What is going on? Clippers fans, welcome to I guess bonus live hag
talking the fall potential fallout. I guess the old b huh, yes,
exactly. We're talking the potential fallout from this Dame Lillard trade as well as
the the Laurence Frank, I don't pretty chill press conference. Nothing super new.
I don't know. I'll take it. Yeah, no news, I
guess is good news, right. I think in a situation like this where
a lot of us didn't know there was going to be a press conference today,
just started to fear the worst with the way things have gone with injuries
in this team. But h yeah, it was all on the positive side.
But it's good to be in here. Chuck, I know you don't
have will today, but we'll manage Buzzy. We can still drop a few
nicknames here and there. I got my new Organs duck hat on. This
is Puddles. If he didn't know, that's not Donal anymore. Okay,
but everyone was worried about this, so it's good that you're clearing the air
on the new hat. They were they were concerned about Colorado. No concern
here, said, They went by forty and they did put Dion in his
place, even though I do like Dion Sanders a lot. But it was
a fun game about Saturday. You guys, listen to the last episode.
I was wearing the Yellow Ducks hat. We did just get word. I
invited Joseph to the live hang just Joseph Ranward, former Clippers beat person.
He's Fagnacy retired. He cannot make it. U shame, but he says,
please tell everyone if they don't trade for Drew, they're pathetic. So
we'll talk about that possibility. Do you want to talk to Lawrence Frank pressor
first? Or do you want to talk to Drew holiday stuff? Because there
was some good news and the Lawrence stuff, but you know some more interesting
I guess with the Drew stuff. Uh, all right, let's start with
Lauren because it's more Clippers central here. You saw it from Joey Lynn earlier
today. The press conference is going to go down. I was looking at
Tilmare Azarrely's feed as well. He Joey Lynn, law Murray were the guys
I was using for a reference point. But I know one of the first
things that was asked, of course, was about the health of Kawhi Leonard
and Paul George, and he said they are both fully healthy, which is,
thank god, great news heading into training camp. So at this point,
at least, it doesn't sound like there's going to be many restrictions on
them heading into training camps. So you can build up some of that chemistry
with a few of the new guys. Yeah, going to be there,
and maybe there'll be another guy who knows what could be happening in the next
seven days or so. I guess we only have a few days before Monday
and that media day and all that, but before the first preseason game,
which is on October eighth in Hawaii. So great news, feel great about
it. I didn't really you know, as you mentioned, when I saw
the press conference tweet, I was like, Okay, this could be catastrophic
or good. Yeah, there's some good stuff in there. You know.
I think Lawrence had the quote he said he's fully healthy, so I think
he's gonna attack everything. It's such a shame that he got injured at the
worst possible time. His last thirty five games, he was on an unbelievable
tear. Well, he didn't Game one, and then Game two was incredible.
He also mentioned that he dealt with three separate injuries last year, which
is brutal. Yeah, he's Kawhi has got to be fired up for the
season. Not a lot of talk about PG but you know, I think,
you know, he seems to be fully healthy as well. I think
the most interesting stuff, but I thought, was the comments on the power
forward rotation because there was a question about Marcus Morris. Lawrence Frank said,
Marcus Morris is gonna be ready for camp and is super excited. He then
Lawrence Frank was asked about Morris Betum in Covington. If you're a Clippers fan
watching the stream at four pm in the middle of the week, you probably
know that there's an issue with the Clippers power forward rotation. If you're new
to the team, get used to it. But the quote was interesting.
He said, of these three guys, there will be great competition. All
three are really good players, all three bring different things. Am I mistaken
and reading into this as there's an open there's still some who's going to play
the four? Or is that wishful thinking for the starting life? I think,
Okay, my guess on that is Lawrence is still leaving it up to
Toronto. Lou because he was also asked regarding and this was a question I
think from Joey Lynn of the possibility of Terrence Man starting next to Russ Kawai,
PG and Zoo. He said, that's more of a TLOO question.
He'll make the decisions that's best for the group. So I think overall it's
gonna shake out by whatever pecking order coach lou comes up with with the fourth
spot. But he also spoke, yeah, well, I don't know.
Is it based off of what happened at the end of last season? Is
this a reset? Does Marcus Morris look different than he did? Is he
healthier? I mean he also spoke to Obviously Marcus Morris was an attentative trade
for Malcolm Brogden. He's gonna be healthy now by training camp, which is
a little what the fuck? I guess was kind of my thought when I
saw that. Kind of sucks. We didn't get that trade through well,
they wanted to get the medical records and time was of the essence. Apparently
with Chris apsporzingis being moved too, so just couldn't pull it off in time.
But who knows. Do they circle back to that with the Boston Celtics.
At some point Lawrence Frank talked about how you know they're always trying to
improve the roster and make this team better, and I think law Murray spoke
to it recently on a one hour show he did. I forget the publication,
but it was on YouTube over the last month. But basically that the
group you see in training camp with a group you see in the preseason or
early in the season very likely won't be the group you see at the end
of the year with the Clippers. So they're constantly having roster turnover and looking
for ways at least to improve this team should the right guys become available to
them. So now we get this news earlier today with Drew Holiday, that
could change things. Who knows what Philly is thinking. I do want to
go back to what he said though about Kawhi Leonard and just how good he
was those last three months of the season, because I think it's been almost
understated or has flown under the radar, just because it gets buried underneath him
being injured again by Game two of the playoffs, are missing the rest of
the series. After Game two in the first round, he was incredible,
the run he was on may have been the best version of why Leonard we
have ever seen period over into the playoffs. And I'm not hearing you,
Chuck. I don't know why I just went on mute for you. Maybe
because you were taking a trick. But Kawhi Leonard basically after January seventh,
and that's when he started getting back to his regular minutes, and I want
to say it was thirty six per game from that point on, shooting splits
a fifty three percent from the field, forty seven percent from three, ninety
percent from the free throw lode, while getting towards points per game. I
don't think he has a three months stretch in his entire career, and we're
talking about top seventy five player ever that was that efficient before. So it
bears mentioning and repeating just how good Kawhi Leonard looked before the meniscus injury.
