The countdown to the new season, the first round of transactions of each team have basically settled. Let us comment and analyze the teams that are more concerned about next season one by one.
The first issue, let’s talk about Clippers first.
Every time you mention the Clippers, there will always be some unfriendly voices. For example, "always the strongest next season", "offseason champion", etc. The reason for this is naturally that after coming to the Clippers from Leonard and Paul George , people have always had great expectations for this team, but for three years, their performance has not been very satisfactory due to various factors.
So here we need to conduct a pre-analysis:
First of all, although it is only three years, the Clippers after the 21st season are no longer the same team as the Clippers in the 20th season. In terms of personnel, the Clippers in the 20th season have only three "old veterans" left, Kajiao and Zubac , and the other main rotations are all reinforced in the later stage. In terms of playing style, while Rivers left, he also took away his "super six" system. Tyrone Lu's entry made the Clippers go from a team that has been reversed to a team that is good at reversing others.
Secondly, the biggest problem in the Clippers in the past two years is the injury of the core players. Leonard was reimbursed in the second round of in the 21st season in playoffs, while Paul George only played 31 games in the 22nd season. If the core player suffers such an injury, his performance will naturally not be too good. But this does not mean the end of the day, because in the past two years, many stars have recovered from serious injuries, helping the team achieve good results. This year's championship, Golden State Warriors, is the best example. So from this perspective, it is reasonable to have expectations for the health and performance of the Clippers next season.
Let’s get back to the point. So, are the Clippers strong next season? Where are they strong?
First, of course they are their coveted front line resources.
In this era, there is no need to say how important a good front line is. Let's take a look at the Clippers' current forward lineup:
Leonard, Paul George, Covington , Morris Jr., Batum . The Clippers have five forwards in about two meters. That's not to mention Mann, who was amazing in the 21st playoffs and Coffey, who was about to emerge in the regular season in 222nd.
The Clippers' forward line is not only large in number, but also high in quality. There are two most important standards for excellent forward line: defense and projection. Among the Clippers' forward players, all of them shot more than 35.5% of their three-point shooting percentage last season, and Mann, the lowest-yield production, also averaged 0.9 three-pointers per game. The projection ability is far beyond the league average. On the defensive end, except for Morris Jr.'s defense decline due to his defensive decline in the past two years, the Clippers' forward players have no one of the defenses to drag their backs. There are even three major gates, Leonard, , George and Covington.
Clippers dare to frequently set up five small lineups, and the results are significant, which is based on rich and high-quality forward resources.
High quality 3D is a resource that all teams are eager for, while the Clippers' high-quality 3D is a bit crowded.
Second, excellent offensive space
Speaking of the Clippers' offense, we have to mention their three-pointers. We have witnessed them repeatedly giving their opponents a fatal blow from the outside in the game of reversing their opponents. So let’s take a look at how good the Clippers’ projection is.
In terms of players, not counting Paul George and Leonard, 7 of the role players in the Clippers lineup can average at least 1.4 three-pointers per game, namely: Kennard (2.7), Powell (2.4), Reggie (2.2), Covington (1.8), Morris (1.9), Batum (1.8), and Coffey (1.4).Among them, five of them shot more than 37.5% from three-pointers: Kennard (44.9%), Powell (41.9%), Covington (37.8%), Batum (40%), and Coffey (37.8%). This is still the data that the core stars have cast under the opponent's defense line in most games. It can be seen that the terribleness of the Clippers' shooter group is evident.
However, after carefully studying the three-point shooting data of the Clippers, I found something very interesting. The Clippers' overall three-point shooting percentage is as high as 37.4%, second only to , Heat , and ranked second in the league. But they are not a so-called three-point team. On the contrary, they average only 34.2 three-point shots per game, ranking tenth from the bottom in the league, and are a team with a low proportion of 3-pointers. No wonder some fans have summarized it well before. The Clippers don’t like to shoot three-pointers, they are just accurate.
The benefits of having so many high-quality three-pointers are obvious. As long as you win Zubac, the Clippers can easily form Five Out's projection lineup to open up space, thereby liberating the team's personal singles ability of offensive strong points (Leonard, Paul George). This is also a main idea for the Clippers to attack.
3, stable defensive system
If the Clippers' projection ability is obvious to all, then the Clippers' defensive system is somewhat ignored.
Clippers can still win more than 50% in the Western Conference even though the two maximum-paid players have not played much this season, relying on their defense. In the 22nd season, the Clippers' defensive efficiency of 109.5 in 100 rounds, ranked eighth in the league; limiting their opponent's shooting percentage by 45%, ranked sixth in the league; limiting their opponent's three-point shooting percentage by 34.4%, ranked seventh in the league.
It is worth mentioning that rebound protection is not good, and the backcourt rebounding rate is second to last in the league; and in the absence of two front gates, the main lineup of Reggie + Zubac + Xiao Mo + Batum + Kofi has achieved such a defensive effect, which shows that the Clippers have built a very complete defensive strategy and rotation system.
