Do The LA Clippers Have Too Much Depth?

Do The LA Clippers Have Too Much Depth?

On today’s show, do the LA Clippers have too much depth? Going to be talking about it all on today’s Locked On Clippers. You are Locked on Clippers, your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Yes sir, you were locking in with the clips. Thank you for making Locked on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day. I’m your host Darian Vizeri. Born and raised in LA. Been a Clipper fan for 20 years. Been covering the team for five on my own YouTube channel, Dime Drop and three right here on the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell on the road to helping us get to 8,000 subscribers. And of course, you can listen wherever you get your podcast. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. Game Time is the best place to get great deals last minute on tickets. Just download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. All right, Cleber Nation. This is the episode I’ve been waiting to make. Do we have too much depth? Now, I know what you might be thinking. What does that mean? There’s no such thing as too much depth. I would like to refer LA Clipper fans to this exact episode that I made about two years ago at this time, maybe a little after because I first became host August of 20. By the way, we’re in August, so damn. I don’t really know what to say. I can’t say this year’s flown by because this year has felt like the weirdest, this craziest year of my entire life. I did not think 2020 would get topped, but it has been. And in terms of how terrible it’s been, but it’s been a whirlwind and we’re at August now. So yeah, I guess we’re in August now. Oh, I should remind the listeners that three episodes a week in August, not five unfortunately. But we’ll see if I can sneak in an extra episode per week. Chance for me to do some other things as well though because it is a time commitment. But in this episode, we’re going to be talking about the role, the make or break with what it means to have a team that has so many options, what it really comes down to. Then I’m going to talk about if it’s going to be a where or when it’s going to be an issue or if we should and then if we should do something about it. So the 2022 23 season when I first became host, one of my first episodes was, “Do the Clippers have too much depth?” Now, I’ve said repeatedly in these, you know, these episodes this summer, I’ve compared the option aspect to that season, but in terms of quality, no. This team is much better than the 2022 23 Clippers preseason. Absolutely. And I don’t need to go player by player to back my point up there. Everyone knows as far as the options though we had though that season the problem was we had so many guys that could play. We had the starting lineup of Reggie Paul Kawhai Marcus and Zoo. Then we had John Wall, Norman Powell, Luke Canard, Terrence Man, Robert Coington, Nicholas Patum. That’s already 11 guys and you’re not even counting a backup center. So, there were options. You know, a lot of guys around the same level that it’s hard to distribute those minutes. Someone’s not going to get enough. Someone’s going to be out of rhythm. Someone’s going to be disappointed. This year, we have James, Beal, Kawhai, John Collins, and Zoo as the projected starting five. And then Chris Dunn, Derek Jones Jr., Nico Batum, Bogey, Brook Lopez, and Chris Paul. That’s 11 guys, all of whom are very good basketball players and all probably think they should be getting minutes when fully healthy. So, who does it come down to? It comes down to Tai. It comes down to Tai and the coaching staff. And I have to say in 2022 23, that’s the one season I say where Tailoo was just bad. He had a bad season. He and I’ve mentioned why on numerous occasions. I mean, hell, we had a whole season covering it. Too much Reggie Jackson when he had fallen off a cliff. Too much Marcus Morris when he had fallen off a cliff. Not enough Roko. Not enough Terrence. And an absolute lack of seriousness from training camp all the way into the way we approached the season with the resting of Paul George and Kawhai, the panic move to get Westbrook when we never wanted him long term. That season is the most disappointing season in the history of the Clippers, bar none. End of story. I think so. Now, Tailoo messed up that season. So, that’s why I said these last two years, it’s actually been good for him to have less options so his job is made easy. Because what a lot of options gives you is it makes you choose what you value more as a coach. And with Tyoo, it’s usually offense. And that is not my style as a basketball mind and person and coach, but it’s the tie way. The Cavaliers when they won the championship weren’t a great defensive team. They were a very good offensive