What is krack alak in hardware knocks Listeners, I am Davia Valley coming at
you without my fantabulous co host Adam frommel We are going to continue plowing through
our NBA team look aheads, the Los Angeles Clippers have landed on our desk.
Next, we have brought on Sabrina Merchant, hoops aficionado for sp Nation.
Covers all of basketball there as well as the Clippers specifically, but talks
about hoops at large WMBA. She has covered a MBA at large also the
Lakers too. She's the co host of the Step Through podcast as well.
Go check that out on YouTube. It's a great watch. Slash Listen caught
a few of their episodes and they've done a great job covering the NBA w
NBA there too, so I had a great conversation with her. As usual,
she's a recurring guest, no stranger around these parts. Before we dive
in, just the usual reminders, please the usual begging. However you want
to frame it, please rate, review, and subscribe to us wherever you
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your podcasts and downloading every episode. We are pleasantly sub mediocre, as I
like to remind our incumbent listeners before every team look ahead. With all that
now out of the way, though, let's get to the Los Angeles Clippers,
their immediate trajectory, their long term outlook with espionation and the step throughs.
Sabrina Merchant Sabrina thank you so much for coming back on the Hardwood Knox
podcast to talk with me about the Clippers. First and foremost, though,
how are you doing? Do great? You know NBA seasons upon us starting
new playoffs right here, it's it's a very good time to be basketball fan.
Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot to watch right now.
The w NBA playoffs are far more entertaining than the I'm already at the point
where like I can't deal with NBA training camp coverage, NBA training camp and
preseason. It just exhausts me, Like I just can't bring my media days
fine, and there's obviously other stuff going on this year, but I can't
deal with it, like, oh, this is what they're running in practice,
and then I just NBA preseason. I barely can watch anymore. I
don't know how you feel about that, but I just it's like suffering through
something for me. You know, I'm just generally happy to see these teams
in action for the first time, and when you get healthy players, I'm
willing to watch. So even if it's preseason, let's do it. You're
a far more positive person than I am, so kudos to you. Let's
start with Kauai. I found his media day comments like uncharacteristically candid. When
he was talking about why he signed a long term deal, i'd I was,
like, Kawai said that, and I know, there's the it seems
like the new thing might be signed the three plus one and then just extend
after two years. But the fact that he said that he signed the three
plus one so that he would give himself the option of returning this year,
should we now expect him to return this year or should the expectations still be
Kawai's not playing this season. I would say the expectation is still for him
not to return, but it's nice that he left the door open for the
possibility of a return. And then, like he said that, the whole
short term deal appears to be going out of vogue a little bit, Like
you can always just sign a longer deal and then demand a trade or sign
an extension, and there's just there's a lot of flexibility within the long term
deals just based on this star empowerment that probably didn't exist before. So yeah,
maybe he thought that like a one in one plus another five year extension
was like the best way of optimizing the money. But like he can just
tack on a four year extension two years into this deal and he'll be just
rolling in it, right, So I think he's fine either way. And
then if he wants to trade, as Ben Simmons is proving, he can
try and demand one with four years left on his contract, so exactly.
And do you think it helps though? So he did say that he'll be
there for the long term unless something catastrophic happens, basically, but having him
sort of on a longer term deal where you can as a team have him
under control for at least three years, do you think that helps them like
sort of move forward where maybe they're more inclined to take risks or bigger swings
if they arise, or just easier to flesh out a vision for this team
because you don't have the specter of an imminent Kawhi Leonard free agency looming over
you. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean I think you saw this in Cleveland,
where like just the consistent Lebron James free agency every summer made it just
put a lot of pressure on the Cavalier's front office to constantly do things that
may not have been the best idea and their long term interest. But having
not only Kawhi locked in for these three plus one. Paul George is on
a four year extension, Marcus Morris is on you know, three years left
of his contract. They just signed their slate of rookies to three year deals,
Luca Nard is on a four year deal like basically, and then I
guess the only notable free agent coming up is Terrence Man. But like everybody
who's super important to this team is on multi year deals at the moment,
So there isn't a lot of like urgency to do something stupid in the moment
just to like appease Kawhi, Like I mean to that, I point you
to the Rashon Rondo trade a year ago because Kawhi Leonard said they needed a
playmaker and someone with smarter basketball like you, and it didn't quite work out.
