What is going on? Clippers fans? Welcome to season two, episode twelve
of Clips in Zip, part of the two and three hoops I Empire.
You can find us everywhere you find podcasts. Also find us on YouTube at
YouTube dot com slash at Clippers podcast. I am joined today by the usual
trio host. You have Adam Oslin Will Uptike, who is not here last
week. How are you fellas doing media days? In the books, We're
gonna talk all about that and pretty much nothing else. Adam, how are
you, buddy? Just glad the Zodiac Killers likely dead at this point?
Sure? Sure? Are you on the same level as Adam? Yes,
Yes, I am glad. I am glad that we have some sort of
closure there, even if we don't have an identity. It's very important to
remember on this day, media Day, of all days, speaking of closure,
maybe not having an identity. Let's talk to some of the Clippers media
day quotes. One of the things I want to bring up first that I
think Clipper's friends were mostly excited about We're gonna talk what we like, what
we didn't like, Tylu saying Robert Covington should have played more, and then
it was his fault that he didn't play as much. How do we feel
about that quote? Well, Adam, you were at media day. Were
you rubbing elbows with everybody? What happened? Yeah? I didn't ask that
date. Did they have homestate catering? Uh? They had I don't know
home state. They had Chick fil A. They had an assortment of all
the Chick fil A sauce as you could ask for. You want a spicy
Chick fil A? Do you want the original Chick fil A? You want
a biscuit? They get spread there. Yeah, I like the Polynesian sauce.
I think is the one like my arteries always. But uh no,
that was an interesting answer from coach Lou. But I don't think it's the
first time that he's at least alluded to doing a better job with rotations,
just making sure. Yeah, this was the first time I think you said
something specifically about Rocco. Yeah, but I think it's something that he's taken
ownership and accountability for multiple times in the past. But I know, I'm
sure much of Clipper Nation this was red meat for them. They loved hearing
that. Of course. I don't know. Do we think this was also
like next that will do you think this will translate to more playing time for
Does this actually mean anything? Yeah, I'm really unclear on that. I
think my first initial reaction was kind of cynicism to that quote, like,
so, what does that mean, like he'll at least be guaranteed non DMPs
or like what, like what exactly does that look like? I don't know.
It's interesting because you're obviously you're not going to get your answer at media
day, likely not even through reading the tea leaves at training camp. But
you know, as we've discussed on here, there's a major question mark at
the four and who's going to be starting there and what the future of that
is going to look like. And I'm hoping that this is an indication from
from Tylu in terms of how he's looking at rotations, at addressing that whole
and addressing that problem. So I'm kind of split fifty fifty on it,
but I'm gonna go ahead and choose to be optimistic and say, you know,
he does realize that there's an issue. I'm hoping that it's apparent at
this point that you know, what happened with Morris, and I don't have
any personal vandetta against the guy. Or anything, but what happened with Morris
and and sort of the defensive woes and the shooting inefficiencies might not have just
been a flash in the pan. I'm gonna go as far as to say
probably weren't just a flash in the pan. And I'm gonna take go ahead
and take this quote to mean that Tylu feels the same way, and perhaps
perhaps we are closer to getting to a more acceptable answer at that position,
ring any sort of roster upgrades, which at this point is seeming more and
more unlikely. Well, Marcus Morris was there, but he didn't go up
to the podium, as did a handful of Clippers players. I kind of
tried to bones didn't as well, Kobe Brown, Jordan Miller. I tried
to dig a little bit deeper on that question a little bit indirectly by asking
him about kJ Martin in well position he sees him playing. I talked about
the three or the four. He played the four more a couple of years
ago, and coachlew immediately said, I asked him, what do you see
him as? He says as team as a basketball player, But then he
elaborate and said he played some small ball five with the rockets. So if
he's open to him playing all these different positions, including the small ball five,
then I think he could play the four. So for everyone wondering like,
is he really a four? Is he just a three? Is he
not big enough to play the four? If Coach lew is interested or at
least creative enough to maybe have him at the five at times, then the
four is definitely a possibility you mentioned. I just see a lot of that
being limited by how often he's going to share the floor with Russell Westbrook to
be. To be perfectly honest, I think not two non shooters out there
guys collect to operate in the mid range. That just feels like a spacing
nightmare to me. Speaking of Terrence and kJ who do kind of I like,
you know, Tyler said he's like the three, four and the five.