And yeah, of course you're going to have more concerns because it's the same
right knee, it's the same right leg. When you add in the quadraceps,
what happened with the San Antonio Spurs from back in at twenty four,
twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, somewhere in that range. So it's that same
right leg. And I'm still not hearing to Chuck, but but I could
read lips maybe at ro point. Because I've said this before, it's amazing
that Kauai keeps having these serious injuries, yet he's able to come back better
than ever. He comes back off the quadriceps with the Toronto Raptors, goes
through a huge playoff run, wins the championship. Then he comes back from
the ACL last year and looked fabulous the last three months once he got back
to his regular minutes and looked better than ever. He has become stronger and
a better player coming back from these injuries. But he just had another one
to the meniscus right leg, much more minor than obviously the ace el reconstructive
surgery. But you wonder, at the age of thirty two, when did
they start to add up, When do they start to take their toll?
And he loses a step instead of taking that step forward, which is what
we've been seeing recently with him when he comes back from an injury. Is
it just me not here in Chuck now? Yeah, you gotta fix it,
man. The people can hear me. We're hanging out a little bit,
you know, concerned with just the fact that he's had the same injuries
over and over to that right leg. Chuck, you want to take it
from here and I'll try to fix my settings. Now. That sounds great.
Thank you for hanging out with us here at Clippers Podcast on YouTube.
Thank you to the listeners for having my back and being able to hear me.
I appreciate that. Yeah, and I think I think Larres Franks said
something like he tried to he tries to control all the controllables and he just
had some misfortunes, which is exactly what happened. Kawhi is a control freak.
I mean not in a bad way. It's how he is with kind
of everything. And I'm happy we gotta start this season kind of in full
control. Right. He started one hundred percent healthy. Can you hear me
now? Can you scotch you? Okay? Great? And that works with
you. I can hear you now. He's so now we're starting in a
controlled environment, which is perfect. I'm excited to see training camp. We're
not gonna I don't think we're gonna see him play a bunch in the preseason
and stuff like that. But when we finally get to see them kind of
take the floor after how things we're going and then how they ended. It's
going to be a huge relief for Clippers fans heading this preseason. And minds
you, they dodged a bullet with Paul George. When that happened against okay
See and lou Dord, it looked devastating. It looked like what happened to
Nick Chubb recently with the Cleveland Browns. It looked that bad. He didn't
get taken off on a cart, but it looked like he was back all
the way back, and there was due to be some type of ligament damage
going on with Paul George. They absolutely you want to talk about Clippers bad
luck all the time, Well, they were fortunate that that wasn't some type
of career altering injury for Paul George when you thought he had one back in
fourteen with Team USA with the compound fracture, But he responded from that and
he was just playing his best basketball right before that happened. So there's the
unlucky side of it. But still the fact that we're talking about Paul George
playing in training camp and also being one hundred percent the night when that happened,
I thought the two one three era was over. I thought we were
looking at Paul George possibly out for all of this season. I'll have to
check my text from that night to see if he were melting down, but
I probably got some good ones in there. It's melting down. Post came
on a football stock a little bit. It looked awful, but he's had
for as much as he's had little injuries since the devastating twenty fourteen injury to
his right leg, he's kind of had some of that rubber bands, you
know, elasticity snap back minor injuries, but he's able to get back exactly
where he was, and even at the age of thirty three, he does
a three sixty dunk in a half court set in the lane against okayse for
that injury. His athleticism is still very much at where it was in Indiana.
We saw the side by side dunk that was from the twenty two twenty
or twenty one twenty two season, where you put it side by side against
his birdman dunk in the Eastern Conference finals from twenty thirteen where he dunked on
Chris Anderson. It looked exactly the same. It's incredible the way he's been
able, even through all the little injuries to still at peak form, be
able to get to that same level. So we saw there was the Slam
interview with PG. He was talking about being back on his bully, which
no one. I hate that we can't say back on his bully shit like
in the media because it sounds I like what PG is saying, but back
on his bully does not sound good. I thought Slam magazine would have allowed
it. Maybe not on the cover, right, but it's just it's anyway.
The Jabo's eighty four on the stream says, I want to see Kawhi
on his bully ish. I think Kauhai is going to come out and absolutely,
I mean he also needs to do this set the tone for the Clips
to open the season. Lawrence Frank talked about taking the regular season more seriously
today. He mentioned the Denver Nuggets as a team that did that. The
Denver Nuggets won games they were supposed to win, and they played well in
games they were supposed to win that they won. It wasn't some weird you
know we won by eight or something like that. It was a game where
it was a you know, concrete victories against lesser teams, which is what
the Clippers need to do. And I like what Jabo says here, but
I think it's gonna happen. I think Kawhi is going to come out and
set the league on fire to open the season and his Kauai way. I
think you're right because you know, with the way that slow ramp up process
went last season, Hugh didn't seem happy at all with coming off the bench
because when they talked about how that was over, he said, no,
when we killed that, Now we killed that. Had some influence on them
killing it. But you mentioned the Denver Nuggets there, and as good as
they were, we're talking about a team in the regular season that was the
number one seed that still only won fifty three games. The number one seed
won just fifty three games, and they started to shut things down and kind
of play around the last month and a half of the season when they knew
they pretty much had that one seed locked up. Now, part of that
was due to injuries and other teams not taking the regular season as serious.
