Last time that I chat check, it was five chains on my neck.
It was no smile on my breath. Last time that I check, send
a set and a quartermeal, no sweat, last time that check. Clippers
windy one nine a victory in DC over the Washington Wizards. I'm out of
Oslin. They improved a three and one on this seven game Grammy road trip.
Welcome back into Clippers Talk. Coming up. We'll get back to your
phone calls eight six six ninety seven two five seventy eight six six ninety seven
two five seventy. But first you hear the music. You know we got
big Will updyke on from clips and dip for little clips and double dip here
on Clippers Talk. Will I've been talking a lot about Kawhi Leonard rightfully.
So his elevation right now, elevation on his jumper is just insane. It's
it may be higher than ever. I am I crazy? Am I am
I seeing things? No, No, not at all. I was watching
on the broadcast forty five dunks already this season, which surpasses his entire year
last year at forty two. But he definitely looks it on the court.
He's talked a little bit about how he feels more himself. You know,
we know that coming back from the surgery. Like you know, we always
want the timeline to just be a season, but it seems like guys kind
of need to play the better part of a full season and then they're ready
the season after that. So it is something you gotta be kind of patient
with. And I think last season two it was it was a tall order,
especially with him not being in the starting lineup. But now he looks
I mean, I mean, he looks indistinguishable from what Kawhi looked like at
his peak. To me, at least, I think that he looks as
strong as ever. So it's definitely good to see and we can use his
physicality, especially with Paul George down for who knows at least the game.
Yeah, Kauhi with four steals in this one plus nine boards, four assists,
those thirty one points on fourteen of twenty five shooting. Yeah, I
remember people saying, like Steven a he should retire. Now he looks like
the best player in the game. I don't know what it's gonna take for
and maybe, you know, the win against Boston certainly woke some people up
and how much winning the Clippers have been doing. That helps, but put
him in the MVP conversation, it looks like, I don't know if the
news came out with Joel Embiid and that knee injury from yesterday. I know
he got an MRI, but this is someone who should be right up there
with Embiid, with Giannis, with Nikola Jokic, with SGA because of what
he does on both ends. The offensive numbers if you just look at the
traditional stuff, Okay, just points, all right, he's about twenty five
per game, but the efficiency is so absurd right now, you have to
take that stuff into account. It's twenty twenty four. Look at the advanced
analytics. I mean, the Clippers are nine points worse per one hundred possessions
with Kawhi off the floor. Defensively, he's too damn good and integral to
what they're able to do on both ends of the floor. Yeah, I
mean, I agree with one hundred percent, and I definitely don't want to
discredit what like Embiid has done so far this season as far as the MVP
race is concerned, is concerned, he's having a ridiculous season. But it
just looks like with that new games minimum, I think he can only miss
after the night. I think he only has five or six maybe left that
he can miss, So I don't know that that I think that might rule
him out. So then looking ahead, yeah, I feel like you have
Jokic Kawhi, and Kawhi has to be right under him if they're not neck
and neck in the Western Conference. And then I mean Giannis for sure,
with the way the Bucks have looked this year and some of like defensively,
which obviously isn't his fault. That's more of a team thing and a coaching
thing. I don't know if he I could have him in the same tier
necessarily as Kawhi, but I could certainly hear the argument SGA I think is
really interesting. The thunder are such a great story and what they've been able
to do this season. But yeah, I haven't heard his name seriously mentioned
in any conversation that's that's veered towards the MVP talk, and it is pretty
shocking to me, especially when you look at his availability, which has really
been the biggest knock on him. Right, I feel like that's the only
thing you can discredit to Kawhi. His skill set his career so far has
been some injuries, like some bad injury luck well, and we've both been
going off about him not being a starter in the Western Conference for the All
Star Game, and I understand this is not something he cares about. He
just wants to Larry o be. But we're gonna stick a form. We
are Clippers fans, obviously. I know my bread is buttered, and I
don't think it's a subjective, biased opinion to say Kauhi has been as good
as anyone this season when you take everything into account, and it's really difficult
to wrap my head around the fact that a top seventy five player of all
time who's having his best regular season ever and his team's top four in just
a game and a half out of being the number one seed in the West,
isn't getting more recognition. And it makes me think that, yeah,
well, when you're not even a starter in the Western Conference, you're still
that bleeds into being also overlooked for being an MVP candidate. Yeah, No,
I mean I agree one hundred percent, and I think, look,
I have nothing but love for Lebron and and what he's done for the game
and what his career has been same for Kevin Durant. But if those are
the forwards that are starting above Kawhi, I mean, I feel like it's
lasable and both you know, both guys obviously all time greats. Kevin Durant
really good season, but like it's not the same, especially on both ends
of the floor. Is what Kawhi is doing. And I get that,
you know, the All Star Game isn't about defense, That's not what it's
about. But I still think that like the talents and what he's what he's
done this season should be acknowledged and praised that I mean honestly the highest level
because you just don't get to see there's not that many players this special.
