What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to Season two, episode seventy
five of Clips and Dip Now with one hundred percent more dip and one hundred
percent more Justin Rousseau, the fantastic Clippers reporter, is joining us today.
We've got a lot of great stuff to talk about. I am Chuck Mockler,
joined by Adam osm and Will Updike, who is making some last second
dip preparations. If you're watching this, this is my hands are up.
I'm good. Okay, he's got the dip in time. There will be
no desatulations or pay decreases coming up now that the dip is in time.
We're gonna talk about a lot of good stuff today. Justin mister Rousseau wrote
a great draft article. We're gonna talk about we're gonna talk about the twenty
thirty pick, and we're gonna talk about Kawhi being second team All NBA.
But before we get into it, Adam, Will, how are you guys
doing? Adam, how are you doing today? First team All Dip?
I mean I got a good one again today. I'm not messing around.
When it comes to this new feature we have, we will reveal the Dips
at the very end of the show. But you may notice that you're watching
on the YouTube. We might be eating while the show is happening. However,
so far, nobody has crunched on the air. For instance, Chuck
is chewing down a chip right now. You don't hear it. If somebody
happens to have their mic unmuted and they chow out on a chip or two,
they're putting time out for five minutes time. And that's even more meaningful
today because we have Justin Rousseau on. You have five minutes without Justin Rousseau.
Is that a negative? Yeah? I don't know. No, that's
that's punishment. Man. Come on, well, thank you for being here.
How are you doing. We'll get to Russo on a sec. We
got to get to the dips first. Will, how are you doing.
I'm good, I'm doing really well. Did I do the dog unveiling last
episode? I can't remember? Briefly, We'll got a dogg Oh yeah,
what kind of dog is that? Will? It is a teacup Terrier and
he is fully grown with the smallest thing ever. There we go to good
time dog dog ownership, Look at me dog ownership, Dip ownership, mister
Russo Russo for those of you who somehow don't know Justin russ So. If
you follow this pod, Adam always says your name like a French Canadian?
How areting a lot of heat from No Eagle over the years for that?
For whatever reason? Who just won an Emmy? By the way, just
putting that out there, it makes me feel important what he says my name
like that, I feel more sophisticated than I ever should. Okay, that's
that's good. We want a feeling of sophistication on this show, paired with
the dips. How are you doing? How's your Clippers off season? How
did you feel seeing Kawhi being named second tim al NBA. I'm personally doing
fine. I'm actually thankful for the off season. I needed time to unwind.
It was a long year, but never really truly the off season to
some degree. There's still always stuff to do and follow and write and cover.
But for the most part it's been It's been great. I've had time
to kind of decompress a little bit. Obviously, there was the news today,
as you said, Coolhi make second Team All NBA. That was the
h maybe a little bit surprised that he made second team, but you know,
it was very well deserving that he made All NBA at least. But
you know, just hopefully next season it ends with him able to play in
the postseason. At this point, like that's kind of what everyone's just waiting
on it at this point in time with them. Yeah, did you read
did you guys read the toe Mayor piece that came out today that kind of
that was about the trade. I read bits and pieces of it over the
last few days as he sent me snippets, and then I read the full
thing today. Yeah, I was in the war room, so that stuff.
Yeah, exactly the shadow to here. No, it was it was
good, it was accurate. I think it's I know, it's like a
taboo thing to mention, but they did lose the trade, and I think
it's it's fair to say that. And I think that this is just me
personally speaking. I think the path to kind of getting over it is accepting
the fact that you're that you're past it, And I think you know,
once you accept that, then you can kind of continue along the quote unquote
healing process and figuring out the rest of the way. Wait, counterpoint,
they've made the Western Conference Finals since the trade. The OKC thunder have not.
They lost in the second round. What's up they have and I and
that's obviously all very well and true. I think to look at the trade,
you have to also look at it as they had a finite amount of
time to get it done. And the goal for the trade wasn't just the
conference finals. It was to get to a finals, of course, and
if not, when a title. And they they they've never you know,
outside of the bubble year, they've never finished a season with both guys on
the floor, and so that's been a loss in and of itself. They've
had to pivot several times along the way and send out more things to remedy
situations and you know, mistakes that they made over the years to kind of
to fix it, and then just never has worked out. And I think
it's okay to say that they lost it. Just because they lost it doesn't
mean they haven't done good things. It's just you know, they're at a
point now go go ahead at them. Would you also say just because they
lost it doesn't mean they shouldn't have done it, since every other team would
have done that at the time. I agreed that because they lost it,
it doesn't mean they shouldn't have done it out. Yeah, correct, Like,
at the time it was the right move to make for them to contend
for a title. It just didn't work out, hence they lost it,
But it doesn't mean that they were wrong to try. I think, genuinely,
when we talk about the NBA, we give too many teams crap for
willingly going for like we people did it to Minnesota with the go Beart trade.
I did. Yeah, you know, like it takes time, but
I don't think teams should be given crap for willingly going for it. I
feel like it signifies that they're actually trying to be serious. Does it always
work out, No, of course not. It very very rarely ever works
out. But I don't think you should poo pull on teams for trying.
And I totally understand your point. I was somewhat tongue in cheek with the
Western Conference Finals comment because obviously, okay, see can make the argument we're
just starting our five year window of being open to win a championship. They
have all these pieces, they can still get so much better internally and also
through trade assets and things like that, which to be fair is also a
dangerous game because you might think your runway is very long, and truth be
told, in the NBA, in the era that we're in, your runway
is really not as long as you think it is. Just ask Memphis to
some degree, you know, and even ask the prime iteration of the Oklahoma
City Thunder. They made a finals and then that was kind of it.
You know. Yeah, no one should know more than them. So I
expect, actually, Sam Press you to make a hard pivot this offseason,
knowing that, knowing that there's so much scrutiny regarding him as a GM and
being a hoarder when it comes to picks and things like that. I actually
think they're gonna swing big this summer, so we'll see that. I think
they should as well. To be honest, they personally, I know this
isn't then Oklahoma City Thunder podcast. It's firmly not personally, I think they
should go just do whatever they can to get Lori Marknen and just if you
have to pay a pretty penny, just do it. I think that's where
they should be at. The Clippers can't do anything like that. They are
firmly Yeah, they lost Dan Craig or Dan Craig left. Will you and
I were kind of talking about this when it happened, is A Is it
that big of a deal? And I don't mean that disrespectfully towards Dan Craig
and b doesn't kind of help the Clippers get out of this rut that I
think think we can all agree they're kind of in with this era right now.
I mean, I guess I'll address the last part of the question first.
No, I don't think this has anything to do with the rut.
