It seems like a good fit and another upside acquisition, really good value for the minimal price (again, if he decides to do it.). Start with a few positives. The biggest priority for the role and the open roster spot is to find a player who can reduce Harden’s role and minutes and provide solid backup insurance if Harden gets injured or tweaked, misses games. Dunn and Bogie can both handle the backup duties to a degree, and they have their strengths. Lucas and Rob were talking on the pod about this slot being the 11th man with limited minutes, but I don’t quite see it that way, especially over the long haul of the regular season.

It’s a relatively big step down from what CP did on the Spurs last season. He was pretty remarkable–starting all 82 games, playing 2292/28.0 minutes, 600+ assists, 7.4/1.6 AST/TO, all in his 20th season. There are other teams where he could play a bigger role, but the Clipper situation might be the most appropriate fit.

Harden played too many minutes last season. He did it really well, he wasn’t worn out, and he just kept going. But we don’t want to forget all of those excruciating Kevin Porter Jr. minutes. Everything was better after he was shipped out, but he filled a whole lot of non-Harden minutes–CP would be a gargantuan upgrade on that horror show. I loved Bogie’s game once he got going (he seemed cursed in the playoff series), and he was a better fit and more effective than TMann, though Mann’s defense was missed. Ben Simmons was intriguing in ways, and he could take the final roster spot (there are two), but the Clips can’t make the money work on that, I don’t think. And whatever playmaking, rebounding, and defense Simmons brings is outweighed by a substantial margin by the shooting of a player like CP3–there’s no comparison.

There’s a nice feel to the idea of CP returning to the Clippers for his retirement season, getting a decent amount of regular season backup minutes, filling an important role on a contending team (which could easily suffer injuries) and chasing a ring. I saw a note that I really liked about how things might get heightened if the Clippers get off to a fast start, if players are healthy and the new guys are a good fit and the team gels, picking up where the last regular season left off, but with even more weapons and a more balanced lineup.

Just wait and see I guess.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMQ_wsphulX/

What’s interesting about Flowers is he went to the NBL to essentially develop that part of his game. He de-committed to Louisville as a high recruit super late and kind of screwed them over (not that he shouldn’t do what’s best for him) to go to the Australian league. He wanted to play point to model himself after Lamelo and Giddey who came from there, but ended up not earning a big role. Not sure if he thought he’d go there and they’d give him the keys to develop his game, but they almost immediately slotted him in as a role player.

I was thinking about how Coach Lue is going to manage egos with the addition of Collins and Beal. Surprisingly, Ty Lue might be the best one to manage them.

Understand why we needed to trade Norm (we got exposed in the 1st round vs. Denver, and Norm did deserve a contract extension), but how will all the pieces fit together.

Jordan Miller was incredible. Got a double double and probably should’ve been more selfish. He passed up shots to get a 2nd or 3rd scorer going. Should’ve looked to get to 35 pts tonight. I think the biggest takeaway was his ability to deal with the physicality and not be fazed by it. I do think he will get an NBA contract out of this.

Patrick Baldwin Jr looked much better in the 2nd half after taking it on the chin in Q1 playing out of position. I liked that he took on 3 3pt shots and got his points attacking the rim and attacking from the elbow.

Trentyn Flowers – Really has no clue what he’s doing offensively at the top of the key. Doesn’t look at the basket enough; doesn’t look to create pockets of space to get a shot off. I do like his energy on the defensive end. He fought off a lot of guys for loose balls and rebounds.

Kobe Sanders – got his hands on a lot of balls in his limited time on the court. Wasn’t that confident taking shots. Definitely needs G-league training.

Cam Christie – Took a while to make his presence felt, but made shots. In a NBA environment he’d be getting touches from the gravity of other players so he could be an asset to the big club.

Cam can use another year of seasoning, but if he makes the same progress he did in his last year, hopefully he’ll be a rotation guy next year.

I still prefer Jordan over Baldwin. I think Baldwin has the slightly better shot, but Jordan seems better at most everything else. But he will be held back too until his shot improves from 3.

Either way, being that we’re soon to be 11 deep, I really don’t foresee any of these guys cracking the rotation.

LAC is at a +9 differential. They’ll need to win by at least 6 points to guarantee a spot.

Thunder are +14.8 on point differential with no games left. They’re probably in. Raptors need to win tonight but they’re at a +17 point diff, so they’d be in. Spurs are +16.7 with a tough match up. If they win, they’re probably in.

So we’re really looking at that 4th spot though if we have a really big win tonight we could go as high as #1 or #2. Hawks are +9.3, with 1 game to play. T-Wolves are +9.5 with no games left.

Realistically LAC has to look to win that game and get to a +15 overall differential to scale the Thunder but they can’t control what ATL does, so just go win the game by a double digit blow out. We have a convergence of interests between Jordan Miller and the SL Clippers. Miller needs to stat pad b/c he’s job hunting. His end of game run against Bronny and the Lakers has put the SL Clips in a position to make the SL tournament. If he goes off for 30 tonight (and the team should let him cook) LAC has a very good shot to make the top 4 and qualify for the SL Tournament.