After playing 20 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks in game one, Patrick Beverley hasn’t played since due to a recurring calf injury. Reggie Jackson has been next up off the bench, but as recent performances against Dallas indicate, Jackson needs to play less, not more.

Game One:

Though the Clippers currently lead the series 2-1, the absence of Beverley is evident on both ends of the floor. As I detailed in a previous piece, Beverley sticks to his role and excels in it. He plays tremendous, physical defense and spaces the floor at a solid clip.

Jackson’s veteran experience failed to show up in 16 minutes of playing time coming off the bench. Jackson went 0-5 from the floor, including a missed shot from deep. He recorded three rebounds and an assist but also picked up two fouls in that span.

In this clip, Trey Burke cuts off Jackson’s path to come around the screen, forcing him to drive towards Boban Marjanovic. Jackson attempts a floater over the towering center only to get blocked from behind. Ideally, you’d want Jackson to look for a kick out pass as the lane to Paul George is open, but Jackson’s narrow focus leads to a block. 

Kristaps Porzingis’ ejection made life easier for the Clippers’ defense as they were able to pull out a victory despite shooting 34% from deep. Beverley’s 20 minutes were scattered throughout the game and he played critical crunch time minutes, but Jackson’s series was already off to a rough start. Combine that with his poor play in the seeding games, and the call to have Reggie Jackson play less was already mounting with Clippers fans.

Game Two:

Jackson got the nod from Doc Rivers to start as Beverley didn’t play due to his calf injury. Offensively, Jackson was L.A.’s best three point shooter on the night, going 3-5. Jackson converted on a pullup three for his first make and then roamed the arc for catch-and-shoot attempts on his other two makes.

Jackson’s attempts reminded me of Beverley’s role on offense. Beverley would let the creators create, and when he needed to shoot, he’d shoot. Jackson got to his spots and supported the main cast with triples, but where he really struggled was on the defensive end.

Besides Lou Williams, the Clippers don’t have a reliable backup point guard. Even then, Williams doesn’t play the same role as Beverley. Unfortunately, the defensive drop-off from Beverley to Jackson is significantly steep and the Clippers paid the price in game two.

This play shows Luka Doncic driving down the lane, and a quick hesitation crossover throws Jackson off balance. Jackson fails to recover and it’s an easy layup for Doncic. Jackson’s lack of lateral quickness is on display here. Because of Doncic’s driving abilities and his own defensive weaknesses, Jackson should’ve left more room between him and Doncic to close off the drive. Jackson made it too easy and the help defense arrived late because the play unfolded so quickly.

Doncic has obtained multiple favorable matchups in pick and roll situations and a similar one occurs here. Late in the shot clock, Doncic combines with Porzingis deep in the half court. Situational awareness plays a big role here. Jackson allows Doncic to catch the high pass rather than getting in his grill and disrupting it. Doncic gets space from the screen to make a move and Ivica Zubac cuts off the dribble drive.

Jackson needs to tag back to the “roller”, as there’s not enough time for a roll and Porzingis prefers to pop anyway. Luka reads the defnse immediately and makes the pass to Porzingis who has enough time to get set and shoot. With Zubac also pointing towards Porzingis, Marcus Morris Sr. is the one who closes out. Unfortunately, he was too late, and Kristaps drained it. All that wouldn’t have been necessary if the roller was stopped from initially slipping out. Porzingis is the better three point shooter than Doncic, and though it’s just a difference of four percentage points, you’d take your chances with the 31% shooter in Doncic than Porzingis who is a 35% shooter. Doncic and Porzingis combined for 51 points in this game and you’d have to believe that figure would be lower if Jackson’s defense was adequate.

Game Three:

Doc Rivers made the switch to bring Jackson off the bench and have Landry Shamet start in his place. Jackson played 17 minutes in this game and strictly stuck to catch-and-shoot attempts. Jackson hit 2-4 threes, which isn’t a bad figure, and tried to do less on offense.

In this clip, Dallas forgets Jackson exists in the left corner and it’s a wide open look. Jackson has plenty of time to take the shot. Jackson didn’t attempt anything besides three pointers and it worked in his favor. Through three games, Jackson is 6-18 (33.3%) overall and 5-10 (50%) from deep. Though both are small sample sizes over the course of three games, it’s not surprising that when Jackson sticks to a specific role, he tends to see better results.

