Sooner or later the Clippers were going to get burned. It’s not that they’ve been playing poorly as a team, it’s just that their way of winning games felt a little unsustainable. To use our most recent popular term here (move over, glue guy!), the Clippers offensive performances without Chris Paul have been a little bit of “fool’s gold.”
The Clippers are a jump-shooting team. That’s their identity right now. According to HoopData.com, the Clippers lead the league in shot attempts beyond 16-feet. It’s what this roster is built to do. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does put the team in an awkward position when the shots from the perimeter stop falling.
The shots didn’t stop falling tonight, at least not initially. Mo Williams remained virtually unstoppable for the second night in a row, going 7-for-7 from the field (again) in the first half. Williams tallied up 25 points on a series of tough jumpers and forays to the hole before Minnesota received some “help defense” in the form of an ejection at the 6:20 mark of the fourth quarter. With Williams tossed, the Clippers offense, and depth, would be tested even further. Already without Chris Paul, playmaking duties would be placed solely in the hands of Chauncey Billups.
Losing Williams ended up being the turning point in the game. His scoring was the steadying factor for the offense — something they could rely upon consistently. After Williams left, the Clippers offense turned to mush.
- In the last 6:20 of the fourth quarter, with the team nursing a four-point lead, the offense went 2-for-8 from the field and registered three turnovers.
- Billups and Griffin, somewhat predictably, were the only players to score in that timeframe.
In a vacuum, you can survive that kind of offensive output — so long as your defense steps up. As bad as the offense was without Williams, the fact remains that the Clippers were the ones with a lead. Get stops, and it doesn’t matter much what your offense does, so long as they get shots up (the Woody Allen offense) and don’t turn it over. The Clippers won with that formula against Miami. It’s the right formula. Something has to be consistent. Usually that will be Chris Paul — he’ll be the rock for this team. But without him, the Clippers desperately needed it to be their defense once Williams left the game.
Through three quarters, the defense was pretty decent. Ricky Rubio was held without a field goal, and Kevin Love had about 10 points. Darko Milicic (!) had 22 points on the night, which should never, ever happen, especially since DeAndre Jordan had been doing such a good job sitting on his opponent’s strong hand this season. Maybe Jordan didn’t know Darko was left-handed? Maybe he thought, for some asinine reason, that the double was coming from a certain way? Regardless, the Clippers were playing well enough defensively to win, even if they looked soft in the middle.
But then, all hell sort of broke loose in the game’s final minute.
1:00, 4th Q: With a four-point lead, Blake Griffin steps up to the line to shoot two. He’s had a good night at the line up to this point (7-for-9), so Milicic’s mauling of Griffin doesn’t look terribly smart. However, despite his good night, Griffin misses both of his freebies. The second miss is terribly short, and serves as a reminder that Griffin’s free-throw form is still broken. It’s everything a free-throw shouldn’t be. It’s not smooth. It’s not one motion. Griffin bends his knees initially, but then locks them way before he releases the ball. It’s all upper body, and once fatigue sets in, that will lead to short misses.
:51, 4th Q: Even with Griffin’s missed free-throws, it’s still a two-possession game. The Wolves enter the ball off the timeout to Kevin Love at the elbow extended, and run an off-ball double-screen on the opposite side for Luke Ridnour, who is sitting in the corner. Ryan Gomes recognizes the play quickly, and switches men with Chauncey Billups to thwart the Wolves shot at getting an open 3. So far, so good.
The Wolves enter their secondary action, as Rubio curls up to the wing to receive the hand-off from Love at the elbow. As Rubio looks to turn the corner, Love sets a nice big screen (he’s still one of the best in the game at this, despite the weight loss) and takes out a trailing Randy Foye. Although he correctly fights under the screen, Foye is off-balance at this point and overplays Rubio to his right hand. Rubio recognizes it and goes to one of his pet moves — the spin back to his left hand. As he slithers through the area created by the screen, Rubio gets to the rim, but is wisely fouled by DeAndre Jordan to prevent the easy two. Rubio hits one of two, and makes it a one possession game.