I don't think Dan Craig has is any part of the reason why Kawuhi hasn't
finished any of the last four straight postseasons. Uh So, No, I
don't think it helps to do anything with the rut. I think that the
assistant coach relationship probably depends on the situation. You know, where you are,
how much input you have. If he was more in charge of the
defensive end of the ball, I mean, wasn't looking great there, so
I guess not a big loss in that regard. He was never that good
on the mic in the Korean post conference, So I mean, could we
get somebody, Yeah, could we get somebody if someone has to fill in?
Could you know, maybe maybe just throw a couple throw a couple jokes.
You know, Ty doesn't love to be with the media, but can
he get on the mic. He can chop it up. So I respect
Dan Craig. I think it's interesting that he decided to make this move.
I hope it's not emblematic of him sensing what the next season is going to
look like for this team and internally, because it feels like he would probably
feel the same way a lot of fans do about what it seems like is
going to happen again next season. I wonder, and you brought up the
defensive or the lack of defensive prowess the last couple of seasons by the Clippers.
You look at it. He's the defensive coordinator, not just because DC
is initials or anything like that. That's his job. They finished sixteenth,
Yeah, sorry, they finished sixteenth this past season. Defensively, they were
actually much worse than that. If you just take out the first month of
the season, we're talking like a bottom five defense. Crazy fact, really
quick, sorry, Adam. It was the worst defensive rating in the history
of the his last year, which I thought was crazy. I know,
obviously, offenses changed and stuff, But I was like, damn, I
was like the worst ever with that many games from Beaching and Kawhi they met,
they were seventeenth, though the year before they were one slot worse.
Oh, I mean number wise, like not like ranking wise, like number
wise. Basketball Reference told me, okay, what number okay, like field
goal percentage given up or something like the total defensive rating number, not like
that. Yeah, the points one hundred posession. Yeah, this year was
sixteenth. Last year was seventeenth. Right, I'm telling you the number itself,
not the ranking. Oh. I see what you just saying. I
see what you're saying. Not bad. Uh. Yeah. I wonder if
because he was somebody who was on the rise when they brought him in.
He was talked about at that point being the heir apparent to Eric Spolstra in
Miami, being on the fast track to being a head coach. And obviously
there's no salary cap when it comes to paying coaches, and Steve ball or
take care of him to make the make him the associate head coach. So
I wonder if he's taken kind of a step back now and he has to
reclaim a little bit of his value. You could say, going to Chicago
and maybe it's easier to turn around, even though they've had decent defenses kind
of over the past couple of years, but maybe just being out of the
spotlight a little bit, or maybe it's a lower bar because they're not expected
to do as much as living that that assistant coach salary goes a lot further
in Chicago. Yeah, I'm just spitballing here because I'm not, you know,
too clear on why timing wise, that he would end up leaving justin
Do you have any inside for us? Well, three things really. Number
one, Dan's a very bright guy. I spent some time talking to him
privately for a piece. I never got to write the piece because of car
issues towards the end of the season, and that took up a large portion
of my time. So that was fun. Yeah, so I never got
to write the piece, but I talked to him. I guess i'll,
you know, expose a little bit of what I talked him about. This
was in Sacramento then the day that we learned that Kawhi was out. So
Kawhi just played the previous game against Charlotte and then that was the last time
he played for the season. So I'd been meaning to talk to Dan for
about about a couple of weeks to a month, and so I was finally
able to talk to him in Sacramento. I went up there and had a
very good, long conversation with them all on the record about defense. And
this is obviously a very bright guy. He's a guy who understands defense to
a degree that anyone listening to this will never fully understand. And the way
that the game has We talked about the way that the game has evolved.
We talked about defensive principles, everything under the sun defensively I number two.
I look at it as I don't think the team was satisfied at where they
were defensively, and I don't think it was a Dan Craig issue. I
genuinely think it was a look, the guys are just not there. They're
just not at the point that we need them to be. They switched their
coverages throughout the season. Initially they had centers play up to the level of
screens. Then they went to a drop cover. I'm sorry if you hear
craggly noises. I have a dog toy that just got brought to me.
I thought, you're gonna be like I'm playing with this dog. To I
was like Will and I are hanging out, But where was I? Oh?
They changed their defensive coverages throughout the season. Initially they were trying to
come up to the level of the screen a lot. Then when they became
better defensively towards the end of the season, they were playing drop coverage more,
which is what they were used to. So they tried things they just
didn't fully work. So it was more of a personnel issue, I'd say,
than coaching issue. And third, this is just my read on it.
I don't have any insight on this. I personally am looking at Dan
leaving as a sign that Tie is probably closer to an extension than he was
before. And the reason I say that is because Dan has been groomed to
be the next guy wherever he goes like he was being groomed that way.
As Adam said in Miami, he was the associate head coach, which was
a promotion with the Clippers. He was paid very well for that. You
know, he coached games with the Clippers that he took over for Tye.
You know, obviously he wasn't the most talkable guy in a public setting,
but clearly was a straight shooter and this this might be the next pathway for
him to get the job that he's looking for. I think it's interesting that
you bring up the personnel issue, because when I think about their issues defensively,
I agree, it's not a scheme issue. It's a lack of effort
and consistency every night, partially because there's just so many older guys on this
team and it's hard to do it night in and night out for eighty two
games during the regular season. And Kawhi ends up being second team All NBA
today, And this just came out a couple hours ago, and Lakers fans
were upset and saying, how did he make it over Lebron James. And
I was looking up the defensive numbers. When Kawhi Leonard was out there on
the court for the Clippers during the regular season, in his sixty eight games,
they had defensive rating about one hundred and eleven point one, not about
exactly that so, which is about top five. When he was off the
court, it jumped to one seventeen point nine, which is like a bottom
five defense. Like it was that glaring with and without Kawhi Leonard on the
court, who was holding so much down on that end, especially when they
went through that state without Aviatza Zubos and his back line defense. We really
saw Quiet an amazing defensive season. I would say maybe his best as a
Clipper. Uh. And that was the difference to me. I think Zach
Lowan guys like that were looking at the defensive rating because Lebron James, it's
almost within a fraction of a point whether he's on the court defensively or not.
On the court, Kawhi was very meaningful to the Clippers defensively, but
he's still an older guy and he's not supposed to be playing that many minutes.
And again the ends of the season, obviously he misses the last month,
the defensive rating gets worse and worse. So I agree with you.
I think it says less about Dan Craig and more just about the construction of
this team and just not having enough of those young guns that they can throw
out there for eighty two games that can really thrive on the defensive end.
I'm wondering, we're kind of talking, we're talking to TYLERU thing Tyler's contract
is up after this season. Correct? Yeah, So when I was at
Team USA last summer. It was we talked to Tie privately or not not
really privately. I mean it was on the record. I can't say privately.