The Shamet-Jackson swap worked on both ends. Shamet only managed two points in 18 minutes in game two, but answered the call with 18 points in 27 minutes in game three. Shamet’s presence tied things better defensively than Jackson as well.

The Clippers won’t have an ideal replacement for Beverley when he’s hurt. Maybe Doc gives the youngsters in Rodney McGruder and Terence Mann a run, but Shamet’s performance in game three gives some hope that the team doesn’t need Jackson to play heavy minutes when Beverley is unavailable.

Jackson can be serviceable when he glues himself to a limited role – the less he tries to do, the better. Until Beverley is back, the Clippers need Jackson to do less in his minutes: just hit threes when the opportunities come. That’s the best way Jackson can make an impact for his team.

For now, with Landry Shamet playing well, Reggie Jackson should play less for the Clippers to be at their best.

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Reggie Jackson Needs To Play Less for Clippers to Thrive
Sanjesh Singh

The Los Angeles Clippers have experienced an up-and-down bubble so far, going 3-3 with good wins and head-scratching losses. With the adversity the squad has faced, the mixed results aren’t too shocking (though a loss to the Brooklyn Nets in their current state is pretty appalling.) However, the Clippers have received steady performances from JaMychal Green, whose critical floor spacing as a small-ball center has opened up the offense.

On paper, Green’s numbers have slightly decreased from last year when he split time with the Memphis Grizzlies before coming to the Clippers. Green is playing one more minute a game than he did last season with the Clippers, but his shooting numbers have declined.

In 24 games with L.A. last season, Green shot 48.2% (6.8 attempts) from the field, 41.3% from three (3.3 attempts) and 81% from the charity stripe (0.9 attempts). Through 61 games this season, those figures have dropped to 42.8% from the field (5.6 attempts), 38.1% from three (3.8 attempts) and 75% from the stripe (0.8 attempts). As a result, Green’s points per game went from 8.7 last season to 6.8 now.

However, JaMychal Green has stepped up his game in the Orlando bubble and his ability to provide floor spacing plays a big role in finding open looks for himself as well as others.

Green literally has the green light from anywhere on the court since the bubble games commenced. Through six games, Green is shooting 14-27 from beyond the arc, a rate of 51.8%. He’s taking good looks and is drilling them with confidence.

The players are still developing chemistry and rhythm as they haven’t played meaningful basketball in months, but Green looks like he hasn’t missed a second.

In this play, the Clippers run a top pick-and-roll with Lou Williams as the initiator. Green typically comes off the bench with Montrezl Harrell as his frontcourt partner, but because Harrell hasn’t played yet, Patrick Patterson is next up. Patterson revived his career in L.A. following two unimpressive seasons in Oklahoma City and his floor spacing opens this play up further.

The Clippers empty the interior with Green serving as the roll big and Patterson standing in the left corner. Williams utilizes Green’s screen effectively as he makes Trey Burke trail him. Kristaps Porzingis needs to stay in front of Williams so Williams makes the read to Green, who popped out to the right. Porzingis can’t recover in time and it’s three points for Green.

The acquisition of Marcus Morris has its pros and cons, but his floor spacing comes into play here. Again, the Clippers don’t have an interior presence. Green leaks out beyond the arc, attempting to lure Porzingis away from the paint.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are the playmakers on the court. Leonard is able to penetrate the defense after catching the ball, which pulls in four defenders. Dallas is left scrambling when Leonard gets inside and it’s up to Leonard to take advantage of it starting with a pass.

He uses his claw to fake it to Morris, but kicks it out to Green. Green and Landry Shamet play catch causing Burke to run around and the ball movement ends up with Porzingis closing late again. Porzingis gets caught watching the ball and Green drills the big basket late in the game.

What’s another advantage that comes with Green’s floor spacing? Trailing in transition. He can be used as a trailer when coming up the court on either a rebound or made field goal. It’s a simple method to give your big man easy looks and it paid off here.

Much of getting a good look in transition comes down to the defender. Will the defender close out strong? Will the defender not take the bait in case the trailer passes the ball? Can you catch the defender unprepared?

George looks like he wanted to do more with the ball here. However, some stellar defense from Gary Trent Jr. forces George to pass the ball before a traveling violation occurs.

