Welcome into season two, episode four of Clips and Dip. I'm Ata Moslin
coming up on this episode as we do have a special guest we'll get to
in just a moment here, but we'll do a little hot take not take.
Oh sorry, Joe, so if you're retired, we're taking that from
you now, I'm kidding. But we will talk some hot takes of this
offseason, Clippers related or just anything we want. Plus, in the second
segment we'll talk about is Terrence Man going to be included in any trade that
involves James Harden or is that the hold up right now? Who seems to
be hell bet on becoming a Clipper Harden the bearded wonder that is. But
first, let's start things off with our friend Justin Bruce, so follow him
at fly by Night on Twitter. Does fabulous work covering the Clippers, has
been doing it for years. Was actually out at Summer League though, and
so doing the Lord's work when you're out there, I don't know that the
Lord's work in that heat. That's that's forty days in the desert. I
think justin thanks for coming out, Clips and div what's up? You know,
I'm actually thankful to be back. I didn't think. I didn't think
I would enjoy humidity, but I enjoy it very much after one hundred and
fourteen degree heat in Vegas. So yeah, it's it was pretty bad in
Vegas. But uh, you know, I'm thankful to be home. I
don't mind humidity now. But it was I think I was there five days.
I was there from the eighth through the twelfth, and I was ready
to leave by the third day. I remember sitting I was sitting there watching
a Wizard's game, and I was sitting next to Uh. I was sitting
there next to Chase who does the Wizard stuff for NBC Sports in DC.
And I remember at one point, I think it was the third quarter,
I just looked at my goal. I think I'm just basketballed out. Man.
You were watching the Wizards place nuwhere League. That makes perfect sense.
It was it was Wizard Spurs that I was just like, I can't do
it anymore. I'm done. Now. We're still waiting for will Updike to
join us. He'll be with us, and just a little bit obviously Chuck
Mackler here, but we do want to pick the brain of Justin Rousseau being
out at Summer League. Aside from the heat and feeling like you're in an
old nineties Zeema commercial. What were some of your takeaways? What that's a
hot reference nowadays? How dare you chuck? Remember the fly swatter and everything
was sticky? It was so hot? Okay, But speaking of let's talk
a little bit about the Clippers in Kobe Brown from three in game four,
I think it was from him where he hit seven three pointers in Summer League,
ended up with thirty five points, and unfortunately turned the left ankle in
their final game. But just what was it like seeing him in person?
Because we always hear things like in person, this guy looks much bigger or
thinner, or this or that. What were your takeaways from Kobe Brown the
young guys in Summer League. With Kobe Brown in particular, I think up
close and personal. I know on TV it's hard to get an idea of
like how big certain guys are in Summer League being able to sit down near
the baseline. He's a big guy, Like obviously he's not the tallest guy
and he's not, you know, the longest guy. But when he gets
down low, he moves people and he's very physically imposing, and my biggest
takeaway with him was I don't feel like he went out of his comfort zone.
I think everything he did, for the most part is stuff will be
asked to do at the NBA level, which is spot up in corners,
just spot up in general, you know, take advantage of mismatches down low,
rebound. The biggest thing that surprised me, and I knew he had
gotten better defensively in college, but the thing that surprised me was how well
he played passing lanes even in just summer league, which I know it's hard
to translate things from summer league to the NBA sometimes with certain skill sets,
but he was very handsy in passing lanes. He was very quick, twitchy
in passing lanes. He understood where to be. I talked to both him
and Jordan Miller about the differences between the college game and the NBA level as
far as what they've learned even in the short period of time. Jordan Miller
gave me an interesting answer, which was in college, he was always taught
that when he closed out on a shooter to always force him to drive the
middle of the floor. But at you know, in summer league, with
the Clippers, it was always to force them baseline. So that was the
one thing he had this like retrain unadjustment to try and make as you try
out for your NBA team, you know, I mean Jordan Miller was in
college I think four or five years so obviously at two different universities, so
you know, he went through different coaching riggers and staffs and you know,
philosophies, so he had to learn. Kobe Brown said that, you know
the biggest thing for him is in college, their their thing was always to
deny the next pass. But with the Clippers, it's to shrink the or
so that you know, you limit the space down low, you limit passing
lanes that way, And so he said he had to learn that how to
play passing lanes more. I think he played passing lanes pretty well. He's
got the hand speed, he's got to know how how to do it.
So from that perspective, I would say that was a real positive beyond just
what he'd one the offensive end, right, which I don't think I don't
think anyone else than Adam is going to expect him to hit fifty percent of
his threes. Now that he did it forty six percent excuse me forty six
percent. Now that he's in actually up in the league, what do we
think his G League minutes look like? Because I don't think or what do
his regular minutes look like? But I like the G League team is already
pretty full. For the Clippers, they're very good. You got Preston I'm
assuming he's going to be down there. You got Brandon Boston Junior. Maybe,
But where do you see Kobe I mean kind of fitting into this.
I actual keep want to call him the Aguacalientti Clippers, but whatever they are
now we got used to we got used to call him Margo Galliant years.
So yeah, it's it's a retrain. As far as Kobe in the G
League, I think um probably like Musa last year, like maybe thirty minutes
a night, where he's you know, he's the four. He is a
four. They view him as a four and an occasional small ball five.
And Moose has been playing a little bit at the four in for the ac
Clippers. So that'll be interesting when they pair them because maybe they'll move Moosa
down to the five or he has the starting spot. Yeah, they they
they view Mousa as anything like like he's another I mean, as weird as
it sounds every every time you talk to them, and they're just like,
well, Moosa guards one through five. So it doesn't really matter what position.
To be fair, he is a five, he is a mouse is
a five. He's a rim running five who the only thing he wants to
do is shoot in the restricted area. That's fine. A lot of guys
have been paid in the NBA just off of only shooting in the restricted area.
And I think Kobe is in a weird way at the G league level,
is the perfect guy around him. He's the physical guy who can guard
down low if he has to, and he's the floor and he's the forest
face. I think they'll work pretty well. G League wise. I think
Kobe probably average about thirty minutes NBA wise. I don't know. I mean,
I've heard people I've talked to think he could crack, you know,
day one rotation. Other people I've talked to said there's a kind of no
way unless you know, pieces get shipped out, and that is and that
becomes the reality. So I don't know. I mean, it's what July
twentieth right now, Yes, there's so much time left that I mean,
at this point he might not ever play an NBA game this year, and
on the other hand, it's like he might play a lot of NBA games
this here, Chuck brought up his three points shooting and just speaking more to
that in his form and what you saw there, because before that game were
at thirty five and seven three pointers, he was struggling from the outside.
