2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals

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2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#1 » by 50CalClips » Sun Jul 28, 2019 10:18 pm

Clippers fan here,
I like the way the Jazz are looking for this coming season. I'm predicting that L.A. and Utah will be the top two Defenses in the League, and the top two teams in the West.

My Playoff Match-up Predictions:

1 - L.A. Clippers
8 - Warriors

4 - Rockets/Nuggets
5 - Nuggets/Rockets
---
2 - Jazz
7 - Mavericks

3 - L.B. Lakers
6 - Trail Blazers

See you in the Western Conference Finals, Utah.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#2 » by 50CalClips » Sun Jul 28, 2019 10:19 pm

Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#3 » by dr0welf » Sun Jul 28, 2019 11:32 pm

I like the team the Clippers have put together. Getting Kawhi and PG definitely elevated the Clips to the next level. They are getting well deserved praise. The trade for Zubac last year was a game changer as well. And you guys got the guy I wanted the Jazz to take before they traded their pick away in Kab. Beverley is always a beast on defense and his 3pt shot has come around as well. We will have to see how the year plays out for both teams as sometimes being good on paper doesn't mean as much on the court. Other times injuries to players cause different results (see GSW).

I just hope both teams are healthy and playing great come playoff time as a Clippers/Jazz conference finals would be legit.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#4 » by AingesBurner » Mon Jul 29, 2019 1:30 am

50CalClips wrote:Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?


I see Utah and the Clippers as the 2 best teams in the West and top 3 in the league with the Bucks.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#5 » by DelaneyRudd » Mon Jul 29, 2019 3:01 am

I don’t think the seeding will correlate to a real hierarchy. Jazz and Rockets won’t take games off. Lakers and Clippers will. Warriors won’t have the luxury. Nuggets and Blazers will probably try 82 games. Spurs, Mavericks, T-Wolves need someone better to underachieve. Kings would be contending for the 4th seed in the east but won’t get close to the 8th in the west without star injuries. Suns and Grizz are tanking. Pelicans are a wild card. They have a decent team even without Zion. Lonzo, Jrue, Ingram, Faves and JJ. I like that better than the Celtics.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#6 » by Catchall » Mon Jul 29, 2019 3:56 pm

DelaneyRudd wrote:I don’t think the seeding will correlate to a real hierarchy. Jazz and Rockets won’t take games off. Lakers and Clippers will. Warriors won’t have the luxury. Nuggets and Blazers will probably try 82 games. Spurs, Mavericks, T-Wolves need someone better to underachieve. Kings would be contending for the 4th seed in the east but won’t get close to the 8th in the west without star injuries. Suns and Grizz are tanking. Pelicans are a wild card. They have a decent team even without Zion. Lonzo, Jrue, Ingram, Faves and JJ. I like that better than the Celtics.


With teams doing load management, and with injuries, I think the seedings may end up looking something like this ---

1 Jazz
2 Nuggets
3 Clippers
4 Rockets
5 Lakers
6 Blazers
7 Spurs
8 Warriors

If that's the case, the Jazz could get the #1 seed and have a draw of Golden State, then Houston/Lakers, then the Clippers. There may not be much advantage, based on seeding, in this year's playoffs.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#7 » by Catchall » Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:06 pm

50CalClips wrote:Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?


What do you think their 8 - 10-man rotation will look like?

The Clips don't seem to have a natural PG to play through. Beverly is a 3/D guy, Shamet is a pure shooter, and Lou Williams isn't a natural ball distributor. They're probably going to take turns playing through PG13 and Kawhi and might have trouble with defenses that switch and trap. In other words, they don't look like a great passing team, and that might affect their versatility. It might force PG and Kawhi to play more in isolation like the Thunder used to do. Defensively, they're fine, but their offense might not be very efficient until they sort things out.

If Lou Williams can all of a sudden become a ball-distributing lead guard, that would help them a lot. It's a lot to ask of him though.

The other question is how many games Kawhi wants to play during the regular season. If he takes 20 games off like last year, it will probably cost the Clips 7 or 8 wins and affect their seeding.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#8 » by Catchall » Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:22 pm

The more I look at the Clippers, the more I think they're a lot like last year's Thunder, except that Kawhi is more efficient offensively than Westbrook and they're probably a bit better overall. They're long and athletic defensively. They have limited shooting and passing. They're going to have to create a lot of offense in isolation, which won't be ideal.

