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Squaring Up the West: KD Chooses Clippers Amidst LA Preseason Comparisons

By Jordan German

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 05: Montrezl Harrell #5 of the Los Angeles Clippers drives against the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half at Staples Center on April 05, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 05: Montrezl Harrell #5 of the Los Angeles Clippers drives against the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half at Staples Center on April 05, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /
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HONOLULU, HI – OCTOBER 03: Head coach Doc Rivers of the Los Angeles Clippers gestures to the officials after a call during the third quarter of the game against the Houston Rockets at the Stan Sheriff Center on October 3, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii. TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

The Bench Players

Unlike the question of which star duo is better, the question of which bench is better isn’t really up for debate. It’s a very close debate, but the Clippers kept most of their other starters and bench players from last season’s playoff team while the Lakers made some tweaks to their below .500 squad. That picture speaks for itself, even with their star duos taking these benches to the next level.

Key players like Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverley, Landry Shamet, Ivica Zubac, and JaMychal Green all made their returns with the additions of star rookies Terance Mann, Mfiondu Kabengele, and Amir Coffey. Their free-agent additions of Maurice Harkless and Rodney McGruder made the bench deeper, and they add extra flexibility to how much the starters change from night-to-night. Even without the numbers, anyone who watched even a game of Clippers basketball last year could point out the returning key players and why they were important.

The Lakers looked like they improved nicely as well, but two things changed that pretty quickly. Acquiring Boogie Cousins looked huge for them, but then he ended up with a possible season-ending injury on top of some legal troubles that will most definitely side-line him for the season. Bringing back Kyle Kuzma also looked great due to his incredible talent, but his unfortunate stress reaction will put him out indefinitely for the season. Besides that bad luck, their main stars on the bench are Alex Caruso, Quinn Cook, and Danny Green. All three of them are incredibly solid and great players, but the only time anyone would compare them to Lou, Montrezl, and Beverley would be in a bad joke.

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The Bench Staff

Aside from a better bench in terms of players, the Clippers also have much better staff for their players. Doc Rivers as the head coach along with Tyronn Lue as his assistant have great chemistry and they both know the team well at this point. They’ve seen the team up close, and with their friendship being a major factor, their minds can work easily without having to deal with fitting in. For the Lakers, their new coach in Frank Vogel will have some real challenges to face. He has to find good chemistry with the team and his new assistant coaches, and he also has to manage both AD and King James’ workloads to make sure that neither of them gets injured.

The Clippers also have one of the best staff in the league for injury recoveries, and their work with Paul George has been miraculous. Any injured Clippers are in good hands with the medical staff, and their injury times will be much shorter. For the Lakers, their injury staff is good enough for them, but it can’t compare. From the head coach down to the equipment manager, the head office of the Clippers has worked hard to get people with great attitudes and fantastic chemistry to make a friendlier environment for their players while the Lakers got who they could to see how things go.

The battles between these benches will be very interesting thanks to how they fit in with the star duos, but the duo of Kawhi and Paul and the fantastic Clippers bench from last year with Doc at the helm is by far the better overall team. To give props to the Lakers though, they have improved a lot with what they did this offseason, and they’ll be a team to beat for any Western Conference powerhouse if their staff holds up and the players can get along.

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