From my column at ESPN Los Angeles:
The debacle in Oakland Wednesday brought into focus the fallacies of the Clippers’ new strategy. Hughes and Davis have been diplomatic with regard to Dunleavy, but both men seem to subscribe to a syllogism that goes something like this: (A) The Clippers’ offense under Dunleavy was a failure. (B) Dunleavy’s offense was very structured. (C) Therefore, a structured offense is a recipe for failure.
It’s bad logic. The best course of action for the Clippers would be to accept their strengths and seek to exploit them. Whatever tonal issues they had with Dunleavy, the Clippers were generally most successful utilizing their superior size and Davis’ ability to feed fellow scorers in the half-court game. The staleness that grabbed hold of the offense under Dunleavy can be remedied without throwing out those basic principles.
A two-man game with Kaman and a perimeter shooter like Eric Gordon or Rasual Butler presents a difficult choice for defenses. During the team’s strongest stretch of games around New Year’s Day, Davis and Kaman were tormenting opponents with a well-tuned pick-and-roll action, while Gordon shot a blistering 61 percent by taking advantage of the space afforded him by those schemes. Among power forwards, Marcus Camby leads the league in assist rate, and has been a master of the high-low game. Burly reserve Craig Smith can brutalize defenders one-on-one from 15 feet in, but he’s not much help in the open court.
Davis fashions himself a master of improvisation, a point guard who works best in a transition offense. He stated last Friday that the Clippers hadn’t had much fun in the previous system. In the three games since the changing of the guard, Davis has amassed 14 turnovers against 25 assists and only 10 field goals. There are a variety of causes for this: carelessness, an inability to flatten defenses on the break (and nothing resembling a secondary break), teammates who don’t fill up the lanes in transition as quickly as they need to, and Davis’ failure to finish at the rim.
Davis is a talented point guard, but he’s also stubborn in not recognizing the full range of his game. However much fun he has running the break, Davis would be smart to maximize his most valuable assets. Davis is bigger and stronger than most of his counterparts at the point and has the opportunity to post up opposing point guards at will. He also has an uncanny ability to find angles and make the late pass. These are two gifts that can be realized most effectively in the half court.
There was a lot that didn’t work under Dunleavy — the Clippers ranked 23rd in offensive efficiency. But the proper remedy isn’t to toss out the playbook. The Clippers should come up with an abridged version — and give Davis a strong voice in that process. And they must commit themselves to the prosaic tasks that create opportunities. Just because the messenger was overbearing doesn’t mean the message lacked value.
You can find the entire piece here.
22 Responses
Great article
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
NBA needs Clippers/Clippers like teams to fill the pot. Unfortunately there’s very limited talent pool from top to bottom in NBA. NBA isn’t doing enough to groom talented & creative minds to run most of its teams. And they have no strategies to motivate owners of these pathetic teams either.
Fans like us are responsible for supporting this nonsense. No goal. No quality. No Desire to succeed. No competitive spirit. Failed seasons after failed seasons. Nothing worthwhile to show for their existence.
No wonder even POKER has bacome a sport. What else can we do?
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Kevin, you know your stuff. I think Baron wants to re-live the 2007 glory year at GS with lots of athleticism, freedom to create, interchangeable parts and athleticism. Unfortunately, the Clips don’t have the right pieces and parts to succeed with this kind of approach.
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
You can’t compare games now to other parts of the season. The Clippers are out of the playoff race, so players are going to care less about winning.
Also, Kim Hughes said the players are not in shape to run. Shouldn’t the players always be in shape to run, even if they’re not a running team? This is their pre-season now, let Kim Hughes try things out.
bongstradamus Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 10:51 am
Run and Gun ball is pretty grueling physically. Many teams arent conditioned for it, and you typically need a deep roster in order to keep the pace going.
The guys are conditioned to play, but running up and down the court while playing both ends is very physically demanding. Not to mention, we have a ton of bigs who arent very fast at all.
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
At least they’re not having ‘Coach for a day’ contests for fans like New Jersey:
http://www.zappos.com/coachfortheday
Juicebox Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
That’s because they are working out details with Morongo for “Player for a day” contest
FireDunleavy .com Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 10:07 am
I keep googleing “Morongo Clippers Player for a day”, nothing is coming up yet. It’s got to be coming though.
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
its time to sell this team. ive had it. i promised my wife that id stop wasting evenings watching the clippers if they lost to golden state. i have to fulfill that now
Q.D. Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
I told the wife if they don’t reach .500, I’d stop buying season tickets.
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Would anyone trade for iggy from Philly?
clippafan4life Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
We r weak at sg and sf, I hope something gets done. Practically every team has huge contributions from these positions and we get inconsistent play from both. We need a solid guy for at least one and iggy can play both so I would do it.
Posted on February 11th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
As I posted to Ralph on facebook,If the team doesn’t care, why should we? Any trade or free agent moves in the future have to be for Lunch Pail Guys. I’m sick of the inconsistent effort!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't blame the Players Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Clipper fans should not blame the players for poor showings. This has been very lowly when it comes to picking its players. Most players are physically UNFIT to play 82 grueling games+travel+workouts+practice sessions. Clipper mngt. has no idea on how to compile an NBA ready team.
They run this team the sam way they run their apartment complexes.
Don't blame the Players Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 9:52 am
ERROR: please read second sentence as “This TEAM has been…..”
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 8:01 am
After a year and a half, I’ve had more than enough of the Baron Davis era…
I’d love to move him, Thornton and Camby to Philly for Iggy, Dalembert and Holiday.
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 8:08 am
What’s the over/under on Baron getting “injured” and sitting out the rest of the year?
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Karl signed an extension.
and in other potentially exciting news:
“It’s been reported Charlotte coach Larry Brown wouldn’t mind coaching the 76ers next season.
I’m hearing Brown wouldn’t be opposed to coaching the Los Angeles Clippers, either.”
Gotta love Hoopshype.
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 11:01 am
I’ve also heard that Al Thornton and Telfair are on the trading block. Question is, who’s willing to pick them up for free? We’re obviously trying to create more cap room, But I don’t see many teams with the desire to add cap space. This is the one pathetic thing about the NBA over the last 4 or 5 years… These trades rarely have to do with improving a team, they’re now just being based on cutting costs.
Another thing that I was interested in was possibly trading Marcus Camby to Boston for Big Baby. I know boston could use a defensive minded individual. The numbers don’t match but we can use some of our trade exceptions on this. I wouldn’t mind having GLen Davis here incase Rhino doesn’t come back
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Gordon got screwed
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Gordon had better dunks in the “Dunk-In”, but I understand everyone wanting Demar in the contest.
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Kevin, I just had to post this is one of the greatest titles to an article i’ve ever read.
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
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