Welcome to season two, episode twenty two of Clips in Dip. We are
your more than once a week Clippers podcast. You can find us on Spotify,
Deezer YouTube, YouTube, dot com, slash at Clippers podcast. I
Am Chuck Mockler. William Updyke is usually with us. He is unavoidably detained.
Adam Osland is always with us. The Voice of your Clippers prem postgame
on AM five seventy n l A Adam. Things a little rough right now,
Clippers, we're three and four. How are you feeling before we give
kind of these people a preview into what we're talking about tonight. Doesn't matter
how I feel. It's about what I do. I don't know what that
means. I no idea what that means. I'm not following that train of
thought, but I'm excited to see where this episode goes. It's about actions,
not good. I'm good, I feel I feel fine, Chuck.
It's good to be on with you. It was me and Will last time
out. We're not just your once a week podcast. We're not just your
almost every day podcast. But we do stuff on the weekends because the Clippers
play like they're going to be on Sunday you were, Will you're coming on
with me post game, so we got you covered in ways nobody else really
does. Yes, we're doing our best here at Clips and diff. We
are part of the two and three Empire. Shout out two and three hoops,
go follow all their good stuff. Today we're gonna be talking the Clippers
and the MAVs in season tournament game. The Clippers are struggling a little bit
as they head into a game against I think we can both agree the best
team they've played so far this year, probably, Yeah, that's accurate.
They're heading into the tougher part of their schedule and they're three and four.
Yes, sure, and they're three and four. And then we're also going
to talk the Mason Plumbley injury timeline. No official team announcement yet press release
wise, but we got some news. Is gonna be up to two months.
They're targeting Daniel Tye. We're going to talk about all that, Adam.
I think you and I might be on the same page with that whole
thing. Well, we'll get into it later, but let's talk about Clippers.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Hey, Terrence Man for daniel Tye works
straight out, That's all I'm saying Clippers versus MAVs. The MAVs right now,
they're six and two. Luca is averaging thirty one nine to nine,
Kyrie is at twenty points and seven assists a game. He's not shooting that
well. And Tim Hardaway off the bench is absolutely killing it for them.
The Clippers are in the opposite end of the boat right now. I guess
things have not been going well. Let's talk broadly before we get into the
specific matchup, Adam, where can the Clippers be better on offense? Ninety
three points against the Nets? We think we're better than that, But what's
going to break one hundred points so far? With James Harden in their first
two games? Two games games? It is two games. But I do
want to make this clear. You look at it. The Clippers have played
seven so far. Oh, that means they have seventy five more games to
go. No, actually they don't. They don't have seventy five more games
where pg Kawhi, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook will all be available.
That's just the reality of the situation. It would be great if they were,
but that's not gonna be the case. The schedule gets tougher there's more
back to backs guys get dinged up. We've already seen it with Mason Plumbley.
You never know what's gonna happen, so we're gonna talk about that.
But to play itself, it was rough, Chuck. It's a bad play
on Julius Randall's part. So are you? It feels like you're are you
sounding alarm bells? Two bells games? I call him urgency bills. I
call him urgency urgency pings. They're not alarmed bells, they're urgency pings.
It's like, well, chat, you're throwing out there. I just I
don't want it to seem like they have so much time when in reality they
don't, and they don't have several five more games of all those guys being
healthy together that is fair so looking. I mean, let's start with the
obvious. The Clippers offense has been rough. Joey Linn had a tweet that
I want to pull up though that he pointed out the last two games of
shooting variants has been wild. It's been It's been very bad for the Clippers.
Peg is nine for his last thirty one. In the last two games,
he's three for sixteen from three that's gonna hit the other side. There
were two games before that where Paul George was very good, and it's we're
hitting a rough shooting slump at the worst time, which is when you're integrating
a new piece. So is it though that they're hitting this at this time
while they're while they're integrating a new piece. I'm not blaming for this.
What I'm saying is this, it's harder to do. It makes it harder
to bounce out of the slump, for sure. Yeah, but they could
be related. There could be a correlation there. And I had this thought
late last night, just like I had with Bones, where I thought about
tweeting something out. It was late. We're talking like two in the morning.
Okay, so not crazy late. That's not crazy late. It's two
am is not crazy late. Six am? And that then it's morning,
Like, what are we talking crazy late? Yeah, that's crazy late,
but that's closer to the time I'm waking up. Okay, okay, okay,
is a crazy Okay? What was What the fuck goes on in Montana?
