LOS ANGELES, CA – One of the more overlooked stories in this whirlwind of an NBA season has been the success of the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers.
While many wrote them off this season as they have played the entire year without their All-Star Kawhi Leonard and a large chunk of it without Paul George, who continues to recover from a torn ligament in his elbow, the Clippers have remained very competitive posting a respectable 34-33 record and sit in the eighth seed in the highly competitive Western Conference.
They even lost talented swingman Norman Powell, their big acquisition at the NBA trade deadline, to a fractured toe shortly after making his team debut. So it’s safe to the Clippers have been hit hard by the injury bug and yet still have their heads above .500.
Their season has seemingly gone unnoticed as the focus in L.A. has been on the struggling Lakers, whom the Clippers recently swept in the season series 4-0, but whose issues and drama keep them on center stage over their hallway rival.
While the Lakers have also had injuries to their star players, they have failed to figure things out and make adjustments, an area that the Clippers have excelled at this year, thanks in large part to their head coach Ty Lue.
In his second season with the Clippers, Lue has proven he can make lemonade when handed lemons. His ability to make adjustments and get his team to consistently play hard has been the reason why the Clippers have kept the ship afloat in an injury-riddled season.
Even down two All-Stars and a key role player, Lue has gotten the best out of his squad led by Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Amir Coffey, Marcus Morris Sr, Ivica Zubac, Nicolas Batum, and Terrence Mann. Not exactly household names, but these guys have competed every night, mounting some major comebacks and challenging and even defeating some of the best squads in the league.
Lue’s coaching hasn’t been taken for granted as the players have heaped a ton of praise on him lately.
After a recent win over the Houston Rockets, Jackson called Lue “the best coach in the league.”
Even though Lue won an NBA championship with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and led the Cavs to three consecutive Finals appearances from 2016-2018, he never received much respect for his accomplishments.
There was always this unfair and false narrative associated with Lue that he was “LeBron’s puppet,” and it was LeBron that did the coaching on the floor with Lue having little to do with Cleveland’s success.
After he and the Cavs parted ways, Lue needed time to get his mental and physical health together after being thrust into a win-now situation in Cleveland. However, that narrative prevented him from even getting looked at for head coaching positions throughout the association.
However, Lue has made the most of his second chance as the Clippers head coach and has proven the success with the Cavs was no fluke and he was nobody’s puppet.
Last season in his first season as head coach, he led the short-handed Clippers to their first Conference Finals appearance in franchise history, a milestone his predecessor Doc Rivers couldn’t accomplish despite all the talent and opportunities.
While expectations have been lower this season because of the injuries to the stars, Lue has kept his team competitive, building on last year’s success and chemistry they established in the playoffs. With their three-point shooting, depth, and resiliency, the Clippers could be a problem for a team like Phoenix or Golden State in a seven-game series.
It’s time to start putting some respect on Lue’s name, acknowledge him as one of the elite coaches in the league, and even give him consideration for Coach of The Year for keeping the Clippers afloat through adversity, establishing an identity, and making them the best team in L.A.
