Breaking Down the Los Angeles Clippers' Bad Habits Early in the Season
The Los Angeles Clippers have some bad habits they need to stop, much like the kids in elementary school who would continuously bite their nails, cover their hands in glue or would get caught picking their nose in class. Bad habits are pretty easy to form but not as easy to break—especially if you were the kid in school doing the above but never realized it until the entire class was pointing and laughing at you.
That kid is the Clippers. Despite Doc Rivers’ pleading or pundits such as myself writing articles on everything the Clippers are continuously doing wrong, bad habits are hard to break. The first step toward eliminating bad habits is to figure out what they are.
After the Clippers allowed the San Antonio Spurs to go on a 14-3 run late in the fourth quarter en route to a 89-85 win on November 10, the expectation was that Rivers and the coaching staff would be able to correct the problems that resulted in the late blown lead. After all, the Clippers had four days off until their next game at home versus the Phoenix Suns.
During the Suns game, it seemed that the bad habits the team had formed early in the season were beginning to fade. The Clippers came out and played with energy, held the Suns to 38.4 percent from the field and ran away with the game during a 42-point third quarter, winning 120-107.
However, just two nights later all those familiar bad habits were back, as the Chicago Bulls routed the Clippers 105-89. While it is still early in the season, there should be some concern since two of the major problems the Clippers faced last season are issues again, while a new problem has emerged as well.
Nonexistent Small Forward Rotation
A position that has been a thorn in the team’s side for the last two years, the small forward rotation, is essentially nonexistent. According to Basketball-Reference.com, the three players expected to split minutes behind Matt Barnes—Reggie Bullock, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Hedo Turkoglu—have combined to play only 120 minutes.
Doc Rivers has utilized Barnes and Jamal Crawford at the position rather than allocating minutes to those behind Barnes on the depth chart. This complicates things for multiple reasons. Either Rivers does not trust his reserves or they simply are not good enough to warrant extended minutes. Rivers isn't giving anyone on the bench a chance to earn minutes behind Barnes and that is a problem.
Considering Barnes is shooting 38.9 percent from the floor and is allowing his counterparts to record a PER of 20.9, according to 82games.com, the team needs reinforcements at small forward.
Rivers must find a defensive solution at the position immediately. According to Rotowire, the Clippers have been horrendous defensively at small forward no matter who is on the floor, as the position is allowing the third-most points per game (20.9) and the fifth-worst field-goal percentage (47.5).
Obviously, it does not help that Rivers has experimented with starting Crawford at small forward and having him play reserve minutes behind Barnes. Crawford has never been known as a good defender, but he has very little chance to slow down shooting guards, let alone small forwards.
The hope was that Reggie Bullock would display enough during training camp and preseason to either win the starting small forward job outright or at the very least spell Barnes off the bench. Bullock has played sparingly, but he has shot 6-of-9 from three and done a solid job defensively.
Again, Rivers does not seem to trust Bullock yet, but he might need to take a chance on the North Carolina product since the options at the position are quite limited, barring a trade.
Team Defense
Perhaps the most alarming trend early this season is how poor the Clippers defense has been. According to NBA.com, the team ranks near the bottom in most defensive categories; 22nd in defensive rating, 29th in rebound percentage and 25th in opponent field-goal percentage.
There are multiple reasons for the Clippers’ poor start defensively, but most of them revolve around effort. The team simply has not come to play every night, and that has really ticked off Rivers, according to Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears.
"What was it, five games in seven nights? But what we lacked is heart. I don’t mind being tired. We can use that as an excuse. I just know me. If I’m tired and getting my butt kicked, I would leave the game with no fouls left. To me that was just weak on our part.
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The defensive effort needs to be there on every play, especially when playing in conference. The November 5 bout against the Golden State Warriors was a prime example. A heated rivalry game early in the season turned into a no-contest blowout by the Warriors.
Unfortunately, the Clippers defense came out flat and immediately was down 10 points after the first quarter. And that lead ballooned to 23 at the half. The lackluster defensive effort combined with a slew of mental errors allowed the Warriors to hit uncontested jumpers, dominate the offensive glass and score easily at the rim.