Green never thinks about passing. He has room because Jusuf Nurkic provides it by not closing out strongly. Nurkic is also caught ball-watching for a second too long that allows Green more time to have a clean release. In the end, it’s a good shot from the 6’8″ big.

Green won’t entertain you with fancy passing but his floor spacing also unlocks open looks for his teammates. The dangerous aspect to Green’s game is that you can’t leave him open – his percentage is too respectable to disregard.

The Mavericks double George to prevent the ball going to Leonard as the other Clippers roam the arc. Because of the double on George, there’s bound to be an open Clipper. Green cuts backdoor and kicks it back out to Morris, taking advantage of the two-vs-one situation on Luka Doncic’s hands. It helped that Dallas showed minimal effort to recover.

I have no idea how the Clippers pulled off this win without multiple key players, but they somehow accomplished victory. The biggest play that led to the win was this clutch shot from Rodney McGruder, who’s not a good long range shooter.

However, the open look McGruder gets is largely due to the defense respecting Green. Terance Mann easily blows by Nurkic in the opposite corner, which draws in Carmelo Anthony, Green’s defender. Anthony has to prevent the possible layup attempt, but it leaves CJ McCollum in a rough situation.

McCollum rotates to prevent Mann from going to Green, leaving Mann to pass to McGruder. It’s the difference between having the hot hand in Green shooting or a player who doesn’t shoot many threes in McGruder. Green commanded McCollum’s attention, granting McGruder sufficient time to nail a clutch triple.

Green’s stable play in the seeding games have been a pleasing sight for a team not at full strength yet. Once the missing pieces start filling in during the playoffs, Green will continue to hold a key role in the rotation. He sticks to his strengths whether he’s playing power forward or center.

There’s a reason Green has a net rating of +8.4 and a true shooting percentage of 76.3 in five games in August. Expect the floor spacing of JaMychal Green to contribute to more Clippers’ success in the near future.

 213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

JaMychal Green’s Floor Spacing has Opened Up the Offense For the Clippers
Sanjesh Singh

As NBA teams gear up to begin pre-season “scrimmage” play in Orlando this week, it’s safe to say that we shouldn’t take these pre-mid-season games too seriously. But, still, the games are going to be on TV and we’re going to be watching, so I figured it would be good to check in and discuss what to watch for in the Orlando scrimmages.

First, let’s outline what not to watch for: quality from the Clippers’ good players. Guys that are guaranteed to be a part of the team’s playoff core–Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard come to mind among players who are currently in Orlando (Montrezl Harrell left the bubble due to a family matter, while Ivica Zubac and Landry Shamet all have yet to arrive in Orlando at all and Marcus Morris participated in his first practice this morning)–don’t really need these games to be anything more than tune-ups. I expect them all to play (though it wouldn’t be a big deal if someone, like Morris who just arrived, sat out), but they should all have relatively limited minutes as they work into game shape and Doc Rivers balances getting everyone playing time in the 10-minute scrimmage quarters.

While I know we’ll all be excited to see some of our favorite Clippers take the court, a poor shooting night for one of their stars really doesn’t mean much. The further we go down the Clippers’ roster, however, the more these largely meaningless games can become meaningful for individual players who are going to be competing with each other for minutes as the absent Clippers arrive in Orlando, the playoffs drag on, and Doc Rivers’ rotation tightens. So, with that in mind, here are 3 things to watch for as the Clippers return to play this week:

Is Joakim Noah “back”?

This is what most Clippers fans will watch for in the Orlando scrimmages. Few topics in the Clippersphere have as much intrigue as how the arrival of Joakim Noah will impact the team in Orlando. Originally signed to a 10-day contract just before the season was suspended, Noah has yet to actually appear in a game for the club, but has now been an anticipated free agent arrival for over four months. Of course, the Joakim Noah you’ll remember–2013-14’s Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBA First Team Center–ain’t walking through that door. But that doesn’t mean, half a decade later, that the 35-year-old veteran has nothing to offer the Clippers in this title run.

Noah signed mid-season with the Memphis Grizzlies last season and contributed quite solidly, posting averages of 7.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while playing 16.5 minutes per game in 42 contests. More important than his per-minute stats, he showed that while he is no longer in his prime, he was still Joakim Noah in Memphis–a fiercely physical and passionate center who excelled at rebounding and was a far above-average passer for his position. At his best, Noah has a bit of Patrick Beverley in him, and it should be a real treat for Clippers fans to watch the two of them share the floor in Orlando.

