WEBVTT

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So now let's bring on the saltier
Adam p and Adam, how are you

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today? That's what the p Fred
What are you implying there? What are

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you saying? Yeah, what are
you saying? Prophetic? Nice? Save

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turn the damn phone off. That's
what the piece for. Turn off your

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phone. What's up? Guys?
Going to be back? Okay, let's

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just get right to it as we
get ready to start the second half of

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the season. You're a guy that
you know, kept an eye of Montres

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Harold as closely as anyone. Give
it his time with the Clippers. He

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sent out that tweet. Jen he
Bust responded, what do you think's going

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on there? Well? Monstres has
always been an emotional, a passionate guy.

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He plays like that on the court, but he's also prone to cryptic

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tweets like we saw. But he's
going through it because his grandma died last

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year. That pain is still,
I'm sure very fresh. And and Adam

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talked real quick about his grandmother,
someone that's just you know, everybody's mother,

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grandmother, parents, whatever, is
different in their life. But she

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was very in his life and very
close to him. This was his best

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friend. I mean, when it
happened. He left the bubble for about

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a month, and he was having
a really tough time. Understandably, this

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was one of the most if not
the most important person in his life.

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And you know, he's still a
young man at twenty six years of age.

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I don't know if he went through
something like that before. So maybe

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it's related to that. We're all
trying to figure that out. But I

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would just give him some distance,
give him some time, I like what

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Jeanie Buss said, and send him
your thoughts and prayers and some care his

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way. Even Clippers fans who before
were upset with him going to the Lakers,

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they reached out on Twitter and just
said, hope everything's good, Prayers

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up emoji for Montrez Harold. So
we don't know what's going on. Yeah,

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I thought I thought it was more
concerning. Honestly, when I thought,

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I thought, oh, I mean, if he's to this point and

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he's basically it's to me, it's
like, to what point? In other

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words, he's asking for some help
from emotional help. It's not out of

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the ordinary. If you followed him
on Twitter the past couple of years for

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him to tweet stuff like this,
I don't think there's going to be a

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situation where he doesn't show up to
the game or something like that on Friday,

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or there's something else going on behind
the scenes. It's not some subtext

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that you have to parcel out and
pick apart, like Lebron James talking about

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Kevin love fit in stop fitting out
on Twitter a few years back. I

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think it's more likely than that.
It's it's related to just what's going on

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in his life and it has nothing
to do with on the court, So

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so show him some love. Okay
when it comes to the second half.

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We'll touch on the Clippers at the
end. But as for the Lakers,

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Mantras, Haile is an asset at
this point. I mean, and if

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they want to improve in certain aspects, there are so many assets they can

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moved. Would you see them possibly
even moving him. I think it's unlikely,

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And I'm not sure what the contract
situation is because they did just sign

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him last offseason, and sometimes that
puts different stip relations on whether or not

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you can move a guy within the
next six months, Like I don't think

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Kyle Kuzma signing that extension could be
moved at this point. It would have

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to be during the summer. It
could be the same thing with Montrez Harold.

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But let's say hypothetically it's not.
Well, you could make the argument

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that, first of all, he
did sacrifice, taking less money to come

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there. According to all the reports, the Charlotte Hornets had offered him more,

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they had more to offer, he
didn't go there. He wanted to

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be with a contender, and apparently
he wanted to stay in LA and he

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wanted to be respected. But making
only nine million dollars, we all thought

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he'd get somewhere between fifteen and twenty
per year coming off the season, the

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six Man of the Year season he
had last year with the Clippers, and

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just the way that his game has
grown over the years, he is still

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getting better overall. He's even shown
off the jumper here and there this season

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with the Lakers. So I don't
know if you can really make that much

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of an upgrade when you're trading salaries
like that, or you're getting to within

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seventy five percent of nine million and
to make a trade work. I don't

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know if you can find a much
better valued player than Montrese Harrold. Plus,

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I just don't see them going in
that direction this soon with him,

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because he has been good for them
all season long, especially considering the injuries.

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They've needed somebody like that who's a
spark, who always has that high

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motor out there during a long regular
season. Guys like that are invaluable.

