OFFICIAL LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 2024 OFFSEASON THREAD

[P C H]

Jawun And Sindarius instincts defensively are incredible to be rookies. Wow. Sindarius actually doing a solid job gaping and contesting Russ

 

[lawdog1]

Willie Reed > DJ

Not that close either.

 

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Austin Rivers Frying again.

 

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And so is Lou Will. He's actually good lol

 

[lawdog1]

Lou’s been our best player by far.

 

[P C H]

A loss is a loss, but they had some fight tonight, down 3 starters. Some encouraging signs for Evans, Thornwell, Willie Reed, Lou Williams. Can get something from that game.

But man, we're looking like we'd be lucky to get the 8th seed at this rate.

 

[lawdog1]

^^^ We’re not making the playoffs if we can’t hold any teams to under 110 points in a game and won’t deserve to. The defense is awful.

 

[lawdog1]

Also, not sure what’s going on with BG. Through the 1st 4, he looked like a real, legit number 1 guy. Lately he’a been back to the indecisive, overthinking version of himself.

 

[P C H]

^^^ We’re not making the playoffs if we can’t hold any teams to under 110 points in a game and won’t deserve to. The defense is awful.

Yeah I went into Excel just now and kind of put in what we've done since our 0-4 start and we're down to 41-41, which would...not put us in the playoffs probably

And the defense is just flat out awful right now and no one that's hurt save for maybe pat would help that. Let us lose the next 4 games, or drop the next 5 out of 6, Doc will not make it through the season.

 

[P C H]

Also, not sure what’s going on with BG. Through the 1st 4, he looked like a real, legit number 1 guy. Lately he’a been back to the indecisive, overthinking version of himself.

Bro...#BuyersRemorse. And maybe a coaching change will alleviate some of my concerns, but Blake's issues to me aren't systematic.

I'm telling you, as a clipper fan it's scary that we gave him all this money to be a #1 option and he legit looks like he's not good enough flat out to be that. When we play good teams, it's wayyy too easy to defend him. Too often guys like Austin or Lou Will are our best players and that takes us nowhere. I was scared that that ability had atrophied in the 6 years that CP and JJ and Jamal were here, and perhaps that may be the case.

- His post ups are messy, awkward, and inefficient because teams are shadown doubling, or flat out doubling him and he's undersized. He's throwing up a ton of caca around the rim against good teams.

- He's not fluid enough to get him on the move often ala what Gentry does for Anthony Davis or something

- And he's not a true talent shooter. He's worked really hard on his shot, but it isn't natural and will never be. Like, Idk if he'll be a league average 3pt shooter by the end of the season despite his uptick in attempts.

Just IMO, you don't want him being your primary option offensively at this point in his career, he's just not good enough. He has all the makings of being a fantastic 2nd option who can carry you for stretches, but asking him to be your best player, #1 scorer and playmaker, is tough. Also doesn't help that the parts surrounding him aren't ideal, but still. We're paying him to be a top 5, top 7 player and he's not that.

 

[lawdog1]

^^^ I don’t disagree with anything you said about Blake, but I still don’t have buyers remorse. Chris was already gone, so if we let Blake walk we would have had literally nothing and had to completely blow everything up.

Since we don’t have a lot of other guys making big money on long-term deals, we can live with one guy getting paid more than he’s worth for a few years. Plus, even if he’s not a real number 1, he’s still a guy other people will like to play with.

 

[P C H]

^^^ I don’t disagree with anything you said about Blake, but I still don’t have buyers remorse. Chris was already gone, so if we let Blake walk we would have had literally nothing and had to completely blow everything up.

Since we don’t have a lot of other guys making big money on long-term deals, we can live with one guy getting paid more than he’s worth for a few years. Plus, even if he’s not a real number 1, he’s still a guy other people will like to play with.

So the question then, is...

Was 180Ms with BG worth it? Just to get a 9th or 10th seed? When you could of just went through a tank season with a new coach, and got your hands on Bagley or Porter. There's potentially 5 franchise changing guys in the top 5 of the draft. (I don't think so, but that's DX's projections) For me, I'll come back to that question at the end of the year. This could all be premature and Blake could turn it around, or he really could just be a 22/8/4 guy which is good, just not...$180Ms, #1 option.

Your other point is definitely valid though. Especially if we're planning on being a player in free agency, we need a proven high level guy, and Blake is that.

 

[lawdog1]

^^^ Yeah, I’m skeptical when I hear about potential franchise changing guys coming through the draft. I have a really high bar when it comes to that. To me, a franchise changer is someone like LeBron. Not just really good players. Like Anthony Davis and KAT. Good as they are, they need a lot of other good players around them for team success.

So, I think the odds are pretty long that, if we didn’t sign BG and tanked, we’d wind up with someone much better than him through the draft. That’s why I’m OK with this contract. Bird in the hand and all of that.

 

[P C H]

^^^ Yeah, I’m skeptical when I hear about potential franchise changing guys coming through the draft. I have a really high bar when it comes to that. To me, a franchise changer is someone like LeBron. Not just really good players. Like Anthony Davis and KAT. Good as they are, they need a lot of other good players around them for team success.

