Roger Pete Jonas knocked in for Fred Rogan. Let's bring on the guy with
the god those the Slipper countdown, pregame, post game, in between game
halftime. All that is the double A. He's not salty today because President
here, so he's good. I was gonna be salty, but then I
got high. I mean, like this isn't in this a little in this
a little disrespectful to Christmas? You know, like bing Crosby, Nat King
Cole, Like there's there's some like legendary Christmas artists out there, and now
they've done this to the Christmas. And you know, Jonas, you say
that as you have snoop on the stoop sitting on your shelf there, Well,
I mean there's nothing wrong with that. I mean it goes everywhere.
Come on, hey, were you guys fooled at all about the snoop uh
going smokeless? The whole the ad that he had going on. I think
it's some some company that does the smokeless air smokeless. Yeah, but he
did the whole thing for about a week of I'm giving it up, smoke,
giving up the smoke. I fell for. He got on the detox
before Dre did huh you knew by the way he worded it, he said,
I'm giving up smoke. He said, I'm not smoking anymore. I'm
giving up smoking. That's what kind of at least tipped me. And people
were generally mad when he when I found out it was an ad that you
turned. You could have helped so many kids out there. It's like,
it's like with Joonah Hill lost weight, Like fro what are you doing?
It's like, what's wrong with you? Trying to get healthy? I can't
be skinny and funny now you Luther Vandross have a heart attack. That's hilarious.
We need a fat Luther. Oh man, my man who was an
Americanato Rubens and just disappeared off the face of the earth. Yeah, people
want you. They hated Oprah when she lost that work. I'm tired of
the skinny shaming man, disrespectful. All right, I'm gonna start with the
Lakers. I thought you were going to transition to James hard enough. Okay,
I'm glad we didn't. I'm glad weaving the best Fret's not here.
Don't worry about it. Yeah, it's a different show today. Yes,
it is so they get blown out in Philly, they get bullied in Philly,
and they, as I was telling Jonas, they were lucky scheduling guys
were in their favor to have the Pistons on the schedule at this point because
it's a stat builder, a get it's a get right kind of situation or
feel good at least they go in there. What do you make of this
Laker team right now? And I know it's still November, and as Jonah
says, it's November, nobody cares, But what do you make of the
team right now? I mean, they seem to care about the n season
tournament. They might be going to the championship, the game they're going to
Vegas. Baby, that's another question. I want to ask you about that
too. But but in terms of the Lakers and where they're playing right now,
they've been up and down. They've been inconsistent. But as Lebron has
mentioned multiple times, well there's no continuity because we don't have our full team
yet. Now you can argue that, well, how often are you going
to have your full team if the young guys are now getting injured and it's
a d and Lebron actually playing more, But they don't have Ruey Hachimore,
they don't have Van Do, they don't have Gabe Vincent. It's tough to
get a full beat on just where they're at, what their identity is.
But they go as their two superstars do, and last night it doesn't say
much beating up on a Detroit team that looks like one of the worst teams
we've seen since the Philadelphia seventy six ers were in trust the process mode.
They look that bad out there tonight. I think they're gonna have a tough
time against an OKC team, depending on who's playing for the Lakers. If
you've seen that injury report. By the way, Lebron's questionable ads probable with
the hip thing. But the OKC thunder are coming off a really tough loss
to the Timberwolves, and they're not just looking like a top six seed a
team that's out of the play in situation. Now. They might be a
top four seed in the West with SGA and them and all that young talent
and chet holmgrim back, and I think they're gonna get up for this game
against the Lakers, not just because they lost recently in a bad way,
but as the Lakers, everybody gets up for them. I mean, their
head coach likes to talk about it all the time in Darvin Ham. Tough
to wear that jersey sometimes, but the other times you get a lot of
calls out there too. I think they are what a plus five hundred and
free throws attempted over the last year or something like that. What there's benefits
did I It might have been gracious there, But now this Lakers team,
we haven't found out enough early this season. They just haven't been tested enough,
and so many teams have been banged up. It's just hard to get
a read on how good everyone is currently, and especially this Lakers team.
But the one thing I always say about them is what makes them so dangerous
is they get seventy points in the pain almost every night, and the three
points shooting with them can come and go and they can still win games.
It's almost like a bonus when they're actually knocking down three pointers. Most of
the league has to rely on that shot. The Lakers don't feel that way.
It feels that when Lakers are hitting three it's like, oh, this
is a little icing on the cake, this a little extra for him.
When d Lo's going off like that, they can't lose. He had five
three pointers last night, got off to that hot start. He tends to
be that barometer. If he's having a good night, typically the Lakers win.
And I don't know if you want to be too reliant on him having
to have a good night, but the point is early on this season there's
just too many question marks and too much inconclusive data when it comes to the
Lakers. Adam, we were talking about the amazing fifteen straight losses by the
Detroit Pistons. I mean, it is an amazing feat what they have pulled
off and accomplished. I got to ask you all your times being there covering
the Clippers at the Crip formerly Staple Center, who's the worst team you've ever
seen? Then you look back on and go, that's an NBA team,
like the worst team you've seen. I mean the Lakers during those seven years
when they didn't make the playoffs and they saw Robert Sokra out there and a
lot of guys I couldn't remember, and they were being led by Jordan Clarkson
and people said they were at least stats Hey, when Chris Cayman was laying
down on the bench just in horror, of what he had to see when
Nick Young was out there on the court and Chris Caman was laying there taking
up five seats because they barely had any guys in uniform or any guys good
enough to be in uniform. It was brutal watching those Lakers years, regardless
if Kobe was out there or not coming off the torn Achilles. Hey,
we're doing too. Is it harder to win fifteen straight to lose fifteenth straight?
