‘Paint First, Spray It Out’: What Makes The Clippers’ New Offense So Elite?

Tyronn Lue is rarely on the receiving end of praise. Most basketball discussions involving the teams he’s coached are devoid of any nuance, especially as it pertains to the success level. Having only coached two and a half regular seasons in Cleveland – reaching three NBA Finals along the way – Lue and his contributions to those Cavaliers have been met with snark and a ton of eye-rolls.

Professional sports have a unique dynamic to them. It’s actually quite unfair. When a team is rolling and things are going well, the superstar players are often credited with setting the tone and developing a culture within the organization. Once a team has a misstep and suffers a few bad losses, it’s automatically the coach’s fault first and foremost. In a lot of cases, it’s a no-win situation for a new head coach taking over for a championship contender — unless they actually cruise to the title and don’t care one bit about being recognized.

In 2016, while the Cavaliers didn’t cruise to their victory over Golden State, Ty Lue played a significant role in guiding them to the Finals and finding a path to four wins over the Golden State Warriors, a feat that almost deemed impossible.

Sure, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s superhuman scoring effort created room for the Finals comeback. That’s the ultimate reason they succeeded. But, if you peel back the layers, the offensive system and structure installed by Ty Lue had a lot to do with getting them over the hump. His principles centered on proper spacing, the right lineups to play when it mattered, and a package of play designs – whether it was the Cavs’ elbow series they liked to run, or different pick-and-roll variations that forced defenses to make tough decisions. James was the heartbeat of the team. Irving was the clutch-time motor. Lue was part of the foundation that helped everyone see their vision in a clearer light. He was also an important voice behind the Cavs’ defensive intensity and adjustments over the last three games of that series.

Lue now finds himself in a similar situation to 2016, when he was already on the sidelines next to David Blatt and was asked to take over the head coaching reigns. With Doc Rivers departing Los Angeles for a new roster in Philadelphia, Lue is once again in a role where he’s being heavily monitored.

If he falls short of taking the Clippers deeper into the playoffs, outside critics will look at Lawrence Frank and Steve Ballmer sideways for believing he was the right choice to take over. If the Clippers storm through the playoffs this year and ultimately reach their goal of winning the franchise’s first title, chances are, 95 percent of the credit will go directly to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

That is simply how it works throughout pro sports, and that certainly isn’t going to change under Lue’s tenure in Los Angeles. However, the thing is, he couldn’t care less about how much his contributions to winning basketball games is glorified or mentioned in the media. Hailing from Mexico, Missouri, and always being an afterthought on the rosters he was a part of during his NBA career, it’s not in Lue’s nature to seek attention when he accomplishes something.

We are only 13 games into his head-coaching gig with the Clippers, but one thing is sticking out. The Clippers’ offense is benefiting from a healthier dose of shot selection, great lineup spacing, and play designs that Lue has implemented. He has only had six full weeks of working with the Clippers’ stars and role players since training camp started on Dec. 5, but the signs of a greater ceiling are evident.

At 9-4, only a game and a half behind the Lakers in the West, the Clippers are looking more comfortable with their new personnel from game to game. While they are still operating much slower than anyone thought, averaging just 97.4 possessions per 48 minutes (third-slowest in pace), the offense is humming in a much different way than it was last year.

With an offensive rating of 117.0, the Clippers are sitting directly behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the league’s top spot. So far, the only thing holding them back is how infrequently they are running and triggering early offense in transition. While they technically have a more efficient halfcourt and transition offense than Milwaukee, per Cleaning The Glass, they don’t utilize the fastbreak as often. In fact, with 12.7% of the Clippers’ possessions starting in transition, the Knicks (11.3%) are the only team running slower.

Faster doesn’t necessarily mean better for an NBA offense, though. There is no real correlation between how quickly a team generates shots within the clock and being a more productive unit.