The Grizzlies were behind them with fifty one, the Kings with forty eight,
who had pretty much outside Demontes Sabonis and that hand injury which he played through,
they didn't have to deal with many injuries at all last season. They
still only won forty eight games. So as much as we talked about the
Clippers only won forty four games, okay, yeah, but they were still
only what nine games behind the number one seed that went on to win it
all. So it's interesting just how teams prepare for the regular season and how
they attack it. But for the Clippers, coming off of the bad taste
in their mouth from last year and the ramp up process with Kauai, I
agree with you. I think he is going to hit the ground running hopefully
and just looking like the dominant player that we've seen, you know, at
the end of last season to start off next year. And I like what
you said. He's starting off like that is a stark contrast to what we've
seen because even when they brought him in originally from the Raptors in that twenty
nineteen off season, he dealt with an injury throughout the playoffs that he was
able to play through for Toronto and win that championship, and we knew in
the training camp then he wasn't going to be able to fully participate. Yeah,
I mean it was. It's an exciting kind of day, I guess
to get the confirmation he's fully healthy. I'm a little I was an up
and down presser. We haven't. We talked a little bit about the Morris
stuff, but no one really was sounding off on Twitter about the Marcus Morris
thing, which is interesting. I like that Lawrence Frank was like, he
understands it's a business. I'm like, well, he's seem pretty pissed off,
like earlier. If that happens at most places, usually there's some kind
of intervention by those up top. But I hope training camp school I have
no you know, I have no bad faith that training camp is going to
be messy with Marcus Morris there. I just hope every other Power Forward beats
him in the competition for what potentially might be an open starting spot. Well,
and the good thing is with Marcus, if he's there in training camp,
I don't think there's any issue with him in the roster. It's not
going to be quarrelsome or contentious with any of the players there. It's not
gonna mess with the locker room. If he has an issue with the front
office or the coaching staff. That's still different than having something with your teammates
that causes us Yeah, in the clubhouse or locker room in this case,
So yeah, I agree. He's also over the years. If you listen
to Marcus Morris, because they brought him in, he was do a big
contract. They paid him after the bubble season, and he for taking care
of him. Yeah. Sure, but he always said, like the Clippers
took care of me. They took care of me. So we'll see if
they still have that equity built up from what happened during that offseason then where
they kept their word and paid him his money after they made the mid season
acquisition in twenty twenty. It's gonna be interesting. Training camp has a lot
of battles. We've talked about this on the last episode, how Kobe Brown
might have some kind of shot at some minutes moving forward more than Musa was
his. Now my new goal for Kobe Brown. But I think the other
news today we have to talk about is the Dame Lillard trade. Drew Holliday
goes to the Blazers and they're trying to get rid of them per Woe.
So we had a small ad break, and then we're gonna talk about what
that means for the Clippers, how we feel about Drew Holiday possibly possibly I
might be on board with him. I think we got an ad break coming
up, and then coming back to talk about the Drew and Dame Millard stuff.
Welcome back in clips and dip a live edition here on YouTube because we
get the eighties point from Chuck there. But obviously news broke about three hours
ago. I was about to go to the gym, and it almost killed
my gym time. I was too excited about this NBA news Damian. I
just got on the treadmill so I could watch TV the entire time and hear
the punden's talk about the Milwaukee Bucks now acquiring Damian Lillard. So he doesn't
go to Miami, he doesn't go to Philly. He goes to Milwaukee,
where he's already had a relationship with Joannis Dennikopo. It's funny. I was
watching NBA TV or earlier and they played the All Star Game draft between Lebron
and Jannie Dennik Coopo, and who was Jannie's first pick? It was Damian
Lillard over from back in the day about wanting to help Jannis, like this
has been a long time coming. I think the only hesitation from Dame was
and the reason he wanted to go to Miami so bad was the Bucks have
won recently. He wants to be the missing piece in Miami. He wants
to feel like he was the guy that helped get them over the hump because
they were that close. Because he was always talking about not running from the
grind, taking the easy way out, using the cheek code or short cut
like Kevin Durant did with the Golden State Warriors, he didn't want to be
thrown into that. But it's obviously, well did he did he have to
sign off on it because I don't know what there's no trade clause situation.
I mean, there's no way that that organization. I don't think we talked
about equity, you know in the last segment. I don't think there's any
way he's not you know, let me know that he's cool with and they're
like a contender. So the other thing I saw was and Chris Haynes has
had a pipeline to Damian Lillard. They have a relationship. He was on
NBA TV talking about the entire summer as adamant and as staunchly opposed his Dame
and his agent were to go into anywhere else but the Miami Heat. Those
conversations with the Heat didn't go for at all with Portland. It sounded like
they did not have some with the trade well the Heat. It seemed like
the Heat were like, why doesn't he give him? Why don't the Blazers
honor Dame's wishes and give him to us for pennies on the dollar. It's
like, well, because they have no reason to you. They've already given
Dame a lot of pennies on the dollar for his contract. Like, this
isn't how this works. You're not sister teams. Like I always thought it
was a little bit in the wrong on Dame side, because if you take
the extension with that team, you don't get to have your cake and eat
it too, because he couldn't get that money anywhere else, right, So
you don't then get to get the extension and choose where they trade you.
At the same time, Portland has an obligation to do what's best best for
the organization, not what's best for Dame. Now he and his Asian they
gotta do what's best for him. So I understand it was going to be
uncomfortable, and it was at times, but ultimately I think both sides are
very happy with this. Portland overall, I think did very well speak I
did too. I think the Sun's got worse. Speaking of extensions, we
didn't talk about this in the last segment, but there was some talk about
the Kawai and PG extensions during the Lawrence Frank pressor. He basically said,
like, we're going to work with their people. We want to keep building
around Kwai and PG. Didn't feel like any of big update either way.
