Norman Powell: Losing Paul George is addition by subtraction. Update: Norm: Everybody now is coachable

[Mavrelous]

Their offense tanked as expected, but they have been an absolute terror on defense...
Ty Lue should be in COY talks...

[Sixers in 4]

Powell has definitely been playing lights out will take the early L on this one

[SonicMcMahon]

More evidence of how stacked that 2019 Raptors team was.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Man lied, it's multiplication of subtraction

LMAO. It has a multiplier on it for sure.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Their offense tanked as expected, but they have been an absolute terror on defense...
Ty Lue should be in COY talks...

That's exactly what I expected. Bottom 10 offense, top 5 defense basically. It's better to be a scrappy, competitive defensive minded team than a good offense that cant defend IMO. I think it gives you a lower ceiling, BUT a higher floor. You're in a lot more games that you shouldn't be in. On the flip side of that they lack the offensive stars to close games out, so what's happened in a few losses is they build leads with monster defensive stretches... can't hit a shot and give up 15+ point leads in 4th quarters to lose close games.

[scrabbarista]

Clippers at 7-7 with a brutal first 14 games of their schedule

Sixers 2-11 after another loss tonight

Paul George is playin with a better roster in Philly and if you let the media tell it “a better coach” in nick nurse lol. So what gives, why is the “washed choker” able to win with role players but the 211 million dollar splash acquisition not able to elevate the sixers

Clippers were supposed to be the worst team in the league this year. Guess the media declaring harden would miss the playoff and the clippers will miss Paul George will come out and admit they were wrong. lol of course they won’t

Because, no matter what some geniuses in the media will tell you, at no point in their lifetimes has Paul George ever been better at basketball than James Harden.

[KGtabake]

Clippers at 7-7 with a brutal first 14 games of their schedule

Sixers 2-11 after another loss tonight

Paul George is playin with a better roster in Philly and if you let the media tell it “a better coach” in nick nurse lol. So what gives, why is the “washed choker” able to win with role players but the 211 million dollar splash acquisition not able to elevate the sixers

Clippers were supposed to be the worst team in the league this year. Guess the media declaring harden would miss the playoff and the clippers will miss Paul George will come out and admit they were wrong. lol of course they won’t

Because, no matter what some geniuses in the media will tell you, at no point in their lifetimes has Paul George ever been better at basketball than James Harden.

Paul George was better player than Harden in his Pacers days.
I could argue he was the closest comparison that LeBron ever had a decade ago.
Ever since yes, Harden was better.

[OkcSinceSGA]

He's not wrong. Last year in LA he took 11.4 fga per game and that was the fewest he'd taken since his 3rd year when he was coming off the bench in OKC. It was also his second lowest usg% of his career (also when he was in OKC coming off the bench). Career low free throw rate too and career high 3pt rate.

His TS% was just the same as it's always been, so it's reasonable to imagine that with a different shot diet, where he's getting into the paint and drawing more fouls, with a higher usage%, that he should be putting up much better numbers than he was last year. Weather that means more wins for the Clippers is a different thing, I think the West is much stronger, and the Clippers just lack some of the talent that the rest of the team has.

The RealGM Survivor Poll has them as the consensus 13th seed, and thats where I view them. Harden may put up some great numbers doing it, but I don't see it leading to success unless Kawhi plays 65+ games.

13th is insane. Even if Kawhi misses 50+ games they are a 35 win team. I don’t think people quite realize how good this depth and defense can be. I have the Clippers between 42-48 wins and 6-8 seed. Bookmark this now. Remember when people called OKC at 45 wins I said 55+. The prior year most had OKC at bottom of conference and I rightly predicted .500 or better.

Looks like I somehow undersold them because my prediction was WITH Kawhi. Not him missing 20 something games that could easy go to 30-40 to start the year. 14-9 now. 5th in power rankings. Norm Powell has outplayed PG by a lot and been a star.

