52 games into the season, and we are looking pretty effing bad. We are 10-42, can't buy a bucket to save our lives, and are looking at the deep end for a team looking to lose games. Preseason's positive outlook had us looking to lose games but have bright spots to aim for in the future. This current season? Ass ass ass. Let's take a deep dive at the team to see what's gone wrong, and maybe what can go right for the future.
Team Offense. The Los Angeles Clippers have the single worst offense in the league by a metric mile. They just don't know how to shoot the ball into the round circle. It's atrocious. An offensive efficiency of 92.9, a whole 2.6 points worse than the next closest team. 88.7 total points scored per game, an entire 5 points less than the next closest team. The team as a whole is shooting an atrocious 40.7% from the floor. Out of the team's 12 regular rotation players, 8 of them are shooting at below 42% from the field. Only 2 of the players even shoot at above 45% FG. Nobody on the team is averaging double digit points per game besides shot CHUCKER Kevin Knox. It's egregious, how poorly organized the team is on offense. Nobody can buy a bucket, it's sad watching this team play offense on a night-to-night basis.
Team Defense. For all the offensive woes of the team, the LA Clippers have an oddly interesting defense. They regularly give their opposition fits on the defensive end, boasting a presently 10th ranking position for opponent points per game. They also sit at 15th, solidly middle of the pack, in terms of defensive efficiency. Overall, not much to say here. The team isn't egregiously bad on defense, just middle of the pack. There's certainly stuff to sort out, but as a whole, it's average.
Individual Play. God, where do I even start? How about with sophomore Jeremy Sochan, who's found himself being a nightly all-round threat to individually lose games for the team. It comes entirely on the offensive end of things. Sochan boasts an impressive 37.6% FG, which is UP from last season's 34% FG. He also averaging an impressively poor 1.5 Assist/Turnover ratio, impressively poor for an individual with his raw talent. Let's put that into perspective. For the season, he's put up 6.3 assists per game. Solid, even impressive for a big wing. He combines that with 4.2 turnovers per game, and in the most recent month-long experiment, has regularly put up double-doubles in assists and turnovers. It's appalling, the damage that he does on the offensive end of things.
How about rookie Paolo Banchero? The physicality that he showcased during his lone season at Duke has not translated whatsoever to the league. 5th in points per game for rookies, but shoots it at an abysmal 37.1% from the floor. His shot selection hasn't been the greatest, likely due to him being allowed to take whatever shot he wanted to when he was younger. Additionally, Banchero has been dwarfed by CSL-caliber bigs in his rookie season, struggling to draw many fouls at all. As a 6'10 rookie big man, Banchero has struggled mightily to adjust to the CSL-level of play.
What about our other rookie seeing time in the big league, Jalen "J-Dub" Williams? We'll talk more about him later, but he's been one of the lone bright spots about the team this season.
Dalano Banton, Luka Garza, Jalen Lecque, Nuni Omot, Patrick Baldwin Jr, and Killian Tillie have all been asked to play roles bigger than their talent and skillsets are known for, and have understandably struggled similarly. In particular, Omot faces much more defense than he should be, and this is reflective in his inability to score efficiently from the floor. Respectively, Rashad Vaughn has been a solid veteran presence, more than earning his paycheck, and will likely be asked to return after this season.
Highlights. Well, as stated, Vaughn has been a solid 2-guard for the team. Shoots the rock at an efficient clip. And Kevin Knox has been chucking the s*** out of the ball, but he is effectively the only source of consistent volume offense on the team, so it's also expected of him to be less efficient than desired. But outside of the small wins of the veterans playing their roles well, there is Jalen Williams. Jalen "J-Dub" Williams has been an absurdly efficient player to start his CSL career. As a rookie shooting guard, Williams is averaging 50.5% from the floor as a whole and 52.1% from behind the arc, on decent volume for a rookie. He's also thrown in a steal and half a block a game, to go along with his 3 rebounds and 1 assist a game. Relatively quiet as a whole, outside of his ridiculous efficiency. J-Dub hasn't made the noise he'd typically make with these rookie numbers, on a losing team media coverage can be minimal even in the big city of LA. But outside of Jalen Williams, there's only small wins to look at. Jeremy Sochan, despite the horrid numbers, has been better this season compared to last season. Shooting less but more efficiently, creating and experimenting more on offense as a primary/secondary creator, and excelling as a defensive dynamo running all over the floor. Banchero's shot selection will be reigned in, enabling him to perform at a higher caliber as a sophomore next season. And our vets are putting in the work in the gym, making sure they are available to step up when asked. It's been a slog of a season so far, yet the season isn't over. Just 30 more games, and we'll be looking at another talented addition to the team. Maybe this offseason the Clippers will be able to add more talent to the team. However, as of this season, it's just another season of the talentless Clippers. Oh what a slow burn this is.
