IRVINE, Calif. – When reporters filed in to see the portion of practice open to them at the end of the first day of training camp Tuesday at UC Irvine, all seemed familiar.
Blake Griffin and Chris Paul were back on the court. DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick were running with the ones as usual.
The defensive-minded Luc Mbah a Moute was also running the three spot again, but that’s the one starting job still up for grabs.
“I don’t know, it’s the first day,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “I think that job is wide open.”
Rivers added that Mbah a Moute, Wesley Johnson and the newly-signed Alan Anderson are the three main competitors for the starting spot at the three and that Anderson and Mbah a Moute both ran with the first group at different points Tuesday.
The Clippers’ head coach said a team needs a defender at either the two or the three spot, and for the Clippers, it’s typically been at small forward. That’s why they eventually settled on Mbah a Moute as the typical starter at the position last season.
He feels either Mbah a Moute or Anderson could handle the defensive responsibilities needed for that role within the Clippers’ attack this year.
“They both are excellent defenders,” Rivers said. “They both bring toughness to that group, which is nice. Alan’s a better shooter. Luc’s probably a better cutter. Alan’s still getting over his injury from last year, so it may take him some time, and we’ll see.”
The other approach, and one Rivers and the Clippers could decide to mix in, is going smaller, the way he often did with the backups last season.
“A lot of times, it’s like I said last year but I didn’t actually follow through on it, I said that position will change a lot,” Rivers said. “Last year, we ran a lot with the small lineup, three guards. We may do that to start games.”
If that’s the case, backup guards Austin Rivers and Raymond Felton could find their way into the mix alongside the starters at different points to give Chris Paul a breather. The star point guard is accustomed to guarding his counterpart on other teams, but bringing another player into the lineup alongside him capable of guarding point guards could give Paul a break.
“It helps CP,” Doc Rivers said. “Obviously, when you play Austin with that group, he can guard the better offensive player and it allows CP to do what the rest of the league does, and that’s their point guards never guard the other point guard. We want to do that a lot this year. We want to put a lineup out there where CP doesn’t have to guard the best guy, and really on the team the only other guys, Raymond can do that and Austin can do that, so those two guys are going to do that some.”
Whatever ends up happening with the final starting spot, the Clippers have a handful of options to look at, and they get to go through training camp with the normal cast of starters now that Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are back from their quad and hand injuries, respectively, which held them out late last year.
“It was a comforting feeling to have everyone out there and everyone healthy,” said J.J. Redick.