In the halfcourt, the Clippers are scoring 104.1 points per 100 plays. It’s currently number one in the league, slightly in front of the Brooklyn Nets. There is a strong chance that’s no longer the case once the Harden-Irving-Durant trio play together for a month, but it’s a meaningful jump for the Clippers to begin the year:

As you can see above, there are definitely some stylistic changes this roster is going through. For practically any team, having a 9.4 percentage point decrease in rim attempts would sound the alarms. It might be a cause for concern later in the year with the Clippers, but for now, they have enjoyed the higher proportion of threes within their offensive flow.

Combining above-the-break threes and corner threes, 38.2% of the Clippers’ shots are coming from beyond the arc. That proportion ranks 12th in the league, up from 17th last season under Doc Rivers when they took 34% of their shots from deep.

It’s still not high enough. With how searing hot they have been, mostly due to the process that leads to most of their outside shots, there should be no reason L.A. doesn’t break into the top 5-10 of three-point frequency. Throughout the preseason and opening week, it appeared they were heading in that direction. The frequency has dipped a bit since then, but they’ve made sure to convert on an abnormally high clip when they do shoot from distance.

As a whole, the Clippers are leading the NBA in three-point accuracy. Shooting a laughable 55.1% from the corners (1st) and 40.9% above-the-break (4th), they are relying on this current hot streak – partly because they need it to outweigh the defensive struggles they’ve experienced in the early going.

Here is the full rotation, including Reggie Jackson, sorted by the number of above-the-break attempts this season. Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Patrick Beverley, and Luke Kennard are all in elite territory in this three-week sample. If you look at the corners, nearly everyone is spitting flames right now:

On the surface, the efficiency is what it is. These numbers tell you what the players are shooting, but they don’t provide the context to show how these opportunities are created.

Of all the principles Ty Lue and his brand new staff have tried to preach since training camp started, the heaviest emphasis was placed on attacking the paint, drawing help, and finding the open looks along the perimeter. It’s simple basketball 101 at its core, but even professional teams can lose focus on those primary ingredients when adversity hits. The Clippers ran into a brick wall during the playoffs, as they appeared to lack a solid backup plan when Leonard and George went cold for long stretches.

Lue has empowered all of his players to either create offense as a primary ball-handler attacking the paint, or taking any open shot that comes their way in the halfcourt.

“I think you have to give the coaching staff a lot of credit,” Beverley said. “They’ve instilled a lot of confidence in us – let it fly when you’re open. Of course, we’re professionals, we’re not going out there and just launching threes. But I think Kawhi, PG, and Lou are making plays coming off the pick-and-roll. Most of the threes we do shoot are pretty much open.”

He hit the nail on the head regarding their shot selection. So far, 395 of the Clippers’ 452 three-point attempts have been deemed “open” or “wide-open” by NBA.com’s closest-defender tracker.

“I just think taking the right threes and playing the right way is the biggest thing for us,” Lue said.

On threes with 4-6 feet of open space, the Clippers are shooting 45.9% through 13 games. It’s the most efficient in the league by a wide margin, as the Pacers are second with a 38.7% success rate. When they have 6-plus feet of space, they are shooting 43.3% – fifth in the league.

Lue brings up an interesting point regarding the “right kind of threes” for the Clippers. What he’s alluding to is the ability to get most of their shots via catch-and-shoot, rather than simply coming up the court, getting into an isolation situation, and resorting to pull-up threes to bail them out of possessions.

If you ask Lue what he looks for on every scoring chance, it’s whether or not they made the effort to drive and collapse the defense. For him, driving into the paint is less about trying to get fouled or get a layup or dunk on every possession, and more about the ripple effect of putting pressure on weak-side defenders.

“What (drives) lead to is more important,” Lue said. “I think as long as we’re touching the paint, and teams are going to help, being able to spray out for threes. We are number one in the league in catch-and-shoot threes right now. We’re doing a good job of getting into the paint and when teams are helping or overreacting, we’re spraying it out. Or making the swing-swing pass for a guy to make a shot as well.”