The shot looked good, the form looked good, but there were still some
airballs. There were some air and shots from him. Was that just him
settling in and getting comfortable? Do you think what we saw that senior year
at MISSOI can translate at all to the NBA level, and that's a necessary
skill for him to have at this level for him to be successful. It's
weird. I lately, as I've analyzed players, I go to the phrase
sometimes I don't know, I don't know if it's translatable. That so much
refreshing to hear someone just say I don't know, I don't know if it's
relatable. I don't know if that last year in Missouri, Like, I
don't know if the first three years of Missouri are are more like what he'll
be at the NBA, or if the last year is I think if I
had to project him thirty seven thirty eight, I know that's not you know,
elite level. And yeah it's not bad either average it's very interesting.
Yeah, it's above average. The thing that's very interesting with him formal wise
is it's very hard to watch him up close and not get it distinct PJ.
Tucker byes like like when you watch him up close, shot profile,
like just shot form profile, it really looks like PJ. Tucker And and
look, PJ. Tuckers had an incredible career, you know potential, let's
relaxed close about so. But but but it's funny because with Kobe, it's
like his there's there's some off the dribble stuff with him, but not a
lot. And if there is, it's because he finds someone download that he
can you know, power through the hoop essentially. I think the thing that
kind of got lost with him in Summer League is he competes at a high
level. There wasn't a time on the floor and I'll watched him up close
and even on TV when I came back where I thought that he wasn't trying
as hard some guy, Yeah, like some some guys float yeh, some
guys float through the game. I didn't ever feel like he was just on
the floor. I felt like you would notice him every now and then he
would pop up with something, especially obviously the game he scored thirty five.
But it's like, you know, every game there was something that you could
latch onto with them. We're like, okay, he did that better today
than he did yesterday. Kind of thing. What about Jordan Miller, Since
you're bringing up floating through a game, it felt like he disappeared at times.
He's young, it was his first experience at this level. People love
the size that he brings. He kind of looks like a prototypical wing in
today's NBA, and just the versatility acts aspect, which is something the Clippers
certainly seemed to cove it. But how does he project in your mind of
playing at the next level and what he could look like. He's the interesting
case to me of a guy who in summer league is never going to look
good. We talked about that a little bit. There's certain archetypes of guys
who are made who can look very good in summer league. The oversized center
can look phenomenal in summer league, and things like that. Yeah. I
mean with Jordan, I looked almost like he's this slashing three who, Yes,
he can make a three at times, but he's way more comfortable cutting
from the slot, making these backdoor reads things like that getting out in transition.
In Summer League, you don't get like a lot of that really,
so it's harder for him. I would say A big negative from him at
Summer League was like he followed every jump shooter he brought close to, which
I'm not gonna fo anyone before, Like he got over zealous. It happens,
okay, Like I'm not gonna criticize him too much. The big positive
I actually liked out of him is I really did kind of fall in love
with his um, like somewhat like his eurostep game, and it hit a
really like sneaky passing feel when he got downhill, which which was kind of
nice. I don't know if the shot is going to be the thing that
like ever fully comes around, but I see why the Clippers were enamored.
Um. I think he's gonna be a guy who this next season. His
years in the Galus makes I don't think yeah that check yeah everything, so
so it'll I mean, I don't think he's ever going to be a score
like and by a score, I mean I would be very surprised at the
NBA level if he averaged fifteen points. However, Okay, it's it's it's
more or less like he is the prototypical glue guy, where when you throw
him on the floor, you know what you're getting, and he's not going
to overstep his bounds as a player. The two Clippers guys like, yes,
it's been talked about a latt how old they are, and yeah,
there were two of the four old There were two of the four oldest players
in the draft, and the team is old already, so it makes sense
it's time, right, yeah, right. And it's not like they got
super athletic guys, you know, like like, yes, they are athletic
obviously by nature, but they're not rim running you know, powerhouse dunkers or
obviously. Yeah. I mean. The funny thing I'm sure you guys to
point it out with kJ is he's a full year younger than they. Oh
my god, I didn't know that. Yeah, Jesus, Yeah, he's
a full year. He's a full year younger than they are, and he's
been in the league for three years. Well, I joked about this.
I think the Clippers accidentally set their Excel sheet to sort by age and that's
how they made their for their picks. This year, I think someone's I
think someone bumped the keyboard. We've all screwed up in a hey, we
have. I haven't the NBA draft. I would like the opportunity to screw
up at the NBA Draft with the n Excel spreadsheet. Yeah. But with
Jordan, um I get. I do understand people when they say they get
like Terrence man vibes out of him. The difference I would say is with
Terrence, even in the Summer like that first year, I think I think
you saw the it factor, like where like he understood the game at such
a level that he didn't look overwhelmed. I thought Jordan looked a little bit
overwhelmed at times. And I think the G League will do him something good
to kind of reign in where he needs to be in terms of reading the
game. Because he did tell me in one of the Knights in Vegas that
one of those Summer League Knights, one of those classic Summer League Knights in
Vegas. I won't tell you where we were that night, but we were
in the arenas. Okay, that's wild. Wait wait is the arena the
name of some weird club or do you mean actually, because there's an arena
and Kate's very that's a fun club. But yeah. Was it like an
underground fight scene where you could see a bear and a tiger go at it
or something? Was it straight out the best of the best too? With
Eric Roberts, your references are all over the place today at him the bear
and the tiger were at the MRA. So, um, what's it called?
With? With Jordan, he told me that it's taking him some time
to kind of catch up with the speed. Okay, he said the speed
is the thing that's that he's kind of having to catch up with. And
also he said he's trying to do too much. He said that the thing
he's trying to also learn is that in the NBA, guys stand around a
lot. And he said he that's not a negative thing. He said,
the guys are just so talentedt the NBA level, you have more spacing,
so you don't want to start moving and bogging it up. And he said
when he was at practice the first few days, he kept getting caught moving
around, and when he kept getting caught and moving around, it was killing
spacing for other people. So he's having to learn how not to move as
much. And I think that's a tough that feels like that's almost like court
vision. You need to get a court vision to set up before being because
everyone, probably he's already in the NBA knows exactly how he's going to move
around when he's doing his thing, so like we all know what you're trying
to do right now, right And I think I think when we think about
like off ball movement, we like, obviously you think of guys cutting,
you know, running off screen stuff like that, but also sometimes off ball
movement is just not moving, like in terms of if you just space the
floor and let the movement come to you based on you know, drive,
kick, swing and another swing like that is still a part of movement.