That's how he talks about Terrence too, right. He called Terrence like
the sixth last year or some weird thing. He kind of teased that Terrence
might start I think it was Joey Lynno asked him like, does it make
sense to have Terrence starting with Russ or something a little more not as blunt
as that until Joey, you're smart. She says, you're smart. Okay,
Well, but I think he knew. Joey was picking up on something
that's kind of what he was getting at there, right, which I hope
happens because I think law Murray pointed it out. When you have Terrence kind
of operating in space, if we're gonna post Zoo up more, which is
also something Tyler said, Terrence can just run around and do his chaos thing.
He can cut, he can slash, he can do all this stuff.
So I think the Terrence Man starting agenda that Adam you are very hyped
on since we still have Russ, that feels like it might happen. It
really feels like the four position is up for grabs right now in the starting
line up. I mean, then we're talking about Kawai and Paul George moving
up a position. Right If Terrence Man is in the starting backcourt, maybe
next to Russell Westbrook, maybe I don't know, this team might be weird
and just run him at the four right like offensively, I could see it
not switching running ye when I talked about terror the more on our lash at
the four in our last shows, so that that can't be guys, how
could he play the four? I was, wait, did I mock you?
No, you weren't here. Will it mock me? From afar?
He heard that, Yeah, I probably mocked you for that. But now
that, now that ty Lewis said it, I believe Tyler over you that.
I also said that. I asked Nicholas Batum, because we've talked about
whether or not he's comfortable starting or wants to start. I asked him straight
up, do you feel better? Are you competing? I should say,
I asked him, are you competing for the starting four spot? Do you
feel more comfortable coming off the bench? And he didn't defer and say something
like, well, Marcus is our starting four. He said, you know
me, you know me. I'll do whatever they asked me to do.
If that start, then I'll do that. I just want to help this
team win. But it was a long, lengthy answer and it was as
very thoughtful as you would expect from Nicholas Pato. That's a good call.
Will how do you feel about these starting? About the zoobots thing, because
I think a lot of people he talked about wanting to get Zoo the ball
more and then also maybe not doing drop coverage on picking rolls, which if
you hate zubots, you probably hate the drop coverage because you don't think it
works. I feel like it makes sense from an efficiency standpoint. You know,
I love Big Zoo. I've never been super vocal about actually that's a
lie. I haven't time to vocal about getting when we can get the offense
going by feeding the big man a couple of times, keeping him engaged on
the other side. I think that that's great if it's open, you know.
I don't know that it necessarily needs to be a game plan like we
all remember the you know, the first bucket used to be for Marcus Morris
two seasons ago. I don't know if it needs to go that far with
it where it feels like a part of the script. But six, I
think I think just keeping in people's heads that Zoo is as efficient, and
by people's heads I mean the team, the roster. Keeping in people's heads
at Zoo is efficient, that that is an option that you should feel comfortable
being able to go to him in some of those things. I think.
I think that's great. You know, I can't Handy Kapper put like a
percentage of what I think his post up possessions would increase by But I also
my thing with the drop is I know that he gets like I know that
he gets dragged about this, But so where do you want zoo when he's
on an island against a guard right up in there? I want to right
right up in there. No, I don't know he was dropping against what
Now I was gonna say he wasn't dropping against Luca don chich in the playoffs.
