Still, on October 11th the Clippers have 17 players on regular contracts. Two have to be cut down. Before the training camp I was sure they had to be Jawun Evans and Wesley Johnson. After watching the Nuggets game, my mind changed.
The roster currently constructs of 9 guards, 5 forwards and 3 centers, not counting two-way players Angel Delgado and Johntathan Motley and Desi Rodriguez, who is on a training camp deal.
Now, I just want to clarify: I’m saying what I’m saying here just because of one game. One game, that’s all. But knowing the players’ play styles, I’m pretty sure my analysis from that game holds.
So far I’ve got one player I think needs to go, based on the Nuggets game. And no, it’s not Evans nor it is Johnson. If I was Lawrence Frank I would cut Milos Teodosic.
Now you might think that Teodosic is a good player. Don’t get me wrong here: he is. I just don’t think he’s good enough for this team. Against the Nuggets he finished with one assist and… Well, yeah, apart from four misses, he only added one foul and one turnover. His shot wasn’t falling and he in my opinion tried too many fancy passes that resulted in nothing. Now, he did average 9.5 points and 4.6 assists per game last season, but his offense isn’t the problem.
The problem comes on defense. Teodosic is not a good on-ball defender. His lateral quickness and IQ aren’t enough. And his effort… Well, he tries when the guy he is guarding has the ball. When his guy is within 5 feet of the ball he looks to be active. After that… It’s awful. His defensive jog turns into walking after that. It would take to just for his guy to run three more steps and it’s an open three every time.
Would you cut Teodosic? Who would you cut if you were Lawrence Frank? Drop your opinions on the comment section on Twitter or Facebook: @ClipsNationLAX.
Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images
