The Clippers are SECRETLY Genius…

The Clippers are SECRETLY Genius…

Welcome to the uncction. The Los Angeles Clippers have gone out of their way to acquire as many UNKs as possible before this season. If this was one of King of the Fourth quarter’s videos, putting everybody in their prime, this team would run the league. But in all seriousness, this should be a pretty exciting team this year, running it back as the fourth seed from last year and then or excuse me, fifth seed and then adding in a couple of guys like Bradley Beal, the return of Chris Paul and then of course Brook Lopez as the backup five. This Clippers team could be pretty good despite their age. Bringing in CP3 might not be the biggest splash in the world anymore because yes, the man is going on 41 years old and entering his last year in the NBA, but he can still be a serviceable backup point guard. And he proved that last year in San Antonio, averaging almost nine points a game, 4.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals while shooting 43% from the field and 38% from three. He still makes all the right reads. Watch him catch here in the middle of the defense and be able to find Sohan who’s going to flare out from the screen set by Champany and he’s going to knock down the corner three ball and that’s all set up by Chris Paul who cuts right into the correct spot. Then working out of the pick and pop here with Victor Rubinyama. Now there’s no 7 foot4 guys that can shoot it from 40 ft in Los Angeles but he was playing with one last year and I mean that’s a perfect pick pick and pop. There’s nobody within a quarter mile of Wimi right there when he’s shooting the three ball. Here he is coming off the screen once again. Throws it up top for the slam. And that’s what Chris Paul does, right? He is a high IQ player. He gets people the ball in the right spots, knocking down three balls, working off of pick and rolls, getting to his spot right here. He’s just a very high IQ guy. Perfect locker room. He’s pretty much a second coach on the floor, finding Champagne running in transition right here. And he’s going to be a very valuable piece to this Clippers team returning to well, probably the best part of his career. Then you got Bradley Beal, who will be 32 years old. And coming off of a season where he averaged 17 a game with 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds. The biggest misconception about Bradley Beal, and by the way, he did that on 50% shooting from the field, 39% from three on five attempts, is that he’s a bad basketball player. By no means is Brad Beal a bad basketball player. He was just playing behind Devin Booker and behind Kevin Durant. He was having pretty solid numbers on fantastic efficiency. I mean, if you attach his stats to a different player and it’s not making 50 million, for example, when that’s what he was making last year, so expect a little bit more out of him, but if he can replicate those stats as the third option behind Kawhai and Harden on a $6.5 million contract, that is a steal all day long. If he can get 17 a game on very good efficiency like he was last year next to James Harden in the back court. Or, you know, they could even go Chris Dunn at the starting two and put James at the starting one and then bring Brad Beal off the bench. In that case, this is what that bench unit would look like alongside of CP3 with Bogdanovich, Derrick Jones Jr. there for defense and then Brook Lopez in the front court. That would be a fun bench unit to explore. Although, I think you got to play Bradley Beal at the starting two because that’s a lot of offense right there with Beal and Harden. And then you can bring Chris Dunn off the bench. Now, I love the John Collins edition. might have been my favorite addition, especially since they brought in Bradley Beal to replace Norman Pal. Then you ship off Norman Pal for John Collins, who will be 28, entering the prime of his career, and he went to Utah and came back with a jumper. 19 a game with 8.2 rebounds, two steals, a block, and an assist per game. Shot, 53% from the field, and 40% from three. This was not a guy that was known as a three-point shooter whatsoever. He was pretty much a negative floor spacer. And now he’s coming off of pin downs, knocking down three balls like right here off this Kesler screen. Luke Cornet doesn’t get over the top to contest and he knocks it down. This time he’s coming off of this looks like a Cody Williams screen and he’s able to knock it down. Even operating on his own getting to fadeaways. A spin fadeaway that’s not in John Collins bag in Atlanta and now it is in Utah and he’s bringing that to the Clippers. I think this is the perfect addition in the front court. Even got a little bit of a passing badge on him now. And then the defense, right, he is a pretty solid defender, especially in the front court, but he can also be on the ball. He’s 6’9 with a 611 wingspan and moves his feet pretty well for a big guy locking down opponents both on the perimeter and in the paint. So, he is the epitome of a 3 and D guy at this point in his career, but he’s also really athletic still at just 28 years old. And then we get to Kawhi Leonard, the next part of the starting five that we got to talk about, who he’s the big question mark, right? He will be 34 years old, but he just proved to us in the playoffs he can