[OkcSinceSGA]

13th is insane. Even if Kawhi misses 50+ games they are a 35 win team. I don’t think people quite realize how good this depth and defense can be. I have the Clippers between 42-48 wins and 6-8 seed. Bookmark this now. Remember when people called OKC at 45 wins I said 55+. The prior year most had OKC at bottom of conference and I rightly predicted .500 or better.

My mistake, they were 12th

Zubac/Tucker/Bamba
Jones Jr./Batum/Brown
Mann/Coffey
Powell/Porter/Hyland
Harden/Dunn

IF Kawhi is there, then sure, it's got the talent, but if he's missing 50 games??? They are a tier below in my opinion.

Without Kawhi thats a pretty **** looking team. Losing PG for nothing was a huge blow

It was an addition by subtraction as I said since 2021.

[Infinite Llamas]

Powells all star caliber. This guy deserves some respect.

[OkcSinceSGA]

I would be shocked if they aren’t a top 5-7 defense this year.

Dunn, Batum, DJJ, Mann, Zubac, Kawhi isn’t giving you a bottom 10 defense lol.

how much will dunn batum and leonard play? and how much will james harden kevin porter coffey and powell play. Their roster is a choice between offense and defense, and rarely do i see the coach choose defense when faced with such choices.

Right. They have more bad defenders than good and none of their good defenders contribute offensively. Their 2nd option when Kawhi sits is Kevin Porter. Team is headed nowhere.

Inching toward 3rd ranked defense. #1 outside shooting defense. Elite defensively.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Bottom ten defense without him. Aight tho

I would be shocked if they aren’t a top 5-7 defense this year.

Dunn, Batum, DJJ, Mann, Zubac, Kawhi isn’t giving you a bottom 10 defense lol.

Bet... lets go my dude.

Not looking good for you 25% of the way in. Kawhi just started ramping up some, so that won’t hurt.

[manlisten]

how much will dunn batum and leonard play? and how much will james harden kevin porter coffey and powell play. Their roster is a choice between offense and defense, and rarely do i see the coach choose defense when faced with such choices.

Right. They have more bad defenders than good and none of their good defenders contribute offensively. Their 2nd option when Kawhi sits is Kevin Porter. Team is headed nowhere.

Inching toward 3rd ranked defense. #1 outside shooting defense. Elite defensively.

They've been beating up on bad teams so credit to them. Don't think they've won against any actual good teams except Orlando. Their offense is bottom 10 and Harden is clearly washed so they're still going nowhere but their defense and Norman Powell have been better than I thought. Get back to me after these next 7 games.

[HotRocks34]

Go Clips!

[OkcSinceSGA]

Right. They have more bad defenders than good and none of their good defenders contribute offensively. Their 2nd option when Kawhi sits is Kevin Porter. Team is headed nowhere.

Inching toward 3rd ranked defense. #1 outside shooting defense. Elite defensively.

They've been beating up on bad teams so credit to them. Don't think they've won against any actual good teams except Orlando. Their offense is bottom 10 and Harden is clearly washed so they're still going nowhere but their defense and Norman Powell have been better than I thought. Get back to me after these next 7 games.

Not true. They beat GS twice when they had the best record in the west and Denver twice. They’ve played the 5th most difficult schedule so far in SOS. Harden is “clearly washed” yet is climbing fast in EPM and is ahead of guys like Anthony Edwards, Booker etc lol.

[manlisten]

Inching toward 3rd ranked defense. #1 outside shooting defense. Elite defensively.

They've been beating up on bad teams so credit to them. Don't think they've won against any actual good teams except Orlando. Their offense is bottom 10 and Harden is clearly washed so they're still going nowhere but their defense and Norman Powell have been better than I thought. Get back to me after these next 7 games.

Not true. They beat GS twice when they had the best record in the west and Denver twice. They’ve played the 5th most difficult schedule so far in SOS. Harden is “clearly washed” yet is climbing fast in EPM and is ahead of guys like Anthony Edwards, Booker etc lol.