Again, simple basketball. But it’s not always accomplished. To understand Lue’s point of view, all it takes is looking at the Clippers’ effectiveness on these opportunities versus the possessions where they don’t get into a good flow and rely on pull-up threes.

Out of curiosity, I took every team’s effective field goal percentage (eFG%) on catch-and-shoot threes, then off-the-dribble threes, to examine the difference. As of Jan. 16, the Clippers’ efficiency improves the most – among all teams – from substituting a pull-up look for a catch-and-shoot:

As much as the players are likely tired of hearing Lue drill this into their head during practice and halftime speeches, nobody benefits more from the “drive and kick” approach to the offense than Los Angeles.

“The paint attack is first and foremost,” George said. “A lot of our threes are set up from us driving to the paint and kicking it out.”

The team’s motto this year, according to Lue and Beverley, is turning down good shots for great shots.

When George addressed the media after defeating New Orleans on Wednesday, he offered another tagline that can be used to describe the 2021 Clippers’ offensive approach.

“Paint first, spray it out,” George said. “After we’ve done our job of attacking, seeing what we have at the rim and make plays from there.”

There are numerous ways the Clippers go about this process. The high pick-and-roll attack is the obvious vehicle for them to find their way into the paint, which opens the floor for everyone else. Something we saw a little bit of in Sacramento was the use of a Leonard-George pick-and-roll. Wings or guards screening for each other is one of my favorite basketball wrinkles, and it’s something Lue is trying to experiment with more this year.

If Kawhi gets the switch, like he does here, he is still strong and quick enough to power through PG’s original man (Buddy Hield). Watch how it forces help from the left corner, which completely frees up Marcus Morris:

Everything rides on Leonard being able to pinpoint the help, and then make an accurate pass in a timely fashion. So far, so good in that regard, as Leonard is currently holding a career-high in assist percentage (29.7%) and near a career-low turnover rate (8.3%).

They can also pull a few pages out of the HORNS set, which is a formation with the ball-handler at top, one player on each elbow, and one in each corner. The Clippers love to utilize this “HORNS Flare” play below, where George will ghost a screen on the ball, slip out to the opposite wing, and receive a flare screen from Ivica Zubac.

If it doesn’t work, the ball-handler can flow into a simple pick-and-roll with the big man. Here, Lou Williams rejects the screen, shows that his quickness still allows him to get into the paint, and delivers a nasty pass to George on the wing:

This is another instance of the ball-handler rejecting a screen and getting directly into the lane off easy penetration. George realizes he doesn’t need the drag screen from Ibaka, and he causes the Pelicans’ weak-side defenders to pull deeper into the paint:

Also, notice how Leonard attacks from the corner upon the catch, which forces another layer of rotations by New Orleans. Three (!) players stunt toward Ibaka on the closeout, and it leaves Nic Batum wide open on the wing.

Leonard is slowly becoming a master manipulator in ball-screen action. His continued development in that area since 2016 is the most surprising and remarkable part of his game right now. This is just a great action by LA, as Zubac is coming up for the ball-screen immediately after Morris and Williams engage in the dribble-handoff (on the opposite side).

Watch how Leonard splits the two defenders coming off the Zubac screen, gets into the middle of the floor, and sparks this ball movement for a corner triple:

Another observation from Ty Lue’s offensive style is that he’s really good at creating open shots out of ATOs (after-timeout sets).

As the ball is inbounded here to Kawhi, you’ll see George curling off the Ibaka pindown. Because George is statistically the best high-volume shooter in the league up to this point, the Pelicans want to run him off the line. Nearly every defender is collapsed in the paint, and it opens up a clean look for Leonard:

There is a reason L.A. is the top halfcourt offense after nearly a month of games. They have capitalized on the ball movement and shot creation in this new system – which really isn’t even a complex system at all.

