The Los Angeles Clippers will embark on a new era while still dealing with the same lingering problems when they host the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday in the season opener for both teams.
After sharing a downtown Los Angeles arena with the Lakers for 25 years, the Clippers are moving into their own state-of-the-art venue 11 miles south in Inglewood, Calif.
But they seem to have shipped their old issues with them.
Star forward Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely with chronic knee issues that forced him to miss the 2021-22 season and limited him to 120 of a possible 164 regular-season games over the past two seasons. He also played in just four of the team’s 11 playoff games in two seasons.
The challenges don’t end there for Los Angeles, which also saw the departure of Paul George to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency. New additions include guards Kris Dunn, Kevin Porter Jr. and second-round pick Cam Christie, forward Derrick Jones Jr. and center Mo Bamba.
“Whatever personnel we have, we gotta make sure our staff makes sure that our offense and our defense fits our personnel,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said, per the Los Angeles Times. ” … This is gonna be my system no matter who plays for us. It’s gotta be different depending on who you got on the floor. And so that’s what we’re good at.”
Lue has always taken pride in a dedicated defensive approach that figures to be even more fine-tuned under new assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy. The former broadcaster and head coach was a senior consultant for the Boston Celtics last season.
While the Clippers went 51-31 and finished fourth in the Western Conference last season, the Suns went 49-33 to finish sixth. Both teams were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Phoenix is undergoing its own changes. Tyus Jones takes over at point guard under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, who replaces Frank Vogel. It will be a homecoming for the Arizona native Budenholzer, who guided the Milwaukee Bucks to a title in 2021.
The Suns also added former Clipper Mason Plumlee to a returning core that features Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, both of whom won a gold medal with Team USA at the Paris Olympics.
Guards Bradley Beal and Grayson Allen and center Jusuf Nurkic are back on a team that did not make major additions but, like the Clippers, figures to be better on defense under Budenholzer.
“For the players to go out and have a mindset that talk is cheap, it’s really what we go out and do each day, what we do in practice, what we do in games,” Budenholzer said about stressing to the team that actions will lead to improved results.
“Talking about things or making declarations, it’s really kind of meaningless.”
Allen, who has been dealing with Achilles soreness, will come off the bench after starting 74 of the 75 games he played in last season. The concept, for now anyway, is that Allen will get more scoring opportunities with the second unit as Jones arrives as a starter.
“I think all Grayson cares about is winning,” Budenholzer said.
Phoenix forward Josh Okogie won’t play Wednesday due to a hamstring injury.