So there's there's less pressure to do something in the moment. You know,
they can evaluate their options more thoroughly, and I just think it's a
more comfortable situation with everyone around that, like, there isn't this specter of
free agency floating over everyone that like the media is talking about, because that
is something that Kawhi Leonard mentioned in his supremely transparent press conference was that he
didn't want to create another storyline for they needed to talk about if he were
to become a free agent. So I think it's just better business for everyone
that he's he's stuck. You know, everybody else is firmly planted their roots
in Los Angeles, and it's just one last thing to talk about. Still
floored by the transparency he showed in that answer. The logic totally makes sense
on his part, but still floored by it. What did you think of
the Eric Bledsoe trade for this team? He's obviously not Sterling Brown, since
I'm obligated to mention Sterling Brown and everything right either, but what did you
think about that trade for them? I thought it was an admission that they
were just never certain about Patch Beverly's health during the regular season and just even
during the postseason, as was demonstrated during the twenty twenty bubble when he was
unavailable for the first round in the playoffs. I also think, so this
is something that like I've never actually gotten like confirmed, but it does appear
to me that they just tried to completely flesh out everyone who existed before Kawhi
Leonard and Paul George arrived and at this point the senior Clipper resiviutes Zubachi,
is the only one who predates Kawai and Paul George. And that was like
by three months, you know, a trade deadline before the other two got
there. Just Mike Mascal a layer legend right Anyways, I think Michael Beasley
was involved there too. It's helping, but it definitely seems like there was
a concerted effort to shift the culture, you know, once Kawai and Pagi
got there and reframe the entire organization in their image, and that meant clearing
out everybody who was there before them. And there was obviously a really uneasy
marriage between the old and the New Guards in twenty nineteen twenty when those two
superstars came in, and the Clippers answer to that was, okay, let's
just, you know, get rid of the old Guard entirely. And it's
tricky to do with a guy like Patrick Beverley, who fit better with Kawai
and Pig than the rest of the other guys, you know, like Lou
Williams and Montrese Harold notably, but when you know he's coming off of when
he missed a substantial amount of time again, you know, because of just
repeated injuries, and he ended the season on a kind of sour note by
pushing Chris Baul on the back and getting suspended to start the regular season.
Makes it a little bit easier to wash that away when you're dealing with that
part of patri Revally. I'm not convinced that Ark breth Ledsoe is a better
player than Pat beev on either end of the four really, but I do
know that he is substantially more durable. You can count on him to play
seventy five plus games during the regular season and as far as an eighty two
game player. He showed in Milwaukee that he is capable of being a really
productive player during those regular season minutes. I mean there was one season where
I thought he was like pushing All Star consideration and just gave to Chris Middleton
because you know, reputation whatever. But the Clippers are more of a regular
season team this year, right, Like without Kawhi Leonard, their playoff upside
is far more limited. So it's almost a signal that, like, hey,
the regular season, it's really important to us. We need somebody who's
going to be around to play all of these games, like they don't really
have another point guard on the roster. So I think it was just more
of an admission of durability because I mean, Letzo can't shoot. That's really
important for a TAILU team. Maybe they think that his shooting will take a
step up because of all of the space that is afforded within this offense,
like that did not exist in New Orleans or Milwaukee. I hesitate to even
use any of his New Orleans experience because he was just so not interested in
that situation from the moment he got there. I mean, I think about
that quote for them. I think about that quote of like when he fouled
New York when they were up three and was just like, yeah, I
wasn't listening during the time out. I totally spaced on the tailand score situation.
It's like, well, that's not going to fly with the Clippers.
But I assume that he's going to be more invested in the situation from the
get go. You know, he's an og Clipper, He's got a lot
of friends on the team. Him and Marcus Morris were just lovingly talking about
each other after having played together and Phoenix back in the day. So yeah,
I just think it's like they need a guy who's gonna be there.
They trust their player development to fix players jump shots. Like they had six
rotation players shoot forty percent or more from three point rangel last somehow, and
that was not even players. So that's six rotation players plus Rondo and Boogie,
who I'm not counting as Rotesian players. And then Kawai and Pat Bev
were like thirty nine point seven and thirty nine point eight. So that's the
situation from their three point percentage. I think they have a lot of faith
that Lesso's numbers will go up in that system. And then defensively, like
I think he's about as good as Petev. I mean, Pat obviously has
a sterling reputation of being mister ninety four feet getting people's faces. I thought
he was tremendous on Devin Booker in that Western Commerce finals. I thought he
was pretty good on Donovan Mitchell as well in the series before that. But
the consistency, you know, it's just not always there with Pat, and
I think you get more of that with Whatso. So that's my very long
winded answer of saying like they need to get rid of Pat. They got
a pretty suitable replacement who should be healthy for the majority of the season,
knock on with and maybe with more space he'll be like he was very efficient
driver at points in Milwaukee and so just to have more room in La I'm
sure I'll help him. It does sound like he's going to start though over
man Or, but Tom And I'm just curious as to your thoughts on that.
I know it doesn't necessarily matter who starts, but it does sort of
affect like how they stagger minutes because they don't have them like a true and
air posts is not a true point guard, but like they don't have any
zemblance of a floor general coming off the bench then for them, right and
this has been just like a time honored tradition for us talking about the Clippers,
right is who is their point guard, who's the point lead, voluntle
or duties And it's something that's just been in the ze guist about the Clippers
for the last three years or so. Yeah, Tyler said that he was
going to start alongside Reggie Jackson, Paul George, Marcus Morris and Soupbach.
Ty has done a very good job of staggering Kawai and Paul George, you
know, when the two of them were playing together, And so I imagine
he's going to do an equally good job of staggering those lead ball handlers of
like Eric Reggie Jackson and Paul George, making sure that one or two of
them is on the court at all times. So I think the fact that
they're starting doesn't mean that, like, oh hey, Luke Kenard is our
backup point guard and he's going to have all of the responsibilities in the second
unit. I'm pretty sure you know, some of those guys are going to
be on the court for the entire forty eight minutes. I think part of
him starting is one to like maintain that defense and integrity. Two, we
mentioned that he did not seem supremely invested in New Orleans. A good way
to get a guy to buy in make him a starter, Right, That's
a good point. And lou famously like had these ten games shifts last season
where he would reevaluate his rotation. I would assume that this one is going
to get like a ten game shift, right. I don't think that this
is going to be the starting line up for the remainder of the season.