4th, the underrated Tyrone Lu
The Clippers can come out of the shadow of the 20th season, allowing the team's spiritual attributes to undergo a complete transformation, from a reversed laughing stock to a god of reversal. The biggest reason is Tyrone Lu.
Before Cavaliers , he was under the halo of James , which made people ignore how excellent coach Tyron Lu is.
Tyronelu is not a master of tactics in the absolute sense. Exquisite tactics may not be his specialty, but he is a master of strategy in the true sense. The most important reason why the Clippers can have the label of "reversal" is that Director Lu reads and dismantles the game. If it is said that being able to read the weakness of the inside of Mavericks and Doncic's terrible misalignment efficiency is the basic skill of an excellent coach; then developing the DPOY of Jazz into a scope is a masterpiece.
Tyronelu As a coach, another underestimated ability is: knowing people and making good use of them. He knows the abilities and characteristics of his players very well, arranges appropriate tactics for them, and knows which player to play at what moment. Reggie, who is on the verge of retirement, has become the core of the team in his hands; Batum, who is mixed with Hornets , has become a forward line 3D that can attack and defend. He can let Kajiao take over the game with all his firepower, and can also inspire a second-round rookie to turn the tide in life and death battles; he can shorten the rotation and let the main force compete with his opponent for bayonets, and can also start two sets of starts in the first and second half to complete the comeback.
As for chicken soup and personal charm, let alone, from James to Zubac to "Euro Gods", all players can have a good relationship with Tayron Lu, and the 16-year speech "The most important day in a person's life has two days" is remembered by history.
Fifth, excellent management
In the past two years, the operation of the Clippers management has been decisive.
Let us recall the operations of the Clippers management in the past two years. After the 20th season failure, the Clippers quickly threw Rivers, , Harrell, and Lu Wei out to help Tayron Lu. Afterwards, it was proved that all of these operations were on the edge.
recruitment, Reggie and Batum were dug up for the minimum salary in the 21st season, and the stones were turned into gold; Covington and Powell were given a robbery transaction in the 22nd season, and they made money. The Clippers were able to quickly emerge from the haze of the 20 season, and now they are strong, and the management's operations are invaluable. Compared with the next door, Perlinka will only rush indiscriminately, which is really several levels higher.
If the Clippers make another profit from a certain team this year before the trading deadline, please don't be surprised.
It’s OK. What’s time to blow is finished. Sing the opposite tune below.
No matter how perfect the team is, they all have their own shortcomings. So what problems do the Clippers still have?
1. Lack of organization points Clippers dual cores: Leonard and Paul George, as few active players, both offensive and defense, have both balls and no balls, and have a variety of offensive methods, they are suitable for any teammates and tactical play. But there is a small problem. These two people are essentially wing attackers and need an organization point to allocate the ball rights (such as Lowry) to maximize the abilities of both of them. And there is no such person in the Clippers' lineup. Reggie is fake and real. Kennard is almost a pure pitcher. Powell's classical second-position playing style, Morris Covington's 3D attributes. After searching for it, it may be only Batum who can deal cards, but it is obviously not enough.
This is also why Paul George has the highest assists in the past two seasons, because he has undertaken a considerable proportion of organizational tasks, and Tyrone Lu has also arranged a large number of ball-holding pick-and-roll tactics for him, hoping that he will develop his own organizational attributes.
Management is also in the Clippers. The Clippers introduced a very risky player like Wal in the offseason in order to make up for the team's organizational weaknesses.
2. Frontline height Although the Clippers have many forward resources, if you study it carefully, almost all forwards are around 2 meters. Only Morris, who has declined in the past two years, has exceeded 205. In other words, the Clippers' forward line is already a little redundant in the No. 2 and No. 3, but there is no tall No. 4 assisting defender. Due to Zubac's ability issues, the Clippers will use a large number of small lineups in the strong dialogue in the playoffs, which is an open secret. But what is embarrassing is that with the Clippers' current forward lineup, they cannot find a qualified "small ball center". Batum and Covington are short and have no weight, but Xiao Mo's hardware meets the standards, but he has no idea how to protect the frame. So you often see that when the Clippers play in small lineups, Kawaii protects the last line of defense at the basket... The lack of a high forward has caused two serious consequences, fragile rebounding and Kajiao's excessive defensive consumption. The Clippers' backcourt rebound protection is almost the worst in the league in data, which is fully exposed in this year's play-offs. When the Clippers and their opponents both took the center ball against each other, Nans Jr. and Vanderbilt's frontcourt rebounds deeply hurt the Clippers. As the team's arrow figure, while the offensive end is full, the defensive end also needs to go to the basket to defend against opponents who are one head taller than you in each round, and complete the assisted defense and fill-in position at the same time, which is too much consumption. To a certain extent, this excessive consumption is responsible for the frequent injuries of Kajia and the others. Under the intensity of the playoffs, a 4-5 swingman who can face any situation and play 25 minutes is a must. For example, the Warriors can let Peyton go, and they can let , porter , but they must leave the money to Rooney.
If the Clippers cannot get a tall forward defender next season, then the important task of protecting the inside in the small ball lineup will fall on Leonard and Paul George, which may be the biggest and only hidden danger of this luxury battleship.
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