He'd play up on him, play really well, put a hand in
his face, and it just wouldn't even matter. Yeah, you know,
I think that's what we'll saying, Like, you know, that's that's his
job. He's doing his job correctly right there. I think I think the
people who are mad at Zoom about his defensor just always going to be mad
about it. I think he could play hovering defense. Who do you like
in the Pacific Division? What center defensively do you like better than zoobots in
the Pacific Division? They should check out the Clippers defensive rating without him.
I'm trying to think, good, Uh, well, I'll tell you what.
He's better than Nerk. Yeah, Davis is the best. Yeah,
like outside of Anthony Davis like, who in the Western Conference do you think
is better? And Anthony Davis barely counts because he doesn't play the five right,
I can't think. I mean, I guess a bonus. Defensively,
I'm trying to think, are you insane? Cooked? On that hand,
often think better than zubots Defensively, I was throwing it out there for fuck
sake, who do you think's better? Right? Like A d likes?
I mean that's fair. Yeah, there's not a lot. I mean Steven
Adams kind of I don't know. I like, I wouldn't want Steven Adams
at his age, which he's actually never as old as you think he is.
He's just been in the league forever. I would not want him to
have to get into as many of the mobile positions as Zoo does. Defensively,
Yeah, he's much better than use. Yeah. Yeah, so we
like Terence starting potentially. Russ said they're gonna run a lot, which if
if Terence isn't starting, I hope kJ is because who else is gonna run
with Russ? He kind of had like a rise smile on his face when
he said it, too. Oh, we're gonna run like I'm still fast.
I could still jump high. He said, he thinks he's still an
elite player, and yeah, we're gonna run, so team's gonna have to
be a really good shape. But that also speaks to who's playing the four,
then who's running with him. I mean, it looked like if you
just go back to the Sacramento game where they scored one hundred and seventy five
points or whatever it was, it wasn't difficult for Kauai and Paul George all
of a sudden to keep up with someone like Russ when they brought him in
Game one. Their offense was humming in that game obviously, and they were
fine getting up and down the court. So has it ever has that ever
really been an issue? Though? Like I know, the Clippers tend to
play at a slower pace. Two seasons ago, you know, best half
court offense in the league. They were I guess that's three seasons ago.
Now. They were really really good the last time Kawai and Paul George were
both healthy, I'll put it that way, really really good half court offense.
I don't think it's ever been like an issue where or at least from
my perspective, where they couldn't get up and down the floor. I just
think it's the combination of both having to initiate and somehow being like, you
know, a fast break like everything, Like yeah, like you having to
personally instigate the fast break like as a ball handler, that to me,
I see as an issue. But like with a ball handler who's looking to
push the pace like that, I mean they are both getting older injuries yeah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. But I've never thought that that could
be a limiting factor. What about you guys, They're coming in one hundred
percent. And I think that point you made about like a point guard who's
actually gonna push the push the pace as opposed to like find the outlet pass.
We love it, But Russ will actually dribble. You know, Rondo
wasn't doing that and things like that. John, I'll tried. I guess
Russ is a one man fast break at times. And I think you're right.
I think they can actually Peg doesn't have to be the one dribbling up
on the fast break, which I don't think any of us really. I
want to see what this ball security. And I'm not saying they're gonna be
like the fastest like team in the league or like, I don't think we're
they're gonna have that kind of a turn around. But I've never thought that,
like physically Kauai or Paul George are a limiting factor in the pace of
this team. I do think they're ha and issues and who's initiating the offense
not pointing fingers, but I mean, like, if they have to do
that, plus plus played, you know, on both ends of the ball,
I do understand why it makes sense that this is a slower team.
Yeah, well, you got you gotta build in some rest at some point.
They're also running to the wings. They're running to the three point line
and starting there typically, and this Clippers team, all the numbers would say
that when they get a shot off in the first ten seconds of the shot
claw, their field goal percentage goes way up. But another way Big Zoo
could get some of those posts touches because he could run and beat his man
down the floor is running a little bit with Russ and him finding him down
low for a quick easy two here and there. I want to see,
Yeah, there's gonna be some great bontages of Zoo putting his head down and
going into a dead sprint when rest start getting the Naruta run. Well,
it's because Russ often wants to get the rebound and get out and run that
way to lead the break. So you're gonna be ahead of him knowing he's
getting that rebound, you know, so he could push it up ahead and
have that outlet pass at times to Zoo who's just boxing out his man down
low. On the other side, there was some exciting stuff to take.