You mentioned A two, You mentioned Terrence Fan, both of whom have really
interesting cases to start. I don't think that this is like the starting line
up we should pencil in for Game eighty one of the regular season, but
I would expect it to get like those first ten games. Whatever I'm doing
these look ahead outlines, I always have to go back because I realize I
never ask anything about the star players because I just don't have like strong thoughts
on them. So you can probably tell this was a throw in Paul George's
topic when you looked at it. Kauai is going to be out for let's
say, most of the year. Paul George's MVP os or thirty six to
one at the moment. Is that something that should interest people? Is it
what needs to happen with him? Or is this h if the Clippers are
just better than expected with how Kauai he might organically have that we'll call it
the narrative nudge to enter that conversation. So MVPs usually come from top three
seats. Right, We're basically looking at Russell Westbrook as the loan exception in
the last fifteen twenty years, and that was because he averaged a triple double
back before it was cool, I guess. So. I think your hope
of Paul George being an MVP relies on the Clippers finishing pretty high in the
standings, And as much as I like the pieces on this team, I
don't think that's going to happen. I know that the West is got a
lot more parody and probably a lot less top end talent than in years past.
Like you could tell me that the Clippers were better than the Mavericks and
the Nuggets and the Blazers and the regular season, I wouldn't bat and eye,
but if they fell behind all three of them, I also don't think
that's unreasonable either. So I do think that there's kind of a top three
of like that Phoenix Utah Lakers trio, especially during the regular season, you
know, when Utahs so deep and has just figured it out. So it's
hard for me to see the Clippers jumping high en up in the standings for
Paul George to get that MVP buys. But as for George himself, I
just think his efficiency is going to take something of a hit playing without Kawhi
Leonard the I mean, it's Paul George like just has the smoothest looking jump
shot in the world, and when it's flowing like he he looks unguardable,
like he looks just like a diet version of Kevin Durant. And you know,
obviously this is not the case on a regular basis. You know,
you see it during the playoffs when he has just these wild swings of shooting,
you know, about fifty percent and then below twenty five percent on occasion.
Like it's you never know which version of Paul George you're going to get
on any given day. So I think that efficiency, that consistency is going
to be hard to maintain over the course of eighty two games, especially if
the Clippers lean with these more defensive lineups like Zoobatch starting at center. Like
during the Conference finals. You know, I thought Paul George had a really
hard time scoring against Phoenix, And it wasn't because Phoenix was doing a good
job of guarding him. Was just he had a hard time getting his drive
game going with zoo Watch camped out in Dunger spot. So I guess it
depends, like how much the Clippers play big versus small, you know,
to see how well Paul George is able to function offensively. I just think
that his numbers aren't going to look as spectacular as you would want from an
MVP candidate, even though he's I could see him having like a really valuable,
like second team well NBA season. I'm just not sure that that translates
to MVP discussion here your point. His usage jumped by eight percent without Kawhi
last year, and his affective field goal percentage dropped by three and a half
points, and it'll probably just get tougher this year if Eric Bletzo is playing
a lot of the minutes that like Patrick Beverley and better three point shooters were
logging last year. I could not believe that Nick Putum signed for the deal
that he did. They ended up paying Justice Winslow Moore, which is wild.
Even Reggie Jackson's deal was just like I thought he might get a longer
deal. Who are you more confident in sort of repeating this season that they
had last year between Jackson and the team. Definitely Reggie. His shooting has
been just really good ever since he got to the Clippers, even when he
was, you know, objectively terrible on defense and passing and all sorts of
other parts of his decision making when he first got to the Clippers, his
shot looks really good, and I think that's sustainable. He's just capable of
launching from wherever. And you know, the Clipper fans affectionately call in big
Government because he's always selling them out late in the shot back. So he's
got the goggles back, you know, for this season, even though he
proclaims to have twenty ten vision and no need for corrective eyewear. But it's
just part of the look of Reggie Jackson. Now I respect that. Yeah,
I think him being in that secondary option role is just a good fit
for him because you know, the best phone defender goes on Paul George and
then he's able to work off of, you know, the second tide action.
He's just I think in a more sustainable position. Like I don't see
any reason why he wouldn't continue to shoot forty percent on threes when he's shown
that track record for like the last two years. I mean, I don't
think that he's going to like shoot his wall on floaters as he did during
the postseason, but I think the jump shot is here to stay, and
that's such a big part of Reggie Jackson's game that it feels more sustainable,
and he's going to be starting, so he's going to have like the Bond's
hands a lot, He's going to be able to develop a rhythm. All
of that seems very plausible. Nick Batum, it's not gonna starting, first
of all, So the total minute thing is it's probably gonna be harder to
reply hate. Then again, I think my favorite stat from last year was
that Nick of just the entire ly was that Nick Batoum led the Clippers and
total minutes played. I mean, he wasn't projected to start last year either,
and then had to because Marcus Morris wasn't ready to go at the start
of the season. So you know, he will be that guy who has
to step in if there's any sort of injury within the starting five. I
just think that Nick Batoum is one of those guys who amplifies better players,
and it's going to be hard for him to go as hard as he did
during the playoffs for a full eighty two games season. Like I thought Nick
was great when he was starting, you know, for that first part of
the season up until I think March fifteenth, which is when they made the
switch to Morrison. Zoobach in the four or five. He just doesn't look
quite as good when he's playing next to like the Luke Canards and like Patrick
Patterson's of the world. He is very much like a ceiling razor or not
a floor razor. So I think having him in more second units is just
going to make him look a little bit less impressive, even though he's not
doing anything materially differently in his game. And I also think the Clippers are
just going to make it a point to load manage him because, like you
said, he did lead the Clippers and minutes last year. He was a
huge part of their postseason rotation. He was guarding Rudy Gobert for the majority
of that Utah Jazz series. He played the entirety of the Olympics, so
I think he was the leader on the French national team in minutes as well.