I think everyone kind of assumed that. I think some people assume that pg's
not going to get the MAX whereas Kawhi Mike, because there's a new thing
where you don't have to give someone the MAX extension. I mean that that
could be still, that's part of the negotiation process. You want to keep
a good relationship with his agents and stuff, and what you're saying, you're
not. Lawrence Frank is too smart to lift the curtain up and show them
anybody what's happening in the media behind the scenes with those negotiations. So that's
exactly what I would expect him to say, and I believe him that they
do want them to question is for what price? That's what it comes down
to. How many years? All right? Sorry, back to the Drew
thing, so per woes. Now that the Blazers have Drew Holiday, he
said, they're gonna remain engage elsewhere on talks and are expected to immediately engage
contending teams on trade talks to move Drew Holiday. Portland has committo its young
group of talented guards. YadA, YadA, YadA, where are we at
on Drew Holiday? Because I'm gonna be honest, I like this idea bringing
Drew Holiday in it puts It probably moves Russell Westbrook to the bench. He
played like ninety six percent of his minutes at the one last year. I
don't think they'd move him to the two because the shoot would be pretty rough
with Drew and Russ out there. I don't care how big of a Russ
fan you are or a Drew fan. That's the rough shooting at the one
and the two. But I mean the defense Drew Holiday. Paul George Kawhi,
Leonard Zobots, Adam Oslin, that's a lockdown five. No disrespect to
your on ball defense. But even you out there is a nice is a
pretty solid defensive lineup. Where are you out of and Drew thing? It's
a kind of a new fun possibility for Clippers fans. I've always loved I've
had an affinity for Drew Holiday, somebody who was injury prone early on in
his career with Philly and the Pelicans, and he's kind of put that stuff
behind him. He was an All Star last season for I believe the first
time, great locker room guy, great leader, will do anything to win,
while his offense at times has dipped in the playoffs efficiency wise, and
some people were comparison or comparing him and Bledsoe on what he did for the
Bucks offensively versus Drew Holiday. No comparison to what your Holiday does defensive right,
There's a reason one of them still plays for a contending team, is
going to go to another contending team well, And I think his offense often
has suffered because of the energy he expands on the defensive end and willing to
take on and guard somebody ninety four feet Patrick Beverly's style. We have to
show the sorry Robert flam two and three hoops Royalty is in the chat.
He said the newest Clippers Marcus Morris after a trrific offseason. Hello, Robert,
thank you for the you know, big shot, Bob Flom. Robert
Flom is the original Marcus Morris hater and he has everybody to know that he
is. And he's not wrong for the most part. We love you.
ROBERTA. Holiday is one of those guys that every team would love to have.
Now. His contract is large this season, but he has a player
option next year for thirty seven million dollars, and over the last year he's
talked about possibly retiring sooner than later. So I think there's actually a possibility
he would if he was seeking a retirement in the next two years, he
would just opt into the thirty seven million next year. I'm sure you would
shock. But he can help anybody because it doesn't matter what his role is,
he's going to excel in it. And he can be off ball,
he can be on ball. He fits in the crevices so well for your
team. He finds ways to contribute that just leads to winning basketball. And
it was not a fluke, and a lot of people thought at the time
the Bucks may have given up too much for him when they brought him in.
Obviously you go on to win the championship. It doesn't matter at that
point as he was a big contributor. Wasn't just Chris Middleton, Wasn't just
you, honest Dennik Coopo and Brook Lopez. Drew Holiday was his vital and
integral to that twenty twenty one Bucks Championship teams, and I love so Law
Murray had a great tweet to let me see if I can find a quick
he said, I'll say the obvious. Just about everything that made sense about
James Harden and the Clippers connection on off ball, positional size and versatility,
contract number, contract, year's respect from Star's hometown ties applies to Drew Holiday,
which is great. I think that's totally right. It's just James Harden
is obviously the bigger plus offensively. Drew Holiday for him is defensively. And
by the way, this would be another guy coming back home, come in
home. It would be Drew Holiday went to high school down here, played
at UCLA. They'd have him. They'd have kJ, Martin Kauhi, Paul
George, Norman, Powell Westbrook, all southern California guys playing for the Clippers.
Same though with James Harden if he came here, sure, I say
so. And now we're let's talk how the trades are maybe work. Eric,
we put in a trade machine idea that does work per the rules.
Of course, if it works per the rules, the other team has to
accept it. We all know that. He says, Adam Silver oversea all
trade machine moves. Do you think he'd be funny if Adam Silver's like,
get me the trade machine report. Every day he's said so, Mook and
Norm the salaries work for Drew, I don't. I don't see Portland doing
that. I'm assuming any trade for Drew to the Blazers is probably gonna involve
Terrence Man and is probably maybe they're gonna ask for a first round pick,
because if they like these young guards, they're not gonna trade for Marcus Morris.
Maybe they trade and then they waive them, but they're gonna want some
draft capital too, And will Updike, who is usually the third host he's
not here, pointed out the twenty thirty Clippers first round pick is a potentially,
how you want to pitch it, very valuable thing for these things.
What I've heard from Steve Bamber saying they don't ever want to have to reset
or do a trust the process type thing. He always wants to be competitive.
I understand that. I agree. I hope it's not really valuable.
I hope we trade it and then in three years can say, can you
believe we've fleeced them with the thirty sect or at the thirtieth pick in twenty
thirty? But where Yeah, Joseph I Award, who can't make the podcast,
said Terrence Nico and the twenty twenty eight for Drew Holiday. Are you
doing that? Probably? Yeah, I would be. I don't know.
That's tough Terrence being involved. I wonder how much interest there is in Kobe
Brown. Obviously, these front offices have had a relationship and have worked together
recently in bringing in Norman Pale and Robert coming to the Clippers last year.
But I think a first round pick it starts there. Otherwise it's just a
non starter and you can just end the conversation. They're gonna want one first
round pick, and I don't think you should have to give up more than
one to get Drew Holiday. Oh, I'm out if we're If it's two
first round picks, I'm like, yeah, let's see what happens with the
other guys. They only got one for Damian Lillard, so I think they
understand what the price tag is. Yeah, but they also are in this
great position. One of the reasons I think they did so well today is
getting Drew Holiday, that player that can be an X factor that you can
plug and play in so many different lineups for so many different teams, that
can help you get a little bit closer to a ring. It drives up
the price because teams are gonna be bidding against one another. I think that's
what really helps Portland in this case, because now there's more desperation out there.
Mammy Heat didn't end up getting Damian Lillard. The Philadelphia Sazers didn't get
Yeah, they've had a few rings and some good fortune in the last decade.
