After a week on campus at San Diego State University, the Los Angeles Clippers begin their preseason Monday night at Staples Center. It will be over before you know it. The Clippers play all four of their preseason games in an eight-night span:
- Monday vs. the Denver Nuggets (Staples Center)
- Wednesday vs. the Sacramento Kings (Staples Center)
- Friday at the Dallas Mavericks (American Airlines Center)
- Oct. 11 vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves (Toyota Arena at Ontario, Calif.)
The Clippers are one of two teams to play their final preseason game next Monday, along with the New Orleans Pelicans; those teams will be the first to complete their preseason slate. But the Clippers will be the last team to play their first regular-season game, which won’t be until Oct. 21 at Golden State; the Warriors will be in Los Angeles to open their season two nights earlier against the Lakers following the Nets-Bucks Ring Night festivities.
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As far as how he is approaching this week, the compact preseason schedule is definitely something Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue has in the back of his mind.
“I’m not sure,” Lue said Sunday when asked about preseason minutes. “We still have a 10-day break once we play our last preseason game, so it’s kind of tough to gauge.”
Preseason has to be taken with a huge grain of salt, and I probably don’t have to tell you not to overreact to Game 1s. But with that said, here are some relevant items to watch for as we inch closer to legitimate basketball:
Rest and injury management
The Clippers officially ruled out six players (three for rest and three for injury) for the preseason opener against the Nuggets.
Paul George, Marcus Morris Sr. and Nicolas Batum will play a maximum of three preseason games, as they are being rested. All three 30-somethings will be asked to take on a heavy load once the season starts, and coming off training camp, the vet days are coming in right away. George will have enough on his plate once the season begins. Batum actually led the Clippers in total minutes during the 2020-21 regular season. And Morris is just happy to be in better condition now than he was during 2020-21, when he missed the start of the season due to right knee soreness and broke down as the 2021 postseason wore on.
“Last year I think for everybody, it was just a quick turnaround, so we had a lot of big-time injuries last year and guys needed that time off,” said Morris, who confirmed last week that he did not need knee surgery this offseason. “But definitely, I’m starting in a way better spot than I was. Just continue to work through it and not push it too hard, because we do have a long season that my body, without Kawhi, will be pushed to the limit. So I just got to maintain that and continue to focus on my knee and things around it.”
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The three ruled out for injury are as expected: Kawhi Leonard (right knee; ACL rehab assignment), Serge Ibaka (low back surgery; rehab assignment) and Jason Preston (right foot injury). How these listings may change over the months is mostly for bookkeeping purposes.
The Clippers are one of only two teams that won a playoff game in multiple rounds in each of the last two seasons. The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks are the other. The Nuggets would have earned this distinction as well, but they were swept by the Suns in the semifinals. To go on an extended run in the bubble, come back and go on another extended run in a shortened season that led to another shortened offseason is a tough feat. At least the Bucks have a ring to show for it. The Clippers will need to approach this season with an eye toward player preservation, especially with Leonard working to return from knee surgery for the first few months.
“We have to be smart about it, for sure,” Lue said on media day. “That’s why I think we got the best sports science team in the league, and they’re going to let us know when guys are in that red zone or guys need a day or two off, and we’ve got to be smart about it. Reggie (Jackson), Nico, Marcus, PG, they all played a lot of minutes last year, so we’ve got to be smart about it. But we want to win games in the course of doing that, but we’ve got to be smart about their health as well.”
Building a Paul George offense
Last season, Lue referred to George as the team’s point guard, usually in the context of how George worked with then-assistant coach Chauncey Billups as George and Leonard facilitated the offense. There are changes now. Billups is now in Portland as head coach, and Leonard is out for at least a significant portion to start the season.
The increased ball movement was something Lue developed in his first season as head coach following the departure of Doc Rivers, though the Clippers still ranked in the bottom half of the league in passes per game. Expect the ball to move even more in Lue’s second season, especially since Lue’s goal is to not have George do everything on the ball in Leonard’s stead.
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“Playing without the basketball,” Lue said Saturday when asked what the team was working on. “The first two days, we didn’t really incorporate any plays. Just kind of playing through delay and playing through the big flashing, and getting guys cutting off the ball and just trying to get used to playing without the basketball, I think, is the most important thing. Because, you know, with Kawhi being out, we’ll have to use more ball movement, more player movement, more body movement. So we’re just trying to get used to doing it now.”