So it's been a lot of basketball for one Nick Bottom. And I
think that they're just a little concerned about overextending him again, so for the
regular season at least, I would imagine they give him a less intensive role.
Yeah, I think I agree with your pick. Also, just because
his season last years came so far out of left field after what happened in
like he was defending four positions consistently, and as you mentioned, like was
on some bigs and he might now the way the roster said, like,
is he the best passer on this team too? Like, I think so.
I think so. That's just wild to say, But I would have
more confidence in Reggie Jackson as well. I think I actually, this last
time I'm going to run it back here, is Terrence Man considered a core
piece of this team? And do you think he has it in him to
be better defensively than he was last season? Yeah, I think he's absolutely
a core piece. For one, they're just so proud of him as like
the second round success story. You know, the Clippers don't have a lot
of draft wins to point two in recent years. So just from a pride
like sort of ego perspective, I think the fact that Terrence Man has popped
is really just a good feeling for them, which you never never doubt the
ego in terms of running these teams. And then he was just so important
in terms of the playoffs. Right Like he steps in for Kawhi Leonard in
the starting line, it puts a third nine points in Game six of the
Conference semis to help the Clippers advanced to the first Conference Finals in franchise history.
Like those moments just you can't script him better than that. But I
think you're absolutely right to point to the defensive side of the wall, because
for all of the games that parents made offensively last year, like he shot
over forty percent from three point line with Dodo, everybody on the Clippers did,
still wasn't really being guarded there. Like he saw a lot of instances
of him being driving off of closeouts because like he just had so much for
him to work with when defenders are trying to cover that space. I think
he just needs to be stronger at defending the ball, and I've seen a
reason why he can't be because he has all of those physical tools, right,
Like he's a big wing. He's about six six, he's got good
size, good length, He's he's not the most latter, really quick,
but like he shouldn't be in the situation where he's getting beaten off the dribble
by his opponent. So I think that is really the side of the ball
that they're going to be focusing on more. He even talked about that today
at training camp, So, you know, lovely thing to pick on the
Clippers. Imagine we were running more like conventional bick and roll defenses during the
start of the season. We'll be going a lot less small over the course
of the regular season, so we'll have to figure out how to defend in
a non switching system. And again, I don't really see a reason why
he can't figure out those tendencies. It's not like he ver looks lost.
He just gives a little bit more effort on offense than he does on the
events. Like he's a tremendous offensive rebounder, not so much a defensive rebounder.
But that's just the kind of thing I think that young players pick up
on. Right, this is only year three for him in the league,
and I would expect if he's going to take another jump, it would come
on that side of the ball. Have they given any updates on how close
serge Ibaka is to returning from his back injury. Yeah, so he is
doing non contact drills during training camp. They expect to progress to five on
five pretty quickly for him, So I think the expectation is for him to
be ready, if not at the start of the regular Shas and then pretty
close to it. I know they have this third center battle going on in
training camp, like Harry Giles and Isaiah Heart and center both there. The
plan is for Serge Ibaka to take that role sooner than later, you know,
to be a backup center. So it's it's not the kind of thing
where we just don't know when he's coming back. It should be like by
November. I think, do you view Hartenstein or Giles is the better fit
for this team? I mean, Harry Giles has just been bad for most
of his NBA career, Like there's just no sugar coating it. I love
Harry Giles, you know, I went to Duke. I have very fond
memories of Harry Giles in the ACC tournament, but it's never really clicked for
him in the NBA. And I think out of a center, the thing
that you want most is defensively, and Giles has just really been a train
wreck on that end of the floor for his entire NBA career. So,
I mean, I don't really think it matters if they put in Giles or
Hartenstein, Like if that's the deciding factor, if the Clippers make the plane
or not, then like something else has gone wrong in this NBA season.
But I think Hartenstegin is probably the better player, Like he can actually shoot
from distance, and he has some idea of what's going on defensively, so
that's where I would lean. But I don't really think it's that big of
a deal. There's some nice passes in Cleveland last year too, and I
was a little bit surprised that he only got like a non guaranteed deal this
summer. But the big man market is always like unreadable to me. So
I guess when you sort of look at their center rotation though, so you
have zoobots, you have Abaka. But then like if your third big is
it's hard design or for Chiles or if Abaka miss is time. It does
feel like their lineup is still catered towards at times playing without true bigs.
And last year, per Queen the Glass, they played about five hundred and
thirty possession without a big on the floor. Would you expect that number to
be higher or lower this coming season? All right, so five hundred thirty
possessions, Like any idea, like what percentage of the Clippers possessions that is?
I'm having a hard time figuring out what that means. I mean,
that's a that's a fair question. I can probably look at that very quickly.
