Vinny Del Negro on Chris Paul: ‘He’s Gonna Lose a Few Pounds’

Everyone in Los Angeles is still too busy celebrating the arrival of Chris Paul to worry about anything else. Well, everyone but his coach, who hints that the star point guard is a little too heavy and slow at the moment. From ESPN: “Paul, in his seventh year in the NBA, looked a tad slower than his normal speedy self on the court Sunday. Wearing a red long-sleeved shirt under his blue practice jersey, he took it somewhat easy — even trying one All-Star Game-like juke move near the basket that led to a turnover. And he didn’t connect with superstar forward Blake Griffin on an alley-oop, as many hoped. But he did find leaper DeAndre Jordan in the air for a dunk, and he assisted two of Griffin’s four makes on the day. He shot 3-of-6 from the field in total in leading the Clippers’ five-man starting unit to a 35-32 overtime win over the backups. But, in general, it was easy to see where the hype comes from. His shot was silky-smooth in pregame warmups, and he calmly directed the team toward the end of the scrimmage in a manner previous Clipper point guards never appeared to master. ‘He’s gonna lose a few pounds, he’s gonna feel a little bit better,’ Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said of Paul. ‘Right now, when you come in, the play-sets are a little bit different, the terminology’s a little bit different. It’s easier, because he’s been around and he knows a lot of this stuff. In this game, if you’re a step slow, you’re in trouble. Every day, he’ll get a little bit more comfortable.’ Paul was cleared to practice only Saturday night for the Clippers, after being traded from the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday and arriving in L.A. on Thursday. He was delayed making his debut by former Clippers center Chris Kaman, who didn’t take his physical in New Orleans until mid-afternoon Saturday.”