Westbrook is here! How do we make this work?

[clipperlover]

Are the Clippers better than they were 2 weeks ago? YES

What we lost:
Reggie, Luke - Two guys that can get hot shooting, but get pushed around defensively and don't help in the hustle stats
Wall - Collecting a substantial NBA paycheck for yet another NBA season while yielding little value

What we gained:
Westbrook - Rim attacker that brings an intensity we lack
Plumlee - Desperately needed backup big who can also handle the ball
Gordon - Rim attacker, decent defender who can also stroke the 3
Hyland (future) - Can likely do the same things as Reggie and Kennard while only costing us 1 spot on the floor

With the Westbrook addition, there is NO reason Marcus Morris should receive anything more Patrick Patterson minutes. Westbrook hasn't played in two weeks and has as many rebounds and steals as Morris did in two of our last 3 games. Russ will have more offensive rebounds as a Clipper than Morris will have on the season.

[Ballings7]

Watch on YouTube

Gotta say like seeing Russ' happy. Hopefully the joy is able to persist.. bunch of things are there for it to.

[nickhx2]

kinda funny that many years after the fact, we got the guy mike dunleavy was dying to get way back when. and not just that, the guy we got later in the draft is now gonna play alongside him lol

[nickhx2]

for sure one of the most humble times i've ever seen this guy be. i certainly appreciate that.

i agree that he seems happy. i agree also that i hope his joy carries through.

[Clemenza]

Ballmer should have built the new arena in San Diego. Now, he can't build the team organically through the draft.

I hope Ballmer doesn't think that way, or else we'll never win anything unless he changes his mind. Trying to build a team on the fly by throwing money at aging stars has given us one WCF appearance and not much else. Punting on drafting and development because "we're in LA, we need stars" is not a strategy.

The teams that win in this league generally have at least one cornerstone from the draft who grew with the franchise and set the tone. LeBron in Cleveland, Duncan in San Antonio, Curry in the Bay, Giannis in Milwaukee, etc. We've never had that. The closest we've had was Blake and he wasn't quite on that level. Right now we're like the Chiefs when they used to trade for other teams' veteran backup QBs every few years. Eventually we're going to need to find our Mahomes.

Terrance Mann, Bones Hyland, Zu, Brandon Boston, Coffey, Diabate, Preston, and our 1st & 2nd round picks in this upcoming draft has us fully stocked and doing pretty good in the youth-development department. Next season I'm thinking Morris, RoCo, and maybe Batum is gone so maybe the logjam opens up a bit more next season. We're not really lacking at all in this area imo

[madmaxmedia]

Watch on YouTube

Gotta say like seeing Russ' happy. Hopefully the joy is able to persist.. bunch of things are there for it to.

Sometimes you want to see players have a chip on their shoulder, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if Russ did. But he clearly didn’t, he seemed to speak honestly and openly, and genuinely just seems excited about playing here.

Fingers crossed!

[Clemenza]

Um, actually I ran across the Kawhi thing on the internet from a semi-credible reporter, didn't make it up. And it adds up. He is NO leader. The best and highest-paid player is NO face of the franchise. We're not even going to win 50 games ffs. The Kawhi Era has been a fckn MISERY, man. Without at least a Finals appearance, Ballmer has gambled on The Sphinx and he lost. So he's doubling down.

Do you really think they make the Westbrook move without Kawhi's nod and a wink? He's been passive-agressing his desire for a REAL point guard even after Mann was elevated and he IS in private contact with Russ.

Duh. With Kawhi's option to bail after next year BEFORE Ballmer opens his $2 Billion Intuit Pleasure Dome in 2024? Ballmer has his d**K in his hand after dropping another $2B on his arena? There was no choice.

C'mon. get off my back. I made a lot of money analyzing corporation politics. Believe it or don't. IDGAF. There's no mystery here.

Not struggling at all bruh. Just answering the tiresome blame of Doc Rivers when it was Pandemic P and Kawhi who went AWOL and blew the 3-1 against Denver in the Bubble. Doc took the fall because Ballmer could hardly fire Kawhi and George after trading away the Clippers future for the next decade to get them.

I thought Doc was unfairly blamed but I AGREED with the decision. Ballmer's back was against the wall--as it is now.

Because to return to the present--you should be worrying about PG, not Ty or Lawrence Frank or Westbrook or glorified scrubeenie Terance Mann's PT. PG's stats this year are really up and down. I think the whole thing rides on him. If we get last year's Playoff P, we're gold. If not, it's all over but the scapegoating.

