LA Clippers: Amir Coffey’s subtle yet effective contributions

Even though this young, undrafted LA Clippers prospect has only played in eight games, Amir Coffey’s contributions to the team are surprisingly wonderful.

Amir Coffey has played only eight games with the LA Clippers this season, yet surprisingly he has already surpassed former Clippers in the background. It is the story of an undrafted player right out of college that had everything to prove and everything to lose, just the kind of story needed for the LA Clippers that needed some talented and instant depth in their rookies.

What makes Coffey more worth of a look than Mfiondu Kabengele or Terance Mann? Let us take a look at the numbers.

Starting off with Mfiondu and Terance, they have already combined for forty-seven games throughout the Clippers’ fifty-eight games and have not had any shortage of time on what most consider a championship-caliber team. For Mann, he has averaged 1.6 points, 1.1 assists, and 0.9 rebounds per game. In total, he has fifty-six points to his name in his 271-minute career.

For Kabengele, he is averaging 3.5 points, 0.2 assists, and 0.9 rebounds per game with forty-two points to his name in sixty-four minutes. Mann has thirty-eight assists and Kabengele is shooting .450 in his three-pointer percentage, the list goes on of great numbers for these two fine young prospects. Unlike Coffey, however, Mann and Kabengele had a fantastic draft night and got to celebrate with new hats and flashy suits. Let’s check in on the man who did not get that feel-good ending.

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For Amir Coffey, his season averages are 2.5 points, 0.6 assists, and 1.4 rebounds. For a rookie that has only eight games under his belt, he is averaging 0.9 more points per game than a rookie with thirty-five games in his pocket. He is also averaging 0.5 more assists and 0.4 more rebounds than a rookie with twelve games played. He does have eleven more minutes than Kabengele, however.

How does Coffey compare to everyone’s favorite former Clipper in Jerome Robinson though? Well, it is an interesting comparison between two different shooting guards. Robinson is averaging 3.3 points, 1.1 assists, and 1.8 rebounds as a right-handed shooter. This is his second season in the NBA and Robinson already has 919 minutes played.

The former thirteenth overall pick of the LA Clippers in his second year is only averaging 0.8 points, 0.5 assists, and 0.4 rebounds more than an undrafted left-handed rookie that has only played in eight games. It would be very premature to say that Coffey will develop more than Robinson over his whole career, but it is looking very good so far for the Clippers that took a chance on him.

It is also important to look at his work in the G-League stint that took up most of the season while Jerome was up with the team. Through fourteen games and an average of 28.7 minutes, Coffey was averaging 15.0 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.8 rebounds. Mann‘s line was 14.5 points, 6.7 assists, and 8.3 rebounds in fifteen games and 34.8 average minutes while Kabengele‘s line was 18.9 points, 1.4 assists, and 9.6 rebounds in twenty-two games and 31.6 average minutes.

Again, fewer minutes and fewer games but better or similar numbers for Coffey. It could be said that the extra work Coffey had to put in to be able to play with the likes of Mann and Kabengele has done wonders for him, so perhaps a special draft night is not needed for a future star.

In closing, Amir Coffey was an undrafted player right out of college that is currently battling toe-to-toe with two second-round picks and outperforming the former thirteenth overall pick in his first year in order to help the LA Clippers on their journey to the playoffs. What more is there to say that could make a better case for Coffey to stay for a nice long stint? Off the bench, he is another solid depth piece for the Clippers that could combine with Terance Mann and Mfiondu Kabengele for the next big dynamic youth core.

It is incredible to think that we might be talking about this once unknown non-draftee as part of a core that is comparable to Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, and Elton Brand. Fingers crossed, anyway.