My own approach to thinking about BB is to start with the idea that comparing him to Norm Powell and viewing him as a direct replacement isn’t especially helpful.

Analysis of Norm’s breakout season last year requires some subtlety. He did a fantastic job making the most of PG’s absence, teaming with Harden and Zu and others to help the Clips make a surprising start. But there were two Clipper/Norm seasons, the second one starting after Kawhi returned, when KPJr. was gone (along with TMann), and Bogie joined in, etc. Norm got hurt as the Clips continued their rise, and he never quite found the form from the first part of the year. The Clippers were fated to fall short in a slugfest against DEN in part because of the fluid and unclear roles and performance of Norm, Bogie, and Kris Dunn. But Norm deserves major credit for the entirety of last season’s success and I’m excited to see him on Miami, with an even bigger role while Herro is out at the start of the season.

That being said, Beal has a more wide-ranging game and his one-time scoring punch was a grade or two above Norm’s. I think he’s actually more comparable to Paul George in many ways, a step down in size and defensive threat, but a three-level, versatile, elite scorer and playmaker. Like PG, however, he’s joining the Clippers on the downside of his career, far from the player he once was, but he still has considerable skills and punch. Yes, he could be on the final lap here, like his former running mate John Wall turned out to be, but we can hope that’s not the case. Again, I’d advise consideration of PG in trying to sort out BB’s role, not just Norm.

That’s where I’ve been for some time now, but recently, coming out of my Aspirationgate depression, a new thought occurred to me. Is there any way that Beal might remind us of Lou Williams? Lou Will obviously had an epic Clipper run, and trading him for Rondo remains a dark day in Clipper history. This is a very different team, with different expectations and a ton of depth. But I thought I’d add Lou’s name to the mix as we try to plot this out and speculate on how it might go.