What time is there? There's no sun so it's always nice. It's
the darkness like Alaska. Yeah. Uh so I just had this terrifying thought,
and I want your help with this. Maybe you can think, maybe
you can think of some instance in NBA history where there have been four guys
like this on the same team that all needs shots, that all need shots
to stay in rhythm. What if it's just not possible to have a big
four of scoreres not just Oh, Draymond does this really well, or Chris
Bosh can play this position and do these things too in rebound, or Kevin
Love can also do this, not a specialized of a big four where there
are obvious defined roles. Hey, Klay Thompson doesn't want to dribble anyways,
he doesn't need to. What if there's just there's no really precedent to what
we're seeing right now with what the Clippers are trying to do, and it's
damn near impossible to keep everyone in a rhythm when four guys need shots out
there. And I'm not trying to sound the alarm bells here, I'm just
wondering. I'm just wondering. When the Clippers average eighty seven shots per game,
Let's say, right those four guys we divvy it up and they all
come out to averaging around fifteen Maybe and I'm not saying that's gonna be the
case every night. I'm saying, on average during a season, well that's
sixty shots. There's seventeen more to go around for the rest of the team
while just trying to get each of those guys around fifteen. And we know
Kawhi is gonna take more. Paul George last night he had twenty. James
Harden only had nine, but Russell Westbrook I think got eighteen. Kawhi had
sixteen. Yes, russ took way too many shots, which is what my
main argument is going to be. How which I think you're going to agree
with, do you keep guys in rhythm that a lot of these guys are
rhythm shooters. A lot of these guys when they cook, it's not because
it's happening intermittently throughout the ball game. You're getting to eat, you're getting
to eat, you're getting to eat. It's oh, this guy is feasting
because he's hot right now, Well, what does that do for the guy
next to him that hasn't touched the ball in a while. Kawhi Leonard came
into the game last night, was six and a half minutes left in the
fourth quarter. He did not take a shot till the one to fifty five
March. It was about the fourth quarter, about four and a half minutes
of him not taking a shot. I just wonder how practical it is to
keep a bunch of guys in rhythm. And it doesn't mean they all have
to eat every game that one of them can't have an off game and three
can or two can and they can still be successful. They certainly can.
But the idea of a big four and is that they all are coming at
you in waves and who you stop. But in this case, if they're
all needing to score as they're big four, and it's not like the Golden
State Warriors, Hey, Steph can set guys up, he can come off
screens, he can do all these other things. Well, Kevin Durant can
be a catch and shoot guy at times. That's the EF and truth he
was. He was the greatest catch and shoot guy john times. Ever,
Yeah, Draymond Green doesn't even want to shoot. So there's a different big
four here then. Really, I think we've seen before because they all want
to get shots up, need to get shots up, are so good with
the ball in their hands. It's a little bit it's a little bit concerning.
It is new ground. You're not wrong about that, but where the
other part that they've talked about that we've heard them say is sacrifice and the
biggest thing that's going to be sacrificed if if it wants to be successful as
we think. And again it's only been two games. It's been two games,
so we got a little more runway to go at least with seeing how
this goes. I'm not saying it's been good yet, but it has been
two games. James Hardt Night, is that what you mean by sacrifice?
I'm trying to understand. I'm trying to explain. What needs to happen is
that Russ needs to go to the bench and get his bunch of field goal
attempts on the bench. I'm not and I don't think that's this week.
Do you think that's happening anytime soon? No, that will not happen because
we're going to see ten to fifteen games, because the big because all the
four wants it, and because Tyler wants it. Do I think that's the
best idea? Not at all. But after this ten games sample size,
I hope we got to see it because Russ off the bench is nice.
You've talked about it. It's not a weird emotion. If they've talked about
the sacrifice stuff and they've talked about all this stuff, this shouldn't be an
issue. And I think that I hope that's what they do next. What
you're saying, like, isn't wrong about this starting lineup? But well,
we're talking about fluky shooting variants, right, Why is this happening? It's
just wonky. It's gonna stop. But if guys are without touching the basketball
two games, that can lead to some of these shooting woes. Sometimes.
I agree, they don't have the feel out there. They're used to touching
the ball more, they're used to getting more reps. So it's just a
hard thing to juggle. I'm with you. I think that would be great.
I thought it was my biggest reason for bringing in James Harden. You
can get Russ off toge so and what is the Clippers are playing a MAVs
team that they're gonna have to catch up with. Scoring wise, the MAVs
are number one and three point attempts per game and number one and three point
percentage per game, which is you're that's absurd. It's early in the season.
It's crazy sample size, but that's what we're running into right now.
So this is the game where the Clippers where this big four who's been everyone
seemed a little herky jerky to kind of start. This is the game where
hopefully it kicks into something or a couple of these guys that it's time to
put the pedal to the medal because they they I don't want them to get
blown out in this game. I don't think they will, but it's going
to take someone being assertive or shots to fall. Because if Paul George hits
a couple more shots, we're talking I think a little bit different. But
someone's got to be assertive in this MAVs game specifically for sure, if they
play the way they play the last two games, they likely will get blown
out. So something has to change because the MAVs are that potent on offense.
You said something interesting last night. I believe it was to the degree
of a they're all being aggressive at the same time or all being passive at
the same time. Yeah, so yeah, elaborate on that for me,
because I thought that was pretty good. It just feels like everyone you've been
it's been your first day at a new job before, and you've seen a
task that needs to be done, even though you haven't been there before,
you know that this is there's a motion you can make to complete something.
But you know the other person who's been here before is also going to notice
that, and you hope you noticed it and enough time to get it done
without it being awkward for you to do that for them. That's what it
feels like. The Clippers playing offense right now. It feels like like everyone
somehow knows what has to happen, but there's just this, like there was
a path, Like James Harden has hit Zoo with some wonderful pocket passes from
the pick and roll. We've also seen Zoo miss time the run and the
ball goes behind him or some crazy thing like that. Like it's early,
but it just feels like once two guys get on the same page, I
don't care about all four right now. Let's just get baby steps, which
I know isn't where we want to be, but let's see James Harden specifically
and one other guy of the big three develop something nice and this and this
MAVs game when it comes to chemistry, and I'll and I think that will
click quickly. That that's what really I'm hoping for in this Maps game.
