NBA teams
Amin Elhassan, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

How Clippers fix perimeter defense

NBA

Ten games into the season, the Clippers have sputtered to a 6-4 start, with the wins at times looking more damning than the losses. Their net rating (spread between points scored and points allowed per 100 possessions) of two points is an accurate reflection of a team that still is potent offensively (ninth in offensive rating) but has experienced a tremendous drop-off in defensive efficiency (from top 10 last season to bottom 10 this season).

How does a team returning most of its personnel experience such a drop-off without injury concerns? Obviously, part of that can be explained by small sample size. Ten games is not enough to draw any definitive conclusions. However, the role of the front office is to balance patience by keeping a view of the big picture while remaining vigilant by noticing issues on the horizon and correcting for them. For the Clippers' front office, the issue on the horizon already is here, and it comes in the form of terrible perimeter defense.

Here's a look at the team's defensive troubles on the perimeter and potential in-house and external solutions.

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