It’s time for the moment everyone dreads–the Clippers are getting their December progress reports sent home today after finishing their final game of the month. As folks likely have caught on to by now, I’ve been getting in the habit of doing individual player grades following every Clippers game, in part because I did it as a one-off thing for opening night and folks really liked the idea.
I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of doing these after every game, I might as well keep track of the grades in a spreadsheet and provide some type of aggregate data. For December, we only have a 5-game sample size, but these progress reports will be a good trial run for January, when the Clippers have a 16-game slate. The small sample, and bizarre nature of the team’s outlier 51-point loss to Dallas (and the accompanying failing grades many players received), throw some things out of proportion and force me to address some important philosophical questions for this article format. Should the players receive a grade for the month just based on their GPA from that month’s games? Should they all get a boost if the team overall has a good W-L (I think they’ve done quite well to go 4-1 with a rough opening schedule)? Should players get credit for improving over the span of a month, or docked for making the same mistakes over and over? I wrestle with that a bit below but come away mostly noncommittal.
Clippers December Progress Reports
Patrick Beverley: C+
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| B+ | 1 |
| B- | 2 |
| C+ | 1 |
| F | 1 |
| December GPA | 2.2 |
I stuck with Pat’s earned grade average of a C+, as he has mixed generally effective play with consistent limited minutes stemming from errors in judgement putting him in foul trouble. He’s been a positive presence in a vacuum but the Clippers will need more long-term, and the only thing holding him back from providing it is himself.
Paul George: B
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A- | 2 |
| B+ | 1 |
| B- | 1 |
| F | 1 |
| GPA | 2.7 |
On grade average alone, Paul should have a B- instead of a B… but I just didn’t feel right letting an admittedly horrendous Dallas performance set him back so far considering the team’s 4-1 record and his overall good play. The Dallas game still hurts him but a B feels more fair, especially since he was the team’s most impactful player in their opening night win over the Lakers and he led them to a win with Kawhi Leonard out of the lineup.
Kawhi Leonard: B+
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A | 1 |
| B+ | 1 |
| C+ | 1 |
| GPA | 3.2 |
Kawhi has the advantage over his peers in that he was absent for their meltdown against the Mavericks–though that might also be viewed as a testament to his importance to this team. His performance against Portland, with 7 assists and 0 turnovers as the fulcrum of a hyper-efficient offense, was among the most impressed I’ve ever been with him. If he continues to make his teammates better like that, this will be his lowest progress report grade of the season.
Nicolas Batum: A-
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A | 1 |
| A- | 1 |
| B+ | 2 |
| D- | 1 |
| GPA | 3.0 |
Okay, this is my first significant separation from the GPA, but I think it’s more than warranted. Remember, I grade on an expectation curve. Not two weeks ago, folks would be lining up to tell you that Nicolas Batum was washed up and not a rotation-quality NBA player. All he’s done since then was step into the starting lineup of a contender and be arguably their third-best player en route to a 4-1 start to the season.
Serge Ibaka: B
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| B+ | 4 |
| D- | 1 |
| GPA | 2.8 |
I haven’t been giving Serge a B+ every game on purpose, he’s just been remarkably consistent to start the season. I actually think he deserves a lot of credit for putting in these sort of quiet performances where he undoubtedly helps the team without necessarily making his presence loudly known by dominating the ball offensively. I gave him a generous rounding to a B grade considering his consistent contributions to the team’s 4 wins.
Lou Williams: B
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A | 1 |
| A- | 1 |
| B | 2 |
| F | 1 |
| GPA | 2.7 |
Again, I opted for a B instead of a B- for Lou here. He deserves as much flak as anyone for the Dallas game (everyone deserves equal flak for it), but he’s had 4 solid-to-great outings other than that game, including providing the spark that turned the Wolves game from a struggle to a blowout with a +27 in 11 first-half minutes.
Luke Kennard: C+.
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A- | 1 |
| B | 1 |
| B- | 1 |
| C- | 1 |
| F | 1 |
| GPA | 2.2 |
I’m fine with a C+ for Luke, and actually would have been fine with a C if that’s what the GPA had calculated out to. While I’m sticking by my repeated assertion that we need to give Luke several weeks of patience considering his prolonged layoff, if we’re just assessing his play for the last 5 games he’s been decidedly pedestrian with one good shooting night. I’m very optimistic that he will grow more comfortable, and in turn impactful, as the year goes on.