team. Now, we’ve talked about who’s going to be catching DMPS when everyone’s healthy. Well, it says Chris Paul is coming in a reserve role. Reserve could just mean bench, but if it means like you’re only playing when someone’s out kind of deal and Chris Paul and Tylu have talked because, you know, they have a good relationship and whatnot, then that’d be great. We play 10 guys. Chris Paul’s the one that only plays situationally, but is Chris Paul really the 11th best player on this team? I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so. I don’t think Chris I’m being honest with you. It’s tough. I was going to say I don’t think Chris Dun’s better than Chris Paul at basketball, but it just comes down to what you value because he does such different a different thing on the court. Chris Dunn. But my point is I think Chris Paul is such a solid player even still in year 21 that Tyoo is not going to give him DNPs. I think it’s going to be Nico, which is going to eventually, if our defense doesn’t hold up, it’s going to garner some complaints from the fans. And it’s not just who doesn’t play, it’s how many minutes everyone’s getting. What kind of are we, you know, neglecting if it’s a Zubos in the post? What does our offense look like? These are all things that matter. Are we going to actually go to Kawhi Leonard Moore? Are we still going to get Chris Dunn and Dererick Jones Jr. playing enough that we can stop the other team’s best player? Are we going to pay pay for the starting lineup without having a point of attack defender? Are we going to play too small? All these things are going to matter. It really comes down to Tai. It was very encouraging hearing Lawrence Frank say that we’ve, you know, known or we’ve learned them our lesson about having too many options and what that can create. So role awareness is going to be very important. Who gets the guys to buy in? Coaching staff. So it is going to be a challenge. Everyone thinks that you just coach a bunch of good players and that’s easy. Absolutely not. And it can arguably be harder in some ways because you have to balance dealing with a bunch of kids or a bunch of guys in this in this setting professionals with bigger egos that all deserve think they deserve to play. And to be fair to these 11 guys, they all have a case. And I think this roster is built with a lot more of a concept than that one 2023. I think that was just man look at all the players we’ve stacked up whether it be through the draft small trades and then now with this heist of Norman Powell and Robert Cington but this year we have the kind of big three the big four scoring wise in the starting lineup with Kawazu Beal and Harden Beal coming in to replace Norman Pal we added that four that we wanted in John Collins so we filled a need and then off the bench we have a secondary ball handler one of the best in the business, has only come off the bench one year of his 20y year career, and that’s CP3, arguably the greatest clipper of all time, who’s still capable of being a bench point guard in this league. You better believe it, and one of the best pick and roll guys in the league. So, when James Harden comes out of the game, you still have a maestro in pick and roll. Then you have Bogey, solid guy that can play off the ball, knock down threes. You need some guys that can play off the ball and work off the catch. Next to James Harden and a Chris Paul, he fills right into that role. Where is your where are your point of attack defenders? Derek Jones Jr. and Chris Dunn. How about Nikico Batum to get into that mix and a switchable guy that can guard up. Now you got three guys that can guard point of attack, not even counting Kawhai. And then of course Brook Lopez to back up the Vitzu Zubots and give him some rest. Uh I mean you have a replacement for everybody. You’re in a situation where if a guy gets injured, we have a guy to come in immediately and replace that guy. So, coming up going to be talking about if the depth problem is going to matter during the regular season. I got to tell you a little something about game time. We’ve all been in situations where you don’t know if you want to go to a game till the last minute. I had situations like that back with Lob City. I had situations like that with 213. I had situations like that with the Dodgers. 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Now, this episode is about if we have too much depth, and I just said it’s all about tying the coaching staff, managing minutes, managing egos, and managing roles. It’s not going to be an easy thing to do in the regular season. However, I don’t think it’ll be too big an issue. