Swanson: Clippers' Norman Powell understands the grind
12/18/2024 02:40 PM
INGLEWOOD — A toast! To Norman Powell.
For reminding us all that hard work can pay off. For helping us understand what’s possible if you keep grinding.
Cheers to you, Norm, and thank you for hosting your own surprise party – because it's not he who was in for the surprise here, this "early," "most-pleasant" and "biggest surprise" (per ESPN, ClutchPoints and LAFB Network).
It's the rest of us.
Powell, 31, has been expecting this. Waiting 10 NBA seasons to inherit a starring role. No, longer than that. He's been waiting since he played four seasons at UCLA. No, longer. Since his days as an overlooked-until-he-wasn't prospect out of Southeast San Diego's Lincoln High School.
A long time. No, a "very long" time – as Powell put it Monday night after another exacting and unsurprising scoring shift at Intuit Dome.
He contributed 29 points in 28 minutes in the Clippers' 37-point victory over the hapless Utah Jazz, scoring contributions that came on 12-for-16 shooting, including 5 for 7 from 3-point range. They came on perfect-10 jumpers that made no discernible splash and on sleight-of-hand moves at the rim, all of it a most exquisite complement to James Harden's 41 points.
It was everything you'd want from a star duo. Harden and Powell. We might need to get used to that, but Powell? "It feels normal, honestly."
Harden, of course, is one of those household names that the Clippers had in quadruple last season. The Beard, the Klaw, PG-13, Russell Westbrook – heavy hitters with Hall of Fame bonafides.
Previously, Powell – the 6-3 guard with the 6-11 wingspan and battle scar between his eyes, a souvenir from Jalen Duren's sharp elbow in February – was the understudy.
A talented member of the ensemble who could be counted on to step in when one of the headliners couldn't go, but who wasn't otherwise responsible for doing the heavy lifting. He finished fourth in sixth-man-of-the-year voting each of the past two seasons. A pro's pro, he put up with that for the good of the team. And because he believed his big break would someday come.
He's averaged only about 23 minutes per game for his career, and logged upward of 30 per contest only in his two seasons in Portland – and again this year, the first time he's been allotted more than 14 shots per game.
That's because the Clippers' stable of stars has shrunk: Paul George left in free agency for Philadelphia, Westbrook is in Denver, and Kawhi Leonard has been sidelined indefinitely with knee trouble. And because the team wasn't in position to go big-name hunting in the offseason to fill the void beside Harden, they called Powell's number. It's been addition by subtraction, you might say.
Because Powell was ready. Sure, his reputation in the NBA's cutthroat game of musical chairs was that he was a role player. But I had a hunch – like the Clippers did, like he did – that he was ready for his close-up.
He'd told us so. He wasn't trying to be one of the guys, but "one of those guys."
At media day two seasons ago, he stated, for the record, "for myself, really I’ve got one goal … and that’s to be an All-Star and to come into camp to prove that I’m a starting 2-guard." And then at media day this season, Powell posited that George's departure in free agency would prove to be "addition by subtraction."
Talk about showing your work. Powell has succeeded in making sure Clippers fans miss George not at all. Even after a hamstring issue last month, Powell is averaging career bests in points (23.5), field goal percentage (50.2%) and 3-point field goal percentage (48.4%) – which, if you do the math, is 6.4 points better than George this season, and also 6.5% better from the field and 13.2% better from deep.
Talk about seizing the moment. Powell might not yet have the Q rating of a star, but he's playing like one, scoring and defending, and if he keeps it up, and if the Clippers stay afloat – they're proving a tough-minded bunch, 15-12 and in ninth place in the Western Conference standings, far from the calamitous fall-off many expected – he ought to earn his first All-Star invite. He might also add some history, as the NBA's oldest Most Improved Player honoree.
"My high school self would be proud," he said Monday. "I think about it sometime; I’m actually I’m doing what I said I was gonna do. I told my boy that I was gonna be in here scoring buckets like Kobe, not at the end of somebody’s bench, just making money. So I'm proud of myself that I stuck with it, that I continued to have that hunger and that drive, and at that mindset that I had early on."
Talk about payoff; talk about earned. Powell might not have been seen as a star, but he's been training like one: Three-a-days five days a week in the offseason. Eating clean. Meditating. Stretching. Massage therapy. Physical therapy. Red light therapy. Hyperbaric chamber.
"He’s in the gym every day – I know it sound cliché to say that, but dude is in the gym every day," said Nicolas Batum, the Clippers' veteran forward. "I’m serious, though. He’s literally in the gym every freakin’ day."
"On days we have games," 24-year-old wing Jordan Miller said, "he’s the first one in here. And me being newer … I have to be one of the first guys here. And most of the time, we’re walking at the same time. Makes me feel like I should be here earlier."
Nick Nurse was the 76ers coach who headed the Toronto bench when Powell arrived as a rookie in 2015 as the 47th pick, and where he’d contribute to the Raptors’ 2019 championship. Nurse marveled recently at Powell's wildly enhanced proficiency from 3-point range, up from just 31% as a collegiate player.
"Hell of an improvement, right?" Nurse said. "He’s really, really worked hard to become a good shooter. Super-hard worker – and that’s just all credit to him, for understanding, like, 'I’m a guard and I’m gonna have to shoot if I’m gonna be in this league.' And not only is he in this league, but he’s thriving."
"One of my hardest workers, an awfully hard worker," said Steve Alford, whose 30 years of coaching experience included two with Powell at UCLA, where he helped unlock his offensive game. "If you follow his career from freshman year at UCLA to his rookie season in the NBA, to the progress he's made year to year, that's his grind."
Hear, hear! To hard work! To hard work paying off … eventually.
"The biggest thing like my lifestyle mantra, my motto, my brand, 'Understand the Grind,'" Powell said. "Understand what it takes for you to be successful with your path is and what you have to do, that no matter what’s being said about you … you always can go above and beyond the expectations of others, and always just have a positive mindset and be willing to sacrifice and put the work in.
"I think that resonates across any career field that you’re going after and not just sports … I’m an athlete, but everybody has a grind. Everybody has something they’re working for and going after. That’s the biggest thing, put the work in, sacrifice and continue to believe in yourself.
"But most importantly, continue to put the work in."
Cheers to that.