I think he's still trying to learn that aspect. I feel like Camlo Anthony
with a Denver Nuggets really performed not moving at the elite level when he just
laid there on the floor for two possessions. Yes, that's what we need
from our guys. So other than you know, like Xavier Moon being probably
the best player there, which makes total sense because he's played in the NBA
more and he's older than everybody else. What should fans take away from this
summer league? Should we just and just the draft in general? Should we
just forget about the fact that we had the twentieth pick? Can we let
it go for twenty four games? Eric Gordon? Or how are we feeling
about that? I understand it's a tough thing to kind of forget and people
are really like Cam Whitmore was great in the summer league, but the hype
machine of everything with the NBA in the offseason fields insane. Right now,
So I saw Anthony Bennett have a good summer league once former Clipper for a
very short period, right, So how can we Yeah, I guess let's
tackle the twentieth pick thing. Should fans just forget about that? Should we
just move on? Would the Clippers even drafted him at number twenty? Well,
I'll put it to you this way, if the Clippers saw the twenties
pick, he probably wouldn't even been on the board, Like like that's like
like you never know how the drafter is gonna shake out. Like, yeah,
you can sit there and say, well, he was taking what the
pick the Clippers would have had. But you know, I don't know,
maybe things change in the basketball universe if they kept the twentieth pick, maybe
they moved the twentieth pick anyways to get something else, Like you never know.
So I mean, yeah, you could look back in ten fifteen years
and be like, oh, man, they traded you know, the twentieth
pick and and uh, you know what, turning to camp and they traded
the twentieth pick in Luke Canard. So Cam Whitman and Luke Canard for Eric
Gordon the thirtieth pick, and then they let Eric Gordon go. And there's
a very real possibility that Cam Whitmore is as an all star level player in
the future and Kobe Brown's out of the league in three or four years.
Like that's a very realistic shots ability based on their talent profile heading to the
draft. But what I would say is, who cares? It's done?
You can't really relitigate it like it is what it is. It um.
I know I've I've been guilty of it in the past where I'm like,
hey, the pick that the Clippers gave up to dump Jared Dudley turned into
like Batiste table, yeah, or it was it was, and then like
another and then another pick they gave up turned into Matiste table, like yeah,
that sucks, but it is what it is. You gotta Yeah,
that's Will up Dyke joining us from my house. Will is in my kitchen
right now, which is very funny. It's in traffic. It was brutal,
but he eat from his fridge. Just start down as stuff like nothing
about it. I heard you're doing that. I was like, I know
someone's pouring a drink right now. Well, will you came at the perfect
time. We're talking how no one should think about losing the twentieth pick,
just the news I was given a fantastic breakdown of the rookies. But now
we would love you to counterpoint everything he just said. Without having heard it,
I fundamentally disagreed the twentieth pick. Think of think of the history of
Clippers Clippers late draft picks, and how valuable that could be. No,
I unrelated, but like, how do you feel about giving up draft equity
albeit seconds in the move for Gordon to go ahead and just not keep them
disregarding the twentieth pick, just like the business in general of it. Yeah,
So I had conversations with people at Summer League, both Clippers people and
non Clippers people, and the overwhelming consensus like offering people's why do they do
it? Like from the non Clippers people was like I have like like that
everyone understood the one hundred and ten million dollars in tax savings, Like everyone
gets it. It's not like this dirty secret. It is. It's out
in the open. Everyone sees the Bobby marks and woes tweets about it like
it's you know, it is what it is. I I just have a
very tough time kind of agreeing with the methodology, Like I get it.
Their whole plan is to kind of get under the second apron at some point
especial. That's what I was ranging at, how we're gonna add James Harden
and get the things I've heard are that one of the things is by the
draft next year, they wanted to be under the second apron so that they
can send out money to get draft picks. Because the second apron stuff for
Bidjie from sending out money. So there I think I have it. Oddly
enough, in an Excel spreadsheet, they're like fifteen million dollars over the second
Apron, I believe right now, and yeah, there's ways they can get
under it, just but there's no one left with cap space to just dump
fifteen million dollars into and you know, save it that way. The other
the reason I kind of disagreed with just dumping him was because he's going to
be an unrestricted free agent anyways at the end of this coming season and if
the real punitive second Apron stuff doesn't start until next yeah, like just go
through it and just say, look, you know, because when you look
at Eric Gordon. I talked to two people at Summer League. When you
look at Eric Gordon, it's very hard to find a guy that kind of
fits better along Kawai. Alongside Kawahi ANDPG. He's not a ball dominant guy.
He's a very very good shooting from the space before. Yeah, yeah,
he's he's he's not just a floor space or he is a deep floor
spacer. You know, when he came on onto the team, you know,
at the trade deadline, you know, they got asked, Kawhi,
PG, tie all got asked like what is he bringing you? And Kawhi
even said at one point, you know he's his his uh, his gravity
is so good that because you can shoot from so far, defenders can't cheat
at the elbow as much as they want to. So it allows Kawai more
driving lanes, It allows PG better driving lane, like all these things.
But he never wet to play with him because everyone got hurt as they always
get hurt. And I kind of think that we overlooked the fact that you
know, he shot forty two from three. I'm really good volume with the
Clippers, And that's the kind of guy who if you're building a team alongside
Kawai and PG, I think it's okay to have him on the floor.
He's not going to play. He wants to be there too. Is the
other part. He wants to contribute to winning a ring in the exact ways
that he's perfectly tailored to do it, which I think he did. He
doesn't overstuff his bounds. He's just like that, like he knows what he
can do and he doesn't really go beyond that. UM. I actually saw
him at Summer League Stole in a good mood. It was nice to see
him. Would you guys talk about bunch? Of course? Come on,
we went to the Belacia, but continue it's the Seeson's buffet good. Yeah,
the Seeson's buffet is really good. It's like crazy seafood buffet. It's
insane. Well, the seafood tower is optional, but well, I think
my thing that's like leaving a really sour taste in my mouth, and it's
not just the gym that I poured from myself from Charles's house, is that
you knew that he was going to go to a Western Conference competitor. You're
a team looking at the Western Conference and the you know, the arms race
that is to be at the top of that right now, losing an asset
for nothing, giving up assets in the process of getting that asset, knowing
that he's going to help another team that you will likely have to face in
the playoffs. I guess my question is like, did the Russ buy out
and subsequent you know, hometown deal change the Clippers plan enough that they were
willing to take that risk or do you think it's solely a tax mode.
I think it's both. I think that when they resigned to RUS or knew
that they were going to resign to US, I think it. I think
it affected Eric's future with the team. I think that they thought there was
gonna be a minuts crunch. That's something I disagree on, but my opinion
doesn't matter at least as far as the Clippers are concerned. Um, it's
really hard to justify the move just as a tax thing because if you if
you just look at as a tax thing. And this is just me personally,
I don't think you can sit there and say, on one hand,
Steve Bomber will spend whatever it takes to win, and then on the other
hand wave a decently good player to save one hundred and ten millions. You
know how much toilets cost. The man has to pay for two hundred and
thirty seven toilets and the damn stadium Rousso it's a lot of toilets out there.
I could, I can attest. I was there on Draft night.
I was able to take a tour of the stadium on Draft knight. I
have seen where all these toilets most likely will go beat some top of the
bell beforehand. You get trying and you took a two or what does that
mean? Is that t O U R two E? Hype and er what
are we doing here? All right? We gotta talk that James Harden stuff.
