With the Clippers, can Bill find a chance?

Bill, who held a superstar in his last season, did not meet his expectations after two years of coming to the Suns. After seeing off Durant, Bill was also officially announced to be abandoned by the team. In the end, the two sides reached a buyout agreement, which is expected to refund 13.9 million of the 110 million contracts in the last two years, and then allocate the remaining salary to 5 years of payment.

At the same time, the reporter revealed that Bill joined the Clippers with 11 million in two years, of which the second year was the player option.

2026 season is the 14th season of Bill's career, and the Clippers are his third team. He has been selected by the Wizards in the first round in 2012 and has been away for 11 years.

Even though he had already achieved All-Star value at the time, the Wizards who were about to move towards reconstruction could not use him as the cornerstone of his reconstruction, so they chose to start a trade, and exchanged the Suns for Paul and Shamet, with some draft pick chips, and the Suns also ushered in the era of Booker, Durant and Bill.

But in the past two seasons, Bill has been fighting due to injury, and his performance has always been worse than expected. Coupled with the huge salary pressure, the management gradually began to lose confidence in him. Last season, there was a rumor that he wanted to trade and clean up Bill. However, after contact with multiple parties, they still failed to make a deal, which once made it difficult for the Suns to invest in the trading war between other stars. This led to a gradual decline in the second half of the season from the playoffs, and then it was directly depressed on the bench.

From this perspective, although the decision to buy out Bill has suffered huge losses to the Sun, from a long-term perspective, if the Sun wants to go backward, this is also a way to do it.

Looking back at Bill's career trajectory, he chose to join the draft and enter the NBA in his sophomore season. Although he was reimbursed for a right injury in the rookie season, he still left a lot of deep impressions. He won two rookies in the single month and was successfully selected for the best rookie team. Although he was hit by injuries in the early stage, his partner Wall's double-gun backcourt was once one of the best duoes in the league.

Behind Wall, Bill is gradually growing into an excellent second-in-command. Until Wall was seriously injured, Bill began to take over the team's ace, and his personal style of play began to change from no ball to holding the ball. As the ball rights are gradually increasing, the risk of injury is increased. Since 2019, Bills has played more than 60 games in the regular season.

If the risk of injury is not considered, for Bill's diverse offensive values, it can not only dominate the team but also match the seamless adaptability of the teammate system. Even if his performance in joining Sun Lake is not as expected, combined with the hit rate and some data, it is still an important puzzle in the team.

It’s just that the Suns have always lacked stable organization points, and Bill and Booker play too similarly, and the team’s positioning is also overlapping. When the Big Three never finds a balance, they are destined to break up early.

According to the news revealed by US media, before that, the Bucks were quite active, the next team of the Bills. The two sides were actually willing to cooperate, but they had a miscarriage because the Bucks could only offer basic salary. In addition, the Lakers also had in-depth contact during this period, but unfortunately, the results were the same as the later Heat and Warriors, the basic salary was the only bargaining chip they could give, which obviously did not meet Bill's expectations.

Compared with the potential next players mentioned above, the Clippers, whose team salary is relatively healthy, even if the annual salary of 5 million is not much, it is also an opportunity for Bill. At least the Clippers are one of the few best choices at present.

The Clippers, who were eliminated in the first round of last season, had a lot of operations after entering the offseason. First, they signed a new contract with Harden and Batum who refused the player option, and then offered 18 million yuan for two years to recruit Daluo. Then they replaced Powell with Collins in a three-party transaction. Including successfully grabbing Bill, the Clippers' paper combat power has been significantly enhanced compared to last season.

At present, the management has formed a 10-man rotation:

Starting lineup: Harden, Bill, Collins, Leonard, Zubac;

Substitute lineup: Dunn, Bogdan, Jones Jr., Batum, Daluo. The biggest advantage of this lineup lies in its player qualifications. All players have been in the league for many years and only need to find their respective suitable positioning and stable running-in. There is still a high probability of upgrading in terms of combat power compared to last season.

Back to Bill, combined with the above content, Bill did not get a stable space for his performance in the Sun era except for personal problems was the key to his failure. He was able to hold the ball, but the problem of uneven distribution of Suns' ball rights made him restricted; and the main focus was on running and shooting without the ball, and overlapped with Booker's role, which eventually led to the lack of any link in the end, and the overall effect was naturally unsatisfactory.

As for joining the Clippers in the new season, how many advantages do they have?

The biggest advantage is that the team rotates enough and has a variety of roles. Compared with the ball-holding roles that other next players may play, Bill can return to his more suitable ball-free position in the Clippers. While reducing the potential for injury, he can also get a more stable ball-free system. With many veteran players, the lineup run-in time is relatively shorter. Even if he occasionally returns to the ball-holding position, the versatile auxiliary lineup is much more compatible than the Suns.

combined with the Clippers' offensive mode, the bottom corner and 45 degrees are likely to be Bill's key positions in the future. Harden's pass after the breakthrough and Zubac's connection after the center support can create shooting opportunities for Bill. This is also the regular offense of Dunn and Bogdan last season. Compared with these two, Bill's ability to go beyond the ball can obviously be improved.

The only part that needs to be observed may be whether it is compatible with Leonard. After all, some of the mid-range positions overlap slightly with Leonard, and how to play value in the off-ball run depends on how the coach will dispatch it in the subsequent. If we look at it from the perspective of rapid offensive and defensive transformation, Bill can even play the third position in the short term, and his unball offense and singles hard solver also provide new ideas for the Clippers.

At that time, no matter how the assumption was, the most critical premise was that his personal ability did not decline significantly. At present, the expectations are mainly focused on the adaptability of the new team. First, reduce the intensity of the body's confrontation to adapt to the new system, and then find opportunities to maximize their value under the new system.

This is also the sincerity of the Clippers to issue a two-year contract with player options. Bill still has the opportunity to turn the situation around for himself in the future, just to see if he can seize the opportunity.

Just from the perspective of the Clippers, this is still a risky bet. They have experienced the test of player health control in the past few seasons, and Bill is a glass man with a rich history of injury. Even besides Bills, Collins, who previously joined the team, is also a problematic player with injuries and injuries.

And the competition in the Western Conference next season is already big enough. Even if the regular season can maintain all members' health, in the playoff stage, players' endurance is still a big test for the Clippers.

Of course, at present, the Clippers do not have much chance to compete for the championship. If the two pillars of Harden and Zubac can maintain competitiveness as they did last season and enter the playoffs with the first half of the Western Conference, this is already the most suitable script for the Clippers.