Let's see, so their total possessions last season that are in CTG as
it loads, and I'm just reading it very talking very slowly in hopes that
it loads quickly enough. They played sixty six hundred possessions. It's not like,
yeah, last time per tent all. Right, Yeah, I think
that would go up a little bit just because you know, they don't have
like a DeMarcus Cousins to soak up those big minutes. I think even Patrick
Patterson probably counts as a big in those situations. I did filter them out,
so yes, okay, yeah, so if if you know, Morris
Erba tumor Justice Winslow has to play the five in those situations, I think
that'll end up being a more common outcome for the Clippers this year than last,
if only because we saw during the playoffs as successful they are playing small
lineups. They didn't really have an opportunity to do at the start of the
regular season because they had so many injuries in their back court to start the
year, right, Like, you can't play small if your wings around healthy
but with you know, more man and just fewer bigs, I think it's
it's a natural outcome. I don't think they're like looking to do it beyond
crunch time. At the start of the year, like Marcus Morris had said
that he is fine playing the five, but he expects that that'll be a
card that they hold until the postseason, you know, not just putting it
out there all the time unless it's like within the last five minutes of the
game. So admittedly, if Ibacca has hurt or the third center thing doesn't
work out and they end up using that roster spot, I'm like, I'm
your coffee or something, then yeah, they're just going to have to play
without it big more often. But I still think that they would prefer to
use a true center during most of their regular season lineups. But it probably
helps that a lot of people for some reason considers you watched like this defensive
liability, and I don't think he's the uncertain matchup. Sure, but he's
just not like you watch him and he's fine. I might Is he better
defensively than Serge Ibacca at this point, I think so, yeah, better
room protectre. I think he can even switch a little bit. Admittedly,
since he was a matchup was very bad for him. Yeah, it might
be the best way to Yeah, with Kali out, or maybe even if
Kauai was healthy. Do you expect Justice Winslow to get a chance to play
a role with this team. Yeah? Absolutely. I mean it feels like
I've been three and a half years since I've seen like Winslow play any meaningfully
impactful basketball. By the way, I don't know how long it's actually did,
but I'm going to say the last game that I watched of Justice Winslow
was December of twenty eighteen when they come to play the Clippers and lay and
they had to like Miami only had eight healthy players, so Justice literally played
point guard and they had to zone for the entire game because they didn't have
enough healthy bodies to play man to man, and they ended up blowing the
Clippers side building, which is very strange. Night. Yeah, I think
he's really part of that top nine, top ten, depending on Ibak his
health. He has said that they're basically using him in every single position on
the court, whether that's backup one all the way to back up five.
Oh, which makes sense because he's not a shooter. So really, in
the Tayloo offense, like center is the only spody can function offensively, but
defensively, he is probably capable of guarding every position on the floor unless it's
like a true back to the basket post of center, which you are not
really going to encounter in most second units. So yeah, I think that
he'll probably just fill in wherever is needed. I imagine they think of him
as like a real transition weapon where he can rerun the ball and bring the
ball up on his own and set up the offense a bit faster than the
Clippers are wanted to do. And just because of like the general lack of
front court depth, I think he'll have to be used there in some capacity
because I'd rather have Justice onesI play center than Harry Chiles at this point,
regardless of how bad Justice's offense has been, and it's been it's been really
really bad, if only because like you have a little bit more confidence in
what he can bring defensive play. Okay, there was that one season he
shot okay from three without ever dribbling and having all the space in the world
to take those shots. That's what you need to point to. You know,
he'll have a lot of space on this team too, if I don't
know if they play him and Eric Bleszo together at any point that might test
their their three point expertise from last season. It doesn't sound like for any
some of the comments I saw that Jason Preston is going to be healthy at
all this year. Yeah, looking at the Clippers rookies, like, do
you have any thoughts and impressions of those guys and is there a chance that
this is weird? Because I would normally say there's no chance in hell that
either those guys get minutes with the big league club, But like with Kauai
out, I know the Clippers don't have their own draft pick. There's the
potential for like them not to be great, and so they kind of focus
on trying to give those guys some you know, NBA reps or do you
expect them to be very much like just out of sight, out of mind.
So I would say that the Clippers have like ten solid NBA rotation players
at this point, plus three rookies and then Kauhi. So it's hard to
get through eighty two games only playing ten players, right, You need a
little bit more depth than that. Even if on and keep the night you're
only playing a ten man rotation. I'm just if Paul has to sit or
Marcus has to sit, but two messes it like someone is going to have
to step in for them, and maybe that's the Giles Hartenstein spot. But
I would imagine that the rookies are going to get a look for Brandon Boston.
They're they're just very happy with his offense at this point. He's super
comfortable getting to his spot, scoring defensively train wreck, and that's to be
expected for rookie who was not even good in college. So I think it's
going to be harder for him to get on the court because they have such
little faith in him defensively. So he seems more like an Aguacaliente Clippers candidate
to me, where he'll have to figure out how to play, you know,
in the G League. First. Keian, I think has a little
bit more of an idea of what to do defensively. He's just so raw,
like his physical tools absolutely overwhelm you and he can jump out of the
gym, but he's just not polished enough and like any aspect of this game
so far, and I wonder if like they feel more comfortable going with Boston
just because like, oh, maybe we can just hide him on defense if
we're not switching, and like actually trust him to handle the ball on offense,
whereas with Keian, I'm not sure that he has one skill anywhere on
the court that you can point and be like, yeah, this is NBA
ready. So I think they will get some minutes, if only because,
like I said that, the Clippers don't exactly have a ton of depth,
even if like the has good quality. But I wouldn't like pencil any of
them for a rotation role on like every night. I thought Preston had the
best chance of that, and like you mentioned, it's not looking great for
his injury prognosis at the moment. This might tell you inform how Luconar was
viewed last year and the Clippers. I'm only asking about him after the rookies.
