Is on the Clippers best interest to tank for the 6th seed?

[esqtvd]

The only conceivable answer is that Marcus Morris sucks but is a good luck charm on the floor.

More to the game than fantasy league points. If Kawhi and PG wanted to keep Mann in the starting lineup you can be sure he would be. If they wanted more RoCo, there would have been. Batum, as we see, is putting in as many minutes as he can, but at 34 anything approaching 30 minutes ruins him for a week.

There were plans to yank Morris but then PG went down so he got a few more games but got even worse. I still think the "illness" was phony but Batum and RoCo were no better in his absence.

Batum: 22 mpg, 2.0 ppg--18.2% FG/11.1% 3-pt--minus-2.1 per 100

Ouch.

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Read on Twitter

[clipperlover]

Ouch.

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Read on Twitter

Damn!!! That Lue quote is quite telling about this team's mentality. Have they been sandbagging?

[TrueLAfan]

We can talk about all these different things that affected us this year, and point fingers. Or maybe we should accept that we are who we are. Lots of injuries and inconsistent play resulting in different rotations and players this year. And that has meant ...

Not a whole lot. We're a .500 team. We've been there all year.

First 20 games: 11-9
Games 21-40: 10-10
Games 41-60: 11-9
Games 61-80: 10-10

You can argue that we're lucky to be .500 with our injuries and unbalanced lineup, or that we're much better than our record shows and it's the fault of (pick whatever you want). Me? I just wish we were better and think it is what it is.

[madmaxmedia]

We can talk about all these different things that affected us this year, and point fingers. Or maybe we should accept that we are who we are. Lots of injuries and inconsistent play resulting in different rotations and players this year. And that has meant ...

Not a whole lot. We're a .500 team. We've been there all year.

First 20 games: 11-9
Games 21-40: 10-10
Games 41-60: 11-9
Games 61-80: 10-10

You can argue that we're lucky to be .500 with our injuries and unbalanced lineup, or that we're much better than our record shows and it's the fault of (pick whatever you want). Me? I just wish we were better and think it is what it is.

This is exactly it, the sum total of who we are. Every team I think could have gotten a few more or a few less, we're not a bad team but we're not a great team. I think it's very easy to get over-excited or disappointed following a team at this level, because we're capable of beating the best but also getting dumped on by the worst.

I am still surprised we are barely above last year's pace, but we were an older team even at our peak in 2020-21 so in retrospect it's not surprising. Marcus Morris absolutely killed it in in 2020, now most Clipper fans can't stand the sight of him, and Reggie went from Big Government to ASB bailout/buyout.

The only thing I really hate about this year is losing Paul George at the worst time.

[clipperlover]

We can talk about all these different things that affected us this year, and point fingers. Or maybe we should accept that we are who we are. Lots of injuries and inconsistent play resulting in different rotations and players this year. And that has meant ...

Not a whole lot. We're a .500 team. We've been there all year.

First 20 games: 11-9
Games 21-40: 10-10
Games 41-60: 11-9
Games 61-80: 10-10

You can argue that we're lucky to be .500 with our injuries and unbalanced lineup, or that we're much better than our record shows and it's the fault of (pick whatever you want). Me? I just wish we were better and think it is what it is.

I think Ty Lue and Kawhi see the regular season as a practice ground to put together a wide array of options that can be implemented in the post season. I think that is a primary reason we see them do things really well for a quarter or two and then they get away from what was working. They are are building tools to put in the toolbox. In the playoffs, you have to be able to attack in different ways.

We literally could have an offensive game plan where we run the offense through a different primary option every quarter. If Gordon, Russ, and Powell can all have a hot hand and run off 15 points each in a different quarter, then we become very hard to shut-down.

[esqtvd]

We can talk about all these different things that affected us this year, and point fingers. Or maybe we should accept that we are who we are. Lots of injuries and inconsistent play resulting in different rotations and players this year. And that has meant ...

Not a whole lot. We're a .500 team. We've been there all year.

First 20 games: 11-9
Games 21-40: 10-10
Games 41-60: 11-9
Games 61-80: 10-10

You can argue that we're lucky to be .500 with our injuries and unbalanced lineup, or that we're much better than our record shows and it's the fault of (pick whatever you want). Me? I just wish we were better and think it is what it is.

