LA Clippers: Is Kawhi Leonard right about the team needing consistency?

Following the LA Clippers’ embarrassing blowout loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night, many were left with questions. The difference from Thursday night’s dominant win over the Golden State to Sunday’s loss was astounding.

After the game, Kawhi Leonard offered some insight as to what he believed the problem was – consistency.

"“If we want to have a chance of anything, you’ve got to be consistent. That’s what the great teams do. They’re consistent. They have their nights when the energy is not there and it’s all about consistency, from team to coaches to players. That’s what makes a team great, players great, coaches great…the consistency of wanting to win and doing pretty much the same habits of winning.”"

Is Kawhi Leonard right about the LA Clippers needing to show that consistency?

My personal answer: Sort of.

He’s right in that this team is not consistent enough. The difference between Thursday’s and Sunday’s outings is enough evidence of that. There have been nights that this team looks absolutely dominant and others where we all collectively think “Another playoff choke job is coming, isn’t it?”

Here’s the thing though. How easy is it to be consistent when, well, there’s no consistency? Sounds dumb, right?

Think about it, though. How many games have we been missing a guy or two? The Clippers have played 40 games this season. Of those, they have used 12 different starting lineups. Here’s how many their top eight rotational guys have been available for:

• Kawhi Leonard: 32 games
• Paul George: 29 games
• Patrick Beverley: 29 games
• Nicolas Batum: 37 games
• Serge Ibaka: 39 games
• Lou Williams: 37 games
• Ivica Zubac: 40 games
• Marcus Morris: 30 games

So, out of their top eight guys, only one has been available every single night. Four of the eight have been available for only 80% or less. That’s hard to build consistency around. Keep in mind, this only counts starts, so games like Thursday’s where Beverley left early on still count as “available”.

This isn’t great when a new head coach is trying to install his playbook and schemes. The team has to adapt and players aren’t sure what nights they’ll be seeing action.

How many times now have we seen two or three games straight with no Luke Kennard just to see him get big minutes? Speaking of Kennard, how often has the bench guard rotation of himself, Terance Mann, and Reggie Jackson been played with?

We’ve even had not one, but two games where one of our superstars was the latest possible scratch from the starting lineup.

I know every team goes through stretches where guys are out, especially this season. It’s part of the game. Given the time missed by everyone though, the Clippers are still just four games back of the first place Utah Jazz. Considering that they are viewed as inconsistent, that’s not a terrible place to find yourself.

There is one other area, however, that might be hard to build consistency.

With the NBA trade deadline quickly approaching, we aren’t quite sure what the team is going to do. There have been mumblings that they aren’t looking to make any big moves but will instead just try to improve on the margins.

While that’s all and well, if they add a piece that they believe can be part of their playoff rotation, that will just throw one more kink into trying to build that consistency. The new player(s) will have to come in, adapt and fit in quickly so that the consistency can be built before the postseason. Is that something we are confident in this team being able to do?

Ultimately, Kawhi is right and the consistency does need to improve. Teams can have an off game or two here and there but ultimately you want to see a certain level of play most of the time, something this Clippers team has yet to accomplish. Given their extenuating circumstances, however, I’m not sure that it’s something that is attainable. All we can do is hope that the team plays hard and that they begin to figure things out.