Los Angeles Clippers: Wesley Johnson Should Be The Starter Going Forward
The four-man combination of Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan is one of, if not the finest four-man combination in basketball.
That group consists of a world-class point guard who has driven some of the league’s best offenses since coming into the league, a sharpshooting shooting guard who must be accounted for at all times and excels at running off of screens, an all-around power forward who is one of the game’s best 10 players, and an athletic 7-footer who is in the conversation for best shot blocker and best rebounder in the game today.
The group has amazing balance and the talents mesh together masterfully.
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Unfortunately for the Clippers, the NBA requires that five men be on the court at all times.
The fifth man has been a problem for the Clippers over the past few seasons that has yet to be solved.
On Tuesday night, Wesley Johnson drew his first start with the Clippers and fared better than any of the alternative options have done in their opportunities in this young season. Johnson finished the contest with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-5 on three-pointers.
It certainly helps Johnson’s case going forward that his start happened to be a much-needed 111-94 win against the Nuggets, snapping a three-game losing streak.
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Johnson knows exactly what his role his with the starters, “defending, knocking down shots and playing with high energy,” he told the LA Times after the game.
His performance didn’t go unappreciated by his teammates. “Wes was amazing,” Paul said in a postgame interview. “Wes did a few things that won’t show up on the stat sheet. A few deflections, a few helps early in the game. Just the way he ran the court and shot the ball well. We need that.”
Johnson could be exactly what the Clippers need to fill their need at small forward.
Matt Barnes did enough last year to make it work for the majority of the time, but relying on a 34-year old journeyman was less than ideal for a team with its eyes on the championship. Barnes was traded during the offseason and his role was open to three new additions: Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson, and Johnson.
Pierce, armed with a Hall of Fame resume and fresh off a playoff series with memorable clutch moments, was the most obvious choice. Stephenson was a high-risk, high-reward addition as he had nearly made an All-Star team two years ago as a versatile player before it all went to hell last season after signing with Charlotte.
Johnson was more or less a roster-filler, albeit a proven NBA player after starting 121 games with the Los Angeles Lakers since the 2013-14 season began.
Stephenson surprisingly won the starting job going into the season with a clear emphasis given to resting the elderly Pierce throughout the regular season. That didn’t last long as Stephenson was sent to the bench in favor of Pierce after only nine games. Pierce hasn’t looked much better this season and has career-lows in points, assists, steals, and blocks per-36 minutes.
His field goal percentage of 32.2 percent and three-point percentage of 26.8 percent are by far the worst percentages of his illustrious career and hasn’t looked like the Pierce we saw making big plays last season.
Johnson drew his first start on Tuesday as a result of Stephenson and Pierce failing to secure a spot as the starter while Johnson has been a bright spot on a bench that has mostly disappointed.
Pierce and Stephenson have struggled, but Johnson has been shining in his new role. Since the minutes haven’t been equally distributed, the per 36 minutes and per 100 possessions statistics are the fairest way to compare the three wings. Here’s how they stacked up before Tuesday’s game, proof that Johnson has earned his spot.
PER 36 Minutes
| Rk | Player | Season | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wesley Johnson | 2015-16 | 185 | 5.3 | 9.9 | .529 | 1.9 | 5.3 | .370 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 13.2 |
| 2 | Paul Pierce | 2015-16 | 269 | 2.5 | 7.9 | .322 | 1.5 | 5.5 | .268 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 8.6 |
| 3 | Lance Stephenson | 2015-16 | 225 | 3.7 | 9.8 | .377 | 1.0 | 2.9 | .333 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 9.3 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/24/2015.
Per 100 Possessions
| Rk | Player | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS | ORtg | DRtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wesley Johnson | 185 | 7.2 | 13.6 | .529 | 2.7 | 7.2 | .370 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 18.1 | 119 | 108 |
| 2 | Paul Pierce | 269 | 3.5 | 10.8 | .322 | 2.0 | 7.5 | .268 | 7.7 | 8.4 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 11.7 | 98 | 108 |
| 3 | Lance Stephenson | 225 | 5.0 | 13.4 | .377 | 1.3 | 3.9 | .333 | 4.8 | 6.6 | 4.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 12.7 | 85 | 110 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/24/2015.