:49, 4th Q: The Clippers go to their bread-and-butter, as they should, on their ensuing offensive possession. They’re in a tough spot. They need to run clock, but getting a score and pushing the lead back to two possessions is even more important.
As Blake Griffin comes to set the high ball-screen for Billups at the top of the three-point line, Rubio avoids the screen altogether and chooses instead to trail Billups. Although Billups is a threat to draw a foul with a man on his hip, he temporarily aborts his drive to rub Rubio off Griffin, who has reset above the foul line. They catch Rubio on this one, and Kevin Love is forced to come over and completely leave Griffin to halt Chauncey’s penetration. Chauncey wheels and fires to Griffin at the top of the key, who is momentarily alone. Ryan Gomes’ man, Wayne Ellington, rotates out on to Griffin, but only jabs at him. Griffin swings the ball to Gomes, now wide open in the corner, and Gomes catches the ball with Ellington in a full blown closeout. Gomes puts the ball and the floor and fires up an open mid-range jumper from about 20-feet that misses and bounces long.
It’s a good shot off good basketball plays by both Billups and Griffin. You live with it, mainly because that’s the type of look you’ve been living with this entire season.
:27, 4th Q: The Wolves race the ball back up the floor, down 98-95. Ridnour runs a quick pick-and-roll on the left elbow with Love, and Billups gets completely wiped out by the screen. Jordan, perhaps weary of allowing Love to hit the 3 on the pop, ignores Ridnour and lets him drive unimpeded to the hole. Gomes, in the corner guarding Ellington, does the same.
Now it gets ugly. A two doesn’t hurt you here. There is less than 24 seconds on the clock, so Minnesota would still have to foul. You make your two free throws (Billups and Foye are both around 90 percent from the line) and you’re right back where you were before the layup — just with less time on the clock.
But for whatever reason, Griffin decides that now is the time he wants to contest a shot at the rim. As everyone else stays home, Griffin abandons Derrick Williams at the 3-point line. For Ridnour, the decision is easy. He kicks the ball to Griffin’s man, Williams, who has spotted up and is wide open. Randy Foye rotates from the corner on to Williams — the right thing to do at this point. By this time, Chauncey Billups theoretically should have had enough time to recover. But on the final rotation, the Clippers defense breaks down. Billups is seen jogging, and as Williams swings it to a wide-open Rubio in the corner, he doesn’t closeout or even get a hand up. You don’t need Mark Jackson to tell you what happened. Rubio nails the corner 3, his first make of the night, and now it’s a tie ballgame.
:20, 4th Q: The stage is set for another Chauncey Billups redemption. Tie game, 20 seconds left. The Clippers should at least get the last shot. They don’t. As Billups idles from about 35-feet away, Griffin comes to set the high screen at about the 8 second mark, but it’s a fake. The Clippers have just vacated the right side of the floor, save for Gomes, who is spotting up in the right corner. Billups doesn’t do anything fancy in isolation — he just puts his head down and goes right, hoping to use his body to separate from Rubio or draw the foul. Rubio, to his credit, plays it pretty well. He avoids the contact initially but challenges the ball up top with his long arms. The driving layup is a little too hard, and Kevin Love collects the defensive rebound easily and calls timeout.
The only problem with this play? Billups went too early. The refs put 1.5 seconds back on the clock — more than enough time for a catch and shoot.
:1.5 seconds, 4th Q: De ja vu all over again. Rick Adelman draws up a great sideline out-of-bounds play here, and the young Wolves run it to perfection. The play started with a staggered stack at the free-throw line. The back man in the stack, Derrick Williams, curled off the screens towards the inbounder, and Blake Griffin trailed him.
By design, the curl was (mostly) a decoy. As Williams curled, all eyes were on him. DeAndre Jordan actually turned his head for a split-second to see if he needed to drop back from the free throw line and protect the rim.
