3 Bigs the LA Clippers Should Target in Free Agency
3. Noah Vonleh
The 24-year-old Noah Vonleh would be quite the reclamation project for the LA Clippers coaching staff; if Vonleh doesn’t return to Denver, he would play for his 7th team in 6 years. He is coming off of a 1 year, $2 million contract and figures to not exceed the Mini MLE.
Given his journey through so many teams in the NBA, it’s hard to judge Vonleh’s performance. Despite his lack of counting stats, Vonleh’s team has consistently been better defensively with him on the court vs. off.
Vonleh seems to be the kind of guy who doesn’t excel at any one thing, but knows how to do his job and can do most things competently. His rebounding is probably the highlight of his skills, pulling down 12 rebounds per 36 minutes last season.
He’s never been an outside threat, but last season was anomalously bad for him. Before 2019-2020, he was a pretty consistent low to mid 30% shooter from behind the arc, and he took enough shots to keep the defense honest. You won’t love it if a possession ends in a Noah Vonleh three, but there are worse things on this Earth.
He’s also a good free-throw shooter – 69% for his career and 78% last year. This would give us another option for a big who can hold his own on defense in a close game without giving an obvious intentional foul target.
At 24 years old, there’s also the potential for improvement from Vonleh. Doc Rivers and his staff have been the big man whisperer, with successes developing DeAndre Jordan and Ivica Zubac. I can easily see Vonleh having some improvement if he were given a consistent couple of seasons with a coach like Doc.
Is Vonleh the perfect target? No, of course not. But when we’re dealing with the Mini Mid Level Exception, we’re not going to find the perfect target. However, I do think that Vonleh could provide some serious contribution off the bench for the Clippers.
dark. Next. LA Clippers: Jrue Holiday should be the team’s top target this summer
If JaMychal Green and Montrezl Harrell both leave, the Clippers front office is going to have some work to do replacing them. No matter whom they choose, my hope is for a defensive big man to anchor the second unit.