I want to see some kind of connection where two guys are in sync with
the you go, I go type energy because right now everyone's on a completely
different frequency. And I know this isn't analytical in any way, but like
if you watch the games, no one is in sync and that is a
it's time thing, like, but they gotta find something. The MAVs don't
have the best defense. They're not like very good, they're just below average
and their defensive ratings, so there'll be some space there. It's not as
big of a team as like the Knicks or something like that. But we
got to hope that we see a two man game from some of the Big
four in this MAVs game, right because there hasn't really been one between the
big four well, I mean, part of the reason that I have some
concern is just it was set up for them going up against the twenty fifth
ranked defense missing a ton of guys, including Cam Thomas in the Brooklyn Nets
last night. It was set up for them to figure things out or have
a little bit more chemistry out there, just two guys. Something happened,
Yeah, and they couldn't. And it was just really strange to see.
You may have the three best guys on your team that played in that ballgame
with Kawhi, Paul George, and James Harden you could quibble over as Michale
Bridge whatever. Yeah, yeah, And I would have thought just talent alone,
they get it done. And there's something else that's been on my mind.
You know, you mentioned guys not going to step on their toes,
guys not just being too courteous. But they're both trying to open the door
for each other exactly at the same time, and they run into each other
side and they're both just holding the door closed still, like that's what the
offense feels like. I kind of just want to see more of playoff Kawhi
in the regular season. And by that, I mean we saw it in
the overtime against the Lakers. By that, I mean Kawhi just says,
whatever, guys, you guys can be out of sink. I'm gonna get
mine now. I need to take over that. I may play a little
bit of hero ball here. Sorry, he cannot be good process. We're
trying to win the ball. We have good process or we tried things the
first three quarters. Now I'm gonna take things into my own hands and I'm
gonna try to win the ball game. Specifically to that point. If you
watch that possession against the Nets late in the game, which we're gonna we're
probably gonna talk about it, we might as well talk about it now,
where the Nets got like three of their seven or like three of their four
offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter came on one possession. So why Leonard is
sprinting around the perimeter guarding guys making those shots difficult, which is why they're
missing them, And then the guards and Zoo are I guess doing their best
to box out, but nothing is happening, and you see assignments on blocking
and you see Kawhi kind of throw his hands up, and it's like they
need to feed into what Kawhi is doing on the defensive end, because the
defense has also been there, right like one hundred points, that's good defense.
But they slipped at key times, like in those in the offensive boards
the MAVs, not the wild not very good offensive on the boards or anything
like that. But like that is what Clippers fans are upset about. Is
that late execution, and Kawhi is doing his best and I hope that they
feed into that. On the defensive end, Kawhi and Paul George, I
think have been great defensively so far this season, and even the last two
games while missing Nicholas Batum last three games so missing Batum, missing Roco,
I've seen an amazing effort from them on rotations on the perimeter. Paul George
has been elite. He's been so good there and in tune. And I
like everybody has possessions where they fall asleep for a little bit, but for
the most part, those two have impressed me with their play defensively. I
thought Russ had a tough defensive game last night when against Lonnie Walker hitting those
threes in the third, a couple of them were on Russ. Yeah,
so against the Mavs' just like that's I mean, that's a tough one to
two to go against. Like we got Kyrie and Luca now it is the
MAVs are surging. It was tough with just Luca when they had him.
It was tough with Russ, Kyrie, Dallas Maverick beating the Clippers, and
I feel bad for Zoo in this game because Zho's going to be put on.
If there's one thing we know about Tyleru playing the MAVs, Zoo's taking
that switch and he's we've been we heard about in the off season how Zoo
was going to go closer up on these overscreens, right like he was gonna
play a little further up. I'm very interested to see if that happens against
this MAVs team. I don't think it will because I don't thing they're still
they got a new guy that got to figure out. I think we're gonna
see Zoo and drop and I think we're gonna see some absurd Lucas shots that
Zoo's doing his best on and as a seven foot or what else are you
supposed to do? But they're gonna go in. Yeah. I just feel
bad for the highlight snippets. I guess if you know what I'm saying,
just know what's gonna happen. Don't let demoralize you, play through it,
keep going. Remember how he got worn out by fourth quarters in that first
round series in twenty twenty one and his shooting percentage dipped precipitously. Zu,
though picked a rough time to go into a funk, which is basically where
he's been thigh. Do we think his thigh is still hurt because he's I
think it was Russo who pointed out on Twitter, or maybe it was till
mayor he's not throwing it down like he was late in the season. He
there was some Zoo dunks where it was like, oh, Zoo's putting it
down a little bit. He doesn't have the same burst. I just wonder
if the thigh is bothering him. This isn't some weird excuse or anything,
but I think there's an issue there with I don't think he's totally on.
