1. Home
  3. Sport

Can Clippers continue to stay competitive while also developing homegrown talent?

20 November 2024Last Update :
Can Clippers continue to stay competitive while also developing homegrown talent?

After the LA Clippers concluded the preseason last month, coach Tyronn Lue was asked about balancing winning games with player development. The query was prompted by the play of small forward Jordan Miller, a 2023 second-round pick who had spent the previous G League season, NBA Summer League season and preseason impressing with his ability to produce points within the scheme, shoot efficiently and make plays defensively.

Lue praised G League affiliate head coach Paul Hewitt for helping develop Miller and 2023 first-round pick Kobe Brown. But Lue has a roster of veterans who were signed to play, making him noncommittal to handing young guys like Miller a rotation spot.

“We have veteran guys that can play, we have young guys that can play,” Lue said last month. “So whatever the best fit is for our team to win games, that’s who we’re going to play. So I’m not really looking at who we want to develop — we want to win. So those guys like Kobe and Jordan, if they take those steps forward to play and help us win games, then they’ll play.”

Pressed further on picking between winning and developing, Lue reiterated where he stood.

“Guys will develop if they’re good players,” Lue said. “If they’re good enough to be in our rotation to play and help us win games — we’re trying to win. So if there’s a veteran guy who can’t play, he can’t play … we’re trying to win. That’s my main objective.”

Playing young players has usually been a sore spot for the Clippers, and for Lue even before he joined the Clippers. Before a November 2021 game against the San Antonio Spurs, Lue responded to a question about not playing young guys by saying, “I did it for six games in Cleveland, you see where it got me!” The 2018-19 Cleveland Cavaliers started 0-6 in their first season after LeBron James left for the Los Angeles Lakers, resulting in Lue’s dismissal.

That same season, the Clippers had their last All-Rookie selection in lottery pick Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was traded after his rookie season for Paul George in a deal that also cost LA control of seven first-round picks. Gilgeous-Alexander played at least 15 minutes in a game 87 times as a rookie, including the postseason. Since Gilgeous-Alexander left in 2019, all Clippers rookies have played in a game for at least 15 minutes only 69 times combined.

It is easy to accept young players not playing for a contending team. That’s what the Clippers were set up to be in each season with George and Kawhi Leonard on the roster, with the possible exception of the 2021-22 season in which Leonard missed the entire schedule after ACL surgery and George only appeared in 31 regular-season games.

George’s departure, and Leonard’s elongated recovery from knee surgery, have taken this season’s Clippers out of contender/pretender conversations. The goal for this year’s team is to retain the league’s longest active streak of winning seasons, which began in the 2011-12 season and was threatened most by Clippers teams that missed the playoffs in 2017-18 and 2021-22 with 42-40 records.

These Clippers are looking a lot like those 2018 and 2022 teams. They are 8-7 entering Wednesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic, and probably could be better, as they have led by double-digits at some point in 13 out of 15 games. The Clippers have a top-10 defense while rolling out the NBA’s second-oldest roster, behind only the Milwaukee Bucks.

But many fans are dissatisfied with the Clippers not having players like Miller, Brown, and third-string point guard Bones Hyland in the rotation, especially in a season where 35-year-old point guard James Harden leads the team in minutes and 31-year-old shooting guard Norman Powell leads the team in scoring. Perhaps Miller’s time in particular is coming; Powell will miss the Orlando Magic game with a left hamstring strain, an injury that usually requires a multi-game absence.

Lue has had chances to make Miller a part of his rotation before, but none of his top nine players (excluding the inactive Leonard) had missed a game because of injury until now, and Lue just got back reserve center Mo Bamba. The Houston road trip last week looked like a possible opportunity for Miller, Brown and Hyland to play.

In the first game of the miniseries, the Clippers found themselves down 19 before going with a more sensible lineup that put Brown at center instead of one with no bigs on the floor. With a minute left, the ball was in Miller’s hands with a chance to cut the Houston lead to one, but he missed a corner 3 and the Clippers never scored again.

Afterward, Lue praised Miller, Brown and Hyland for making an impact. Miller described how he did not anticipate coming into the game.

“The coaches are always saying stay ready,” Miller said. “You never know when your number is going to get called.”

The next night in Houston, a Friday night NBA Cup game, did not lead to major substitution patterns. The Rockets were prepared for Lue’s starting lineup change from the previous game that put Kris Dunn in place of Terance Mann, and the Clippers never led. Miller did not enter the game until the Clippers were down 20 in the fourth quarter with 10:23 left to play, but his elite ability to draw fouls (11 points, 9 of 10 free throws) against the Houston regulars caught Lue’s attention.

Aggravating fans further is the relative success of 2021 second-round pick Brandon Boston Jr. and 2022 second-rounder Moussa Diabaté, both of whom departed the franchise this offseason and are performing well on two-way contracts elsewhere for losing teams.

Both Boston and Diabaté were developed by the Clippers’ G League team, and each had notable performances with LA. Their progress as with the Clippers organization is partly why they are still in the league. Unfortunately, both players had instances where they were either injured at a time they would have gotten a chance to play or did not impress when given a window of opportunity last season. The Clippers went with other players on rookie, two-way, or minimum contracts instead of retaining Boston or Diabaté. It remains to be seen if Boston or Diabaté’s current squads value either enough to promote them to standard contracts or continue playing them once players ahead of them return to full health.

As much as people fear that Miller will not get an opportunity, he has two relevant examples on the roster for optimism: Mann and shooting guard Amir Coffey. The Clippers are one of eight teams who have both a homegrown second-rounder and a homegrown undrafted free agent playing at least 15 minutes per game on the roster this season. Mann was the 48th pick in 2019, while southpaw Coffey signed a two-year, two-way contract like the one fellow lefthander Miller is on now.

Another criticism related to Lue and player development is the size of the rotation. Lue usually prefers to go with a nine-man rotation, but he has expanded to 10 this season — though the reluctance to play Jones extended minutes has made it more of a 9.5-man rotation. This is in contrast to teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Golden State Warriors, who have regularly used more than 10 players.

Incidentally, the Clippers are coming off of an impressive result (albeit in an eyesore of a game) Monday night against the Warriors, beating them on zero days’ rest for the second time this season already. Mann and Coffey were a part of a bench that outscored the vaunted Warriors reserves 45-28 in a 102-99 win.

It’s not that Lue doesn’t believe in his developmental corps. He has already shown that he can get off of lineups that hurt the team. Developing talent has never been mutually exclusive with winning games. With Powell out, it gives the Clippers the chance to put Miller on the floor and let him show that he can contribute in a meaningful way. It’s also a layup for a relatively disgruntled fan base that wants to cheer for the rare homegrown player. And Miller knows that he needs to be ready to perform if he gets a chance.

“Trust in the training, trust in the work you’ve been putting in when you haven’t been playing,” Miller says.

(Top photo of Jordan Miller: Tim Warner / Getty Images)

Recent