Still, Noah is a year older now and has had to recover from another major injury. With the Clippers already boasting two good-but-limited younger centers, there’s a pretty wide spectrum for Joakim’s potential impact in the playoffs: anywhere from “a good locker room presence who isn’t really serviceable” to “the center Doc Rivers trusts most to close big games.” While he would have gotten run in these scrimmages regardless, it’s worth nothing that the Clippers have no other center in Orlando currently. Even when Montrezl Harrell returns and Ivica Zubac arrives, it’s unlikely that either of those guys will bring much different than the (very good) versions of themselves that fans have grown accustomed to watching. But Noah provides a player ripe to be evaluated, and while we don’t want to overreact to good or bad performances in these meaningless scrimmages, we should be able to learn a little bit about the extent to which he still is (or isn’t) an NBA-caliber player.

JaMychal Green and Patrick Patterson

Another thing to watch for in the Orlando scrimmages will be the backup power forward battle. I like both JaMychal Green and Patrick Patterson quite a bit (though I must say I give the edge to Green after his wonderful playoff performances for the Clippers last season). But here’s something that I think is safe to say: if the Clippers stay healthy, only one of these guys will be a rotation fixture in the playoffs. Now that Marcus Morris has arrived in Orlando, he figures to take over the starting power forward spot, and between Morris’ likely big minutes and any time Kawhi Leonard takes at power forward in small-ball lineups, there’s only minutes for one backup power forward at most.

But what will be a crowded front court when the Clippers’ roster is intact is wide-open as scrimmage play begins. Not only do Green and Patterson have the chance to both get minutes at power forward as Morris eases his way back into the lineup, but they’re also the two most viable options to split minutes at center with Joakim Noah (though Rivers has hinted in the past that he’d like to try small-ball lineups with Morris at center). It’s not likely that anyone will play seriously heavy minutes during these scrimmages, but the openness in the current depth chart means that both will get plenty of run to both prove their superior fit as the team’s backup 4 throughout the bubble, as well as potentially convince Doc Rivers to incorporate small-ball lineups with one of them spacing the floor at center.

Beyond these scrimmages, we’re just over a week away from opening night against the Los Angeles Lakers on July 30th–a bit of déjà vu from Doc Rivers’ decision to start Patterson over Green and then-normal starter Moe Harkless way back when the 2019-20 season opened against the Lakers on October 22nd of last year. One of these two will need to use the July practices and scrimmages to pull ahead in Doc Rivers’ eyes.

Third String Wings

The general rule of thumb is that the less a game means, the more you’ll be able to see obscure players–like benchwarmers, prospects, two-way players–get real reps. So, when I was asked on some podcasts this weekend what to watch for in the Orlando scrimmages, my mind immediately went to the Clippers’ third-string perimeter players: Terance Mann, Rodney McGruder, and Amir Coffey.

Coffey and Mann, of course, are the two rookie wings the Clippers brought with them to Orlando, while McGruder is a more established veteran who has disappointed for the team after being an under-the-radar value signing last summer. The three of them make up a contingent of perimeter reserves who will support the Clippers’ continuing efforts to load manage Kawhi Leonard and limit the burden on their other core perimeter players as everyone’s body slowly returns to full conditioning. Beyond that, they make up the potential emergency players for Doc Rivers–like when someone rolls an ankle to start the fourth quarter of a playoff game and Doc Rivers needs a reserve to hold down the fort for two minutes before a starter can come back in to close the game.

Right now, you’d imagine that Rodney McGruder holds the advantage among these three. He’s the guy who is probably most likely to fill in for Landry Shamet until the sharpshooting guard can arrive safely in Orlando, as well as get rotation minutes on any nights when Leonard sits out. But given McGruder’s poor performances through much of the season, you have to imagine that he has something to prove in Orlando–and something to lose if either rookie shows competence and energy. The potential for either a McGruder redemption arc, or surprising emergence from one of the Clippers’ rookie wings, is what I’ll be keeping close tabs on in these scrimmages.

