NBA Daily: 2022-2023 Season Preview #13 – Los Angeles Clippers
By Reylan Loberternos
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 29 Sep 2022
In this limited 30-part series, we shall be discussing each team’s latest developments, current roster, and future prospects in the upcoming 2022-2023 NBA season. For every team, we will examine bit-by-bit the important aspects that may shape its progress and provide a rough projection of how it will fare vis-à-vis its previous year’s performance and versus the rest of the league.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
2021-2022 Season Win-Loss Record:
42-40
Depth Chart:
PG – John Wall, Reggie Jackson, Xavier Moon
SG – Paul George, Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, Brandon Boston
SF – Kawhi Leonard, Norman Powell, Luke Kennard
PF – Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, Marcus Morris Sr.
CE – Ivaca Zubac, Moses Brown
Injury Updates:
No significant injuries.
Head Coach:
Tyronn Lue
Headliners:
Kawhi Leonard is expected to be back at full strength. Paired with Paul George, the Los Angeles Clippers will parade arguably the best wing combo on both ends of the court at the start of the upcoming NBA season. This is a team that’s quite loaded at the wing spot with guys like Norman Powell, Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, Brandon Boston, Luke Kennard, Robert Covington, and Marcus Morris Sr. who could play both wing positions and the latter two who could also play at the four spot.
With Ivaca Zubac as the only legitimate center under contract as of this writing, expect the Clippers to play a lot of small ball throughout this season, unless a major trade is made to address the big man deficiency.
John Wall is already a shade of his past self, but if he’s healthy, he’ll provide another dimension to head coach Tyronn Lue’s offense. A past-his-prime Wall may still be faster and more polished than a few of the other starting PGs in the league.
Norman Powell is expected to be the team’s sixth man, while Reggie Jackson could at times become the first person to come off the bench. It may also be a very interesting proposition to start Leonard at the four, while Paul George and Norman Powell take on the two wing positions.
This allows the Clippers to maximize the surplus of wing talent in the roster, while maintaining, if not improving, their perimeter shooting. The current roster is rather tricky and there may be a lot of instances during the game when the Clippers will be playing with no center, but a combination of Batum, Covington, and Morris Sr. as frontcourt men and two of George, Leonard, and/or Powell at the wing spots, to compensate for the lack of ceiling.
The Clippers won 42 games last season even without Leonard. If they stay relatively healthy throughout the season, we can expect them to improve mightily on the win-loss column this time around.
Comments are highly appreciated. You may send them to reylanloberternos@yahoo.com.ph and you may follow me @reylan_l on twitter.
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