Clippers didn't make the playoffs last year. We lost the 2nd play-in game partly because PG had Covid.

Are we failing to realize that Kawhi tearing his ACL and Zubac getting a knee sprain in Game 5 of the WCF are the primary reasons we didn't make it to the NBA Finals. We also had that ridiculous stretch of playoffs games because of the Covid schedule. The team in 2021 probably still loses to the Bucks, but they were good enough to be there.

If you want to blame Kawhi for a freak injury, feel free. However, Kawhi is a 2 time Finals MVP. He know what it is going to take. Watch out for this team out of the All-Star break. In 2020, they were 6-5 heading into the break and were 7-2 after the break. Then Covid shut everything down. They were peaking at the right time. We have a very favorable stretch of games in front of us. We can take out any team in the West.

We are adding a guy to the roster that has played with 3 of the other guys on this roster. A line-up of Westbrook, Gordon, PG, RoCo and Zubac/Plumlee would be a very solid unit that has some level of experience together (other than Zubac/Plumlee). Let that be one unit and Mann, Powell, Kawhi, Batum and Zu/Plumlee be the other.

Ballmer should have built the new arena in San Diego. Now, he can't build the team organically through the draft. He is going to have to build future teams through spending in order to have the star power to fill it regularly. Maybe he can change the name to the "Westside" Clippers of Los Angeles or the "Los Angeles Clippers of Inglewood" to cater to the locals.

Kawhi was on "load management" BEFORE tearing his ACL. And the bit about his lack of leadership holds. He is what he is and isn't what he isn't. That's why I approve of the Westbrook move and why I think he pushed for it. But I still think we sink or swim on PG's performance. Playoff P carried us to the WCF. Pandemic P got his coach fired.

BTW, the Clippers in LA are worth at least a billion more than the Clippers in San Diego or Seattle. They are currently valued at $3.7B, the Suns only $2.3 and the Blazers $2.1.

Doc not making any adjustments and completing his second 3-1 choke job with two different cores is what did him in not PG. Horrible game 7 but PG and Kawhi still had good games against Denver in the bubble but they were ruined when Doc insisted on have Trez guard Jokic. Please don't do this.

[esqtvd]

Clippers didn't make the playoffs last year. We lost the 2nd play-in game partly because PG had Covid.

Are we failing to realize that Kawhi tearing his ACL and Zubac getting a knee sprain in Game 5 of the WCF are the primary reasons we didn't make it to the NBA Finals. We also had that ridiculous stretch of playoffs games because of the Covid schedule. The team in 2021 probably still loses to the Bucks, but they were good enough to be there.

If you want to blame Kawhi for a freak injury, feel free. However, Kawhi is a 2 time Finals MVP. He know what it is going to take. Watch out for this team out of the All-Star break. In 2020, they were 6-5 heading into the break and were 7-2 after the break. Then Covid shut everything down. They were peaking at the right time. We have a very favorable stretch of games in front of us. We can take out any team in the West.

We are adding a guy to the roster that has played with 3 of the other guys on this roster. A line-up of Westbrook, Gordon, PG, RoCo and Zubac/Plumlee would be a very solid unit that has some level of experience together (other than Zubac/Plumlee). Let that be one unit and Mann, Powell, Kawhi, Batum and Zu/Plumlee be the other.

Ballmer should have built the new arena in San Diego. Now, he can't build the team organically through the draft. He is going to have to build future teams through spending in order to have the star power to fill it regularly. Maybe he can change the name to the "Westside" Clippers of Los Angeles or the "Los Angeles Clippers of Inglewood" to cater to the locals.

Kawhi was on "load management" BEFORE tearing his ACL. And the bit about his lack of leadership holds. He is what he is and isn't what he isn't. That's why I approve of the Westbrook move and why I think he pushed for it. But I still think we sink or swim on PG's performance. Playoff P carried us to the WCF. Pandemic P got his coach fired.

BTW, the Clippers in LA are worth at least a billion more than the Clippers in San Diego or Seattle. They are currently valued at $3.7B, the Suns only $2.3 and the Blazers $2.1.