It could be that it could be bleeding in from him not having a good
series against Phoenix, Like is it confidence right now? With a beatsa Zoo
box. He seems very frustrated, demonstrably with the officials and how things are
being called. And he didn't play big against the Brooklyn Nets, who were
small the entire game, and that's why you got pulled early in that third
quarter for PJ. Tucker, like two minutes in which we're going to talk
about in the next second. That cannot continue. Let's back to this Maps
game. We got off course, but I think all this is relevant to
the Clippers have to play against the Maps, who are playing very good basketball
right now. I gotta think Paul George is gonna start or he's gonna shoot
a little bit better. We've seen some glimmers of hope with Harden and Zoo
in the pick and roll. I hope we see more of the good than
the bad. What are you looking for on the bench, because the Tim
Hardaway is what I'm a little bit worried about. He's putting up an efficient
eighteen a game off the bench for Dallas, and our bench defense with plumb
Lee out is in flux. Just put it nicely. I guess I'm worried
right now that what I said about Bones before the James Harden trade is just
going to come become scantly irrelevant because I did he play in the second half
last night? I thought, I know they went down to an eight man
rotation in the second half of the Brooklyn, but Bones also is somebody that
what he got I think six shots up something like that. This was somebody
that I really thought was going to continue to develop. And then you see
Terrence Man come back in and he's not even playing heavy minutes last night?
Just how do you find room for bones? Had no minutes? Bones had
no minutes in the second half. That is I don't like I did not
know that until eight nineteen Mountain Standard time. I don't like that. I
hate that. How has that not been talked about for the hellscape that Clippers
twitter is right now? How is it the most apparently? But this is
an actual important issue that I think could be discussed. This is a real
this is okay, do we have to start second half bones minutes? Watch?
Maybe that's crazy? I know something else. I'm sorry, that's insane.
There's one other thing that's been on my mind, and it's going back
to the Lakers game when normOn Powell played like twenty three straight on court minutes
he got the middle of the third until he fouled out and overtime. Have
we just like forgotten or not not caring about a mere coffee anymore? Is
a mere coffee still on the team. I think he was more than serviceable,
and that was a game where they were getting beat up on their defensive
end. He could have switched onto multiple guys if you had him out there
against the Lakers and he's a big body. I think you're not. I
think you're partially not wrong. I don't think he totally swings, but like
so that this is this is indicative of the larger issues that they ran an
eight man rotation in the second half, that was it when there's just no
reason to like I think a mirror is maybe a known quantity at this point.
Well I don't, but you're not wrong, Like we need these wins.
That's what's important, Like use everybody. I'm on your side, like
I'm I'm fully on I'm agreed, Like I don't. It's rough. We
gotta fit these minutes for James, which just cramps things up rotationally. Can
Can I just point out how good a mere coffee was in January? We've
all we know, we know, we have the receipts. I was there.
It was a good time. He's he's like he's got he's disappeared,
like he's not getting well. When's the last time he got consistent, real
rotation, meaningful minutes though, either to prove himself. I know last year
his shot wasn't great, but he didn't play much at all. Like sure,
I'm not that worried about his shot I want to see versatility defensively and
some because wing stop is pretty much over now in some ways. Oh it's
been over. No, that was that was a pop up. We got
to pop up wing stop. Well, he's very good service. The mirror
is not in the long run a solid wing to give you ten minutes here
there to sick on guys. I My thing is that I'm not disagreeing with
you. The thing that's difficult for me to reconcile with is that this would
actually make a difference. This shouldn't make a difference. Well, you know
what I'm saying. When I see my three guards out there and it's Norm
Bumbs and Russ or James Harden, I think to myself sometimes, like you
know, a mere Coffee is still on the team, Like he could still
be useful in certain in a certain role. And has the guy had did
he have the game winning layup when that big comeback they had against Philadelphia against
Doc Rivers to Amir really has shown things at times for this team, and
he's just completely gone and out of the rotation. I'm not saying he should
be getting thirty five minutes a night or he's the one who's bridge the gap
between a big four or something like that. I'm just wondering in certain situations
like that Laker game where Norton Fowls playing twenty three straight minutes out there,
and uh, they were going after him defensively. Amir's Emir's around, right,
He's not He's not hurt. Uh, he's not hurt. He's there.
I don't know, So how are we okay? Let's bring it back
to the MAVs game. MAVs are rolling, Clippers are not so much.
What's your prediction for this Maps game? In your heart of hearts? What
we want to see? Obviously, we got to assume Paul George is gonna
shoot better. I don't know about that. He had a really he has
seventeen in the first half. You look at seven for twenty, but but
the shoot you still want the shooting to be better, right, Like,
we can't pretend that we don't. We can't pretend that we're okay with three
for sixteen from three over the last two games. That's rough. It's gonna
be. Everybody has to shoot better. I don't even know about isolating.
