LA Clippers: Handing Out Player Awards Through 15 Games
We’re fifteen games through the season, and the LA Clippers are clicking. At 11-4, they sit atop the NBA standings as of this writing, and Clippers fans are feeling good about the team.
At the end of the NBA season, awards like the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year will be handed out to the players who (allegedly) deserve it most league-wide. But there’s no reason for us to wait until the end of the season, so in that vein…
Let’s hand out player awards to the most deserving members of the LA Clippers
These are a special brand of awards – my personal favorites in fact. They’re my favorites because they can only go to Clippers players, which is the way every award should be.
LA Clippers Most Valuable Player: Paul George
Is Paul George the premier superstar on the LA Clippers? Is he the first player people think of when they think of the Clippers? No, he isn’t.
But he’s the MVP so far. He’s putting up 24.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, while snagging a little over a steal and a little over half a block per game. His per possession numbers look alarmingly similar, and probably better, than his numbers from the year he was third in MVP voting in the league.
Paul George has been unlocked as a playmaker, and it’s really not being talked about enough. He’s backing up his complaints that Doc Rivers was just using him as a shooter and not using his overall game enough. If you’re going to make noise about that, you better come through when you’re given the chance, and PG has done that in spades.
Ty Lue’s system has been good for basically everybody on the team, but I’d argue that nobody has benefited more than Paul George. His shooting numbers are absolutely absurd. He’s in the 50/50/90 club, with exact splits of 51.4% from the field, 50.5% from three on 7.8 attempts per game and 91% from the free throw line.
He’s attacking the basket more to go with that hot shooting. He’s a true three level scorer so far this season, and he’s a little bit unstoppable. With his playmaking as good as it has been, you can’t even really send a double to try to stop him, because he’ll find the right pass.
The renaissance of Paul George is upon us so far this season, and his play has garnered him the super-prestigious Seth Kimbrell MVP Award Through 15 Games.