LA Clippers’ head coach, Tyronn Lue, already has the hidden recipe to lead a team to the NBA Finals because he has done it before with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That roster was perfectly built around his coaching style. Thus, for the upcoming Clippers’ season, the front office did something similar for Lue.
Furthermore, the Cavaliers did lose to the Golden State Warriors three times in four seasons, yet their victory was the most memorable of the century, as it occurred in a 3-1 comeback fashion against the team that holds the record for most wins in a regular season.
On that team was the iconic duo of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, but also a big-man rotation that Lue remembers very well. He recently brought this up as a reason for excitement to get to work on the drawing board.
Tyronn Lue has similar stretch-five lineups on the Clippers as he did on the Cavaliers
As posted by Tomer Azarly, a credible writer for the LA Clippers on ClutchPoints, on X(formerly Twitter), Tyronn Lue seemed very excited when speaking about the most notable comparisons of the current roster he has to the one he coached on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Tyronn Lue on game planning with a stretch-5 in Brook Lopez on the Clippers:
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 14, 2025
“I’m back to my Channing Frye and Kevin Love days back in Cleveland. Just a lot of stuff that I’m comfortable with and he’s getting comfortable with now.” pic.twitter.com/bQObwSBAWk
The two names mentioned were Kevin Love and Channing Frye. These two were exceptional in the playoffs the year Cleveland took down the Golden State Warriors, but Love in particular, was immensely important as the final piece to the big three with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
In the 2015-16 postseason, Frye shot 56.5% from a distance, and Love was at 41.4%, with more minutes and attempts.
Moreover, in size and shooting comparisons, the Clippers added a seven-footer in Brook Lopez and an elite floor-spacing power forward in John Collins. These two will allow Lue to run similar five-man units that helped Cleveland win 57 games.
This lineup will take off in the regular season, starting in just a few days for the Clippers, yet in the preseason, Collins shot 57.1% from beyond the arc and Lopez was on a similar level at 53.3%.
That said, Lue mentioned comfortability within his response, and with Collins and Lopez, the championship head coach can go back to his forgotten days and surprise opponents with an effective, stretch-five lineup. This will certainly be exciting to see from his point of view and the fans, pushing LA to a historic NBA Finals run.