I know, this was like kind of a boring media day, but that's
kind of what you want if you're a fan of a team on media day.
But there's some exciting stuff lineup wise with what Ty was talking about.
I think there's a lot of good stuff like this Rust talk about being fast,
Terrence seemingly feeling like he's gonna start or something like that. But I
was more hyped than I thought I was going to be after seeing some of
these quotes. Kawai hates the new rules, which was sweet. All of
those clips were amazing. If you missed it, Kauhi asked what the new
rest rule is, and then rightfully so was like, if they're trying to
do this for what I didn't try to I was hurt the whole time,
like it's as fun. He had it, absolutely, and he played hurt
throughout their playoff run. For anyone who ever questions whether or not Kawhi Leonard
loves the game or something, which I think is absurd, he was noticeably
limping, especially in the Eastern Conference Finals against Jannis and the Bucks when he
had that dunk on Yannis. But he was he was limping around and he
just played through it because he could. And all the reports said he wanted
to play in Game three against Phoenix, it was the team not letting him
rightfully, So you tera Miniscus in the same and by the way, were
gonna say, well, oh I'm sorry, sorry to inject, but like
and let's not forget, Like he toured the acl, stayed on the court,
got on the plane to fly to the next like Utah game, Like
what what do you want? Yeah, when the media asked him about it
after game four, he was like, it's fine, it's fine. He
didn't even want to talk about it. He just wanted to say it's fine.
Yeah, And he flew with the team and played another possession after that.
But one of the best most encouraging things I think coming out of today's
media day was regarding Kauai and the health coming off the meniscus tear. Tolmirazzarreli
asked him about the difference in rehab coming into this season as opposed to last
season off of the ACL, and Kauai first of all, someone asked him
about playing in Paris for Team USA next years. Okay, it was every
media day, not just Clippers, ye, but Kawai said, I wanted
to play this year, but I had prior obligations. It sounds like Kauai
has been one hundred percent off the meniscus for maybe over two months now,
Like it was a really quick recovery for him, because when he described it
in the differences between that and the ACL, he was like, yeah,
basically, get the swelling out and then it's fine. It's I'm paraphrasing a
little bit, but he made the point to say, at least I recovered
quickly something to that effect from the meniscus is not always like this, but
for me it was. So I think that's huge for this team. Like
Kawai is coming in not just a month out, It sounds like a good
two months out because if he was playing on playing for Team USA. That
team got together like what mid July, end of July, and the only
reason he didn't do it was because he would have had to leave midway through
the tournament. So if he was comfortable enough to do that, I think
that's a revelation. That's a big deal because not everybody responds great to the
meniscus injury. That's a good call and we got I mean, we talked
about it last episode. You know, there was that quote about I think
for Lawrence Frank about like Kawai wanting to control everything. He's in full control
going him in this season and he's had, like you mentioned, maybe two
months of the famous and same Kawhi workouts that happened in San Diego and things
like that. He's been fully controlling those for months now. So like it,
You're right, it cannot be better heading into this training camp from the
Kawhi perspective. I thought it was interesting Paul George said he was one hundred
percent about two months after the season had ended. I asked him this,
Adam asked him this. He said he wouldn't have been able to return to
the Clippers had they made the finals. Didn't feel like anything super big there.
I mean, I think it is not being able to return if they
made the finals. We were like, he could probably come back at least
midway through a series against Denver with the workouts that we had seen on tape,
and he was like, no, it wasn't gonna happen. Even if
they had made the finals, it wasn't gonna happen. So he takes the
sting out of last season a little bit, honestly, because even if Kawhi
Leonard was healthy and they beat Phoenix, Paul George wasn't coming back against Denver.