Steven Adams/Nerlens Noel --> Ivica Zubac/Montrezl Harrell

Jeremy Grant --> Jamychal Green

Paul George --> Paul George

Russ Westbrook / Dennis Schroeder --> Pat Beverly / Lou Williams

I don't think they're done with their roster. I think they're going to find a true point guard and a stretch-shooting big to make up for the loss of SGA and Gallinari.

Otherwise, they're going to be relying on Kawhi to create their offense.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#9 » by 50CalClips » Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:26 pm

DelaneyRudd wrote:I don’t think the seeding will correlate to a real hierarchy. Jazz and Rockets won’t take games off. Lakers and Clippers will. Warriors won’t have the luxury. Nuggets and Blazers will probably try 82 games. Spurs, Mavericks, T-Wolves need someone better to underachieve. Kings would be contending for the 4th seed in the east but won’t get close to the 8th in the west without star injuries. Suns and Grizz are tanking. Pelicans are a wild card. They have a decent team even without Zion. Lonzo, Jrue, Ingram, Faves and JJ. I like that better than the Celtics.


I'd agree, but in this case I think it plays out that the 1 and 2 best records will be the actual 1 and 2 best teams.

Kawhi typically plays 65 games/reg season throughout his career, that's nothing new. Paul George seems to always rank among the highest in the league in Usage Rate and Mins/Game -- I don't want to see that this year, nor do I expect to see it. The Clippers' young corps will flourish in 2020. Watch Landry Shamet in particular (future All-Star)... Montrezl is just now entering his prime... Zubac will get real starters minutes (give him 28 minutes, he's capable of 20 and 10).

So the Clippers will be winning games, "load management" or not.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#10 » by 50CalClips » Mon Jul 29, 2019 8:23 pm

Catchall wrote:
50CalClips wrote:Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?


What do you think their 8 - 10-man rotation will look like?

The Clips don't seem to have a natural PG to play through. Beverly is a 3/D guy, Shamet is a pure shooter, and Lou Williams isn't a natural ball distributor. They're probably going to take turns playing through PG13 and Kawhi and might have trouble with defenses that switch and trap. In other words, they don't look like a great passing team, and that might affect their versatility. It might force PG and Kawhi to play more in isolation like the Thunder used to do. Defensively, they're fine, but their offense might not be very efficient until they sort things out.

If Lou Williams can all of a sudden become a ball-distributing lead guard, that would help them a lot. It's a lot to ask of him though.

The other question is how many games Kawhi wants to play during the regular season. If he takes 20 games off like last year, it will probably cost the Clips 7 or 8 wins and affect their seeding.

Interesting. That's probably something that I overlook. Between Lou Will, Pat Bev, and Shamet, the PG/ball distribution hasn't been a big concern.

Landry Shamet is the most pivotal player for the 2020 Clippers. Kawhi and George are more important, but Shamet is the biggest "X-factor." He's already an elite shooter (historically great for Rookie) but with George at SG, Shamet may be asked to play some PG, like he did in College. And if George possibly misses the first few weeks of the season (return from surgery YTBD), Shamet will be most responsible to fill that role.

PG: Pat Bev - Lou Will - Shamet
SG: George - Shamet - Lou Will - McGruder/Terence Mann
SF: Kawhi - George - Harkless
PF: JaMychal - Kawhi - Montrezl - Harkless/Kabangele
C: Zubac - Montrezl - Kabengele
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#11 » by Catchall » Mon Jul 29, 2019 8:33 pm

50CalClips wrote:
Catchall wrote:
50CalClips wrote:Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?


What do you think their 8 - 10-man rotation will look like?

The Clips don't seem to have a natural PG to play through. Beverly is a 3/D guy, Shamet is a pure shooter, and Lou Williams isn't a natural ball distributor. They're probably going to take turns playing through PG13 and Kawhi and might have trouble with defenses that switch and trap. In other words, they don't look like a great passing team, and that might affect their versatility. It might force PG and Kawhi to play more in isolation like the Thunder used to do. Defensively, they're fine, but their offense might not be very efficient until they sort things out.

If Lou Williams can all of a sudden become a ball-distributing lead guard, that would help them a lot. It's a lot to ask of him though.

The other question is how many games Kawhi wants to play during the regular season. If he takes 20 games off like last year, it will probably cost the Clips 7 or 8 wins and affect their seeding.

Interesting. That's probably something that I overlook. Between Lou Will, Pat Bev, and Shamet, the PG/ball distribution hasn't been a big concern.

