New-look LA Clippers offense? Why Tyronn Lue wants his team to cut more

HONOLULU — The LA Clippers were coming out of a timeout in the third quarter of a late-March home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder when they unleashed arguably their most notable highlight of the season.

Russell Westbrook got the ball to Mason Plumlee on the left elbow, then made his way to the opposite side of the floor. It seemed like Westbrook and Marcus Morris Sr. were setting up screens for Kawhi Leonard in the right corner, while Plumlee prepared to get Paul George going on the left wing with a dribble handoff.

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But it was all a ruse. The action on the right side was there to pull Thunder defenders away from helping at the rim. Meanwhile, instead of receiving Plumee’s dribble handoff above the 3-point line, George separated from Luguentz Dort’s aggressive coverage and back cut him just as Plumlee threw a crisp bounce pass toward the baseline. George caught Plumlee’s pass just as his momentum turned his body clockwise and completed a 360-degree dunk.

The irony of that play: George was self-deprecating about his ability to cut when he hosted Indiana Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton on “Podcast P with Paul George” four months later in July.

“I do not know how to cut, I do not know how to back cut,” George said on his show. “I swear.”

“You literally had a back cut baseline 360 this year,” Haliburton replied.

George may have to get ready to cut more this season. Two days after that loss to the Thunder — which also saw George suffer a season-ending knee injury — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue lamented that LA was “not a movement team.” Now, 6 1/2 months later, ahead of the team’s second practice of training camp before the 2023-24 regular season, Lue shared how he wants to shake up his offense.

“Doing a lot more cutting,” Lue said before Wednesday’s practice when I asked about the spacing in his offense. “More cutting off the ball. Reading cuts.”

The Clippers have not made a move yet to drastically change the players on the team. They are still pursuing James Harden, whose game is more suited to a slow-paced, mismatch-hunting style of past Clippers teams. Regardless of any potential Harden trade, though, the Clippers can also become a different team by changing how their holdovers play.

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George was a little facetious about not being a good cutter. He’s not nearly as bad at it as he may want defenders to think. Lue likes to run deceptive actions out of timeouts for George to go backdoor.

But after George got hurt, Lue said the Clippers have to play “with better pace in the half court, as well, if we want to be successful.” The midseason addition of Westbrook nudged the team to play faster, but now that he’s re-signed, the personnel has to fit his play style. That applies to the half court, where the team is heavy on spread pick-and-rolls, guard-guard screens and attacking mismatches with isolations.

Here is a look at how many possessions per game the Clippers used each play style, their efficiency and where they ranked in each category, per Synergy.

2022-23 Clippers Play Types (Synergy)

Lue has preached “drive, kick, swing” in his tenure as head coach, which has led to some of the most efficient spot up offense in the league over the past three seasons. But that style of play has not led to a high volume of cutting. Per Synergy, the Clippers have been in the bottom five of the league in the number of possessions that ended with cuts in four of the last five seasons — the exception was 2021-22, when Leonard missed the entire season and George sat out 51 games.

Perhaps that is starting to change.

“I think our pick-and-roll spacing has got to be better,” Lue said. “So we’re doing a better job of cutting that slot guy to open it up for our scorers to get to their spots and really get into the paint.”

Lue has declined to discuss potential starters, but his emphasis on movement offers further confirmation that incumbent power forward Morris has to compete for his prior role alongside locked-in starters George, Leonard, Westbrook and center Ivica Zubac.

After the All-Star break, that unit started the seven games in which all five players were healthy. While that group defended extremely (and probably unsustainably) well, allowing only 93.4 points per 100 possessions over 112 minutes, it scored only 108.0 points per 100 possessions. For context, the Charlotte Hornets, the league’s worst offensive team last season, averaged 108.4 points per 100 possessions.

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Morris’ best attribute since arriving on the Clippers has been his stationary spot-up shooting. While his defense and rebounding are often criticized, it was his shooting decline that coincided with his departure from the starting group to close the regular season.

When Morris, whose name has been persistent in trade rumors, was asked what he can still contribute to this year’s team, he mostly demurred to speak about his on-court game.

“I don’t think it’s a thing of (what) ‘no one else can really bring.’ That’s the thing about this team is that we have a lot of depth,” he said. “Obviously, my career speaks for itself. I’ve been on a lot of teams and I’ve always brought that passion and fire. I just need to get back to that. No matter how things are going, shots falling or shots not falling, just be myself, be who I am, and I think everything else will take care of itself.”

