Averaging 3 points and 4 assists per game, Paul s leadership is not as effective as expected! The Clippers made a mistake, should Paul consider retiring?

It’s been almost two weeks since the new season started, and several championship-level giants in the Western Conference seem to have their own problems. Because Edwards suffered a hamstring injury, the Timberwolves lost their competitiveness and could only stop the bleeding slightly against teams like the Hornets; the Nuggets started with 3 wins and 2 losses, and their substitute lineup has improved compared to the past few seasons, but Jokic's scoring has also dropped. Murray's typical 800 kills have cost him 1,000; and there are the Warriors. It’s easy to win against the Nuggets, Clippers, and Lakers, but he repeatedly stumbles against weak teams. He makes various mistakes when he is even slightly ahead. Curry should indeed bear the responsibility, but behind the scenes, why does Cole condone this way of playing? Compared with these teams, the Clippers' situation is worse and more complicated.

The Clippers also had 3 wins and 2 losses in their first 5 games, losing miserably to the Jazz and Warriors, but also won victories against the Suns, Trail Blazers and Pelicans. Overall, the Clippers don't make mistakes easily, but the upper limit seems to be lower. Let’s look at some statistics. First of all, the Clippers averaged 111.2 points per game this season, ranking 28th in the league, only higher than the Mavericks and Pelicans, two teams without orthodox point guards; the Clippers averaged 24.8 assists per game, ranking 20th in the league! Although the Clippers have more wins than losses, their net efficiency per 100 rounds is still -1.3! First of all, Harden is the team's organizational brain and rhythm core. He averages 21.8 points and 9.2 assists per game. There are more assists than last season because there are more people eating pie around him. But the team's substitute point guard Paul was a huge disappointment!

Let the data speak. Paul played an average of 14 minutes per game this season, basically staggered with Harden. Tyronn Lue will not let them play at the same time; he averaged 2.6 points and 4 assists per game, with a two-way shooting percentage of 25% + 33%, and a plus-minus value of -4. The plus-minus value ranks in the bottom 10% of the league. This is indeed not the bottom, but there are several statistics: the On-Off value of the Clippers' core core, Harden is +15.2, Leonard is -32.0, Zubac is -8.5, Collins is +11.8, and Paul is -17.6. Some people must question, why is Leonard so low? Paul is involved again: because when Leonard and Paul brought the lineup of Luo + Dunn + Collins, the team lost their opponent by 33.3 points per 100 rounds! And Harden brought Luo + Dunn + Collins + Batum, and the Clippers beat their opponents by 24.3 points in 100 rounds.

What is even more desperate is that if Paul and any three-person combination of the Clippers are on the court at the same time, they will definitely lose points, with an average loss of 14.0 points; with Paul and Leonard on the court, they will lose 11 points per 100 rounds; with Collins on the court, they will lose 14.0 points per 100 rounds; with Dunn on the court, they will lose 31.8 points per 100 rounds! In the entire league, there is no backup point guard with a lower efficiency value than Paul! All the data can be found in "BR". How did Paul regress to this extent? Time is not forgiving. Paul is 40 years old. Last season with the Spurs, he indeed averaged 9 points and 7 assists per game, leading young people to grow rapidly. But why didn't the Spurs give him a pension contract? From the past few games of the Clippers, we can see that Paul can control the ball and organize, but he does not have the ability to tear apart the opponent's defense. The opponent is not afraid of you keeping the ball.

Paul is protected on the defensive end by Collins + Dunn and others, so he is not greatly affected. However, when he is on the court, the team's offensive efficiency is as low as 94.8 (when Harden is on the court, the Clippers' offensive efficiency is 123.8, which is basically in line with the team's overall offensive efficiency of 124.3 when Paul is not on the court)! Leonard plays with the bench, and the opponent only targets Leonard; Leonard plays with Harden, and the Clippers bench immediately misfires, and they are completely different from the preseason! Essentially, because everyone knows that Paul can only pass the ball, you can no longer score. Moreover, Dunn is still a blue-collar defensive player. That only leaves Batum + Collins + Da Luo, which is easy for the opponent to judge. After the previous defeat to the Warriors, Harden complained about being tired. The Clippers reporter was surprised and said that Harden never complained about such difficult conditions last season.

But this season, the bench has become the Clippers' biggest trap. The starting lineup has to fill the hole for them. Isn't it tiring! When the Clippers signed Paul for 3.6 million in one year, Paul did not say that this was the last year of his career, saying that he would continue to play as long as he had the conditions. The imagination of the American media, including the expectations of fans, is that Paul averages 15 minutes per game and averages 8+6 per game. This is the bottom line. Harden can relax a lot. Including the way Harden and Paul separated during the Rockets period, the two must have had their differences. But for the sake of the championship, Harden could put aside his previous unhappiness and organize the team with Paul. Unexpectedly, he got this ending. There is no way to solve it. Whoever leads the second team will suffer. What's more, Bill's performance was seriously below expectations.

Harden and the Clippers are about to make a miscalculation! Last season, in order to share the pressure on Harden, Ben Simmons was signed, but he disappeared immediately; after signing Paul this season, there is indeed no gas in the tank. As long as Harden is not on the court, the Clippers lose 12.0 points to their opponents per 100 possessions, which is already the bottom level in the league. But can Paul still lead the bench back on track? Age is the biggest enemy of athletes. No one can cross this threshold. It is true that people are easily disliked when they get older, but everything happens for a reason. If he continues to play like this, Paul should really consider retiring.