Clippers notes: Leonard, Powell, Bamba, Van Gundy

The Hair clippersThe season opener is just a week away and there is very little clarity about it Kawhi Leonardwrites Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Leonard is still battling right knee inflammation that knocked him out of his team's first-round playoff series last spring and prevented him from competing in the Olympics. trainer Tyronn Lue has already confirmed that Leonard will not feature in pre-season, but beyond that his status is unclear.

“Continue rehab, keep getting better and keep checking the boxes.” Lue responded when asked how the team is handling Leonard.

Aside from the Clippers needing to get off to a good start in what is expected to be an intense Western Conference playoff race, Leonard's ongoing knee problems raise concerns about his future. This is the first season of his three-year, $152 million contract extension, and the team will need him on the court as often as possible to stay competitive after the loss Paul George in free agency.

There's more from Los Angeles:

• After playing primarily on the bench since joining the Clippers, Norman Powell hopes to land a starting role this season, Turner adds in the same article. Lue talked about what the veteran swingman needs to do to become a full-time starter. “Being able to score the basketball. If you don’t do that, just accept the defensive challenge every night.” Lue said. “So being able to defend your position and keep up with the guys. We talked two years ago about how we saw in the playoffs in Phoenix how to take on the challenge defensively. He's gotten a lot better. So just being able to guard the guys every night, being able to switch and sometimes guard the point guards when we need him. He’s been phenomenal so far in this training camp.”
• The team continues to hope that backup center Mohamed Bamba will be able to recover from knee pain in time to play next week, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Bamba said the pain was a result of wear and tear during his six NBA seasons and he has no official timetable for his return.
• Assistant coach Jeff Van Gundywho joined the Clippers' staff this summer has increased the team's aggressiveness on defense, observes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. LA had 20 steals and forced 29 turnovers in Monday's win over Dallas.“The defensive coordinator usually has to be the guy who is the (bad guy) because you have to be tough and hold everyone accountable.” Co-assistant Brian Shaw said. “Sometimes when he says we have to be the good cops to make up for it, but it was good.”