still lead a team. He averaged 21 and a half, six rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.6 six steals in 32 minutes per game last year. Shot 50% from the field and 41% from three as a Clipper in 37 games played. And that’s really the big question mark there. Is he going to be able to play a lot of games? Because right now he’s not. However, there have been reports that he was training all the way through the end of June to be ready so that his body is ready for a finals run. And maybe all the Clippers need to be doing this because these old guys, I mean, they’re getting old. The knees are going right. You got to be ready for a long season. I mean, half of this roster might be on load management at certain points. And this team really has no young core, but if they can clutch up and get a ring out of it, none of that matters because Kawhi is 6’8 with a 73 wingspan, so he can still get in passing lanes, still defend a little bit. And hey, I mean, when he dropped 39 on the Nuggets on like three miss shots, he proved he can still be an alpha male on a championship caliber team. And then you got James Harden, his sidekick here, his number two option, who will be 36 years old. I mean, I’m not kidding when I said this was the uncction, but he just averaged 23 a game with 8.7 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals, and 36 minutes a game. 41% shooting from the field, 35% from three on eight and a half attempts per game. And by the way, he was 10th in MVP voting last year. I don’t know if any of you guys saw that. That’s that shows how good James Harden still is. At 35, he was 10th in MVP voting. His pick and roll scoring is still next level. I mean, coming off of screens, it’s pretty much impossible to stop him. And then he’s going to find Zubots right here on a beautiful read, beautiful ball fake. The patience was there as well. His ISO scoring is still second to none as well. His ISO bag is as deep as they come. Side step here over Gary Trent Jr. Bang. And then against Gary Trent Jr. again, the ISO between the legs of signature James Harden getting to his floater. Threw a stiff arm out there and didn’t get anything caught against him. That floater is still as good as they come. And then the final piece to this big three that is returning is Ivita Zubatz who I finally learned how to say his name I believe and he is a force on the interior. He and John Collins their front court is in its prime at least because he and Collins are both 28 years old. Um Zubat coming off a season where he averaged 17 a game with 13 rebounds, 2.6 assists, shot 63% from the field in 80 games played. So a very reliable piece of this front court and the pick and roll with Harden was exceptional last year. one of the best in the league I may add and then very well could be doing the same thing with Chris Paul in spurts when Paul comes in in relief of James Harden at that point guard role but Zubas he is a interior force a brute down low if you will 240 lbs and uses that 7’4 in wingspan to protect the rim like right here as Clarkson tries to drive in get it out we will not be having any fancy reverse layups and then rolling to the rim the lob from Harden catches it and puts it And then you’ve got Brook Lopez coming off the bench for him. So Zubots and then Brook Lopez who kind of completely different players. Brooke comes in on a two-year 11 million deal which is a very good value deal for him. He can still shoot the three ball. He can still space the floor. Averaged 13 a game last year as the starter in Milwaukee with five rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in 32 minutes a game. Shot 51% from the field and 37% from three on 4.7 attempts. But he did get played off the court in the playoffs. So the question remains, can he still be a serviceable rotation piece in the playoffs? I think so. Even though he will be 38 years old, he’s going to be extremely old. I think he’s still going to be able to be a viable piece to a rotation in the playoffs because he’s still got the rim protection. He’s still a seven-footer that can launch it from anywhere on the court. This is what the bench unit will most likely be looking like with CP3 and Chris Dunn. And then of course, Bogdanovich, who we haven’t even talked about, neither did we talk about Derrick Jones Jr. So, a really solid bench. a plethora of wings coming off the bench as well as Chris Dunn. We talked about the starting lineup. I really like this starting lineup. Load management is going to be their worst enemy next year. They also have Yanukuna Neheiser who name of the year candidate right there. Really love saying that name. He’s going to come in. I didn’t really like that pick at 30, but we’ll see how that works out. And with that being said, that’s going to be it for today’s video. Thanks so much for watching. Make sure to like button, leave me a comment down below, and the subscribe button if you did enjoy any point. And with all that being said, thanks so much for watching today’s video.

This video looks at the Los Angeles Clippers and how they are secretly genius lead by Kawhi Leonard and James Harden but also other veterans like Chris Paul and Bradley Beal
Other Channels:
Backyard Blitz: https://www.youtube.com/@BackyardBlitz33
Backyard Betting: https://www.youtube.com/@BackyardBetting
Socials
Insta/Tiktok: LukeStaten3