NBA Draft last night. Salty a Adam Austlin joins us. So plugged into
the NBA's sir, so plugged into the NBA. Okay, thanks Bank app
Shake that didn't know you little Yiddish in you today o mos for VTV.
Nothing wrong with that. Okay, there's a lot to get to. We'll
get to the Lakers and the Clippers picks. But for goo, those folks
that don't know you and Kevin host your own podcast. You have for years
a podcast podcast and spin off of PMS and R and R. Okay,
well shoots that trying and you know it is growing wildly. I mean people
actually listen to the podcast you do it so that shocks me. I don't
like the way you said. Actually, well, I'm saying I don't think
it is take time out of the day to listen to that. That's what
it sounds like to me. Know what I'm saying is this, you know
it's time. It's about time we get Fred on the podcast. It doesn't
it doesn't receive the promotion it should. That's what I'm saying. It should
be highly promoted because people love it. Did I did I handle that?
Okay? Yeah, you're right, Fred, you're promoted right now, Adam.
Yeah, because Rodney's been on once or twice. I think. Yes,
Rodney waited an hour after your show. We thought he was just going
to call on the car phone driving home. He waited to do it with
us in studio. Took a lot of time out of his day. Really
nicest man. Love but love baby, that's real. I didn't know that.
That's fake. He do. Put your head down and ran out of
the door as soon as we signed off. Well there's that, I mean,
christ Rodney would even come see me, guys. Wow, it was
a different time, Fred, It was a different timefent pre COVID. All
right, So you you actually recorded your podcast this morning, Adam, and
I think you found some information out there no one knows about. Well,
we had Howard beck On and Kevin astutely asked the most pertinent question regarding the
Clippers because you know I'm not asking it, and it was about Paul George
and whether or not he could still be traded. Obviously it didn't happen yesterday
when there were already rumors out there of him going to Portland for scoot and
here was Howard beck On. It Paul George I think is certainly available.
They're not trying to give them away, but they are trying to pivot,
and they do have a i think a franchise wide frustration with the way that
this era has gone. Those guys are making a lot of money. They're
both eligible to become free agents in a year from now if they don't get
extended. It's a precarious position they're in. And if you want to just
run it back and say, well, you know what, this will be
the year that we're going to stay healthy. Maybe they are the perpetual If
they stay healthy, they're a contender team. So maybe it's the year and
maybe you just decide to roll the dice on it. But it wouldn't surprise
me in the least given the contractual situations, given the expense of both of
those guys, it wouldn't surprise me if they decided, you know what,
let's commit to one and let's trade the other. And it's not a complete
reset and it's not a rebuild, but it's just kind of a pivot.
That wouldn't surprise me in the least. Howard AQ Sports and Locked on Podcast
Network, it makes sense to me Adam. Yeah, I don't think anyone
would be surprised if they tried to move on from one, or maybe they
blow the whole thing up. After what's gone on the last four years,
it's been very frustrating for Clipper nations. Some of them want them to run
it back and double down on the two one three era and hopefully you get
some good luck and some good fortune when it comes to health. Others want
to move on. But my question has always been this, like what are
you getting in return? Right, what's the solution, what's the plan and
what gets you closer to a championship? Is moving Paul George for Scoot and
Anthony Simons If Portland even wanted to do that or entertain that because they want
to bolster the last few years they have with Damian Lillard. When it comes
to contending for a championship. Does that make you better today? Does that
get you closer to winning if you're the Clippers bringing in young guys like that
to surround Kawhi Leonard, I don't know if it does. I think Paul
George has somewhat become underrated because well he's out of sight, out of mind
at times. He wasn't there the last two years where they were in the
postseason. He missed the last game two years ago when they missed Kawhi all
season long where he was out with COVID in the play and Tournament against the
Pelicans, and then last season obviously he went down with what we thought was
a much more devastating knee injury. He missed the last two months or whatever
it was of the season. He doesn't get to go against the Phoenix Suns.
But in twenty twenty one, when Kawhi Leonard went down in that series
against the Utah Jazz, he led them to the Western Conference Finals for the
first time in franchise history and put the team on his back when they said,
oh here we go playoff pe it's gonna fall apart. He doesn't have
Kauai, and he put up forty against Utah and forty again against the Phoenix
Suns in must win situations. So it's not an easy decision by any stretch
of the imagination whether or not you should move on from Paul George, who
went right, went healthy, gives you a great number two next to Kauai.
But here's the way I look at it. Adam if you're going to
move on from one of them, you might get something more for Paul George
because Kawai may never play. At least Paul George might play. I mean
Kawhi just had a meniscus fixed again. Good lord? Yeah, every sad,
right leg every time you turn around. So I think if the Clippers
are going to do something, he'd be the only guy that they couldn't move.