So, I think the odds are pretty long that, if we didn’t sign BG and tanked, we’d wind up with someone much better than him through the draft. That’s why I’m OK with this contract. Bird in the hand and all of that.

I can get with you on this. That's totally fair. The chances of finding someone that much better than Blake in the draft is low, and it's not like Blake's a bust I mean he's a walking 22/8/5 and if that's your franchise guy, who's 28, you could be doing way worse.

 

[wavycrocket]

When Milo come back?

 

[P C H]

Blake also spends a ton of minutes playing with DJ which was always an awkward pairing, but even more so now without a PG maestro and a sharpshooter like Yae Yae to make the pairing work.

Blake's catches and post ups aren't clean because DJ's man is consistently shadow doubling, or digging. Boggles up the offense.

For this reason, along with others, I'm like almost ready to move on from DJ.

 

[P C H]

When Milo come back?

He just got the boot off apparently, but no one knows. I saw February talked about for Milos.

 

[Nipsey3000]

blakes post game has always been garbage. he literally is never a threat to turn and do anything over his right shoulder on the left block and almost the same for the opposite shoulder on the right block.

NBA needs to re-instate some form of defensive legality. all of this digging and being able to play halfway is what creates logjams in the paint. the big man is being phased out of the game and something needs to be done to allow teams to create contrasts in style of play.

DJ only averaging 1bpg is just silly.

IMO

 

[lawdog1]

He just got the boot off apparently, but no one knows. I saw February talked about for Milos.

If February is right, and we actually want to stay in the playoff hunt, I think we need to make a move for another player who can pass and initiate P-n-R. The fact we don't have a lot of natural playmakers -- or even just solid passers -- on this team is another thing that is contributing to Blake's struggles, IMO. Not only is it easy for teams to double Blake, but we also don't make teams pay for the doubles enough. We're not good at making multiple passes to find the open man. Rarely have plays when a hockey assist is involved. Usually Blake passes out of the double and the guy who gets it shoots it (which can be the right play) or tries to attack the basket. And I don't think it's because our players our selfish, but rather that guys like Austin, Wes, even Pat Bev just don't have that great passing instincts. We need someone who does.

I'd definitely start shopping DJ. No way I want to give him a max deal and it's getting to the point that the positives of having him on the floor are not outweighing the negatives by much of a margin. Trade him for a guard or a combo wing who can handle the ball. Reed and Harrell can give us what we need from the center position.

 

[P C H]

If February is right, and we actually want to stay in the playoff hunt, I think we need to make a move for another player who can pass and initiate P-n-R. The fact we don't have a lot of natural playmakers -- or even just solid passers -- on this team is another thing that is contributing to Blake's struggles, IMO. Not only is it easy for teams to double Blake, but we also don't make teams pay for the doubles enough. We're not good at making multiple passes to find the open man. Rarely have plays when a hockey assist is involved. Usually Blake passes out of the double and the guy who gets it shoots it (which can be the right play) or tries to attack the basket. And I don't think it's because our players our selfish, but rather that guys like Austin, Wes, even Pat Bev just don't have that great passing instincts. We need someone who does.

I'd definitely start shopping DJ. No way I want to give him a max deal and it's getting to the point that the positives of having him on the floor are not outweighing the negatives by much of a margin. Trade him for a guard or a combo wing who can handle the ball. Reed and Harrell can give us what we need from the center position.

My brother, you hit it right on the head. Agree with everything you just said.

If the Clips are serious about making the playoffs this year, then they have to start looking at FA / Trade options for a Point Guard. Someone that can play PnR with Blake, and hit him in stride, that can play PnR with DJ. Lou Williams being the team's best point guard and 2nd best player on the team so far is not good.

And teams like Boston, Washington, i'm sure would love DJ. Would love to see what his value is and what we can get back in return for him.

 

[P C H]

blakes post game has always been garbage. he literally is never a threat to turn and do anything over his right shoulder on the left block and almost the same for the opposite shoulder on the right block.

NBA needs to re-instate some form of defensive legality. all of this digging and being able to play halfway is what creates logjams in the paint. the big man is being phased out of the game and something needs to be done to allow teams to create contrasts in style of play.

DJ only averaging 1bpg is just silly.

IMO

As it stands now, you can't even run efficient offense out of the post anymore. Unless Blake has incredible post position, it's a mess trying to get him the ball down there and he's being 3/4 or full on double teamed. As the season wares on, this is becoming a big big problem for LAC. He's our best player and essentially is being taken out of the game in this way.

DJ only being able to operate at the rim hurts matters even more, as his man cheats 100% of the time seemingly to help whenever Blake is trying to operate.

It makes sense that Blake Griffin is a plus -8 when in the 66 minutes that he's played w/o DJ this season. It's easier for Blake to play his style of basketball without DJ's man hovering right there.

 

[lawdog1]

^^^ I also think DJ always being near the rim inhibits player movement too because there’s no point in having guys cut to the basket from the wings if DJ is in that space.

 

[P C H]

It's only 52 minutes, but Blake is a plus -15 when Willie Reed is on the court. They were good together last night

 

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