Rating the Clippers through the All-Star Break

Clippers Star Studded Duo: B+

When Paul George and Kawhi Leonard play, they’ve been
nothing short of phenomenal for most of their minutes. The key phrase in that
sentence: when they play. To this point, George has missed 21 games and Leonard
has missed 13. Many of Leonard’s absences have come on the second night of
back-to-back games as is required for his knee injury management. George on the
other hand missed the first 11 games to start the season with dual shoulder
surgery. He then went on a stretch of missing 10 out of 11 consecutive games.
Most recently, George did not play at all in the second half or either overtime
period in the loss to the Celtics with an aggravated hamstring; the same injury
that sidelined him through most of January. These absences and inconsistencies
are the primary reason why the duo does not earn an A rating from me.

More concerning than his absences is George’s inefficiency in some games. Despite starting his Clippers debut with 70 points on 59% shooting through two games, George has had some atrocious shooting performances. This includes games of 18%, 20% (x2), and 21% shooting from the field. This poor shooting has not been present in every game, but it might be happening often enough to cause concern. Nevertheless, the duo has combined to average 48.9 points per contest when on the court. The majority of that scoring has come from Leonard as he is averaging just over 27 points. This average is in large part due to the extended stretch of nine consecutive 30+ point games. Had this ranking been broken down into individual players, Kawhi would likely earn an A with Paul George being somewhere around a B-.

Clippers Depth/Trades: A+

The Clippers started the season with the reigning best scoring bench in NBA history in Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Maintaining guys like JaMychal Green, Landry Shamet, and Patrick Beverley along with the additions of Moe Harkless and Rodney McGruder set this bench up for success early. The Lou-Trez pick and roll has been phenomenal once again, usually proving to be too much for opposing benches to handle. Shamet has been the deadeye marksmen he was projected to be when he’s healthy and on the court. Beverley’s impact on the team is not always directly correlated with his box score, but it cannot be understated. Games in which he has missed due to injury have left the team with a notable hole in their roster. The depth of the bench has been instrumental in dealing with the numerous games missed due to injury from players up and down the roster. Guys like Patrick Patterson, Terance Mann, and most recently Amir Coffee have stepped up to plug holes caused by injury all season.

The Silent Front Office

The Clippers’ front office once again made a welcome splash
at the trade deadline. They shipped out an underwhelming second year player in
Jerome Robinson, their fan-favorite 15^th-man Derrick Walton Jr, and
premier defensive talent Maurice Harkless. While losing Harkless was a blow to
the defense, gaining the size, shooting, scoring, and mentality of Marcus
Morris Sr outweighed the negatives. On paper, Morris solidified this teams’
title-contending hopes even further. Through his first three games with the
team, he has played less aggressive than he did with Knicks as he tries to find
his role. However, he did manage to hit multiple crunch-time threes against his
former team in Boston. While this team continues to gel and get healthy, it’s
truly impossible to fully judge their potential. Regardless, the sheer depth
and firepower should hold this team afloat through the toughest of times until
they’re playoff ready.

Doc’s Rotations: C+

Doc Rivers’ job becomes exponentially easier when he has
Leonard, George, Williams, Harrell, Morris, Shamet, and Beverley all healthy
and at his disposal. The rotations are not overly complicated when all of the
main pieces are available. At least, that’s what you would think. There has
been one glaring question asked amongst the entirety of the fanbase: why is
Zubac not playing more? At first, it seemed like maybe a fatigue or committing
too many fouls issue. However, as the season has gone along, Zubac has shown
his worth as a rim-rolling big man with elite size, good hands, and potential
defensive ability.

He’s still on a steal of a contract for his age and
potential, but it does not seem like Doc trusts him enough to take full
advantage of the situation. In a majority of games this year, Harrell has
entered the game with somewhere around 6 minutes left in the third quarter and
remained on the court for the duration of the game. While I have no arguments
for wanting Zubac in the game MORE than Harrell, it cannot be healthy for
Harrell to play 16+ minute stretches night after night.

Inconsistent Playing Time

Aside from the center rotation, Doc has been very selective
about which players play on which nights. When Patrick Patterson plays, he’s
more than likely in the starting lineup. However when he doesn’t start, he rarely
comes off the bench for support, barring injury. This is likely matchup
dependent, but still strange considering Patterson’s proven ability to stretch
the floor and defend bigger PFs. There have been other minor questions such as
playing Jerome Robinson extended minutes through tough shooting stretches, not
playing Derrick Walton Jr in games where either Beverley or Williams is
unavailable, and bringing Green back from injury too early to play less than 10
minutes before sitting the next game.

Given the amount of talent on the roster, I am not giving Doc a ton of credit for his positive rotations. I don’t think it is hard to figure out that George and Leonard need to see the court for around 30 minutes when they’re healthy. He has made some positive adjustments that keep his grade as high as it is, but his overall inconsistency and unwillingness to play Zubac in the second half has kept this grade hovering just above average.

Overall Grade: A

Despite numerous extended stretches without key rotation players including stars George and Leonard, the Clippers are still holding down the third seed in the West. In fact, they have a very realistic chance at contending with the Nuggets for the second seed if they are able to keep rotation players healthy. Leonard has been phenomenal through stretches. Williams and Harrell have been potent off the bench as is expected. Younger players like Shamet and Zubac have shown visible improvements and have been key in plugging holes caused by injury. Harkless played a valuable role for the team during the first half of the season, but the front office made a great move to bring in the fire power of Morris Sr.

All things considered, being where the Clippers are in the standings is tough to do with no injuries. To be there with the long list of games missed that they have is truly impressive.

Clippers Road Ahead

Coming out of a successful All Star weekend in which Leonard
won the first ever Kobe Bryant All Star Game MVP award, the Clippers will face
three teams that, on paper, should equate to three wins. They start the
homestretch of the season at home against the Kings and the Grizzlies. Then
they hit the road to face Suns. After these first three “should-wins,” things
get much tougher. The team’s five game stretch after visiting Phoenix includes home
games against the Nuggets, Sixers, and Lakers as well as away games against the
Thunder and Rockets.

This would be a great time to get all of the rotation pieces
healthy enough to show what the team is really about. I’m all for saving legs
and health for the playoffs, but at some point the team needs some cohesion and
games together before the postseason beings. However, it doesn’t seem like the
players or the staff are overly concerned with having home court advantage
throughout the playoffs, especially in a series against the other LA team. In
other words, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more costing right up until the
last couple of weeks in the season.

For more articles covering the Clippers and all your favorite teams, visit the Overtime Heroics site here and the twitter page here!