I think Ty Lue and Kawhi see the regular season as a practice ground to put together a wide array of options that can be implemented in the post season. I think that is a primary reason we see them do things really well for a quarter or two and then they get away from what was working. They are are building tools to put in the toolbox. In the playoffs, you have to be able to attack in different ways.

We literally could have an offensive game plan where we run the offense through a different primary option every quarter. If Gordon, Russ, and Powell can all have a hot hand and run off 15 points each in a different quarter, then we become very hard to shut-down.

If you think about it, rehearsing the Xs and Os all year would have been worthless with a constantly-changing rotation and cast of characters. 30 different starting lineups.

But even with bringing on 3 new rotation players at the All-Star break--including Westbrook as starting point guard and now maybe a 4th in Bones as the backup PG--Ty's overall strategy was in place to spend the last 2-3 weeks refining the rotation combinations and Xs and Os.

Until PG went down. And, tbh, Marcus melting down even further, going from barely adequate minutes-eater to mental basket case.

Still, Ty is doing an amazing job getting the max out of Westbook with minimum harm, hiding Plumlee--who has been a bit of a disappointment although still better than G-leaguers or small-ball 5s--and perhaps the surprise of the season, turning Bones Hyland into an asset instead of a future prospect.

The Clips could be a first-round washout or make the conference Finals in the most unpredictable year in years. I'ma just sit back and enjoy. There is no reliable plan or strategy now. It's lightning-in-a-bottle time.
We're rolling the dice now.

[clipperlover]

We can talk about all these different things that affected us this year, and point fingers. Or maybe we should accept that we are who we are. Lots of injuries and inconsistent play resulting in different rotations and players this year. And that has meant ...

Not a whole lot. We're a .500 team. We've been there all year.

First 20 games: 11-9
Games 21-40: 10-10
Games 41-60: 11-9
Games 61-80: 10-10

You can argue that we're lucky to be .500 with our injuries and unbalanced lineup, or that we're much better than our record shows and it's the fault of (pick whatever you want). Me? I just wish we were better and think it is what it is.

I think Ty Lue and Kawhi see the regular season as a practice ground to put together a wide array of options that can be implemented in the post season. I think that is a primary reason we see them do things really well for a quarter or two and then they get away from what was working. They are are building tools to put in the toolbox. In the playoffs, you have to be able to attack in different ways.

We literally could have an offensive game plan where we run the offense through a different primary option every quarter. If Gordon, Russ, and Powell can all have a hot hand and run off 15 points each in a different quarter, then we become very hard to shut-down.

If you think about it, rehearsing the Xs and Os all year would have been worthless with a constantly-changing rotation and cast of characters. 30 different starting lineups.

But even with bringing on 3 new rotation players at the All-Star break--including Westbrook as starting point guard and now maybe a 4th in Bones as the backup PG--Ty's overall strategy was in place to spend the last 2-3 weeks refining the rotation combinations and Xs and Os.

Until PG went down. And, tbh, Marcus melting down even further, going from barely adequate minutes-eater to mental basket case.

Still, Ty is doing an amazing job getting the max out of Westbook with minimum harm, hiding Plumlee--who has been a bit of a disappointment although still better than G-leaguers or small-ball 5s--and perhaps the surprise of the season, turning Bones Hyland into an asset instead of a future prospect.

The Clips could be a first-round washout or make the conference Finals in the most unpredictable year in years. I'ma just sit back and enjoy. There is no reliable plan or strategy now. It's lightning-in-a-bottle time.
We're rolling the dice now.

I hope that Morris is taking his time away to get himself ripped into some great physical shape. Have no problems with him coming back if he is leaner, faster and stronger.

Right now Clips have so many ways to attack teams. For example, in a series vs Phoenix, the Clips can just blow bast him with Russ, Bones, Mann or Norm. If they attack Chris Paul, then the rest of the Phoenix defense is going to have to cover for him. Most likely, Ayton, the non-defender, tries to come over to help and Zu and Plumlee get the pass and dunk.

If Phoenix adjusts to that, then we put Chris Paul in a pick and roll to either end up on Kawhi/PG or Zubac. By trading Bridges, Phoenix is not a good defensive team. We have Gordon and Russ that have both played with Chris Paul, so they know what he likes to to offensively. When Phoenix makes adjustments, Ty just goes into the toolkit and pulls out a new tool. He just has to keep forcing the Phoenix staff to make adjustments.