INGLEWOOD — The season hasn’t started and already assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy’s presence on the Clippers’ bench has made an impression.
Known for his defensive take to coaching, Van Gundy has empowered the team to be more aggressive and not be afraid of making mistakes, evident in the 20 steals the Clippers recorded against the Dallas Mavericks in Monday night’s preseason game.
They also forced the Mavs into turning the ball over 29 times, which created scoring opportunities for the Clippers and kept Dallas’ offense off-kilter for much of the game.
“Our emphasis has been on the defensive side of things and his terminology, I think the guys are starting to get used to,” said assistant coach Brian Shaw, who was filling in for Coach Tyronn Lue.
Lue had an appointment immediately after Wednesday’s two-hour plus practice.
“So, it (defense) is just something that we got to continue to build on. But I think we’re all, as the staff, very happy to,” Shaw added.
Van Gundy, 62, hasn’t coached in the NBA since 2007 or worked as an assistant since 1996. But he has been around the league, working as a television analyst and most recently as a consultant with the championship-winning Boston Celtics this past season.
“It’s been pretty seamless,” Shaw said of Van Gundy’s arrival. “The defensive coordinator usually has to kind of be the guy that’s the (bad guy) because you got to be tough, and you got to hold everybody accountable. So, sometimes when he’s being that we have to be the good cops to balance out, but it’s been good.”
One thing Shaw has noticed is how Van Gundy holds every player accountable. “One through 15, or however many guys we have, accountable on the defensive end.
Obviously, he has a lot of energy that he brings to practice every day.”
James Harden, who had four steals against the Mavericks, said after the game that the team still needs to clean up some things.
“We want to be perfect,” he said. “We have Van Gundy, who tells us every day about being perfect defensively because that’s the chance we have. That’s our focus and you got to see a little glimpse of that tonight. It generated some fantastic opportunities which we converted so that’s where we’re going to hang our hats on. Tonight was a good start.”
LEONARD STILL ABSENT
As the countdown for the regular-season opener continues (seven days until tipoff), Kawhi Leonard was once again missing from practice Wednesday.
And there doesn’t seem to be any rush to get the two-time Finals MVP back on the court following an offseason procedure on his bothersome right knee. Not even a different coach had a different answer.
“He has not been a part of what we’ve been doing on a daily basis, so I know the kind of company line has been that we’re going to be patient with him,” Shaw said. “So, he’s doing everything that he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee on his own with our medical staff and we just deal with the guys that we have.
“But today he wasn’t in practice.”
Lue said after Monday’s preseason game that he plans on starting Harden, Ivica Zubac, Norman Powell, Terrance Mann and Derrick Jones Jr. in the Oct. 23 opener against Phoenix and for the foreseeable future – or until Leonard returns.
KINGS AT CLIPPERS
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Intuit Dome
TV/radio: KTLA (Ch. 5), 1150 AM