All right, Saltier. Adam Auslin in the house, host of Clipper comp
down the halftime in the postgame show. First, good on you, congratulations
you called it. You had Kyrie going to Dallas before anybody did, right
after Kevin read the report. Dallas just made too much sense. But we
talked about it here last Friday. Thanks for the love, Fred. Yeah,
you had it. You nailed it before anybody else even came up with.
You know, I didn't have him being the Clippers last night without Luca
Dante. But so you hit something, missed some Yeah, that's all right.
So you know you're one, You're one out of two. Adam,
Adam God, I'm trying to think back and trying to remember this much action
the day of or the eve of the deadline. Man, it just especially
the names that we've been thrown out here. Have you probably you know when
a move goes down, like what happened with Kevin Durant, there's that ripple
effect that it turns into an arm race in a hurry where everyone feels like
if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. Right, And there's a
new super team in town. And by the way, I think this could
work much better than what happened with the Brooklyn Nets when we all thought it
was a sure saying that they were gonna win with him and Kyrie Irving and
James Harden. Because as much as Harden has transitioned into more of a playmaker,
CP three can just do what he's always been doing and just give it
up to Booker, give it up to Kevin Durant, and then find DeAndre
Eaton for a few lobs here and there so he can keep everybody happy.
And if you want to talk about high degree of difficulty shot makers, they
don't get much better than Kevin Durant and Booker out there. It's not just
three points shooting their mid range assassins. It is going to be extremely difficult
to beat this squad on paper. But we all thought the Brooklyn Nets were
gonna win multiple championships and that never came to fruition. Okay, but by
at at the same point, sorry fit at the same point, did you
just made Adam where James Harden had to try to adjust his role and didn't
work In Brooklyn, Chris Paul doesn't have to adjust his role and he's been
doing it and doing his thing, so given the fact, or just let's
assume it's a big assumption that they can stay healthy. They got to be
the team to beat without question. Right, Oh yeah, they're kind above.
But health is a big deal because not only is Kevin Durant coming off
a sprained MCL, Devin Booker's coming back from growing injuries from hamstring injuries.
CP three's not getting any younger. He gets banged up. And they went
through a stretch without Devin Booker were they only won five games, and they
were five and seventeen in a twenty three games stretch. Now, their last
eleven games they went nine and two. So they've been up and down this
season. But yeah, you get those guys on the court together, nobody
can match that high end talent. Okay, So obviously now when you look
at it, you've got to think they're the favorites because of the addition of
Kevin Durant. Both the Clippers and the Lakers active though trying to position themselves.
We'll start with the Clippers, that will move to the Lakers. All
right, So what do you think about what the Clippers did? I like
it. I think they had to retool their backcourt. It wasn't working.
There was a log jam there. It's tough to see a Jackson go.
It's tough to see Luke Kennard go. John Wall. That experiment wasn't happening,
and Bones Highland has a ton of upside to get him for two second
round picks. He reminds me a lot of a young Lou Williams who can
go in and just fill it up from the outside. He's had seven games
of twenty points or more so far this season, and doing that on a
team with Jamal Murray and Nikolayokich and Aaron Gordon. That's not easy. But
defensively, he's been a liability on that end. His play has been up
and down, and he was out of the rotation in just his second season
with the Denver Nuggets, so it's looking at a high ceiling with him.
Eric Gordon still plays at a very high level bringing him back to the Clippers.
It's been astounding the way he has aged. He just went through a
stretch where he had three straight twenty point games. Is one of the number
one options with the Houston Rockets when the young guys aren't playing well. He's
very reliable. He's a solid defender. I like that pick up a lot.
And then Mason Plumbly made too much sense. I told you guys,
if there's one thing that to guarantee at the trade deadline or at least before
the playoffs come around, the Clippers had to get better in their front court.
They had to find another big to backup of eats the Zoobots, and
Mason Plumley's coming off one of his best stretchers where in January he was getting
sixteen and eleven per game. You could argue they have the best backup big
in the league. He's been tremendous. So I think they did very well.
Whether or not that closed the gap enough, And really it still comes
down to Paul George and Kawhi Leonard peaking at the right time. And last
night they didn't play well, and those two had been good. They won
eight of their last eleven games. But your superstars have to perform out there.
