His task as a trainer of the Scissors demanded that Tyronn Lue be more than that sometimes. His job this season called for Lue to be more of a teacher.
This is due to six new players on the roster. Also because he has six players 25 years of age or younger.
After spending about a week in Hawaii for training camp and playing a preseason game against the Golden State Warriors, the Clippers returned home for practice Monday at the Intuit Dome.
For Lue, it was a time of excitement and a time for him to lean into being a teacher.
“I love it,” Lue said. “It gives me something to do. The young children, just teaching. The new guys, teaching, understanding spacing, understanding how to execute offensively, what we’re looking for first, second, third option. So, it was good.”
Lue’s youngest player is Cam Christie, a 19-year-old guard the Clippers picked out of Minnesota in the second round of the draft. Kobe Brown, 24 years old and in his second season, is still learning.
Read more: Kawhi Leonard plans to play in the Clippers’ season opener
It’s young players like these that Lue enjoys showing the way during training camp and in the preseason games — the Clippers will play the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside.
“The biggest thing is me,” Lue said. “I think I just make sure I don’t go too fast, too slow. Make sure they understand the concepts before we move on to the next stage. And so, that’s on me to make sure that we do that. We’ve put a lot of stuff in the last few days, so hopefully they can understand that. If not, we just slow down and keep going in before shooting before practices so they can get up to speed.”
When Lue throws schemes at his team, he has to make sure the new players understand.
They acquired players such as Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Kevin Porter Jr. and Mo Bamba to fill roles all around. Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
“If they don’t get it, I just can’t hold them if they don’t get it,” Lue said. “So, just make sure I’m going to back off if they don’t get it, make sure we come in an hour before practice, work on it, and they did a good job with that.”
It’s a different role for Lue, considering he was in charge of the oldest roster in the NBA last season, with an average age of 30.4. His four future Hall of Famers – Leonard (33), Paul George (34), Harden (35) and Russell Westbrook (35) – were all over 32 last season.
He didn’t have to teach like that with that veteran group.
However, the Clippers knew that Lue was up to the task, which is why they made him one of the highest paid coaches in the NBA at $14 million per season.
“Yeah, whatever it takes, you know, and so whatever personnel we have, we’ve got to make sure our staff makes sure our offense and our defense fits our personnel,” Lue said. “It can’t be the same thing and this will be my system, no matter who plays for us. You know, it has to be different depending on who you got on the floor. And so that’s what we’re good at.”
Lue was asked what kind of teacher he was—one with or without patience?
“No, I have patience,” Lue said with a smile. “You have to have patience with a group. You can’t get frustrated, but the guys are very good at collecting things. But I like to teach, make sure we’re in our right spots, let them understand why we’re doing certain things and why you need to set the screen here instead of there, why you need to be here making the pass instead of there. . So, there’s a lot of teaching, but it’s good.”
Tucker’s situation
Lue reiterated that it was a “mutual agreement” between the Clippers and veteran forward PJ Tucker for him to stay away from the team until another situation can be worked out for him.
Tucker, who opted out of his $11.5 million contract, is off the Clippers for the second time since he arrived from the 76ers last season in a trade with Harden.
Tucker, 39, along with Bones Hyland, were sent home by the Clippers one game before last season’s All-Star break.
“PJ has been great for us,” Lue said. “I think it’s been great for our young guys. We just came to a mutual agreement, so you know? It’s not a good day, but you know, it is what it is.”
Etc.
Lue said “jessir” when asked if Leonard, who is dealing with inflammation in his right knee, was still strengthening his knee while the team practiced. … Lue said Terance Mann will start against the Nets.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
