I think KPJ is trying too hard. He needs to relax and let it happen. Many of his shots are open. If he sees a few go through maybe it will work out. If not, It’s Miller Time.

Zu is a top center. He can work the Warriors over.

Norm believes he’s a star. He’s backing it up.

I really like this team.

I just wish Harden would take better care of the ball. I’m sure LAC wins the Phoenix game if he doesn’t make those multiple lazy, telegraphed passes into the high post that unsurprisingly got picked off. A 1:1 assist to turnover ratio from a veteran starting point guard and former MVP isn’t really sufficient. He was better in the Denver game, but still had a roughly 2:1 ratio. I hope he cleans that up against GSW.

It seems like Mann has gotten off to a slow start the past couple of seasons. Last year he was injured, and then at a certain point he shrugged it off and started hitting threes at like 40%. Hopefully he’s not hurt at all and can shake off the rust sooner rather than later. Coffee’s shot is likewise not falling, but the rest of his game seems to be fine.

Regarding KPJ, I thought I read somewhere that he played high school ball with Ballmer’s kid. That could be why he’s on the roster, has a player option for next year, and why he’s in the rotation. I’m not opposed to giving someone a shot to earn redemption. But, thus far (including pre-season) he just looks like a chucker. If he could contribute anything else (playmaking, defense, etc.) I’d be willing to be a little more patient. I get that he’s got more size than Bones, but Bones doesn’t have the super cringe-worthy off court issues and can actually make a basket. The 1:2 assist to turnover ratio is pretty awful too.

His reluctance to shoot or create puts more offensive burden on Norm & Harden which is going to run them into the ground by no later than Dec. DDJ is a more willing shooter than T Mann.

This team is not like last year’s team. The other guys just can’t stand around & let Norm and Harden do it all. They need to take shots, even contested ones, to alleviate some of the offensive burden on Norm and especially Harden. If T Mann doesn’t pull his head out of his ass soon, then Ty should replace him with Coffey or Miller. You can’t have passive guys in the starting unit with this team because it lacks offensive juice. And I say this as a T Mann fan but he’s really testing my patience and the coach’s patience as well considering he didn’t play the entire 4th qtr.

If they are looking for an alpha scorer on the 2nd unit, then Bones and Jordan Miller would be better choices. However, I think the path to the next level for this team is with T-Mann on the ball more. When Mann is on the ball, the pace picks up, the team gets easy baskets and more wide open shots. We saw this in the Phx game where the Clips built their margin with Harden on the bench due to a change of pace. The ability to play in the half court and uptempo are what separates teams from the pack.

Defensively, I don’t see another team in the league playing on that end the way the Clips are doing it, both in terms of approach and execution. We’re just not giving anything up easily.

Offensively, Norm scoring 38 a night isn’t sustainable. We need more out of the Mann/Dunn/Coffey spot at what is effectively the #3 for now. Part of this is Harden moving the ball in that direction more often earlier in the game so that guys can get rhythm. The other part is Mann taking contested shots and not just waiting for the perfect pass and spacing. That’s the leap in his game that the team is going to need to see. He’s a good shooter. He’s confident taking shots late in the clock. He’s a good playmaker and finisher, but he has to put the ball up. A good example was one of the key plays in Q4. Harden got trapped in the left high elbow area near the 3 pt line. He swung to Coffey at the top of the key. Gordon stunted but left the shot open for Coffey. Coffey passed up the shot (a mistake), but swung it to Norm. Norm took a contested 3 and made it. Norm didn’t have the optimal shot but took it anyway because it was the only chance to make a play with the shot clock running down. That’s the approach Mann has to have when he’s on the floor.

A back to back against GSW today. Kind of a shame. I think the Clippers could beat GSW with all things being equal but it’s tough to favor them given the intense game against Denver the night before. Still, if Harden’s minutes are managed a bit and Mann gets more time on the court and on the ball, it could spur the offense to push the pace and get more easy baskets. Would be great to get that win in SF to start 2-1.