No. 2 element of team strategy to be defined in LA Clippers training camp: Lineup size
Right now, the LA Clippers starting lineup is as follows (according to Ty Lue):
Ty Lue’s preliminary thoughts on a rotation begin with a 5 of Reggie, Bledsoe, PG, Morris and Zubac. “That’s my vision right now.”
— Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) September 28, 2021
That’s not a ton of size, and while I don’t think they need more size, the team will still need to figure out how to gel really well with a lineup this small.
They did it last year, so I’m not worried. It’s just true that the shooting and execution needs to be flawless if we don’t have the towers out there.
We’ll also need to focus in on how we want to design the second and third lineups as a small ball team too, as we can’t play small ball if we can’t play it the entire game. We’re thin on big men, and can’t be unbalanced as a basketball team.
Lue made it clear today that style of play is more important than anything at this point:
Ty Lue says pace is focal point in first practice of camp. He also says the Clippers’ style of play — and playing small — that we saw in the playoffs after Kawhi Leonard went down is how they want to play this season with addition of new (Bledsoe) and key pieces (Ibaka) added in.
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) September 28, 2021
And it’s true. We didn’t have Serge Ibaka in these small ball lineups when Kawhi wasn’t in the picture. We didn’t have Eric Bledsoe at all.
The whole roster needs to be on the same page as far as the installation of our system goes.