OKC Thunder: Power Rankings all teams at the trade deadline

LA Clippers:

Week 13: 2-1

Offense: (116.6) 2nd
Defense: (111.3) 14th
Net: (Plus +5.2) 5th

It’s an ongoing refrain here at Intentions that there is something visibly off with the Clippers. They just don’t seem to have the chemistry and flow of a club with as much talent as they have.

Injuries aren’t helping (Patrick Beverley and Serge Ibaka are out) but the problem runs deeper. Tha became abundantly clear when the typically quiet as a mouse Kawhi Leonard spoke of his concerns about the lack of consistency of the club. insinuating it was effort based.

That’s not a comfortable role for the star nor is it for former OKC Thunder two-way talent Paul George. It perhaps speaks to the fact many pundits underestmated the talent that surrounded Leonard in Toronto when they won the title. That season was punctuated by load managment; something Leonard isn’t doing this season.

He has missed eight games with the team playing to .500 in those matches. Conversely, the Raptors were 17-5 without Leonard and most of those games were second nights of back-to-backs.

I bring this point up because the one piece of that team that made the difference was Kyle Lowry. Whereas Leonard preferred to lead by example, Lowry was the voice and demonstrative leader of the club.

That’s something the Clippers seem to be missing and moreover, the skillset of Lowry is also precisely the missing ingredient. LA needs a prototypical point guard who can captain the offense to capitalize on the talent and change the momentum in situations when the team gets locked in iso mode.

Unfortunately, for the Clippers, they don’t have the picks or assets to get involved in the Lowry sweepstakes but to reiterate a suggestion made frequently in this article George Hill would be the perfect elixir to fix that problem.

Hey, Lawrence Frank and Sam Presti are old friends by now, and since LA just restocked their second-round picks perhaps it’s time for the OKC Thunder exec to relieve the Clippers of some of those picks.

Turns out, this suggestion which Intentions made prior is something the Clippers are believed to be considering, as per Kevin OConnor reported.

"The Clippers? They’ve got a rotation of Patrick Beverley and…Reggie Jackson (and, more of a combo guard, Lou Williams). No one really moves the playmaking needle, and Los Angeles appears aware, as The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor reported that the front office is aggressively looking at trade targets. Among those options, the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry and New Orleans Pelicans’ Lonzo Ball are clear favorites. But, unlikely to pull off a deal for either, the Clips are reportedly inquiring about the Oklahoma City Thunder’s George Hill and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Ricky Rubio. All options are capable of boosting L.A.’s ball-handling rotation."

Hill isn’t as expensive but checks off most of the same boxes and definitely is an upgrade from Beverley or Jackson.