Come on, man, we have it. I gotta talk some shit.
I just I think the Portland Trailblazers did well because they're gonna be able
to dangle Drew Holiday out there as a bargaining chip and a lot of teams
are going to be in need of his services, not just the Clippers.
Now that could though, create a situation, where is that the easy fit
for Philly. Do they say, Okay, if we get Drew Holiday,
we're willing to give up James Hard and they probably still want something else.
Maybe they'd still want a first round pick, second round pick, a young
player too, because Drew Holiday is thirty two years of age. But I
would think after today's movement, there's a better chance that the Clippers have an
opportunity to get James Hard. Which do you want between those two? Yeah?
The different Yeah, that's why I'm asking you which one do Well?
I'm stalling because it's close, all right, Charles. I mean they do
do such different things because I've been thinking about that too ever since this trade.
It was like, do I want to lean in the defensive side of
this tree where we know, like you mentioned, it's a little more physically
taxing and things like that, but Drew Holiday can pick up some of that.
It's like, or do we want you know, this this distribution,
this point guard thing that we've been I don't know, frantically trying to find
through every possible avenue. And we talk about Terrence Man and how he could
be the sweetener and make any deal come to fruition, especially with Portland.
But he is twenty seven and he's gonna have to be paid after next season.
They may not want to deal with that. He may be tooled for
them. They're at on their timeline. Is he gonna be twenty seven in
about twenty three days, So for this season, he's gonna be playing at
the age of twenty seven. But the contract he's good this season. I
don't know if it's an opt out after next year, but it is a
situation where you're gonna have to make a decision on him. Sooner is not
going to get He won't get paid a bunch, you know, like Terrence
Mann isn't a guy he's it. Yeah, I mean twenty three, ten
and a half, twenty four, twenty five, he's locked in for eleven
point four. But remember they still have Jeremy Grant and he's one hundred and
sixty million dollar contract. I forgot about Jeremy Grant Manny, which is a
weird situation. He doesn't make sense on that team anymore. So I wonder
if either they start the season with him and they play it out and maybe
he gets off to a really hot start like he did his first year with
the Detroit Pistons. He balls out and they move him at the trade deadline
and get more for him after showing him off a little bit. So both
these trades don't have to be made right away. It sounds like, yes,
Drew Holiday, if the price is right, can be had right now,
And yes James Harden next week at media day, it's gonna be full
on the street. He's not going. He's not going to their media day.
He's at He threw a party where he was hey. He had bottle
girls holding up signs and said like Darryl Moorey's a liar. Someone else may
have paid for those. I don't know. I will say that I was
like, I don't want this shit on my team. I don't want the
possibility of this bullshit on the team. Here's what I'll say though, regarding
your question, Drew Holiday or James Harden. If it takes more to get
James Harden, which I think is likely, I think the better option is
your holiday. Whatever takes less, whatever gives you a better chance of not
having to give up Terrence Man to get that guy, I think is what
you want. But I would also say, if you get your holiday,
I think it means Bones Highland still has a bigger role on this team.
If you get James Harden, I think his role is diminished and maybe he
would be involved in the move. I don't know, but one of these
guys between him, kJ Martin, your guy, Kobe Brown, even Terrence
Man, I think somebody, at least one has to have a breakout type
of year for this Clippers team to contend at the highest level. It's Bones.
I think it's he gets the most playing time. With those guys,
it's got to be Bones. Bones needs to have whatever. The Bones breakout
year is probably finishing better at the rim and things like that. So yeah,
but with Harden, how much playing time would he get. I know
James Harden his injury prone as well and could be a guy who only plays
fifty games during the regular season, so you'd still need him in spots.
But yeah, I think if Drew Holliday is there because of his defensive acumen,
you still need Bones Highland to really show some growth this year. The
bench. The bench is nice if if Russ goes to the say Drew comes
and I think if Drew Holliday is a Clipper, at some point, Russ
goes to the bench. You're you're just not running those two guys at the
one and two. I really hope you're not. Then you got a bench
that's like this kind of insane, like he got Russ and Terrence together maybe,
which is something a lot of people want. You got kJ Martin out
there, you got bones like, you have these weird pieces, and I
mean weird in a good way. You have all these offensive pieces. Whatever
shakes out with the power forward position, they're probably gonna play kJ at the
three still. I mean, it's still the show that we need some some
power forward depth. But that's a fun bench. That's a bench that has
legs. Is the other important thing too for the Clippers, they could definitely
score and put up some points. I wonder how many teams they're stopping on
the other end, but a lot if Batum is not starting. And that
was one of the other things I was going to mention when he talked about
the competition and the power forward position. Well, Patuma isn't even want to
start. It's like he's taking himself out. Good point of the equidation,
right wants to play too. Yeah, you brought up a great point on
our last show that it wasn't just that, but Tom may feel that he's
stepping on somebody's toes. And I was kind of just speculating whether or not
he wanted Marcus Morris to start, and that's why he didn't want to be
too pushy about it. But you brought up how him next to Russell Westbrook
means you have to run more. Yeah, and that was a reason that
maybe he doesn't want to be in the starting lineup. Book wasn't fair.
If you're coming up the if you're with Bones, if you're with Terrence Man,
you're running. You're still like, yeah, there are many options in
this league anymore not to run. At that that quote, what you just
said there's not a lot of options to not run is getting me more nervous
about our power forward position because I love that these trade ideas are out there.
But now I'm like, we need a power forward who can run,
because I've been We talked about kJ Martin on the last episode and about how
he played, you know, like this weird split of his his positional minutes
in Houston the two years it was like really heavy power forward and then really
heavy small forward. It seems like his natural fit small forward so unless we're
gonna go kind of mega small on the bench, which I guess we have
seen. We've seen these three guard lineups and things like that, he's gonna
be playing the three. So now I guess I'm still just as worried about
the power forward depth, which law Murray ranked I think as like the second
worst in the league, which I totally agree with. It's a really rough
rotation right now. My hope is, and maybe it's wishful thinking, but
because of his extreme athleticism and pogo stick like legs, that he can play
up a position and be at the four. And you said he played it
almost seventy five percent of the time two years ago for the Houston Rockets.
