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Tobias Harris is the first piece of the new LA Clippers era

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 3: Tobias Harris
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 3: Tobias Harris

The Blake Griffin trade opened new scenarios for the Los Angeles Clippers, who are finding a new basketball style with Tobias Harris.

After Blake Griffin leaving, Doc Rivers needs to find out the best rotations to guarantee the right path for the team. Against the Chicago Bulls, it was the first time with the new players after the trade and he decided to use Tobias Harris at Small Forward and Danilo Gallinari at Power Forward.

This solution worked well. The Clippers outscored the Bulls 113-103, and Gallo and Harris finished as the top-scorers with 24 points each. Harris is a notable shooter, selected for the 3-point contest in All-Star Weekend. During this season, in his first twenty games played with the Detroit Pistons, Harris was the top-scorer and the best 3-point percentage of the roster, followed by Avery Bradley.  These stats started to decline in December, when the Reggie Jackson injury changed the balance and the Pistons had struggled until the moment of the trade. If the Clippers stay healthy, there is a real chance the new guys will again reach that level of confidence.

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Harris is an excellent sniper and is increasing his confidence in shooting behind the arc. This year, playing in an offense designed by Head Coach Stan Van Gundy, he shot 40.9 percent from three and 41.7 percent from the corners, the second highest percentage in his career from those spots. In this first part of the season, Blake Griffin was starting to evolve his game. Rather than going full Lob City, he was shooting from deep. The new version was working well, especially the few times the Clippers didn’t have injuries. And if this is the new game plan, the Griffin trade can only speed up the process.

However, spacing does not mean just jacking up more deep-balls. In fact, in his first game with the Clippers, Harris mixed catch and shot with pull-ups and drives, shooting at less than 10 ft. the 44.4 percent of the time. Against Justin Holiday or Paul Zipser, he attacked his opponent with only DeAndre Jordan in the paint, who has used his size to force Robin Lopez not to double while other teammates were staying on the arc.

Using Harris and Bradley, Rivers can try to play faster, reducing the gap between the Clippers and more uptempo teams. For example, Griffin was used to keep the ball more than 4 seconds for possession. Instead, Harris and Bradley averaged in Detroit with 2.4 and 1.5 seconds per possessions. Of course, the Pistons motion offense encourages a low time of possession, but Griffin in his debut confirmed his attitude to keep the ball more than his teammates. Therefore, the Clippers have now the chance to play smaller with Harris next to Gallinari, looking more dynamic.

Gallinari is the most interesting piece of the new Clippers era, in particular because of his contract. In fact, he is the only player with more than $10 million guaranteed whose duration goes beyond Summer 2019. For this reason, Rivers needs to figure the best for him out.

A solution could be leaving him free the space to play 1-to-1 or driving to the rim. For this, Harris seems to be a perfect complement and their spacing will also open up the floor for his teammates. The new duo against the Bulls drove to the basket 16 times, shooting 10 and scoring 6. In his first months with the Clippers, Gallinari was struggling behind the arc, shooting under 30 percent for the first time in career. However, in his first game played with Harris, Gallo shot 3-5 – 60 percent – from the distance. The Italian is a good shooter behind the arc and, despite his problems in the first part of the season, he is averaging 34.8 percent from there when he is wide open.

Because of this, Rivers should think to create more ball movement to create good situations for Gallinari and Harris, leaving them free to decide whether to shoot or to drive to the basket.

Next: Los Angeles Clippers trade of DeAndre Jordan to Cavaliers talks stalled

Griffin is gone but it does not mean this is the end for the Los Angeles Clippers. Since Chris Paul and Griffin are out, the team can find a new playstyle out. And it could be fun.

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