Why LA Clippers’ Depth PUZZLE Leaves Ty Lue with Tough Decisions

Why LA Clippers’ Depth PUZZLE Leaves Ty Lue with Tough Decisions

On today’s show, the LA Clippers lineup flexibility is endless. Let’s explore what their best lineups could be, including the starting fives, pros and cons 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 covering the Clippers for 5 years on my own YouTube channel Dimeropper. Been a fan for 20 and been also talking about them for three years right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. your team every day. Make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell so you know every single time we post a video and listen wherever you get your podcast. In today’s episode, which is brought to you by Absolutely Nothing, we’re going to be talking about the starting five, if we can go with a full bench lineup and what guys we might need to stagger for good lineup flexibility. Let’s begin with the projected starting five. James Harden, Brad Beal, Kawhi Leonard, John Collins, and Avitita Zubots. Right away, that starting lineup sounds really good. Sounds really big and has a lot of firepower. James Harden, all NBA level guy, pick and roll maestro, allstar in this league even in year 16, gonna be going into year 17. Bradley Beal hasn’t been an all-star since 2021, but still capable of averaging 20 points a game in which the last time he averaged 20 points a game was when he was with the Wizards. 23 points a game. And yes, the last time he was an all-star was 2021. But he averaged 17 points as a third option last year on 5039 80 splits. So, I would say he’s I’ve been saying he’s a star caliber player, but I don’t think anybody would say he’s a star anymore. So, he’s a very good role player. Very good. A star that’s out of his prime, even though he shouldn’t really be out of his prime. He’s 31. Like, that’s not a the end of a basketball prime, but he’s had some injuries here and there, and he’s been getting injured a lot re, you know, lately, last couple of years. But, you have a guy that’s basically right under a star. Then you have Avita Zubots, the low post beast, two-way player, great rebounder, double double machine that gives you kind of a little bit of a big four because then you get Kawhi Leonard in there, the best player on the team. Then John Collins, great complimentary piece. And I know what you’re thinking, dude, the way you’re sounding, Clippers just win the chip. Now, obviously, there’s a lot of other good teams in the league and a lot of other things, but to consider, but moral of the story, that’s a damn good starting five. Now, what are its pros and what are its cons? The pros, firepower, as I just said, you have options to score. You have one of the great scorers of his generation in Kawhi Leonard. You have James Harden who in his prime is one of the greatest scorers of all time, but now he’s still just a great scorer. I would still say James Harden is a better scorer than Beal right now. But if Bradley Beal can average more points than James Harden, I think that could only be good for the Clippers. I think that would mean that Beal’s having a great season. He’s getting points in a variety of ways. That would mean on and off ball because James Harden, you know, he’ll get some catch and shoot threes, but he mostly scores self-created buckets. Bradley Beal being an on andoff ball threat hopefully kind of being what Paul George was for us in ways in that 2023 24 season next to James Harden. So with Brad and Kawhai and James Harden, you have three guys that can create their own shot on the perimeter. You have a guy that can work off the ball and quickly off the catch in Brad Beal. And then Kawhi Leonard who you can throw it down to and he can score from all three levels including with his back to the basket. And then you have Zoo who you can throw it down to with his back to the basket in the low post and he’s a great screener and roller. So in terms of offense, I don’t know where we could be, but that lineup should have a very high offensive rating cuz then you have John Collins who’s spreading the floor at 37%. another guy that can crash the offensive glass and get a second possessions. Another guy that is a vertical lob threat that James Harden can link up with. So, I mean, that starting lineup is great offensively. Now, the cons are there’s no designated point of attack defender, as I’ve talked about at length. You don’t have Derrick Jones Jr. in that starting lineup. You don’t have Chris Dunn in that starting lineup. two guys who were starting alongside each other for a lot of games last season and it’s part of