I do assume though, that based on them starting all three of like
their best ball handlers at this point, that Luconard will probably have a bigger
or tris at least more consistent role with this team going into the season.
Yeah, I think you can sort of analoze gies him to the way Lou
Williams was used by Tyler last year in that he's not closing games, you
know. And there's a big difference between how Lou was used in the Tyler
system versus the Doacer Verse system. So he's sort of like the first guard
off the bench, manages a second unit, but like also playing next to
another guy who has the ball in his hands a lot, like Lou was
playing with Paul George a lot. And I could see, you know,
Luke having to play next to Reggie or Paul George a lot as well in
the second unit. But they have a lot invested in him, right.
They gave him a four year extension before he even stepped on the court as
a Clipper, granted the fourth year of that as a team option, and
the money is not nearly as much as originally reported by his delightful agents at
CIA, so it's not as burdened some of a contract as one might seem.
But it's still a four year commitment and they want him to be good,
you know. I bring this up a lot like the third game of
the season, you know, Kawhi has just been smacked in the face by
Sergebacca. He's out with the stitches. They're playing a game against Dallas and
tylu starts Lukenardini says, yeah, Luke's going to be the guy I go
to when Kawhi or PG has to sit. And that lasted for all of
three weeks, Like it just didn't happen. Beyond that, that was the
plan. He wanted Kennard to be in that position, and it just didn't
work out. So they like him quite a bit. Like offensively, if
you watch him on a good days, it's so pretty right, Like he
has a really good command of the court. He's got that pretty little lefty
finished around the rim, he can shoot from wherever. He's a delightful shooter.
He can work out of thhow's pick and roll, Like He's got the
complete offensive skill set. It's just he doesn't have the confidence in his game
at this point, especially playing on a good team like the Clippers, as
opposed to the first three years of his career that he linguished in Detroit.
So it's funny. Taylu actually just mentioned today that like they have a number
of sets in the half court that are designed to get the ball to Luke,
Like they call him the Hunt Luke package. And he said, like
I had to take him out of the court on a scrimmage because he had
an open shot he didn't take it. So like this is what they're expecting
from Luke Nard, Like they are going to make him a priority in their
second unit of offense, but he has to be ready for it. And
evidently there's a shortly so it could there be like a baptism by fire thought
to that then where it's like, hey, we're gonna start Eric Blaze,
Paul George and Reggie Jackson to where yeah, stagger. I know starting doesn't
matter, but like now Luke Knard has to come off the bench, like
maybe it forces him he'll be playing at least certain stretches with this few secondary
ball handlers or primary ball handlers as possible that maybe it forces him to be
more aggressive. I mean what I would hope. I think Luke always tends
to look more comfortable the longer he has the ball in his hands, and
they wanted to make quick decsions, but I think he just needs more minutes.
So if he can get like extended stretches with the second unit and like
you said, being more of that lead guard with that group, I can
only imagine what help I just can't see him being worse than last year,
and even last year, like he was an effective offensive player. What is
and I'm sure we already talked about this, but what do you view as
the single biggest weakness of this team? So we kind of mentioned it,
just like passing, I don't think they have a ton of like good pick
and roll ball handlers like Luke can do it, you know, on a
second unit, but I don't really see him as a starting caliber pick and
roll player when the best defenses are geared up against him. Paul George has
gotten better as a pick and roll guy, but like it pales in comparison
to what Kawhi was doing for this team last year. And so much of
their driving kick game was you know, based on the fact that like Kawai
was drying help in the lane and then kicking the ball out or you know,
drawing help on the pick and roll and then like Zoo or Surge would
pass out of the short roll. So I worry that they're not gonna be
able to create as many open threes, which was such a big part of
their offense, without that offensive hub that Kawhi Leonard was. So I'm interested
to see like how their half court offense functions as a result. Like I
think Eric Buddz is really good at getting downhill. I think Justice Winslow is
very good at getting downhill. But I mean, is it going to create
the same amount of openings when they're driving versus like when Core Leonard was driving.
I think the answer is pretty clearly no. So just like the general
passing ability and then how that effects of driving kick game is what I'm interested
in seeing is that where you would expect the biggest drop off to come from
them is on offense. Without Kawhi. There they were ninth and points loud
per possession last year, and then fourth and point score posessions. There's obviously
more room from the drop off offensively, but Kawai's also even regular season Kahi
is still one of the best defenders alive in the NBA. So I think
it's probably fair to expect regression, perhaps at both ends. But would you
be more concerned about them, you know, matching up on offense than defense
at this point? You know, I think Tyler is more of an offensive
coach. And even in the games when Kawai and Pagi were out during the
regular season, they still had a system that worked pretty well. Granted that's
different when it's you know, an odd night off for Kauwhi versus an entire
season off for Kauai. So I still think they could be a top ten
offense, but like you said, that gives them more room to drop off
just because of the high baseline. I think they were the second best offense
in the league year for that too, So it's it's a strong offensive ecosystem
that's been developed in LA and I imagine it's still gonna be better than most
offenses, but yeah, you know, there's some room to fall off there,
Whereas defensively, I think Kawhi Leonard doesn't do as much defensively during the
regular season, but he's still there in reputation matters quite a bit. But
you still got Zubach, She's still got like the tomb And you know,
as I list this, I'm finding fewer and fewer defenders I actually like on
the Clippers roster, So maybe there is room to fall on defense. They
did find defensively in the minutes they played like thirteen hundred possessions without Kawai and
Patrick Beverley and then Paul George was on the court, and that's sample size.