Who's gonna trade for Kauai? Give you anything? And it makes sense
from Portland's standpoint if they want to go all in with Damian Lillard to bring
in a small forward like that that plays both ends of the court, because
defensively is where they have struggled for so long. Offensively, Portland's been good
for a long time in the Damian Lillard era. So when that report came
out weeks ago that hey, they might be interested in a small forward,
people started to connect the dots. But it sounds like even with them taking
Scoot last night, they haven't talked with Dame recently about his future and whether
or not he wants to stay there and feels like they are building a contender
or if this is it. I'm under the belief that within the next couple
of weeks. Damian Lillard at some point is going to have to make that
decision and likely wants out. It looks like Kevin talked about this earlier too.
There's kind of a stalemate. They're playing chicken. Who wants to take
the pr hit in Portland between Damian Lillard in the front office, who wants
to say either we're moving on from Dame or Dame going coming out and saying,
look, it's time I have to leave because he's the most beloved Portland
trailblazer in the history of their friends, I think, and that's a situation.
I think Dame's got the upper hand because he's the one that's been outspoken
about staying there. He did stay there, he signed there, and then
what Portland did they draft a guy that looks like it's his replacement. So
now Dame's got oh, Okay, the writing's on the wall. I gotta
go, I gotta go. So that's yeah. I would look at it
as the fans with like, what are you doing, Portland? You ran
him out of town? Yeah, and they just don't want to take that
backlas. But Dame also doesn't want to look like he's disloyal all of a
sudden, because he's been the guy that doesn't want to run from the grind.
He's called out all other superstars in rap songs and in the media for
running from the grind, and he is my favorite non Clipper. By the
way, I love Damian Lillard. But I told you guys, coming into
this summer, I think there's gonna be four guys that are gonna end up
being available that are stars or borderline stars in this league. Zach Lavine,
Karl Anthony Towns, Damian Lillard, and Bradley Beale. One of them has
already been moved in Bradley Beale now with Phoenix. I think Damian Lillard at
some point this summer becomes available. I think if teams call and ask about
Karl Anthony Towns or Zach Lavine, they are gettable. They are attainable with
the right trade package. But if we're going back to the Clippers now and
talking about Paul George, it's just a tough decision because you can say,
well, we could bring in healthier guys, but are they as talented as
Paul George. Did they give you the ceiling that Paul George does When he's
right. And look, the team that just won the championship, the Denver
Nuggets had Jamal Murray coming off at ACL. He didn't miss one game in
the playoffs. Michael Porter's junior has had a chronic back injury coming out of
college. He didn't miss a game in the playoffs. You need a little
bit of luck. It all came together for them and they went on to
win it all. I think the Clippers and a lot of teams are saying,
look, we get the same good bill of hell finally and we might
be able to do the same thing absolutely. Adam, what do you think
the psyche is with Paul George and all these talks of him moving and gone
and didn't work in LA and we gotta move off with Paul George? Mentally?
How is that going to be? Is it taxing on him? You
think? I don't know because we're going off of reports and the front office
just came out yesterday and Lawrence Frank after their draft picks said, you know,
we're still building around these two guys. So they could be telling the
him, look, we're not moving on from you, and that could be
the truth and everything we're talking about his move right now doesn't mean anything.
It's just reports and people staying relevant in the me I don't know what's true
and what's not if you're reading tea leaves, if you're just trying to put
together a narrative based upon some of the particulars going on with the Portland Trailblazers,
and that Paul George was name was rumored with the New York Knicks too,
that maybe he is gettable and it makes a lot of sense. But
I don't know how he's feeling right now. We might find out on the
next podcast podcast Peak coming up next Monday. Just having your name in trade
rumors. But guys have dealt with this forever. There's two ways to go
about it. We saw this with the Lakers in twenty eleven. They thought
they had the trade for CP three. Pau Gasol and lamar Odin were both
out. The trade gets Knicks by David Stern. They both have to return.
Lamar Odin couldn't get couldn't get over it. He couldn't get over the
fact that they tried to trade him and eventually they had to move him on
to Dallas. Pal said, Okay, it's a business. I'm a pro
I'm gonna stay and make it work. And he was with the Lakers for
a up more seasons. So there's two different mindsets you can have as a
player when you're being dangled out There is trade bait and how you handle it.
