The Los Angeles Clippers have a brand-new area to deal with their duo of mid-30s All-Stars. Because the Clippers start their new period on the Intuit Dome, listed below are three questions going through Los Angeles’ different crew subsequent season.
1. How good is a Kawhi Leonard-James Harden combo in 2024?
The Clippers went from a Large Three of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden to a Large Two of simply Leonard and Harden. Final season, the crew misplaced their first six video games instantly after the Harden commerce, however received two-thirds of their video games after that, going 48-24. It was extra spectacular than the 55-win tempo implied, since they rested the starters whereas dropping their ultimate three regular-season video games.
However that was with George main the crew in minutes and a surprisingly wholesome season from Leonard, who performed 68 video games, his largest whole in seven years. The Clippers had the No. 4 offense within the NBA by way of effectivity, helped in a big half by George hitting 243 three-pointers (fifth within the NBA) at a 41.3 % clip and averaging 22.6 factors. Their protection was seventeenth, and it’ll doubtless see a downgrade with George gone, contemplating Harden is basically the NBA model of a delegated hitter.
Can the Clippers depend on Leonard, who missed 4 of the Clippers’ playoff video games and the Olympics with a knee injury? Can they count on huge manufacturing from 35-year-old Harden, a participant by no means identified for his conditioning and whose personal scoring has declined precipitously? You would not count on them to get higher and even more healthy for subsequent season, and there is a George-shaped gap within the offense.
2. The place is the three-point capturing coming from?
The Clippers had been sixth within the NBA in three-point share final season, however they had been solely sixteenth in made threes. After dropping George, who made 23.4 % of the crew’s triples, they did not precisely substitute his capturing. Derrick Jones Jr. (34.3 %) joins the beginning lineup, whereas Nicolas Batum (39.5 %) returns as a reserve, however each are low-volume, catch-and-shoot outdoors shooters. New backup level guard Kris Dunn and newly prolonged middle Ivica Zubac aren’t shooters, whereas presumptive beginning guard Terance Mann made lower than one three-pointer per sport final season.
Harden and Leonard are lethal mid-range scorers, however every goes to should up their outdoors capturing to maintain up with different offenses. Do not be shocked if Norman Powell will get extra taking part in time than his 26.2 minutes per sport final 12 months, as a result of within the 2024 NBA, somebody must be capturing from behind the arc.
3. Can the crew promote out The Wall!?
The brand new Intuit Dome incorporates a seating part behind one of many baskets referred to as “The Wall!,” designed just for Clippers followers. There is a 300-seat, standing-only cheering part within the middle of The Wall!, which in concept makes it tough for opposing free-throw shooters. To sit down there, followers cannot put on gear from different groups, should get “Chuckmark-certified” and cling to “The Wall! Code”:
“In the event you select to be part of The Wall!, you (and your company) can’t cheer for the opposing crew or put on any gear that helps one other NBA crew. In case your ticket is transferrable, as the unique ticket holder, you will want to make sure your visitor(s) perceive and abide by The Wall! guidelines. Break these guidelines and also you’ll lose entry to this part.”
However are there sufficient devoted Clippers followers keen to agree to those onerous situations? Sitting in The Wall! requires signing up for crew newsletters, following the crew on social media or subscribing to the ClipperVision streaming companies. Do the Clippers have devoted followers like that? Whereas a visitor on the “All The Smoke” podcast, rapper and Lakers fan Snoop Dogg predicted, “It is gonna be kinda empty.”