We have to take a small ad break. But before we do that,
some of you have complained that the ads are too loud. That's still
your case. Adam apparently does not care for your opinion on that. But
if they've been too that, if you go ahead and turn it down,
We're gonna talk to James Harden and Terrence Man stuff. Justin Russo's gonna explain
why Marcus Morris's rebounding really helps out the Clippers. All of that coming back
for this ad break in three two one, what is going on? We're
back and with Justin Russel. Will Updike is also joined us. Thank you
Will for making that happen. Very happy everyone on YouTube over at YouTube dot
com slash at Clippers podcast and see what my kitchen looks like. Will is
sitting in it right now. But we're live right now. No, we're
not live, Adam, move your camera down on your chair up. The
bottom of her face is getting cut off. I wanted to say, he's
very he's hanging out, bro. It's called It's called xanex will um um
so the story I mean of today. We're recording this on Thursday. James
Harden, who if anyone could refresh my memory? I just can't. I
just can't remember what team he wants to only play for. Should he be
traded from the seventy six ers. I think it's the Clippers. He posts
on Instagram today something about how he's been comfortable and now it's time to get
uncomfortable. Who's excited to add this guy to our to the squad? Huh?
Like what, justin, how do you feel on the whole about adding
James Harden? Now that we kind of it seems like the hold up is
should the Clippers include Terrence Man and or Norm Powell. He's a good fit.
I'm not going to say the league and assist and right, like,
yeah, yeah, he's He's an elite level passer. Obviously everyone knows.
Incredible isolation player, fantastic pick and roll guy. You gotta get a I
just I mean we every if we go through this with James Harden every eighteen
months, so like everyone knows what he's good at, because whatever new team
was trying to trade for him, that was what he's good at, and
tells everyone what he's good at. Yeah, so I think he's a good
fit. I totally get why the Clippers would be interested. I understand it
from a salary cap perspective. I understand it from a fit perspective. I
understand it from Encourt, off court, etc. I just just because of
his relationships with Russ and PG and Coal back home, going back, going
back to twenty nineteen. He's the guy that Kawhi Leonard wanted first fair point
and so and back then the Clippers and Rockets and negotiations, and the Rockets
basically say we're not trading them, and then eighteen months later they trade it
because that's that's cardon cycle. Yeah. So you know, James Harden as
a player, I think gets crapped on a lot. And I also think
he's pretty underrated at times. And I also understand why people crap out of
the times he's he's a clipper. That sounds like a Clipper to me,
always injured, always injured star who gets crapped on the side. Sure,
they'll win you some playoff games. You might not show up in some playoff
games. That's a clipper, um, But that's the role ultimately, justin
do you think it gets them to his place where they have a better chance
to win the championship this year by adding James Harden Depending on what they give
up. I would. I would say so, and I look at it
as if you even increase your title probability by one percent, I think it's
something you should do. I mean, as as weird as that very thing
margins, I mean, like to win a championship. Yeah, it's not
as broad as people think it is. Like even when the heatles, you
know, like any team other than the Durant Warriors, I feel like the
margins that you're talking about are quite slim and even they needed a lot to
help. Yeah, very true. Hey, James Harden helps everybody, you
know, So it is what it is. But even if you bump up
by one percent, I think that is worth it. Like I said,
from the salary cap standpoint, I get it if they feel that going to
get hardened is the best play, because you know, he's an unrestricted free
agent at the end of this coming season, and you know, maybe you
don't MAXIM or maybe you don't max Kawhi, or maybe you don't max PG.
You know, either way, if they just if they just decide to
go get Harden, one of the one of the ways they could look.
I'm not saying the way they will, but the way that they could look
at it is we have three superstars that are entering expiring years. While yes,
Kawai and pg F player options, odds are they decline them because they'll
get more money via extension or free agency. But they would have three superstars
set to be free agents, and if it goes poorly, maybe you just
decide to sit there and go, look, we tried it, we can
move on, and you just start fresh. That's as fresh as possible.
I would say, Well, the big question is the big question is are
they willing to do that year one going into a new arena, and that
is the that's the two billion dollar question, or however much it costs to
build out arena, because they're going to have to look in the mirror if
it goes pretty poorly and then make some really tough decisions about whether or not
they want to introduce what will be a bad basketball team if they if they
if they let those three guys go, it'll be a bad I mean yeah,
and yeah, well we know that you you know, oftentimes sit next
to Lawrence Frank at games. We know that you're in his ear, you
have his personal cell phone number, you're talking to Lawrence. What's the Max
offer right now July twentieth, twenty twenty three, that you are willing to
give for James Harden, thank you for a year. I hate talking about
stunning guys out in trades because it really makes me feel bad. Because like
when you get to the people in the locker room, but we're not allowed
in the locker room, so you want to tell you that, we won't
tell them that you said this. I doubt they're listening. I will say
my my seats for games when I get media credentials or the elevator. So
that's how the team thinks of us. Though that's not bad though. That
gets you out there. That gets you out very pretty fast because it gets
dicey um as for all my the furthest I think I would go, And
I know this is gonna sound crazy. I think I think I would go.
I don't think I would include Terrence as where does that sound something less?
If you unless if you include Terrence, you keep other things out of
the equation. As far as the Clippers are concerned, if the if they
include Terrence, I don't think they should include First. If they don't include
Terrence, I think they should include First and maybe even a swap because they
might as well. Are you more willing to part with draft equity versus terrence?
Yes, because like, who cares? I think we're all in at
this point. Yeah, I think at a certain point in what they in
what in what their current endeavor is, which is they give up so much
for PG did then? Obviously No, I'm not reminded of that every single
time. Yeah, you guys are talking about the twentieth pick earlier, like
everybody's going to look back on this. It's like, no, there's something
else everybody is always looking back on and talking about. Jeez. I I
wrote a couple weeks ago that like they're in the sun cast fallacy era,
which is like either either you cut bait now, either you cut bait now
and just recoup as much as you can, or you just keep pushing everything
to the middle of the table and you don't care about the bill that's coming
due because at the end of the day, you know this is your best
chance to win a title. Like as sad as that sounds like, you
know their best chance will probably two years ago. And then I got the
bubble too, Like I think the bubble was a great ye had there not
been a global pandemic, you know, I mean and others. Sure,
I don't actually remember that period of time, completely blocked it out. That's
what Tauba does to you know. Yeah, but uh, you know,
I think giving up draft picks is fine. I don't think they. I
know they, I know they care about it, and I know this new
collective bargain agreement puts a lot of value on draft picks specifically. But one
of the things I had a conversation with someone about its summer league was I
kind of think the Phoenix Suns have realized the market inefficiency with the new collective
bargaining agreement, which is just pick swap, just just trade pick swap all
the time. It doesn't matter because if you're over the second apron so many
years, your pick inherently will always be number thirties. You're right, Yeah,
we're here anyway. Yeah, Like, it doesn't matter. If I'm
gonna get the worst of every first round pick anyways, why not make it
the worst one who cares? So, you know, like, at the
end of the day, they're essentially trading You're trading nothing. You're trading nothing
how many times? So what's your offer? Then? What's your offer a
lot, Norm Morris, a first and whatever other salary to make it work.