They were really good defensively and they were not so good offensively, if
that's like any tell tale. But I do when you go through this roster,
though I don't look at it now and see all these like really great
a bunch of above average defenders. And it's not like Patrick Beverley would necessarily
have changed that either. Bloodso's probably if he's Milwaukee Bloods, so he's a
better defender than Patrick Becky. Right, Yeah, I think you're right about
that PG Zubosch combination. It's it's prettydamn good defensively, like as we saw
during that Conference finals against Phoenix before just like the water like came loose in
Game six, but it was hard for the Clippers to score with that lineup.
Like I mentioned earlier, Paul George had a hard time getting to the
rim with that configuration. But Sue was great defensively. And if Bloods can
just mimic what Beverly was doing, which I think is a reasonable expectation,
Like that's three above average defenders at those three positions, and then Morris is
fine, and Reggie Jackson like is suitable. I guess he was. Morris
is fine, Reggie Jackson is suitable. Well, you've got three above average,
So if you've got you know, fine and suitable next to that,
then I think we're good. There you go. This changes and will I'm
sure be based in part on how the season actually on furalls for them.
But as of right now, who would you view as the most likely player
to be trade did from this roster before the deadline? Yeah, you mentioned
that this question is coming up, and I still haven't come up with a
good answer. Who is most likely to be traded? Well, it's not
it's not Paul George, it's not Archie Jackson. I don't think. I
guess Bloodstow just because I'm not sure if he still fits have no chance.
We see like them getting scared of paying Terrence Man and trading Oh no,
no, no no, no. Worst comes stories. They get scared of
paying Terrence Man like they can just pick up his team option for the fourth
year, right, And if Steve Balmer is getting scared of paying someone like
that is a big, big problem. That's a really question. I just
don't see him trading like the Tune or Zoobach because of how cheap good fits
they are. I guess like Ibaka Bloodstoe Morris, like if they needed to
package something for like a star, you know, that's sort of the the
way it works. I couldn't come up with a good pick for them either.
I have with a question mark next, which is Luke Kennard because for
some reason, this like that's kind of if he has a good year and
that salary is like digestible, do you either trade him for an expiring contractor
does he help you get someone else who feels more of like a playmaking need
for you. I just wouldn't expect anything drastic from them this year, at
least until they know what's going on with Kauai. Obviously right, so this
is obviously matchup dependent a ton, but what do you think they're most used
slash most effective? Crunch time lineup will end up being so I think it's
going to be like the starters with but tum or Man in Bloodso's place,
or if they just go small then you could have Reggie pg Man but two
Morriss together. Is there a layers is there that seems like the most like
obvious one for them, But it also seems I don't want to matchup proof
like and would be like even if you're gonna have Zubox part of the closing
labe, it seems like they're pretty matchup proof when you're looking at closing games.
And maybe they, like you said earlier in the podcast, they can
always go to Morris at the five if they really want to. Yeah,
because you've got the zubatch, Like who can guard traditional centers. I mean,
he is just it's good enough to like play back to the basket against
eight and or whoever you know you put at the five, and then you've
got the Morse option if you need to spread a team out like they did
against Utah. They even did that during the regular season. Actually, it
wasn't just the thing that they bust out during the playoffs. When they played
Utah at full strength in February. That was what they did at the end
of the regular season game and it was just gangbusters. And then Ibaka's sort
of like a meet in the middle option where they anticipate him being able to
switch. I'm not sure if he can still do it, especially with his
recent BacT surgery, but at least it gives you a stretch option on offense,
which gives you sort of that compromise of like having a real center defender
ball also creating more space. On the other art, if you're a tailu,
what's a weirdo wonky lineup that you're throwing out just to see, just
to see what happens. So Giles Canard Winslow plus any two other guys.
You can figure out why I'm picking at but let's see. I kind of
just like the idea of five wings together. So like that closing line if
I mentioned, but like in place of Reggie, let's just throw Winslow and
see what happens. Yeah, like Winslow PG the tomb Man Morris, I
think would be just super fun because they're all six six to sixty eight,
and that's just like my dream ideal of basketball. I'm not sure if there's
enough playmaking there, though. I guess you can put the ball in like
manner the tombs hands and just feel comfortable with it so that Paul George just
have to do everything. But yeah, that's that's where I would go.
Just five wings, let's have some fun. So the lineup I came up
with his ears eerily similar and has even less playmaking because the only player that
was different it was instead of man I just have key On Johnson in there.
Let's really go five wings and see what happens. That's I'm a sucker
for that type of basketball. I actually don't think that lineup would end well
offensively, but I would watch it if you just have Winslow through Labs to
Johnson in transition, like, let's just more of that. Yeah, that's
fine too. That Look, there's the pathway that they're gonna be. That's
a top ten offensive lineup. So this may surprise you, but their win
total over under is not thirty six point five like I sent you in the
outline. It is, as we record this, forty five point five.