In the regular season, George had a usage rate of 29.6 percent. That led the team, with Leonard checking in at 28.2 percent. In the playoffs, Leonard’s usage rate was at 28.6 percent. Prior to Leonard’s injury, George’s usage rate was 27.8 percent. But in the last eight postseason games, starting with Game 5 at Utah, George’s usage rate shot up to 32.6 percent. That would have ranked higher than all but five players with significant minutes in the regular season (Joel Embiid led at 35.2 percent, while Luka Doncic, Bradley Beal, Stephen Curry and Donovan Mitchell all had usage rates of at least 32.7 percent).
“That’s why I want to kind of just do better playing off the ball, you know, not just be him to come down and go one-on-one,” Lue added about minimizing George’s responsibilities. “Just try to play through the big, you know, get some backdoor cuts, everybody’s active, everyone’s alive. And I think that will help PG out a lot, because you can’t just force-feed him and have him go make every play and do everything. So that’s why I want to get our guys used to playing without the basketball, getting some backdoor cuts like I said, getting some easy shots throughout the flow of the offense instead of just trying to go through him and let him create every play.”
For George’s part, he is ready to take on the outsized role coming his way. And George cites the post-Leonard playoff run as a moment that he and his team can build off.
“Can’t change the past, injuries happen,” George said Saturday as he lamented Leonard not making it out of Game 4 against the Jazz healthy. “I thought what it did was allow us to see what we have without Kawhi there. And I guess get us prepared for what’s to come this year until he’s back. But, you know, I thought it gave us a spark that we needed. For a lot of us, it was really our first time being back in that situation and being on that stage where Kawhi has been on that stage and has won currently on that stage. So I think for a lot of us it was kind of a, you know, ‘All right, we know what we got, we know what we can do. He’s done it, now it’s our turn to show it.’ So I thought it was a moment like that for a lot of guys on our team.”
Eric Bledsoe and Reggie Jackson
Another part of the Clippers offense that will look different is Lue wanting to increase the pace of play. It is a big reason why Eric Bledsoe is set to join Reggie Jackson as the lone new starter on the team.
The preseason will serve as an indication of how that tandem is playing together. Jackson already expressed how he is looking forward to building a relationship with Bledsoe early in training camp as the two guards work on tools on the floor.
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“We play five-out, so he’s already come in, he’s been aggressive, he’s been attacking seams, he’s making plays for guys,” Jackson said of Bledsoe. “I’m just happy he seems healthy. He’s been a hell of a player in this league, and he’s had an 11-plus-year career for a reason, and when he’s healthy, he’s special. And we’re happy to have him here.”
Bledsoe has teamed up with a wide range of guards in his career, from Eric Gordon and Goran Dragic to Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
“I played against and with a lot of great point guards,” Bledsoe said Saturday. “And the biggest thing I take from them is they competed. You know, their practice was the game. They went at me at practice, they only made me better … once I got to the game. That’s what I’m looking forward to with Reg, you know. Playing against him a lot, on the outside looking in. You know, he’s a tremendous, hell of a player, to try and contain. And now playing on his team, I think we can help each other get even better.”
Bledsoe said Jackson is the better shooter, while Bledsoe will focus on playmaking and getting downhill. And of all of the guards he has played with, Bledsoe compares his partnership with Jackson to his University of Kentucky teammate John Wall the most.
Eric Bledsoe says that his connection with Reggie Jackson reminds him most of his partnership with John Wall at Kentucky pic.twitter.com/jJetBoZ1UU
— Law Murray ▶ (@LawMurrayTheNU) October 2, 2021
“Me and John, in college,” Bledsoe said when I asked him if he and Jackson reminded him of any of his previous backcourt combinations. “Playing alongside (Wall) taught me a lot about how to play off the ball. So I think it kind of resembles that.”
Looking for Luke Kennard
Last Wednesday, the Clippers were scrimmaging and coming down in transition when Luke Kennard had an open shot. He passed it up, kicking it to the corner instead.
That earned Kennard a seat.
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“He passed up an open shot, and I took him out the scrimmage,” Lue would explain.
