Comments on: Clippers fall apart in fourth quarter again in loss to 76ers

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 23:16:06 +0000

Yeah, I think he’s elite — eye test is all I need. He gets hot a lot. And in terms of the “trade,” as I recall we weren’t getting KL unless PG was included. And we wanted KL in the worst way. KL called his shot.

By: jbugs

jbugs — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 22:35:03 +0000

I know. I’m sorry. If SGA wasn’t so good and perfect fitting for Leonard, it’d be way easier to keep my mouth shut.

Is PG really considered an elite shooter? I’m always nervous when it’s a tight game and he’s shooting. I feel like he often disappoints. He’s got the 8th best EFG % on the team and the 7th best true shooting % on the team this year. granted 3 of the guys ahead of him are bigs, i still wouldn’t expect people to consider him elite or even top 25 league wide.

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 22:20:46 +0000

Bashing PG is OK — he deserves it. But, he’s an elite shooter, can defend when he wants to and, actually, can take care of the ball — when he wants to. But ur constant woulda coulda shoulda trade refrain is super old and you know it. Rec: look forward, not backward.

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 22:15:28 +0000

BG’s passing was poster buy sloppy. And, he insisted on making the inbounds pass after made baskets (gave him an excuse to loaf down the court). Those passes were often picked off once the other team figured it out. Not to mention, he’d often step over the line before passing the ball. Why the coaches didn’t shut that shit down was maddening.

By: jbugs

jbugs — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:22:42 +0000

If we traded Leonard and PG at the deadline in an effort to blow it all up (and got crazy draft capital in return), I think I’d be relieved. I understand that it’s really tough to blow it up when we don’t have our own picks for years to come, but I don’t think that should hold us back if this is really the best we can be. Any team trading their entire future for PG and/or Leonard will likely be in really bad shape 2-3 years from now, so that draft capital could end up being worth it. Also, similar to Utah, blowing it up doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be losing games. We have a decent squad in Mann, Batum, Zu, Roco, Reggie and MM. If we hypothetically traded Leonard/PG to push Miami and/or Philly all the way in (two teams with “win now” windows less than 4 years wide open), we could get some solid young pieces in returns, pieces that would be ready to peak just when those draft picks are becoming really valuable and we start to get our draft picks back.

I’m still in patient mode, and not out on this team. But I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be relieved if we blew it up. I think I’d be cool with it. I love rooting for a young scrappy team.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:15:40 +0000

I don’t believe in the Sixers in the postseason. Doc has shown he wilts when it matters, and so have Embiid and Harden. In Embiid and Harden’s cases I think it’s because the refs don’t give them a FT parade every game in the postseason and their games are so centered around FTs that instead of putting up MVP type numbers they just wind up looking like Norm when they don’t get calls.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:13:47 +0000

When the team is invested and buys in, we look amazing. Unfortunately that only happens like 1-2 quarters at a time instead of for an entire game. The Clips just very clearly don’t give a shit and/or don’t have the energy to sustain giving a shit for an entire game, and while this can still get us wins against bottom-dwellers like Houston, we can’t beat good teams like Philly like this. As currently constructed (and I’m including Ty in this discussion), we’re a “done in 5 or 6 games, 1st round exit” type of team.

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:08:59 +0000

The reason teams have “bad quarters” or “bad halves” is because the other team that’s better than you is coasting until they have to drop the hammer. We have proven to be helpless in this regard which means we’re pretty terrible. Fans naturally have affection for certain players and that’s a fun part of this. But we are going to have to move some fan favorites to improve this roster. The only really viable trade pieces other than our two allstars and draft picks are Zu, Luke, Terence, Powell and perhaps Mook, Nico and RoCo to a contender who needs depth. Maybe Coffey and Boston in a package to a young team. Terence is off limits and unless we’re having a fire sale and blowing things up there’s not an equitable return for Mook, Nico or RoCo. That leaves Zu, Luke and Norm and roughly $40 million in outgoing salary. We can throw in Wall too if necessary. These pieces are nice rotation parts who are relatively young and on good contracts so they could be moved for better veterans on expiring deals (Vooch) or someone like Collins who is kind of an odd man out with Atlanta.. There are other options out there but I’m not selling these guys for Mike Conley. I expect we will see something materialize here soon. Ballmer doesn’t F around and Frank is pretty good at this. Hopefully we can stay at or near .500 until a few deals can be struck.

By: jbugs

jbugs — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 20:20:14 +0000

I’m really hoping we get a deal done well before the deadline. Can anyone remember when we got deals done in recent years? I feel like some of our best moves were a couple weeks/days before the deadline. I don’t think I can endure another 3 weeks of this garbage.

By: jbugs

jbugs — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 19:58:43 +0000

I wouldn’t necessarily get depressed from last night’s loss. It’s really just been the mediocre play through the season so far. Last night was just another missed opportunity. I’m feeling exactly the same way I felt before we crushed Boston, which was “when are we going to start caring about winning enough to play our hearts out? when is the team going to stop treating the regular season like a scrimmage and start showing us (and themselves) what they can really do?”

There were a ton of basketball insiders that got a peak at the clippers before the season started and picked them as the favorites. I’m guessing what they saw was how deep our roster was and how hard guys were playing and how much things were clicking in training camp practices. I would have been blown away by that as well. Problem is none of that intensity is being brought to the regular season games. It feels to me like they are saving it for the playoffs, which is super frustrating as we are increasing the chances we don’t even make it. If we’re stuck in the play-in, that will be a major disappointment given Leonard has played a ton of games (and a good amount of minutes too). Where the heck is PG’s intensity (even prior to his injury)? PG used to be elite. He shouldn’t settle for being the 2 to Leonard’s 1. He was supposed to be 1B. He’s so disappointing especially in light of who SGA has become (brilliant and efficient player who is doing it all on both ends of the court and helping his team win games).