Therefore, they would have had no chance against the Denver Nuggets, no
chance the Clippers. It would have been tough with both of them. Without
Paul George it would have been the Clippers postseason performance is not like why I
have a problem with last season. Yeah, that's actually a really good point
too, which Paul George talked about this. Are you talking like the seriousness
of the season all that stuff? Yeah? Lead us in what a transition
by will Paul George said, I don't like the question of us not taking
the season serious. But the approach is to take practice serious. But to
say we didn't take the season serious, we put everything to it sends the
Clippers need to practice more and have no regrets at the end of the season.
So he didn't have an issue with it, But then he put a
pretty solid reason why maybe that issue would be there in the first place.
I hope they practice more too. This feels like a theme even when Doc
was coached, they never got to practice. I also, I don't even
know what this means. I'm sure they're going to practice, but we don't
what the practice are, you know what I'm saying. Like Partly what I
think was missing from that quote was I think he's stressed that in games we
were going as hard as ever. We were playing as hard when we were
we're out there, and he wanted to make that distinction. That wasn't like
they were dogging it during games in the regular season when they were available.
I think that's kind of where we were coming from. Yeah, that's fair.
I hope the practices are more intense. I don't know how do you
make practice chill for NBA players. It seems like such a hard sport,
so Westbrook makes them more intense. Apparently it's a very different thing with Russell
Westbrook at practice, they do an hour of zips apps off or whatever.
Wait are you talking about the zipsapp roup? Yeah? No, the improv
game. Yeah, they're doing mine now some other thing. What did we
not like? I guess before we go and do it? Was there anything
we didn't like from this? Terrence hates NBA Twitter, which hey, I
agree with that. You know what's funny about that? Though he emphasized this
multiple times and said it was shit shit, He's right, He's completely right.
NBA culture on Twitter or NBA Twitter what the kids I think like to
call it. Depending on who you follow, you see a lot of nonsense.
However, if the irony is if there's one guy where he never gets
degraded on Twitter, it's probably terrorists man, Like it's always positive when it
comes to Territs man and how much more he should be playing. That's all
you ever hear on Twitter. So it's kind of funny coming from it.
Obviously he's not on there to know that. I guess you're not on there
much, but he has a name of social media platform that it's better on.
Yeah. True, it's just Marcus Morris putting heat out there. I
don't know the NBA Twitter though, is like the mecca of toxic NBA conversations,
and I think that's what is speaking to as well, right, Like
he's not talking about like this is bad for me. He's not in the
same position as like somethime Morris. I'm just saying it's funny coming from the
guy that actually doesn't get dinged ever on Twitter, like he is so beloved
everybody. He wants more Terrence Man out there. Maybe we shouldn't trade Darrence
Man. Like it's just funny. But he was great. He and Zubots
were up there at the same time and they had the great answer. Visa
Zubots. It reminded me of his tone when he said in the locker room
during last season, I think in the first couple of months when Kawai was
out and he said the Clippers just can't have nice things. He was talking
about injuries. But Big Zoo came out. I forget what the question was,
but it was, what do you want to say to Clipper Nation something
like that with the letdowns the last couple of years, and they both kind
of paused, and Zoo took it and said, quote, we want to
apologize for getting their hopes up and falling short every year, we're going to
try again. I know it's been tough staying with us, and he kind
of it was almost I don't want to say it was tongue in cheek,
but it was like he's in on it, like he knows it's been frustrating
guys, but like they are trying. They're trying, Jennifer doing everything they
can that it's just been so unlucky with injuries. Yeah, I mean,
it would have been funny if he was getting like kind of making a joke,
but I think he's totally sincere. These guys don't want to lose,
right, It's like we talked about, like, these guys don't want to
lose like this every year. It's this is I think this is a positive
thing though, coming from Zoo, because absolutely I do feel like Zoo,
as much as I love him and as great as he was, I do
feel like there he was kind of one of the victims of circumstance, where
last year, at times there was a prevailing mood of like, oh shit,
here we go again, and I think that people kind of checked out,
and so I think this coming from Zoo, I'm hoping is self prescriptive
as well as overall prescriptive. Once again, this isn't a knock on zoo.
