2024-04-11 21:00:00
Following a rather intriguing two-game slate for the Phoenix Suns with the Clippers, where the teams split a home/road back-to-back that saw the Clippers severely undermanned, I had a fun question-and-answer session with Robert Flom, of 213 Hoops and The Lob, The Jam Podcast.
Be sure to tap in with his work, and also follow him on Twitter for solid and in-depth coverage of the Los Angeles Clippers — I certainly co-sign!
Enjoy the conversation!
Stephen PridGeon-Garner: A team that once felt like a juggernaut has felt less than that post-All-Star break. What’s your read on where the Clippers are, heading into the playoffs?
Robert Flom: If you’d asked me this question three weeks ago I would have been in a much sourer place on the Clippers. They’ve won seven of their last eight games, and while several of those have been against bottom-feeders, the Clippers’ defense and overall attitude have stepped forward.
That said, they could very well lose to the Mavs in the first round – I’m not sure I trust this team to be able to defend Luka, Kyrie, and the blend of role players the Mavs have. And even past that, they don’t match up well with the Wolves or Nuggets, who would be their likely 2 nd round opponents.
So, while I do think the team I’ve seen recently could make a deep run, odds are still against them making even the Conference Finals much less winning it all.
SP-G: Who’s the most important non-Kawhi to the Clippers’ postseason desires, by your eye?
RF: James Harden.
Paul George has a spotty-ish playoff track record, but it’s better than people think, and he’s been playing great the past month. The hope with Harden is that his being the 3rd option on offense will relieve the pressure on him and enable him to be more comfortable. That said, he needs to score, and there will be games the Clippers need him to get 25 or even 30 points.
If he can’t get there at all, the Clippers’ ceiling is limited.
SP-G: If you had to pick one of these options to be optimized for Harden come playoffs — shooting, playmaking/table setting, self-creation — which skill would it be, and why?
RF: This is the hardest question you sent me, by far. I’m honestly not sure, but I’d lean towards shooting.
The ball will be in Kawhi and PG’s hands more in the playoffs, which means Harden’s table-setting and self-creation won’t be quite as important. If he is at least taking and hitting a lot of threes, he will still be providing immense value as a floor spacer for the Clippers’ wings. But I’m still mulling this one over.
SP-G: What’s the biggest weakness the Clippers will have come playoffs (sans injury), and which team(s) do you feel could exploit it most?
RF: Size. Ivica Zubac is their only reliable center and Kawhi Leonard is their only reliable forward. Paul George is tall but does not have the heft of a true forward. PJ Tucker is only playable in very small doses against certain teams. That means the Clippers will be undersized on the perimeter against most opponents, which hurts them on offense (they can get stifled by large teams), on the glass (obvious), and on defense (they can get bullied at times).
The Timberwolves, Nuggets, and even Lakers are teams that could really take advantage of the Clippers’ lack of size.
SP-G: A team with multiple effective small ball iterations, which unit has been your favorite and how have you felt about the usage (or level of reliance) on it from coach Lue?
RF: The Clippers’ small-ball units have worked to some extent this year, but it’s felt more gimmicky and less sustainable than previous years due to the lack of playable forwards. The Clippers’ best small-ball unit is probably Harden-Norm-Amir/Mann-PG-Kawhi, which has incredible firepower and decent perimeter defense but not much rebounding and no rim protection.
I think Ty Lue has gone small too frequently, and he does rely on those units, but the center situation (see more below) has pushed him into it some of the time.
SP-G: Kawhi tends to take it to another level defensively come postseason play. Do you feel him being more ever-present solves most of the issues regarding the Clippers’ defense post-All-Star?
RF: “Most” is the keyword here, and the answer is “yes”. The Clippers still won’t be great at point of attack, and they don’t have any big forward defenders outside Kawhi (PJ Tucker can be used only sparingly in my opinion), but they have been an excellent defense with Kawhi on the court. His combination of rebounding, help defense, and tenacity on-ball is unmatched on the Clippers and can elevate them to at least a “fine” defense I think.
SP-G: What are your thoughts on the center room headed to the postseason?
RF: Things are shaky. Ivica Zubac is a solid starting center, but he has his weaknesses and there will be matchups where he won’t play a ton. After that, Daniel Theis has been solid much of the year but has slumped recently and offers minimal rim protection or rebounding. Mason Plumlee does better at those things but is worse at everything else. In many series, I think it will be Zu and small-ball.
SP-G: What have been your assessments of the Phoenix Suns this season? Biggest standouts and biggest question marks?
RF: The Suns have been disappointing. I didn’t think they’d be an unstoppable juggernaut, but I thought they’d have more wins and just played better than this. And the faults for that extend from the front office to the coaching staff to the players.
The biggest standout is KD – even though he’s not an MVP-caliber guy anymore, the season he’s having at his age is still mighty impressive. The biggest question mark for me is depth – almost none of the Suns’ fringe signings/trades have really paid off outside of Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale. Those two, the Big 3, and Jusuf Nurkic are all playoff-caliber guys.
After that…Eric Gordon is blah, Bol Bol has improved but has issues, and it goes downhill from there. More than injuries or star disappointments, the lack of playable depth has killed the Suns.
SP-G: Through a playoff-specific lens, how do you view this iteration of the Suns?
RF: It’s probably been said a lot by Suns fans and other NBA writers, but it’s the position I hold as well: the Suns could beat any team in the West (except maybe Denver) in a single series, but they don’t have the consistency or depth to make a real deep playoff run. If the Suns can stay healthy and their shooters are hitting, they could win a series, maybe, maybe even two, but I can’t see it beyond that.
The Suns and Clippers will not meet in the First Round and perhaps that is a good thing. Thank you to Robert Flom for taking the time to discuss the Suns with us.
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