That was all the time and distraction Kevin Love needed. As Ricky Rubio and Wayne Ellington pinched together and pass blocked like two All-Pro linemen, Love slipped out of the stack and popped to the three-point line. Knowing that they’d never be called for it in a million years, Rubio and Ellington cling on to Jordan and the other Clippers as they desperately try to get out to Love, but it’s too late. Love has a clean release, and the shot falls through. Bingo. Minnesota wins.
As easy at it would be to blame Jordan for not popping out with Love, it’s not that simple. Defense is never a one-person job — just ask Tyson Chandler in New York. There were many breakdowns that led to this play. Everyone is at fault.
- Blake Griffin didn’t play close enough to Derrick Williams at the outset of the play. You could actually see every member of the coaching staff begging their players to get closer to their men before the whistle blows and the ball is inbounded. Williams being temporarily open on his curl sets everything up. If Griffin closes that gap initially, the distraction isn’t as effective.
- Chauncey Billups fails horribly at his job of defending the inbound passer. Instead of tracing the ball with his hands, he acts like the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man. It’s a terrible defensive effort for the second possession in a row. Nevermind the turnovers or quick shots offensively — defense is where Billups hurt the Clippers the most in the fourth quarter.
- Randy Foye forgets the most basic principle of defense: Man and Ball. Foye never even looks at Ridnour the whole time he’s inbounding, so he literally has no idea what’s going on in the play. Even if Jordan yelled switch (not sure if he did), Foye would have no idea where to go because he was staring longingly into Ricky Rubio’s puppy dog eyes. I realize he just hit you for a 3, but don’t you think, in a stack out-of-bounds play, that there might be some screening going on? Shouldn’t you at least know where the ball is?
- Gomes is equally lost, and never even makes a move towards Love. There’s 1.5 seconds left. That’s enough for a shot — not a pass, and not a putback. Just a shot. Gomes gets caught dancing between going to the rim, boxing out, and closing out, and in effect, ends up doing nothing.
This was a crazy game in a crazy season. Darko Milicic scored 22 points tonight — crazy. Is it the end of the world that the Clippers have had a few defensive breakdowns down the stretch in consecutive games? No. As it stands now, Chris Paul’s play is what defines this team. He is the identity. It’s hard to properly assess a coach, or a team, without him.
You can’t rest on your laurels, but remember, they beat the Heat and the Lakers. If Paul comes back healthy and collapses like this keep happening again and again? Then maybe it’s time to pull the fire alarm. But it’s not that time now.
48 Responses
Too many bad shots, too many bad passes and billups playing to many minutes. I don’t recall Fortson getting any minutes in the
second half.
Then when freaking Gomes took that jumper, when we needed a basket during crunch time..I knew then we just gave the wolves a huge chance to take the game.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 3:19 am
As bad as that defensive lapse was at the end of the game off the screen, the game was not lost there…
When Darko Milicic scores 22 points, you have no business winning the game. 22 for DARKO MILICIC…Really Deandre?? This guy avgs 4 pts a game, but when the Clips low post D shows up, time to salivate. There is your “why the clips lost this game write up”..end of story
JJ Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 9:08 am
Jordan is always prone to bad defense. It amazes me that people still rave about his defense. He has no concept of proper team defense, and he is constantly (selfishly) leaving his man to make the highlight block. Anyone who doesn’t see this, doesn’t understand basketball. After being benched for the whole second quarter, DJ did a better job of staying at home, but he still reverted to his bad habits.
If he didn’t know Darko was left-handed or where the rotation is coming from, that’s his fault (not that you should rely on a double for someone averaging 4ppg). On Love’s first three-pointer, guess who was guarding him. It’s like he was the only guy in the world that doesn’t know that Love can hit the three. He’s getting paid eight figures. Not too much to ask for someone to read and adjust to a scouting report. On the last play, Gomes should have rotated, but it’s DeAndre’s responsibility to call for a switch if he gets stuck. I can’t say with any certainty if he did or not, but it didn’t look like Gomes knew to switch until he saw Love wide open.