L.A. Clippers: What to Watch for in the Orlando Scrimmages
Lucas Hann

It’s pretty easy to say that the 2019 NBA Off-Season was the best in L.A. Clippers history. In a flurry of moves that also included re-signing crucial starters Patrick Beverley and Ivica Zubac, the Clippers of course signed reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and secured a concurrent blockbuster trade for Oklahoma City Thunder wing Paul George, who had finished 3rd in MVP voting last season.

The results of the additions have been obvious: the Clippers have their strongest roster in franchise history and are one of three teams considered to be in the top tier of contenders for the NBA championship, along with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers.

As the Clippers’ front office sought to build a championship-caliber roster around their newly-acquired star duo, they made several heralded moves, including the notable addition of Maurice Harkless, who the team actually got a first-round pick for taking on. The signing of Rodney McGruder to a 3-year, $15 million contract was another under-the-radar move that earned the front office praise, both from myself and around the league.

The praise that the move earned was twofold: first, McGruder had been a quietly effective player for the Heat and figured to be a dependable rotation piece for the Clippers. But Clippers fans who pay close attention to the transaction logs might recall that before the Clippers could sign Rodney to his contract in July, they had to claim him off of waivers in April. McGruder had been cut by the Miami Heat, who were narrowly above the luxury tax threshold and needed to cut a player whose contract they knew would be claimed by another team in order to get that salary off of their books and get them out of taxpayer territory.

So, reluctantly, the Heat waived McGruder, who had started 112 games for them over the last 3 years and been a significant rotation piece as a gritty, multi-positional defender who did just enough to stay on the floor offensively as an average shooter and serviceable secondary pick-and-roll ball-handler. Even though it was too late for the Clippers to add him and have McGruder be playoff eligible for their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors, the team opted to use a roster spot on Rodney because a player claimed off of waivers brings their bird rights with them to their new team. This sly move was what allowed the Clippers to re-sign Rodney to a contract for $5 million a year in a summer when they were carefully counting every penny in order to be flexible enough to land Leonard and George.

For the Clippers, there was every reason to be excited. Rodney’s no world-beater, but everyone familiar with his abilities rated him well above the minimum-salary replacement player that would have filled his spot in the Clippers’ second unit if they hadn’t sneakily secured his rights back in April. He represented a free upgrade, providing depth on the wing behind Paul George, who would miss the start of the season as he recovered from shoulder surgery, and Kawhi Leonard, who has popularized the term “load management” for his periodic rest during the season.

It just never materialized for Rodney with the Clippers this season. He missed the start of the season with a high ankle sprain suffered during training camp, and then strained his hamstring in November and missed another stretch of games. Never finding his rhythm, Rodney shot just 25% from three after returning from his hamstring injury in mid-December, and ended up intermittently receiving just garbage time and DNP-CDs (Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision) as the season wore on. Despite nearly half of his three-point attempts coming from the corner, he still couldn’t muster passable efficiency, shooting just 21.6% on corner threes on the season.

Beyond his ineffective shooting, Rodney’s all-around offensive game, which usually features getting into the lane as a pick-and-roll ball-handler and either scoring on floaters or finding the roll man, simply never found consistent success this season. And for a player whose offense only ever needed to be “just good enough” to make him playable for his stellar defense, he didn’t pass the defensive eye test consistently either. His 2019-20 season was a remarkable disappointment.

For the Clippers, it meant what was figured to be a value contract for a quality player turned out to be dead money for a benchwarmer. So, it’s time to answer the question posed in the headline: was the contract a mistake?

While McGruder’s play has been disappointing, I’m going to suggest that no, his contract wasn’t a mistake. For an example to support my claim, I’m going to turn to recent Clippers history.

During the 2016 off-season, the Clippers re-signed two of their supporting bench players to large contracts that were massively unpopular among fans. Partially, this was likely shock value as we all still adjusted to the larger contract values as the league’s salary cap rapidly rose. But even in that context, Austin Rivers’ 3-year, $35 million deal and Jamal Crawford’s similar 3-year, $42 million deal were still somewhat bloated deals.

Yet despite being overpays and prompting wavs of criticism from the fans, both of these contracts ended up being good for the Clippers.

The reason is that when an NBA team is over the cap, it actually advantages them to stay as far over the cap as possible so they have more moving pieces to make trades work. Obviously giving Austin and Jamal max contracts would make them difficult to move in trades, but having smaller, movable contracts on the books can facilitate transactions that would otherwise be impossible for a team that couldn’t add free agents because they were over the cap and didn’t have expendable contracts to flip in trades.