Let's not discredit more what Morris brings to the rebounding table for the Clippers.
I think, I think, I think the I think the offer that
they're going to go in first with something like Marcus Roco, a mirror and
a couple other things. May yeah, the bare minimum and then draft equity,
and like, look, we'll give you this and draft equity. And
obviously Philly's gonna say no, and as they should. It's not a good
offer. It's you know, it's a very bad offer. It's it's worse
than the offer Washington Godfer Bradley Beal. To be honest with you, you
know, as simple as that, it's a lot different. I kind of
one player as a player with years on the contract. Still, I mean,
even though it's a bad offer, still very different scenarios versus a one
year rental. I think, like, I think that that changes things.
The UFA thing freaks me out. He's not leaving if he comes here.
I mean, I'm just I'm just saying I look at it like if you
trade for him. So I explained this to someone. I explained this to
Tom Aaron Vegas. Shit I get explained on Tom a Look, I said,
if you look at James Harden's career, he's in his midlife crisis.
Man, when you're finally right, I'm like when he first was in the
NBA's gonna cut the beer. No, he's gonna come back because with the
mustache and like some like a like a jacket, They're gonna be like,
what why do you do it? Smith Needle and the Hayes gonna be playing
in the batnd like that reference shook? How about that? That one's way
better than Ziema and whatever? See movie you referenced earlier sixty you look at
James. No, okay, we're gonna talk about that in the third segment
roots I have I have great movies. When you look at James though,
and okay, see it was I want to get paid. They didn't pay
them, so it's I want my own team, goes to his own team
gets paid. Well, I want all these guys to join me. All
those guys join him, do I joins them? All the other guys join
him. Well, this isn't working out, so I kind of want to
go somewhere else. So he go somewhere else, and that somewhere else is
Brooklyn to play with us friends. That doesn't you know, go according to
that one. I feel like he can't be blamed for, like I know,
James horning a lot of shit for jumping teams. A lot of people
would leave that situation. You would leave a situation where one of your co
workers was openly refusing to work for sixty five of the eighty five days or
eighty two days that you work, like you would absolutely anyone would leave that
situation. Yeah, I mean, to be fair, it was like James
got the Brickley to play with his friends and they went, I don't like
that freend Like it's like when you start hanging out with someone more and Martin,
you realize, actually we're not that compatible, like this not great.
So and then he's like, well, I want to try to win a
title. So he goes to Philly and he plays under the you know it,
plays under Daryl Morey essentially, and then that there's another very important component
of that equation, which I also feel like, gets left as soon as
he got traded to with Doc Rivers team, Like you knew that it was
going to end disastrously, you knew, and not even just because of Doc,
but the like the way that Doc treats players and deals with the media,
especially after a massive flint, like after a flame out, like you
know that that's not gonna work. I feel like he gets I feel like
he should getting two buys on some of these trade requests to be perfectly fair.
Yeah, I don't disagree. I think the Philly thing was just kind
of doomed from the beginning. Yeah, and then there's the other caveat with
Philly, which I'll get into in a second. But then now I think
he's in I just want to go home stage of his life, like it's
like all these other things. Yeah, Okay, let's let's not go too
far from Missus Girl, Tomatoes Man, Live Thanos life. The other thing
with Harden that I don't think gets enough um airtime right now is whether or
not we want to talk about the dirty little secret in Philadelphia. There was
some variation of a handshake deal last offseason and Philly, I'm not gonna say
they rendb on it, but like they did not commit to the level.
So do we also going back to kind of we were talking to Eric Gordon
stuff the Clippers. I it's not crazy to think wave Derek Gordon thinking,
because they may be thought, for whatever reasons, that Harden was going to
opt in or opt out and then open up. You know what I'm saying,
the sign and trade possibility, is that right? Or is that off
base? Without have even been possible. They were too they were too far
over the log point they would have had to offer like PG remember I not
to that level. I remember I did the math one day, and I
think it was like they would have had to offload like fifty million, I
mean to like, okay, so get rid of four, like get rid
of the three fours that that we probably need to cut anyways, and you're
more than three quarters of the way there, Yeah for one guy. Yeah,
yeah, okay, that makes sense. I I don't know if they
knew he was opting in, at least to the point where like they had
already I think they had already made the decision on Eric, okay ahead of
time and somehow makes it way worse. But okay, yeah, especially in
the NBA when everyone everything like that, it's always worse. Um, And
like if they if they had just kept Eric, they could have traded him
to Philly who he would have been really good next to dymb two um,
but with hardened I think he gets blamed too much for as Will said,
for some of the stuff and then other stuff is the stuff that he just
does on his own. He showed up in Houston in a fat suit and
was like, hey, guys, what's up? And like everyone's like,
oh, that doesn't look like you're normal. You know, muscular definition,
there is checking out. Wait, you mean a player perhaps working himself into
shape. He sounds like a clipper. We got it all. He checks
all the box. It sounds like Shack with his big till in two thousand
and two. Um, so where are we all kind of at on the
should the Clippers do this? Because it does seem like the stop is Terrence
and or Norm Adam will start with you, Adam straight chilling Oslin For those
of you not on the YouTube, he's just posted up in his chair up
today today, Adam said. Adam said, never on Wednesdays, bro Um,
what'd you do the hardened trade? Are you doing the harden trade?
Involving Terrence? Man? Are we going all in win this chip? And
whatever happens happens. I don't know if it's going to take Terence Man,
but if it does, I like the way Justin put it. If you're
giving up Man, you're not giving up draft picks or vice versa. Because
Philly's in such a difficult spot right now without other suitors. It looks like,
at least at the moment, for James Harden because they know he's hell
been on wanting to come to the Clippers, and Justin touched upon it.
But I think he would for sure be back and not end up going anywhere
else after this season unless things went so terribly because he wants to be back
home as well. I think that's part of the allure of being a Clipper
and joining these guys that are trying to do something for the first time in
a place they grew up. Winning a championship with the Clippers. I think
that's part of the equation. But my biggest reason, Justin, I'd love
to hear your thoughts on this to bring in James Harden is because it could
slot Russell Westbrook in a position that optimizes his talents more, which is playing
more with the secondary unit and maybe coming off the bench to start off ball
games. Because I don't see him starting over Harden. If that's the discussion,
whether or not both of them could play next to Kawai and Paul George
and then it beats the Zubas and the starting lineup. I don't know,
but I would love to see Russell Westbrook be featured as the leader of the
second unit, and I think Harden gives you a better chance of that happening.
