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

[Scoundreldays]

Honestly expecting a season like 2022 with Clippers where they will surpass expectations so instead of getting 12th seed they will make the playin or potentially 1st round as an 8th seed

[MrBigShot]

PG had a very efficient season last year. The way some people talk about him you'd think he's a low efficiency chucker who does nothing but score.

The guy is a very good, unselfish two way player who can play on and off the ball. His biggest issue is health.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Regarding the regular season

The reality of it is that the Clippers are one of the hardest teams to predict next year in terms of record and their standings in the West. They had a flawed team last year regarding too many cooks in the kitchen, which has been resolved. They have a lot of depth, top level talent, and overall great regular season coaching and could easily minimally drop off in the standings and in terms of their record. they could make up for PG's loss pretty comfortably in a healthy team in terms of regular season record, but can you do it with an unhealthy Kawhi? To me, they are incredibly difficult to predict for the regular season.

Regarding title odds/Contention

In terms of their overall quality in terms of contending chances and playoff matchups, I think it's hard to imagine them being better this year in a playoff series against any particular team. Acting like losing PG is an addition by subtraction in any specific playoff matchup is silly imo. You aren't more likely to beat Denver, Dallas, Boston, etc without PG. Depth is great, but it becomes significantly less important when you're thinking about title odds and playoff matchups, so for the Clippers to somehow have better contending chances, it comes down to the positive impact that PG being gone can have on their top players, particularly Kawhi and Harden.

It's blind optimism to think that without PG, Kawhi reverts back to 2019 Kawhi in the playoffs, and Harden becomes Houston Harden, 5 years later.

[brackdan70]

Paul George epm rank 8th. Norman Powell…180th

[heezyo2o]

Why did Portland trade away Powell? They didn't seem to get much back

[Ballings7]

Good chance will be able to bump this thread in support of the Clips -- 'Marked!

I see the Clips playing hard and as a team on both ends with the new additions, and some notable added youth.

Contender? No, not expecting that; but LAC will be in mid-playoff seed range probably at best (5-6), worst-case a play-in team finishing above 9/10, getting 7 or 8.

Anything below the 8th seed would be disappointing and surprising -- don't see it happening, though.

I think they'll be like the 2019 Clippers but with better offensive versatility.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Read on Twitter

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I don’t think he’s completely wrong

i hate to pile on, but norman powell is correct. when i tell you last year was my first time watching paul george closely, i can now see why paul george and westbrook never got out of the 1st round in okc. They play low percentage basketball and the decisions they make with the basketball are headscratching

[Johnny Bball]

I thought it would take a lot longer for anyone to see that, but it took zero games played.

[Sixers in 4]

Why did Portland trade away Powell? They didn't seem to get much back

Addition by subtraction

[picc]

This sounds great until its game 4 of a crucial playoff series and Harden is 3-15 with 6 turnovers and Magic City wing sauce in his beard.

[Clemenza]

It's an entertaining and eye catching comment, but I'd rather start KPJ (yes I'm giving him a 2nd chance) over Norm. Even Mann would be a better starter. There's simply no defense and no extra passing from Norm. He's much better coming off the bench for instant scoring. Him starting would also mean player development taking a backseat all over again

[HotelVitale]

Good chance will be able to bump this thread in support of the Clips -- 'Marked!

Contender? No, not expecting that; but LAC will be in mid-playoff seed range probably at best (5-6), worst-case a play-in team finishing above 9/10, getting 7 or 8.

I mean, you could say that about any prediction, and there's nothing worse than people who make every bad prediction in the book to be able to pull one or two back up when they randomly go their way.

Also your take on them seems pretty modest, until you realize that has them winning 50+ games. Last year the play-in teams in the west won 49 games so for that be their worst case means they're a pretty darn good team. (And if you think they'll breeze to 50+ seems like you agree that losing PG was nothin.)

[manlisten]

It's an entertaining and eye catching comment, but I'd rather start KPJ (yes I'm giving him a 2nd chance) over Norm. Even Mann would be a better starter. There's simply no defense and no extra passing from Norm. He's much better coming off the bench for instant scoring. Him starting would also mean player development taking a backseat all over again

Mann/DJJ/Zu is 02 Nuggets level offense. Just brutal spacing. There's a bunch of bad lineups you can put together with this roster and I honestly don't see any well balanced group you could cobble together.

[Edrees]

This is the very definition of copium. This would only make sense if the next 2 best players on the Clippers were young guys looking for more minutes. Sure the role players will fill some of the void, but this puts more pressure on Kawhi and Harden when clutchtime comes up. That's NOT good.

Also, Harden is 35. He's getting up there. No way he doesn't decline more this year.

[OkcSinceSGA]

This is the very definition of copium. This would only make sense if the next 2 best players on the Clippers were young guys looking for more minutes. Sure the role players will fill some of the void, but this puts more pressure on Kawhi and Harden when clutchtime comes up. That's NOT good.

Also, Harden is 35. He's getting up there. No way he doesn't decline more this year.