why we were third in the league in defensive rating. I believe that every serious championship contender should have a designated point of attack defender to begin their games against elite guards on the other teams. And we don’t have that in that starting lineup. Now, I know what you’re thinking, bro. You have Kawhai. Kawhi Leonard, in my opinion, should be the number one shot taker next season for the Clippers. Now, if I had to place a bet in terms of total attempts, it’s probably going to be James Harden just because he I think he’s going to play more games. But Kawhi Leonard should on average shoot the most shots per game for the Clippers. And if that’s the case, and he should we should play through him more than we were playing through him last season and in the postseason, he shouldn’t be guarding the best player on the opposing team when even just to begin games in general, I think only in desperation situations he should because what number one options are you asking that from in the NBA nowadays? I think the closest one you could say was Ant-Man in 2024, but even then the number one option is usually taken by Jaden McDaniels on the Minnesota Timberwolves. And with all the injury concerns and the durability concerns with Kawhai, you definitely don’t want him exerting that much more energy on that end of the floor. So, who I think the Clippers are going to choose to guard the best guards in the opposing teams, Brad Beal. I think that’s going to be what they go with. Brad Beal was a good defender in Washington back in the day when he played with John Wall. Then after when he became the number one option, he got much lazier on defense and nowadays I think he’s average. I think in 2023 24 he showed a high level of effort on defense for the Suns and made some plays using his hands well. But last season h and I saw what he did with the Wizards towards the end. I mean it was he was not playing defense. So for me I think he’ll have a solid defensive season where we’re like man Beal’s a better defender than Norman Pal. But I don’t think he’s a good defender. I think he’s average. But here’s the thing. We’ll be able to know for sure very soon because situation matters. I saw what he was in Phoenix. He didn’t play good defense last year like that. The effort wasn’t high, but he might be re-energized coming to the LA Clippers and playing with Jeff Van Gundy and or playing under Jeff Van Gundy and Ty Louu. So, we’ll see. We’ll be watching and covering it every single night right here on Locked on Clippers and on Dime Droppers. We’ll find out what kind of defense Brad Beal is playing, but overall that’s the weakness of the starting lineup is no point of attack defender in that beginning of a game. Yes, we have Zoo in the back line. Yes, we have John Collins help helping Zoo. Yes, we have Kawhi Leonard in help and having him more so on the perimeter hopefully guarding. We’ll have him in the gaps and being able to dig for steals which he’s so great at. But the strength is in our offense, which I don’t know if I necessarily love just given I really enjoyed the defensive identity of our team last season with the way we would stay in games. But look, we weren’t good enough to win a championship. So something had to change for me. I would, if I had it my way, I’ve already said I would have be the sixth man and have Chris Dunn or Derrick Jones Jr. start. But it’s Bradley Beal. He’s still a great player in the NBA or a good player in the NBA. can still get buckets in a variety of ways. So, and he’s just, you know, he’s a former all-star. This guy averaged 30 points. It’s crazy. We have two guys on our team that averaged 30 in the NBA. Of course, those didn’t happen for the Clippers, but still with Beal and Harden. And the funny part is I’ll take prime Kawhi Leonard as a scoreer over both of them. Yeah. Over James Harden, too. I’ve already said that take. The Harden fanboys don’t like that. But the Kawawaii fans will understand what I mean uh when I say that. Uh, I mean, look no further than the playoffs where Kawhi Leonard can get his shot off much easier than Harden and has a much more diverse scoring package than Harden. But anyway, yeah, those are the cons of our starting lineup. It’s the defense, the point of attack defense to start the game, but offensively, we got a lot of weapons. Now, coming up, are we deep enough to go with a bench lineup with no starters in it? going to be talking about that coming up. I got to tell you a little something about Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? After the fires, I was the last thing I was doing was looking at my finances. I was figuring out what the hell I was supposed to do, where I was going to live, all that sort of stuff. So all these charges that I didn’t know were coming to my card or you know my card was being charged for didn’t I didn’t even register them. I didn’t even I lost track of them. But then I got Monarch Money and now I’m seeing a much better organization of what I get charged for per month, what I might need to cancel. It’s been really helpful to get my finances back in order. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code lockdown NBA for half off your first year. All right, so the LA Clippers, we got a deep team. We got a really deep team. Now, let me take a look at these other teams in the league. Let me take a look at these bozos. No, I’m just kidding. Not really, though. Clippers versus the world. Uh, let’s look at these trash ball clubs. No, I’m just kidding. Not really, though. Anyway, the Celtics, they’re about as deep as a kiddie pool after all these moves. So, next, I’m actually going to do this. I’m actually going to do this. Why not? Why not? Let’s just see how deep we are. The Nets next. The Knicks. laughable. The Sixers, you know, the Sixers, they might actually Next Toronto, they’re going to be interesting next year. Next, Denver. They got deeper, but they’re not 11 deep. Next, Minnesota. They lost to kill Alexander Walker. Next, OKC. Okay. Okay. Portland. I actually think Portland might be kind of deep next year on the low. Like they’re gonna have Drew Holiday, Shaden Sharp, Denny Aia, Donovan Cllingan, Yang Hansen, Scoot Henderson. They got some options. Obviously, the quality is not the same as what we have. So, let’s just go with the Clippers. The Jazz next. So like that’s already a third of the league. I think we’re deeper than every team there. The Bulls next. The Cavs psych. The Pistons, they don’t even have a second star. Like um and then Indiana. I like TJ McConnell, Obie Toppin, and what’s his name? Benedict Mathan off the bench. They have some quality depth. They’re not 11 deep though, so let’s like next Milwaukee. Doubt it. The Warriors. Psych. They don’t even have a sevenfooter on their roster. Sorry about that noise, fellas. So many parent texts from these uh club parents. Anyway, the Lakers, psych. The Suns, they actually added some depth. I can’t lie. But like deeper than us, like nah. Sacramento. Nah, the Hawks. I actually kind I think they actually have a pretty deep team this year. The Atlanta Hawks, Jaylen Johnson, Trey Young, Nil Alexander Walker, Carris LeVert. Actually, no. Carris Lever went to the Pistons, right? Yeah. But Trey Young, Jaylen Johnson, uh on Kong Woo, they’re they’re pretty deep. deeper than the Clippers. I don’t know about that. Hornets, Heat, Magic, Wizards, get out of here. Dallas is pretty deep. I can’t lie. But Kyrie Irving is not in involved yet. I’m going to throw Dallas in there. And then Houston for sure. Memphis, New Orleans, no. San Antonio might be. So, like we’re top five or six deepest teams in the league. If you want me to really narrow it down, I don’t have all those rosters in front of me, but the only ones I would consider in our galaxy deep depthwise, and if I’m missing one, please say with the comments. And when I say depth, I mean like more than seven or eight quality players. We have 11 quality players. Now, that depth does not mean you’re depth is a little overrated in the playoffs because you shrink your rotation. you really want seven or eight really good guys, which I think Denver has a better top seven or eight than we do, but and because they mesh so well together. But in terms of depth, in terms of how many really playable guys we have to get us to a regular season, I think the only teams that are on our level are the Thunder are the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets, the Dallas Mavericks, and then the Atlanta Hawks. I really think that those teams are the only ones that are messing with us. So, we have that much depth. Now, here’s the question. Do we have enough depth to run a strictly bench lineup? So, what would that even look like? Because we have 11 guys. So we if we play 11 guys on a given night, then you might have to go with a bench unit because if you then stagger Kawhai and Harden and leave one of them in at all times, that just makes it a little bit harder to play 11 dudes because that means you’re never fully going to the bench. I think with the 11man depth, and this is always, you know, just assuming that we’re fully healthy because, you know, we want to always be fully healthy. I think you might have the flexibility to go with a strictly bench