He was on the record, and you know that was him going in
the last two years of his deal. He was waiting for his final year
to get picked up. And then Andrew grive of the La Times reported last
August, shortly after, because Andrew was there for this too, reported that
the Clippers picked up the fifth year option and guaranteed his final year, which
is this upcoming season. Because Tye signed a five year contract with the team,
this is obviously he's already done four years and this is upcoming to year
five. So I know there was a woja article that ESPN had that said
twenty five twenty six was the final year. I've worked to confirm that.
I've gotten nowhere with that. I've asked a couple of people. I'm still
going off twenty four to twenty five, just based on the reporting that was
out there and just talking to ty initially. So I'm going into it thinking
this coming season is the last year he's under a contract, and that's why
they're working on trying to work on an extension, so that's how I have
chosen to read it. I texted Andrew Gray about this recently, back when
the report came out regarding Darvin Ham being fired, and then immediately afterwards the
Clippers put out it looked like that press are saying that they want to sign
coach lu to a long term deal, and he said the exact same thing,
that this upcoming season is the final year of that contract. Yeah.
I think it was just a typo on just part which I mean, the
guy come on a casual I mean, the guy puts out a lot of
stuff, so I wouldn't be shocked that there's a typo eventually from wolj bomb
to woj bombing. Just pathetic and we I mean, do you feel,
I mean, chances seem high that Tyler's coming back. I don't know if
you saw those quotes he said just throughout about like Bomber teaching him, you
know, like learning how to be in successful relations YadA, YadA. I
feel like he's coming back, right. I am operating, operating under the
assumption that he is coming back. I've operated under that assumption the last couple
of months. So unless I hear something different, That's what I'm kind of
going with Last year. I'll put it to you this way. Last summer
I was shakier on him returning than I am this summer. Do you think
there's anything to the Lakers waiting still to hire somebody because there was a report
out there that they were trying to see what the Clippers move was with coach
lou Is there anything to that in your mind? I don't think that's wrong.
I think they'd be smart to do that. I don't think with Mike
budenholes are already coming off the board. I don't think there's a rush to
fill a coaching vacancy until you see how everything else un both, like,
for instance, we gotta get JJ Reddick before Cleveland does. Yeah, I
mean, maybe they're waiting for like, honestly, it could be a lot
of things. Maybe they're waiting to see what the Clippers do. Maybe they're
waiting for JJ to finish up his commitment with the NBA Finals or anything like
that. Maybe they're waiting on Mike and nor in the Minnesota Timberwolves to be
done, you know, so they don't step on those toes. It could
be a host of reasons. I don't know personally why they're waiting, but
I do think on their side of things, they're smarter to wait than rush
into things. That's how you end up in bad situations. In Phoenix's side,
I understand why they did what they did. Whether or not I agree
with Frank Vogel being the fall guy. I understand why they went out and
got my blodonolsers as fast as they did. That makes sense. All right,
we're gonna take a quick break, and then we are going to talk
about Paul George coming back, a world in which he maybe doesn't come back,
and what we would trade or not trade for the twenty thirty pick.
And then of course there's gonna be some diptalk, so all of that and
coming up. All that and more coming up. If you're listening, thanks
for listening. If you're watching, there's gonna be no break. The ads
might be wowed. Ads in three to one welcome back in to Clips and
Dip. We are joined by Justin Russo or Russeau, depending on how you
say it. Charles, did I cut you off? He looked think you
were about to say something. No, No, you're good. I was
about to eat a chip. Oh Okay, gotcha, gotcha. That was
the hold up motion was just for the chip. So anyways, we talked
a little bit about the Clippers off season so far, their rut, the
loss of Dan Craig. Obviously, now we're gonna talk a little bit about
what they can do move wise, and I guess the most reasonable place is
is probably the I mean, the biggest domino that's gonna fall for the Clippers
offseason either way, which is where does Paul George end up? I guess
Russo I'll kick it to you. How are you seeing it right now?
What is the probability that Paul George is not rostered as a Clipper on opening
night of twenty four to twenty five. I'd put it at sixty forty returning.
And the only reason I say, the only reason I go that high
is because I do think there is some thought that they don't want to lose
him for nothing, so to speak, without any chance of replacing him.
What I will say is, if you're gonna uh for anyone out there who's
gonna mock trade PG and go on trade machines and stuff, you have to
remember the Clippers are over this first apron technically they're over the second apron as
well, but because they're over the first apron, if they sign and trade
Paul George, they can't take back any salary, so that limits it.
So basically their only avenue to really trading Paul George if they go that route,
is he has to opt in and then they trade him so that he
can sign an extension with whoever acquires them. Obviously, if he opts in,
most likely he's being traded and he's being traded to wherever he wants to
go. He would have the call because then he's obviously able to negotiate an
extension at that point. That's like the Chris Paul deal going to Houston,
right, Yeah, very much. Actually, what I would also like in
it too is Porzingis last year with Washington, who opted into the last year
of his deal, and then there was that whole thing. But obviously the
trade broke down between Boston and the Clippers and Washington that three teamer, and
then Porzingis had to negotiat an extension with Boston by the deadline of that night,
and he did and that's the only reason he got traded. So justin
how would you evaluate the season Paul George had next to James Harden the playoff
first round exit. Ham Ra averaged just nineteen points against Dallas, obviously struggle
in the second half of Game six. Just have you shifted at all with
how you perceive him as a player or as a clipper. I think he
had a really good season. I think the playoffs soured a lot of what
he did during the season. I think that's I think it's very fair to
say he had a really good season. He was very efficient, he had
a lot of great games. The playoffs did sour a lot of people,
and very understandably, so I think it was the only word that I kept
coming back to watching was it was very disappointing because it wasn't the lack of
scoring, just through a large portion of it just seemed like a lack of
will to get shots up. And Look, I understand no one wants guys
to go out there and just chuck the ball up thirty times in a game
without, you know, without them being good shots. But it's not us.
I mean, it's not really justifiable for your star, your number one
guy to go out there and take like eleven shots in a game, right,
Like it's it can't happen, not in the playoffs where you're missing your
best player. And yeah, it's soured a lot of fans. Like I
said, you know, justifiably, it's soured me watching it because I don't
I said that from that, I know it sounds terrible. Wa. No,
Like, I've seen what he can do up close and personal. I
saw it against Phoenix, I saw it against Utah and twenty twenty one.
