Our 2022-2023 player season preview series continues with Norman Powell, perhaps the one player best suited to being the consistent third scoring option.
Basic Information
Height: 6’3
Weight: 215 pounds
Position: Shooting Guard/Small Forward
Age: 29
Years in NBA: 7
Key Stats: 21.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists in 25.0 minutes per game over 5 games played with shooting splits of 50.8/54.2/85.7.
Contract Status: Second year of a five year, $90 million contract paying $16,758,621 this season.
Expectations
When Norman Powell was first traded to the Clippers, there was a lot of positive reaction from the fan base. He’s become one of the more underrated players in the league having made a major impact at his last two stops in Toronto and Portland, although he’s sometimes rarely mentioned.
He’s been a good player on both ends of the court and his arrival gave the Clippers a solid third scoring option behind their two stars. Unfortunately, he was hit with the injury bug and was only able to suit up in five games for the team last season. Even so, he put up strong scoring numbers, showing the type of player the team knew he could be when they traded for him.
This season, with a full training camp under his belt and being healthy, the main expectation is that he’ll provide consistent offense, most likely off the bench, while being counted on to help stop opposing perimeter players.
Strengths
Powell has become one of the better three-point shooters in the league. He’s a career 38.4 percent shooter from distance, and last season after the trade he managed 54.2 percent albeit in a limited sample size. He’s a good shooter off the catch and will certainly see his share of open looks feeding off Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Powell is also a capable ball-handler and has a strong slashing game. The ability to consistently break down the defense and get to the basket is something the Clippers have needed outside Leonard and George, and Powell is capable of doing so. He managed to get to the free-throw line around seven times after the trade. While that was a limited sample, he did average around five attempts per game, a then career-best, while in Portland during the first half of the season. He can put pressure on the defense off the dribble and he’s able to get a favorable whistle.
Defensively, Powell is quick and strong and uses his strength to his advantage when he’s tasked with guarding bigger wings as he’s often asked to do. He has a long wingspan that helps him as well.
Weaknesses
Decision making can be a bit of issue for Powell. He’s not quite the playmaker you might expect him to be as a two guard and he sometimes has the tendency to take some ill-advised shots. It shouldn’t be too much of an issue, however, considering he’d be playing alongside either Reggie Jackson or John Wall with the second unit who are both capable playmakers.
In some matchups, Powell’s size may hamper him defensively, but thankfully for him the Clippers have no shortage of capable wing defenders for whatever matchup they find themselves up against.
Summary
If Powell can even come close to replicating his production from the five games he played in, he could prove to be the best third scorer the Clippers have had in the Leonard/George era. His combination of skills is incredibly valuable to the Clippers and will go a long way towards their championship aspirations.
Having a full training camp under his belt should help Powell and he fits right in with the versatile interchangeability this team has on both ends of the court.