lineup. However, I would say that when if we had Beal in that lineup, but we don’t. But yeah, as far as the Hawks, I just wanted to mention them because some people might be thinking like due to what? But Nquille Alexander Walker, Dyson Daniels, Mo Gay who played for them last season, started in the playing game, Jaylen Johnson, Nuke Canard, V Crongu, Porzingis, Reese Shay, and then Trey Young. I mean, you got 10 guys there that all can play basketball, you know? I’d say we’re deeper though because we’re 11 deep. Like, is Vic Cree, I guess a Hawk fan could tell me, but is Vick Creeche better than Bogey? Doubt it. New Canard is definitely not better than Bogey, so we can just move on there. And Dererick Jones Jr. is definitely better than Mo Gay. So, the Hawks, I was giving them too much love. Let’s get them out of here. They’re not on our level depthwise. We’re a top five deepest team in the league straight up in my opinion. So, with that being said, what would our bench unit be? CP3 run in the show with Brook Lopez. You know, that’s going to be pretty solid. It’s definitely old old man ball, but pick and pop CV3 and Brooke. You gotta play that somehow. You know what I’m saying? You gotta probably rotate off a Derrick Jones and then you have Derrick Jones in there. But I just don’t like the Jones and Chris Dunn together. Like if you’re going solely bench and you have CP3 Lopez, Dunn, uh, Derek, and then Bogey or Nico, I’m not a huge fan of that offensively cuz you’re not if you’re relying on Chris Paul and Bogey to create all the shots because you’re not dumping it down to Lopez in the post unless he’s got a switch, which I hopefully I hope that we still go to Brook Lopez when he’s got smaller guys on him. But CP3 and Bogey creating all the shots in a lineup with Derek and Chris Dunn out there like Brook Lopez being a pick and pop threat is not going to be enough because they’re not going to get we’re going to have those guys get open threes all the time. I don’t love the sound of that. So from what I’m looking at, I don’t know if we can do a strictly bench lineup if Beal’s not coming off the bench in those games are fully healthy. I really don’t like the idea. So that’s my takeaway. The Ben, we’re one of the deepest teams in the league, but we have to stagger Kawhi Harden, which is going to make it much harder to play 11 guys. It’s a real challenge for the coaching staff this year. And again, I hope they don’t fall into that trap that they did in 2023 cuz Nico Batum catching DMPS like that’s the most likely scenario. And by the way, I still wouldn’t like a lineup of Chris Boie, Chris Dunn, Derek, and Lopez. Like that’s too small. three guards. Neither I mean, one of them is a fantastic defender. Two of them is are below average right now with Bogey and Chris Paul. I’m not a fan. And then Dererick Jones Jr. would be our second tallest guy. He’s 6’5. He looks taller in real life though, both on the court and then past like standing next to him. Yeah, it’s a tough It’s gonna be a challenge for Tai. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks. But coming up, who else do we need to stagger? Make sure one of them are in at all times. Going to be talking about that coming up. All right. So, the LA Clippers, one of the top five deepest teams in the league to me, alongside OKC, the San Antonio Spurs, and absolutely no one else that matters. We have a lot of flexibility and a lot of options. I just spoke about do we need to leave one of Kawhi Leonard or James Harden in the game at all times. If we go 11 deep, I think we might have to. Like I think we might have to if we go 11 deep because I mean I know honestly scratch that part we can’t go full bench but see I guess you could leave be in with the second unit. So that might be a diff an option. You can sit Kawhai and Harden together but why would you sit Kawhai and Harden together if you’re going to leave a starter in? I would manage the minutes in a in a way that you have one of them in. But here’s what I do think. One of If it’s Zubots or Brook Lopez has to be in at all times, unless you really think they’re burning us in pick and roll that we need to switch one through five, in which case you have John Collins play the five or if Jon’s not available one night, you have Nico play the five. You have to have Kawhai and Derek out there with them cuz just Nico Kawhai maybe you have Chris Dunn James Beal like I don’t know if I like that but you know Tyoo he’s going to push the limits of small ball when he gets a chance but I think we should for the most part always have one of Lopez or Zoo in the game. Always double big