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And you know, you were the
first one to talk about this, Adam

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and you mentioned it last year when
he was with the Clippers about defense and

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the Lakers. I think people are
understanding now how much Javelle McGee and White

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Howard meant to this team, and
Marcusol is not really you know that guy

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anymore. How much do they need, even with Anthony Davis coming back,

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really need to focus on that rim
protection and how much would that hurt them

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going in the playoffs. I do
think that something that could arise as more

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of an issue in the playoffs.
I've said that all season long. Even

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though they are the number one defense
right now, and that's impressive. They're

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even better than they were last season
when they were third overall. They've actually

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dipped offensively, which is the opposite
of what I think a lot of people

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assumed would happen this season with the
Lakers. But the rim protection in the

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playoffs, even in Spurts because obviously
Dwight Howard didn't even play in that series

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against the Houston Rockets, but when
he did play against Nicola Yokich in the

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Western Conference Finals, he was effective
and he frustrated him and he was an

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irritant and just having that athleticism in
the paint, which is not something size

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wise that Montrese Harold can offer you. He's not a big enough body and

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that Marcus al just doesn't have enough
juice left in those lakes to be hopping

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around. He is someone who if
you get in space, he is barbecue

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chicken. And Shaquille O'Neal would say
he's easy to get around, yes,

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exactly. So it's still a concern
and I think they know that too,

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because Frank Vogel's talked about it.
We have to get or in this area.

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Even though they're only giving up four
more points per game in the paint,

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that is something that can be exploited
in the playoffs. When last year

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they were so good, they built
a fortress beneath the rim and it was

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just really tough to get around any
of those guys, and so a lot

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of teams had to resort to three
points shooting, which I think a big

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reason why. Well, even in
that series with the Houston Rockets, you

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know, we thought maybe it could
be a good matchup. They're going to

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go small against the Lakers, Lakers
will go small against them. They still

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had enough athleticism, which avail McGee
out there at times two to match up

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well with anybody. Now, I
think there are flaws in their defense that

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just weren't there last season. Okay, let's quickly hit on the Clippers as

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they begin the second half anything they
will do are considering doing. You're talking

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about the trade deadline in Marsh twenty
fifth. I read an article earlier today

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from Sam Amick, who's very plugged
in with this team obviously, and he

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talked about how they're just looking to
do little things on the margins and they

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like where they're at right now,
even though they still have a ton of

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injuries. I mean Peg and Kawhi
Leonard and miss nineteen of their first thirty

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eight games. Combine, those two
missed nineteen of the thirty eight games,

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and half of their losses have come
without one of those guys on the floor.

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So some of the issues from last
season are still there, But the

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main thing people have talked about is
not having that traditional playmaker out there.

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Didn't really have it last season either, but PG and Kawhi have assumed that

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role. They lead them in assist
I think Kawhi is at about six per

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game, Paul George is at about
five. Serio two superstars have the ball

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in their hands all the time,
which is normally what happens in the playoffs

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anyways. So I think that style
lends itself better in the playoffs this time

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around. But it could ease the
burden on them by having another traditional,

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more traditional type of point guard out
there who's setting the table and getting everybody

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else involved that way, because when
you've watched them recently, when they've gone

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those long four minute stretches without scoring
late in the fourth quarter, it looks

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like it times Paul George and Kawhi
Leonard. Granted it was just one game

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in Milwaukee where they went cold the
last four minutes and got outscored fifteen to

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nothing, but it looked like they
were tired, and they were settling for

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some really tough shots, and they
were having to create and do everything.

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So could it be a place where
they improve on the margins by bringing in

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well, somebody like I don't know
Lonzo Ball, who knows if he's going

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to be available. But George Hill
has been talked about. And Gen Ronda

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was barely played in Atlanta. He's
played only twenty games and I think is

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playing like less than ten minutes a
night or something like that. And that

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was somebody that they were supposedly interested
in this past offseason. So is that

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the guy that they make a move
forward. I don't think it's gonna be

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Kyle Lowry or anyone like that if
they go for that point guard, because

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he just makes too much money.
It's just not feasible. But I do

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think there's a good possibility they upgrade
in that area if they're looking at anything.

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All Right, well, thanks for
hanging today, all right, gonna

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be with you guys. Good seeing
you