I understand what happens when you ask your rotation core to continuously carry the
burden of yeah, of two superstars, like but the point blank you you
like, we have asked now for multiple seasons for the rotation cast to take
the burden of two superstars plus their job. And you know, I can
understand how that manifests on the court. But I think that him saying this,
I'm hoping it is there's a level of self awareness with that. You
want self awares? Yeah, absolutely, long hair, head band, doing
yogi stuff like the Love Guru, but less problematic, less problematic. One
thing, I guess norm talked about wanting to be an All Star again like
a year. All right, Adam, Adam, why don't you lead us
in what the man was a media day or Adam Osla day? Okay,
it was weird. I don't normally ask this many questions because I feel like
I'm a team employee. Obviously I'm just gonna be lobbing softballs. Leave it
to the real journalists and the media people there who might ask a tough question.
But not that many questions were being asked, So I was like,
okay, uh yeah, it was probably in that range, but I don't
know what it felt like only twenty five. Maybe we're sitting down, but
the usuals were there and they were asking questions, just didn't seem like as
many questions were being lobbed to guys. So Brian Seman and I were just
asking a lot of questions sitting next to each other, and I asked Norm
because coming into last season he talked about wanting to be a starter and that
being one of his goals and maybe being a six man. And I said,
well, you had a great season, still the forty two point game
against Phoenix. You have any individual goals coming into this year and he said,
the one goal is still he thinks he can be an All Star.
He can play at an all star level. That will always be a goal
of Norman Palace, which which was cool. Here, I think he's become
a little bit underrated or a little bit overlooked when we talk about the Clippers
off season and going into this season a lot. Maybe it's because he's always
in trade rumors, but we kind of discount Norman Powell and just how good
and how efficient he was last season for the Clippers. He was pretty great.
It's just been it's just been availability. I think every time that Norm
has been available, he's he's never far from the conversation of what's going right
for the Clippers or you know, what he's able to do in his role.
But yeah, it's just his tenure here has kind of been a little
bit marred by availability. Is this guy here wins six Man? Is this
the year? Because that's what I want. I say, forget about the
Oscar, that'd be great six Man of the Year. Bringing Hall of Dorm.
He was up there next to Mason Plumley. You guys will like this
because I felt like Mason was getting left out of some questions. So it
came back around and I said, you know, Clipper Nation took a liking
to you pretty early on, and you got all these nicknames, plum Dog,
Millionaire, point Plum, big Plum. My personal favorite, are you
do you Reckon? Is how much Clifford Nation appreciates you? And he kind
of smiled about that and took it all in and he does love Clifford Nation,
and that, you know that could have played a role in him coming
back too, Like, don't forget it's not just Russ who's on a very
team friendly deal, Mason plumbly coming back. Take what what's he making right
now? I thought he did. I don't know if it was a pay
cut from last year, but I felt like the open market he could have
gotten more. He was. He took a one year, five million dollars
deal. That's not a lot for arguably the best backup center and a guy
who was starting the first half a last season for Charlotte and playing some of
his best basketball. Yeah, I mean, I get. I mean,
I don't know if he took a pay cut. I would be very surprised
if he took. I think you get more than one year five million.
I think five mill is is pretty low, dude, that's what's the vet
man right now? Like four point three, four point five. That's lower
than the mid level exception five mil. Yeah, all right, If you
had what would you pay Mason? I would have I would have thought he
could have gotten here two years, twenty one million something like that from somebody.
