4 Stats That Define the Clippers' 2-8 Start to the Season

Much ink has been spilled over the LA Clippers' struggles to start the season. Words can only do so much to explain the highly disappointing ten-game stretch. Sometimes, a deep dive into numbers can help paint a clearer picture of where a team stands. Let's take a look at four key Clippers stats from the first three weeks of the season.

Clippers' Starting Lineup Has a -12.3 Net Rating

It's hard to win games when your starting lineup digs itself a big hole every game. A team's starting five is supposed to be its strongest group, but that hasn't been the case for the Clippers.

The Darius Garland-Kris Dunn-Derrick Jones Jr.-Rui Hachimura-Brook Lopez lineup is among the worst starting lineups in the league. As a five-man unit, they rank in the bottom 21st percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Their offensive rating of 105.2 would be a bottom-three unit, and their defensive rating of 117.6 would rank 25th in the league.

Not sure if there is a better grouping out there, but this lineup is clearly not working right now.

Darius Garland Leads the League in Turnovers

Garland is tied with Luka Doncic with five turnovers per game. The problem is that Doncic has an all-time high usage rate of 40%. Garland, on the other hand, ranks 20th in the league in usage rate (28.9%). There is only one other player (Franz Wagner) who is averaging more than four turnovers per game.

As a result, the Clippers have the second-highest turnover rate in the league, turning the ball over in 18.2% of possessions. This is as much a team-construction issue as it is a disappointing performance by Garland.

Clippers Allow 71% Shooting at the Rim

LA's lack of quality center play is obvious in the rim protection stats. Opponents are shooting 71% at the rim (defined as shots within four feet of the basket) against the Clippers, the fourth-highest number in the league, per Cleaning the Glass.

To make matters worse, the Clippers also allow a ton of shots at the rim. Opponents take 34.4% of their shots at the rim, a bottom-five mark in the NBA.

The Clippers don't have enough size, length, and physicality. Brook Lopez and Isaiah Jackson are overstretched as the only healthy centers in the rotation. This makes it very difficult for the Clippers to have a respectable defense.

Clippers Have the Sixth-Hardest Remaining Schedule

What makes it hard to be optimistic about the Clippers' rest-of-season outlook is the fact that they didn't even have a difficult schedule to start. Only five of their ten opponents so far are above .500. Their two wins came against the Kings and the Pelicans.

According to Tankathon's remaining schedule strength calculation, the Clippers have one of the toughest slates in terms of their opponent's winning percentages. Of course, it's too early in the season, but the fact that the Clippers have yet to play any of San Antonio, Boston, or Houston is somewhat concerning.

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