It was only at thirteen percent I believe last year at the four position for
kJ Martin. But I think he's capable in the right lineups. And by
the way, Lawrence Frank also talked about, yes, Kauai could play up
guard up and be at the four position, that is something that's available.
Yeah, but offensively it's a little different. Eric Bleize as effort just start
kJ, we'll see. I don't know if that'll happen, but I think
that's actually a message from nineteen ninety one with the film's Phoenix. Now.
But you brought up that bench unit and just how many options you can have.
I think that's gonna be a running thread in here for a lot of
this season, just as much as there are more defined roles, maybe with
the starting lineup outside of the four position, the combinations coming off the bench.
I didn't even mention Norm when I brought up Bones and Terrence Man.
They have a legit six man candidate that might have won it last year if
he didn't miss so much time over Malcolm Brogden in Norman Powell, who is
turning into an unsung hero because I didn't bring him up with the guy average
was eighteen points. We're kind of forgetting Norm's tenure with the Clippers so far
as kind of like you're like, oh yeah, and then Norm can walk
into twenty. Just have this I don't know, forty point game in Game
three of the playoffs against the Suns when they had nobody else to go to.
Norm's a bucket. As the kids say nowadays, I've been a one
of talk and they got something to say, but comes out where Okay,
no, we're not doing eminem raps I forgot about on this podcast. If
you want to subscribe, I'll send you a dollar if you had down subcrip
because of that. Now, So okay, So now I feel like we're
in the same vein as last year. It's like we've got all these contributors.
I'm hoping training camp, we see some defined roles. We've kind of
already talked about, you know, choosing between Drew and Harden. I don't
think it's that easy. I'm on team Drew right now. I'm like,
let's make the play. Let's get really good at defense. Let's be this
weird because it's not like, you know, Drew Holiday comes. It's not
like our two way guys, you know, Kawai and PG are still elite
offensively. We still have guys like it's not like they're better defensively than they
are offensively. They're elite offensively. So that I think offsets. I'm saying,
bring Drew in and then maybe a younger power forward that would be great.
Your Holiday is basically a rich man's Terrence Man. He is a more
developed season Terrence Man. He's a billionaire's Terrence Man. The question is how
much has he lost? Because I know there have been murmurs that he's lost
a step here and there, but everyone I think his physicality is what sets
him apart. The way he guards guys in the posts, the way he
will hound them going up the court, that wears down their legs. Just
ask Paul George. I was just gonna say, if we hey, if
Drew Holiday is on the Clippers, Paul George can ball handle again because he
won't have to worry about him checking him at half court. Yeah, you
gotta strengthen your team and make somebody else have a weakness because you're taking away
a guy that they used to use against you. So I did. Like
you mentioned, Jeremy Grant. Is that someone who you'd maybe if the Clippers
don't make this play before you know the end of October? Is that timeline
a lot? Murray said, would you want to see the Clippers make a
play for Jeremy Grant? He gets paid a lot of money. Yeah,
it was twenty seven and a half this year, twenty nine point seven next
year, and even two and twenty five, twenty six, thirty four and
twenty six twenty seven, and then a player option for thirty six million.
The more that I run that down. If the CAP's going up every single
year, that's not the craziest thing. No, Timothy Albow, great point.
Grant can't be traded un till January, So this would be thank you,
Timothy. This would be much further down the road, which I personally
that feels a little Maybe we're in dire straits if we're making a giant swing
kind of near the trade deadline, or if you just strike out and you're
not able to get Drew four James Harden and you have to have that ABC
contingency plan just in case. And I'm sure with this front office they're looking
at everything. I like Jeremy Grant. I do. I've been a fan
of his. He had an incredible first two months as a Detroit Piston before
he started to tire out because he realized he was the only guy there they
needed from him. Yeah, I'm going to do the same. Before it
was like MVP level production for about a two month period from him. And
even just last season in his short stint with Portland, he ended up shooting
forty percent from three twenty one points per game. Like, this is somebody
who I do like as a third option, A lot. The question is
how much could he play at the four as opposed to being a small out
there, and he did play power forward at least he was listed as that.
But yeah, give me the percentage is, Chuck, how much do
you actually play there? I feel like such a dork because I will say
I'm not I'm not a deep basketball mind. I would say, but it
is fun to know where people play positions, so you know where to talk
about stuff. He played ninety four percent of his minutes at power forward last
year for the Blazers. Makepers in need of though, I mean, he
feel really need a power forward. He's right there. He passes my percentage
test, which is okay. Well, the funny part is, let's look
at all his percentages because it's not even really that close. The only thing
I worry about with him is like playmaking and being a connector. His assist
to turnover ratio like it was two point four to one point eight. No,
I know, but just you gotta trust him. Don't want a ball
stopper in there. Yeah that is true. We don't. We need the
connector, which is something that Kobe Brown is good at. So Jeremy Grant
the last here's the wow. Here's the last you know, six or seven
seasons of power forward percentages ninety nine percent in twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, eighty
three percent in twenty nineteen to twenty twenty, sixty eight percent for Detroit in
twenty twenty twenty one, and then ninety five and ninety four percent. The
man is a power for He's comfortable there, there's no issue. There's no
issue. You could slot him right in that. That's an interesting thought,
especially if they could get him Andrew had somehow. But maybe I'm just going
crazy. Man. I'll tell you what if the Clippers, the Clippers are
making a trade for Drew Holiday and Jeremy Grant, I don't know how I
feel about our chances going to the playoffs because that's a big ass shift roster
wise, very late in the season. Whatever. Yeah, that that January
deadline. I guess we can table the Jeremy Grant stuff because it's not a
possibility. Keep it in the back of your mind. Yeah, it's worth
we'll up to. Like a big, a big Jeremy Grant fan, is
he? I know he was a big Dame fan. How he was Did
you get a reaction from him today. I didn't see him say much in
the group chat regarding Dame being in Milwaukee now, not really. I think
we're all just excited that the sun's got worse. Because the sun's got worse,
right, let's talk about that. I think that's interesting. As good
as DeAndre Ayton, I don't. I mean, if you're from Sturbia,
maybe you think he is. But he's not as good as DeAndre Ayton vibes
wise, Yes, everything else involving basketball, No, I definitely think at
best they're marginally better, and it worse. It could be significant than what
the potential was at least with having DeAndre eight in there if he was willing
to play nice. Just look at how much nur Kitchen where his availability has
been at the last four seasons now eight games played in nineteen twenty, then
thirty seven games played, then fifty six, then fifty two. Like,
I know he's a good passer. I know he's a good locker room guy.