Is it Steve? Is it Steve Bomber's money or my money? It's
Will Afte's money? Oh yeah, Why not. How about this? How
about this vetman with a little more PTO? Yeah, absolutely, unlimited PTO
in season, out of season? Who cares out of season? No PTO?
You gotta be well, I expect him to be at the facilities unless
he's taking PTO which his birthday or is his birthday or something? I'm paying
you, aren't? I I want Will to own the team for two months?
All right? Coming up, we're gonna talking kind of vibes in the
season. The Russell Westbrook Vegas dinner which sounded fun. And then Adam,
who I think was at Media Day, got to meet the new Clippers play
by play guy. We got all that incoming. More coming up. We
got ads on they've been loud. That's the case. Freeg ahead and turn
it down. We got ads in three two one. Hey, we're back.
We're talking Clippers media Day affairs. We talked a little bit about some
comments from tylu Kawai, Terrence, all the regular players, and now we're
talking a little bit about how we're feeling coming into the season. Chuck,
why don't you lead us in? I'm feeling I think maybe too optimistic is
where I'm at. I feel like Media Day has that effect. It's all
optimism, because I'll tell you what, if you're pessimistic after media Day,
things are going probably horribly wrong for your team. But the Clippers are in
a championship window. And I mean, we heard the Roko stuff, we
heard the Terrence stuff, we heard the Zoo stuff, like, I'm feeling
pretty good, Adam Scale on one to ten, where are you at?
I'm at a spinal tap eleven, I'm I'm up there right now. I
feel good about it. But everybody host Springs Eternal a news season, and
everybody feels like this early on. But the Clippers legitimately are starting to be
somewhat overlooked, and they know that there was a question about that too.
They're flying completely. They're not even in the conversation. I think it's gonna
change though the first three weeks of the season because of their schedule, they're
probably if they're the team we think they are, they should get off to
something like a nine and four ten and three start and immediately jump right back
into being talked about as one of the contenders. Clippers start ten and three.
Have you seen their schedules start the season. It's easily the softest start
part of their schedule. They better they better start at least nine and four
or else they're in trouble because it gets way worse and the Gauntlet happens by
midway through November. Yeah, March replaced two games, which is not ideal.
One thing I did like is so there was a story read by Andrew
r about how Russ had a team training camp in Vegas, brought everyone there
except four but Tube and Zoo were out of the country, so I think
they get a sure pass. Marcus Morris also not there, which seems like
I don't know what he was doing. I don't have information about that,
so I can't speak to the decision making of that, but it sounds like
something that would have been nice to be at, considering it was, you
know, training. They got iPhones, which is cool, but it feels
like a dinner that I would have liked Marcus Morris to be at. Also
shout out to Russia being a great teammate. Am I reading too much into
this? No? Yeah, I don't think so at all. I think
it's I think it's telling. I don't know. Maybe there's a good explanation
for it, but it seems telling with the way it was worded two two
guys out of the country and Marcus Morris. It was just I don't know
what else to make of it. It seems like an awkward situation right now,
considering he was traded. It was next and this is somebody who people
are pointing out now unfollowed the Clippers on Instagram. If you read into stuff
like that, yeah, I mean, if it happened recently, I think
it's worth reading into if like he was following them and then he didn't write
after being traded. I mean I could understand it from his perspective, I
guess, but we all know if there's a trade that happens, Marcus Morris
is the most likely guy to be involved, right, I mean yeah,
he's literally like, yes, he's already wise. Yes. In terms of
a team getting anything back, no, if the salaries work, you have
to do the trade per the rules. But that was a great article.
Seems like Ross is doing a second to help the team coalesce, which we
love. I think his leadership is important, like it can turn into a
talking point or something that almost seems meaningless for a team that hasn't been able
to come through the last four years mostly because of injuries. But we've mentioned
it before. Patrick Beverly had some of that on court leadership and was a
vocal leader for this team, and they have missed that. And now Russ
coming into when we look at being a full season with the Clippers, that
could do a lot for this team. I think having a team locked in
at practice because one guy's going really hard is meaningful. Like I don't think
you could overstate stuff like that, because we talk about the seriousness of the
regular season. If one guy is on the floor and Rico Hines runs on
the hardwood diving for balls, what do you think he's doing at Clippers practices?