The leading challenger for the disputed starting spot Morris occupied for much of last season is Terance Mann, a 6-foot-5 wing who has been a jack-of-all-trades player in his first four NBA seasons. When it comes to “movement players,” Mann fits the bill. He made 38 field goals off cuts last season, per Synergy, more than veteran power forwards Morris (5), Nicolas Batum (15) and Robert Covington (12) combined last season.

Mann has a way of finding the soft spots in defenses when the ball touches the paint, slicing in from the corners or down the slot. Westbrook became especially adept at finding Mann on the move.

The coaching staff and Mann appear to be on the same page about his areas of emphasis. While Mann started at point guard before Westbrook’s arrival, he is not focused on a heavy on-ball role, saying on media day that he wants to be “that extra player on the floor to space the floor out.” Mann’s fit with this season’s team will depend on balancing the movement skills he has shown with providing the necessary shooting to allay any offensive spacing concerns.

“I feel like I’m really good in the small-small pick-and-roll. I feel like I’m one of the best at it, actually. (And I’m) one of the best at cutting.” Mann said. “So not just spacing the floor and shooting, but adding all that other stuff to it.”

Continued to ask Terance Mann about his skill work, anticipated role, and coaching staff feedback.
I brought up movement shooting. Mann also mentioned:
– screening
– rolling
– cutting
– energy
– head of snake defense
– spacing
– transition
"What did staff tell you?"
"Same thing." pic.twitter.com/d8fY9QIYnI

— Law Murray 📱 (@LawMurrayTheNU) October 3, 2023

While Mann will balance movement with spotting up, Zubac said he had a “really good summer” working on playing in the post and finishing with either hand. It’s not like Zubac was bad there last season, not by any stretch. Of the 34 players to end at least 100 offensive possessions with post-ups last season, Zubac ranked seventh with an average of 1.14 points per possession, according to Synergy. The six players above him have been All-Stars: DeMar DeRozan, Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokić, Kristaps Porzingis, Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid.

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“I think I proved last year that I can do it at a high level, play in the post,” Zubac said Monday. “I think it can be something for this team when we’re in a slump or when the guys are not playing games. I think it can be something that we can go to a little more that can help us score some buckets.”

Zubac had 40 more turnovers than assists last season, which may have contributed to his limited touches. But Lue wants to use Zubac’s post-up skill more this season, citing his stellar numbers in those situations.

“Post him a little bit more,” Lue said on media day. “When he has guys on his back, we should be able to throw the ball into the post and let him go to work. … Just trusting him to make the right play when he gets the ball on the block, which he’s done.”

Time will tell if Lue’s emphasis on creating easier looks for George and Leonard changes based on the players around them. Zubac and Plumlee are non-shooting threats outside of the paint. Westbrook can make 3s, but defenses don’t respect his jumper. Newcomer KJ Martin offers Mann-like off-ball movement, but his long-range prowess (31.5 percent 3s with the Houston Rockets last season) is a work in progress, as well. The departed Eric Gordon wasn’t anyone’s idea of a movement shooter, but he was the player who replaced Luke Kennard as the primary option on some of Lue’s favorite veer actions last season. Perhaps Bones Hyland can fill that role this year.

The math of the Clippers offense is heavily on Lue’s mind. Sometimes, it’s a make-or-miss league, so Lue has been more than content to beat teams using Leonard and George’s high-level shotmaking and his roster’s deep cache of long-range shooters. Since George and Leonard arrived to LA in 2019, no team has made a higher percentage of 3s (38.4 percent) than the Clippers.

But sometimes it’s not a make-or-miss league and the possession battle plays a factor in wins or losses. The Clippers lost this margin last season, allowing teams to get 35 more offensive rebounds and turning it over 102 more times. They were a good defensive rebounding team, but they didn’t force many turnovers and lacked the personnel to crash the offensive glass. Those shortcomings put pressure on the offense to take care of the ball, which they did not do, especially when last season began.

“We got to be better with that, taking care of the ball,” Lue said Wednesday. “When we win the possession game with Kawhi and PG playing, we were 12-3. So just winning the possession game, taking care of the basketball, we’re a different team.”

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Much of the emphasis on running, cutting and playing more dynamically could go out the window if a piece like Mann is moved in a potential Harden deal. For now, though, Lue cannot be concerned with how trades may change the team and its offense. All he can do is prepare the team as it is currently constructed.

“I love our team, the way it’s constructed now with a lot of pieces, a lot of versatility,” Lue said on media day. “And so our main focus going into camp is this is who we have. We want to focus on that and give it our best shot. That’s what we’re focused on. Not really focused on trades and the outside noise. We’re really focused on the guys that are here in this locker room.”

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

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