Paul George's got to shoot better. And this is like everybody's a guy,
but Paul George is Paul George is a guy who's he's the he's the number
two, So I would like him to shoot better. I think it's fair
to ask him to shoot better. Yeah, in this game, of course,
it's it's just so atypical compared to what we're normally looking for. Oh,
this guy needs to have a bounce back and performance like no. The
team has to bounce back after two really bad offensive games and figure things out
quickly with James Harden. Here's what I hope happens. Because I mentioned this
last night on Clips and Double Dip on Clippers Talk. We've seen this team
at times play down two opponents and then get up for opponents. And it's
a big game. It's the first nd season tournament game. They're going into
Dallas. It's a familiar foe, they know him really well. I'm hoping
they lock in and they find their offense and they find some chemistry and oh
no, what you just I just I mean they haven't scored one hundred points
the last week. I'm hoping they figure it out. They haven't. Just
sound so this I am with you, No, I'm I'm empathizing with you.
Because it's been so rough. I haven't heard you this downtrowd on the
pod. This is I'm not I'm I'm with you. I want to try
to have a sense of urgency early in the season. Seven games. My
point is seventy five more with all these guys healthy. Don't even get me
started on that Paul George quote that he set after the game. You know
what I didn't see. You know what what I'm talking about. You can
tell me you didn't see it. I haven't full disclosure. I haven't gone
through all the postgame audio yet like I normally do. Don't go through it.
Paul George said, I'm not worried about this. Of course you want
to win these games. These are games we feel we should win. But
it's early in the season, too early to even be in that mindset.
We got too much star power here, great players for it not to work.
I personally, I tweeted this, said we should be in that we
should win these games mindset. We're three and four. This isn't a team
that's noted for bouncing back from adversity. We do our best in the face
of adversity, and it oh as well as it should. When your guys
are out. But when everyone's healthy, maybe we should think we should win
these games. That's how I'm saying, that's how I feel. Let's get
let's get some dubs. Yeah, I'm with you. They need to and
this is their toughest opponent this week is their toughest so far. Yeah,
and more tough teams are coming. So look, I can't I predict go
into the season saying, oh, they should be like nine to four at
worst in their first thirteen games, and now they're three and four, and
I just completely ignore that I said that. I mean, that's part of
why I think there should be a sense of urgency, or at least I'm
gonna talk like, hey, these games matter, it's a big deal.
It maybe early in the season. It may just be Game three with James
Harden, but they still matter. There are teams right now that are taking
off in the Western Conference, and you don't want to be left behind.
I love the urgency. I love the urgency. I think they get the
win. I think they get the way. It's the in season tournament.
Paul George is gonna shoot better. Excuse me, I'm enjoying this wonderful Montana
scotch Ale, Paul George is gonna shoot better, Zoo. People are still
gonna hate no matter what he does. I hope PJ. Tucker takes three
shots, I don't care and just make him think you're gonna take him m
Yeah, I don't know. That's what I'm hoping for. Yeah, actually
was their best player yesterday. He was a plus ten in a game they
lost by seven. That is that makes my head hurt. That's that's what
happened. They basically got outscried by seventeen in the twenty eight minutes that PJ.
Tucker wasn't on the court. All Right, we're gonna talk about PJ
Tucker. We're gonna talk about Mason Pumley being out for up to two months.
Let us know what you thing's gonna happen over on at Clibber's pod on
Twitter. Also, welcome to all the new subscribers on a Clippers podcast over
on YouTube. We have six hundred sickos who for some reason love to hear
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We've got ads coming up. They've been a little too loud for some
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potential targets ads in three two one Welcome back into Clips and Dip episode twenty
one, twenty twenty two. Just a little bit behind. Everything's just a
little bit off righty, okay, a little bit of fine tuning. Maybe
we're gonna be Everything's fine. Everything is fine. It can it be fine.
I don't know why, even why my name Tex says scary thoughts.
Halloween's f and over check out. So coming up in this segment, we'll
talk about trade scenarios or people that could be available. I guess we could
do that. Right off the top, here is Mason Plumbley, and this
was actually it's still good news overall. Yeah, it's not a season ending
injury. Anything outside of that is pretty darn good news regarding Mason Plumbley and
what you brought up was a scary, dangerous, maybe reckless play out there,
but had no want to go after it. I don't want to go
after it. But if you watch the play you I think everyone thought to
theirself, what the fuck is he doing? Like I'm not saying it's like
a wreck. I don't think it was. I don't think he was like
I want to tear Mason Plumley's knee, like, but it's just a play
where it's just like that was a dumb ass play, you know. I
think that play happened because he was playing so bad, shooting just twenty seven
percent coming into that game. The New York media, the fans, they
were destroying him, and he wanted to look like, hey, I'm on
the floor giving it full, all out Dennis Frodman, superman like effort.
I think that's why it happened. Honestly, he had a good game before,
it wouldn't have happened. But no, I like that idea. I
think that's that's maybe. I think that that also like makes sense to me,
Like if I were in his position and there was a loose ball and
the New York Post was posting wild shit about me, I could see me
anyway. It was a rough situation. But now PJ. Tucker is spelling
of Itza Zubats, which Carl tart I can say this on the show,
got a PJ. Tucker jersey. He purchased a PJ. Tucker Clippers jersey.
I think he's the first. He's the first and maybe only person outside
of the Tucker family to do that. But you have to do it.
Create a jersey on NBA. Oh yeah, no, that's not Yeah,
that's not an available jersey's Yeah, that's a couple extra shekels for the PJ.
Tucker jersey. I do like PJ Tucker. I've been a fan for
a long time. Sure, I don't like him as the backup center.