Landry Shamet is the most pivotal player for the 2020 Clippers. Kawhi and George are more important, but Shamet is the biggest "X-factor." He's already an elite shooter (historically great for Rookie) but with George at SG, Shamet may be asked to play some PG, like he did in College. And if George possibly misses the first few weeks of the season (return from surgery YTBD), Shamet will be most responsible to fill that role.

PG: Pat Bev - Lou Will - Shamet
SG: George - Shamet - Lou Will - McGruder/Terence Mann
SF: Kawhi - George - Harkless
PF: JaMychal - Kawhi - Montrezl - Harkless/Kabangele
C: Zubac - Montrezl - Kabengele


I see the Clips running their offense through George and Kawhi to drive and kick to open shooters. Of course, they can both score in isolation, but those 2-pt buckets aren't efficient from an analytics standpoint. Expect to see Kawhi and PG play with the ball about 18-20 feet out to draw defenders. Then the ball is going to need to swing to an open shooter. The key will be whether the Clips' shooters can knock down those looks. They might be better off taking Green off the floor in favor of Shamet at the 2, with PG and Kawhi as the forwards.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#12 » by 50CalClips » Tue Jul 30, 2019 1:43 am

Catchall wrote:
50CalClips wrote:Interesting. That's probably something that I overlook. Between Lou Will, Pat Bev, and Shamet, the PG/ball distribution hasn't been a big concern.

Landry Shamet is the most pivotal player for the 2020 Clippers. Kawhi and George are more important, but Shamet is the biggest "X-factor." He's already an elite shooter (historically great for Rookie) but with George at SG, Shamet may be asked to play some PG, like he did in College. And if George possibly misses the first few weeks of the season (return from surgery YTBD), Shamet will be most responsible to fill that role.

PG: Pat Bev - Lou Will - Shamet
SG: George - Shamet - Lou Will - McGruder/Terence Mann
SF: Kawhi - George - Harkless
PF: JaMychal - Kawhi - Montrezl - Harkless/Kabangele
C: Zubac - Montrezl - Kabengele


I see the Clips running their offense through George and Kawhi to drive and kick to open shooters. Of course, they can both score in isolation, but those 2-pt buckets aren't efficient from an analytics standpoint. Expect to see Kawhi and PG play with the ball about 18-20 feet out to draw defenders. Then the ball is going to need to swing to an open shooter. The key will be whether the Clips' shooters can knock down those looks. They might be better off taking Green off the floor in favor of Shamet at the 2, with PG and Kawhi as the forwards.


Yeah, I'm penciling-in career high in Assists/Game for Kawhi. And he generally has an up-tick in Assists in the Playoffs.

Regarding JaMychal/Shamet and open shooters, they're both .400+ 3-Pt Shooters. JaMychal has turned himself into a quality 3-Pt threat.
.450 = Landry Shamet (.342 in the Playoffs vs Warriors - 10 of 31)
.413 = JaMychal Green (.522 in the Playoffs vs Warriors - 12 of 23)

As long as that continues, I like JaMychal Starting at the PF spot. He's one of the better rebounders. A lot depends on Kawhi and George (and Doc Rivers); if either or both are effective at playing PF, if that's the optimal approach or not.

But Landry Shamet will find minutes, no doubt... PG, SG, or SF.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#13 » by 50CalClips » Tue Jul 30, 2019 11:53 pm

Catchall wrote:The more I look at the Clippers, the more I think they're a lot like last year's Thunder, except that Kawhi is more efficient offensively than Westbrook and they're probably a bit better overall. They're long and athletic defensively. They have limited shooting and passing. They're going to have to create a lot of offense in isolation, which won't be ideal.

Steven Adams/Nerlens Noel --> Ivica Zubac/Montrezl Harrell
Jeremy Grant --> Jamychal Green
Paul George --> Paul George
Russ Westbrook / Dennis Schroeder --> Pat Beverly / Lou Williams

I don't think they're done with their roster. I think they're going to find a true point guard and a stretch-shooting big to make up for the loss of SGA and Gallinari.

Otherwise, they're going to be relying on Kawhi to create their offense.


