How Jawun Evans Fits into the Clippers’ Offense

With the drafting of former Oklahoma State point guard Jawun Evans, the Clippers have received a player with talent and high basketball IQ, but more importantly, a player who fits their philosophy.

The Clippers’ offense is, to put it kindly, simple. They don’t run a true motion system and don’t run a lot of set plays. They frequently use simple actions and rely heavily on both ball screens and post isolation to make the offense go.

The good news is that Jawun should find the transition to this offense relatively easy. He’s one of the best rookie ball screen point guards, and with a player like DeAndre Jordan, who often needs to utilize ball screens to get involved in the offense, the pick and roll can potentially have high efficiency with Jawun running it.

The Clippers like to use a pace and space philosophy, and they would often allow former Clipper Chris Paul to run the offense himself and call for actions or plays on the fly. This philosophy is similar to what Jawun did at OSU, and the two have similar play styles. Take this shot off of a drag screen in transition, for example:

That’s a shot you can imagine Jawun taking.

The Clippers, also like OSU, will also use a number of spread ball screen actions. Although the actions are simple, and there is almost never use any off-ball movement, their two-man game is strong enough to score because of the personnel and execution:

They will also use set high single:

And double ball screens:

Which should fit Jawun perfectly, as he’s excellent coming downhill off the dribble.

As mentioned earlier, LA does not use a set motion or run a whole lot of actions. A lot of times, they freelance their offense and rely on their personnel to create shots, which can lead to some awful possessions.

But Jawun will have plenty of opportunities to create his own shot as well as play distributor. With Chris Paul now in Houston, Jawun will have to separate himself from the rest of the point guards to carve out playing time. But the offense fits him and his style perfectly, and he will hopefully find himself a role as a Clipper in 2017.