I understand that's three years ago. A lot of stuff happens over the course
of three years that changes who you are as a player. He got older,
he's you know, going on thirty four hour is thirty four now,
he's got a pod. Uh. He's not the player he used to be,
and that's okay. I think he also has to admit that he's not
the player he used to be. And you know, go ahead, Adam,
do you see him as a number three now on a championship team instead
of a number two? Yeah? And that's not what he was brought to
the Clippers to be. And fair not like, it's very hard to justify
paying a guy forty five million dollars to start a new contract when he's the
number three guy on your team. It's very it's very hard to justify that,
like, not even just from a salary standpoint, but from a mental
standpoint of that's not the guy, he's not even the second guy, and
you're paying them forty five million dollars. Like it's it's a tough thing to
come to terms with when when roster building, because you do have to build
a roster around them, and you have to hope that the guys around them
can compliment each each other player. But then you have a guy that's making
that much money who isn't the best player, second best player, and it
affects a lot of things into how he's used. He doesn't want to be
a ball handler. Totally fine, I understand, I understand. I get
it. Hey, Haliburton couldn't dribble against Holiday, Come on, it happens,
right. What I will say is, and this is my biggest gripe
with what I've seen over the years, is when Doc was here and then
left, PG can plain that his first year he was a spot up shooter.
Then Tye comes here and under the tutelage of Tie but mostly also Chauncey
Billups runs point for them a lot and does very well. It was the
reason they had such a great season, or one of the major reasons they
had such a great season was because he was able to grow as a ball
handler, facilitator, you know, isolation score. And then obviously the next
season he's hurt, Chauncey's gone, and he just doesn't want to do it
anymore. And could it be an age thing. It could where like it's
grinding You're thirty at that point, he was thirty two years old and you're
being asked to do everything and that grinds you down. I completely get it.
But then and I understand there are different players physically, but like you
look at Lebron and it's like skuy At this guy at that time was like
thirty five, thirty six years old, still doing it at a very high
level. But you're not, and you just thought that you can't. You
just don't want to. And if you don't want to do the things,
and this is just me obviously speak personally speaking, if you don't want to
do the things that make you the best player on the floor, you probably
shouldn't be compensated as the best player on the floor financially speaking, because that's
how I'm thinking like will I think like there's all this stuff about, like
you know, Philadelphia might sign them, but if you're Philly, how do
you pitch to everyone who's not Joel Embiid that you're now giving this guy,
like Russo just said the most It's like someone coming to your job and being
like, hey, I'm actually gonna be called on way less than you,
but I'm making maybe twice as much as you are. Like that seems like
such a difficult thing to maneuver as a coach. I mean, the Philly
thing is just like how you know the free agent class isn't particularly strong,
you know, like you're looking at your options on the board, and I
like, that's how you sell it to a team, is that you know
you're paying one hundred and what would it be like one hundred and sixty mil
overall? One hundred and sixty five if he gets the four full max.
You're paying one hundred and sixty five to hopefully get two more years of a
championship. We know with Joel Embiid, And that's like if everything breaks right,
Yeah, that's what it is. Embiid was the MVP last season.
We only have so much time left with him. This makes us better.
We have a better shot to win this season. We have to take advantage
of this. And they haven't been through the Paul George experience of the up
and downs and the inconsistency in his play. They haven't experienced it because obviously
I'm guessing justin when you know his agent and the Clippers are negotiating or in
those talks, you know if hypothetically they're like, well, Kawhi took this,
you take a little bit less than this, and he comes back with
what saying, well, I can get a max from the Philadelphia seventy six
ers. Do you think that's what the agent says? Or he obviously can
play at this high a level and he can play like a number one some
nights, certainly like a number two most Knights, But those inconsistencies. I'm
just trying to think of from their perspective, how they're coming and selling the
idea Paul George coming back in a max contract, which if he can get
it, he should get it. Get as much money as you can.
But obviously it hasn't happened yet at this point, and everybody in all the
reporting from sham Shawania recently is that that's the stalemate right now. If the
Clippers gave him a max, obviously he'd already have that sign sealed and delivered.
The best way I've ever had to explain to me in terms of free
agency was by a reputable reporter who told me, your worth is dictated by
what people will pay you, and doesn't mean that's the kind of player you
are, just mean, that's just what you know. Your worth is dictated
by what other teams will pay you, and if another team can match it,
is Paul Georgia max player. If the Philadelphia seventy six ers thinks so,
he's going to be a max player, and that'll then force the Clippers
into deciding whether or not he is for them. If the Clippers give him
the four years, two hundred and twenty one million dollars that he's looking for,
which is the full max that he can get from them, you know,
at the end of the day, it doesn't preclude them from you know,
as harsh as it is to say, from doing to him what they
did to Blake Griffin, which is traded him six months later, and you
know it could be a thing that they do. It's just also very hard
in their position being a second apron team to find takers under the Apron who
can then you know, you could work with the whole PG. Thing comes
down to whether or not the Clippers think it's a bluff that he will get
a max contract from elsewhere, or if they think that home matters the most
to him. I was told that there was a conversation that he had with
a player on a rival team when they were in LA, you know,
towards the back part of the season, where he said to this player that
you know, it's the money that matters the most him very fair, and
I support that. I think. I think in athletics you should always go
get the most money that you can get. You have a finite window of
your career. You should cash in as much as possible. If that's how
he and maybe dealing with the repercussions from your playing career for long after you're
done. Yeah, we've heard Kawi talk about how he wants to be able
to play with his kids, you know, so if he feels he can
get a max contract, then he should absolutely go for it. I think
from the Clipper standpoint, I I think and this is just obviously this is
not through any source scene or anything like that, or any intel. What
I think they should look at it as is the sunk fallacy, which is
you've already invested so much, how much more should you keep investing in the
hopes that it turns around or should you just kind of pull the parachute and
then let the chips fall as they may. That's a harsh thing to think
of for them, specifically because they do have the new stadium they're going into,
and that's a hard sell. It's also a very hard sell for fans,
I think, to look at the same team another year and just kind
of going to the season going, well, what's going to happen now?
Like they're waiting. Fans are always waiting for something bad to happen because something
bad usually does happen, and that's just that's just how it is. So
I think if he commands a MAX, they probably shouldn't do it. They
still might, but it doesn't mean they won't trade them if they give it
to them. Say justin that he does get the MAX from Philadelphia and leaves,
there's no opt in and then they trade him, which would be very
kind on his part to accept something like that. He just leaves and they
do bring back James Harden depending on what that contract is. I know that
factors in here too, But what type of flexibility would they have if any
or you just losing Paul George and getting absolutely nothing, no salary cap maneuvering
move with being able to just, I don't know, bring in some younger
pieces. If he leaves for nothing, they're under the second apron by almost
two million. That's just with current cap holds and stuff like that. Obviously,
if Mason doesn't come back there they actually get under the first apron,
so they would have flexibility. If PG doesn't return, it allows them to
kind of I guess reset the tack like the apron window and stuff like that.
