LA Clippers: 5 things we learned from L.A.’s preseason
By Tom West
Raymond Felton has real fan favorite potential
Besides bringing energy to the table and a likeable personality, I mean a player that will actually make a positive impact when I talk about “fan favorite”.
Like Cole Aldrich, for example, who began last season as an overly-benched, overlooked backup, before fully breaking into the rotation after Josh Smith‘s and delivering an excellent year. Aldrich holding together a host of bench lineups with his rebounding, rim protection and hustle, averaging 14.8 points, 13 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 3.1 blocks per 36 minutes, was unexpected and always appreciated by Clippers fans.
It’s hard to imagine Raymond Felton replicating that level of impact or statistical production. But he can be a real difference maker and add more to the Clippers’ point guard rotation than Pablo Prigioni, a 39-year-old who lost his willingness and effectiveness to shoot threes.
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Felton’s preseason numbers are far from great. 6.8 points per game with 37.5 percent shooting and 1.7 assists to 1.5 turnovers isn’t ideal. Unfortunately, that generally suits the nature of the some of the Clippers’ preseason, with us seeing more signs of what the team will be able to do rather than what they showed in a handful of meaningless games.
To follow that preseason trend, Felton showed us flashes of what he’ll bring off the bench as one of the more overlooked yet valuable signings of this summer for the Clippers.
Don’t be discouraged by those numbers and some of the sloppy possessions Felton had. Preseason is bound to have such spells of play, especially for a point guard joining a new team.
He’s shown us some of what he can do, whether it’s providing some defensive energy to help Chris Paul, adding some more driving ability to the bench (a career-high 63.5 percent shooting within two feet last season), or drawing fouls, such as his 8-of-8 free throw shooting and 17-point performance against the Toronto Raptors.
To continue, let’s look into Blake’s aggressive scoring from the low block, all around intensity, and what this kind of return will do for the team.