It’s appropriate that Clippers rookie Jason Preston – nearly a journalism student until the game of basketball decided it had other plans for him – is so unafraid to pepper his coach with questions.
And lots of them, from the sound of it, because as the old adage goes, there’s no such thing as a dumb question.
During a conversation – or, maybe call it an interview? – about the Clippers’ offensive sets with Tyronn Lue on Thursday, one of the rookie’s questions made the Clippers’ coach chuckle a day later.
“He was just asking … ‘Is that all we’re gonna put in till the playoffs? And then we can add more stuff?’” Lue said Friday before the Clippers’ third preseason game, a 122-114 loss in Dallas. “And I was like, ‘No, we got a lot more stuff to put in before then.’”
Lue said he’s happy to take as many questions as Preston can come up with because his is the sort of curiosity that benefits a young player’s development – especially if that player won’t be able to get on the court and learn from his first-hand experiences for a significant spell.
After suffering a foot injury during a group workout on Sept. 23, Preston had surgery Thursday and, according to the team, will be sidelined for “an extended period of time,” with “no timetable for his return.”
That’s a gut punch for any first-year player, but Lue sounded sincere when he suggested that Preston, with his penchant for absorbing information off the court, will “be fine.”
“He’s always asking questions about the offensive sets, about the defensive coverages, and then moving forward,” Lue said. “So everything I’ve told him, he’s retained and repeated right back to you every single time.
“From the start of summer league to where he’s at now, he’s made a huge jump, and that’s because he’s asking questions, he’s watching film, he wants to get better and he wants to be better.
“So I don’t think it’ll be a problem for him at all, he’s very attentive and very smart and picks things up very well.”
Speaking of Jason Preston…
(Via @LAClippers)pic.twitter.com/6SGaZ9BLwK
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) August 14, 2021
MANN’S ANKLE: OK
Terance Mann appeared to be limping on his way out of Friday’s game early in the fourth quarter following a collision with the Mavericks’ Frank Ntilikina in transition.
Lue said after the game that what appeared to viewers and to him to be a rolled ankle was, in fact, a “small contusion” and suggested there was no cause for alarm.
“He just got kneed in the thigh, so it was just kind of like a small contusion,” Mann said. “But it wasn’t his ankle.”
In addition to some typically spirited competition with Dallas superstar Luka Doncic, Mann played 24 minutes and scored 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting Friday.
OPEN FOR PRACTICE
On Sunday, Oct. 17, the Clippers will continue a tradition that was interrupted last season by COVID-19 with another open practice in front of fans.
The team will be back at USC’s Galen Center from 4:30-5:15 p.m. next weekend. There’s no cost to attend, though the team is asking that fans RSVP (nba.com/clippers/openpractice) for details on parking, health and safety.
Prior to the start of practice, the team will host an event outside of the arena that will feature contests, raffles and entertainment courtesy of DJ Dense and the Clippers’ Hoop Troop crew.
The Clippers’ fourth and final preseason game is Monday at 7:30 p.m. against Minnesota at Toyota Arena in Ontario.
They’ll open the regular season on the road on Thursday, Oct. 21, at Golden State.