Clippers Expected To Make Significant Change To Rotation
All season long, the Los Angeles Clippers have battled through injuries and load management, which has resulted in them fighting for a playoff spot late in the year.
As things stand currently, the Clippers are the 5-seed in the Western Conference, just a half-game behind the Phoenix Suns for the 4-seed and one game in front of both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors in the standings.
There is very little room for error over the team's final six games of the regular season if they are to avoid having to fight for their playoff spot in the Play-In Tournament, which is why Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is ready to make a change to his rotations.
Following Monday night's victory over the Chicago Bulls, a game in which veteran Nicolas Batum started for Los Angeles, Lue stated that Batum would be the team's starting power forward moving forward.
"Nico is the starting four going forward," Lue said when asked about if Batum would remaining in the starting rotation. "There was nothing that Marcus [Morris] did wrong, I just think it's try something different. When you are not playing well, you want to try something different and Marcus was all for it. You have to sacrifice if you want to win at a high-level and like I said, our guys have bought into that..."
When asked if veteran Robert Covington would see an increased role with Marcus Morris Sr. falling out of the rotation, Lue did not give an actual answer to the question he was asked.
However, Covington is expected to see his role increase, as he played 11 minutes off-the-bench in Monday night's victory.
Starting against the Bulls, Nicolas Batum scored a season-high 24 points on 8-10 shooting, all of which was from three-point range. Batum also recorded five steals, three rebounds and two steals.
With Paul George out due to a right knee sprain, the Clippers have a massive hole to fill on both ends of the floor and while he is 34-years-old, Batum is still a versatile forward that can fill many roles for his team.
The Clippers will be back in action on Wednesday night when they go on the road to take on the Memphis Grizzlies.
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