurs.

Reggie was playing hurt and was playing far too many minutes on top of that. He has been thriving since he was given a few days off and had his workload reduced.

And Mann is far from an "ideal starter" in the NBA.

Mann, last 6 games: 25 mpg 7 ppg @ 43%/33% shooting—minus-1.3
Reggie last 6 games: 20 mpg 14 ppg @ 52%/44% shooting—plus+5.8

Mann would be closer to even [0.0] without the Cavs blowout. Still, he is not killin' it as a starter. Zubac, Batum and Powell also played in that game and they're all still in the plus. There is NO excuse for Mann to be in the minus playing starter's minutes next to Kawhi and Paul George. That's why they're trying to trade for a real point guard.

Terance Mann is an adequate NBA minutes-eater but is a tweener at 3 positions--he's a point guard who can't play the point; a shooting guard who can't shoot; and a small forward who's too small to play forward.

I've been a T-Mann fan from his very first game in Summer League but using him to diss Reggie is a joke. And at the moment we need them both. We need MINUTES. Quality minutes. If J-Wall were playing better than Reggie instead of far far worse, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.