The Clippers' player abilities are developed with offense
Halfway through the season, the Los Angeles Clippers didn't do as well. With all the return dates of the Pepper duo undecided and important rotation players stopping for various reasons, the Clippers' record this season is an inevitable result.
As of now, the Clippers' defense can still guarantee the middle of the league, but the offense has directly become the bottom of the league. Going back to before George was injured, it was an unexpected result. Even after George's absence, the Clippers, one of the league's best offensive teams last season, shouldn't have fallen to such a point?
On the surface, it does seem like this is the case, but after careful analysis, it is not surprising that the Clippers are now in such a situation of poor defense and offense.
Let's start with the defense.
The Clippers won another game against the Nuggets. It's hard to count the number of times the Clippers have reversed this season, and tough defenses have contributed. The Clippers' bottom line is still good, and last season's playoffs completely trained the defense. Whether it's a big lineup or a small lineup, the Clippers' defense is already systematic. And the rotation speed is fast, and the defense has an attitude. At the same time, this year's new blood cloth, Winslow, Harten, attack is not to talk about, at least the defense is very good. So early in the season, George and Zubac and Hardten were in both interiors, and the Clippers' defensive efficiency has been in the league's strongest gear. (George defends well as we all know, Hatten is a surprise, and Zubac opened a separate chapter at the end of the article)
And why is the Clippers' offense so poor?
I will elaborate on the two players, from these two players, you can get a glimpse of the whole picture of the Clippers offense, and then you can explain the Clippers' current offensive problems.
First player: Paul George.
Last season, the Clippers' historic level of offense was based on the strong containment and ability to create opportunities between the Peppers. Leonard confirmed in last year's playoffs that he had become a more powerful ball-handling core than the league's top forward attackers. George came up with the best playoff performance of his career and unexpectedly maintained this carry performance before he retired from injury this year — of course, efficiency was not maintained, and it gradually declined over time, and the number of turnovers also went up. George is not at Leonard's level, and the gap in strength between the two cannot be ignored, which is the easiest reason to draw.
There is also an implicit reason for the downgrade of the Clippers space.
This season, Black Bay has turned into a blood cloth, Eight Ye is not in good state of projection, Mann's rotation time has increased, most of Ibaka's time and space attributes have disappeared, and the new Winslow has eaten part of the rotation time left by Leonard, and the superposition of these things has made the Clippers' space gradually eroded.
George has proven his ability to ignore the environment, he played the peak of the 18-19 season, the Thunder's space is what a I will not repeat. But at that time, he had Wei Shao by his side, and it was not the current Wei Shao - although there was a gap of grade from the peak of the MVP season, it was still two different players compared to now. At that time, Wei Shao was still one of the first big core of the league to hold the ball, although the basket was no longer good, but the pass control was still bull X, the ability to consume the ball was extremely strong, sharing George's offensive pressure and releasing George's no-ball ability, how George played was at least not uncomfortable.
And in the Clippers, without Leonard, George is the most able to pass the ball, and the strength is more than one gear away from all the other players.
In the case of soaring usage and heavier balls, the impact of space relegation is particularly serious.
George also played alone for a while last year. But at that time, the space was much better, and the second was that Beverley took a lot of defensive tasks. In this situation this year, George can only guarantee the movement of the super god, and the rest of the time has begun to be powerless. Especially when he has probably touched his upper limit at this stage, his strength has reached the top. Both ends of the attack and defense are overloaded, overworked, and injuries are inevitable.
King Gigi was in the same situation. This is the second player I want to talk about.
This season's Gigi Kings can be called the Los Angeles Doubles along with a player in Los Angeles, aka the former Thunder Doubles. Other data do not need to be seen, this season's Gigi King's true shooting rate is 45% of that gear, with an average of nearly 17 shots per game, dashing and difficult shots, making an indelible contribution to the promotion of quick-acting heart-saving pills.
Did Reggie slip down? No. It was because he didn't have the ability to do it, and he had to do it. Compared to last season, his usage soared from 19.9 to 26.4, and the number of shots nearly doubled from 8.7 to 16.1. After George, he was the Clippers' veritable number one attacker. The coaching staff's move is also out of helplessness: the blood cloth is not blue, and Xiao Mo's technical characteristics determine that his upper limit is only to provide the team with the ability to attack the attack, digesting part of the ball with a certain amount of one-on-one, rather than developing the whole team's attack; Kennard can develop the attack, but it is limited by physical fitness, and the output cannot go up. So the general was plucked out of the cannon, and he could only give this work to Reggie. Coupled with the Clippers' declining space, the environment for developing offense is much worse than last season. Reggie's current performance is expected.
Reggie Jackson is a good secondary attacker, and the first condition for him to play comfortably is to place him next to the strong point, a main attacker of sufficient level, so that he can fully realize his value. This year, whenever Reggie played well, George was basically present. If the offensive state is good, it has the ability to carry the main offensive task with the support of a high-quality space environment. In last year's playoffs, the Gigi Kings had three major buffs at the same time: installed next to Pepper + Clippers five small extremely high-quality spaces + regular season contributions did not ensure strong energy. So Reggie even replaced George as the team's No. 2 offensive arrow at one point, and the level shown throughout the playoffs was worth a Schroeder offseason asking price.