Doc not making any adjustments and completing his second 3-1 choke job with two different cores is what did him in not PG. Horrible game 7 but PG and Kawhi still had good games against Denver in the bubble but they were ruined when Doc insisted on have Trez guard Jokic. Please don't do this.

nah that's the narrative
Kawhi and PG went 2-18 in the second half of a Game 7
one of the greatest choke jobs in NBA history

roleplayer Trez only played 17 mpg
JaMychal Green played more minutes than him
that's just more scapegoating

blame where it's due
games are won and lost by the players
no team survives their two "superstars" choking like that

It's all up to Paul George now



Russ better pray the right PG shows up

or we'll be blaming HIM

[Scoundreldays]

Kawhi was on "load management" BEFORE tearing his ACL. And the bit about his lack of leadership holds. He is what he is and isn't what he isn't. That's why I approve of the Westbrook move and why I think he pushed for it. But I still think we sink or swim on PG's performance. Playoff P carried us to the WCF. Pandemic P got his coach fired.

BTW, the Clippers in LA are worth at least a billion more than the Clippers in San Diego or Seattle. They are currently valued at $3.7B, the Suns only $2.3 and the Blazers $2.1.

Doc not making any adjustments and completing his second 3-1 choke job with two different cores is what did him in not PG. Horrible game 7 but PG and Kawhi still had good games against Denver in the bubble but they were ruined when Doc insisted on have Trez guard Jokic. Please don't do this.

nah that's the narrative
Kawhi and PG went 2-18 in the second half of a Game 7
one of the greatest choke jobs in NBA history

roleplayer Trez only played 17 mpg
JaMychal Green played more minutes than him
that's just more scapegoating

blame where it's due
games are won and lost by the players
no team survives their two "superstars" choking like that

It's all up to Paul George now



Russ better pray the right PG shows up

or we'll be blaming HIM

Lmao all those nicknames killed me. In all seriousness even though I have been critical of his play I do want PG to win a ring. His comeback story has always been inspirational to me so I hope he can pull it out.

[Cyclips]

Watch on YouTube

Gotta say like seeing Russ' happy. Hopefully the joy is able to persist.. bunch of things are there for it to.

Sometimes you want to see players have a chip on their shoulder, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if Russ did. But he clearly didn’t, he seemed to speak honestly and openly, and genuinely just seems excited about playing here.

Fingers crossed!

Ya, really looking forward to seeing how the team looks the rest of the way. If everyone plays to their strengths it could be a wild ride, but hopefully no more of George losing the ball as he dribbles across mid court.

[ejftw]

On the verge of blowing a 3–1 lead

This could be the title of Doc's biography.

Let's be honest, Doc's biography would be "The Jordan of Blown Leads"

If I'm not mistaken, Doc also leads, or is among the top of blown 2-0, 2-1 and 3-2 as well.

[ejftw]

Ballmer should have built the new arena in San Diego. Now, he can't build the team organically through the draft. He is going to have to build future teams through spending in order to have the star power to fill it regularly. Maybe he can change the name to the "Westside" Clippers of Los Angeles or the "Los Angeles Clippers of Inglewood" to cater to the locals.

What is this nonsense?

He should've built the arena in a smaller metro area that has struggled to hold onto pro teams?

Might as well have said in Indio.

Also, through the draft? Not many teams build that way anymore, and picks are still there, moves can be made to acquire other ones, not to mention guys like Boston and Moussa in the wings, the former of which, I'm Stan level high on, the latter, everyone else is.

[Clemenza]

Kawhi was on "load management" BEFORE tearing his ACL. And the bit about his lack of leadership holds. He is what he is and isn't what he isn't. That's why I approve of the Westbrook move and why I think he pushed for it. But I still think we sink or swim on PG's performance. Playoff P carried us to the WCF. Pandemic P got his coach fired.

BTW, the Clippers in LA are worth at least a billion more than the Clippers in San Diego or Seattle. They are currently valued at $3.7B, the Suns only $2.3 and the Blazers $2.1.

Doc not making any adjustments and completing his second 3-1 choke job with two different cores is what did him in not PG. Horrible game 7 but PG and Kawhi still had good games against Denver in the bubble but they were ruined when Doc insisted on have Trez guard Jokic. Please don't do this.

nah that's the narrative
Kawhi and PG went 2-18 in the second half of a Game 7
one of the greatest choke jobs in NBA history

roleplayer Trez only played 17 mpg
JaMychal Green played more minutes than him
that's just more scapegoating

blame where it's due
games are won and lost by the players
no team survives their two "superstars" choking like that

It's all up to Paul George now



Russ better pray the right PG shows up

or we'll be blaming HIM

Clipps vs Nuggets in the bubble


Game 1: Kawhi 29 points -PG 19 points
Game 2: Kawhi 13 points- PG 22 points
Game 3: Kawhi 23 points- PG 32 points
Game 4: Kawhi 30 points- PG 10 points
Game 5 Kawhi 36 points- PG 26 points
Game 6 Kawhi 25 points- PG 33 points
Game 7 Kawhi 14 points- PG 10 points


Yes game 7 was a nightmare and the blame went to Kawhi & PG but Doc ruined and totally butchered games 5 and 6. And really PG's bad playoff performances with us were against the Mavs in the bubble and that game 7 against the Nuggets also in the bubble. He was good to stellar in the year we made the WCF when Kawhi went out.