And would you, as of right now, you know, without knowing for
sure what's happening with Kauai, take the over under on that. I think
it's a really good line because I have the Clippers sort of pegged as like
a top ten offense, like ten eleven maybe, and also a top ten
defense. And I was looking at cleaning the glass and the teams that were
in like that ten eleven range last year one fifty seven percent of the games,
which is forty seven wins during the season. So I am just over
on that Clippers over under. I've been picking too many overs on these podcasts,
so I think I'm defaulting to the under here. Just Kawai gives me
the excuse to general optimism. Man, it's not such a bad thing.
So the other thing here too is I always listen, like, where do
you see them finishing in the West, But you could there's like seven or
eight teams, or if you told me they finished first or second in the
West, like I wouldn't be shocked. You tell me that the Clippers finished
like eighth or ninth at this point in the West, I also would not
be surprised. So they're like, you have a ballpark range for the Let's
say if Kawai doesn't play at all this year, it would be a realistic
position for them to target. I see them around like six seven. I
think if they can get out of the plane, you know, to that
sixth, it's probably a successful regular season. But I could also see them
jumping as high as fourth, you know, like hosting a first round series
is not out of the question unless we forget they finished for them in the
West for reverence last year, So I can you imagine they have the same
wins and also its first round playoff series with I mean like a different team
when you go through it. If you had to pick the teams that you
know are going to be better than the Clippers, I kind of stopped.
I went Jazz, Sons, Lakers, and then like I didn't feel comfortable
putting anyone else in that conversation. Obviously Denver I put there if we knew
what was happening with Jamal Murray and maybe MPJ is a star, But like,
there are only three, maybe four teams that you could definitively say,
and that might even be a stretch, like would you would you be shocked
if they were better than Phoenix this year? Like I probably wouldn't be wouldn't
starting the regular season, I would be shocked the next Yes, Yeah,
Chris Paul is just really good during the regular season. Has a way of
raising the floor of his teams. They figured out their backup center thing.
You know, I think Jamie McGee's gonna be fine there, So they figure
out their backup center thing. I think so I voiced squeaking because I don't
think they adequate backup center. He was a starting center for the number one
seen Lakers just two years ago. I think he'll be great. He doesn't
let them play small the way they were with Dario. But like, there's
there's enough like Thad Thad Young smoke to Phoenix that I'm thinking, Nay,
it picks that pretty easily. I really wanted Larry Dames Jr. To end
up there. It's clear that they probably wouldn't have had the juice to get
that, but ye have Sad Young's obvious they are. I'm making fun of
them, but they are my pick to come out of the West as of
right now? Or is there the way to change that? Deandret and said
some stuff It was the other day that was just weird where he was like,
now that I know to play the big man role that I don't like
playing three point shootings the next Frontiers. It was the weirdest thing. Maybe
he'll explain it, maybe it was out of context, but it made me
worried that, like, is he pissed he didn't get an extension yet?
Like, are we gonna see the kind of media day quote that would have
made the rounds had there not been like so much vaccination. It was.
It was legitimately bizarre. I had like I took up now, Yeah,
I'll link you to it in the DMS, which I'll find it. So
was there any one or anything about this team I did not ask you about?
And if, if you need, if you feel obligated to provide an
answer for the Toronto Raptors over under, you feel free to go with that
too. I haven't given much though to the Raptors. In truth, I
didn't even watch their summer league. I hear good things about Canada. Yeah,
I mean I haven't watching the Blue Jays. If that's any consolation for
the Canadian fans. Let's see. I think we talked about every when we
got some PG in there, Reggie Vatum. Marcus Morris shot forty seven percent
on threes last year. I believe he was second highest in the league behind
Joe Harris. I of the belief that Marcus Morris is in the downturn of
his career. I've heard some Kelly arguments that if he's healthy, he should
be like a potential second score for the Clippers. I am less convinced that
he is capable of doing that. Okay, I would like to see Marcus
Morris become a good rebounder that I think is a really important swing skill for
the Clippers. It feels like we have almost a decades of evidence that that's
probably not going to happen. Is there any reason why you think he's on
the downturn? Is it just what you saw from him last season? I
mean, I just were about the knees. You know, he didn't have
a procedure or anything during the off season, so it's not like anything was
corrected. He just got some rest after the playoffs. He said during media
day, which is the time when everyone is at their absolute most optimistic.
I'm not one hundred percent. No one is ever one hundred percent, So
I don't like to hear that. And seven is a lot of threes to
make. I don't think forty seven percent is a replicable number. You know,
we're on the wrong side of thirty here. I still have just hard
and fast rules about the aging car. Yeah. I look, if the
foundation of the argument is I don't think he's going to hit half of his
three pointers, that's like a very valid val extends to take at this point.
So can you tell our listeners where they can find you on social media
and follow your work? Yeah? Absolutely so. I covered the Clippers for
clips nation dot Com. I am on Twitter at Sabrina JM. And if
you're a w NBA fan, I do a YouTube show called The step Through
that is continuing through the playoffs, so you should check that. I reiterate
she's a Fantassic Follow follower at Sabrina j M at s A B R E
n A j M. Thank you as always Sabrina for coming on to talk
rous with me. I always enjoy it, and as you have to know
by now, I will be pastoring you again in the future, so thank
you. A