Clip City Corner

[MexicanMamba]

Word count: 3,018


CLIP CITY CORNER



Welcome to the first, and possibly only, edition of the Clip City Corner for this 55th season of simulated basketball goodness. I require points, so I need to write something, and here is the result. I will go in and deep(ish) dive into the season for my Clippers (thus far) as well as the league as a whole. I’ll also give my predictions regarding the season awards, discuss trades that I believe could have (or should have) been completed at the trade deadline, and perhaps a few other topics that I need to come up with depending on how many words I’ve written at that point. Should be fun. If not fun, then it should be interesting. If neither of those things? Well, I regret nothing, and no one told you that you had to come here and read this.



Onward!





CLIPPERS





I do not think there are a ton of surprises going on for my season to this point. I took some swings in free agency that mostly did not pan out, and training camp was not kind to some of the ones that did, but since the season started, it feels like business as expected.



Let’s recap!



Record: 35-30 (19-11 at home, 16-19 on the road)

Points for: 110.4

Points against: 110.2

Current playoff seeding: 6th



Coming into the season I was unsure if I would make a strong playoff push, stating even in my pre-season presser that I did not see myself getting much higher than the 7th seed, if I got in at all. Though I have spent much of the season at the 5 seed, the Nets beginning to hit their stride has dropped me to 6th and that feels appropriate considering how bad the conference is behind me. With only 17 games left, I don’t think I’d drop out of the playoffs though I will not call it impossible (look at that point differential). It’s an average team, more built for the future than it is for winning right this moment.



Team Leaders:



Dong Bone, 16.3 points

Jame Hector, 7.3 rebounds

Karlo Pearson, 3.6 assists

Karlo Pearson, 1.7 steals

Raiquan Gray, 1.6 blocks

Dong Bone, .600 TS%

Raiquan Gray, 25.2 USG rate

Raiquan Gray, 18 PER





Allow me to dissect some of these numbers here.



Dong Bone leading the team in scoring (and True Shooting) is not a surprise, as he is the most talented offensive player on the team, with plenty of room to grow further. 16.3 points per game is mildly surprising though, as it is lower than his previous season due to playing less minutes and taking less shots per game than he did previously. He is committing less fouls than in season 54, so the minutes drop is weird, though perhaps it is just due to having more competition on the wings for playing time since Pearson, Nix, Turney all can play the same positions. After Sim 9, Bone is up to 2nd on the team in shot attempts (811, 10 behind Raiquan Gray) which is good, though it is a more recent jump since for much of the season he was behind Hector and Nix as well, so it is a positive sign that he is getting comfortable taking more of the offensive load. With more natural progression, his efficiency should continue to rise as well. He is naturally a 6’8” SG with great quickness and leaping ability, which means there will not be a lot of players he will not be capable of shooting over.



Hector is a bonus leading in rebounds, though coming into the season I really hoped I would be starting Lyman Bradley at Center because of his defensive and rebounding prowess, until camp tore his current ratings to shreds. Until Sim 8, Hector had been exclusively a bench player and a very steady one at that and on the season his full stat line is 13.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 blocks. He takes more shots than I would like because he is aggressive by nature, but he’s still been a pleasant surprise even at his age. He is likely to start at Center the rest of the way.



Karlo leading the team in assists is not a problem but having my leading guy in this statistic only getting 3.6 per game very much is. It is likely the primary reason that my offense is so stagnant and inefficient. We are 13th in points scored (110.4), 20th in assists (22.7), 21st in turnovers (15.4), 15th in FG% (.474%), and 16th in offensive efficiency (106.8). The only offensive statistic that this team isn’t on the poor side in is shooting the 3 (4th, .379%) but that is due to great individual performances by Pearson, Bone and Turney. Getting a legit Point Guard/ball handler will be important in the coming seasons to allow Bone and Pearson to maximize their talents on the wing and get the offense flowing. He is also leading the team in steals, but that he is likely to do for years to come as his potential in that area is off the charts and I cannot wait for him to fully blossom on the defensive side of the ball.



The other key player to mention is Raiquan Gray, another young piece with a lot of promise. He is the most aggressive player on the roster and has the ability to play both sides of the ball and with some more positive training camps, he is likely to become the team’s leading rebounder, shot blocker and could be a 20 point per game scorer down the road. His inside scoring ability is already there, but once his jump shooting catches up, I look for that team leading PER to keep jumping as well.





THE LEAGUE





Time to look at the league overall and give some assessment, thoughts, and a few predictions for how things might go the rest of the way!