There's not that many guys like this, and careers in the NBA don't last
forever, and I think like these moments are, like I said, our
thing is that deserve to be celebrated because what he is doing is truly special.
And obviously he'll get in tomorrow as a reserve when the voting comes out,
but I don't think it's nitpicking to go after the fact that he's not
going to be a starter. I understand it's a popularity contest, but to
me, it is the twenty twenty four All Star Game, not the lifetime
Achievement Award All Star Game. It is who's been the best in the twenty
twenty three twenty twenty four NBA season, And that's how it should be looked
at when you look back on it. Historically, that's supposed to tell you
who was at their best that season. So that's where I'm coming from.
We can move on from that, though, Will. I'm just glad I
got somebody with me on the grind when it comes to getting a little bit
pedantic about All Star Game voting. How about Brandon Boston in this game?
Will his best game of the season? I think easily because he actually was
in there for meaningful minutes in that second quarter with that small ball unit that
did some nice work. Yeah, this was an interesting one for me just
because of where he sobbed into the rotation over some other players, which I'll
get to in a second, but it's nice to see him step up into
the opportunity. Kind of more of what we know from Brandon Boston GUI right,
a bit of a chucker, not particularly efficient. I like the effort,
and he is definitely more aware on defense, but he doesn't bring like
a whole lot of facilitating to the table. He's a he's an interesting piece.
Still very much feels like a project for the Clippers. But I am
a fan of his game. I do like especially when it's going well for
him. I do like seeing him play offense. The thing that I alluded
to, though, it was interesting seeing him come into the rotation so much
earlier than Bones Island. Boston saw minutes in the in the second and played
twenty seven. The Bones is just five minutes and it you know, it
begs the question is that indicative of a potential move on the horizon for the
Clippers. I know there have been some rumors out there. It could have
just been, you know, he's six to seven, Bones is what six
' three or something like that. They didn't want to go that small because
they didn't have a big on the floor and Norman Terrence Man and James Harden
and Russ were out there. But yeah, I've seen the same rumors we
talked about well there, Yeah, yeah, I was just saying, has
it stopped tylu before? No? Well, this season though, like he
came in, they said they're gonna take it more seriously. He said multiple
times the numbers aren't good when they go too small, and for the most
part they have not gone small. They have been playing bigs much more often,
and when they did go small today it worked. But it looks like
Bones definitely seems to be out of the rotation. But we knew that when
James Harden came in. Bones also get the guy that was going to take
the biggest hit. I mean, I call him the skeleton key before they
had James Harden. But now, yeah, obviously there's trade rumors and you
don't know what's going to happen with a guy who's just not getting minutes right
now who you want to see get minutes for somebody because he's good enough to
he's good enough to be a consistent rotation player gaining twenty to twenty five minutes
a night. So we'll see what happens with that, if he's long with
the Clippers or not. Still like the fact that he had that big throwdown
near the end of the fourth quarter, but a mere coffee, I mean,
minutes are at a premium because guys like that have stepped up to this
degree once again without Paul George, he gets the start he has seventeen and
just look for the part out there. He doesn't make mistakes, he just
blends in. He plays good defense. But he also has just been on
a heater. I think over his last what fifteen games or something, he's
shooting like sixty five percent from the field and over fifty percent from the outside.
Is he knocked down two more three to three pointers today in Washington?
Yeah, he's absolutely unreal. I mean just the efficiency tonight, seventeen points
on seven shots is just absurd. And I look, the thing with Coffee
is he's like one of the most consistent figures with the Clippers organization, right
and it's always been a question of, you know, when's he going to
get a real shot. And I just think that he's surpassed everything that they've
asked him to do. His scoring, especially is at a level that I
didn't think that he was this far developed. And I've been a big Coffee
advocate, I'm a big Coffee fan, But what he's able to do like
that, I mean, that's such a big ask. He's filling in for
Paul George, He's filling in with you know, the the one B or
you know the number two on this roster and sure you're playing you're playing the
Wizards, but he has that kind of trust. And not only does he
have the trust, but he can step up in those kind of moments.
And I'm I'm just really excited for him because you know, depending on what
he does in the playoffense, I imagine he will be a part of the
rotation. I mean, he's looking at a potential life changing sum of money
when his contract is up after next year. Yeah, he's on a very
team friendly deal right now. Clippers team win in one twenty five to one
O nine in Washington over the Wizards. They'll be in Detroit on Friday.
He is Will Updyke of course from Clips and Dip. We got a new
YouTube coming tomorrow. Will thanks for the double Dip tonight here on Clippers Stock
with me, my friend. Absolutely always a pleasure. Coming up next,
your phone calls will close things out and we'll preview Friday's contest in Detroit against
the Pistons. This is Clippers Stock here on the M five seventy ELA Sports