Yeah, well that's not crazy like he's No, we cannot play small ball
five with PJ Tucker. Oh they have and we lost and it was bad.
Well, actually I thought he won his minutes. He was a plus
ten out there. I'm just saying I thought he was pretty darn good.
I cannot argue with the plus ten thing. But the Clippers front office seemingly
understands that they also can't have PJ. Tuckers the back of five. Daniel
Tice was reported as shams as the center of interest won the gold medal with
Germany over the summer, has not played I don't think at all for the
Pacers, and he's vocal about it. He said, obviously after a great
summer, I'm not happy with the situation I'm in right now. He's a
six eight center. He sets really good screens, hustle defense guy. People
seem to love his passing. I'm not sure I'm totally sold on that.
But he makes nine million a year, so this is not like an easy
thing to do. Where are you at on the Clippers reported? For everyone
telling us maybe we shouldn't talk about this, it's been reported they want daniel
Tye Adam, Where are you at? On the Daniel Tye scale? One
to ten? What ten? Gimme Tye one? What the hell are we
doing? What number does he wear? Can I let me chat it into
that scale? One of ten? Look, I really liked him actually with
Boston. I like the way he played with Boston. I thought he was
a big time similar to PJ. Tucker in some ways. He would still
be an undersized backup setter and somebody that just plays with a lot of heart,
a lot of hustle out there, doesn't take a lot of shots.
His passing ability, yeah, he showed that off at times with playing next
to Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. I just don't know how realistic it is
in less because everybody's looking at his contract situation where he's making nine million,
so you have to get within what eighty percent of that in a trade?
Hey, Terrence Man for Daniel Tye works, straight up? No, I
don't think. I don't think that's why they held out in Philadelphia to the
Wait a minute, Daniel, Daniel, you don't know this deal we got
in the works over here. Yeah, Karon's taken and not by us,
it's actually Indiana. No, so he's number twenty seven for Indiana. Doesn't
really help me out anyway. Bad number, I would argue, bad number.
Uh, okay, how do they make it work for him? Who
would the most likely players be involved? I'm assuming a Mere Coffee is one
of them. Well, so Man and Zoo works straight up if you do
a one for one, but they're not going to do. Hey, PJ.
Tucker for Tye works. But if you're Indiana, why you're you're wanting
more than PJ Tucker? Are you a wave? Right? But also like
they don't have to make this trade. They don't, right, so they
would be like, give us more. They're not gonna be nice of them.
Maybe it's a future second round pick something like that. What if it's
about more than just Daniel Tice. Then to make the money work, I
haven't done. I haven't done enough research for that. Can I tell you
the research I have done? Yeah? What a low level research? Have
you been doing? Very low level Plumbly and coffee work? But Plumbly can't
be traded for a while to do it his contract and a lot of people
want Norm traded. A lot of people think Norm is redundant, and they
think that maybe you do Norm for McConnell entice. H I do think Norm
is a legit trade asset, a chip. I don't know if this is
the move though. I know a lot of people say, well, I
agree with you too much. Uh and a lot a lot of teams aren't
going to want that contract. I disagree. Once you get closer to the
trade deadline and somebody sees Norm as an easy fifteen, a game that can
aid their team, I think it becomes a lot more valuable then. I
like Norm on the Clippers right now, But there's a minutes crunch. You
want to talk about Boneshiland not playing, that's one of the major reasons.
Uh. So, I don't know if this is because I think Norm is
one of their last season yeah, well and Norm. So Norm plus the
twenty thirty pick, if they want to get really crazy, it's worth a
lot. Yeah, what if they make a move for Jeremy Grant, Like,
that's a that's a I think if things get crazy and they want to
make a move later in the season for someone who's going to help them more
than Daniel Tice, you save Norm and the twenty thirty pick. I don't
think they will. It's not based on anything, but I would rather just
sign WINNYM. Gabriel. I like Winnam Gabriel. I saw him plenty of
the Clippers last year. He hustles, he plays hard. We're talking about
somebody playing ten to fifteen minutes a night. But so here's the other thing
that's tough is that Plumbley was getting around seventeen a night. Most of his
nights were over twenty because he had some offset ones in there to start this
thing. What worries me is, sure, let's say we sign you know,
we sign a backup five who's not six eight Daniel Tice. I'm hung
up on the height. I will say that Gabriel is a little bit undersized
too, but that guy bullies. But we're still stuck with Tucker playing some
small ball five minutes. So I think in the greatly likes Tucker. He's
going to play some which sucks, which like, which is not ideal.
Right now, He's gonna play, but he can't play as the center.
The team is rough with him at center. I you want him at the
four, like guarding guys that are even quicker. I mean no, but
like it's a no win situation. Like I'm not saying there's a there's a
better scenario. So I guess I wish. I guess I wish Mason Plumley
wasn't hurt because I feel like I guess that's what it comes back to.
Mason Plumley's hurt, and Big Zoo is going through a rough patch at the
same because he was going through rough patch, we can talk about that.