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too much depth. Actually, no, there is. There is in the regular season, even in even in the regular season, but I don’t think it’s going to matter for us because, as I said, everyone fits a specific role. The thing about that that team is like at the end of the day, we’re starting Reggie Jackson. one of the best Clipper role players of all time. You know, Reggie, Reggie, he is a legend amongst these parts of town. But Reggie Jackson, James Harden, there’s levels. You’re not going to be benching James Harden because he’s not good enough this season. It’s not going to happen. John Collins. I don’t think even if he were to get benched, he would have the attitude of a Marcus Morris did after Yeah. that that Marcus Morris did. Just don’t believe it because he’s on a team that actually has a chance to go far again. And he hasn’t been on a team with a chance to go far since he made it one time. And it was a Cinderella run in 2021 with the Atlanta Hawks. So, you have that taken care of and you’re going to have guys missing games. And if you miss one good player in the top 11 rotation or two, can go nine deep. We’re solid. We’ve got a guy to replace everyone. Kawhai’s out. Oh, well, it’s going to be a hardened be Zusho. Then we still got CP3 off the bench. And then, oh, Harden’s out. Well, how about Chris Paul starts? Oh, Beal’s out. Big deal. We just got a point of attack guy in the starting lineup. Now deal with Kawhai and Zoo and a point of attack guy. Regular season should be fun because we have so many different combinations and options. Now, the thing is, you still want to get a rotation of about eight guys that you’re going to go to war with that you know you’re going to go to war with. Now, maybe it’s nine guys. someone’s matchup dependent in a playoff series, but people are saying, “Oh, it’s going to be match up dependent in the regular season.” In what world would you just not want Nico Batum playing basketball in today’s NBA? Like, just give me a strategic explanation as to why you wouldn’t want Nicholas Batum playing basketball? Cuz if you guys think Bogeie is going to be catching DMP, he’s making 16 million, I don’t know about that. I would be shocked, especially because he’s like in the twilight of his prime, whereas Nico Batum and Chris Paul are past it. But there’s no scenario where Nicholas Batum is healthy and you don’t want him out there playing basketball. I just think he’s too good. He can make open threes. I mean, this past season in the playoffs he shot 39% from three and in the regular season he shot 43% from three. I mean, it’s ridiculous. And he plays great defense. He can switch onto just about anyone. His shot contests always cause misses. He swings the ball fast. He’s just a high IQ guy. He’s one of the better role players I think there are in the league. I think he’s one of the best role players that’s never won a ring for sure. Like he is in that conversation. Oh man, he’s one of those guys that you just like he deserves a ring, but because he’s a championship role player for me, but there’s just no situation where you wouldn’t want him playing. Now, there are situations where maybe you don’t want Chris Paul playing too small, but it’s Chris Paul like he just averaged nine and seven on a team that was in route to making the playin at least. He’s still like going to take care of the ball. He’s still the second best ball handler and pick and roll player on this team after Harden and he’s 40. I just don’t see it. Especially with the way Ty Louu values playmaking. I just don’t see it. But it would be nice if Chris Paul does buy into some DMPS because that would make things a lot easier. So my takeaway is that overall in the regular season, I don’t think it’ll be that big a deal. I think we’ll always have someone out. You know, Beal’s going to miss games, Kawhi’s going to miss games, and even if the two guys that we just could not live without last season, Zoo and Harden miss games, we have top-of-the-line old men replacements in Chris Paul, and Brook Lopez that could be starters in the league, but are doing what is best for them for a win now situation, which is to be a backup for better players. Coming up though, gonna talk about if we can go into the postseason with these 11 guys or should we consolidate and if so, who would be out the door? All right. So, the Clippers this season with a deep roster of 11 playable guys. That’s not even counting guys like Kobe Brown and Cam Christie and Janick Con and Neerhauser and Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller that you know are going to be in the fray in terms of two ways or just being on that bench. But this Clipper team is loaded. Now, are we too loaded? I said it’s going to come down to Tailoo and the coaching staff, but it’s just it’s going to be very hard to make decisions, especially if they want to shrink the rotation down to nine. Like, who’s not playing for real? And are you just playing