Post by eric on Jul 6, 2019 14:59:01 GMT
You've got the best player in the league.
You've got a forward who frankly hasn't ever done that much and has a checkered injury history to boot but statistically he's a great second best player.
And in a wildly innovative move, you've got actual other players on the roster.
Lawrence Frank, take a bow! The Clippers are YOUR 2020 NBA title favorites.
.
By my count with the George, Leonard, Beverley, and McGruder deals the Clippers sit at $107m right now, which also includes Landry Shamet, Lou Will, Montrezl Harrell, Jerome Robinson, Sindarius Thornwell, and Tyrone Wallace. They also made two second round picks in the most recent draft (Terance Mann and Jaylen Hands) which probably puts them right at the cap.
They also made a ton of trades last year so it's hard to say what exactly the DC looks like but my guess would be:
Beverley - Shamet - Kawhi - George - ??? starters
Williams - Robinson/Thornwell? - McGruder? - ??? - Harrell bench
(Wallace and Hands are also PGs, Mann is a SF who played four years in college and can't shoot so my guess is he isn't involved)
So there are holes, is what I'm saying. But they have birds on JaMychal Green and Ivica Zubac, both of whom are league average bigs, and with that they look pretty much ready to go: plenty of teams have had too many bigs, no team ever has enough shooters, and with Hands they probably added another.
A LOT of wins are out the door: 8.2 from Gallo, 5.0 from Tobias (no relation), 3.3 from SGA, 4.0 from the three headed Gortat-Boban-Scott monster. If you're still load managing with Kawhi then 10 wins from him is a reasonable expectation, and George especially with lingering shoulder recovery (scheduled to not be ready for TC) seems about 10 too, which actually puts the Clippers at a net negative of 0.5 year over year.
However, McGruder didn't play for them last year and he's above replacement level, Shamet and Robinson at age 22 could plausibly get better, and the team in general could benefit from continuity.
All told I estimate them having mid 50s wins in the regular season and (like Toronto) punching WAY above that weight in the playoffs due to playing Kawhi 100% of games and due to the playoffs exaggerating perimeter strengths (which they have) and weaknesses (which other teams have) - they have four players who can legitimately shoot and defend the perimeter. Paul George is gonna LOVE being on that side of the coin after years trying (and failing) to beat the Miamis and Golden States of the world with post ups and owning the backboards.
You've got a forward who frankly hasn't ever done that much and has a checkered injury history to boot but statistically he's a great second best player.
And in a wildly innovative move, you've got actual other players on the roster.
Lawrence Frank, take a bow! The Clippers are YOUR 2020 NBA title favorites.
.
By my count with the George, Leonard, Beverley, and McGruder deals the Clippers sit at $107m right now, which also includes Landry Shamet, Lou Will, Montrezl Harrell, Jerome Robinson, Sindarius Thornwell, and Tyrone Wallace. They also made two second round picks in the most recent draft (Terance Mann and Jaylen Hands) which probably puts them right at the cap.
They also made a ton of trades last year so it's hard to say what exactly the DC looks like but my guess would be:
Beverley - Shamet - Kawhi - George - ??? starters
Williams - Robinson/Thornwell? - McGruder? - ??? - Harrell bench
(Wallace and Hands are also PGs, Mann is a SF who played four years in college and can't shoot so my guess is he isn't involved)
So there are holes, is what I'm saying. But they have birds on JaMychal Green and Ivica Zubac, both of whom are league average bigs, and with that they look pretty much ready to go: plenty of teams have had too many bigs, no team ever has enough shooters, and with Hands they probably added another.
A LOT of wins are out the door: 8.2 from Gallo, 5.0 from Tobias (no relation), 3.3 from SGA, 4.0 from the three headed Gortat-Boban-Scott monster. If you're still load managing with Kawhi then 10 wins from him is a reasonable expectation, and George especially with lingering shoulder recovery (scheduled to not be ready for TC) seems about 10 too, which actually puts the Clippers at a net negative of 0.5 year over year.
However, McGruder didn't play for them last year and he's above replacement level, Shamet and Robinson at age 22 could plausibly get better, and the team in general could benefit from continuity.
All told I estimate them having mid 50s wins in the regular season and (like Toronto) punching WAY above that weight in the playoffs due to playing Kawhi 100% of games and due to the playoffs exaggerating perimeter strengths (which they have) and weaknesses (which other teams have) - they have four players who can legitimately shoot and defend the perimeter. Paul George is gonna LOVE being on that side of the coin after years trying (and failing) to beat the Miamis and Golden States of the world with post ups and owning the backboards.
