At the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, with the Clippers themselves not playing, we took a glance around the league to check on some of our old friends who are participating in the postseason with new teams. As the playoffs unfold, we’ll check on in the FCIT2022NBAPOs (Former Clippers In The 2022 NBA PlayOffs) to see how they’re doing. As the second round concludes tomorrow, let’s review which of our old friends will be advancing to the Conference Finals, and which will be going home.
Saying Goodbye
- Doc Rivers: The former Clippers coach was eliminated 2-4 in his second round series against the Miami Heat, although his culpability in the matter is up for debate. The Sixers had to play the first two games of the series without superstar Joel Embiid, who suffered and orbital fracture and concussion in the final game of the first round. Is it a bit concerning that they got blown out in game 6 with weird vibes? Sure, but the real deciding factor was Embiid’s injury. Despite rumors that the Lakers are interested in Rivers, the Sixers are currently maintaining that he will be staying in Philadelphia next season.
- Tobias Harris: After a stellar first round, Tobi had two big games in Embiid-less losses to open the second round before averaging just 12 points on 42/33 splits in the final four contests. With two years and just a hair under $80M remaining on his contract, Harris remains in a sort of middle ground where Philadelphia would certainly prefer to get more out of his max salary slot in their pursuit of a title, but he’s still important enough in a supporting role that they can’t afford to part with him lightly.
- DeAndre Jordan: We probably need to be asking if we aren’t just saying goodbye to DJ in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, but to his accomplished career. The greatest Clippers center of all time has shuffled from Brooklyn to Detroit to the Lakers to Philly in the last 9 months, salary dumped once and cut twice in the process. Starting two games in the place of Embiid to open the second round, the Sixers lost Jordan’s 31 combined minutes by 31 points, and he didn’t get off the bench in games 3-6.
Check Again Tomorrow
- Malik Fitts: Malik played! After not seeing the court in Boston’s first-round sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, Fitts got a couple minutes of garbage time in each of the first two games of this second round Boston-Milwaukee series, and even scored his first playoff basket. He hasn’t played since, with games 3-6 being tighter, and it’s unlikely that he’ll see the court in tomorrow’s game 7 unless the margin approaches 30 in the closing minutes.
- Serge Ibaka: Serge is theoretically closer to situational minutes than Fitts if Milwaukee deals with injuries or foul trouble, but it hasn’t materialized yet. After healthy garbage time minutes in the Bucks’ first round stomping of the Chicago Bulls, he’s also only seen a few meaningless minutes early in this high-intensity Celtics-Bucks series.
- Reggie Bullock: Without explosive individual numbers, Reggie has still clearly been one of Dallas’ most important players in these playoffs. He leads the team in minutes in this series and in the playoffs overall and has been crucial defensively and as a floor-spacer. He has the most made threes of any Maverick against the Suns, including 5 in their big game 6 victory. Anything could happen in tomorrow’s game 7, but if Dallas is going to advance it feels likely that some timely Bullock threes will be a part of it.
- Boban Marjanovic: So far this playoffs, Boban’s only game time has been in the last 2 minutes of games where the Mavericks held massive leads. He’s been utilized less by new head coach Jason Kidd than his predecessor, so while it might seem like his size could be a game 7 wildcard, it doesn’t seem likely.
- Chris Paul: I wrote in this space a couple of weeks ago that CP3 just kept adding legacy games to his resume. That’s… come to a halt. In the last 4 games of this series, Paul has been smothered by the Dallas defense, only getting up 7 shot attempts per game and averaging just 9 points and 6 assists to go along with 4.5 turnovers. Chris surely wasn’t going to keep averaging his 22 points and 11 assists on 57% shooting from the first round, but the Suns are going to need their veteran leader to be more productive if they want to advance tomorrow. Championship runs–and the Suns hope that this can be one for them–are long, with ups and downs and different guys making invaluable contributions at different times. If the Suns survive Sunday’s game 7 vs Dallas, they’ll have a clean slate in the WCF. If not, this stretch of poor play by Paul will outweigh his stellar performances in the first round.
- Landry Shamet: After appearing out of the rotation before Devin Booker’s injury in the first round, Shamet has stayed in the rotation upon Booker’s return despite not being overly impressive. Theoretically a bench shooter who can swing a shift with his scoring punch, Landry hasn’t hit double digit points yet this playoffs and hasn’t had a game with multiple threes made yet either. The Suns are at risk of losing this series almost entirely because they cannot find a way to take or make as many threes as Dallas. Despite his modest postseason so far, uutside of Phoenix’s core 6 guys, Landry is the role player most likely to have an outburst from deep. We’ll have to see if he can make it happen tomorrow.
FCIT2022NBAPOs (Former Clippers In The 2022 NBA Playoffs) Power Rankings:
(Subjectively ranked based on a combination of how they’re doing so far, how big of a role they’re playing, their likelihood of having an impact going forward, and how excited I’d be to see them get opportunities. Players who have been eliminated stay on the rankings but won’t be able to do more to influence their status. Players still playing have a chance to pass them, but could also drop if they don’t get–or make the most of–hypothetical future opportunities.)
- Chris Paul (Last Week: 1)
- Reggie Bullock (LW: 3)
- Tobias Harris (LW: 2)
- Willie Green (coach) (LW: 5)
- Patrick Beverley (LW: 6)
- Austin Rivers (LW: 7)
- Doc Rivers (coach) (LW: 4)
- DeMarcus Cousins (LW: 8)
- Landry Shamet (LW: 12)
- Danilo Gallinari (LW: 9)
- Blake Griffin (LW: 11)
- Jeff Green (LW: 13)
- JaMychal Green (LW: 14)
- DeAndre Jordan (LW: 10)
- Serge Ibaka (LW: 15)
- Malik Fitts (LW: 17)
- Boban Marjanovic (LW: 16)
- Lou Williams (LW: 18)
- Garrett Temple (LW: 19)
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