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 9:46 am
It’s not just DJ. The Clippers lack an elite wing defender so that’s why whoever is slashing to the hoop can make a play for himself or for others. If you look at it, Chauncey was guarding Rubio all night long and at his age, Chauncey is going to get burned by the younger and faster Rubio. Yes, DJ makes mistakes on defense but so does everyone else. If we had a better first line of defense, DJ would not have to rotate over all the time from the weak side to block or alter a shot coming from the ball side. The team defense as a whole for the Clippers has been atrocious. I put the blame on the players for their lack of effort in making stops. I also put blame on the coaching staff for the crappy defensive schemes they put in.
But you have to give it to the Wolves though. That last play was well designed. That’s the difference between an experienced and veteran winning coach in Adelman versus a scrub coach like VDN.
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 9:47 am
Plus, Darko scoring 22 tonight was a fluke. If you look back at how Darko has consistently played even against the Clippers, his numbers aren’t that good.
Ken Norman Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Yes, perhaps a fluke on a game to game basis, but don’t think for a minute Adelman didn’t draw up plans to exploit the Clips low-block defensive weakness. Milicic averages 5 shots per game. When he get’s 15, that is a planned attack
JaySee Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 12:36 pm
DJ’s not being selfish helping to stop penetration in the paint. That’s his job. It’s our lack of a 2, and when Butler is out, lack of a 3 that allows that to happen. It’s VDN’s job to tell DJ that Darko is left handed. Once Darko gets more than 4 points, it’s VDN’s job to remind DJ that Darko is left handed. When Darko scores 10+ points, you know there’s something wrong with the entire defense to allow Darko to get that close to the paint, which again is VDN’s fault for not addressing.
JJ Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 3:01 pm
You seriously think Vinny is forgetting to give players scouting reports? Wishful thinking. Besides, if you’re paying attention, you should figure out what your opponent’s dominant hand is within a couple of touches.
DJ isn’t the only one to blame, but he was especially horrible last night.
JaySee Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 5:26 pm
If you watched the game and read my whole response to the end, you would understand that it was team defense allowing Darko to get in deep paint position and get the ball that allowed him to score. You’re not going to stop a proper hook shot inside of 5 feet.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 7:57 am
Am I missing something…why is the fact that mo got himself ejected not getting the majority of the blame for the loss….it seemed a little selfish to me
Steve Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 8:53 am
Because it’s not the majority of the blame. Officiating was horrific tonight. The rest of the team needed to score and gets stops when it counted and they didn’t. Demote is no doubt typing his magnum opus right now. Can you imagine what this team would be capable of with Adelman as coach??
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 8:31 am
Great shout out to demote. I cant wait to read his retarded post going off on dj for giving up 22 to darko
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 8:38 am
Man should have been an easy win the guy that pisses me off the most is Gomes man he only shoots it if he is completely wide open and he still misses way too many Gomes easily should have had 20 points
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 9:49 am
I don’t even know what type of player Gomes is supposed to be. He’s too slow to be a slasher and his natural position is at the 4, but he’s a small 4 at that. I was never really a fan of Gomes’ game. I know he puts in the effort, but in terms of his build and where he fits, he shouldn’t even be getting rotation minutes unless it is at the 4 for a small lineup.
Cody Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 10:01 am
He shot 4-12 all wide open shots and he shoots 33% I believe that’s the difference Caron would have had 20+ points in this game Gomes starting was the reason we couldn’t win last year
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 9:00 am
I was at this game and boy did that dagger hurt. It felt like we could have had a number of things go our way to secure the win (blake makes one free throw, we get one more call, Mo doesn’t get throw out, etc.) On a positive side, the crowd was rocking tonight and it is still by far the best year to be a Clipper fan.
Good work DJ, love the blog.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 9:48 am
We had 12 assists and 18 TO’s which is going to end up in a loss every time. The only reason we were in the game was because we shot lights out from the 3P line (11-21 i think it was). Chauncey had 1 assist and Foye had 2 which is pathetic.
With Mo leading the Clippers at 25 points, he also led the team with 5 assists. He was the key to the game and losing him to the double techs lost us the game. He was the best one at creating his own shot and creating shots for others.
