For the first time in his career, DeAndre Jordan is sidelined with an injury. With him out, Willie Reed and Montrezl Harrell are trying to fill the void.
The Los Angeles Clippers have been plagued by injuries all season long. However, the one constant through all of their injury woes (both during and before this season) was DeAndre Jordan. Even as chaos swirled around him, DJ never missed a game due to injury.
Unfortunately, even DeAndre’s unbreakable strength was finally broken this year. The ankle injury he suffered on Jan. 11 has kept him out of the lineup due to injury for the first time in his career, and the Clippers have been faced with filling a void they have not had to fill in years.
The two players who have been tasked with replacing Jordan, Montrezl Harrell and Willie Reed, cannot make up for his All-NBA talent. However, each of them can replicate one of DeAndre’s crucial skills. Their ability to man the middle in DJ’s place will be crucial to staying in the playoff hunt.
Willie Reed, the interior presence
Although the Los Angeles Clippers have extended the playing time for all of their big men, Willie Reed is the one in the starting lineup. Despite averaging just 11 minutes per game, Reed has manned the middle for the opening tip since DeAndre’s injury.
Willie Reed does not have DeAndre’s innate knack for rebounding. His 16.2 percent rebounding rate ranks close to the middle among centers averaging 10 or more minutes per game. However, he does at least have the same blistering efficiency of Jordan; his 66.9 percent True Shooting mark is actually a hair better than Jordan’s.
The main benefit of putting Reed in the starting lineup, however, is his rim protection. Opponents shoot just 50 percent on shots Willie Reed contests within six feet of the basket, a staggering 13.3 percent worse than normal. Even though he is not the same caliber of spectacular athlete as DeAndre, Reed’s quickness and solid leaping ability make him a terror near the rim on both ends of the floor.
Montrezl Harrell, rim-runner extraordinaire
Montrezl Harrell has not been starting in DeAndre Jordan’s place for the Los Angeles Clippers. However, he has seen a dramatic uptick in playing time since Jordan went out. Harrell is averaging 15.3 minutes per game this season, but is averaging 27 minutes per game since DeAndre’s injury.
At 6’8″, Harrell does not have the same rim-protecting upside as Willie Reed. However, Harrell has mastered the offensive skill that makes DeAndre Jordan so effective as one of the league’s premier terrors as the roll man in the pick-and-roll.
Harrell is shooting 60 percent from the floor this year, which is somehow his career low. He makes up for his lack of height with incredible athleticism. There are not very many players in the league that can speed down the lane for a dunk as quickly as Harrell can:
Harrell falls well short of DeAndre Jordan on defense and on the glass. Indeed, he falls short of Willie Reed in both of those areas as well. However, Montrezl Harrell is one of the few players in the league who is as lethal of a rim-runner as DeAndre Jordan.
Future outlook
At the moment, it seems unlikely that DeAndre Jordan will be back in the next game for the Los Angeles Clippers, per Tomer Azarly. His status as doubtful makes it seem unlikely that Jordan will be out for much longer. However, the Clippers will have to endure at least one more game without their star center.
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Willie Reed and Montrezl Harrell have impossibly large shoes to fill with Jordan on the sidelines. However, they are both masters of two of the skills that make DeAndre as dangerous as he is to play against. Even if Jordan misses more time than expected, his two replacements can cover for him in the most important areas of the game.