Tyronn Lue has done a questionable job throughout the season as Los Angeles Clippers head coach and one of his former players has now seen enough.
The Clippers — playing without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — lost again on Saturday to the Phoenix Suns to fall behind 3-1 in their first-round playoff series. Despite having better options at his disposal, Lue opted to start and close the game with veteran forward Marcus Morris Sr., who had largely been out of the rotation since March (in a possible front office decision).
As has been the case for much of the year, Morris struggled on both ends of the court. He finished as a -19 overall, shot 3-of-13 from the field (including 1-of-8 from three) and was unable to stay in front of a tortoise on defense (much less Kevin Durant).
Despite all of this ineptitude, Morris ended up playing 25 minutes, nearly double that of the team’s other available power forwards — Nicolas Batum (six minutes) and Robert Covington (eight minutes) — combined.
After the 112-100 loss, former Clipper Patrick Patterson tweeted a little shade at Lue. Patterson, a power forward who played under Lue in 2020-21 (and barely saw the court at that time), accused Lue of continuing to show “favoritism” and said that “things still ain’t changed.”