[esqtvd]

Doc not making any adjustments and completing his second 3-1 choke job with two different cores is what did him in not PG. Horrible game 7 but PG and Kawhi still had good games against Denver in the bubble but they were ruined when Doc insisted on have Trez guard Jokic. Please don't do this.

nah that's the narrative
Kawhi and PG went 2-18 in the second half of a Game 7
one of the greatest choke jobs in NBA history

roleplayer Trez only played 17 mpg
JaMychal Green played more minutes than him
that's just more scapegoating

blame where it's due
games are won and lost by the players
no team survives their two "superstars" choking like that

It's all up to Paul George now



Russ better pray the right PG shows up

or we'll be blaming HIM

Clipps vs Nuggets in the bubble


Game 1: Kawhi 29 points -PG 19 points
Game 2: Kawhi 13 points- PG 22 points
Game 3: Kawhi 23 points- PG 32 points
Game 4: Kawhi 30 points- PG 10 points
Game 5 Kawhi 36 points- PG 26 points
Game 6 Kawhi 25 points- PG 33 points
Game 7 Kawhi 14 points- PG 10 points


Yes game 7 was a nightmare and the blame went to Kawhi & PG but Doc ruined and totally butchered games 5 and 6. And really PG's bad playoff performances with us were against the Mavs in the bubble and that game 7 against the Nuggets also in the bubble. He was good to stellar in the year we made the WCF when Kawhi went out.

B-b-b-but Games 5 and 6. Uh huh. Sure. Whatever. Kawhi and PG never took responsibility for their Game 7 failure. They let bench player Trez take the blame and Doc take the fall.



NBA fans responded to Paul George's massive new contract by roasting his playoff struggles

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/12/paul-george-contract-extension-nba-fan-reaction-twitter-pandemic-p


Regardless, it's 2023 and to update to the Clippers NOW: Kawhi will be ok; then as now it's all up to Paul George, Ballmer doubled down on his "superstars", and really had no choice, just as he had no choice but to give in to their demand for Westbrook. We shall hope for the best.

[esqtvd]

Watch on YouTube

Gotta say like seeing Russ' happy. Hopefully the joy is able to persist.. bunch of things are there for it to.

Sometimes you want to see players have a chip on their shoulder, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if Russ did. But he clearly didn’t, he seemed to speak honestly and openly, and genuinely just seems excited about playing here.

Fingers crossed!

Ya, really looking forward to seeing how the team looks the rest of the way. If everyone plays to their strengths it could be a wild ride, but hopefully no more of George losing the ball as he dribbles across mid court.

Now we have Westbrook for that.

[Clemenza]

nah that's the narrative
Kawhi and PG went 2-18 in the second half of a Game 7
one of the greatest choke jobs in NBA history

roleplayer Trez only played 17 mpg
JaMychal Green played more minutes than him
that's just more scapegoating

blame where it's due
games are won and lost by the players
no team survives their two "superstars" choking like that

It's all up to Paul George now



Russ better pray the right PG shows up

or we'll be blaming HIM

Clipps vs Nuggets in the bubble


Game 1: Kawhi 29 points -PG 19 points
Game 2: Kawhi 13 points- PG 22 points
Game 3: Kawhi 23 points- PG 32 points
Game 4: Kawhi 30 points- PG 10 points
Game 5 Kawhi 36 points- PG 26 points
Game 6 Kawhi 25 points- PG 33 points
Game 7 Kawhi 14 points- PG 10 points


Yes game 7 was a nightmare and the blame went to Kawhi & PG but Doc ruined and totally butchered games 5 and 6. And really PG's bad playoff performances with us were against the Mavs in the bubble and that game 7 against the Nuggets also in the bubble. He was good to stellar in the year we made the WCF when Kawhi went out.

B-b-b-but Games 5 and 6. Uh huh. Sure. Whatever. Kawhi and PG never took responsibility for their Game 7 failure. They let bench player Trez take the blame and Doc take the fall.