By almost every measure, Johnson has outplayed Pierce and Stephenson but isn’t being rewarded with more opportunities. The most telling stat is the offensive and defensive rating in the per 100 possessions table. When Johnson is on the court, the Clippers are outscoring opponents by 11 points.
The only player who has been better in this aspect this season is Jordan. Nowhere close to that conversation of outscoring opponents while on the floor are Pierce and Stephenson. The Clippers are being outscored by 10 with Pierce on the floor and being massacred by 25 when Stephenson is on the floor.
What is even more impressive for this is that Pierce and Stephenson have such terrible marks while playing more time with the core four-man lineup than Johnson. The Clippers have been better with Johnson on the court than Pierce and Stephenson despite Johnson’s minutes being played with a bench unit that has been more down than up so far this season.
Pierce and Stephenson are shooting somewhere between below average and abysmal while Johnson has been by far the more efficient scorer. The offense has been much better while Johnson’s on the floor and you could make the argument that he’s the best defender.
Another reason why Johnson should be due for a promotion to the starting unit sometime soon is that he doesn’t need the ball to be effective. Stephenson is stuck in the hard spot of being a ball-dominant player who isn’t worthy of having the ball in his hands the majority of the time.
Stephenson needs the ball in his hands and isn’t much of a threat from deep, despite a massive improvement from last season in the shooting department to a respectable 33.3 percent this season.
Pierce doesn’t need the ball as much and has adapted masterfully from being a ball-dominant player during his prime to being able to play off the ball as he’s gotten older, but the Clippers don’t want to play Pierce much in order to save his body for the playoffs. Johnson is the only one of the three wings who is better off without the ball in his hands.
It’s a small sample size, but Johnson is 8-for-15 on corner threes, a staple of the offense for the wing playing next to Redick. Last season Matt Barnes attempted 170 corner threes in that role. If Johnson can continue knocking down that corner three, it would allow the Clippers to operate offensively more like last season, in which they led the league in points per 100 possessions.
Their offensive rating has dipped from a league-high 109.8 to 103.9. The Clippers are only contenders when their offense is elite and Johnson appears to be the best option for the team given their current roster and circumstances with Pierce’s limited availability.
The move of Johnson to the starting lineup would also benefit the bench as well. As mentioned before, Stephenson needs the ball in his hands for his skills to be maximized. We saw it firsthand when he starred for an Indiana Pacers team that finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference.
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George Hill was the team’s point guard, but Stephenson often brought the ball up and actually led the team in assists per game. Stephenson is an attacker and a creator, and he can do neither with the starting unit with Griffin and Jordan taking up space for Stephenson and Paul rightfully dominating the ball.
On the bench however, Stephenson could run the offense. Austin Rivers has been the de facto point guard for the second unit, but is averaging a shockingly low 1.1 assists per game in 24.5 minutes. It’s understood that point guards can be multi-dimensional nowadays and not have to distribute, but 1.1 assists per game isn’t going to cut it.
This is where Stephenson could help the unit by being the point guard that the group needs. Rivers can defend point guards and Stephenson can defend a wing so despite the odd pairing, it can work by position. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s not like the current bench unit is blowing the league away.
It’s November and it’s a time to experiment and see what can work and what can’t. Why not at least explore that option?
This isn’t about Stephenson, Pierce, or Johnson though. It’s about how this Clippers team can rebound from an underwhelming start and make the necessary adjustments to return to the status as a contender. The best way to do this is to start Johnson and commit to him in the short-term as the answer to their big problem at the small-forward position.
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In the big picture, the long-term solution to their fifth man issue probably isn’t on the roster. The team needs a 3-and-D wing who can take on the role of defending the league’s elite wings while being a threat on offense. For now, Johnson is the best variation of that on the team.