I see the reverse. No way Harden doesn’t have a dead cat bounce season. Last year he took only 11 something shots per game. He was passive and timid trying not to step on toes. He’s being asked to carry the offense this year. Will it work in the playoffs? No. Will it work in the regular season when he ramps up shot attempts to 18-20 per game? Yes.

I see him putting up 22-24 ppg vs 17 last year and another assist or two per game. Then the following year I see him dropping back down.

[ejftw]

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.

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.

In 21-22, when Kawhi misses the whole year and PG played 31 games (missing 51), the team went 42-40, and lost both play-in games due to PG "having covid."

The depth was with PG out:
Zu/Hartenstein/Ibaka
Morris/Batum/RoCo
Mann/Winslow/Boston
Kennard/Coffey
Jackson/Bledsoe

I see this years team, sans Kawhi, being better than that unit that won 42, and of course, the rest of the West wasn't static and other teams improved and regressed.

But I see Harden going back to his regular season self, think Porter takes a nice step, Zu keeps making strides and the defensive cohesiveness with Lue at the helm keeping them afloat.

If Kawhi plays at least 35, I'd be surprised to miss the play in.

[OkcSinceSGA]

It's an entertaining and eye catching comment, but I'd rather start KPJ (yes I'm giving him a 2nd chance) over Norm. Even Mann would be a better starter. There's simply no defense and no extra passing from Norm. He's much better coming off the bench for instant scoring. Him starting would also mean player development taking a backseat all over again

Mann/DJJ/Zu is 02 Nuggets level offense. Just brutal spacing. There's a bunch of bad lineups you can put together with this roster and I honestly don't see any well balanced group you could cobble together.

Their best lineup IMO by season end to close games will be Harden/KPJ/DJJ/Kawhi/Zu.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Kawhi era has been a disaster so far..hes only made it through one playoffs. His games played average is 57 games per season while missing an entire one in that stretch..at what point do they blow up the team?

When Leonard gets ejected from a game.

Weird right, but the Clippers are valuing image over competitiveness. They wanted Leonard so that they can erase the Sterling past, good PR. Leonard is a former Spur, having played for Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan, learning all too well about playing for the good of basketball. No talking, no showboating, no ego, play for your community. Clippers have a losing history we all know too well, and they would do anything to be loved, respected and worshiped like Lakers. That's why they got Jerry West as special consultant; Lee Jenkins for the billboards showing off their Magic/Grizzlies hybrid of heart and hustle, grit n' grind; Tyronn Lue for being a curse breaker coach specialist (Cavs were first team to come back from down 3-1 in an NBA Finals, Clippers were first team to come back from down 2-0 twice for their first ever conference finals berth). Every move they've made has been about their nice-guy image, never the titles, never the competition, perhaps never the relevancy.

How does the ejection thing play out? We have seen a pattern: when a Clipper gets ejected, they are usually traded. They traded Patrick Beverley for his ejection in Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. They just traded Russell Westbrook after letting George go, and they had an out in him being the only Clipper that season to get ejected from a game (Game 3 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs). Clippers are afraid that if Leonard is thrown out of a game, their nice-guy image will be ruined and exposed as an evil franchise. They still suffer from the Corpse Bride syndrome: everything must go according to plan; if one single tiny microscopic insignificant little thing goes wrong, then everything goes wrong.

This is why the Clippers desperately need a general advisor.

[ejftw]

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.

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.

This is the first time I've seen someone really mention Amir, and I'm not really surprised that he's pegged wrong. Coffey isn't a world beater on defense, but he's also far from being a sieve the way Harden and Porter are. Powell, when locked in, is also a good defender. Sadly, that doesn't happen as often.

I see Lue rolling with a defensive trio of Kawhi (or T when Kawhi misses his games), Jones and Zu while letting Harden, along with Powell or Porter, just chuck away.

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.

I was today years old when I learned Porter is superior to Harden.

Powell has been traded for nothing twice he is the literal definition of addition by subtraction. Harden isn't capable of being the guy but still wants the ball in his hands every play getting the easy buckets and leaving it to his teammates to create looks or jack up shots late in the shot clock.

I am going to enjoy watching the LAC team implode.

Weird, I wasn't aware that Gary Trent Jr. was considered to be nothing at the time of the trade.

I'm also going to enjoy watching another team get to justify PG's disappearance in the playoffs as the top player continually gets hurt while I can just enjoy watching guys who don't quit and get outplayed by the Maxi Klebers of the world.

This sounds great until its game 4 of a crucial playoff series and Harden is 3-15 with 6 turnovers and Magic City wing sauce in his beard.

So the same as with PG, but Harden has a beard.

[Roscoe Sheed]

PG had a very efficient season last year. The way some people talk about him you'd think he's a low efficiency chucker who does nothing but score.

The guy is a very good, unselfish two way player who can play on and off the ball. His biggest issue is health.

He is a very good player, but he has issues beyond health. He is too often a no show in big games- he often becomes too passive in those situations and is turnover prone when pressured. He also is known to commit dumb fouls in key moments as well