Clippers getting to know top rookies Barnes, Mobley and Cunningham
The future arrived this week.
The Clippers were on the other end to receive it, facing, in order, the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 picks of last summer's NBA draft, a trio of 20-year-olds who are considered the most likely candidates to win rookie of the year, according to the folks in Las Vegas, and the NBA.
First, coach Tyronn Lue's team eked out a 106102 victory against top pick Cade Cunningham in Detroit. Then the Clippers lost, 120-111, in overtime to former USC star Evan Mobley, the No. 3 selection last year.
They took on Scott Barnes, the Toronto Raptors' No. 4 overall pick, in a game on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Lue said he's getting accustomed to game-planning for rookies.
“We had to do it the last few games, with Mobley in Cleveland and then we had Cunningham in Detroit, who both played well against us. Scottie Barnes is no different,” said Lue, noting Cunningham's 23 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds Sunday, and Mobley's career-high 30-point effort the next night.
“(Barnes is) definitely a top-five candidate for rookie of the year. The way he plays, he guards the best players defensively, he's handling the ball, his shot has improved over the season, I think he's shooting like 31% from 3, and so he's all about winning.”
Lue's comparison for Barnes? A four-time AllStar and former defensive player of the year.
“He reminds me a little bit of Draymond Green,” Lue said. “Defensively, being able to guard multiple positions, and the other night, I watched the game, they had him on Joker (Nikola Jokic). He's guarding point guards, and he handles the ball for them offensively a lot.
“They (Raptors) say he does whatever it takes to win. He's a winner, you know? Not a great shooter, not this, not that, he does whatever it takes to win and when you need a big play, he always comes up with it.”
Lue spoke highly of the other rookie standouts as well.
What Lue likes about Mobley: “Rebounding the basketball, protecting the rim, and then just playmaking on the offensive end.”
And Cunningham? “Understanding the game. I think being a point guard, especially on this level, it takes a little time. And just talking to Rex (Kalamian) and some of the guys around there, just him developing and understanding the game as a point guard, but seeing the floor. And I just been watching him a little bit and, early on, just making some turnovers, because he's not able to read the defense. But now he's gotten better and better.”
Via Toronto
The Clippers have employed three former Raptors champions since they won a title in 2019, most notably, of course, twotime NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.
Serge Ibaka also spent a season-plus in L.A. before being traded to Milwaukee at the deadline this season. And just days before the Ibaka trade, the Clippers made another deal to bring in Norman Powell, a San Diego native and former UCLA star.
So before he answered a question about Powell's development, Toronto coach Nick Nurse quipped: “First of all, who you guys taking this year? Do we know yet?”
On Powell, the wing who is recovering from a fractured medial sesamoid bone in his left foot (he recently was able to ditch his walking boot), Nurse said he wished him a speedy recovery.
Nurse noted that when the Raptors practiced at UCLA this week, he talked with a volleyball coach who reminisced about Powell patiently waiting for his fellow Bruins to clear the court so that he could get back to work.
“And I said, `That doesn't surprise me.' Because his work ethic was always just, like, he was always in the gym. He was always, always in the gym,” Nurse said. “He was in there early, he was in there late, and he worked himself into that contract, playing time, all the things that he's gotten have really come because of his tremendous work ethic.
“So I hope he gets healthy. I'm happy to see him, like, having tremendous success in this league, for sure.”