Comments on: Clippers Re-Sign Russell Westbrook on Two-Year Deal

By: Tollis Hill

Tollis Hill — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 23:15:04 +0000

I like the return of russ. He fills a leadership void that this team lacks.

By: Tollis Hill

Tollis Hill — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:26:57 +0000

this is also not counting Kawhi/PG getting minutes at the 4 later in the season.

By: Tollis Hill

Tollis Hill — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:14:34 +0000

You also forgot two other factors.
-being on a team where the players respect you.
-the ability to be a leader.

By: Lucas Hann

Lucas Hann — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 20:41:47 +0000

Their career shooting averages are similar–Morris had a league-leading outlier season in 2021 that Covington didn’t have–and Covington has been more impactful in pretty much every other area throughout their careers. Covington had been a full-time starter his whole career until coming to LAC while Morris was a part-time starter at most of his stops. Covington’s career VORP is better, his career BPM is better, their career WS/48 are identitcal. More advanced statistical models like DARKO favor Covington’s production over the last decade.

And while 2023 RoCo may be a case of “the guy we weren’t seeing,” we’re talking about a guy with 17,000 NBA minutes under his belt over a 10-year career. He’s not Jason Preston. And at the same time, 2023 Marcus Morris sure as hell wasn’t Marcus Morris either.

Morris vs Covington, for their careers, is a trade-off of skillsets among comparable players. Morris is better at face-up/iso mid-post stuff with the ball in his hands and stronger physical defender for similar mid-post defense, Covington is a better athlete, cutter, and more versatile team/help defender. The impact metrics suggest that Covington was the clearly superior player throughout their careers, especially once he got off the process Sixers.

If you take 2020 Knicks Morris (he actually didn’t shoot well in a small sample with the Clippers post-trade that year, which is really worth throwing out because of COVID) and 2021 Clippers Morris vs any 2 seasons of Covington, I think you’ve got a pretty compelling case for Marcus given the huge gap in shooting quality as that iteration of Morris was among the very best volume + efficiency + size shooters in the NBA those two seasons.

But if you take pretty much any other season from the last decade, the shooting gap is small enough that Covington’s other skills made him the superior player. I think this is shown in league value as well–in 2018, he was the best player Minnesota got back in the Jimmy Butler trade package, and at the same deadline that the Clippers traded a 1st for Morris (when he was having that amazing half-season leading a dreadful Knicks team), the Rockets traded 2 1sts (albeit indirectly in a 4-team deal) for Covington.

By: boltsfan21

boltsfan21 — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 19:28:11 +0000

And the part where he shot 47.3% from deep on 300 attempts for us one season? Does that mean “literally nothing” too? I mean, yeah, he fell off a cliff last season, but the idea that “RoCo … has been a better player by far than Morris throughout the entirety of their NBA careers” is utterly ridiculous.

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 15:10:34 +0000

30 games for a shit Knicks team mean literally nothing, and the Clippers thinking otherwise is baffling.

By: boltsfan21

boltsfan21 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:44:32 +0000

This

By: t0md0

t0md0 — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 02:52:49 +0000

I might need a new TV because I actually disagree with your statement. Better player “by far”??? Before we acquired Mook, he was the Knick’s main go to guy and averaged almost 20 a game. Everyone was, for the more part, happy we were able to grab him. His first couple years with us was solid, minus the first year when we first got him during the trade deadline. He even was the highest 3pt shooter, percentage wise, in the league one year. If not the highest.. top 3 if I can recall. So you’re telling me RoCo was better than Mook in their entire careers? I get it.. Mook slipped last year, but come on now. Just last year he gave us 15 a night. Sure his defense has waned but RoCo can’t really create his own shot and is pretty much just a spot up shooter offensively. I love RoCo just as much as the next guy though. But yeah.. it’s time to move on from Mook that we can agree on.

By: Lucas Hann

Lucas Hann — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 19:37:10 +0000

Adding Harden I think clears them of any “run it back” allegations.

Gonna have to see what Russ’ role actually looks like to get on board.

By: Thretch

Thretch — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 18:50:45 +0000

I’m not a big fan of Westbrook on LAC, but at a cap friendly $4M, I can’t complain.

If they do a Harden trade (for Powell, and old PF or two and some other assets), then maybe we see:

Zubac / Plumlee
KJ / remaining old PF(s) / Moussa / KBrown
Leonard / Mann
PG / Westbrook / Mann / JMiller
Harden / Bones

Good, but not fantastic. Kind of “run it back”, but not completely. Still gives Mann and Bones some PT. I dunno.