3. What Are They Going to do With All of These Guards?
After drafting two guards, and holding onto Milos Teodosic this offseason, the Clippers have a huge clog of guards on their roster right now. As of now, the Clips have Patrick Beverley, Teodosic, SGA, Jerome Robinson, Jawun Evans, Ty Wallace (FA), Lou Williams, Avery Bradley, Sindarius Thornwell and CJ Williams on their roster. There’s only one ball and only five guys can play at a time. The Clippers have spoiled themselves silly with one’s and two’s and will need to make changes before the season.
In my piece about re-signing Montrezl Harrell, I brought up Clips Nation’s editor Lucan Hann’s proposal about some cuts that would need to be made. He proposed that getting rid of guys like CJ Williams, Sam Dekker and Jawun Evans would be smart. While they showed some promise last year, they aren’t better than the new two rookies coming aboard. Also, while I think this is a bad move, letting two-way free agent Ty Wallace sign with another team is probably inevitable at this point.
All of this still begs the question, however, what are the guard rotations going to look like? How can you make everyone happy? If I’m coach Doc Rivers this is how my guard rotation would look:
PG: Beverley, SGA, Teodosic
SG: Bradley, Lou, Robinson, Thornwell
I think it would be the height of idiocy to have SGA behind Teodosic. The potential that SGA showed this summer with the Clippers Summer League was huge. He can score, defend and has the length to guard 1-3. I wouldn’t be surprised if SGA pushes Beverley for starters minutes during the season. SGA is definitely going to be a big part of the Clippers future if he stays healthy. Easily more so than 31-year-old Teodosic, who has one more year on his deal, and wasn’t crazy impressive his rookie year. SGA will be great for the already awesome Clippers bench and I am so excited to see his growth this season.
Having Avery Bradley locked up for two years shows that the Clippers are moving forward with him as the starting two for the foreseeable future. I was a fan of the move to sign him this summer as Bradley brings two-way talent and knows how to win. If fully healthy, Bradley will be a vital part of the Clippers success moving forward and I look for him to be a big help this year. Hopefully, he can get back to peak Celtics Bradley, and with a full year ahead of him, he will have every opportunity in the world to show this.
Bringing Lou off the bench is still the best move for the team as he brings energy to that second unit and played better off the bench than in his 19 starts last season. Hopefully (pending injuries), Lou will not be required to shoulder the type of scoring load that he did last season, but I still fully expect him to be the one of the better scorers on the team this year. I doubt he scores 22.6 a game like he did last season, but I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a top 2-3 bench player in the league again this year.
After Lou, Robinson, and Thornwell I still think need some time to develop. They both showed an improved game this summer in the SL but I think they will use these two sparingly. Robinson will most likely be brought on for spot three-point shooting and Thornwell for his defense. Robinson could be the one outlier here and impress early on for more minutes. I believe him to be a huge asset moving forward but with the current clog of guards, even with cuts, it’ll be tough to get minutes for him.
Ultimately, cuts are going to need to be made, and potentially some more trades before or during the season. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Evans and Williams cut here soon. Also, be on the lookout for a trade involving Teodosic or Thornwell. I don’t anticipate it, but it wouldn’t shock me whatsoever.
Next Up: Play for Now? Or Play for the Future?