guys 2, 3 minutes, 5 minutes? Like, that’s not going to give them any kind of rhythm at all. If anything, that might just hurt their rhythm. It’s going to hurt their stats and people are going to be like, “What’s going on with that?” And they’re going to hear the noise and it’s going to mess with their confidence. So, you know, I’m asking the question, can we go into the playoffs like this? Playoffs are just too far away to think about at this point, but ideally, I think based on how the season’s going and maybe all 11 guys are having a good season. I mean, last year, who really had a bad season for the Clippers when you go through the players that made it to the end? Harden, amazing season. Norman Powell amazing season. Kawhi Leonard good when he came back. Zoo career year. Bogey played really well when he came back. Sorry, when he came to the Clippers. Derek Jones Jr. career year arguably. Chris Dunn career year. Kvin Porter not playing badly when he was on the team. Amir Coffee one of the best scenes of his career. Terrence man, you could say he wasn’t. That’s why he got traded. So basically everyone that made it to the end of the season with us that was in the rotation, Ben Simmons was okay, had a good season. So if we’re in a situation like that, it’s hard to and we’re like a top three seed, it’s hard to see us making a a trade to consolidate. We’d probably like the options, but it’s going to make it hard in the playoffs if we haven’t narrowed it down because we’re going to have to narrow it down. Of course, it’s going to be matchup dependent to some degree, but in that matchup, like again, there’s no world to me in the playoffs where you’re not playing cuz then there’s going to be the argument of he should take out Brook Lopez. He’s not going to do that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, people. Apologies. If it’s not Chris Paul or Nico Batum that’s getting rested or is not played in a playoff game, I have a feeling it could be Brook Lopez because of small ball, but that would be insane to not play Brook Lopez in a playoff series with the experience that he has. And then you might be thinking, dude, it’s going to be done. He can’t shoot. Good luck to our defense if Chris’s out of the rotation. We have James Harden, Bradley Beal, Chris Paul, and Bogdanovich who are all at best average defenders. That’s four out of 11 guys in the rotation. You have two good defenders in Lopez and Collins and then you have an a very good defender in Kawawaii still. than three elite defenders in Zoo, Derek, and Chris Dunn. I don’t I would like a consolidation trade. I truly think we’re not going to need Bogey in the playoffs. I think he he would be the one that I would I would boot off. And he’s on an expiring deal. He could definitely help a team. We just have too many good players. If we have Beal and Kawawaii in the playoffs and and Nico, I mean, we’re fine. We’re not going to It’s nice to have another movement or spot-up shooter, but hey, man, you need guys that can guard at the end of the day. And un it would be nice if we could just like combine Chris and bogey into one player like the kill Alexander Walker type of guy would be what comes to mind. Marcus Smart Lakers went and got but how much gas does he have left in the tank? Injury prone. So love Chris Don. I like Bogey. It’s just does Chris Don have enough offense to be in a championship rotation? I honestly think he can be but it would be like you know eighth or ninth man which is what he could be for us. But yeah, in terms of a consolidation trade, I would like to make one. I think 11 guys is just too much of a tie, but we’ll see. If we’re doing really well, we’re probably not going to make a trade like that. And I hope we are doing pretty well, top three seed level, but it’s just going to be a journey to see from day one if everyone’s healthy. What does Tai do? What does the coaching staff do? I can’t wait till the schedule’s released. That’ll be a fun episode. who is gonna be our first game, you know, since we have some time here. So, yeah, at the end of the day, just to end this topic, I haven’t even given my opinion. I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of nervous because I don’t trust Tyoo with this many options because 2023 was just a complete train wreck and I don’t know what I’d do. Actually, I do. I wouldn’t start Beal, but he’s already they’re already committed to this. So now you have the dilemma of you have you can’t go total bench because it’s just Chris Paul and bogey creating shots but two guys that aren’t great shooters and Derek and Chris Dunn which I don’t love and then like playing 11 guys with that with not being able to go total bench or if you do go total bench that’s a risk. Are we going to fe you know play our point of attack guys enough? Are we going