But I think what they're looking for is just more consistency, because all
season long, they've been consistently inconsistent. No matter who's been out there,
there've been lolls offensively, they've been lolls on the defensive end. They had
to do something to shake things up, and this does do that, and
I think it makes them better today. All right, let's now move to
the Lakers. I think they are immeasurably better today than they were yesterday,
at least on paper. What do you think? Yeah, I mean it's
started. The hotching More trade was nice. They kind of got the ball
rolling with that. But bringing in guys for one first round pick that can
all play and assist you right now, and one of them is a pretty
dynamic player in D'Angelo Russell coming back to the Lakers. Now, there are
times where he can be a ball stopper and he can be polarizing because of
that, and he ISOs a little bit too much. But you would think
in this situation where he's looking for a new contract and that's a decision they're
going to have to make, he'll be on his best behavior out there and
sharing the basketball. But I love Beasley and what he brings. Three and
D type of guy out there. And then Vanderbilt, a really good hustle,
active rebounder who actually can step out and shoot a jumper here and there.
And then Mo Bamba. You gotta stretch big now that you could throw
next to Anthony Davis that won't clog up the paint if you want to play
that way, and then getting rid of Thomas Bryant, who wasn't playing much
defense at all. He had some really good stretchers for the Lakers. But
if it's true, and Chris Hayes reported that he wont to be traded after
Anthony Davis came back because he was getting less playing time, it kind of
had to move him. So I don't hate that Mo Bamba's an upgrade.
Yeah, I think Rob Polinka has redeemed himself and many fans eyes and a
saying okay, bet you guys all kind of me out. And I thought
they probably had in terms of improvement from a week or week and a half
ago whenever they got Hotchi Mora. They've had the most significant improvements so far
really on paper. And Lebron James was obviously looking for that. I mean
that comment that he made post game after he gets the scoring record, talking
about, you know, I can still win multiple championships for any organization,
I think is the wording there. You know, they're running into a situation
where if they don't do anything this upcoming summer, you never know if Lebron
James asked out like, that's where it seemed like things were heading. It
could get that nasty. Well, and we can tell you Lebron's out tonight.
He's got an ankle. He's not playing against Milwaukee. Broke the record
the other night. Now a little sore, so he won't be playing tonight.
It looked like he was talking about something on the sidelines. He was
dinged up in some way. And now, what are you suggesting a little
snarky right there? No, I'm just saying he's just gonna shut it down.
Now you've got the scoring record, you're flying. That's all he cared
about. Even a little snarky with that comment. Yeah, I'm just saying
that I'm not playing tonight, that's all. Okay, who else is not
playing? Friends? Cerious that you just may are going to be very depleted
with all these trades in the works. Well, Ad didn't play much the
other night. If you watch the tape, he wasn't doing much. That
was awkward. He wasn't cheering Lebron on when he made that shot. That
was so weird to see that footage of Anthony Davis sitting down. It looked
like he was almost pouting, what did he attempt nine shots on the ball
game and then post game given short answers, what we can do better,
we can win. That was strange to see too, so and Russell Westbrook
got into it with an assistant coach there, and maybe the vibes were just
off and they lose a ball game with Lebron sets the record, so there
was a lot to sort through. But yeah, something didn't seem right locker
room wise. Yeah, going back to the Clippers, I mean, we
saw Reggie Jackson have a great run at the end of the season. That
what went wrong? What went wrong that they just had to make a deal
at him. I think they were just looking for more stability at the guard
spot, and Reggie Jackson is a beloved guy, and like when they had
to move Lou Williams or felt like they had two for a gen Rondo.
It may just have been time. Unfortunately. I think his last play with
the Clippers ended up being a turnover, and he had great moments for this
organization that run in twenty twenty one, when, especially when Kawhi went down,
Reggie Jackson played like a damn All star. He was awesome in that
playoff run. But he has some erratic play out there, and they call
him Yolo Reggie sometimes with some of the shots he'll take and at moments,
you know, turning down giving the ball up to other guys who are in
a better position to take a shot. They called him Big Government because he
would bail him out at times with catch and shoot threes at the end of
shot clocks. He had the pbn J bites he was throwing into the crowd.
He's certainly going to be missed, but I just think it was time
and a lot of people saw the writing on the wall where he was just
two up and down with this team that is trying to win a championship and
still trying to Right now, all right, well, how do you sum
up Russell Wassbrook's tenure with the Lakers? Erratic or maybe predictable in some ways,
because I think a lot of people first guessed it. It wasn't something
where you had to wait to see the product on the court, and we
never really got to see them in a playoff situation where I thought it'd be
even tougher to have him and Lebron James out there late in games. The
fit just wasn't right for Russ, who needs the ball in his hands a
lot more, but more importantly, him not having shooters to defer to.
That wasn't one of the Lakers' strengths. So when he's driving and kicking it
out to guys, they're not knocking them down anyways. They had one of
the worst three point percentages to start off the season the first two months.
