After watching the LA Clippers perform in the 2016-17 NBA preseason, what have we learned about the team so far?
The LA Clippers‘ finished the 2016-17 NBA preseason with a perfectly average 3-3 record, following up their woeful 120-75 loss to the Golden State Warriors in their opener with a couple of more promising performances. Of course, it’s only preseason, and Doc Rivers using his bench so much and playing the rookies with solid minutes at times isn’t something we’ll see when games actually matter in the regular season.
This was a time for Doc to experiment and for the team to start coming together, for new players to start finding their fit and everyone to adjust to new lineups.
We also saw the emphatic return of Blake Griffin, who’s come back from injury playing aggressive, shooting threes confidently (and in moderation), and taking over at times.
So, to begin with what we learned from preseason as we look into some of the key takeaways, let’s start with Doc’s approach to begin staggering Griffin and Chris Paul.
Doc is ready to stagger Griffin and Paul
Finally. This is something the Clippers should have used more effectively for some time now, making the most of how great Paul and Griffin can be when they’re apart, not just destroying opposing defenses when they’re together in one of the league’s best starting lineups.
Instead, Doc staggering their minutes, similarly to Billy Donovan with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant last season, allows the Clippers to have an elite playmaker and offensive leader on the floor at all times.
If anything can be done to help prevent bench lineups that lose structure and squander leads, it should be done. Staggering Griffin and Paul is the most obvious choice.
We saw Doc start implementing this at times in the regular season, using Paul in smaller, multi-guard lineups or using Griffin to anchor the offense from the post and elbows as the tremendous point-forward that he is.
Doc said he wants to stagger more this year & it's something they'll have to do, even though he feels the bench is deeper than ever before
— Rowan Kavner (@RowanKavner) October 19, 2016
Griffin spoke to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register earlier in October about why he thinks staggering his and Paul’s minutes can help:
"“A lot of times, you play with a guy like Chris who makes the game so easy, sometimes you relax a little bit, maybe a little too much. I think (staggering is) good as far as finding out different ways to affect the game and not being able to just rely on one guy, but really working the offense. When Chris is out, we still have these guys like Raymond (Felton), very capable ball handlers that can get us into our stuff. It’s more about trusting our sets and trusting our movement.”"
We’ve seen that Raymond Felton can help and Jamal Crawford can still create shots (wavering efficiency aside), but they aren’t nearly as effective in a bench lineup if Paul or Griffin aren’t there to lead the way.
It makes too much sense for reasons we’ve known about for some time now, and gives the second unit a go-to scorer and facilitator with either superstar they have on the floor.
This altered approach from Doc is nothing but encouraging for the new season.
Next, onto that man Felton, who could wind up being a real fan favorite this year.