And I think they like him because he makes quick decisions and he's more
of a finisher and not a ball stopper like DeAndre eight, and wants to
be there, of course, and wants to win a championship, But I
think it's obviously a talent down grade. Could the fit be better, maybe,
But I was interested to see what Frank Vogel was going to do with
DeAndre Aiden, who was a big man whisperer. You know, Wasn't that
part of the point of bringing in Vogel to get the most out of DeAndre
Eighten next these other guys. But I understand it from the perspective of they
had four guys making thirty million dollars that you've already gone, So you just
go like you've already gone. All in Royce Smartin Sorry, race Marlin,
excuse me, says The interesting piece of Sun's got is Grayson Allen, who
I personally, man, I do not like watching him play basketball or the
things he does on the court, but he does. He does shoot forty
percent from three. You know, he's a grinder, he does the dirty
work. He's some good depth. Imagine how much we're gonna hate him in
a Son's uniform now that we have to see him regularly. I'm not gonna
hate him on the defensive end when they hunt him, just like I will
until he put takes a knee into someone else's knee tries to trip somebody.
Joe Angles light, Yes, I'd say he's maybe Joe Angles heavy, Ted
Cruise heavy. Kratos puts up a good call, like the team across and
like if you're the Suns, you're the centers in the West are very good.
You have two guys who are very good, especially like that they're that's
it, They're just not. I don't see it. I think they got
worse, which I'm very happy for the Clippers. The Blazers keep tanking and
getting your picks. Two teams got worse in the Western Conference, which is
always good for the Clippers. I did think for a second, you know,
it's just nice that somebody great is going to the East now and Damian
Lillard, because last time I checked, Kad just came to the West and
Kyrie just came to the West. The town was already lopside in favor of
the Western Conference, as it has been basically since Jordan retired. The second
time, it's going back almost twenty five years now Western Conference supremacy. Now,
I wanted to circle back and go back to something you asked me and
gets your opinion on this. Who do you want more between Drew Holiday and
James Harden for this Clippers team on the Drew train. If we don't have
to give up Terrence, Man, give me Drew Holiday. What did we
do do it? If we do, I still think I want Drew Holiday.
I might be looking I might be looking too much into the off court
stuff. I want. We have a team. Imagine if this team had
personalities that acted like James Hardknacks when they're when things aren't going well. Shit
would be so much worse for this Clippers team if we had that kind of
thing, you know what I mean? They haven't had a locker room issues
for the most part, Treads side of what was said in the bubble and
right, but the bubble, it was like that's a whole, it's its
own things. It hasn't been a real issue since the Lobsody era. No,
and maybe the Tread stuff when he was just yelling at as in the
locker room at one time, dude, No Tolmyre was the guy who was
there who was just getting those great Treads quotes after they lost by like what
when they were getting booed by the fans, and like Tres when on that
diet tribe, Toma was just like in the locker rooms. All right,
so shout out till Maya. But no, I don't want things are already
so difficult. We don't need a guy who parties a ship ton. And
I know I might sound like an old man. He's very good at basketball.
I'm not discrediting that part. But Drew brings Drew as Jessice Wood is
just as good at what Drew does as what James Harden does. For James
Harden, you know what I'm saying. But without the partying and all this
potential nightmarish bullshit, Drew Holiday also has it. We think there's at least
a fifty percent chance that he stays with the team after this season. James
Harden is a free agent unrestricted. I want no part of that. I
want no part of trying to court James Harden, because James Harden is something's
gonna enjoy free agency, right like he obviously likes to be wined and dines
and all this stuff. Like give me the guy who already knows very well
how to play with one superstar and let him do his thing and sacrifice maybe
some other stuff to win a championship, who might also be on the team
has a greater chance of being on the team at least one more year.
And if we don't have to give up Terrence Man, which I understand might
be a bit of a stretch, a fantastic mentor for the old Terrence now
old Terrence Man. Or we just say fuck it and get a power forward,
which sure, let's see that. So I think I'm on team Drew
my just biggest concern, and I love Drew Holiday too. It's not really
about Drew. It's just whether or not you have to give up Terrance Man.
And either of these moves is it puts even more pressure on you to
have to get it done this year, because this really could be it.
Oh, the pressure's already. I'm like, the pressure's already, just like
ten out of ten. Right, we're in contract years for our two stars
that we traded a bunch of stuff for. We're already there. What's more
pressure? Well, but I'm saying you have so little to fall back on
if you lose Terrence Man in the future, who is five years younger than
Drew Holiday. That's tough. Ya Okay, yeah, okay, yeah yeah,
but again, counterpoint, Kobe Brown, I'm just kidding. You may
lose him two in the movie. I don't want to have to bring that
up. Or Brandon Boston. We'd probably lose Brandon Boston. One of the
best series, the best series of his career, and I thought it was
eye opening at the time from Drew Holiday was first round twenty eighteen against the
Portland Trailblazers. Guess who he wrecked in that series, Damian Lillard. I
know that was twenty eighteen, it's five years ago. But he averaged twenty
eight points per game in that series on fifty seven percent shooting Drew Holiday did.
