NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 663: Will play point guard in the new season

The Clippers lost two players this season: Patrick Beverley and Danilo Gallinari, both 32 years old. They added Jerami Grant, 26, and Jaden McDaniels, 20 and 26 years old respectively. This significantly lowers the Clippers' average age, making the team younger, especially the starting lineup, as Beverley and Gallinari have been starters for the past few seasons.

The oldest player on the team right now is Art Mayork, who is 34 years old. However, he is no longer part of the team's regular rotation and is considered a locker room leader, so Paul George is the oldest player in the team's main rotation.

The Clippers, as a dynasty team, are actually one of the teams with the lowest average age in the regular league, which is simply incredible!

With the new season about to begin, ESPN and other media outlets have made predictions for the 30 teams in the league. Undoubtedly, the Clippers remain the biggest favorite to win the championship. While they didn't make any major moves during the offseason, they did make minor adjustments to their roster, retaining the Fernando-George duo, re-signing role player center Hartenstein, acquiring forward Grant, and drafting the promising but still untapped Jaden McDaniels.

With the Villanova brothers, who have already made significant progress last season, the Clippers have one of the best roster depths and athleticism in the league.

Although they still haven't strengthened their interior, it's clear that their frontcourt will be stronger next season, and the starting lineup's defense will also be stronger after Gallinari leaves—these are all facts that are obvious to the naked eye.

However, one question remains unanswered: who will be the Clippers' starting point guard for the new season?

There were rumors that Jia Fei would be the team's starting point guard in the new season, but this news has not been effectively confirmed. The Clippers have not made any official announcements about it, nor have their coaching staff. Everything remains a mystery.

If Jia Fei becomes the team's starting point guard in the new season, who will play the position that Jia Fei used to play? Will it be Dillon or Bridges?

The departures of Beverley and Gallinari are generally not seen as a significant loss to the Clippers' strength. Last season's playoffs proved everything. Beverley, touted as a renowned perimeter defender in the league, was repeatedly outplayed by Westbrook, Harden, Murray, and Jimmy Butler. Of course, these four are all star players, so being outplayed by them isn't entirely unacceptable. The problem is that both Dillon and Bridges were more effective at defending these four than Beverley.

Without his defensive advantage, Beverley is unable to orchestrate the offense, his catch-and-shoot ability is inconsistent, and he's easily exploited by opposing big men when switching on defense. His presence creates a vulnerability in the Clippers' switch-everything defense. His $1000 million salary isn't small, but given the Clippers' current tight salary cap situation, he seems somewhat redundant.

As for Gallinari, he's a prime example of an offensively strong but defensively weak forward; he's either unusable or too expensive. It's unacceptable for a role player to need a star player to cover for him defensively.

With Beverley gone, it's obvious that Dillon and Bridges can easily fill his void, no doubt about it; as for Gallinari, Grant, Grant Williams, and Lee Kyle can all play his position. Their shooting may not be better than his, but their defense is all better than his, and these guys are all pretty durable.

11月28日，联盟公布了2020-21赛季季前赛赛程，季前赛将于12月12日开打。

今年季前赛一共49场比赛，从12月12日到20日。常规赛将由72场比赛组成，021年3月6日—11日为全明星假期。到2021年5月23日—7月23日为2021NBA季后赛。

Compared to previous years, the season started later this year, but if you consider last season's situation, you'll find that this year's offseason is really, really short.

Jia Fei and his team didn't get much rest during the finals, which was a test of their physical condition. Fortunately, their roster is relatively young, and the players are relatively healthy.

Before we knew it, it was December 12th, and the Clippers played their first preseason game of the 2020-21 season against their crosstown rivals, the Lakers.

Although preseason results do not count towards the regular season, preseason starters are often almost equivalent to regular season starters.

People weren't really interested in the outcome of this preseason city derby, but they were eager to know what the Clippers' starting lineup would be. Was the rumor that Jia Fei would be starting point guard true?

Staples Center was deserted that night; fans couldn't enter to watch the game, and the huge stadium seemed empty. The players felt as if they were back in the bubble, but even more desolate because the arena was bigger. In this situation, the difference between home and away games was minimal; only the floor was slightly different, everything else was similar.

Jia Fei is able to adapt to this kind of competition, and he can get used to being alone, which is one of the reasons why he can perform so well in the bubble park.

The Clippers' starting lineup has finally been announced. Here it is:

Center – Kelly Olynyk, Power Forward – Jeremy Grant, Small Forward – Paul George, Shooting Guard – Mikal Bridges, Point Guard – Jia Fei.

Jia Fei will indeed be the Clippers' point guard for the new season! The previous rumors were true!

This means that the Clippers will start with a lineup of 5 forwards in the new season!

Although this lineup doesn't have two towers, its average height is truly terrifying, at least in today's small-ball era!

首发5人的身高分别是211cm、203cm、203cm、201cm、201cm。一个中锋+4个侧翼！

Moreover, all four wing players are very fast, have outstanding wingspans and explosive physical attributes, and possess shooting and ball-handling abilities.

Although there's no point guard, you can never doubt Jia Fei's ball-handling ability. Besides him, Olynyk and Paul George also have playmaking abilities, so there's no need to be too timid in starting playmakers.

In fact, Beverley didn't participate in playmaking in the previous few seasons; he was just the nominal point guard.

With the preseason underway, the new season has truly begun.

The Clippers will be aiming for their fourth championship in franchise history. If they win the title this season, they will become only the second team in NBA history, after the Celtics, to achieve a four-peat.

The Lakers didn't make any major moves in the offseason, just minor adjustments, which aligns with Pelinka's operational strategy. Last season, after acquiring Pelinka, Lakers fans chanted slogans like "Pelinka is a god" and "The NBA season is over." However, after Pelinka's prolonged absence led to the team's elimination, their fans have been much more subdued this offseason.