He it bums me out that he's gonna have such a he's got to make
so much more quick decisions in the short role. We've seen him make good
decisions in the short role, but James Harden is a different level of distributor,
a very quick like it's it's a to B right there, and Zoo
needs to get to that and he's not ready for it yet and the spacing
is wonky. He needs to get on the jugs machine or have John Elway
so a few balls to him or something like that scene. Is it that?
The scene in Airbud, the really sad scene where the bad dad is
throwing the basketballs at the kid to try and get him to catch the passes
better. I thought was something we talked about by the preview, but nobody
actually had seen. If you haven't seen, you want to talk about a
specific seed from Airbun, remember that one part. It's a horrifying scene.
It's terrible. I think Zoo needs to make quicker decisions out of the short
roll and at the basket go up strong. He got blocked by small yesterday.
I think it was about possessions where he got blocked. Paul George usually
doesn't say the right thing, but when he said that Zoo Bots needs to
play like the biggest guy on the court, he absolutely nailed that. Most
of the time he's he's doing his own thing. But that quote is totally
on point. Zoo needs to play how big he is, and I think
it's the quad thing. I think it's the quad. I don't think it's
one hundred, which sucks. Yeah, that's the problem then too. Whatever
the reason is, whether it's between the ears or physically, he's laboring right
now and not one and just trying to fight through it. We know he's
the type of guy that would he never wants to miss a game. No.
Typically when he can go on, there's something related going on there.
Like even last season, before he started missing games, you could tell,
Uh he was a little bit hobbled out there. He wasn't quite right.
So Biggs is a tough guy. He is. What do you think about
Nerlin's Knoll Noel? Yeah, I love him, actually wanted him. I
wanted him on the first Noel. I wanted him years ago. Dude.
You see, he had a really good year a few years ago with Okac,
and then I think he went to New York and I was like,
man, I wouldn't mind seeing him. So I just don't. I don't
know if he's been bad or hurt, which if that's the case, then
maybe I don't want it. I obviously don't want him on the team.
He's a free agent and I and I know I keep harping on this.
I don't Mason Plumbley was a legit seven footer. Daniel Tye is six to
eight. We're just playing small ball again. We're just playing small ball with
a shooter. And I don't think that is what the Clippers need for eighteen
minutes a game, because then that means that daniel Tye is six to eight.
That means the backup center after him is PJ. Tucker. And it's
just like more of the same shit, Like what is PJ Tucker? And
daniel Tye is a way better passer than PJ tu Obviously everything else is the
same. Here's what's so longing about last night. Last night's game. They
saw a team in the Brooklyn Nets, who played small the entire time.
They didn't have Nick Clackson, they didn't have Cameron Johnson, Cam Thomas goes
out, they didn't have Ben Simmons, and they still played bigger down the
stretch or looked like it than the Clippers. Yeah, that was the ideal
situation for Zoo to detonate, yeah and take over, and it didn't happen.
That was an ideal situation for the Clippers to crush them on the boards.
I think they ended up winning it by like two but they lost on
the offensive Clippers. So yeah, hold on, I actually I've been pouring
over these stats for the whole game. The Clippers won boards. Yeah,
offensive boards for the nets fourteen to eleven for the clips, eleven for the
clips. And by the way, yeah, to watch just watch some of
the guard play. Yeah, and we have seen so far in fourth quarters.
Not only have they lost the last two games, they got worse by
the end of the last two games when the going in fourth quarters. Yeah,
they had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter last night, it was there
seven or eight. I've seen two different box scores on this, but I
believe that. Can we talk about that for a second. What the fuck
is up with the box scores? Dude, NBA dot Com? Not right.
I'm getting team box scores that I assume are right, but they're different
than like, how can we not figure the ship out? It's like that
scene in air Bud where they thought he had the quadruple double, but uh,
they took the courts took it away, they ruled mistrial. Like,
I don't know what the statisficians are here, make it the same. It
should all be the same anyway, Sorry, they're talenting it in real time
and people see things differently, Okay, but like have one person tally it,
you know what I'm saying. Like, that's why during Jordan's defensive MVP
season, you got a lot of love at home by the box. Everyone
does. There are a lot more steels and blocks at home than when I
was on the road. John Stockton got hockey assists. Who cares, it's
just anyway I mean, I mean they have been fudged forever, like the
box scores inconsistencies, that's that's a well known thing. But I think it
was it was either seven or eight assists in the fourth quarter. My point
is when teams are starting to tighten the screws during winning time, that puts
even more pressure on you to fall back on whatever foundation or system or what
you're running offensively, and the don't have anything to fall back on. That's
that's why it's looked so bad those early minutes in the fourth quarter. They
had four turnovers in the in the first three minutes. Four turnovers. Last
night, they had that set quick seven er run against them h with the
New York Knicks in a rough lineup that was out there, and that's something
else I'm still I'm still a little bit perplexed. Correct me if I'm wrong,
But I thought I was at media day and I thought Coach flu specifically
said when they were talking about availability and having Kawhi and Paul George fully unleashed
that I could be wrong, but I thought he said they were going to
stagger them. One of them would be on the court at all times.
