Ty Lue's Chris Paul Remarks Highlight Huge Offseason Blunder

Chris Paul's return to the Los Angeles Clippers has not been what either team had dreamed of before the season. The experiment only lasted for eight games before the 40-year-old point guard was benched by Ty Lue. The Point God has been a DNP-Coach's Decision for three straight games, and things haven't improved at all for the Clippers.

Lue's desire to change things up and find a rotation that works is understandable. Giving Paul a rest and injecting more youth into the lineup makes some sense on paper. Kobe Brown, Jordan Miller, and Kobe Sanders have been getting more of a look in the meantime.

What makes less sense, however, is Lue's latest remarks on Paul and what he expects from him. After the loss to the Nuggets, Lue revealed what he hopes to see from CP3: "Just his leadership. Talking to the guys, talking to the coaches of what he sees, what we can do better. Before we acquired, we told him he wasn’t gonna be an every night guy. He understood that," per Clippers reporter Justin Russo.

Clippers' Decision to Not Play Chris Paul Makes No Sense

Paul played all 82 games for the San Antonio Spurs last season. Telling him that he is not going to be "an every night guy" is already surprising on its own. What is even more shocking is the fact that the Clippers acquired Paul for leadership.

This team was already one of the oldest and most experienced teams in the league before Paul came, and is led by two future Hall of Famers in James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Nicolas Batum is a very respected locker room leader, and the team also signed Brook Lopez and Bradley Beal over the summer. This team is full of veterans in their mid-30s. Did they really need a 40-year-old Paul to mentor and "talk to the guys" about what he sees on the court?

Yes, Paul is one of the best basketball minds of his generation and is one of the greatest point guards ever. Every team would benefit from having him around. However, the Clippers' refusal to use this mind on the court, but rather essentially make him a part of the coaching staff, is difficult to understand.

This is especially confusing now that Bradley Beal and Kawhi Leonard are out. The Clippers are low on shot creators, putting a ton of burden on James Harden. He ends up playing over 35 minutes every night and carrying a huge offensive load. If Lue can't find ten minutes off the bench for Paul when the team is desperate for more playmaking is a huge problem.

The last thing this team needed in the offseason was another aging veteran who spends more time on the sideline than on the court. Signing Paul intentionally for that role is another blunder in the long list of front office mistakes by Lawrence Frank.

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