But if PG doesn't return, it kind of it handicaps their ability to
compete. There's no two ways around it. As much as he was disappointing
the postseason, you'd much rather have him than not have anything in his place.
So financially speaking, they would have some wiggle room. It wouldn't be
much, but they would get under the aprons. So there's that what if
what's the situation? Then with like a mid level exception, I'm gonna be
honest, I forget this new CBA kind of whacked my mind a little bit.
Forget. I forget which exception they would have. I I think they
would still be over the luxury tax. So they probably have the mini MLA
tax payer mid level. So I don't beyond that. I mean, if
you if you factor in Russ leaving, and so here's the thing. If
PG leaves, they don't bring back Mason, Russ ops out of his player
option and they wave and stretch PJ. Tucker, they would get they would
get under the luxury tax, okay, which they are conscious of. People
sometimes like to pretend that Bomber will spend anything for this team, but he's
conscious of a luxury tax. It's a lot of It's like two hundred million
dollars different. I feel like Eric Eric Gordon deal didn't come back to buy
them. I feel like it didn't really didn't come back to buy them,
like everybody said at the time, oh did you let this guy go?
But it was a money decision. It was where are we at on Harden's
contract? What do we I saw Lucas hansweet that I liked where he'd like
his contract to line up with Cow e's just year wise, which I was
like, I like the idea of that, just kind of give it a
clear set window tradable maybe because I feel like he because might have more value
than any of the big three particular clippers, but like three for one hundred
three for what what is he going to command? One thing? Sorry,
before you give your answer, justin one thing I just wanted to leave on
the on the Paul George thing just speaking of James Harden, is what player
owen? What happened with the James Harden contract and Darryl Moore in Philadelphia is
willing to opt into a single last year of a contract and then hope that
they're going to get the max the next year with that organization. That that
that was just my last thing. Sorry, you can you can jump back.
What do you think he's at? Hey, James, should I do
what you did? Yeah? No, what is exactly right? Though,
Like you can't It sounds bad to say, but you can't trust anyone at
their words when it comes to money. Yeah, you know, like you're
dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars and people who want to save money.
You know, you can't trust anybody in that situation. As for Harden,
though, h three years one thirty could work. That's his first year,
which started forty million. The third year would be forty six point four.
I think it would be the CAP's gonna be crazy too at that point,
Like from what we see, Hey, it's nuts. Yeah, if you
so. Harden's cap hold right now. I believe this forty nine point three
to five million, So he'd basically shave nine million off of the number,
going like, if that's how you that's one way to look at it.
Beyond that, though, I mean, it's hard to look at a hardened
deal and want to give him anything beyond three years. Not to say like
he hasn't he liked, not to say he wasn't good with the Clippers.
It's just, you know, this is a guy who's a ton of mild
on his leg. Yeah, it's even his age, Like his work level
has been absurd for the last thirteen fourteen years. This is a guy who
has dealt with you know, muscle issues, hamstring issues, and you know,
as great as he was for the Clippers this year, he was also
very healthy and you can't count on that. I say very healthy relatively speaking,
obviously, he dealt with a shoulder issue, he had a heel issue,
but you can't count on that going forward either. What do you think
Russell Westbrook chooses to do. Do you think there's a market for him him
if he doesn't opt in. I think there could be. I know that's
crazy to some people. I think there could be. I people love Russ.
He puts bots in the seats. I think a team. I don't
know if he would go back to Washington, but Washington could have some use
for him. Chicago potentially, any team who has a point guard, not
vacancy, but like a use for another point guard could always help. I
don't know. Well, for instance, Lawrence did say at his end of
the season presser, this is now two weeks ago that yeah, it's been
a while, they're gonna sit down with Russ's representatives and kind of talk over
what the role would be for next season and kind of talk over things.
Which Russ has a player option, as we all know, so it's his
call. My reading between the lines, and this could be wrong, but
my reading between the lines of that was we're gonna approach Russ with a role
that he might not like and see what happens and just go from there.
I'm of the belief that, you know, as good as Russ was at
times, I also think they need to just see what they have in Bones.
I think they don't know what they have, and he's going into a
restricted free agency season. You know, he's gonna be a restricted free agent
after next season, so they need to know what they have in him and
whether or not they should pay him and kind of just figure it out from
there. Adam was so grateful that you brought up Bones. I don't think
he's ever said thank you like that on the pot before I know what they
have, I know what they have the skeleton key, And then really quick
before we kind of get to some draft stuff, there are some people who
want to like really swing for the fences and like involve the twenty thirty pick
in some kind of transaction for the Clippers. I just Robin will start with
you, Russo, is that even on the radar? Do you think that's
even on the radar of the Clippers? And is there anything you would trade
the twenty thirty first round pick for? Oh? I start at the second
part first, I don't know what I would trade it for. To be
honest with you, I'd have to like actually see it, you know what
I mean. It's like one of those things because they're their ability to make
moves is so limited because of the apron where they can't they can't take back
any more money than they send. They can't aggregate contracts out. So it's
like if you trade PJ. Tucker, who's like eleven points, I have
it here, hold on eleven point five to four million. You can't take
back any more than that. And what tattooed on him? Man, Yeah,
I have I have his wave and stretch right here. I mean stretches
like this. I wrote about that in a column a week or so ago,
which is that that's one viable I know it's not a sexy thing,
but it saves them close to eight million dollars this season, and in tax
saving that's a large that's a large amount of money. I don't know what
a first round pick does for them in a deal. What I will say,
though, and this is going to the first part, is they should
have it on the table. Now. It depends on what move that that
gets you, is the only reason I would say. It depends on like
it depends on what it would get you as whether or not it should be
on the table. Fully, what I will say also is because of the
way the new second apron is, and because the draft picks being locked in,
it's technically the last pick they will have to trade for a very long
time because if they're over the second apron for a number of years, their
draft pick gets locked and they're not able to trade it. So twenty they
can trade, twenty thirty, they can pick swap twenty thirty one, and
that's what they can do right now on draft night. I wouldn't rule anything
out of the realm of possibility. I'm just kind of also at the point
where it's like how many drop picks can you keep trading? How to try
to fix the problem that you created? That's kind of where I'm at.
Will. Where are you on the twenty thirty Yeah, I mean I agree
with Ruso, and it's just it depends on what it's going to look like.
Like is this assuming this is a trade that's still happening with everyone running
back as we expect, because then there's not really a whole lot to do.
