The offense and what it's supposed to be
Posted: Sat Dec 7, 2019 8:28 pm
Obviously the blowout against the bucks showed the team isn't at all where it wants to be. And i hear a lot of "why isn't the team doing this? or doing that?" And i'd say that 1000% has to do with lack of practices, where both pg and kawhi are healthy. They mentioned on the cast last night that they'd only recently had their first practice, so if you really think about it, the team's only going to be doing their first real work together 25% of the way in.
Some relevant quotes from last night's game: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28241293/giannis-antetokounmpo-bucks-rout-clippers-14th-straight-win
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The Clippers came into this game having scored 130 or more points five times, reaching 150 twice. But Rivers wanted everyone to know the Clippers' offense isn't nearly as good as the statistics indicate as he tries to integrate Leonard and George amid disruptions due to injuries and little to no practice time.
"We have not maximized them offensively yet," Rivers said of Leonard and George. "We keep looking at our offensive numbers, and I've been saying it: It's fool's gold. We're not ready offensively yet. And our numbers say different. But this is where analytically, I'm right. I can see it."
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Meanwhile, Leonard left Milwaukee with the Clippers' worst loss of the season as he says the Clippers are still learning their playbook.
"We're just a work in progress," Leonard said. "This team is just really kind of put together this year. We've got to figure it out. Some of us don't know the plays coming down, and it's hard to get in our sets. We've just got to keep striving."
Asked about playing with George, Leonard added, "We just have to get comfortable with the plays, just going out there and being able to run it without thinking, getting into our spots early. The flow will come."
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Certainly, none of this is me thinking i'm worried or not worried. I definitely have my concerns. But what i really care about are the things that i expect to see come to life as the season goes on.
Things i think we don't have that we'll get rolling which will make the team really difficult to deal with on offense:
1. Last year's offense: basically all that cool dribble/hand-off action we used to see i think will likely make its way back soon enough, with practice. This is probably the most important thing for them to get right, as it's why the team hasn't really identified a starting, playmaking PG as an area of need. Once the starters gain some progress and familiarity with this, i expect to see way less pure ISO/bailout possessions than we get now. But this is gonna take time.
2. A revived lou/harrell dynamic off the bench: it used to feel like that these two guys, in a way, took turns scoring once they both came into the game together. Maybe it's just me, i dunno, but i don't see nearly as much of the stuff that made them so special together. It's just not consistent. And i suspect a lot of that has to do with how doc is trying to stagger kawhi and george. I'm not super worried about this either, as i think this is really all just a big adjustment period.
3. Timing and chemistry: i see kawhi/george trying REALLY hard to force interior passes, but usually just failing lol. As i said in the game thread, i don't really mind because this is how they're gonna figure it out. But we've seen how kawhi matches up well with zubac, and we've seen guys like beverley and hark find their shots and places to shoot. And at some point kawhi's going to stop passing up open shots and the team, hopefully, should start to feel like it has some serious structure on offense.
So, IMO it's important for us to watch out for these things. And if they start developing steadily, then i think we can feel good about the progress of the team. Everyone just needs time.
Some relevant quotes from last night's game: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28241293/giannis-antetokounmpo-bucks-rout-clippers-14th-straight-win
--
The Clippers came into this game having scored 130 or more points five times, reaching 150 twice. But Rivers wanted everyone to know the Clippers' offense isn't nearly as good as the statistics indicate as he tries to integrate Leonard and George amid disruptions due to injuries and little to no practice time.
"We have not maximized them offensively yet," Rivers said of Leonard and George. "We keep looking at our offensive numbers, and I've been saying it: It's fool's gold. We're not ready offensively yet. And our numbers say different. But this is where analytically, I'm right. I can see it."
--
Meanwhile, Leonard left Milwaukee with the Clippers' worst loss of the season as he says the Clippers are still learning their playbook.
"We're just a work in progress," Leonard said. "This team is just really kind of put together this year. We've got to figure it out. Some of us don't know the plays coming down, and it's hard to get in our sets. We've just got to keep striving."
Asked about playing with George, Leonard added, "We just have to get comfortable with the plays, just going out there and being able to run it without thinking, getting into our spots early. The flow will come."
--
Certainly, none of this is me thinking i'm worried or not worried. I definitely have my concerns. But what i really care about are the things that i expect to see come to life as the season goes on.
Things i think we don't have that we'll get rolling which will make the team really difficult to deal with on offense:
1. Last year's offense: basically all that cool dribble/hand-off action we used to see i think will likely make its way back soon enough, with practice. This is probably the most important thing for them to get right, as it's why the team hasn't really identified a starting, playmaking PG as an area of need. Once the starters gain some progress and familiarity with this, i expect to see way less pure ISO/bailout possessions than we get now. But this is gonna take time.
2. A revived lou/harrell dynamic off the bench: it used to feel like that these two guys, in a way, took turns scoring once they both came into the game together. Maybe it's just me, i dunno, but i don't see nearly as much of the stuff that made them so special together. It's just not consistent. And i suspect a lot of that has to do with how doc is trying to stagger kawhi and george. I'm not super worried about this either, as i think this is really all just a big adjustment period.
3. Timing and chemistry: i see kawhi/george trying REALLY hard to force interior passes, but usually just failing lol. As i said in the game thread, i don't really mind because this is how they're gonna figure it out. But we've seen how kawhi matches up well with zubac, and we've seen guys like beverley and hark find their shots and places to shoot. And at some point kawhi's going to stop passing up open shots and the team, hopefully, should start to feel like it has some serious structure on offense.
So, IMO it's important for us to watch out for these things. And if they start developing steadily, then i think we can feel good about the progress of the team. Everyone just needs time.