They've improved now through the trade deadline. Austin Reeves is coming back. But
I don't think it was ever a match made in Heaven by any stretch of
the imagination. I do think there could be a good fit between him and
maybe a team like Chicago or Miami or the Los Angeles Clippers. I think
there's less of a chance now. They brought in Bones Highland and Eric Gordon,
but there were rumors out there. He's played with Paul George before,
and they do have all the shooters you could ask for to help kind of
make Russ more effective in that second unit. And to his credit, he
did come off the bench and he did start playing better at times. Didn't
have a great stretch over the last couple of weeks, but you know,
it was up and down certainly it was bumpy. You know, we saw
the Mavericks beat the Clippers without Luca last night. How do you see that
working out with Kyrie down there? I know you called it. Now it's
a reality. How do you see that playing out well? On the court.
You're talking about maybe the most talented backcourt in the history of basketball,
with the things both those guys can do. Luca Dantage, to me,
is one of the greatest players I've seen. And he's in what year four
or five now, I've never seen anything like him, the phenom he is,
and you can say he's got some Harden in him, some Lebron James
in him. But to do this and possibly end up being the face of
the league being a European player, that would be breaking new ground. And
he's just so damned talented and skilled. And some people are worried that,
well, maybe he can't play next to another superstar out there. We're gonna
find out, but I think it'll work offensively on the defensive end, now
Layton games with those two out there. While Luca's big, he's not a
very good defender. Kyrie Irving, you know, he can dig in once
in a while and played great against Steph Curry at times in the NBA Finals
and surprise some people with his defense. But he's undersized and you can maybe
pick on both of those guys on the other end. So it may come
down to just trying to outscore teams at times that maybe with the Dallas Mavericks
do because they still have Christian Wood. They didn't get a lot of defensive
help. They lost their best defender and Dorian Finney Smith in the trade to
bring in Kyrie Irving. But yeah, they're gonna be magical to watch on
the offensive end. All right, before we let you go, as everything
played out today, any deals that did not grab the headlines that you think
will make an impact or a difference difference maker type deals getting crowded to Milwaukee's
big because Milwaukee's really surgeon right now. They're playing great basketball. They're taking
on Lakers tonight and then the Clippers tomorrow. But another three in d wing
to help out a team that is one year removed from winning the championship.
That's big, and they're still waiting to remember for Chris Middleton to recover from
his injuries. He's been coming off the bench. Still he's not in true
form, yet they can still get a lot better. I was surprised that
Denver didn't do more. You know, they bring in Thomas Bryant. That's
an okay move, I think, but they lose Bones Highland and then a
team in Toronto. They didn't end up trading Ocean and Obi or Fred Vanvley.
That was very surprising that they stood pat or team like Chicago who had
a chance to maybe blow things up. They're not really going anywhere. They're
keeping Zach Lavine. They still have Demard Rosen. So there were some non
moves out there that I thought certainly would have made that weren't, especially with
Toronto. But the rumor was they wanted Terrence man in a first round pick
for Fred VanVleet from the Clippers. That was out there, so they were
playing hardball. But yeah, I think the Milwaukee Bucks got better. But
the headline is still the Phoenix Suns. Everybody's gonna be chasing them, Chase
the Sun. It's gonna be like that right now. Once we see them
all out there on the court, I do think they're gonna be devastating.
But we've seen this before where super teams don't always work out so it'll be
interesting. But this was a team that was after Kevin Durant in August.
He wanted to come there, so it wasn't a surprise. It was still
shocking. But I brought this up with you guys last Friday. The other
shooter drop could be Kevin Durant wanting out of Brooklyn now because he doesn't want
to stay there. And even with Cam Thomas having three straight games of scoring
forty points for Brooklyn out of nowhere, you thought that would have sold him
on Stag and they picked up some nice pieces. And the what if now
is if they knew they were going to trade Kevin Durant all along, and
I'm guessing they didn't. But if they had known, wouldn't they have taken
the two first round picks from the Lakers for Kyrie Irving? Wouldn't they have
made that move because they're going into a hard rebuild now because at first they
brought in guys that they could help Kevin Durant win now still and still be
competitive now it's over. I wonder if that would have happened, the Lakers
could have had Kyrie. I think of the time, it was just a
little bit different clippers and bucks. Tomorrow you'll hear it here on the radio
station. Addem. You got the pregame at six thirty, right, I
got say six thirty. Friend, there you go, saltya adam alsome to
appreciate you hanging out. All I love you, guess all right, love you