I’m personally relieved the Clippers do have the makings of a young core with Maclean’s aforementioned group of young Clippers. I loved our selection of Mann (and Fi) from day 1 and both of their effective developments would remove a lot of the sting from the overall amount our FO moved forward with sacrificing for the successful pursuit of PG and Kawaii.
(Obviously playoffs success and the championship ultimately washes away the entirety of any alleged ‘sting).
The emergence of Amir Coffey as perhaps an effective piece of the rotation in the future also alleviates some of the lopsidedness of the Clipper’s Morris acquisition during the trade deadline.

I Personally felt lukewarm about that acquisition and was a big believer in the high value of defense Harkless was providing the team as a wing + perimeter defender. Though Morris will have plenty of opportunities coming up to demonstrate full view of the value he can provide for this team. And im positive it was with playoffs in mind when the FO decided to execute that deal.

One of the most attractive facets of Mann and Coffey’s pairings with this full group is their energy and tendencies to aggressively cut to the basket, which just opens up so many options for our offense, which during some cooler stretches, has a tendency to stand around, ball watch, and settle for too many perimeter jump shots as opposed to creating easier buckets for themselves.

I was equally impressed with Cassell’s coaching and thought Doc’s own removal of himself to give Sam the benefit of the opportunity of coaching was ultimately the key to this game (if for anything, a lack of true interest in outcome Doc would likely have finished coaching it with himself).