On Wednesday afternoon, LA Clippers President of Basketball Operations, Lawrence Frank, went on Roggin and Rodney and discussed the upcoming season.
LA Clippers President of Basketball Operations, Lawrence Frank, joined Roggin and Rodney on Wednesday to discuss the team and their season outlook. The podcast can be listened to below!
The Gist
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Off Season Moves
Lawrence Frank seemed pretty excited about the up coming season. Despite losing Chris Paul, he is adamant that he thinks they made moves that will benefit the team both this season and going forward. Most notably, he seemed most excited about the team’s guard play. He believes the team has a stable of guards at both positions that can be an extremely good group.
Milos
As everyone else is, Roggin and Rodney are excited for Milos Teodosic. The two asked Lawrence what made the team pursue him and what to expect.
He responded by saying that getting Milos was really “a perfect storm”. According to Lawrence, Milos hasn’t really been a free agent and the timing lined up this summer. Milos deciding to finally come over to the NBA and the team needing a playmaker to replace CP3 was a match made in heaven. Milos has been working hard both on and off the court, but Lawrence acknowledges there still may be a slight learning curve for the 30 year old rookie.
Related Story: LA Clippers almos missed out on Milos Teodosic
On the court
The conversation switched gears to talk about the style change the team would have, now that Chris Paul won’t be dominating the ball. Lawrence acknowleged that CP3 and Blake worked well together, but Blake’s abilities will allow the offense to do a lot of different things. Lawrence called Blake “the most versatile power forward in the league”. He also stated that Doc will be running a lot of the offense through Blake, whether it’s through the high post or having him bring the ball up the court.
Speaking of bringing the ball up, Lawrence Frank said the team is also excited to get out and run. He pointed out that the starting lineup features four guys who can all get a rebound and get down the court. Look for the team to play at a faster pace this season.
Western Conference
The topic of the very strong Western Conference was brought up. Lawrence went through and named all of the teams that he believe will fight for a playoff position and acknowledged that many people have the top four in the conference already penciled in. However, as he pointed out, health can make or break a team, so there’s no way to guarantee how the seeding will fall.
Health
Finally, the topic of the LA Clippers’ health was discussed. Patrick Beverley has a sore right knee. Austin Rivers is still out with his strained glute. Sindarius Thornwell has a strained shoulder. Sam Dekker and Danilo Gallinari are also still out, but were getting up shots today. The team hopes that they’ll all be ready in a timely manner and other than Austin, it doesn’t seem like these injuries will lead to anyone missing the season opener. Lawrence Frank joked that hopefully the team will just get their injuries out of the way early, as opposed to the end of the season as has been the case in past years.