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Clippers 2023-2024 Season Preview: Mason Plumlee
Our player preview series for the 2024 Clippers continues with Mason Plumlee, the team’s backup center.
Basic Information
Height: 7’0
Weight: 255 pounds
Position: Center
Age: 33
Years in NBA: 10
Key Clippers Stats: 7.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks in 19.9 minutes per game across 23 games played (4 starts) on 72.7/77.2 shooting splits for 76.1% TS in regular season
Contract Status: Signed a 1 year, $5M deal this summer
Expectations
Mason Plumlee is locked in as the Clippers’ backup center, with almost no viable competition. The Clippers’ small-ball experiment miserably failed last season, which is what prompted the acquisition of Plumlee in the first place, and the only other big man on the roster outside of Plumlee and starter Ivica Zubac is the raw second-year Moussa Diabate. If Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are healthier this season the Clippers’ small-ball units should be much better, but Plumlee is going to play every game he’s available in with a minutes range from the mid-teens to mid-twenties depending on Zubac’s effectiveness and foul trouble. On the court, Plumlee will be expected to rebound the ball on both ends, finish on pick and rolls and putbacks around the rim, and protect the basket on defense. If he checks all those boxes, he will be exactly what the Clippers need.
Strengths
A legitimate 7-footer with good strength and still solid athleticism, Plumlee remains an excellent finisher around the rim. He uses that size, smarts, and experience to collect offensive rebounds and finish quickly through contact. While not a premier roll man like peak DeAndre Jordan or Clint Capela, Plumlee is still more than capable of setting big screens and then running to the rim for easy catch and finishes. He’s shot at least 71.4% from 0-3 feet since the 2018 season and was at a fantastic 76.6% mark last year. If you give him the ball around the hoop, he’s probably going to score – through free throws have historically been an adventure when fouled.
While not Jokic level (who is?), Plumlee is an excellent playmaker for a big man. He is adept at running dribble hand-offs, can make simple reads out of the short roll, and is a good interior passer. Given minutes and touches, Plumlee has generated up to four assists per game, and is at a very solid 2.5 per game across his career. More importantly, Plumlee is not particularly turnover prone, with a more than solid 2.5:1.5 assist to turnover ratio. He can absolutely be a hub of second-unit offenses, and is more than happy to serve more as a playmaker instead of scorer.
Finally, Mason Plumlee has one key strength that the 2024 Clippers are in desperate need of – availability. Plumlee has played fewer than 70 games just twice in his 10 year career, and in those seasons he appeared in 61 and 56 games, which for the Clippers is practically a good health season. Between the rock-steady Zubac and Plumlee, the Clippers should hopefully have their full complement of big men available the vast majority of the season (knock on wood).
Weaknesses
Honestly, for a traditional big man, Plumlee does not have many weaknesses, as he does most “big man” things fairly well. He’s certainly not a go-to scorer and can’t shoot, which means the Clippers can’t play him with another big man – but that shouldn’t matter for a team that prefers to play small anyway. Playing as a solo big man means the lack of shooting doesn’t matter a ton either, as long as there’s shooting around him. Playing him with multiple other non-shooters or poor shooters could be tricky, but the Clippers have enough shooting to avoid such situations.
Plumlee is not a great defensive player. He’s not a total sieve, but he’s definitely not switchable on the perimeter and will need to play in drop coverage most of the time. Unfortunately, he’s also not a great rim protector, though he suffices well enough there. The Clippers will need to put good defenders around him to make up for some of Plumlee’s defensive deficiencies, and those defensive weaknesses are the primary reason he won’t usurp Zubac as the starter (though some Clippers’ fans would certainly root for that outcome).
Lastly, Plumlee is 33, and will turn 34 in March if he’s still on the Clippers by then. While not ancient, the mid-30s is when players really start dropping off, and for a guy without much “skill” outside of passing, any athletic dip could damage Plumlee’s impact significantly on both ends. He’s not the player most at risk of such a fall, but he’s just one of many players on the Clippers who was much better five years ago – which is not exactly ideal.
Summary
Mason Plumlee has historically been a low-level starter or
one of the better backup centers in the NBA, and while there has to be some
fear of a fall-off considering his age, he showed no signs of slowing down last
year. On a very affordable one-year deal, Plumlee has some trade value, but
there’s no real reason the Clippers would want to move him, and they seem to
love him in the locker room. Mason Plumlee will likely be the Clippers’ backup
center throughout the 2024 season and serve as the fill-in starter when Ivica
Zubac is not available.
Clippers 2023-2024 Season Preview: Mason Plumlee
Robert Flom