Non-game: The Wall unfortunately looks like it will be not nearly as effective as intended. Not because it’s not loud or not populated, but the fact that the visiting team gets to choose what side to shoot on first basically effectively neutralizes any disruptive effect the Wall might have during the second half/crunch time as the opposition will be shooting on the other end of the court.

Also notice that during the team intros the players pretty much did nothing except for Zubac running out, and Mann wasn’t part of the team huddle at the end of introductions (he’s either hanging on the basket or walking on the outside) – not sure if that means anything regarding team chemistry or not but it looks kind of off.

As far as the players, a few things stood out to me:

Zubac was pretty awful on offense for most of the games. Having said that, outside of Portland, he really didn’t have a “bad” game. He gives good energy on defense, and was doing a pretty good job protecting the inside and boxing out for rebounds. You could definitely see it with Holmgren and Wemby. When he’s out when one of those 2 were in, you could see the disadvantage they had inside (rebounding and/or rim protecting – OKC promptly went on a 9-0 run when Lue subbed him out while Holmgren was in for example). For teams without a dominant big, maybe the team can go small, but otherwise he should probably be subbed in/out with the other team’s big at a minimum. The offense will come back, but he definitely needs to play more if he can.

Mann/DJJ/Coffey – at the end of the day, they’re kind of similar role players, each with different strengths. Coffey is the best shooter but worst defender of the three. DJJ is the most versatile, probably the only one who can guard 1-4, but easily the worst shooter. Mann is the best on-ball defender and most aggressive on defense of the 3 – he’s almost always challenging the shot and rarely gets blown by, but outside of the first couple minutes where he usually gets a corner 3 and maybe another interior basket, he loses all aggressiveness on offense. Which is too bad because the few times he is aggressive, he has shown he *can* score, but doesn’t seem to have that drive to consistently do it. Maybe focusing on D too much? Anyhow, at the end of the game 1-2 of them should be in, but it really should be based on how they were playing during the game and what is needed. For example, Coffey was lights out yesterday so he rightfully should have been in at the end, but versus Portland and OKC he was virtually invisible, and with his lack of defensive contribution really shouldn’t have been in if he’s not scoring or shooting well.

Dunn – he’s been amazing. Definitely the best overall defender and gets a lot of deflections and/or steals. He definitely should play the 4th for his defense and ball handling. However, if he tapers off then you can throw him in with the 3 above and play the 2 “hot hands” of the 4.

KPJ – getting better with his court awareness, but still a net negative. He’s one of the only rotation guys that can effectively create his own shot so he’s going to play unfortunately. But you just know on certain possessions that he’s gonna try to take it himself or drive then throw it off someone’s knees. Either way it doesn’t end well. Plus he’s not great defensively either.

Kai Jones – he’s a freak athlete that is unbelievably weak and doesn’t protect the rim well at all despite his size. Great at recovery blocks and alley-oops but that’s about it. I’ve never seen a guy get pushed around so much setting a screen. The Blazers were just pushing him backwards every single time he tried to set a screen.

Powell – been great so far, but not sure if his hot shooting is going to hold up all year. He’s actually trying more on defense which is good, although he’s still not that good overall.

The win vs the Spurs was pretty amazing yesterday, and a great way to get the first win in Intuit, but Wemby also helped a lot taking a lot of shots (and he’s not a good jump shooter at all) and the Clippers shot over 50% on 3s, which unfortunately is unsustainable. So it will come down to solid rotations and contribution from the rotation guys to get more wins.

Would be nice to see the young guys play, especially if things are just not going well for a certain rotation, but barring injury, it’s probably not happening.

Harden is no longer HARDEN. He is a very smart player, but we shouldn’t expect him to be what he was even two years ago. If he stays in the 25 to 28-minute range, the Clippers will get an excellent version of Harden. That’s a good thing.

Zu figured out how to attack Wemby.

When I see Wemby, I see Ralph Sampson.

KPJ had 8 rebounds and 7 assists, which led the team. I agree with Jim Jackson. He drifts when he shoots. He needs to square up. He’s growing on me.

Amir was sensational. He stroked it with confidence.

I like Dunn.

I’d like to see Dunn, KPJ, and TMann play in the 2nd unit. I would move Amir to the starting unit.

TLue must find minutes for Miller.

On defense on the other hand, he dominated. Zu and the guards were completely flummoxed on how to deal with him after he easily blocked them a few times. I’m not saying anything nobody doesn’t know, but the level of rim protection he provides is so different than anyone else.

It was also a very entertaining game. I thought the team started out great with T-Mann hitting a sideline 3 and blowing past Wemby to get a fast break layup. But Harden was pretty terrible in that first frame, and then folks started passing up shots. Mann didn’t look to shoot over CP3, DJJ moved the ball when he could’ve shot it, Zu was missing everything, and then Kevin Porter Jr came in to make things worse. It was bleak.

But then the bench mob came in and after Wemby kept beating them over the head with his shot blocks and general rim protection a light bulb flashed in the players’ heads: start using the low post/drive game to set up the 3 (like a play action pass in football)’. Move the ball early if you can. Hunt 3PAs. Find a rhythm. Coffey took that assignment in earnest and then it just caught on. You don’t need to shoot over Wemby (as so many players did). You can just draw him in and go find Norm Powell in the corner or Coffey on the sideline.

Harden was so bad in the first half, that he got rest and the ball was in the hands of other guards like Dunn. When James got back into the game in Q4, he was well rested, playing off the ball, coming in as a trailing/late shot clock shot maker and was deadly.

Zu also had a very strong game after that first stint. This team has a real strong weapon in that Harden-Zu pick and roll game but they’ve struggled when that option is taken away. They’ve kept forcing things but Wemby gave them no choice but to look elsewhere for points. Hopefully, they’ll learn from this, but and implement this in their approach.