Yeah, It's like, I mean, after he signs a big deal,
you're like Okay, well that feels really bad too. Yeah, I
don't know how that would work. I mean, if you could do anything
to get younger, like if you could get a Brandon Ingram or a de
Jonte Murray and keep two of the three. I don't know how contractually that
would work out, but if you could get younger, I guess. I
mean. But the thing is is if you either any move that you make
with that twenty thirty, you need to be relatively assured that that is going
to be a number one or number two player on your team after the Paul
George and James Hardenears are over and Ingram is twenty six, so like you
know, he's in that definitely like in that age range. And Murray is
what twenty four something like that, so it's like a possibility. The thing
that's difficult, I feel like for LA to balance is, you know,
yes, it would be great to have that pick come to fruition and like
have it be a high pick. But let's say the I don't want to
say it's the worst case scenario because it's not talent wise, but I think
it is for the fans, like worst case scenario, they run everything back,
they remain status quo this year. I don't care. You know,
I know we've talked a lot about how Steve Bomber wants, you know,
stars and butts in seats. How many butts are coming into seats to see
the exact same thing. Like, I'm just I'm not really seeing it.
And if the same thing happens in the in the postseason, you know your
next year is even lower. How can you justify continuing to raise these season
ticket holder prices? So I'm saying that they don't have a lot of time
to wait, okay, and so you're gonna wait. You know, you're
gonna wait through this while your audience numbers are dwindling, and then you're gonna
hope that you're shitting enough for a season to get a high pick in twenty
thirty. And I gotta be honest with you, man, the stadium is
opened by it for seven years at that point, and there's not a draw,
Like, I just don't see that working. I don't see that happening,
And I'm not eager to give up twenty thirty. It sounds terrifying.
The team could be absolute garbage by then, But I think if you can
make a move where you get younger, you know that might be your way
forward, right like, that might be your mid path forward. And I'm
not saying it would extend a championship wind. I think we're beyond that point,
to be perfectly honest, But I do think that it can create enough
excitement and competitive nature that it does make the team interesting. I think the
name you brought up there, I brought him up on the last show.
We didn't really get into it, but Brandon Ingram is an interesting name because
it sounds like we've talked about souring a lot. The New Orleans Pelicans have
soured on him, but he will be an unrestricted free agent after this season,
so you trade that pick for him, you better make sure you're able
to bring him back. Hopefully he's back in Los Angeles. That's enough for
him. There's potential with this team, and he would want to stay.
I do think somebody of that ilk you brought up to Jontay Murray, to
somebody that's a younger guy that may not be a number one on a championship
team, but that could grow into a number two possibly, And I think
Brandon Ingram could be that guy. He's looked like it at times, he's
been a special and you know all the pressure that was on him coming into
the league and them comparing him to Kevin Durant, Well, I don't know,
he's like sixty percent of the way. That's an allSome star. He
has made an all star came before. So I think you if you bring
back everybody and you're saying, we're trading the twenty thirty to go all in
once again, to double down or triple down or quadruple down, whatever it
is that five times down? Yeah, yeah? Is that appealing to people?
You're trading it to try to extend this window and bring in somebody that
makes you so good, that makes you so injury proof or has you know
you have even more injury insurance? Injury insurance I would do in a heartbeat.
Can we trade first round picks for injury insurance to ensure that no one
gets hurt? Have they thought of that? I'm sure the mutual of Obaha's
on the line. Justin you brought up earlier about the potential of re signing
Paul George or Harden or one of these guys and then trading them later on
on. Is Kawhi Leonard a possibility there, or is his contract and his
injury history now completely taking him out of a situation where he could be the
guy that gets moved for a team that believes, okay, we can we
can get over the top if we bring in Kawhi Leonard and have a little
bit of luck. Now I'm not saying I want this by any means,
but just throwing out hypotheticals. What I will say is the timing of Kawhi
Leonard signing his extension was not lost on a select handful of people when they
found out about it. And uh, he will be trade eligible in the
beginning of July if they choose to go that route. So, hmmm,
have you heard anything regarding the swelling in his right knee? I have not.
No. Are we just going to find out Ifho's playing for Team USA
or not. We're gonna find that out. We're gonna get a tweet saying
he had a little scope a rooney and everything was okay. Is what I
feel like, is gonna ruddy joke? Is We're gonna I'm gonna get an
email and a couple of weeks fight it out that he was out for Team
USA because he had a procedure three weeks ago, and no one knew.
So, as Chuck said, like, we don't, no one knows.
I don't know. I'm supposed to be going to t USA this summer.
So nice, Oh Russeo in France, huh okay, yeah, like damn,
that's sick as hell. Actually I will go to Paris. It's just
in Vegas. So all right, coming up, we're gonna do another quick
little break. That's very interesting about that Kwi Leonard contract timeline and trade eligibility.
What was it July eighth, July eighth, market on your calendars.
I guess we're gonna be talking some draft talk and then the most important part
of the show that everyone across the world. As Will brought up earlier,
it seems to love some diptok. So there's some audio breaks coming up in
three two one. Welcome back in the Clips and Dip Episode seventy five of
season two, I'm at a Moslin. We got Chuck Mockler, Will Updyke,
and the great Justin Rousseau, who will be going to Paris, not
France for the Olympics, is joining us here. Justin you wrote a beautiful
piece recently about this do you have any ideas of what the Clippers could be
doing come the draft, which seems to be the most mediocre draft in the
history of the NBA according to all the experts in Jay billis that's what everyone
says. And then usually every draft has three guys and everyone's like, how
did everyone pass on this guy? It's like, well, because everyone said
the draft sucked. That's how to figure out who they might be interested in.
You have to look at their draft history, and their draft history tells
me that there's no running formula that has been stuck two year after year.
Last year they took two guys who were two of the oldest players in the
draft, but they were good athletes, were just oldest players in the draft.
The year before that, h twenty twenty two they take Musa who is
raw, great athlete but raw. Twenty twenty one they take Kean Johnson,
great athlete, but raw. But you know, then you start going back
years and years and it's like they're taking guys in the first round who were
three and four year college players who don't really pan out. There's there's no
rhyme or reason that you can kind of like like, you can't narrow down
a specific draft formula, so to speak, like it's a moving target.
Yeah, and you know, I mean it happens. You know, none
of the picks are really high, so you know, it gets tough to
good middle class at forty six. That's what they've said. But uh,
you know, I don't I don't know who they might look at. I
have a list of guys going in that I think they probably should look at.
I felt the same way last year and the year before, because like
you know, i'd look at draft stuff. Uh. You know, this
year I wrote about five guys. I named seven, but I really wrote
about five. One of them was a den Bona from a U c.
L A, a very athletic center. He's a little bit undersize, but
he's got a large wingspan. It's close to a seven to four wingspan,
A real around the rim guy, shot blocker. There's a kid out of
Marquette, also, a Degaharo, who is an athletic forward who basically plays
center, kind of like he's just he has a center's game. He does
not shoot outside of the paint. He has a nice little floater game.