Best Team: Chicago Bulls



Maybe I am still just going by what I thought in the pre-season, but for now I will still stick with the Bulls as the team most equipped to win the championship this season, even with the Thunder, Pistons and Spurs having better records. I’m looking at the combination of players ready to win right now, the GM himself and the sheer size of the roster, and I think that is still the squad to beat. I would not at all be shocked if another team won the championship, because there are a handful to great teams and a few really good ones that are making a push and will not be an easy out, (Nuggets, Kings, Magic, Bucks) but at this point I’m still eyeing the Bulls.



Worst Team: Portland Trailblazers



And it’s tragically horrific.





Most Surprising Team: New York Knicks



Though they would currently be out of the playoffs, there’s just too many talented teams ahead of them and that conference is loaded, the Knicks do not bolster a roster that anyone but Varga would have been comfortable trotting out there and expecting to grab a playoff spot. The fact that they are only 3 games back of the 7th seed is pretty remarkable. I do not expect them to sneak in, because I think the teams in front are just better but being in the race is a nice accomplishment to this point.





Most Disappointing Team: Cleveland Cavaliers & Phoenix Suns



I did not really think the trade for Cassius Winston made a ton of sense for the Cavs when it happened because I felt the Cavs were already floundering while grasping at ill-fitting vets to finally make a playoff push. That being said, he’s played very well for them and the player given up to get him wasn’t particularly promising. I felt they were better blowing it up and starting over again. Even with low expectations however, I did not expect this bad a season from the Cavs, especially in a conference with so few legitimate contenders. I expected them to at least be competing for the final playoff spot, but instead its been a train wreck of a season, the cherry on the top being giving up a lotto pick for Jere Bailey who really is only a role-player. Poor guy keeps getting worked over by the people he trusts the most!



After a very promising season for the Suns (including a GMotY win), the off-season couldn’t have gone much worse, with losing Ronnie Reynolds, Chadwick Dangerfield due to low ball offers while gaining BBJ. If BBJ was a target, the move had to be trying your best to get those other two back in the fold. Or at least one of them. That off-season misfortune has continued into the season as the team has performed on par with the off-season choices. I do think there are some quick ways to get back on-track for this squad in a hurry this off-season though, so not all is lost.





MVP: It is an interesting race for the MVP this season as the two favorites MIGHT just be two players that have never won it before. Obviously, all eyes were generally on Dort coming into the season, but he was inactive for several games to begin as he awaited his trade to Orlando and his numbers are not as overwhelming as previous years. The two leading scorers are currently Patrick Williams and Fang Shuo, and as we’ve seen, scoring is important to the MVP voters. Williams is a candidate for sure, along with some of my favorite players in the league: Dorian Whitley, James Wiseman, and He Hor. The player that I think will get it, especially with his team in position to keep climbing up the Omega conference standings the last few weeks of the season is Brooklyn’s FANG SHUO. He’s scoring on par with Pat Williams (29.1 PPG) but he also is close to him in rebounding (he’s a guard) while also adding in 5.4 assists and being top 5 in the league in steals (2.2).





6th Man of the Year: Sometimes its tough to decipher who should win this award. It isn’t this season. Still, I’ll list a few honorable mentions before giving the obvious winner-



Elwood Berger: 15 points – 4.5 rebounds – 3.8 assists.

Jonathan Lewis: 16.1 points – 4.6 rebounds – 3.5 assists.

David Bower: 14.5 points – 4 rebounds – 2 blocks.



These three players are doing a lot with their bench minutes and helping their teams win ball games. That said, the winner of this award is playing in Indiana.



Mamadi Diakite: 20.3 points – 9.2 rebounds.



These are better big man statistics than most of the guys starting for teams. Diakite is playing starter minutes, to be completely fair, but it is what it is. He’s your winner.





Defensive Player: I’m pretty sure that I have predicted that Zaire Wade would win this award for a few seasons now, only for it to go to Mike Burnham due to his ridiculous block numbers. Burnham is still leading the league in blocks, but not by a huge margin this time. So, Burnham is still under consideration. I’d also like to see my continuous prediction of Wade finally come to fruition. However, I am going to go with GERRY FOLSE instead. He still has a chance to take the top spot in blocks (he’s currently 2nd) and he also gives a lot of himself on the offensive side (much like Wade.)





Most Improved Player: This is another award that is voted on with no rhyme or reason, so who the hell knows which way it will go. I’ll pop off some options though, because why not? I think that Patrick Williams is a guy who should get real consideration. He went from a strong player to a top scorer and MVP candidate. Same deal with Gerry Folse. The Mavericks have Toni Gauss, getting his first chance to start, making big jumps in all the important categories as well, and he might be my favorite to win it. Instead though, I’ll shine a light on the Timberwolves MATISSE THYBULLE, who has gotten a chance to start all season and has a 9-point jump in scoring.