I love that, Adam, because my question is if, like so,
on one hand, the Clippers have a lot of leverage in that he's
not looking to go to other teams. But on the other hand, if
you're looking at yourself in the mirror, seriously, what is this team ceiling
with the current lineup with Russell Westbrook as your starting point guard? Are we
talking Marcus Morris being on the roster as well, because we're also as constructed
as currently constructed, my friend, and don't let's not forget what he brings
to the rebounding game. I just see there being zero chance that this is
the team they would go into training camp with. I still think there would
have to be moves made, even if the hardness of one of them as
is, this is not okay. So let's say we consolidate the four,
which we've all talked about as being, you know, one of the larger
issues for the amount of salaries that we're paying for what we currently have.
What is this team's ceiling with Russell Westbrook as you're starting point guard? Second
round? Probably right now, that's not But I also like, what seed
like six? I mean, no, I'd say three. I'd say three.
That sounds crazy because that sounds insane. But then look at the rest
of the West. What other team in the West besides Denver and Phoenix can
you sit there and say unequivocally better than the clips on paper? I would
I wouldn't say Sacramento or Golden State, I wouldn't Memphis. No New Jaws
gonna be out twenty five games. I think New Orleans if if they're all
healthy and Zion you know, peaks, they can be a real problem.
And they have the exact same question as the Clippers. So it's kind of
like, yeah, Sons probably better. Not a lot of depth, but
it's it's one of those things when you look at all the teams in the
West outside of Denver, because Yokas just never gets hurt, and I hope
to god, I didn't just jinx that. But like you look at the
rest of the teams. Phoenix has guys who give hurt, durant and beal.
You know, they've missed games the last couple of years, book or
miss games the last couple of years. You look at the Lakers obviously a
D and Lebron of miss games. You look at Memphis obviously jaws out for
twenty five games right off the bat um. You look at any of the
other teams, there's there's questions there. There are questions, like Sacramento last
year had an incredible amount of health and then it kind of caught up to
them in the in the playoffs because Sabonus had the thumb issue and all this
other stuff. But like you look at these other teams in the West,
and there's not a team outside of Denver just because I mean it's Yo Kitch,
but all the other West teams there are questions about health. And I
just think we're at the air of the NBA level now where every team for
the most part, has big health question marks. You know, Milwaukee has
health question marks. In the East, Philly has health question marks. You
know, you start going down Miami does too. Jimmy Butler missus games.
Lakers in the list. You know you start, yeah, Lakers, and
they're like, it's every team for the most part, has you know,
no one's really playing, you know, seventy five eighty games a year,
unless their name is mckel Bridges, who apparently can play eighty three. I
hope he can. But that's how this show works. Yeah, I mean
it's uh, as far as the Clippers are constructed right now, I could
see them being a second round team. Um, but as the playoffs have
proven, it's all matchup related. Like it doesn't seed. I want,
we're not the heat. I Like, I know that the Lakers reconstructed their
team, but like looking at the conference finals last year, Like, you
can't say that seed doesn't matter. That's fair. I do think that last
year is an anomaly as far as like teams making it as far as being
you know, from the play in Like I because last year what was historically
the most compressed year ever in terms of standings, Like, like teams were
just way too close together, like historically speaking, Um, so seed doesn't
matter. I shouldn't say seating doesn't matter, but I mean the Clippers have
said over and over seating doesn't matter to us, and then obviously it matters.
And then Lawrence Frank gets up there at the end of the regular season
this year and I was like, we gotta take the regular season seriously.
And we're all looking around the room going out wonder at talking about and staff
is going, it is what it is? What? Who was he talking
to? You know? So I think they could be a top four seed.
I do, as currently constructor, I think they could. I think
it's three years. I just don't think Kawai. I can see Kawai and
PG. I don't think play enough to make one or two. And it's
not a knock on them. I just don't think that. Like we've we've
kind of tried that strategy. It feels like, well, I hope you're
ready for fewer backs. I mean, I'm always ready for fewer back to
backs. So I mean, based on the scheduled dates, it looks like
they've tried to limit back to backs again because they pushed the end of the
regular season back two weeks. They pushed the start of the regular season back
to the twenty fourth, and they've pushed the final day of the regular Season
APO, which is two weeks after it ended this past year or so.
But um, I was when I went to Summer League on a Saturday.
The first day I was there, I went to the what was it called?
It was NBA at an Okay, but that's where they had but that's
where they announced the details of the N Season Tournament and so they did all
that stuff there and then I was I was at the convo between Joe Dumar's
Byron Spreual and Evan Wash, and Evan Wash was kind of the mind behind
the analytical side of the N Season tournament to get it to work, and
they said, this is what they said is during knockout rounds, teams that
are not playing and knockout rounds are going to play the next night after those
games. So essentially the way that I kind of understood that was there's a
block of schedule in November where teams don't know where they're playing. They're just
not going to know because because you know, if they if they get out
of there, if they don't get out of the knockout round early enough or
if they get knocked out early, they're going to be playing teams who also
got knocked out early and you don't know who those teams are, So I
kind of think that's going to be their way to also limit back to backs.
Like the n Season Tournament, those games are not going to be back
to backs, at least not the second night of the back to I mean
that begs the questions Brussel. Could the Clippers, as currently construction constructed,
win the NBA Cup? The Cup? You don't think they can win the
Cup because if a team wins that, do they have an immediate Clippers will
they're doing basically a preview of everything that's going to happen to the winner of
the n Season Tournament. They will just be roundly mocked. Will say it
means congrats on the five hundred thousand dollars, but we don't care. Before
we move on to the hot take, I do want to ask about somebody
else who's been brought in as a Clipper now that a lot of people are
looking at for some time, including us on this show. But kJ Martin,
justin I brought up in our last episode. I'd love to see him
get twenty minutes a night. Bottom at least twenty minutes a night. Is
that crazy? I know, there's still still depending on what happens with guys
moving in that position and what transpires in the offseason. But how much should
he be playing in your mind twenty five? I think he's gonna be a
twenty five minute per game guy. I think that I think he gives them
things that they just don't have. I I know everyone's gonna focus in on
like, you know, he's this incredible dunker and all this stuff, and
yes he's he really isn't agree. I think he was seventh this past season
and dunks I wrote about him a couple of weeks ago, and it's fit
on the team. Like, I don't think people realized how efficient he is
around the rim. I think among qualified players, I think he was like
neck and neck with Anthony Davis on field goal percentage around the rim to see
it for this past year, which I think he was like fourth or fifth
in the league at that point. So like, yeah, he finishes around
the rim like an elite big man and six six six seven, you know.
And I think that he has a little bit more defensive ability than people
think. He said he's working and has more off the dribble game than he
was able to show in Houston. Whether or not I'm I feel comfortable with
watching that transpires another story. But um, you know, I mean,
he says he has it, so you gotta believe him until he shows he
doesn't. I don't know if I buy the three point shooting with him.
I also don't think it'll matter. For the most part. I think I
think if they really have gone all in two I'm not gonna say small ball,
I don't think. I don't think they've gone all into that as evidence
by Mason Plumley being black, which it's great, Yeah, it's it's fine.