Our frontcourt got beat tonight pretty handily. The TWolves almost doubled our points in the paint (it doesn’t help that DJ can’t shoot and neither can the frontcourt subs). What happened to the DJ that played so effectively in the Dallas game, cause I know Darko is not supposed to be that good.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 11:42 am
KEVIN LOVE HAS ARRIVED FOLKS!!! IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW!!! HE DID THIS IN FRONT OF A NATIONAL AUDIENCE ON ESPN!!! OH ME OH MY!!!
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 11:53 am
I gotta put the blame on VDN. It literally took effort to lose this game with 4 minutes to go. The coach has to grab the players by their throats if necessary and make them understand what offense they’re to run and what defensive switches will or will not be made. The last second shot was a microcosm of an ongoing breakdown of coaching and leadership in the closing minutes. Chauncey began gunning up ill advised shots because he felt like he was steering a rudderless boat. VDN has been blessed with talent this year but he’s beginning to get that Coach Spo deer in headlights look in Miami. Sunday will be a test. Bad teams fall in this trap game looking ahead to the Lakers. Good teams have this game decided by halftime.
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Might I remind you that Spoelstra came up under Pat Riley so at least Spoelstra has some credibility. VDN, on the other hand, came up out of a rock.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Right now Griffin is like a fast ball pitcher who can no longer get people out with only his fast ball. He’s always been able to succeed on his athletic ability alone. He’s still a fabulous talent & still can put out good numbers,but teams have figured him out & he looks confused.At this point,Love is a much better player because he has expanded his game each year & knows how to play in a team context. As Charles Barkley has said, Blake has no real post game & he has to learn how to play. Is there any one on the Clipper staff who can teach him? Is he teachable? The team’s future success depends in great part on the answers to those questions.
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Blake does have a post game, but he just needs to add more moves to it. It is also a mindset for him to start posting on the low block instead of posting 10 feet out from the basket on the wing.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 12:36 pm
*sigh* I just think we know what the problem is. Okay, well CP3 is hurt and he makes up for problems. But, Vinny Del Negro is in above his head. There is a role a good coach must play; he takes alll the pieces and finds a way to put them together in a whole. This isn not Chris Paul’s job. It is VDN’s job. He makes bad substitutions, reacts slowly to the feel of the game at any given moment and seems unable to corral his team and keep the game in order. Again, unless CP3 is to be named player/coach, this is not his job. As coach with a staff, he must have every situation planned for and prepared for. It might be a lockout shortened season, but if you don’t drill fundamentals you will often drop the ball.
Also, can you please talk about Mo? Unbelievable. Start him at the 2 when Paul comes back, please! He is more of a scorer than Chauncey who should come off the bench to provide dagger shooting and precision to slice and dice the opposing team’s second unit. While Mo has energy, he is too sloppy to lead a second unit. Rather, he should start and CP should use him and blake as the 1-2 options to overwhelm the defense and create open opportunities for himself and Caron with Jordan picking up the pieces.
Again, Billups comes in and picks apart the backups and Foye provides huge energy and effort leaving open opportunities for Gomes and either Jordan or Evans on putbacks.
I ain’t no basketballs experter but I like this idea.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 12:59 pm
This “mr big shot” title has got to go away. what i’ve seen from chauncey, at the end of the last two games, is three turnovers, 2 bad shots, and terrible defense. he hit one big shot, but he put the team in the position of needing it.
chauncey, at this point, has been more of a detriment than an asset. i feel more comfortable with moe williams and randy foye in there.
and coach VDN has no idea what he’s doing. is he coaching these guys at all? they seem lost on offense and defense.
how do you not feed blake griffin every possession? when you have a guy like that, you work the offense inside out.
too much dribbling, too many long shots late in the shot clock, too little movement and dribble penetration.
i wish they could trade chauncey. they could get a lot for him, and he doesn’t fit this team.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 1:05 pm
I was expecting a clipper win but how could I without defense. Clippers shouldn’t have let darko score so much. Poor excuetion and poor coaching by vdn blowing another lead like new jersey and all of last season. Bye bye vdn. If you can’t sustain a lead or stop the opposing offense your not a good coach. Too many times I have seen the clips blow big leads under vdn. Also 19 turnovers. What was that about. Come on clips we can win that raptor game and give the lakers another loss
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Great Article DJ
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Are there any good big men ass’t coaches out there to help BG straighten out his horrible shooting mechanics. Maybe even to give a clue to DJ how to play the post. Patrick ? Kareem ? Even Motumbo ? Maybe more impotant than acquiring any new players or dumping VDN.