DEAD-Line





The trade deadline has come and gone, and it was not very active except for teams pulling some smart salary dumps to clear out those tax bills. So, in an alternate universe, let’s explore some players that should have been traded and some deals that possibly could have been made to benefit everyone involved.



5 Players who should have been on the move:



Brandon Boston Jr.

Danny Campbell

Daniel Gamez

Gary Loredo

Norris Turney



The Suns should be looking to either tear down, or at least find creative ways to re-tool around Asher, which would mean gaining some assets to deal again in short order. BBJ went full purple in training camp and, I think, would have had great value to a few teams who are trying to win it all now, if he had been made available. Jon made Campbell available, but unfortunately just was not able to find the right deal (though we did briefly chat about it). The Pacers are stuck in a rut and a legit Point Guard likely would have stirred up some interest on the market. These last two players are older, stranger cases for different reasons (Loredo’s contract is massive, Turney’s is small) but I think they both would have benefitted another team’s championship hunt far more than whatever they’re doing for their current teams.



The Deals:



So, how could these players have been moved? Let’s explore! The finer details of these deals (like salary) could have been figured out by folks more interested than I am, but at their core, they make sense to me.



Brandon Boston Jr.



Suns send: BBJ



Pistons send: Emoni Bates



The Pistons are close to being championship ready as-is, and that is with the help of a bunch of young players, whose bills are about to come due. Getting Brandon Boston Jr as his peak would be one hell of a swing and another sign for everyone at the top of the league that they are in store for some hell. The problem here would obviously be the lack of worthless salary for the Pistons to match with. They’d likely have to use Ronnie Reynolds to get this done, and that would probably mean the Suns would have to add-in more to make Scott comfortable. But that would have been for them to figure out.





Danny Campbell



Lakers send: Danny Campbell



Nets send: Sydney Shank, Richie Cuevas, Newton Robb, Graig Howerton





Full honesty, the Nets were probably better off doing what they did and salary dumping Shank, getting the tax under control, and trying to add around Fang this coming off-season when they have more flexibility with their cap. However, if they were going to try to kick some ass this season? Getting Danny Campbell to go along with Kostas, Felicio and Fang, would have been quite the addition and solidified themselves as, at worst, the 3rd best team in the conference. Would have been fun to see.





Daniel Gamez



Pacers send: Daniel Gamez, Don Reyes



Mavericks send: Elwood Berger, Dudley Carner, 45 Mavs 1st



The Pacers, as mentioned elsewhere in this article, are in a bit of a rut and need to clear some stuff out. There might be more they could squeeze out of Gamez from the Mavs than what I listed here, but the idea is strong. The Pacers get a pick and two big wings (one of which is still only 27 years old) while the Mavericks get their much-needed legitimate Point Guard, including one that plays defense.





Gary Loredo



Timberwolves send: Gary Loredo



Kings send: Richard Hunt, Harland Cain, 45 1st



The Kings would still need to send some extra salary for this all to work, but it could get done. My thought process, besides getting the Wolves to be worse since I have their pick this season, is that the Kings should be doing everything that they can to get as good as they possible can get this season. Lewis is just about aged out of being a blue player and some time soon they will need to reset their tax at least for one season before trying to rebuild around Addington and Hayes (or tearing it down and trading them). So, why not go and try getting a highly effective player who might be able to be had without giving up anything too valuable to your future?





Norris Turney



Clippers send: Norris Turney



Magic send: Lakers and Magic 45 1sts (and salary)



This is a deal that did almost get finished before the deadline, so I might as well drop it here. If Andy and I had started discussing it earlier in the process, we could have gotten things done. The hiccup was my roster being full but not with salary I just wanted to drop without compensation OR needing to take cap hits in future seasons. I needed more time to shift other players first. This deal would have given Andy another strong piece (a high end 3&D wing) and me a couple of high-teen 1sts to play with as I work to develop Pearson and get ammo to make moves later. Too bad we just ran out of time.





BONUS ROUND!



And as a little extra, I also would have liked to have seen the Nuggets move Chadwick Dangerfield to a Point Guard needy team to get a Wing or Power Forward to better balance out his roster. The Lakers have a few big bodied wings and Kenneth Heard that may have made sense. Maybe they could have explored a similar deal to the one I suggested for the Pacers/Mavs. Or would the Wizards have been willing to use Liberty as salary match help and thrown in Deni Avdija and a young asset to get a legitimate PG to help during their push?



Lastly, because I need to torment Doug:



Dong Bone for Antonio Blakeney (and salary)



YOU SON OF A BONE!

[greepleairport]

+10pts, well done sir