I mean, Zoo was basically dead in the water for seventy percent of
the season last year before they acquired him. I look at it as USU,
you miss it when I had your name is loves maps, which I'm
hoping someone points out, No, actually I saw that. I saw that.
Chuckle. Um. But I think I think he gives them a different
ability to play basketball. When I talked to him at his introductory press scrum
in Vegas, kJ, I asked him, I said, do you think
people focus too much on positions and rather than skill set? And he said,
I'm a basketball player, it doesn't really matter. What position you throw
me in? You know, I'm there to play. But he did say
he's a three, four and five. So great. I mean, if
you have if you have three positions, I don't know if you have any
position, but you know, look, I'd rather I'd rather the Clippers have
him than not have him. I think he's a great fit for them.
I I think he's so much different than Terrence Man that they could have conceivably
played. Yeah, he's a much more I agree with that. I mean,
I don't think he has the playmaking that Terrence Man has, or the
ability to even handle the ball now that Terrence Man has an incredible ability to
handle the ball, but more than kJ Martin in terms of starting an offense
on a second unit or something like that. We were talking about that second
unit of what was It was like Terrence bones kJ, Norm Plum and then
like Norm is like an insanely fun sounding second unit. I don't know what
how defending, but offensively, that's a really fun unit to watch. It
would be interesting because I think I think plumb Ly and I wrote about this,
I think Plumbly and kJ can play together even with the like without the
spacing element. Really especially because Plumbly such a good facilitator from the elbows,
and they could run really interesting four or five or five four pick and rolls
if they really want to. But the one thing I did right is if
you have kJ Martin, you can't have them on the floor alongside a center
and Russ. That's three people charging towards the paint at every opportunity, right
right. I don't think that is a way forward. But if you took
a center off the floor or you took Russ off the floor, I think
it's good. I think it good work. It also depends on what forwards
remain on the roster beyond just Kawai and PG. So you know, I
mean, the thing I've been kind of beating the drama out for the last
couple of months is it's time for Kawai and PG to start playing the three
and the four, like they need to stop being twos and threes and need
to start being threes and fours. I think there's Marcus Morrison the starting lineup.
So I don't know what to tell you. So some some some are
saying, of course, all right, we gotta take it right because you
gotta give the advertisers an opportunity to help us pay our light bill. We're
gonna be talking some offseason hot takes as well as how often Russo is gonna
be wearing his sunglasses at games next year. The ads have been allowed for
you. Go ahead and turn it down. We got ads going up in
three two. All right, we're back. Welcome in the clips and debt.
If you're just tuning in, uh, look, we're rounding it.
We're rounding this thing off. We're gonna talk about some offseason hot takes as
well as, uh, some of my favorite justin Russo, I wear um
So Russo. I'll kick it to you. What is your or hottest take
for the upcoming Clippers season? My hottest take is if the Clippers were all
in on a third guy. I think the third guy should be Zach Lavin.
That's my hottest take. WHOA is that a truthful hot take? Like
that's a real belief for yours? Or you just skip bailing it, skip
bails seing it. Hey, that's we are. We are. All of
our hosts believe everything they are, All of our guests believe everything they say.
Come on, don't so he's playing the tune next to Russell Westbrook in
the starting line up. Yeah, if if I had it, it would
be Russ Levine pg I. I generally think that um, just speaking from
a basketball standpoint, that Levine has been pretty underrated the last couple of years.
Look at him because of the yeah yeah, yeah, well and the
injury. Yet I think the thing that people also have overlooked because of his
injuries, how durable he's been. Like since like the last four years,
he's played like eighty five percent of the games. Like that's like Clipper fans
would kill for a guy like that to play, you know, eighty five
percent of the games a year, you know. So, like I remember,
like the one of the things everyone loved about Russ has his availability,
and it's like, okay, well you know so. But with Levine on
the court, I think he is an elite shooter who doesn't get the acclaim
of an elite shooter simply because people still view him as just a dunker.
And like you look through his career, he's an elite elite, elite,
elite catching shoe guy, UM, elite driving to the rim, elite finisher
around the rim, great jump shooter, you know, mid range, et
cetera. No he's not a good not a good defender. But I also
bath my big yeah, my, my big gripe has been I think I
think people care about defense. That's your big grime. I've been my big
gripe lately. Yeah, I think people give us. I think you're right.
I agree with you, like even when like the Clippers defense has like
then the best and the offense is like slogging, you're not stopping one hundred
percent of it, like what we should you care about it? I'm not
saying he said too much, too much. I think that's one hundred percent
fair. I want games to be ninety two to seventy four. Also,
I want I want the pen date beyond Mitchell's playing each other every single game
and no West of course, Spurs Piston give me that. Weren't the Bulls
a top ten defense last season? I've seen him play good defense at times.
I think a lot of it is he has too much of the scoring
load on his plate to focus much energy on that end. I'm a big
fan of Zach Levine, so I don't know if this is my hot take
jumping on and piggybacking onto with Justin Russo SAand but I do think there's a
lot more to his game that's substance than style than people realize. So what's
your offer in this scenario for Zach Lavine? I think you just offer everything
you can I thought. I think with Levine, like Taran, there were
the reason I went offer two First you can trade and then whatever salary to
get Yeah, because Vine. Yeah, because Levine's locked up to a longer
deal, so like you don't have to worry about you know, like,
oh he might walk. I also think the fact that he's I think he's
twenty seven, So I'm not I'm not exactly sure if that's how if I
feel like he's twenty seven, Okay, the whole credibility one, it's on
this next No, But like he's got age workings in this way, he
has the athleticism the Clippers need, especially in the open floor. You know,
a league offensive player gotten better as a playmaker over the years. I'm
not going to say he's a great player, but you have enough like the
guys who can kind of playmake. We have a lot of those guys.
Also, Levine locked in for two more years and then a player option in
twenty six twenty seven, when he's thirty one, which is really helpful for
the Clippers. Yeah, I think I generally think I would that I would
go for him over James Harden. But I will say I understand why the
Clippers would go for James Harden. All the guys on the team like James
Harden. He's from the area, one year left. If it all goes
bad, you can just knuke the whole thing anyways, So I get it.
But with Levine, I think the upside play is a little bit longer
at fuck because I think with LAVIDI keeps your window open like an extra year,
almost just because of his age. Yeah, I think it's very well.
What's your hot take? Hot take? Oh man, I really did
not plan ahead for this one at all. Um. I mean you're recording
from my kitchen because you're late from work and you didn't have any time to
prepare. What the hell man? My hot take? Um? Is this
idea stemming from the weather recently in the heat waves, like, oh,
we gotta go hot takes today too? Sweaty chuck, I'm covered in sweat.
I'm in a tiny room. This is a nightmare for everyone who's watching
on YouTube. They can just see me pouring sweat right now. You guys
said the Clippers should spend the first three quarters of the season trying to give
Paul George his absolute best numbers season that he's ever put up to get him
the hell off this team. WHOA, That's what I'm going with. It's
a pretty good hot take. I think you gotta pump up that value.
