Ok second part is where are we cap wise for next season going into intuit dome? If Paul George leaves for Philly or another team
And we decide to just let harden expire , is there an avenue where we can try atleast putting some different free agents around kawhi? Add a max player and also a mle type player etc? Curious on what the options are ? Is kawhi trade eligible this summer?

I’m not totally packing it in right now but right about now it would be good to know if there’s any re-tooling options/rebuild on the fly options available if this season keeps spiraling outta control.

• Russ + Zu + Mann + Kawhi + PG have to play at least 20 minutes on the floor together (more if it cooks). Zu and Mann need to be empowered and told to look for and take a lot of shots.
• Harden + Norm + Coffey fill in the gaps in the rotations. There are a lot of minutes to go around with such combos. My preference is for Mann and Zu to be in the 30-32 min range. Russ should have his minutes boosted into the 20s while Harden’s minutes comes down to 30 or under. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Russ starts, but that Harden has a quicker hook. The emphasis has to be on the pace, hustle and defensive intensity being at the right level and we know Russ is just a natural in those areas.
• I think Theis/Plumlee can play up to 10 minutes in backup #5 minutes. At the center spot, it’s Zu at 30-32 min; Theis/Plumlee at 8-10 min and Russ as a backup #5 for 8 -10 min.

It’s basically an 8.5 man rotation…..and that’s it. Lue’s just not the type of coach that can handle more complexity or more options than this. If you’re gonna play small ball, you ought to have Russ-Mann-Coffey-PG-Kawhi on the floor, with Norm as a possible substitute (except that I hate the way he gets exploited on defense in small lineups). If you’re gonna do small ball, do it right or shut up.

As for a coaching change, in any other major sport: int’l soccer, MLB, NFL, NHL a coaching change would happen without a blink of an eye no matter the coaching pedigree. It’s only in the NBA where coaches with some degree of reputation are treated like sacred cows. I don’t anticipate that Lue will get dismissed, but to say that he isn’t an issue here wouldn’t be accurate.

…I’m not even sure about this, to be frank. Playoff Harden is pretty damn underwhelming for his career.

In Q2 tonight, Terance left the game for Harden up +5. He returned with the Clips up +1. Nembhard and Halliburton got loose for shots and the lead turned to -5. Then, Terance got an offensive rebound, hit a 3, took another wide open 3 that just missed softly but Zu was in a position to rebound and get the putback. Just like that we were in the lead again. But then we go away from Terance and Zu as high usage/high touch players when we really should’ve doubled down and exploited them. If Russ had been on the court with both players, I think we would’ve had a much more competitive game. The deficit was only -3 at the half.

In Q3, neither Zu nor Terance got any quality touches; both left the game 4 mins in due to Myles Turner going off with some help from Siakam/Walker and the Clips went on to lose the quarter by -5 despite Russ’ best efforts to keep things afloat. Then Lue brings Zu back with both Russ and PJ Tucker on the court and it made no sense.

We need Zu and Mann to be higher touch/higher usage players with 213 + the point guards (Harden/Russ) getting them touches and playing at the right pace for them to be more involved. The answer can’t be more frivolous lineups with PJ Tucker or going super small when the other team has Turner and Siakam on the floor ready to pounce. Makes no sense.

If they do fall into the play in, I’m hoping they miss out in the playoffs. An attitude adjustment has to be made in the offseason starting with 213. The team was more enjoyable before they got here.