to lean into being too much of an offensive team that it takes away from our defensive identity that we established with Van Gundy last year and this, you know, new personnel of Derrick Jones Jr. and Chris Dunn that kept us in games? Clearly, now we have much more offensive firepower, but are we compromising too much? Are we sacrificing too much on the defensive end? I don’t know. That’s where it’s going to come down to the coaching staff completely. So, a lot of pressure on Tailoo. And let me just say this, if Tailoo does not manage this correctly, I’m not going to be defending him too much longer. I still will appreciate it from him for all he’s done. And I think he’s a very good coach, but the front office has put the trust in you that you can manage this 11-man rotation after the catastrophe in 2023. And it was acknowledged by the GM or president of basketball operations in Lawrence Frank saying we know the issue that can arise with too many options. So it’s on tie to get this right. It seems like the there’s a lot of people that think Chris Paul will catch DNPs and he’s okay with it because he’s with his family. I’m totally cool with that. But again, hopefully we’re healthy on opening night that it’s not a problem because it’s going to not be a regular thing having 11 guys healthy. It’s not unfortunately. But we’ll probably do an episode on what our team looks like in games without Kawawaii this season. What our team looks like without games in games without Harden this season, Zoo this season. So those will be some interesting episode topics. But yeah, I’m excited for the schedule. I’m excited to see who our first game is against. There’s going to be so much hype. I wonder if it’s an away game or a home game. But I can’t even lie. Like this is I was more excit I was probably more excited for the 2023 season than this one just because I was I really thought we were about to win like 60 games like and I was that was my first year as host. I hadn’t gotten, you know, a couple knives to the chest yet, them extra ones. That 2023 season just like was a disaster. I’ve referenced it so much in this episode because it just the lot of options thing just puts me back there. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, Clipper Nation. I’m really not. I’m just saying that I’m not fully like trusting in Tai with this kind of situation. I think if it’s made easy for him, simple for him, he’s got these clear-cut nine or 10 guys that are the rotation players, then he can get it right. And even then, we still criticize his decisions and say sometimes that he goes too small or leans too offense heavy. I don’t know. But this will be a challenge. I will say this, I’m definitely more hyped this season than I was before last season. Even though it was our first shared into it, I’m I am definitely more hyped. Definitely more hyped than I was going into 23 24. Definitely more hyped than I was going into 2122. And definitely more hyped going into 2021. Definitely not as hyped as I was going into 1920 though. More hyped than 1819 for sure. More hyped than 1718. Yeah, I’d say so. We lost Chris Paul. More hyped than 1617. More hyped than 1516. Probably more hyped than even 1415. Definitely not as hyped as 2012. I was not hyped going into 20134. So this is like a top five like going into season. I was super excited when we got Baron Davis. I can’t lie. 08 06 08 2011 2012 2019 2022 and then this season would be my top seven like most excited seasons going into it. And part of it is because I’m into it. You know what I’m saying? It’s like it’s just such a special place and I’m just so excited for like the content aspect of it all. like so many people that I’ve now gotten to know for several years and now it’s becoming like a tradition like I don’t know it’s really cool we’re something special is happening in terms of the fan base and I think it’s amazing to be part of this journey and be able to document it in document it in such a way for two different channels you know so I’m very blessed to be a part of this but anyway all right guys I hope Tyoo gets it right I hope the coaching staff gets it right we have a lot of options a lot of good players and it’s a great thing until you make it a bad thing. So, it’s all about guys sacrificing and championship teams have sacrifice across the board. So, we’ll see. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dimeropper Pod. Subscribe to my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper, for even more LA Clipper, NBA, and LA Sports content. And Lockdown Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast, including YouTube. Make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell so we can get to 8,000 subscribers. The age old proverb continues. Go Clippers.

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