And that inspires guys. He's setting up people's eye laugh because he's too
tired from the Rigel Hines friends. He's making sure they're getting their emails from
their computer to their new phone. He's doing it all. No, we
are happy that Russels on this team. You know who is not on the
team real quick. We know that Adam has a prior engagement. I think
another media day to get to the Clippers will not be getting Drew holiday.
We can still maybe get brogged in and the guy who plays for the seventy
six Ers still wants to come to the Clippers, but there's a tea to
show up for his team's media day though, right, which is like Chuff
did predict that accurately. Let's move on from this man. We do not
need this guy on the team. He's just it's like, I don't know.
I've never seen anyone watch a child throw a tantrum three times in a
row and say I wish that was my kid. I've just I haven't seen
it happen. Let's move on from it. Woad said there were recent discussions,
but zero traction between the Clippers and Philadelphia seventy six ers that came out
earlier today. Whatever that means, it is because Daryl Morey, I think,
can be this stubborn because of their relationship, and he doesn't want to
look like the guy that gave in to James Harden. Who knows how this
is gonna play out? Oh, MESSI is how it's gonna play out.
At one point, though a few months ago, it seemed to look a
lot more inevitable. For one day, for about eight hours, it's sounded
great. But yeah, and then the final thing, Adam, you met
the new Clippers play by play guy Carlo Jimenez, great guy fresh out of
USC, brings a ton of energy. He actually got the first question at
the presser before Jim Hill got it, which is crazy. I've never seen
that happen before. Jim Hills always gets the first question. He said,
is all the ship flay up for grabs? Carlo is gonna be great though.
I'm excited to work with him. It was fun hanging out with I
and Brian Steemen all day and media day. You guys were missed. Do
we have any any inkling? Is what his catchphrases might be at all?
Anything? No, but we should get the exclusive get him on Clips and
Dip before anybody else does. I'm down. Let's do it. Carlo.
If you're listening, which you might not be, which you know, No,
no, not gonna hold it against you. Uh no, he says
he's been listening to Clips and Dip. He says he's a listener. Let's
go now check. That's great, but we'll have it on probably next week
because there's nothing happening anything else. You want to break down the clips play
a first preseason game versus the Jazz and like six days, which is fun.
Will anything you want to send these Clipper faithful out with nah, let's
get out of here, Adam your words of positivity. We'll be back next
week at some point, maybe with Carlo, who knows pitched some some new
uh some new play by play phrases by him. Adam, what's your one
uplifting thing to tell a Clippers fans other than that you asked some questions in
media day. It's not about me, guys, okay, I'm just a
humble reporter. It's the Kawai news that he may have been one hundred percent
for over two months now, maybe longer. That's crazy to me that he
thought about playing for Team USA. I would have thought, yeah, there's
the likelihood that him coming off and injuried, he'd entertained the thought of playing
for Team USA. But apparently the cleanup was that quick and easy, so
that's huge. He also looked noticeably leaner than he did last season at the
podium with the Clippers. I took notice of that. I think Kauai is
going to hit the ground running. I hope this Clippers team is. I
asked the Tomb about that too, because he was the one who said,
you know, it could take till December last season for us to really yell.
I brought that up with him today and he said, no, this
team, he thinks because of the continuity and the carry over, this team
could really get off to a hot start. So well, there we go.
That's all we need to hear to this team getting off what wills that
I guess we got? Yeah, Will man those two months and Will loves
the team are gonna be wild. Leave us a review over on iTunes.
Really appreciate it. Check us out on YouTube. Over at Clippers Podcasts on
YouTube. We're at Clipper Spot on Twitter. We will be back next week
and as always, let's go clips. Let's go