Ivica Zubac: B
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A- | 3 |
| C- | 1 |
| F | 1 |
| GPA | 2.6 |
Once again, I’m rounding a key rotation player who has been mostly solid up from a B- to a B. I don’t think Zu has been at his best early in the season, particularly with defensive rebounding, but his dirty work offensively and rim protection off the bench has made all types of weird second-unit combinations not just viable but successful.
Reggie Jackson: B-
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A | 1 |
| A- | 1 |
| C+ | 1 |
| F | 2 |
| GPA | 2.0 |
I’m making a significant role adjustment for Reggie, bumping up his C average to a B-. As a player on the fringe of the Clippers’ rotation, he deserves a little less blame than the others for the Dallas debacle (though he was just as awful as anyone else). Similarly, his 3-minute F against the Lakers was terrible but not disastrous for the team, while his 26-minute A vs Minnesota included big contributions to a second unit that turned the game around in the first half. That A is worth more than that F, in my opinion. But B- feels fair considering he wasn’t just not good but unplayable in two of the team’s five games.
Terance Mann: C-
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| A- | 1 |
| C | 1 |
| C- | 1 |
| F | 1 |
| GPA | 1.9 |
I’m comfortable with a C- for Terance–he simply hasn’t been good through 5 games and appears to be less reliable than Reggie Jackson as a depth guard (a bad sign as “reliable” isn’t exactly Reggie’s strength). Fortunately for him, Ty Lue has shown an extreme willingness to go deep into his bench for different lineup combinations night-to-night, so he’ll get more chances. But if he doesn’t bring more confidence and consistency he’ll find himself playing mostly in garbage time.
Patrick Patterson: D+
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| B | 1 |
| D | 1 |
| D- | 1 |
| F | 1 |
| GPA | 1.2 |
Patrick probably doesn’t even deserve a D+ for a really poor start to the season, but I don’t feel like splitting hairs this far down the grading scale. Brought in on an above-minimum contract, he’s squarely behind three guys–Nic Batum, Reggie Jackson, and Terance Mann–who are on minimum-salary deals. With the Clippers’ starting PF, Marcus Morris, injured, Patterson was displaced from PF minutes in favor of guards because small-ball lineups got the job done better. He’s even slower defensively than he was last year to the point where it looks like the contexts where he’ll be able to stay on the court are extremely limited, and his shooting–his one redeeming quality–hasn’t shown up yet in this minuscule sample.
Mfiondu Kabengele: D+
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| C- | 1 |
| D | 2 |
| GPA | 1.2 |
What’s worse for Fi–that he’s only playing in garbage time with Patrick Patterson getting emergency center minutes, or that he’s not even playing well in garbage time? Actually, the worst bit is that just 18 months after drafting him the team decided to drop his contract option for next year. I feel bad for Fi, who is by all accounts a wonderful teammate and hard worker, but so far he hasn’t even been a viable garbage time option.
Daniel Oturu: B-
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| B+ | 1 |
| C | 1 |
| GPA | 2.7 |
Short-term goal for Oturu: get big-man garbage time minutes priority over Kabengele, and help those lineups do a better job of maintaining (or even expanding) leads in the fourth to ice games. Long-term goal for Oturu: inspire enough confidence in Ty Lue that he’s seen as a viable third-string center when there’s an injury or foul trouble.
Amir Coffey: C+
| Grade Earned | Number of Games |
| B+ | 1 |
| B | 1 |
| D | 1 |
| GPA | 2.4 |
Amir winds up a shade under Oturu, by nature of having a little worse of an individual performance in garbage time against Dallas, but the overall sentiment here is the same: he’s been adequate as a garbage-time guy and that’s all that I’d expect of him, but I’d like to see those lineups more consistently maintain leads instead of letting teams chip away in the fourth quarter.
Marcus Morris: INJ
Morris doesn’t get a grade after missing all five December games with knee soreness, but I’m excited–and a bit anxious–to see what this team looks like when he returns. Another big wing who can switch defensively and shoot the ball… but not the same kind of passer or intangible player that Batum has been in the starting power forward position.
Jay Scrubb: INJ
Scrubb didn’t play in December and we won’t see him in January or February either. Maybe late March? Either way, I hope he’s learning a lot as an observer during this injury redshirt year.
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