JaySee Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 2:57 pm
BG’s mechanics are good, it’s his rhythm that is totally out of whack.
Kareem is available and pissed at the Lakers. Patrick is already taken. Hakeem only does summer sessions a his house. Mutombo? No… How about the coaches that coached those guys?
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Who do you guys think knows less about basketball… Demote deandre or David khan? Hahahahaha
JaySee Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 2:59 pm
DD. Khan’s madness is coming into fruition now and he’s cashing in on McHale’s genius of swapping Mayo for Love.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 2:45 pm
DeAndre DeGiant Desaster strikes again.
Torched by Darko. Mindboggling. I thought it was impossible for any NBA center to get torched by Darko.
Here are Darko’s shooting stats for the five games before last night:
1. 0-2, 0 points
2. 0-1, 0 points
3. 0-2, 0 points
4. 1-4, 3 points (everyone gets on an occasional roll, and this is a roll for Darko)
5. 0-2, 0 points
Then last night against against DeAndre DeGiant DeLusion DeFender:
10-15, 22 points.
Yea, sure, he’s a better defender this year. Much better. Torched by Darko, how much better can he get than that?
AH Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Can someone from Clipperblog (by someone I mean Nick) post a breakdown of how Darko got his points please?
AH Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Nevermind. Here’s Nick’s tweets regarding DJ on Darko:
Nick Flynt @ClipperBlogNick
0/1. 1/2. 1/3. 1/4. 1/5. 1/6. 1/7. 2/8 (questionable) 3/9. 3/9 made FGs I put on DeAndre with 1 being questionable because the team PnR D…
Nick Flynt @ClipperBlogNick
…was so bad. Having Randy Foye as your PnR partner as a big on D is like having a 3-year-old as your 3-legged race partner.
Nick Flynt @ClipperBlogNick
And one shooting foul, also. So overall, I don’t think DeAndre was that bad tonight. Darko had maybe 2 easy baskets that were on DJ.
Nick Flynt @ClipperBlogNick
The rest were contested hooks, a fluke tip, and some bad PnR D that you couldn’t really put on DJ.
I think that ends that specific argument and saves Nick the time of actually having to write it out again.
chris. Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 7:09 pm
just curious but if Darko went 10/15, how could a 3/9 be possible?
DJ’s D wasn’t all that. Even the other euro dude who the TWolves had come in for Darko played well against the clips. The TWolves almost doubled our points in the paint. We all know Blake has a few shortcomings when it comes to D, but so does DJ.
AH Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 7:59 pm
I think Nick is saying that Darko’s responsibility for 9 made FGs and 2-3 of those made FGs where because of some fault of DJ’s.
To sum up: DJ was guarding Darko on 9 of his 10 made FGs. 6-7 of those made FGs DJ did the right thing and Darko just made a tough shot.
But I’m not Nick so don’t hold him to that explanation.
JaySee Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Good job Nick and AH.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 4:22 pm
answering some questions and incorrect comments . . .
- Howard said he wanted to come to the Clippers. He never denied it. It’s incorrect that Howard later said he didn’t want to come to the Clippers (Of course, he wants to come to the Clippers. The Clippers with Paul and Griffin are the best place for him. Why wouldn’t he want to come?) What is correct is that Orlando said they hadn’t been informed about it, and that statement from Orlando means nothing.
- It’s incorrect that the Clippers cannot trade Jordan before December of 2012 because they matched his offer sheet from Golden State. The date is sometime in March. The most likely scenario is that Howard stays with Orlando through the season and then afterwards leaves as a free agent. He likely will sign with the Clippers, and the Magic then will take whatever they can get from the Clippers in a sign and trade. The Clippers will give them DeAndre Jordan because they want to get rid of his salary.