Reggie's problem is also the problem of the whole team. In addition to Ka Pepper, Mann, Blood Cloth, Eight Master, the new Kofi, the highest strength can only be a deputy attacker, you can't expect them to be forced to carry the main attack after being driven to the duck shelf can still hand over a performance to show people. Unless there is a way to shoot outside the line, Batum can take more than thirty points, otherwise this is simply not realistic. The least affected is Xiao Mo, whose main attacker play itself does not eat much space, only eats the feel and the level of the opposing defender, the current offensive data and the Knicks when he was the boss is only slightly down, taking about 20 points per game, he is a player of this level. In a sense, the Clippers' current offensive ceiling also depends on him. The Clippers management can feel a little relieved that the 1600w annual salary given to Xiao Mo is indeed no premium.
The Clippers' offensive problems have no room for improvement at the moment. It is not possible to pin your hopes on the operation of the transaction, and the value of the chips in your hand is limited, even if the Clippers management is no longer nb, it is difficult to cook without rice.
And it is very simple to want to improve, and there is only one way, that is, to wait for the two people to come back.
Azu of grievances
Zubac is increasingly unpopular with fans. He really didn't go up, and the probability may have reached the upper limit, and maybe he can only look forward to it in terms of mid-range shooting. But in fact, he is already a very good role center in the league.
What are his strengths? Under the large sample has been a good rebounder and frame guard; excellent low-post defender; high finishing efficiency. Well, the above is not recognized by most fans, and even if they admit it, they will say "That's it?" Isn't that all. ”
Indeed, Zubac is only 700w. And after the 700w player and George began to be absent some time ago, the Clippers' defense collapsed from the league's top five to the middle ground. If you have to say it's because of George, if it has nothing to do with Zubac, then I have nothing to say — by that logic, Leonard's defense is also dispensable.
Clippers fans spray him for nothing more than the following reasons:
1, the scope, he prevents who enters, can not prevent the small one.
2, this season "feel" even the protective frame is gone, the defense has no attitude.
3. Butter hands
4, today can not prevent the teacher, tomorrow can not prevent Embiid and so on...
All of the above is a symptom, and we need to dig deeper into the reasons.
The scope problem is common to all contemporary large-tonnage squat center forwards. Now what Clippers fans think of Zubac, and what Jazz fans think of Gobert in last year's playoffs. Can you say that Gobert defended badly? It's just that modern basketball is developing faster and faster, strengthening the offense, weakening the defense, more and more people can play with the ball, and the big center exposes more and more problems. Once pulled out of the big defense, this round is theoretically gg, and the small shooting center can only watch, but if you pounce forward, there is a high probability that you will be fouled. This problem should not be said to be useless. Because if that's the case, the 2000w below won't want to find a useful center.
The frame has always been Zubac's strong point, and the reason why zubac's frame is not good in terms of perception this season is because he has been transferred out most of the time and has not participated in the frame. In recent years, the league has been figuring out how to better target slow-moving big centers, and due to league trends, more and more people can shoot and handle the ball, regardless of the grade of team — this year's Spurs are a stark example. In fact, Zubac's efficiency was still high during the round of the rim.
On the issue of "butter hands", first of all, we need to be clear - when you see a center butter hand, it is not necessarily the mistake of the center, or it may be that the person who feeds the ball can not give it. Passing to a center is a technical task, especially for a traditional center like Zubac who only goes down after blocking and dismantling. In my personal opinion, for Zubac, the cause of his butter hand can only be said to be responsible. He couldn't catch it himself, and the ball didn't pass well. The Clippers themselves don't have that kind of craftsman, the one who can pass the ball the most is The Little Card, followed by George — The "Pass the Ball" of the Card Brother means that the brain is good, knowing how to pass the ball and where to pass it. The same goes for George. But the two of them, whether in the timing of the pass, or in the speed and precision, are not far from those recognized passing masters. When Rondo fed Zubac the ball last season, Zubac rarely had a butter hand. This season don't say Longdo, Kazi brother George is gone, you can't expect Reggie Zheng'er to play passing control, and the blood cloth blocking result opposite the opposite side are wary of Zubac's down, Xiao Mo basically can't pass the ball; Batum will pass the ball but can't create opportunities on his own; and then the opponent caused by the space relegation begins to be unscrupulous for the degree of blocking of the inside line, zubac's butter hand this season can only be said to be expected.
And those who complain that Zubac can't prevent Jokic, Embiid, Valan, etc., don't know what to think. Gobert could not prevent Jokic, not only that, but the teacher saw him beating him once and again, and since this was the case, it was recommended to confiscate Gobert's three DPOYs.
Zubac's contract is one of the few high-quality contracts in the Clippers' hands today, and the most valuable contract after the Mann Clippers. The inside line, which is a grade or level stronger than Zubac's, and whose salary is lower than his, is gone except for a few non-selling rookie contracts, McGee who suddenly became strong this year, and Portis with a honey juice base salary. His level is indeed limited, but it is still that sentence: better than him, the Clippers can not get - the center salary that can bring qualitative changes to the Clippers must be 1500w + (the Clippers do not have the first round in hand, don't think about getting a quality contract), subject to hard risk restrictions must be out of the team's big contract, but the Clippers' more than 1000w players, in addition to Kennard and blood cloth are an important part of the team's combat strength, the transaction is not worth the loss. With Kennard and Blood Cloth as chips, the opposite is not a fool, and the Clippers' recruit eggs are not of high value, so the opposite side has a high probability of Mann. The Mann Clippers are unlikely to have an accident, so such a deal is basically impossible for the Clippers.
It's always good to be more tolerant. And in the future, if the Clippers rush out of the West one day, whether it is the 76ers or the Bucks, the defense and rebounding of the small lineup will definitely be exploded. The Clippers and Zubac, at least not too ugly.
LET'S GO CLIPPERS！