Averaged 23.3 points per game! Did the Clippers make the wrong deal by sending Powell away?

Back in July this year, a week after the free market opened, the Clippers, Heat, and Jazz reached a three-party deal. The specific contents of the deal are:

—The Heat get Powell

—The Clippers get John Collins

—The Jazz get Love, Kyle Anderson, and the 2027 Clippers second round

After this deal was completed, many fans were optimistic about the Clippers.

The reason is easy to understand. The Clippers' previous lineup has always lacked a true starting power forward. For this reason, Leonard spent 80% of the time as a power forward last season (only 32% the previous season).

On the back line, it is indeed a pity to give up Powell, but the Clippers immediately signed Bill, who was bought out by the Suns, as a supplement. Moreover, Bill only needs 11 million in 2 years, which is much cheaper than Powell, and there is no need to face Powell's contract extension.

The view at the time was:

1. Although Powell had the best season of his career last season, with his scoring average soaring from 13.9 points in the previous season to 21.8 points per game, his explosion was not the same as Renner's. De's injury has something to do with Harden's teammates - this view is not entirely unreasonable. Before the All-Stars last season, Powell averaged 24.2 points per game. However, after the All-Stars, Leonard fully returned and he only averaged 14.4 points per game.

2. Bill played very depressed in the Suns. He did not have the style that he averaged 30+ per game for two consecutive years. However, Bill's downturn has a lot to do with the Suns' offensive system. He is actually only 32 years old, even one month younger than Powell. If he is in a more suitable environment, he should be able to perform as well as Powell.

The idea is beautiful, but the reality is very cruel.

Let’s look at the Clippers first. They started the season with 3 wins and 6 losses, and are almost the most disappointing team in the Western Conference. Fortunately, Collins’ performance was acceptable: he averaged 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in only 24.7 minutes per game, shooting 56.6% from the field and 45.5% from the three-point range.

However, Bill's performance has not met expectations at all. He currently averages only 8.2 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game, with 1.5 turnovers, shooting 37.5% from the field, 36.8% from the three-point range, and 47.6% from the field.

Bill has just returned from injury. He has playing time restrictions, and the time is also cut into pieces. It is understandable that the overall data is not good. However, even if he was given enough opportunities, he did not play ideally. For example, in the first game against the Suns, Leonard and Harden were absent. This should have been a great opportunity for Bill to express himself. As a result, he made 2 of 14 in the game and only scored 5 points. The Clippers also suffered a disastrous away defeat.

The data can also prove how unsatisfactory Bill's performance is this season: When Bill is on the court this season, the Clippers have a net loss of 9.3 points per 100 possessions, and vice versa, only 3.4 points.

Looking at Powell again, he should have slapped many people in the face.

As we said, when Powell played a quasi-All-Star performance last season, many people believed that he benefited from Leonard's injury and the addition of Harden as a teammate. However, this season with the Heat, Powell played even better than last season.

So far, Powell has played 7 games for the Heat, averaging 23.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game. His points, rebounds, and steals continue to set career highs, and assists are the second highest in his career.

As he did in the Clippers' last season, Powell's offensive efficiency has remained very good. The current three shooting percentages are 46.7%/46.2%/94.0%, and the true shooting percentage is 64.2% (61.5% last season).

In the absence of Hiero, Powell can be said to have perfectly supported the Heat's offensive firepower. His scoring is currently the highest in the team, and his performance is very stable. In 7 games he has played, 6 have scored 20+ points.

In terms of statistics, when Powell is on the court this season, the Heat can beat their opponents by 6.4 points per 100 possessions. I thought that last season was the peak of Powell's career, but I didn't expect that he can continue to improve this season. If he really wants to keep it up, there is no reason not to make the All-Star this season.

Just looking at the three-party deal, in fact, both the Heat and Clippers got what they wanted. The Heat's outside firepower has been continued, and the Clippers' power forward is no longer unavailable.

But the problem is that because of the loss of Powell and the continued slump of Bill, Paul, Bogdan and others, the Clippers now have only Harden in the backcourt who is in good shape. In almost every game, the Clippers' backcourt cannot perform at an ideal level and is often beaten by opponents in the second half.

Like the Clippers remembering Tomer Azarly said after the team's losing streak: "Although it may be an exaggeration to say this, since the start of the Clippers' season, except for Harden, the contributions of others on the back line are almost negligible. Norman Powell is the only true defender who can continuously attack the basket. The team must miss him very much now."

Interestingly, Powell also recently talked about the difference between playing in the Heat and the Clippers. He said: "The Clippers Each attack must implement fixed tactics, which requires guiding teammates to designated positions and specifically attacking mismatched opportunities; while the Heat system focuses more on natural flow, relying on team cooperation and running without the ball, and creating offensive opportunities through defensive contraction."

In fact, the reason why the Clippers struggled so hard at the beginning is not only due to the state of the players, but also has a lot to do with Tyronn Lue's coaching. His employment, rotation, and even the timing of timeouts and challenges are all controversial.

I only talk about this deal, not that Collins is not good, but fans may really underestimate Powell's importance to the Clippers, and once again admire Powell for continuing to improve at this age, and look forward to this season, he can realize his dream of becoming an All-Star..