Teams that are 5-15 after 20 games have not taken themselves out by virtue of their performance after 20 games. They are simply untalented or poorly coached or injury riddled teams.

Taking yourself out of the playoffs means that you are a playoff-worthy team which has dug itself such a big hole that it cannot get out. The teams that are 5-15 are not playoff worthy. They are just bad teams.

OK, so either you are joking or you are certifiably insane. Nobody has taken themselves out of (or played themselves into) the playoffs after 5 games. Or 10 games. Or 20 games.

I know that fans are nuts, but come on!

So, the rebounding aspect is why you basically cannot go away from Zu right now. They grab 80% of defensive rebounds w/ him on the floor and 64% w/ him on the bench.

He’s going to play because of the rebounding, but in order for him to really be the positive he’s been the last couple of years, Zu needs to individually do better with his rim protection and finishing. He doesn’t need to be prime DJ with blocks and dunks but we need him to be as good as we have seen him be before. Some of the difficulty of his job right now on both ends is exacerbated by the guard play being atrocious, but he still simply needs to play up to his own level on some of these plays.

And even when he does individually up his level, the root of the starting unit’s most urgent problems aren’t with his play, but with the guards’ inability to create offense. Even inserting a superior offensive talent at center, like Montrezl Harrell or Serge Ibaka, wouldn’t fix this unit’s offense unless Reggie can refine his shot selection and increase his efficiency while Bledsoe figures out how to more consistently get downhill and convert his drives in to made shots, free throws, and assists.

Now if they go 1-4 again in these next 5, they will really make the margin for error so small that even exceeding expectations in the final 72 isn’t enough. If you want 44 wins after starting 2-8, you need to go 42-30 the rest of the way. Winning 60% of your games is a tall task.

It is fair to note that LAC has several guys who are not as good on average as they were last year, and to expect regression from those guys. Reggie is a career 35% guy who shot 43% last year. The fair expectation is probably somewhere in the middle: he’s clearly improved and takes more catch-and-shoot looks now than earlier in his career, but he probably isn’t gonna repeat 43%. So far this year he’s at 29%

Nico is a regression candidate: career 36%, hit 40% last year. You’d probably expect him somewhere between 36-38, he’s at 21. Bledsoe, as you note, is a below-average shooter. He has, however, been remarkably consistent in his below-averageness: you’d expect him pretty much right at 34%. He’s at 19%.

Those guys are all going to hit a higher percentage of their threes over the course of the season than they are right now. It’s one area of Clipper play that is a sure bet to improve without needing significant intervention in terms of a rotation or roster change.