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Rajon Rondo pulled aside
Avery Bradley during practice
recently and asked that Brad-
ley make sure to guard him ev-
ery time down the court.
Bradley’s defense has turned
heads during Lakers training
camp, and Rondo wanted the
two of them to sharpen each
other.
“That has to be every-
body’s mentality,” Bradley
said. “Because we are a team
and we want to push each
other and we want to bring the
best out of each other every
single day.”
Bradley, Rondo, Alex Ca-
ruso and Quinn Cook are
among a group of Lakers
guards vying for playing time
this season. Also in the mix
are Kentavious Caldwell-
Pope, Troy Daniels and two-
way player Zach Norvell.
Their roles aren’t defined yet
and they might not be for
much of the season. Whatever
guards the Lakers play when
LeBron James is on the floor
will have to fit with the super-
star forward who often as-
sumes ballhandling responsi-
bilities.
“We’re gonna try to use all
of them,” coach Frank Vogel
said of his backcourt. “We
have great depth. All these
guys are able to come in and
perform in big roles right now.
There’s not a lot of guys,
young guys, 20-year-olds or 18-
year-olds, where we’re gonna
have to say ‘we’re gonna have
to wait on this guy’ or any-
thing. These guys can all pro-
duce right now, so it’s gonna
make my job difficult when it
comes to divvying out min-
utes.”
Last season the Lakers
started Rondo and Lonzo Ball
at point guard. Caldwell-Pope
is a returning shooting guard
who played 82 games while
sharing time with Brandon
Ingram and Josh Hart. With
Ball, Ingram and Hart sent to
New Orleans as part of the
trade to acquire Anthony
Davis, the Lakers needed to
revamp their backcourt.
They signed Bradley, Cook
and Daniels in free agency,
and gave Caruso his first
guaranteed contract after two
seasons as a two-way player
who split time with the team’s
G League affiliate.
Bradley, Caldwell-Pope
and Daniels traditionally have
been shooting guards. Rondo,
Caruso and Cook have spent
more time as point guards,
though Cook might be the
best shooter of the group.
Vogel envisions all of them
playing on and off the ball.
“Rajon Rondo’s going to be
a different player off the
basketball than he’s been in
his career,” Vogel said, then
praised assistant Jason Kidd,
highlighting the Hall of Fame
point guard’s improvedshooting over his career. Kidd
ranks 10th with 1,988 three-
pointers.
“Jason Kidd as a model of
being a non-shooter early in
his career ... is a great model to
be for Rajon,” Vogel said. “He
[Rondo] shot 36% from the
three-point line the last four
years. That’s above average.”
Said Caruso: “I’ve worked
on-ball with Rondo, off-ball
with Rondo. On-ball with
Quinn, off-ball with Quinn.
Same thing with Avery. And
Bron’s been out the last cou-
ple days, but I’m sure it’d be
the same way. It’s been a good
dosage of both. I think I’m a
really diverse player, I think I
can do both. I think it just ben-
efits me in the long run.”It’s all with an eye toward
that one superstar who excels
with the ball in his hands.
James didn’t participate in
the Lakers’ scrimmage Tues-
day and was held out of Mon-
day morning’s practice.
That’s given the rest of the
guards time to work with one
another. But ultimately how
they work with James will be
paramount.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys
who do a bunch of different
things really well,” Caruso
said. “LeBron just happens to
do all of them really well. So
whatever position he’s
playing, whether it’s the one,
the two, the three, the four, the
five in our lineups, you kind of
just play off of it.”Guards work on ways to mesh with James
Both returning and
new Lakers vie for
role alongside star and
versatility is a must.
By Tania Ganguli
LeBRON JAMESclicked with Rajon Rondo last season, and the Lakers need the chemistry to continue with the other guards.Harry HowGetty ImagesAVERY BRADLEYbrings defense to the Lakers,
which former Celtics teammate Rondo appreciates.Harry HowGetty ImagesHONOLULU — When
the Clippers arrived one
year ago here for training
camp, they touched down in
one of the world’s most
popular tourist destina-
tions.
Some on the team, how-
ever, envisioned they were
somewhere far more inhos-
pitable to visitors. They
nicknamed it “Clamp City,”
the place they believed op-
posing offenses would live,
uncomfortably, all season.
First-team all-irritation de-
fender Patrick Beverley
came up with the name. For-
ward Luc Mbah a Moute de-
clared that the defense pos-
sessed not only the belief but
the capability to become the
NBA’s best.
In the end, Clamp City
was more mirage than reali-
ty.
Mbah a Moute missed all
but a handful of games be-
cause of injury. Hounding
guard Avery Bradley was be-
loved by coaches but
deemed dispensable at
February’s trade deadline.
Continuity was difficult
when the team imported
nearly half a new roster at
midseason. The Clippers
ranked 19th in points al-
lowed per possession — be-
low the league average and a
huge drop from those pre-
season goals.
The offseason has done
little to clamp down such
lofty talk, however.
When the Clippers ar-
rived Monday in Honolulu,
they brought two-time NBA
defensive player of the year
Kawhi Leonard, four-time
all-defense honoree Paul
George and a rejuvenated
belief that they can be the
most difficult defense to
score against.
“It’s going to be scary,”
George said. “I think, for the
first time, people are going
to be excited to watch the de-
fensive side as opposed to
the offensive team.”
Creating one of the
league’s toughest defenses is
not something done for
bragging rights alone. It is a
prerequisite for champi-
onship contenders. All but
one title team from the past
decade has finished the
regular season ranked in the
top 10 in defensive rating.
And the outlier, Golden
State in 2018, went from 11th
in the regular season to first
in the postseason.