He's a good defender. Not a long wingspan, but a very impactful defender
from what I've seen. Alex Caravan of Connecticut, two time national champion,
really good shooter, only takes threes and only takes layups. The kind of
guy that Darrel Morey probably dreams about him. Jamal s Shed out of Houston
defensive guard. And then I wrote about Brownie James because I do think that
he's intriguing and I know everyone right the crazy I want to hear your opinion
on him. Look, I know everyone I know people have very strong feelings
about him, mostly because of who his dad is. I look at it
as here's a guy who when he came out of high school wasn't the tippy
top recruit, but he's a hard worker. Kid had cardiac arrest and still
played basketball several months later. Tells you what kind of drive that kid has.
Very good defender, good ball, mover jump shot is in progress,
but based on the film that that that's come out, it looks like he's
made progress on the jumper. You know. Look, he's the I don't
want to parse over it too much, but it's the son of Lebron James.
I think Lebron James's kid would probably know how to play basketball to sud
degree, so kind of helps to that, you know, stance. But
I think there are players in the draft that can help them. The number
one rule that I have in drafts though, and it sounds very stupid when
you say out loud, but it makes a lot of sense when you think
about it, is can this guy play basketball? Seems important? I think
that's totally fair. Seems important. But a lot of guys look like they
can play basketball. Only a few can play basketball, and they have to
go into the draft and get guys who can actually play basketball, whether that's
this coming season or down the line. Does this go back to athlete versus
guy who just knows the game more stinctually. Yeah. I mean, you
know what's funny is I had a conversation about that with James Harden this year,
and there was someone else that I had a conversation with, Oh,
Tyrese Haliburton. When the Pacers came in. We were talking about it.
I said, do you think I asked Tyres, I said, do you
think people get focused in draft models and look at the draft as you know,
this guy's not a great athlete, or this guy doesn't do this well,
this well, he's like, yeah, some guys are just basketball players.
You can't really put into context how well they played basketball just because of
how high they jump or how fast they run. Like he said, a
lot of players are a lot better between the ears than they are on the
court. He goes, but you need to find the guys that can do
both at a respectable level. So that's kind of how I look at it.
If the Clippers do find someone at forty six who is at a respectable
level of between the ears and on the court, what does their future even
really look like with this team, because that's been a difficult We've talked about
this window. Right, We're an old team. I would love to find
someone who could play functional minutes for this team next year from the bench.
Because I call me negative or whatever, I don't see us drafting a starting
caliber guy at forty six. But like, there's still kind of this weird
log jam of got older guys to get passed. So I'm maybe I'm just
too nihilistic about it, but I'm like, I don't think it matters who
they draft because I don't think this person, through not mostly not through fault
of their own, will be given a shot in two seasons or even anything.
I think the thing for people to also remember is second round picks.
I know some of them hit really high and play really well and have really
long careers. The hit rate on mid to low second round picks is pretty
low, right, and like you have to genuinely get lucky. I know
a lot of people point out, oh, well, Manu Ginobili was the
fifty something pick, like obviously he paid well. It's like, yeah,
the reason you remember was the fifty first pick is because he did pan out.
You don't remember everyone else who didn't. So you know, Terrence man
panned out very well for his draft position. I think, you know,
that's a home run for the Clippers in a lot of sense. The other
thing I will mention, actually, and I know this is going to be
a killer for a lot of people who are hoping for an actual rotation player.
The Clippers have two free two way spots that'll be freed up this summer,
and I don't think it's out of the rum of possibility. Whoever they
pick at forty six is a little bit off the board because they're probably going
to try to give him a two way deal. I just think that I
think people need to prepare themselves for that possibility. What about the possibility of
Kayi Jones turning into a superstar that has a possibility of happening to Thank you
anything, Adams getting everything he wants this episode? Yeah anything? All right,
we are getting into the most important part of the new season of the
show, which is the dips. Justin Russeo, you are our first guest
on the dip. Eric, you did not bring a dip, which is
I have a suggestion? Okay, we'll do should we do? Suggestion?
Will should we talk about this person who talks ship on us? Or uh
yeah, Let's let's open with the comments and then get a nice suggestion.
We had a pretty funny take from Luca e on Twitter. Let me pull
this up. He is a German basketball fan. He said the Clippers are
so cooked that fan podcasts will now record dip reviews. Well, we,
first of all, Luca, thank you for following and watching the pod.
The public demanded the dip reviews. We've been ostracized for not having actual dip
on the show for months now, and we we caved. We caved to
the public. This guy's eclipse and dip casual clearly because We've been talking about
it for a long time and look, he only got twelve hundred views on
that. Like, hope it worked out. Hope you got the attention you
were looking for, Buddy, I just Daniel te, I just go.
The German word for cooked is cooked. They're not a very creative people.
I'm just just saying, I don't know, okay, justin what is your
dip suggestion? And then I guess you could maybe judge our dips because you're
the guest the scale as would you bring them to a barbecue? But first
your suggestion the floor is yours. Buffalo chicken dip. I've made it before.
It's incredible, and you could even do it in like your instapot or
your or your slow cooker, so it's even It's great. You get a
little shud of chicken, little buffalo wing sauce. You can add some cream
cheese to it. It's incredible. It's like a whole meal, a whole
meal and dip. Hey listen, I'm a fat guy. I've had whole
meals of dip, okay, and it suited me very well. All right,
will yours is the freshest dip, so I think you Yeah, well,
god damn it, I did a buffalo chicken dip. So yeah,
mine is a Mine is a no cook dip. But I used uh some
lovely Lucerne whipped jalapeno cream cheese support California Dairy Farms. I used some blue
cheese crumbles a whole container and uh, a healthy dow scene of Frank's red
Hot along with some shreded chicken. Uh. And I've been eating it all
show. It's great. What have you been eating it with? Oh?
So Cellary got it? Okay, that sounds phenomenal. Do you know that
a mere coffee has an entire thing of Frank's red Hot in his locker?
How big is it? It's the jumbo size? All right, so we
have for years. All right, Adam your dip and chip combo and sticking
with the ketto theme, he has celery. I have Helo Life chips,
which have like more protein to carb ratio. I guess they're actually really good
nacho cheese. They're almond flour tortilla style chips. So that this is like
a Tom Brady thing, you know that he'd be, But they're actually very
flavorful, and those ships prevent concussions not roasts. I bought this and I
was in a bit of a pinch, so I didn't go too deep with
it. I didn't have time for Trader Joe's and to battle through their parking
lot and to brave the crowds, so I just went with tostitos avocado salsa.
It's not guacamole. It's avocado salsa, so it's like weather guacamole.
That's right. It's a thinner concoction. Although although oh this looks so dicey,
wow too? Could you drink it? You tossed some ice in there,
you got a slush? All right? That seems sound like Carl Weatherson
season two arrested development their rip. All right? I went with Last week,
my dip was horrible. I did the it was Dorito's Hoolopano ranch dip.
