Comments on: Making Sense of the Clippers’ Center Rotation

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 17:02:36 +0000

Agreed. I really hope he has at least one game where he’s a real contributor.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 02:48:18 +0000

Sham at PG would probably work better than current Reggie, but unfortunately it looks like he’s out for the next game. Hell, another train wreck from Reggie and I’ll be ready to tell Mann to give it a go.

By: TheGreatestShowman

TheGreatestShowman — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:48:31 +0000

I can’t remember which game it was but I though Sham did a decent job starting at PG or at least a better job that awful Reggie. He’s not going to create shots but he’ll get the offense into its sets and obviously be a credible threat from outside. And, while not a great defender, he’s definitely an upgrade over Reggie.

By: Cole Huff

Cole Huff — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:47:19 +0000

The problem is that it seems like if Joakim is out there with end of the bench guys he’s not gonna look great. He’s more useful when his screens are freeing up Kawhi and PG than it is Rodney or Mann. Same applies for the defensive end.

Unfortunately for him, probably won’t have those opportunities that often.

That being said, if he gets out there and is productive, I’ll be so hyped.

By: TheGreatestShowman

TheGreatestShowman — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:45:40 +0000

Yeah, the second unit could have used his screening and ball movement last game and against the Suns.

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:34:19 +0000

Thanks for making that game thread!

And yeah, the PG rotation behind Bev isn’t great, which is why he’s the 3rd most important player on the team. The Clippers might not need him in the 1st round (though he’d help a lot), but they will certainly need him in the 2nd round and on.

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:33:01 +0000

I do think in the few minutes that Joakim has received in the actual seeding games, he’s looked pretty bad defensively.

If anything, the Clippers need his passing and playmaking skills far more than they need his defense, which means he shouldn’t close, but could get minutes in like the 1st or 3rd quarters to get the offense moving if it’s sticky.

By: osamu6238

osamu6238 — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:00:42 +0000

I did think it was weird to not at least see what Joakim can give you. He didn’t look great against the Lakers, but AD can make even the best defenders look pretty bad. That being said, JMG has been stellar in that role. I assume he’ll slide back to the 4 spot with Trez coming back, but the JMG/PatPat front court was at least interesting given how they could spread the floor.

I think the Clips are being chosen by a lot of people because of the versatility and JMG is a huge part of that, now playing a true stretch 5. I guess it’s great to be able to go to that lineup with certain matchups, but I’m at least a little worried if mix-matching lineups gets a little hard to establish continuity.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 21:41:36 +0000

As great as Trez has been for the team, I hope that the games in the bubble have shown Doc that he doesn’t need to (and shouldn’t) trot Trez out there for 20 min continuous stretches – both Zu (outside of that botched pass at the end of the Suns game) and JMG have shown that they can close out games if necessary.

Also this is off-topic, but I’m actually a bit more worried about the PG rotation, with Bev out. Lou Will is amazing, but he’s not really a suitable full-time PG, and his defense has always been worrisome. Reggie Jackson makes some amazing plays, but also makes some jaw-droppingly-bad, Dion Waiters/JR Smith-level decisions with the ball in his hands sometimes – he *should* be a ridiculously overqualified backup PG, but his performance varies too much from game-to-game.

Also off-topic, I went ahead and made a gamethread for tomorrow’s game against the Nuggets in the Forum: https://213hoops.com/forum/topic/clippers-vs-nuggets-gamethread/#postid-688

Everybody make sure to vote for how you want these to be handled from now on!