Getting into the top 10
will require Leonard and
George to amplify the Clip-
pers’ strengths and patch
over their weaknesses, and
their track records suggest
they will have success doing
that.
Last year’s Clippers were
excellent at defending spot-
up shots, average in transi-
tion and a sieve against ball-
handlers in the pick-and-roll
plays — the three defensive
scenarios faced most last
season, according to Syn-
ergy Sports.
Leonard allowed oppos-
ing ballhandlers in pick and
rolls to score on 39% of op-
portunities last season,
among the lowest rates on
Toronto’s roster, and George
was stingier at 34%. Like
that superstar duo, Maurice
Harkless is a long-armed,
tall defender who can switch
onto opposing players, from
shooting guards to power
forwards, and get his hands
on passes.
“We weren’t disruptive,”
Rivers said of the defenselast season. “We couldn’t get
our hands on [balls]. We
were small.”
He was pleased when he
had to stop a drill during
Monday’s practice because
players were getting their
hands on passes too often.
The team also expects a
boost from center Ivica
Zubac. Motivated by a four-
year, $28-million contract
signed over the summer, he
lost weight by cutting sugar
out of his diet.
The Clippers are more
than just arm length and
foot speed, with a roster that
carries echoes of some of the
best defenses Rivers has
been associated with, the
coach said. As a point guard,
Rivers played on a New York
Knicks defense that, under
the coaching of assistant
Dick Harter, acted like a
neighborhood bully. As
coach of the Boston Celtics,he watched the competi-
tiveness of Kevin Garnett,
James Posey and Tony Allen
take hold of the entire team.
“Both teams, before you
even start, they had this
team toughness,” Rivers
said. “You kind of said, be-
fore they even started, ‘Man,
those are some tough
dudes.’ ... The same thing
with this. Now you have to do
it.”
Then again, it wasn’t
toughness that was the issue
last season — it was health.
And perhaps no team’s po-
tential this season hinges as
much on health as the Clip-
pers, who are slowly bring-
ing George and Leonard
along during camp.
“Defense is going to take
care of itself,” Beverley said.
“We’ve been playing defense
since we were a small child,
so that won’t change. Now
it’s just time to get to work.”Clippers believe
‘Clamp City’
can be rebuilt
Offseason additions
rejuvenate hopes
L.A. could be among
NBA’s best on defense.
By Andrew Greif
HOLDOVERSlike Patrick Beverley, above, plus star
newcomers have the team excited about its defense.Harry HowGetty ImagesHONOLULU — Paul
George had just finished
hoisting shots after the first
day of Clippers training
camp on the University of
Hawaii campus when he
sauntered over to chat with
Jerry West.
The two spoke off to the
side, with George doing
most of the listening, his
eyes riveted on West as the
Clippers consultant spoke.
For George, who remains
limited in practice because
he’s recovering from surgery
on both shoulders, getting
words of wisdom from West
has been “awesome.” It re-
minds him of his time
playing for the Indiana Pac-
ers, when Larry Bird, who
was the team’s president,
would have conversations
with the 6-foot-9 forward.
“I’ve been blessed to
share a lot of great moments
with legends, people in my
corner — Larry Bird, Jerry
West now,” George said
Tuesday. “Just cherish those
moments and any little gem
that they can share and give
and pass off, you take it. You
take it and you try to use it
and you can see how it ben-
efits and see how it meshes
with your game.
“But [West has] been in
my ear since I’ve gotten here,
just giving little details and
insights on what he’s seeing
that I can do better in the
season and keep expanding
on it. So it’s awesome to
share and cherish those mo-
ments. For me, I look for-
ward to seeing him walk over
and seeing what he saw and
how he can help me.”
Mentally, George said
he’s in a good place with how
he is approaching his prac-
tice restrictions, knowing
that the offseason surgeries
to repair a small labrum tearin his left shoulder and a par-
tially torn tendon in his right
shoulder would push his re-
covery into training camp
and beyond. He has to avoid
contract and “live drills,”
coach Doc Rivers said.
“I’m just approaching it
to continue to get better,
continue to rehab, continue
to get stronger,” George
said. “I’m engaged whether
I’m on the court with them,
listening up, following along.
When they are doing their
thing, I’m on the side work-
ing out, getting my work in.
So I’m just trying to catch up
and get on their speed when
time calls for me to get back
out there.”
Rivers said George prob-
ably won’t do a live drill “at
least for another week or
two.” There is no rush, Riv-
ers said, because the Clip-
pers want to make sure the
prize they acquired from the
Oklahoma City Thunder is
fully healthy to play along
their other prize forward in
Kawhi Leonard.
“[George is] playing on
the side with no contact, one
on one,” Rivers said. “But it
must be frustrating, espe-
cially when you watch him.
In the skeleton and shoot-
ing, he’s 100%. It’s just more
of a contact thing.”
Even though he’s with a
team that has champi-
onship aspirations, George
said he’s not eager to get on
the court for practice before
his body is ready. He has
been through long rehab be-
fore, missing eight months
after fracturing his right leg
during a Team USA scrim-
mage in 2014.
George was patient then
and he’ll be patient now,
knowing that since that
gruesome injury, he has
been on four consecutive All-
Star teams.
“I’ve dealt with injuries.
I’ve dealt with rehab. I know
what it takes and I know
when that time is,” George
said. “It’s no rush. It’s no
rush. I do what I do to get
back to the game, but I’m
not going to rush it. I’ll be
ready when the time comes.”George getting words
of wisdom from West
New Clippers star says
Hall of Famer’s insight
reminds him of days
with Bird in Indiana.
By Broderick Turner