ANYWAY, while I realize there's already a couple different threads dedicated to the new additions, I think a thread that looks at "the now and from now on" makes some sense, as we've:
1. completed all our roster moves (presumably) and
2. have very likely seen lue's lineup architecture moving forward.
Basically, now that we're here with roster ABC, TL is (likely) going to be doing XYZ strategy with said roster for the rest of the season.
TrueLAfan wrote:It’s about more than just rebounding—but, yeah. At a certain point, Marcus’s rebounding weakness is costing us across the board. I really think one of the reasons we picked Westbrook was that he rebounds so well. Put it this way; we’re a good to very good rebounding team that gets pulled down to average by Mook. That’s a problem.
I’m torn about PG. He looks worse than he is. He’s a 24-6-5 guy that plays good to very good defense. His TS% is close to 60%; he’s very very efficient. He turns the ball over too much and makes some boneheaded turnovers, but I have to wonder if Bulls and Celtics fans are screaming about Zach LaVine’s and Jayson Tatum’s lousy passing as much as Clipper fans bitch about PG—they’ve got pretty much identical A/TO ratios. We’re 27-18 when he plays and 6-11 when he’s out. I want him to play better, sure—but, mainly, I want him to play more. He’s missed 17 games. If he had missed 9 fewer games, and we had gone 6-3 instead of 3-6, we’d be third in the conference and breathing down the Grizz necks.
But that hasn’t happened. We’re never all on the court at the same time. We lack cohesiveness and will. I kinda agree with esqtvd that we’re auditioning players for the playoffs—but Sacramento is basically even with us in the standings. That was a game to make a statement and we didn’t do it.
True's post touches on a couple things that I've been complaining about for almost the entirety of the season. Not that I want to belabor the point, anyway. In regards to morris, I don't think I"ve seen a single person not view him as a problem.
In regards to PG: I think this perspective is one I haven't super considered, and one I'm inclined to discuss. I think when we look at his overall numbers, you go "oh yeah I forgot, these actually are all-star numbers," because they are! But if we say he looks worse than he really is, I mean sure it could be the case. One could argue you don't get to the position of those leads we build without PG doing PG things for most of the game. But I would also say that he is as bad as he actually looks mostly from the idea that these critical TO's, and negative bball IQ decisions are for the most part issues that have reasonable solutions - and instead we have not really seen them get better. So if someone were to ask me "what's up with the clippers?" I'd say: they have the pieces to make it work, but they just fumble leads away by doing the same stupid things they do every game. Moreover, they haven't done anything of note to improve upon that, so they just aren't gonna win the close games a great team should, and they will give up leads just like a doc rivers team would by going full bore into their stupidest moments, win or lose.
And of course that's just my opinion and I don't really have any objective data to say "yeah they screw up too much in close games," but it sure feels like it's been the case all season, the kings game being the pinnacle of that. Like sure, say we're at full health ALL season, we are possibly the 1st seed or neck and neck at least. But I think more availability only helps us to a degree. Having the players be more in tune with each other and having more wins under our belt is great, but I don't think it fixes the core issues. And if those issues haven't been addressed in any tangible way all season (let alone be solved), then to me they're just flaws that will become hyper-exposed in the playoffs when it really counts. What's ty lue gonna do in a 7-game series against denver in their own arena when they blast benny hill music the moment PG touches the ball and simply send an extra guy to swipe at him when he decides he's gonna attack the paint? Again, no objective data but I'd bet money that opposing teams all season noticed how bad he was in this regard and increased their frequency attacking him on drives, because to me that tactic became more observable as the season went on. And in the kings game, the lazy pass at the top of the key to the left arc (forget who it was) was a telegraphed pass he's been attempting and failing at all season. Basically just saying, yeah sure, I totally get more games would have helped us with seeding and from a chemistry standpoint we would be better, but the bad things that really screw up our day are still the same and playoff strategies will punish that, so I can't say that I'm gonna be going "I wish PG didn't miss all those games" when this season is all said and done.
So what's the point of bringing that up anyway? Well, if there are no more roster moves to make and lue isn't likely to change his strategy, then I think what you see now is what you get later. I mean, sure if I'm agnostic about it, maybe he will in the playoffs, because he sat zubac/beverley when he had to, but looking at how he overplayed morris/reggie and underplayed covington/powell in the play-in, and looking at what he's done so far this season not just with morris/reggie, but literally what he did with ONE game of having westbrook, it seems clear to me he's a rep over merit type of coach.
So, in my estimation, I'm mostly accepting that we're gonna do a lot of what we did the last game, and do it for the rest of the season. Having zubac back will help, but I don't think that does anything to solve the core issues the team has. Westbrook but us back in square one in that regard. And in my opinion, lue not addressing these core issues puts us at a second round exit-ish, maybe more depending on luck or possibly more based purely on having talent. But CERTAINLY not because we found tactically powerful lineups. I mean 5-out/wingstop lineups are supposed to be our secret weapon but if you're gonna run morris as your 5, that's not gonna work so well, is it? Adding on to that, I think with only 20 games left you just don't have time for more than one more instance of experiments. You're gonna put together what you think is your playoff crew and try to get them working together, for better or for worse.
So, what do you guys think? How confident do you guys feel moving forward? Perhaps it's the wrong time to ask that as many of us might still feel emotional over the kings game (I certainly think I am). But we also don't have much season left so I do wonder what the general sense is among us here.
PS: my own preference is to not to do the "well, if lue just does this.." game because I think we are well past that point with a coach who is not going to play in to our daydreams of benching morris or optimal lineups. But yeah, 2nd and out is my current expectation and then some song and dance before lawrence frank moves on from lue and finds a new coach. Wonder what wife-stealer ime udoka is doing these days, btw?
And at least Morris is somehow plus+3.8, 2nd only behind Kawhi and way above Paul George. Marcus is completely mediocre but he is not "killing us out there." The problem is elsewhere--both PG and Mann are minus-0.9.