I don’t know they might be too slow together to have out there but Lopez can space the floor. Now, here’s the thing. If Lopez is only playing non-zoom minutes, he should only be getting about 16 minutes a game, which is totally fine with me. And honestly, that’s what he should be getting. If we’re talking maybe 15. I would like Zoo playing 33 minutes a game. Last year, I Zubots averaged 30 three minutes a game. So, he might get one minute less this year. 32 with Lopez. I like that. 32 minutes a game for Zoo, about 16 minutes a game for Lopez. Then for me, this is not going to be the case, but for me, we should always have one of Derek or Chris Dunn in the game to to guard unless we they’re really bricking with the our projected starting lineup. That won’t be the case. But it’s something to consider because when we go to them on the bench, if they’re in the same lineup, I don’t love that with the like the lack of shooting on the court, especially because you’re going to be using them next to Chris Paul who needs shooters. I mean, it’s not the end of the world if we have a lineup of Chris Boie, Derek, Chris, both Chris’s. Both Chris’s Derek I got to specify now. So CP, Chris Dunn, Bogey, Lopez, and Derek. Let’s say that’s our lineup. It’s just you put a lot on. It’s going to be a high pick and pop. Chris Paul, Brook, Lopez, and they’re going to probably set, you know, force us to get the ball to Chris Dunn or Derrick Jones. It’s just having both of them out there. It’s great defense, but we could have Nico out there instead. And then you have Chris Dunn and Derrick Jones getting less minutes. And if you do the stagger then like having only one of them in at a time then you know it’s just they’re not gonna get that many minutes this season. So it’ll be very difficult. I think if James Harden’s out of the game Chris Paul should always be in unless he’s catching a DNP in which case I would say Beal’s that guy. We should always have one of those three in the game to handle the ball to playmaking and pick and roll. I mean, ideally with no James Harden in, you have Chris Paul, but I don’t want them sharing the floor together like almost at all. It’s just too stagnant. They both both don’t move without the ball. They both do a lot of the same things very well, which is handle the ball and pick and roll and create good shots. And they’re both not great defensively. It’s It’s just going to really slow us down. We want guys that can work quickly off the catch. Neither of them do that. So CP when James Harden’s out really gives us another guy that can come in, handle the ball, and pick and roll and create good shots. That would be huge because that’s what we really seem to lack when James was out last game uh last season. Like is James going to play the whole first quarter again and first and the whole third quarter like he did last season? I personally would say no. We should play like the first 10 minutes of each quarter and then sub out and then we get CP3 come in the game until James Harden is back in. So that’s like only like 13 14 minutes a night for Chris Paul. But I guarantee he’ll spend some minutes with James because he’s going to be playing so well at some games that Tai’s not going to want to take him out. But anyway, it’ll definitely be something to watch and it’s just a lot of decisions for Tai to make. But anyway, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dimedropper Pod. Subscribe to my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper, for even more LA Clipper and LA sports content and NBA content. And Locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast. Make sure you subscribe, hit the notification bell so you know every single time we post a video. On the road to 8,000 subscribers, let’s get there before the season starts. Clipper Nation, the age-old proverb continues. Go Clippers.

LA Clippers’ lineup flexibility takes center stage. Can their star-studded roster deliver championship-caliber performances?

Die hard LA Clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri breaks down the Clippers’ projected starting five, featuring James Harden, Brad Beal, Kawhi Leonard, John Collins, and Ivica Zubac. He analyzes the offensive firepower and potential defensive challenges of this lineup. Vaziri explores the team’s impressive depth, comparing it to other NBA contenders and discussing possible bench combinations.

Tune in for expert insights on rotation strategies, minute distribution, and how Coach Ty Lue might maximize the Clippers’ talent-rich roster in their quest for NBA supremacy.

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