In Rivers’ case, the Clippers got two years of solid production out of his contract before trading him when they needed to free up guard minutes for rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Rivers went to Washington for veteran center Marcin Gortat, who would serve as a stopgap starter for the Clippers until they acquired Ivica Zubac in a later trade. While Gortat was no world-beater on the Clippers, he was far more reliable than a random minimum-salary replacement would have been. The Clippers were only able to make a deal for the final year of Gortat’s deal because they had a rather large expendable contract of their own to flip. Despite the fears of many of my readers, Austin’s contract never hurt the Clippers.

Crawford’s case was even more impactful: his contract ended up being the primary piece of outgoing salary to facilitate the Clippers’ sign-and-trade acquisition of Danilo Gallinari. Lacking cap space to sign Gallo outright, the Clippers needed to orchestrate a sign-and-trade deal and send enough outgoing salary in order to make the trade legal. Such a task would have been impossible without Jamal’s large contract. Gallinari, of course, was then traded for Paul George two years later.

While it’s possible that the Clippers would have conjured another creative way to pursue George (or a different second star) without Gallinari on the books, they almost certainly would have never been able to acquire the impressive Italian forward–who was the team’s best player during their 2018-19 playoff season–if they hadn’t re-signed Crawford to such a large deal the summer before.

There are, of course, some exceptions to this logic. Contracts that are too bloated, especially ones with multiple years remaining, can be unattractive enough to potential trade partners that you still aren’t seen as a legitimate option. Additionally, teams with higher salary totals can lose their full mid-level exception (called the non-taxpayer mid-level) and instead get the smaller taxpayer mid-level exception. And there is of course the looming threat of the progressive luxury tax and repeater tax system.

But in the case of Rodney McGruder, the small, short-running contract still figures to be an asset. While Rodney has struggled majorly on the court as a Clipper, he’s still no worse than your typical third-string wing. As counterintuitive as it is, for a team in the Clippers’ financial position it might actually be preferable to have a guy in that role making $5M instead of the minimum because he is an expendable piece that can be used to facilitate salary-matching in trades.

And despite his struggles, there’s still hope that Rodney simply needed a fresh start after struggling to prove himself to Doc Rivers while dealing with early-season injuries. If McGruder comes out of the team’s pre-Orlando camp looking like his Miami self, he would provide a notable boost to the Clippers’ depth. And even if he doesn’t, his contract could help make a much more significant deal possible at some point in the next two years.

NBA Free Agency: Was the Clippers’ Rodney McGruder contract a mistake last July?
Lucas Hann

Basic Information

Name: Rodney McGruder

Height: 6’4″

Weight: 200 lbs

Age: 28

Years in NBA: 4

Position: Wing

Key Stats: 50 G, 3 GS, 15.0 MIN, 3.2 PTS, 2.6 REB, 0.6 AST, 0.5 STL, .391/.278/.536.

Contract Status: McGruder signed a contract with the Clippers in July totaling three years and $15 million. The final year ($5 million) is non-guaranteed fully if waived before July 14, 2021.

Expectations

Rodney McGruder was basically found money. Shrewdly claimed off Miami’s waivers shortly before the 2018-19 postseason, even though he was ineligible for said postseason, McGruder looked like an ideal complementary piece for the Clippers’ grand summer rebuild. The Clippers’ front office is brilliant! Look how they conjured a steady, rotational wing from near nothingness! Well, brilliant moves don’t always beget brilliant results.

Reality

McGruder’s once acceptable offensive production cratered. Never a consistent knockdown shooter, his three-point touch completely abandoned him this season, producing a 27.8% mark on nearly four tries per game. Without those makes to provide cover, the warts in the rest of McGruder’s game grew more apparent.

McGruder is a solid defender, but he’s no stopper. He’s stronger than he is quick and smarter than he is long. And while he can keep the offense moving with timely cutting and adequate secondary ball handling, he’s short on shot creation, both for himself and anybody else. At his best, McGruder is a useful cog in a well-functioning machine, but without the threat of his shot he became more clog.