OKC shot 34.8% from 3
LAC* shot 39.1% form 3 (should increase 3-Pt Frequency Rate)

OKC averaged 23.4 AST/G, 23rd
LAC* averaged 26.2 AST/G, would-be 7th (23.0 before Trade, would-be 25th)

*After the addition of Shamet/JaMychal/Zubac (Feb 8, 2019)
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#14 » by Catchall » Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:58 am

50CalClips wrote:
Catchall wrote:The more I look at the Clippers, the more I think they're a lot like last year's Thunder, except that Kawhi is more efficient offensively than Westbrook and they're probably a bit better overall. They're long and athletic defensively. They have limited shooting and passing. They're going to have to create a lot of offense in isolation, which won't be ideal.

Steven Adams/Nerlens Noel --> Ivica Zubac/Montrezl Harrell
Jeremy Grant --> Jamychal Green
Paul George --> Paul George
Russ Westbrook / Dennis Schroeder --> Pat Beverly / Lou Williams

I don't think they're done with their roster. I think they're going to find a true point guard and a stretch-shooting big to make up for the loss of SGA and Gallinari.

Otherwise, they're going to be relying on Kawhi to create their offense.


OKC shot 34.8% from 3
LAC* shot 39.1% form 3 (should increase 3-Pt Frequency Rate)

OKC averaged 23.4 AST/G, 23rd
LAC* averaged 26.2 AST/G, would-be 7th (23.0 before Trade, would-be 25th)

*After the addition of Shamet/JaMychal/Zubac (Feb 8, 2019)


There's truth to this, but you also need to consider the loss of Danilo Gallinari who had both a phenomenal shooting year last year and helped open the floor with his playmaking.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#15 » by Daddy 801 » Wed Jul 31, 2019 4:47 am

I can’t stop thinking about how the run to the finals for Utah might be Golden State, Lakers, Clippers, and then Philly. If they win after playing those four teams it would be one of the greatest runs ever IMO. The West is insane this year.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#16 » by eLo » Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:59 pm

i dont like make such predictions, we do have nice squad and it wont be a surprise if we will end up as top west team, but there is also lot of ? like for ex. health, chemistry in totaly new team, how Mitchell will develop and act in new surrounding etc
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#17 » by Catchall » Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:34 pm

I like our bench. Exum/Mudiay/Ingles/Green/Davis can do some damage against 2nd units.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#18 » by 50CalClips » Fri Aug 2, 2019 11:34 pm

Daddy 801 wrote:I can’t stop thinking about how the run to the finals for Utah might be Golden State, Lakers, Clippers, and then Philly. If they win after playing those four teams it would be one of the greatest runs ever IMO. The West is insane this year.


I was looking at the Clip's possible run too... it's going to be a blood-bath in the Western Conference Playoffs.

Whatever Playoff Seed Golden State will have, they're likely going have KLAY THOMPSON back, which would make them an entirely better team come Playoffs.

3 of the 4 Lower Seeded teams will likely be any of the 4 Top Seeds of 2019...
L.A. Clippers
Jazz
L.B. Lakers
Rockets (4th in 2019)/Nuggets (2nd in 2019)
---
Nuggets (2nd in 2019)/Rockets (4th in 2019)
Blazers (3rd in 2019)
Warriors (1st in 2019)
Spurs/Mavericks/Kings/Thunder
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#19 » by mudsak » Sat Aug 3, 2019 3:15 pm

50CalClips wrote:Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?


I see the Clippers as winning the next 2 championships. They've got too much going for them to be beat. I'd say more than 2, but I think Giannis will put an end to the run.

I'm beyond impressed with what the Jazz FO has accomplished by assembling our roster, but the Clips have way too much.

That said... there are a lot of other great teams in the league this season. It's not going to be a cake walk for anyone.
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Re: 2020 PREDICTION: Clippers vs Jazz = Conference Finals 

Post#20 » by 50CalClips » Sat Aug 3, 2019 6:28 pm

mudsak wrote:
50CalClips wrote:Jazz fans,
How do you see the L.A. Clippers?


I see the Clippers as winning the next 2 championships. They've got too much going for them to be beat. I'd say more than 2, but I think Giannis will put an end to the run.

I'm beyond impressed with what the Jazz FO has accomplished by assembling our roster, but the Clips have way too much.

That said... there are a lot of other great teams in the league this season. It's not going to be a cake walk for anyone.


The GIANT teams worry me for the Clippers. The 76ers, Lakers, Jazz, a couple of others who have skill/size, I could see giving the Clips trouble. Our guys, Zubac, Montrezl, JaMychal, have their limitations. Zubac is years away from gaining his man-strength... Montrezl is a back-up for a reason... JaMychal is a stretch-4 -- not bad, but an area that could be exploited.

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