The video above highlights the mental miscues early in the game. Chris Paul sags to make room for J.J. Redick to trail Leandro Barbosa and work under an Andrew Bogut screen. However, Paul does not close back out on Stephen Curry, who drills an uncontested three.
Blake Griffin then takes the ball out of bounds and tosses it in to Paul without even noticing that he has telegraphed the pass for Curry, who steals the inbounds and scores an easy layup. Five points in five seconds.
Mental lapses are not the only thing plaguing the team defensively; lacking a viable perimeter defender is a huge concern. The problem is not just the small forward position, but also at shooting guard. Redick, Crawford and Jordan Farmar’s defense is not striking fear into any opposing shooting guard.
These defensive problems might result in a trade eventually, but will Rivers, the general manager, swing a deal that helps the Clippers win now while also improving their outlook in the future? Will Rivers the coach prevent Rivers the general manager from making a trade with hope that improvement will come from within?
The defensive concerns are legitimate. But they could be corrected by the players on the floor bringing more energy defensively and Rivers allowing guys like Reggie Bullock to improve during games rather than only in practice.
Offensive Rhythm
Multiple factors are to blame for the Clippers’ slow start offensively. The main culprit seems to be continuity. There are too many one-on-one battles, dribbling out the clock or jacking bad shots early in possessions.
The primary problem is the ball is not swinging from side to side, and there is no action off the ball, which was a key component when the team churned out the league’s top-rated offense a season ago. Point a finger at anyone you want to blame for the offensive woes, but the lack of ball movement is disconcerting.
Additionally, a part of the early struggles stems from Alvin Gentry leaving the staff to join Steve Kerr and the Warriors. Gentry is a good offensive coach who was able to implement a system which allowed each individual player on the floor to turn into a weapon.
Matt Barnes exploded after the All-Star break last season, J.J. Redick was lethal running off screens and pindowns and Blake Griffin was unstoppable when isolated on the wing. Paul is still his typical self, and Crawford is always going to hunt for shots. But the team's poor shooting to start the season has stagnated the offense.
The Clippers rank 14th in overall field-goal percentage and 17th in three-point percentage, according to NBA.com. This is partially attributed to Redick’s slow start—38.4 percent from the field and 30.4 from three—and the team’s inability to create easy shots.
Why can’t the Clippers create easy shots? They have not been able to leak out into transition as much this season, which again leads back to their defensive mishaps. According to Team Rankings, the Clippers finished second in the league last season in fast-break points (18.2). This season that ranking has dropped to 22nd (10.4).
Scoring in transition is vital for this team, as Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan score as well around the rim as anyone in the league. Meanwhile, transition opportunities also create open threes for Crawford and Redick.
Lastly, we do need to keep in mind that any observations prior to Christmas should be taken with a grain of salt, especially statistically. There are so many variables that need to be uncovered over the first two months of the season. Players need to round into game shape, new additions need to acclimate themselves and new systems need to be refined.
According to the Los Angeles Times’ Ben Bolch, ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy agrees.
"I think everybody in Clipperland has to do the Aaron Rodgers thing right now, ESPN analyst and former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said, referring to the Green Bay Packers quarterback who told fans to loosen up amid a slow start. Relax. Let it play out. If at 20 games, you get to a quarter of the year and there's issues, that's when I think you start evaluating more so than after five games.
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We definitely need to take a wait-and-see approach with this Clippers team, but the effort level must be addressed. The team should not be having such major defensive lapses. Offensively, the Clippers do need to move the ball more fluidly, and Blake Griffin needs to be more aggressive. The offense should eventually spring back to being top five in efficiency but absolutely has regressed early this season.
The Clippers should not be the kid in the classroom everyone is pointing and laughing at after being caught picking his or her nose. The bad habits need to stop. Otherwise, not only will they risk being passed in their own division by the new kid on the block, but they might fade back to the middle of the pack in their class instead of competing for valedictorian.
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