GSW had a hot start but that doesn't mean they're good. They won't make the playoffs. Denver is mid. They've lost to every legit team they’ve faced, sometimes twice already. Since they were 6-7 they've fattened up on Utah, GSW, Sac, Philly, Washington and Portland...you think that's a difficult schedule? Harden is by far at career low efficiency and doubled his turnovers from last year with the same assists. Like I said, bump this thread after their next 7 games and we'll talk.

[OkcSinceSGA]

They've been beating up on bad teams so credit to them. Don't think they've won against any actual good teams except Orlando. Their offense is bottom 10 and Harden is clearly washed so they're still going nowhere but their defense and Norman Powell have been better than I thought. Get back to me after these next 7 games.

Not true. They beat GS twice when they had the best record in the west and Denver twice. They’ve played the 5th most difficult schedule so far in SOS. Harden is “clearly washed” yet is climbing fast in EPM and is ahead of guys like Anthony Edwards, Booker etc lol.

GSW had a hot start but that doesn't mean they're good. They won't make the playoffs. Denver is mid. They've lost to every legit team they’ve faced, sometimes twice already. Since they were 6-7 they've fattened up on Utah, GSW, Sac, Philly, Washington and Portland...you think that's a difficult schedule? Harden is by far at career low efficiency and doubled his turnovers from last year with the same assists. Like I said, bump this thread after their next 7 games and we'll talk.

Your posts are completely devoid of all logic. They haven’t had Kawhi one game. They just were without Norm 6 games in a row. They were picked to be among the worst teams in the west. The point is they are a very good ball team considering they have zero games from Kawhi.

You’re all over the place here. Every team plays some bad teams. But the Clippers are middle of the pack vs .500 teams and 8-1 vs sub .500. Basically normal for a middling playoff seed. Nobody expects them to be a contender right now. But they have been shorthanded.

[manlisten]

Your posts are completely devoid of all logic. They haven’t had Kawhi one game. They just were without Norm 6 games in a row. They were picked to be among the worst teams in the west. The point is they are a very good ball team considering they have zero games from Kawhi.

You’re all over the place here. Every team plays some bad teams. But the Clippers are middle of the pack vs .500 teams and 8-1 vs sub .500. Basically normal for a middling playoff seed. Nobody expects them to be a contender right now. But they have been shorthanded.

Who cares about Kawhi? You're puffing your chest about the team they have. You said they had a difficult schedule and I pointed out they've stacked wins with a cupcake stretch of games. Every team gets injured so why would I give them brownie points for playing without Powell as if none of the teams they've played against have their own injuries. You're impressed because their best wins have been the Warriors (5 game skid) and Nuggets (8 seed). Again these next 7 games will be revelatory. You don't find out what a team is made of in November otherwise you'd think a team like GSW is actually good.

[Roscoe Sheed]

regardless of record, it is never a cupcake victory to beat GSW or Denver- Curry and Jokic are always forces to be reckoned with

[FarBeyondDriven]

Clippers at 7-7 with a brutal first 14 games of their schedule

Sixers 2-11 after another loss tonight

Paul George is playin with a better roster in Philly and if you let the media tell it “a better coach” in nick nurse lol. So what gives, why is the “washed choker” able to win with role players but the 211 million dollar splash acquisition not able to elevate the sixers

Clippers were supposed to be the worst team in the league this year. Guess the media declaring harden would miss the playoff and the clippers will miss Paul George will come out and admit they were wrong. lol of course they won’t

Because, no matter what some geniuses in the media will tell you, at no point in their lifetimes has Paul George ever been better at basketball than James Harden.

Paul George was better player than Harden in his Pacers days.
I could argue he was the closest comparison that LeBron ever had a decade ago.
Ever since yes, Harden was better.

that would be Kawhi, who for a couple of seasons, before the injury, was legit the best player in the NBA and Lebron was still in his prime albeit the end of it.

But before that and for a long time before that, before George's own injury, he was headed towards being that good. The injury sapped his aggression and he no longer played above the rim as a result of not wanting to get injured.