- The LA Times reported a few days ago that they talked to a representative of Orlando who said they had no interest in Jordan. But they’ll take him in a sign and trade because they won’t be able to get anybody else and they need some kind of center.
- The Clippers have the assets to trade for Howard for the simple reason that Howard is calling the shots.
AH Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 4:48 pm
I would like to know what your source is for saying DeAndre can be traded “sometime in March.” My source for saying he cannot be traded until December 2012 is ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-120120-22/team-usa-roster-london-olympics
In Box 3, you’ll see Jordan and Mbah a Moute clearly called out as saying they cannot be traded due to an Offer Sheet signing. The only significance to March pertaining to trading is that offseason Free Agent signings are eligible to be traded then.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Well, at least DeAndre answered Darko’s 22 points with an offensive flurry of his own:
1-3, 2 points.
Twice as many fouls as points. More improvement.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 4:35 pm
One other thing . . .
Kevin Love said in a TV interview after the game when asked about the last shot said he knew DeAndre would be guarding him on that last shot so he knew he’d be wide open.
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 4:47 pm
1. Bad on the coaching staff for not doing their homework in knowing that Adelman would design a play like this and telling the players.
2. The play was designed well and executed perfectly so give credit to the Wolves.
Ultimately, it didn’t have to come down to this because you cannot put all the blame on DJ alone. You’re completely biased against DJ and misguidedly think that all of the Clippers’ shortcomings this year are because of DJ. The whole team is still a work in progress and a piece away from making noise. The Clippers can and will succeed with DJ. Yes, there are things he needs to work on like freethrows and developing some sort of post game. Otherwise, where he is at right now is fine for the role he is playing. The Clippers don’t need DJ to score 15 points every night because of the offensive firepower they already possess. D12 isn’t going to solve the problem of lacking an elite wing defender.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 4:38 pm
VDN will account for about 5 losses this season. This is one of them. To me it’s an improvement over Dunleavy who controls every play. I’d love a new coach for the Clippers, but I’m almost scared who they’d get.
I’ve been agreeing with Dump Davis about DeAndre the whole time and last night was proof why. Smart coaches like Adelman see the weakness and go after it. I don’t think he was that horrible, but he’s the biggest weakness and will be targeted.
JaySee Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Chauncy at the 2 is the biggest weakness. Next after that is Gomes at the 3 on the 2nd unit.
Clips4 Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 10:20 pm
I agree, JaySee. As good as Chauncey is, he’s a shell of himself. He is still valuable as a spot up shooter but his best days are way behind him. Chauncey does not have the length nor the height nor the foot speed to keep up with the elite wing players in the league. Gomes is just a horrible player in general.
Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Damnnnnnnn…. for all you people panicking, you all need to CALM DOWN. We stumbled and lost a game to the Timberwolves. Should we have won that game? Yes. Are we the better team even without CP3 and Caron? Yes. But the fact of the matter is, the TWolves wanted it more, played harder, and deserved the win.
There’s no need to start worrying about how the team needs to be adjusted, and how this player needs to be traded, and how the coach needs to be fired. The team is doing FINE. They let a game slip away – yes it was a mistake, but it happens all the time. How do you think the Clippers won any of those games when they were literally running a D-League lineup during years past?
Hate to say it, but Vinny is right in one regard: putting this team together is a process. There will be some growing pains, and some bumps along the road to success. This is one of them, it sucks, but I’m not getting off the bandwagon. If I was able to sit through the disastrous 19-63 season with a talented roster of ZBo, Baron, Camby, Gordon, and Kaman.. sitting through the bumps during this season is cakewalk.
Clips4 Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 2:39 pm
It’s the lack of experience on coaching staff. Also, the Clippers do need to trade one of their guards because it is so logjammed. Plus you forgot that after Mo got ejected, everything fell apart. The Clips were marginally better than the Wolves without CP3, Butler, and Mo.
Posted on January 22nd, 2012 at 1:00 am
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