It was incredible. And the way that they just disrupted Portland's offense like
it was nothing. It was actually him and Brondo. So imagine we get
like the disruption ability that word is so great for what Drew can help this
Clippers team do we can disrupt other people's offense, like in the half court
when things slow down. The playoffs, Drew Holiday PG and Kauai good fucking
luck, good luck against that one, two, three, whoever's at the
four and then zoo out there. That's a nice playoff lineup. And does
getting Drew Holiday really solidify more of an identity with this team than getting James
Hardy. Yes, I didn't even think of that, but yes, it
fully does. This is like hard knows we're gonna play defense, We're gonna
take this ship. Seriously, when you think take the season seriously, do
you think of James Harden? I mean, he's been prettydamned good in the
regular season. I'm not saying he hasn't been good or bad. But when
you think of take the regular season seriously, well do you think of James?
Is it James Harden or Drew Holiday that I don't think it first.
I don't think it was Drew Holiday is certainly there's there's an US. Yeah,
there's a different approach. It seems not to say that I wouldn't be
going to a bunch of crazy strip clubs if I were a millionaire playing basketball,
But I would also understand if people wanted the person who didn't do those
things to be on their team. And Drew's three point shooting has really improved
over just the last three seasons with Milwaukee. He's been shooting about on average
in those three seasons a little overt So this is somebody that can help stretch
the floor while just being the point of attack defender and taking up that challenge
on the other end and taking some of that responsibility off of Kauai and Paul
George a little bit, and Russ like who They both make the game easier
in different ways. James Harden and Drew Holiday. Holiday obviously is not the
playmaker that James Harden is, but James Harden is isn't close to the defender
that Drew Holiday is, So it's it's I think both guys can really help
the team in different ways. It's not an easy decision. I guess I'd
probably lean Drew Holiday just because I think you would have to give up Less.
You may still have to give up Terrence, but overall you're going to
have to give up Less. Yeah, this was a good point. Jeremy
Mormon crazy last name, asked, does James Arden take the home down discount?
I don't think after what happened taking a discount in Philly, he takes
another discount. He fumbled the bag with Brooklyn. He had one hundred and
sixty million dollars on the table and he didn't take it. And I would
do the same if I were him. If I'd fucked up one contract already,
it was my last year for what it's his last big ish contract.
He's not taking a discount. He likes money. It depends on how the
season goes. Nobody thought. I think it was pretty unanimous that Russ was
likely leaving and not going to take three point eight million dollars, and yet
he did. So who knows. It all depends how the season goes.
He's back in southern California. How much is that worth to him? I
don't know. There could be some discount there, but both The bottom line
is we both feel like the Clippers need en upgrade and one of these guys
could be that somewhere, power forward, one of these guys. Let's get
it done. Jabos eighty four, soos, Let's get Drew and Harden love
it, call it in, send the trades, let's let's get It's that
easy. It's easy, all right. So, Adam, you are going
to be at media day on Monday. Correct, I'll be there. Yeah.
Will you be wearing a suit? Yeah? Oh really, I'm gonna
be my Drew holiday professional. Oh man, I'm looking good. I'll take
a picture and send it just to you. Chuck, you want it?
Okay? Well, maybe the group chat all right, So you're gonna be
there Monday, and then we are going to be talking about everything that was
mentioned at Clippers media Day on another kind of live hang for an episode recording,
Adam, anything else you kind of want to break down. I have
to do some work at some point or I will be let go anything else
you want to get into. I'd like to say this about Milwaukee and how
everyone is immediately saying, well, they're the odds on favorite, they're the
team to be, They're this tough. Yes, they got significantly better.
I think they are the best team in the East. But we've just been
through this three different times recently. Starting with the Clippers they got Kawai and
Paul George, they have yet to win. Then it was the Brooklyn Nets.
They got Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and then added James Harden and it
was a foregone conclusion they were going to be able to win. Then when
Kevin Durant went to the Sun's last year was all there are the team to
be. We've seen this over and over again, and it still comes down
to health. It still comes down to a lot of good luck on your
side. And it's been underreported but both Chris Middleton and Jannest Denni Koumpo had
knee cleanups this offseason. Chris Middleton's coming off a wrist injury. He only
played thirty games last year. Brook Lopez is thirty five and is their defensive
anchor, and Damian Lillard has never been known for his defense. They are
having a trade off there, getting rid of Drew for Dame. Defensively,
They're likely not going to be as good, but Dame's offense, like no,
it's it's unbelievable. He also, though looked like he was starting to
slow down and then had this great year last year after a couple of injury
plagued seasons. I think he's gonna be great. I think if he's healthy,
he and Jannis and that one two punch is going to be absolutely deadly
in the pick and roll and tough to stop. And if Chris Middleton is
back back because he had that injury in the twenty twenty two playoffs with his
knee and he just had another surgery on it, They're going to be the
team to beat in the East. But tell you what, the Clippers can
somehow come out of the West. I still feel pretty good about those matchups
against Damian Lillard and Yannis, because well, they have wrecked Damian Lillard if
you look, bro, he's terrible at last five years. Yes, against
the two and three era of the Clippers. He's had some of the worst
games of his career against them. And I still think Kauai against Yannis,
who yes the mix, Good luck buddy. I'm just saying we're looking too
far into the future. But since everybody is already saying the Milwaukee Bucks with
the best team in the league, I don't hate a healthy Clippers team and
how they can match up against him not at all? Who does Thank you
everyone who hung out on this live stream kind of question. Hang. We
do these every once in a while when random stuff happens over on YouTube dot
com. Slash at Clippers podcast you can find us on Twitter at Clippers pod.
Sometimes we get sassy stop telling us to stop talking about Harden. He's
a trade target. I don't know what to say. If there's news,
we'll talk about it. So today they were doing the job. You can
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That's totally on me. I lost us that star. I'm gonna interrupt right
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and whatnot in a couple of minutes. But as always, you know,
we'll be back on Monday, and yeah, let's go clips. I'm gonna
click end stream. There might be a couple of seconds, so if you
see us do something weird, that's what happened.