LA Clippers: 3 areas for Paul George to improve in this year
By Evan Desai
The LA Clippers have begun preseason, and are about to get going on what should be a thrilling regular season where the Clippers should have lots of success.
Paul George is going to be a major part of that, as he is going to be tasked with the duties of a number one superstar as long as Kawhi Leonard is going to be out. PG is a star in this league, and has been for nearly a decade.
There are still areas of his game that could use improvement, however, as there are for every player in this league. There’s going to be a little more emphasis on the areas for PG13 to improve this year, due to him being looked at to step up without Klaw. This may create pressure for George, which isn’t ideal.
That being said, pressure creates diamond-caliber players in this league, and this season is a major opportunity for PG.
No. 3 area for Paul George to improve for the LA Clippers this year: Getting back to where he was defensively
Paul George is absolutely still an elite defender in this league, and I’m not trying to dispute that.
However, if PG wants to prove that he can be the number one on a championship team, he’s going to need to get back to the level he was just a few years ago in his most recent First-Team All-Defensive selection season.
He averaged half the steals that he had in 2018-2019 this year, as he averaged a career-high 2.2 in that dominant season.
PG’s offense is already spectacular. If he wants to return to First-Team All-NBA form, he’ll need to return to that type of defensive player he was back in OKC.
This past year, George let a bench player in Matisse Thybulle be an All-Defensive selection over him. George was totally snubbed, but Thunder PG wouldn’t have let that even come close to happening.
Now that Leonard is out of the picture for a significant period of time, George is going to be expected to take on the opposing team’s number one option. He’s going to need to lock them down. We already know he’s going to do a great job, but we need him to step up to that next level too if we want to remain a top four seed again without Leonard.