Star forward Paul George is expected to make his debut as a member of the Clippers on Thursday in New Orleans, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
George has spent the first three weeks of the regular season recovering from a pair of shoulder surgeries he underwent in the spring after the Thunder’s season came to an end.
There was an expectation that he’d miss about 10 games to start the season before targeting this week’s back-to-back set in Houston (Wednesday) and New Orleans (Thursday) for his return. Barring a setback, the plan is for him to sit out the game against the Rockets before suiting up vs. the Pelicans, says Haynes.
George’s return is great news for a Clippers team that may be without Landry Shamet, who is undergoing an MRI today on his sprained left ankle. If Shamet misses time, the rest of the Clippers should play similar minutes with George back in the lineup. Once the roster is fully healthy, some of those players figure to have their roles adjusted.
Kawhi Leonard, who is on a load-management plan, will likely sit out one game of the Clippers’ back-to-back set, but it’s unclear at this point whether that will happen Wednesday or Thursday.
(insert sad ESPN noises here)
They’re are so biased with the LA and NY teams. If the Rockets played in either of those cities they wouldn’t stop talking about them.
Beverly at point, PG should play SG, Kawhi at SF and I’d have Green at PF. Zubac at the 5.
Then when fit have Shamet Lou Will Harkless Patterson and Harrell of the bench together.
Green is a better defender, better shooter and better rebounder than Patterson so I’d start him. Off the bench Shamet and Williams are a good combo, Harrell does his thing really good and then Harkless at Patterson round out the rotation. Then there’s also McGruder, Robinson and Kabengele.
I think if they wanted to make another really strong step in the right direction they could swap Zubac and Jerome Robinson for Dwayne Dedmon and a second round pick.
Dedmon would be a good 3 point shooting big plus he’s good at rim protecting. Kings get Zubac and Robinson two good young players on long ish deals, good for the kings development.