Kennard had what he admitted was an up-and-down first season with the Clippers, one that came after he recovered from knee injuries, was on the roster of a non-restart team in Detroit, was traded by the Pistons on draft night and signed a rookie-scale extension with the Clippers before returning from nearly a full year between NBA regular-season games. While Kennard made 44.6 percent of his 224 3-point attempts last season, he had a penchant for struggling to get open and being decisive with the ball. Kennard was all over the rotation and wasn’t a playoff regular until he wrestled the ball away from Jalen Brunson in Game 6 of the first round in Dallas.
Now, with his money kicking in just as his spot in the rotation appears to be solidified, Kennard understands he has to be consistently aggressive and, well, shoot the damn ball.
“Oh, I know exactly what it was for,” Kennard said when asked about being benched by Lue. “But yeah, no, he said it. He told everybody. He said, ‘Because he didn’t shoot the ball,’ and it’s a good thing overall. I mean, even PG was on me about it. He said, ‘Just shoot the ball man.’ Like, it’s a thing everybody wants me to do. They’re confident in me, and it gives me confidence just to be myself.”
Lue would downplay the moment by the end of the weekend: “He’s been way better. Like, we did it just that one time, just to mess with him a little bit. And to prove a point to the team. Like, this is what he’s out here for. So I took him out, but that’s my guy.”
To that point, Kennard has been working on ways to make sure he’s in position to shoot. Kennard spent the summer working on his footwork and getting his shot up from different angles and off-balance. This preseason will offer a glimpse of how Kennard’s release may have improved.
“I was shooting some like crazy shots, like off-balance stuff, just different things, coming off screens,” Kennard said Sunday. “They chase me like pretty tight around screens. So it’s just creating space and, you know, maybe being off-balance a little bit when I’m shooting. So that was a key thing I worked on this summer, and I think it’s really paid off and it’s helped me a lot, especially throughout camp but hopefully throughout the season too.”
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Lue is putting a special emphasis on getting the ball in Kennard’s hands and making sure the team looks for him often, including on direct handoffs and catches on the move to get Kennard downhill.
“We’re working on a lot of stuff now, just split actions, moving without the basketball,” Lue said last week. “And we have a thing we call “Five Luke” or “Hunt Luke” where he can come off of either side and just play the game and we’re just looking for him. He’s been playing well, very confident. I like what he did at the end of last season in the playoffs, just being aggressive. And you know, he’s gonna be big for us this season.”
And yes, as much as Lue was concerned about Kennard’s defense last season, he makes it clear Kennard just needs to be out there to do what he does best.
“He understands what he’s out there to do,” Lue said of Kennard. “He’s not out there to guard anyone. He’s out there to, you know, shoot the basketball. And we got to make sure we’re looking for him to when he’s open.”
Lineups and communication
Weird lineup combinations are the bedrock of preseason, and with George and Morris out for the opener, that phenomenon will be apparent from the opening tip against the Nuggets.
The Clippers will have 14 players available for the preseason opener. They can be broken down into sections:
- The starters (Jackson, Bledsoe, Ivica Zubac)
- The rotation (Kennard, Terance Mann, Justise Winslow)
- The draft picks (Keon Johnson, Brandon Boston Jr.)
- The two-way contracts (Jay Scrubb, Amir Coffey)
- The center competition (Harry Giles III, Isaiah Hartenstein)
- The training camp invites (Moses Wright, George King)
Where Winslow plays will be intriguing, as he has the size of a wing, was signed with playing power forward in mind, has been serving as the backup point guard and will also play center. The big man competition officially gets underway against Hartenstein’s old team, followed by Giles’ old team. And then there’s the opportunity that players such as Johnson, Boston, Scrubb and Coffey get after summer league came and went.
“I describe myself as a bucket,” Boston said last week at camp. “Like, I can score at all three levels. Anytime I get the ball, I feel like I can put it in the hoop.”
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Communication on the court will be key. Especially with players such as Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo elsewhere, leaders have to step up and fill the void, as well as get players in the right spots on both ends of the floor. It appears Jackson has made the biggest jump in that department, while George has embraced being a team leader along with Morris.
“PG’s been great at that, and Reggie has been really good,” Lue said when I asked him about the communication on the court. “We just got a quiet team by nature, but Reggie and PG have definitely (taken) the challenge as far as being more vocal on the floor. And I think when Serge gets back in the mix of things, he will also be vocal, and Marcus as well.”
After a week of team bonding away from Los Angeles, combining basketball with golf and fishing trips, the next phase begins for the Clippers in arenas. And this week, there will be a lot to observe in a short span of time.
(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)