Let's try to get a little return, baby man, that's a solid one.
Chuck, who are you at something? She's not happening. It's just
not gonna happen yet. It's not gonna happen. But it's also not happening
like the Hilary ob isn't happening with this iteration of the team. So I
would say, try to maximize your value, don't be fucking Darryl Morey in
this situation, and really wait it out. Hot take for the season.
I have a crazy one, but I don't know if it's if it's even
possible, would be that Tyler would be fired mid season? WHOA? What?
I have no idea how that would happen. You want to replace him?
I'm not saying I want that to happen. I'm just saying I think
that take it is. No, I know, I don't think it takes
necessarily that. I think the possibility of it's there. The thing that I
would want to happen would be I'm gonna steel Russos the Levine trade. He's
talked me into it. I don't know if Harden that seems like a nightmare
from your own bit rufe still did that one? Come on? I did?
I said Tyler would maybe get fired. Um. Too many hokeloaders on
this podcast, justin there's a lot of freeloaders on this podcast. One of
them is freeloading in my damn kitchen right now. Uh no, hot take,
Oh, this one is again. These are the things I don't want
to happen, but I think they might. Hot take Marcus Morris starting for
Opening Night. That's what I say that because I hate that's a crazy thing.
That's insane. They've already tried to trade him. What I do,
that's a I think that would be insane if that happened. All right,
how about that? I actually it's a lot more than that. But Chuck,
Chuck's right on the surface, it's it's insane to see that happen.
But I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. And I'm not
gonna say he didn't say that it is. I'm not gonna say that as
of right now where we sit, that does not seem like that wild of
a scenario that they've already tried to trade him. I think it would be
pretty wild. Yeah, already tried to move him. The first thing they
did and cut. Eric Gordon was saying, let's get Marcus Morris off the
team, and then the Celtics were like, you can't see our medical reports,
and then they said okay by which was the right decision. But was
it the right decision Roussett, Yeah, yeah, so thank you. Justin
Here's the thing, the Cookers wanted more from what I have heard, I've
talked to a couple of people about this. The Slippers wanted more time to
review the medical stuff. And Boston was up against a deadline because of porzingis
Is having to pick up his player option. But like, I guess there's
some wishy washiness a foot there where like Boston could have talked to Porzingis about
pushing the deadline back so that Washington Porzingis could have pushed it back so they
can negotiate the other thing. But I don't know what really happened on that
front. But basically, the Clippers wanted, you know, I wanted time
to look at the medical stuff, and it just didn't. They weren't out
four of the time. I'm not saying anyone's really at fault there. I'm
not gonna blame Boston. It is their fault, but I'm not gonna blame
Boston. But no, I think they were fine too back out of it.
It'll be interesting because they might go back and talk about Brogden again.
I don't know. I mean, we'll see he Broughton FETs. He's always
we got a lot of offensive guys always, he's a perfect Clipper. Um
well, justin okay, so I haven't pegged it. Two and a half.
Will took the over. Adam took the under on games. You're gonna
wear sunglasses too next season? Where do we think it's under? It's under?
So too, it's under, it's under all right? So are you
counting it as games where I show up in the sunglasses even though you're wearing
them the whole time? Oh the whole time? Not? Okay? Well,
he's been bitten by that once. He's not gonna make that mistake again.
And we thought you were the slash of reporters. We'll see, we'll
see if he doesn't get bitten by that again. I mean I walk in
sometimes with them on, but then I'll take them off for the regular glasses
later on. That's always happens. And uh, well, I hope nothing
happens to your glasses when you're before the game. Thanks forty one home games
for me. Don't figure something out to get into two games wearing those sunglasses.
Just tell everyone there, Joe. Please, guys, you don't need
to steal these. So thank you so much for joining Clips and Dip.
It's our second season. It's been wonderful to have you. Where can these
fantastic, highly intelligent listeners find your work Because you recently made a bit of
a change, it's still your elite Clippers coverage. Despite when you try and
talk about Marcus Morris helping out on rebounds. People were so mad at you
for that tweet, and it is so funny to me, Oh you were
the John Snow it was well, the funny part was it. I think
you literally just tweet out like WHOA something weird? I'd noticed Marcus Morris the
dada, but like, it wasn't some like Marcus Morris needs to be starting,
Like you literally just pointed it out. So the funny the funny part
about that was it's quite literally what the Clippers were. You totally reason for
him starting. So it's not like I just brought it to the forefront as
like you don't think it had something to do with just players on the court
more comfortable with him because of his shot creation in the past, and Kawuhi
and Paul George wanted him out there are coach lu Warrant out there for that.
I think that played a factor. And then I think they they looked
at numbers that basically said, hey, when he's off the floor, but
all the other guys are on. You know, some of our rebounding numbers
are are down, some of our defensive numbers are down. You know,
some of our three point numbers are down. It wasn't This isn't to say
that Marcus Morris was an incredible difference maker on the floor, because all this
stuff was kind of marginal to a little degree. But at the same point,
it's what they looked at. I mean, they have an analytic staff
that went over stuff. And if I'll put it to you like this,
if if the numbers are saying that things are somewhat even in a lot of
capacity, and then you ask the players who they would prefer, and the
players picked that guy out there. That's just the way it's going to be.
Makes sense. No, my dog is walking around it trying to chew
on things that I'm trying to stop them. That's going dangerous. So where
can these people find your fantastic work now that we've you can find me on
substack at Justin Russo dot substack dot com. I haven't started. It's free
for right now, but it will be subscription based during the regular season.
But for right now, it's still free if people want to stop buy and
read stuff and just see the random things I end up writing about, Like
in the process of writing about five guys five types of role players that the
Clippers should possibly look at that are like non stars. So like, for
instance, one of the guys on the list is d Anthony Meltons. There
we go about maybe a PJ. Twiper in there. He might be a
future Clipper as we talked about before. I Well, thank you so much.
Well, where can these fantastic people find this podcast which will be out
next week around Wednesday Thursday maybe with the guest. Who knows? Where could
they listen to us? So you could check us out wherever you to your
podcast, Apple podcast or Spotify, you can leave a radio or review for
us, which really helps us out. But we're also on Google Podcasts,
at your deezer, Amazon Music, and check out our YouTube over at YouTube
dot com slash Clippers podcast Chop it up, Chop it up with us anytime
over on Twitter that's at clippers pod. Yeah. But Adam one positive thing
to let these fans off with while they enjoy their weekend. Justin Russo looks
good in glasses. I don't know what. He's a stylish guy. I
see him all the time hanging out with the gm ROW. Yeah. Now
say, I'll be back on this podcast like you are the terminator, I'll
be back on the spot. We thank him for listening back to you next
weekend. As always, what do we say, Oh, yeah, that's
right, let's go clips