I did Freedo's hot bean dip with holopagno phenomenal, phenomenal dip, and
I paired it. I like that. You guys are keto and I'm doing
mine. And I paired it with some hot and spicy teacher own ace,
which that part is Keito, thank you. I think the Freedo hot bean
dip with kolopano is keto too. Actually, I'll call it absolutely not,
but I'll call them yeah. Uh. The the texture of the baconets with
the bean dip is great. I'm all for it now, justin you are
on the hot seat. Hey, we got a dog on the cam.
What's up? You are on the hot seat? Which of these dips would
you take to a barbecue? I'm sorry, I gotta go with Will's.
That's a bibe. It's a great big that's a ringer. He knew exactly
what dip you want, because listen, if you add a little bit of
barbecue sauce to that, it takes it to another level. And I feel
like people would just flock over over the entire bowl for the entire they would
they would be I've never seen anyone really turn down a buffalo like chicken dip.
You can't because there's something in the back of your brain that just tells
you he has everything you need. It's got dairy, it's got protein.
Yeah, it's got a whole yeah exactly. See, Well that ends another
food rectangle, Charles. Yeah, it's one square of hot dogs, one
square of bagel sandwiches. I'm gonna miss the I'm gonna miss the Crypto dot
com arena hot dogs. By the way, don't even get me started.
I had a chili dog before pretty much every single game. Plus do you
have you have you gotten any info on what the food is gonna be?
Like? Into it in the media room? Will they have hot dogs?
I have no idea, to be honest with you, what are you gonna
hold this organization accountable? Justin when are you to grab them by the collar
and say where are the hot dogs? Listen? I have someone tell me
the other day I'm too negative, which I haven't heard in a very long
time. I would not describe you as a negative person. I'm I like
to genuinely think. I kind of keep it pretty level for the most part,
except when Chuck asked me before games, how I think is gonna go?
And I say they're gonna lose. Yeah, I mean, isn't your
ex picture just you like this? Oh God, it happening again. I
will describe that picture for the reason that it was taken because I by that
time had been in Vegas for five straight days of NonStop Summer League basketball and
I was ready to just die. It was the last day and I was
ready. I had to get ready to drive all the way home and I
was ready to just leave. I was done. Was it after a Jason
Preston turnover or something like that? Or uh no, I want to was
that the game? I think that picture might have been from the game that
Kenny Lofton Jr. Oh was going off and I was just so tired,
tired of Kenny makes sense? Well, justin thank you so much for joining
us. It was fantastic. It's always great to talk Clippers and just basketball
in general with you. Please plug all of your stuff. If you want
to follow me on Twitter, it's at fly by Night fl y b y
k N I p E. If you want to follow my work, it's
justin Russo dot substack dot com and you can find what I write there.
I'll slowed a little bit down for the off season, mostly because there's not
a lot of stuff to write about. I'm trying to do at least one
thing a week right now. I will warn people you'll probably see me to
start writing some stuff about soccer when there's nothing happening. I'm sorry, it's
just my Yeah, Russo calls it soccer. That's crazy. People might find
this weird to know. I enjoy watching soccer than I more than I enjoy
watching basketball, so terrifying. Yeah, it's pretty bad, mostly because games
end in two hours and I can just have a nice day and they start
on time. You start exactly what they say the start. Well, thank
you again, it's been wonderful. Yeah, subscribe to his substack. It'll
make you a better Clippers fan. It will make you a better basketball fan.
We're going to be back next week. Will Where can these wonderful people
find spots to perhaps review us or consume our content? Yeah, so the
best place to check us out is over on YouTube. That's YouTube dot com
slash at Clippers podcast. If you're interested in only the audio version, you
can do that wherever you get your podcast. If you're listening over on Spotify
or Apple podcasts, go ahead, leave us written interview. We'd really appreciate
it. We absolutely would. And Adam, you have the hardest part of
the off season. We need one positive thing to send these Clippers fans with
for the rest of their week. I need some help from Russeau. I
need them to put on the terminator glasses. I need that before we get
out of here. Come on, justin nearby just to say I'll be back,
Say I'll be back, I'll be I can also point out how Justin
Russo brought up that Kawhi Leonard nugget about him being tradable in July. Not
that any of us are rooting for that, but it's just an interesting I
guess, so what a badass. For those of you who don't know,
Justin has had to wear these in front of Tyloo because he forgot his prescription
glasses. We need one quick positive thing, Rousseau and the terminator glasses.
About the Clippers, yes, I genuinely think that next year they will be
better from an actual play standpoint, even if PG returns, just because I
do think an offseason together matters, and I think that they got bogged down
a lot on offense just because guys were still trying to learn how to play
without Kawhi, because you remember, they didn't really play without Kawhi that much
with James so kind I kind of think they will be better next year if
everyone's back and everyone's healthy. I know, if I say if everyone's healthy,
that probably just means no one will be healthy, but I gotta keep
it positive. I think they'll be a lot healthier, though, So there's
that. What's twenty six and five if you extrapolated over eighty two games?
Is that? Like, don't I don't know. Is that seventy and twelve?
Is that what? Let me say twenty six and five? Okay,
sure, it's definitely not. It's sixty nine. It's sixty nine wins.
Oh, what's up? We'll take it. No one last party thought,
though, I will say this, if fans feel like they were disappointing throughout
the season, it's perfectly justifiable. There was a lot of disappointing parts,
obviously, beyond just the twenty six and five there was everything after that was
pretty disappointing for the most part. But there was also a lot of cool
stuff that happened. I think we generally only think about the negative sometimes when
a season ends, but there's a lot of cool stuff that happened, and
I kind of just don't think it should all be brushed aside as like a
lost season because they didn't do anything else. I know it's hard, but
you also have to look at the bright side sometimes, even if you do
want to be negative. At times, it's tough to live in a world
where it's all or nothing. With your teams, you know it's either championship
or bust. And while I agree they had championship expectations and they came up
short, there's still have to be moments and highlights during the regular season,
and that's why you should celebrate those big victories here and there, because you
don't know who's gonna end up with the pot of goal at the end of
the rainbow with this team, with any team, you go into a season
and you say, you know what, I'm betting against all thirty NBA teams
to win the championship, You're only gonna be wrong once one time. You're
only gonna be wrong once. It's hard, man. The Denver Nuggets just
got bouncing around two. I mean yeah, and their best moment of the
season might have been a moment that I left a halftime by the way,
So let's just keep that in about it. I might have been the problem.
We'll end on that justin I might have been the problem. Russo thank
you for joining us. We'll see y'all next week. We hope you have
a great rest of you to night, and as always, let's go click