Norman Powell has stirred up quite the Clippers-Raptors debate.
While Powell's first full season in Los Angeles hasn't exactly been ideal from a success standpoint, he's apparently higher on this Clippers roster than that of the Raptors that won an NBA title in 2019. In response to a recent skid, Powell recalled the message that he gave to his team in the locker room.
"This team is deeper than the Raptors team I was on," Powell said, recounting his locker-room message to the LA Times.
"It’s all about identity and who we are and how we’re going to play. I feel like every team goes through it. If you look back at championship teams and top teams, there’s always a point in the season where you get here. And we’ve been here a couple times for whatever reason it is, and it’s just gutting up and taking it and coming out of it.”
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Naturally, Powell's comments took a life of their own, quickly making the rounds on social media.
After @306raptors posted a graphic of Powell's quote on Instagram, Powell took to the comments to further clarify what he meant, while Raptors assistant coach Jamaal Magloire also weighed in with plenty of push back.
"Let me break it down to y'all," Powell said in the comments. "Just because a team is deeper doesn't mean I'm saying the team is better. Raptors had our starting (five), (plus) me, Fred (VanVleet) and Serge (Ibaka) coming off the bench.
"In terms of depth, if you actually look at the roster, you have the starters plus (five) to (six) players that could start or be big key contributors on other teams all on one roster. We did not have that in Toronto."
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Powell's clarification stems from the widely-held belief that the Clippers have a plethora of starting-caliber talent, with a bench unit that features him, Nicolas Batum, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, Robert Covington and John Wall. What Powell doesn't take into account is that Toronto's 2019 team had a ninth key contributor in O.G. Anunoby, though he missed the entirety of the title run due to an appendectomy.
Magloire, who has been on the Raptors staff since 2012, wasn't trying to hear it.
In addition to a quick "lol,' response, Magloire added "FYI Toronto Raptors 2019 can't be (replicated) not even by the Clippers. Bye."
Of course, the Clippers roster features two members of that Raptors championship team in Powell and Kawhi Leonard, though injuries limited Leonard's availability to start the season. With that in mind, the parallels between the two teams are extremely difficult to ignore.
Through 44 games, the Clippers sit at 22-22, which, according to Powell, is a product of the team's continued search for an identity. For the sake of a one-for-one comparison, the 2018-19 Raptors were 32-12 through their first 44 games.
To be fair to Powell, last year's Celtics went from 22-22 through 44 games to coming within two wins of winning an NBA title. Until then, Toronto's magical squad in 2019 remains the gold standard as it was the last team standing, depth issues or not.
