LA Clippers: Patrick Beverley Season Preview and Outlook

LA Clippers: Patrick Beverley Preview – Things to Do Better:

The biggest (and most realistic) place that Patrick Beverley could improve to help the LA Clippers is his on-ball offense and ballhandling.

Now of course, Bev’s never going to be a Chris Paul level floor general that we run the offense through. That’s not what I’m suggesting here. But, he doesn’t need to do that to take the Clippers to another level.

Last season, Beverley’s Usage Rate was only 13.1%, and in that limited usage he put up a 2.77 assist to turnover ratio, with 3.6 assists to 1.3 turnovers.

Imagine Pat ramping up that usage just a little bit and becoming a legitimate 3rd ballhandler for the Clippers. This offseason the Clippers didn’t really add any other ballhandlers, electing to instead focus on wing depth and the backup big position.

I was never one who thought that we needed to grab another point guard badly, but I can’t deny that it would be nice to have somebody who can run the offense outside of Kawhi, PG and Lou. If Beverley can become that guy, it totally vindicates the Clippers neglecting to grab another point guard in the offseason.

Knowing Pat’s work ethic and drive, I’m expecting him to work on his game as a PG leading into next season. If that happens, we don’t have to rely on somebody like Kennard to handle the ball when it rotates away from our stars.

Also, if he does become better with the ball in his hands, that’s his path toward being one of the NBA’s Most Improved Players, like Michael Hanich talked about recently. If Lue’s offense puts the ball in Bev’s hands more than Doc’s did, and if Bev’s up for the challenge, then that’s one less move the fans will be pushing for come trade deadline.