The Clippers lead the NBA in spot-up efficiency, which is based on the “drive and kick” method:

1. Clippers – 1.34 points per possession (PPP), 69.1% eFG
2. Suns – 1.20 PPP, 60.9% eFG
3. Bucks – 1.17 PPP, 61.6% eFG
4. Wizards – 1.13 PPP, 57.2% eFG
5. Heat – 1.12 PPP, 57.8% eFG

They are also number one in the league in points per possession on shots coming off screens (off the ball), narrowly ahead of Miami:

1. Clippers – 1.23 PPP, 64.2% eFG
2. Heat – 1.21 PPP, 63.5% eFG
3. Celtics – 1.19 PPP, 61.9% eFG
4. Lakers – 1.15 PPP, 57.0% eFG
5. Magic – 1.15 PPP, 54.6% eFG

Part of the reason they are so lights-out on spot-up jumpers is the improved passing dynamic of their bigs, Ibaka and Zubac.

On passes from Ibaka, his Clippers’ teammates are 22-of-33 from beyond the arc to begin the season (66.7%).

Leonard, when asked about Ibaka’s improved vision to find open guys when he receives the ball in the middle of the floor, was sure to mention how Ibaka’s experience with OKC and Toronto helped him mold those skills:

This one, from Friday night in Sacramento, may have been the most decisive Ibaka has looked when catching the ball. Granted, he was already staring at the corner, but this type of quick movement is going to help the Clippers stay hot rather than suffer a huge regression:

Zubac is learning more as the weeks go by, as well. He already has plenty of reps playing next to George and Leonard, so this is expected. But it’s encouraging for LA to see the growth in his vision on the short roll, particularly in this new offense.

This is a play the Clippers should go to more often, too, as Leonard and Zubac start in a basic pick-and-roll. The Pelicans send two to the ball, and Zubac catches at the elbow. Look how everyone reacts, as the defense pulls in to cut him off.

That leads to Batum setting a quick pindown for George, preventing the defense from closing out. The pass has to be on time, and it is:

One thing we’ve seen from George and his advancement as a passer is the recognition to skip the short-roll pass to the screener, and instead fire a fastball to the corner to create a better look. This type of “skip pass” is only available when weak-side defender, or “low-man,” is rotating all the way inside the paint to tag the roller (Ibaka):

As soon as George sees Marvin Bagley cutting of Ibaka, he slings the pass to Leonard in the opposite corner. Two Kings have to rotate to the open shooters, and all it takes is Hield moving two steps in the wrong direction for Reggie Jackson to receive a good look. This is also an example of the Clippers not settling for a shot on the first pass — they are actively swinging it to create a more open opportunity.

Even as the Clippers enter Sunday as the best halfcourt offense in the league, in large part due to Ty Lue’s constant echoing of attacking the middle and “spraying” it out for shooters, there is still room for improvement within the team.

“We have to get better in fastbreaks and early offense,” George said. “I think what’s great is that we’re better set for later in the year, playing in the halfcourt. But, we have to play a little faster and play with a little more tempo and exploring early offense. It’s a good sign we are executing and getting good shots (right now).”

Jackson, who found himself starting on Friday due to Beverley and Williams sitting out, says the Clippers’ pace will be directly tied to their ability to improve the defense.

“The more stops you can get, it makes the game easier (in transition),” Jackson said. “It’s less play-calls you have to get into. Once you get stops, you’re behind the defense, so you can attack the seams. Trying to get the ball out as quick as possible, off a rebound or turnover.”

A parallel to the 2016-2018 Cavaliers that Lue and company want to avoid is the consistently underwhelming defensive results. The Clippers sit 25th in defensive rating at the moment, allowing 112.5 points per 100 possessions. In an effort to climb back to a respectable level, Lue has decided to eliminate the minutes of the Clippers’ three-guard trio off the bench (Williams-Kennard-Jackson). He has also made it known that Jackson is moving to more of a reserve role, only playing in cases of emergency.

We’ll see if they can right the ship on that end of the floor and get back to last year’s defensive identity.

It might not even matter, though, if they continue to outshoot teams to this degree and build monster leads. For the Clippers, driving and kicking is leading to better results than most optimists could have imagined — especially for George, who has to be firmly in the super early MVP talks.