NBA fans responded to Paul George's massive new contract by roasting his playoff struggles

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/12/paul-george-contract-extension-nba-fan-reaction-twitter-pandemic-p


Regardless, it's 2023 and to update to the Clippers NOW: Kawhi will be ok; it's all up to Paul George. Ballmer doubled down on his "superstars", and really had no choice, just as he had no choice but to give in to their demand for Westbrook. We shall hope for the best.

Cool and yes its all about right now. The stars have to show and prove this season period. Just don't bring up the past like you always conveniently do for a quick shot to rekindle the innocence of Doc-Trez all over again but take serious issues when someone else does it.

[esqtvd]

Clipps vs Nuggets in the bubble


Game 1: Kawhi 29 points -PG 19 points
Game 2: Kawhi 13 points- PG 22 points
Game 3: Kawhi 23 points- PG 32 points
Game 4: Kawhi 30 points- PG 10 points
Game 5 Kawhi 36 points- PG 26 points
Game 6 Kawhi 25 points- PG 33 points
Game 7 Kawhi 14 points- PG 10 points


Yes game 7 was a nightmare and the blame went to Kawhi & PG but Doc ruined and totally butchered games 5 and 6. And really PG's bad playoff performances with us were against the Mavs in the bubble and that game 7 against the Nuggets also in the bubble. He was good to stellar in the year we made the WCF when Kawhi went out.

B-b-b-but Games 5 and 6. Uh huh. Sure. Whatever. Kawhi and PG never took responsibility for their Game 7 failure. They let bench player Trez take the blame and Doc take the fall.



NBA fans responded to Paul George's massive new contract by roasting his playoff struggles

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/12/paul-george-contract-extension-nba-fan-reaction-twitter-pandemic-p


Regardless, it's 2023 and to update to the Clippers NOW: Kawhi will be ok; it's all up to Paul George. Ballmer doubled down on his "superstars", and really had no choice, just as he had no choice but to give in to their demand for Westbrook. We shall hope for the best.

Cool and yes its all about right now. The stars have to show and prove this season period. Just don't bring up the past like you always conveniently do for a quick shot to rekindle the innocence of Doc-Trez all over again but take serious issues when someone else does it.

I didn't bring up Doc. He is long gone. And PG choked--that's undeniable. And frankly, Kawhi came up LESS than superstellar.

Read on Twitter

That is the concern now. And if form holds, if they don't win, Westbrook and the coach will be blamed.

[illastrate]

Watch on YouTube

Gotta say like seeing Russ' happy. Hopefully the joy is able to persist.. bunch of things are there for it to.

Sometimes you want to see players have a chip on their shoulder, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if Russ did. But he clearly didn’t, he seemed to speak honestly and openly, and genuinely just seems excited about playing here.

Fingers crossed!

He seems genuinely happy, more than he's been the past couple of years. From a pure human aspect, I want to see him persevere. Hoping for the best because that's all we have right now.

[esqtvd]

Watch on YouTube

Gotta say like seeing Russ' happy. Hopefully the joy is able to persist.. bunch of things are there for it to.

Sometimes you want to see players have a chip on their shoulder, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if Russ did. But he clearly didn’t, he seemed to speak honestly and openly, and genuinely just seems excited about playing here.

Fingers crossed!

He seems genuinely happy, more than he's been the past couple of years. From a pure human aspect, I want to see him persevere. Hoping for the best because that's all we have right now.

The problem has been that Russ doesn't really want to have to calculate his role--any role. He just wants to do what comes naturally and that's what's fun. That leads to big numbers but is not winning basketball.

I think the same thing is true of J-Wall but he was never as talented at Westbrook in the first place and his skills had eroded during his long layoff as well. Wall's minus-6.6 per 100 possessions was by far the worst of any Clipper non-G leaguer, and worse than most of them.

BTW, Westbrook's minus-1.3 per 100 possessions with the Lakers was 12th on the team, but not disastrous, and still better than Norman Powell's minus-3.8 with a better Clippers team. We are still getting damaged goods, make no mistake--Westbrook cannot just go out there and do what comes naturally anymore. But Norman is minus-5.8 over the last 10 games and T-Mann is minus-1.6; Westbrook surely has their minutes in his sights.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?PerMode=Per100Possessions&TeamID=1610612747&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS

[MartinToVaught]

Read on Twitter

Lue's already screwed it up and Westbrook hasn't even played yet. This experiment only has a chance of working if Russ takes Morris' minutes.