That is yet to happen seven games into the season. In fact, the
last minute and a half of the first quarter last night, sure none of
the Big four were on the court, which happens. You know, I
thought we have two of them at all times once they brought in Harden,
and it hasn't happened yet. And I know it's it's built in that you
are going to try new things because you haven't seen James Harden play with this
group or that group, and there's different combinations out there, and I understand
there's built in tinkering happening, and it has to happen, but I would
just I'm wondering, can we get Paul George and Kawhi Leonard? Is it
a minute thing why one of them can't be on the court at all times?
I don't understand it. I will say pretty much every advanced at shows
that the Clippers absolutely destroy opponents with both of them on the floor. So
I do get it from that standpoint, But this is also based on what
they said, so you're not I get that. I just and I think
this is actually kind of a good way to close the show, where we
obviously want the Clippers to beat the Maps. We want that to happen.
I don't think anyone knows how, and I mean that in a very honest
way. We don't know how, like none of us really like in terms
of what needs to happen. We yeah, sure, maybe Russ maybe needs
to get benched for Transpan. That's not gonna happen tomorrow. We're at this
point where we're going game by game, which is uneasy, and we have
enough talent that they should probably not be three and four. They definitely shouldn't
be three and four, and we need when this is the situation if we're
talking about the sacrifice, we're talking about who really is the big four and
how that works on this team. It's Kawhi and Paul George lifting us during
this time of uncertainty, and I don't think that's A. I don't mean
that in some mean way like they haven't. They were great in the Lakers
game, you know, like maybe you have too bad games. Sure,
this is the game that was a Western Conference opponent. This matters a lot
more than these two other Eastern Conference games we played. This is the time
for Kawhi and Paul George. Not that they haven't done this, but this
would be a really great time for them to assume their responsibilities and play like
we know they can play. Because if they are at eighty percent at the
same time, give me the Clippers every single day, even just eighty percent
of them at the same time together, give me the Clippers every single day.
And that's what we need right now while Mason Plumley's out and we try
and integrate James Harden into this lineup. Yeah, with those two available,
when they have been the Clippers have won seventy percent of the games. They
have a gas when they're still the stars when they're there. So to be
three and four having them all seven games so far is tough. And I'll
say it again, but it could just be, and it really has to
be if it's going to be successful. This is the one step back to
get to two steps or three steps or four steps of things really forward.
Let's yeah forward, yeah for man greatly forward. Maybe not, that's a
little d okay. So we hope the Clippers win against the Maps. We're
gonna be we're doing a double dip tomorrow. You and Will maybe, yeah,
either one of you, guys, whoever's available, let's definitely do it.
I am back in Los Angeles on Saturday. I'll tell you what I
cannot wait to be back. I can A lot is wrong with number one.
I have to have a Vitamin D light when I work. There's no
fucking sun here. I don't know how I lived here for so long.
Anyway, full try, oh my god, full tripod on Sunday, after
the nooner. There's the noon thirty game on Sunday. We can get a
full tripod going. That'll be fun. Yeah, just guys, hang it
up. Maybe we go live, let's do it live. I'm good with
that. Yeah. Actually we haven't done like a post game like that live.
That'd be fun. The last time we did live was when we did
the Hardened thing and everyone watch what we said. And then after a bunch
of stuff happened came and commented on it. Yeah, wish I could do
the same. Uh. Check us out on YouTube over on YouTube dot com
Slash at Clippers podcast. You can find us on iTunes. Reviews help us.
We haven't read them in a while, but we will when we're all
together. We appreciate everyone who's listening. If you're a new fan and you're
still a fan after they lost two games in a row, you're in the
family. If you bailed after they lost two games in a row, enjoy
whatever else you're doing. Welcome to all the new people. Thank you to
all the old people who've stuck with us. Shout out Eric Bue for these
wonderful graphics. Adam, I've been pretty positive this episode, but you send
out the listeners with a fantastic positive thing most episodes. What can you tell
these fantastic people as we head into this crucial matchup against them? HAPs look
as concerned as I've been in this episode regarding just whether or not it's possible
for four guys to stay hot and stay in rhythm together at once. The
truth is, these are the problems you typically do want to have in the
National Basketball Association. These are first world NBA problems. How do we figure
out how to get James Harden, Paul George Kawhi Leonard, and Russell Westbrook
to work together. You'd rather have this than what some of the teams coming
into the season that just have hopes of maybe being in the play in tournament
are dealing with right now. So let's put things in perspective. And coach
Lou I think is the right guy. Uh when the going gets tough.
We've seen him be masterful in playoff situations and make those tough decisions. And
I feel like tomorrow night, you know, it's an nd season tournament game,
it's basically the playoffs. No, okay, it's not that. It's
not like that. It's basically it's not. But it's gonna be a heightened
atmosphere. It's gonna be fun, sure, and I think the Clippers are
gonna rise to the challenge. I hope they do. And some of that
shooting stuff, like the five straight open three pointers they miss in the fourth
quarter against the Brooklyn Nets, They're due to hit five straight from the outside.
So maybe it's the right time there we go wrong time for the Mavericks
have to deal with the Clippers with the right time for the Clippers to find
themselves and get their shooting, shooting luck and variants back in their favor.
There we go. We will be back with the full crew. William Hopdyke
is usually with us. I am Chuck Mockler. He is Adam Oslin.
Find us on Twitter. Just look up our names. We'll find him.
We'll be back and as always, let's go Clips