If the NBA season starts on Christmas, the LA Clippers will benefit.
As of now, we still don’t have an expected start date for the 2020-21 NBA season. We might not even be able to call it that by the time is all said and done. However, over the last week, there has been some momentum gained for the season to start on or around Christmas Day in order to make the league as much money as possible and for the season to return to a semi-normal schedule. That would benefit the LA Clippers in multiple ways.
1. Less rest for LeBron James
The first benefit doesn’t directly involve the LA Clippers but instead their biggest competition. Coming off a championship run, LeBron James has to be worn down. This isn’t a slight to James who has one of the more amazing body maintenance routines out there but just a fact.
James will be approaching 36 years old come Christmas (his birthday is December 30) and he won’t have the usual time off to rest and prepare for the next season. This likely will lead to some load managing during the season.
This is where the Clippers benefit. The team should absolutely push for the first seed this season and if James is sitting out, the team has a better chance at accomplishing just that. The Western Conference is loaded from top to bottom next season. We saw just how good the conference was this year and with Golden State getting healthy again along with improvements from teams like Phoenix, the Clippers will need any advantage that they possibly can get.
We also have to assume that opening night if on Christmas Day would feature the Clippers and Lakers in some regard and if the two are set to square off, having a slightly tired James would be nice. No, the season opener winner doesn’t matter in the long term as we saw this season but it still would be nice to start the season off with a win.
2. The LA Clippers can develop chemistry
When introduced as head coach, Ty Lue was asked about the team’s chemistry issues this previous season. Many saw the team fighting at times, especially when they were falling apart in the playoffs.
Lue didn’t see that as an off-court problem but instead stemming from the fact that the team just didn’t have enough time on the court together. If that truly is the case, we need this group to get back on the court as soon as possible.
An 82 game season seems not likely at this point, especially with the NBA trying to cater to the Olympics which were delayed to the summer of 2021. If the league intends to end this season somewhat near the original stopping point in June, it means there will be less games. That means less time for the LA Clippers to build up that on-court chemistry.
Even so, the longer the delay, the fewer games we probably get. Even if they do try and play anywhere from 50-70 games, we can expect more back-to-backs meaning players like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George may not be on the court.
If the league gets started early, the team can maximize that time and get the players on the same page. It’s a necessity.
3. Ty Lue can get more time with the LA Clippers
Probably the most important reason to get the season started sooner rather than later is that Ty Lue needs time to get his system in place. He might not have a full picture of how he will run this team until free agency is over but I’m sure he already has an idea.
Similarly to the players needing time on the court to get their chemistry sorted, Ty Lue needs as much time with the players on the court to get his system installed. Surely practice can help with that if the season doesn’t start until January or February but there’s nothing like getting actual in-game reps.
Ty has stated that he wants to play a more fast-paced offense this season, meaning the players are going to have to adjust. Again, game reps are going to be much more beneficial to the LA Clippers than just jogging through everything at practice. As stated in the previous slide, a later start probably means fewer games for the league which gives the Clips less time to get this system under their belt.
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