The Los Angeles Clippers are doing it the hard way. Sitting at 16-13 in 8th place in the NBA’s Western Conference has outperformed most preseason expectations for a team without its biggest star and one that went through tough cost-cutting measures.
This could not have happened without Norman Powell taking a giant step forward. Not only did Paul George’s departure open up an opportunity, in the form of a 25.5 percent increase in playing time, but he has also taken full advantage of the increase.
Norman Powell Nearing Star-Status In New Role For Clippers
This led CBS Sports to put him atop their latest list of under-the-radar players. They called Powell ‘the closest things to a star on this list,’ including Tyler Herro on the list of two.
“Prior to the season,” Brad Botkin writes, “Powell had this to say about the Clippers losing Paul George over the summer: “I saw it as addition by subtraction. … More guys getting opportunities, including myself.”
That was a brutally honest quote, even if you can argue its merit. Either way, Powell was right about the opportunity that George’s departure opened up for him and to say he has full[y] taken advantage would be an understatement.
Anyone who says they predicted Powell having this kind of season is a liar. He’s been a good player for a good while, but averaging 23 points on 50/48/83 shooting splits in late December is next level. The 48% from 3 is wild given that it’s coming on a career-high eight attempts per game.
No player in history has managed to keep up that level of efficiency on that kind of volume for an entire season. It’s unlikely that Powell will, either, but the fact that we’re even using Powell’s name in the same sentence as “NBA history” is evidence of the monster year he’s having.”
Powell’s 23.9 points lead the team and is 19th in the NBA, ahead of both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. 11.4 of those points per game are coming off of three-pointers. He is also having a career year in most other statistical measures. He also has the best defensive rating since joining the Clippers.
He received the fourth most votes for the NBA’s 6th Man of the Year award for two years straight.