All right, let's do Let's look at the draft real quick here for
both teams. We're on the Clippers. We'll start with the Clippers. Uh,
Kobe Brown, Jordan Miller. What do you think they got Kobe and
Jordan? What more could you ask for? I mean, that's the salty
white coming with it. I'm not the first to say they got a Kobe,
they got a Jordan. When you're a team in a win now situation
like the Clippers are, it makes sense to draft guys who spent four years
in college and are twenty three years of age. You would hope more seasoning
means they're more ready to make that leap to the next level sooner than later.
But I still don't anticipate them making a big impact right now because as
long as the two one three era is still going and they're not blowing things
up, it's be hard to get on the court. Brandon Boston hardly played
last season. You know there's a glood of wings they have and forwards and
guys who are just ahead of you in the pecking order. So as much
as we'd like to see okay, Kobe Brown shot forty six percent last season
with Miszoo from three, he's two fifty and six eight and they do have
a need at the four, I believe, But is he going to be
ready in time to contribute to a team that has championship aspirations? I don't
know. This is years down the line stuff when you're talking about teams that
aren't exactly rebuilding here in LA. All right, let's do Lakers, Jalen
Hood, Sfino and Maxwell Lewis. What do you think Safino? I know
they traded up to get him, so they must believe in him. And
look the Lakers and Rob Polinka for all the incoming he took before this past
trade deadline where everyone said he finally did right. They've drafted really well for
damn decade now, so I gotta think they have a lot of confidence and
the guy. But again it's the same situation. How much is he gonna
get on the court. Max Christy couldn't get on the court even when he
looked good at times this past season. With them just young players on a
veteran team and a win now mode, it's going to be difficult. But
I like the fact that they're both combo guys that could be tweeners at the
three or the four or the two, and their defensive oriented guys For the
Lakers. I like the fact that they went after these guys, didn't trade
the picks, and said, all right, let's get let's get organized here.
We can't keep trading everybody we have and bringing another guy. Let's start
building and putting a foundation together. I thought that was smart. Here's the
thing for me, though, I'm a bit of a draft dodger. You
could say I'm not big on the NBA draft because I've done the research and
I have a memory. I remember when Marcus Smart was being compared to Dwayne
Wade offensively, he could be that type of player. I remember when some
of these other guys and high draft picks, and who am I thinking of
right now? I mean, the Clippers have missed on a lot of guys
in the first round. But the point is ten years, one hundred picks
from the year two thousand and six to twenty sixteen one hundred picks in that
first ten picks, so the most sought after guys seventy percent of them,
over seventy percent didn't even become All Stars. There's bus every single year.
More bombas who I was thinking of. They were talking about him being maybe
another Anthony Davis. I don't think that's the case. On Draft night,
everybody gets talked about like they're going to be an All Star and a Hall
of Famer in the first thirty picks, and that's just unrealistic. So I
don't get too caught up in it. There's gonna be bus. Yeah.
I think when ban Yama is gonna be amazing. I think Scoot is gonna
be a lock, and Charlotte's gonna regret not taking him. But outside of
that, it's hard to say who these guys are gonna turn out to be.
You really think Charlotte's gonna regret it is not in a position to take
better fit over more talented play when you got Lamello has missed sixty games already
in her career. But LaMelo's a better shooter, he's bigger, and with
Brandon Miller, they played better with each other. I just stills work.
I'd rather if I'm a team and didn't they run that, didn't they have
c Jay McCollum there for all those years? They did. But if I'm
a team that is rebuilding, that is starting from the ground up, I'm
taking best player available position, be damned, because we don't know what our
future is going to look like anyways, and we're so young and we're gonna
win twenty games next season. I'd rather just try to figure it out with
the most talented player with the highest ceiling. I hear you. If that's
if it's a big discrepancy on Brandon Miller and Scoop, it might be,
just don't I don't think it is. I don't think you're looking at like
Webiniana and everybody else. Yeah, that's a big gap, right, I
don't think the gap with Miller two and three was that great that you,
Oh my god. We think the players a lot of people, madam flip
blop, like Brandon Miller shot thirty percent his last eight games in college and
was miserable in the tournament. I'm just saying. And he thinks Paul George
as the goat, which actually I do kind of like. But he's obviously
modeling his game after a guy that's similar to him at six nine. I
just at Michael Jordan has not had a lot of luck when it comes to
the draft. He hasn't, which tells you a lot about what it means
getting away from the game and how much stock you should put it in opinions
of former players. If the greatest player ever can't evaluate talent in Michael Jordan,
maybe we shouldn't put too much stock in who that guy is in the
front office. I don't know, Salty a Adam awesome. Have a great
weekend, and thank you for hanging all right. I don't love you,
guess all right, love you, Rogan and rosy La sports good stuff from
the Salty One today. Yeah, Salty always franks it baby,