And I don’t know if you noticed, but this team didn’t lack for defenders. Even dressing just one of Kawhi Leonard or Paul George heavily reduced the need for Rodney. The addition of Marcus Morris only pushed him further toward the fringe. With the defense covered, shooting became the premium accessory, and it was one thing McGruder couldn’t bring.

Future with Clippers

Has McGruder lost his place in Doc Rivers’ rotation? Did he ever really have one? Making predictions for what will likely prove to be the most unique postseason of my lifetime seems foolish, but if historical precedent holds, the Clippers’ rotation will tighten and McGruder should find himself outside of it. He still provides important depth: for players lost to injury, to foul trouble, and it must be said, to mandatory isolation. Teams may only need seven or eight players. They may need 13 or 14. McGruder won’t be in the first group. But if it turns out there’s a need for the second, he’s a better option than most teams can call upon. This could still work out brilliantly after all.

2019-20 LA Clippers Check-In: Rodney McGruder
Thomas Wood

Summary

While maybe not the dominant blowout that Clippers fans were hoping for, this was still a straightforward, wire-to-wire victory for the Clips at home. The contest started out choppy, with the refs blowing a ton of foul calls and slowing the game to a crawl. Neither team could get in a rhythm, and there were a whole lot of free throws. However, in the middle of the 1 st quarter, things got untracked, and soon both teams were putting up points in abundance. The Clips were led by a scorching hot Kawhi Leonard, who remained unstoppable and put the Clippers up by eight entering the second.

The second quarter, by contrast, was a chore to watch. The Clippers bench continued its recent struggles by turning the ball over and failing to slow the Wolves. If it weren’t for the Wolves’ misfires from deep, Minnesota might have retaken the lead. As it was, the Clippers let a double-digit lead slip away and went scoreless for several minutes in the middle of the period. Only the return of Kawhi Leonard returned order, and Leonard singlehandedly pushed the Clippers lead up a bit again, scoring on all manner of shots and from the free throw line.

The third period went much the same way. Kawhi and Paul George hit back to back threes right after halftime to push the lead to 13, and it seemed like the Clippers could blow the game open. However, they were not able to sustain that kind of lead, mostly due to their fouling on defense. Rather than staying in front of opposing players, the Clippers seemed content to bump or hit them, sending the Wolves to the line time and again. Fortunately, after a quite first half, Lou Williams got going a bit, scoring several buckets in a row to get the lead back to double digits. From there, Paul George took the baton, knocking down a couple tough jumpers and flexing a little.

George continued feeling himself in the fourth, and his ability to score from all three levels was on full display. The Clippers, behind PG’s scoring outburst, broke the lead open to 18 points, and from then on cruise controlled to the finish. The Wolves were able to close the gap at various points, but they never felt like a real threat the rest of the game, and the Clippers were able to score just enough baskets to keep the game out of reach. The final result was a comfortable 118-106 Clippers victory with all key players getting a nice amount of rest.

Notes

• PG Sharp: In Paul George’s second game back from a troublesome hamstring injury, he looked as he has since the start of the season, shooting the ball aggressively while also attacking the basket and securing rebounds in traffic. His defense might not be quite at the rarified air that he’s attained in previous years, but his ability to take over games offensively was crucial for the game-winning run in the late 3 rd and early 4 th quarters. The Clippers don’t have many shot creators, and George adds a much-needed element to the Clippers attack in that regard. This might not have been MVP-level PG, but it was certainly All-Star PG, and with Kawhi playing at the level that he’s at, that’s plenty to beat most teams.
• Doc’s Healthy Rotation: This was only the second game the Clippers have played all season with a fully healthy roster (the other being Christmas Day), so we finally got to see Doc Rivers’ regular rotation. He played 10 guys in non-garbage time minutes, with no surprises. Rodney McGruder is the clear 10th man, and the player who would be most likely to have his minutes cut entirely in a playoff game, or given to someone else. Meanwhile, Landry Shamet, even though he didn’t start, played by far the most minutes of any Clipper with 33, and seems like a strong candidate to close out some games as well. Doc did say after the game that “eight or nine” guys seem to be “obvious” in the rotation, which does leave a couple spots up for grabs, but this is the rotation that was predicted before the season and makes the most sense now. Patrick Patterson is the most likely candidate to break in, especially against bigger teams, but expect this configuration on most nights.

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Clippers Defeat Timberwolves, 118-106
Lucas Hann