The Los Angeles Clippers had lost three in a row and dropped below .500 and many people were worried about this extremely talented team that has championship aspirations. The Clippers got off the schneid on Tuesday night with a blowout win over the Denver Nuggets and they looked as good as they have in quite a while. One of the reasons was that head coach Doc Rivers made a change to the starting lineup by inserting Wesley Johnson and it appears as though that will be the case moving forward on most days, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
Prior to Tuesday night's game Johnson had not started any of the Clippers previous 13 contests. Rivers had instead been starting either Lance Stephenson or Paul Pierce but he decided the team needed a change and he inserted Johnson due to his length and shooting ability and it worked, at least for one night, as Johnson scored 11 points and the Clippers cruised to the victory.
Despite the team's solid performance with Johnson in the starting lineup Rivers did not name him the full time starter at the small forward spot and instead said that the lineup would likely keep changing.
"That lineup is a lineup that I'm going to keep moving, depending on guys. I like Wes the most because of his size and his ability to shoot, but there's nights where you play a great offensive player at that spot and we may go with a defensive guy. We're going to just keep moving it around," said Rivers.
So far this season Johnson is averaging just 15 minutes per game but he has easily been the best option of the three small forwards. Johnson's PER this season (14.4) is very close to Stephenson's and Pierce's combined (14.5) so maybe having Johnson in the starting lineup more often than not is needed for the Clippers the rest of the season.
Rivers' point about sometimes needing a defensive guy in there is well taken because Johnson is not great on that end but he is clearly the best of the three on offense and that is what will likely get him the most starts going forward. Based on the way the Clippers looked in their first game with Johnson in the first unit it is definitely something Rivers should continue to try.