Ooh? I mean I think Detroit just as anyone won fifteen straight so
far this season. No, somebody will lost fifteenth straight. I guess.
I guess it means it's easier to lose fifteenth straight. You're right, it's
not easy to be that bad. You almost have to be in tank mode.
And they brought in Mani Williams to develop this young talent. You got
that huge exorbitant contract coming away from Phoenix. They shouldn't be this bad with
Cade comming him back. But you watched that game last night, and after
the Lakers got up by three, it looked like Detroit was like, well,
here we go again. We're down three. It's an insurmountable lead.
We're not gonna win tonight and they just gave in and knew they were gonna
lose that ballgame. So when you've mentioned the N Season Tournament, I mean,
gotta be honest, it still feels a little goofy to me, like
the courts. The Kevin Figures tried to lay it out, like, what
is your opinion of the N Season Tournament thus far as we approach the conclusion
of this whole thing soon, Well, I get it's fun to mock and
the courts, and depending on how good your television is doesn't always translate that
well. I can say this being at a Clippers game for a couple of
them on the blue court, when you're more eye level with the players,
when you're a little bit lower and you're not staring down at the court where
the camera angle is on TV. It plays better that way, and I
think the players do like it, at least when the courts not peeling and
they mess up the three point line, which is just an abomination. I
can't believe they could have amateur hour like that, my goodness. But look,
the most a billion dollars operation, Adam, Come on, all they
had to do to be successful with the N Season Tournament is be slightly more
exciting than the NBA typically is during November and December when they're competing against the
NFL. That's how low the ball is. That's all they have to clear,
and I think they're gonna end up doing that. I think the ratings
will come out better this time of the year versus last year, in the
last couple of years in the NBA in November December, because there's a little
more intrigue. Even when somebody is complaining about it and not understanding it,
even that is attention towards the NBA, that bad press can still be good
for them. So look, I think it is a little bit wacky right
now. But there's also a lot of players, a lot of the European
guys are like, oh cool a cup to play for. Yeah, it's
like soccer over here. And the five hundred k for some guys that are
making a couple MILLI year, I mean that's huge, big deal. Let
me tell you something, I don't care if you are making your one of
those fifteen to twenty million dollar guys when you get a chance, uh to
make five hundred k on top of that something that you maybe weren't expecting that
is something you fight for too. And I said this, once they get
to Vegas and it's that what is down to the final four, right goes
to Vegas or whatever, those guys are gonna start playing and it's gonna it's
gonna mean something to those guys because that check is staring them in the face
and that's an extra five hundred k. Yeah, let's let's let's go play,
especially if they lost their ass in the casino the night before. Through
that, yeah, that helps. But I guarantee you as it gets down
to the nitty gritty and they kind of almost can touch that five hundred grand,
it doesn't matter how much money you make, like this is some extra
chips, Adam. I want to ask you before we move to the to
the Clippers. I watched that game against Philly where they got blown out by
forty four, and is it time to just stop asking the question? When
is a D gonna be consistent? When is AD gonna be a D?
When is a D gonna turn it on? Is it time to stop that?
Because it's one night here, two nights here, one night there,
and to watch them getting manhandled and bullied by Joel Embiid. I don't know
if that's in him. I don't know if that's the guy that's gonna be
dominant weekend and win like Embiid. You know he's gonna come win it every
night. He's gonna give it to you. If he's on the court,
he gonna give it to you. Giannis gonna give it to you every night
he's on the court. And we can't say the same thing about AD.
I think his identity as a player is being consistently inconsistent. That's what it
is. And granted, we hold him to a higher standard because of how
good he has looked at times out there. And there was a real conversation
during the twenty twenty Bubble Championship that Anthony Davis was the better player than Lebron
James. It was at least a conversation. It was very close. He
hit the game winning three pointer against the Denver Nuggets, but he also was
shooting ridiculous numbers from the outside thirty eight percent from three, fifty five percent
from long twos, and I challenge anyone to find a twenty one game stretch
in his career where he ever did anything like that. Again, but outside
of fluky stuff in the bubble Anthony Davis for the most part, this is
who he's been throughout his career. Now he's dominant on the defensive end,
and I would argue he doesn't get enough credit for how consistent he is there.
The energy you have to expend there, it takes something out of your
offense. While Lebron hasn't been able to pass the torch to him for being
the number one option on offense. Defensively, Ad is holding things down on
that end so Lebron can take possessions off, he can conserve energy. About
to turn thirty nine, but it is a little bit alarming that at this
point he still hasn't taken up the mantle and been the guy that is your
go to player each and every night. When they talk about it like he
is coming into this season, this is Anthony Davis's team. They're saying all
the right things, and some of it may be injuries, but you know,
he's he's injury prone. That's who he's been his entire career too,
and he hasn't been able to get away from that. So when he gets
dominated like Demonte Sabonis got to him a few weeks ago, it's almost like
nobody cares that you're injured, because we've seen this before where you just take
nights off and you just seem passive out there. And that's what's so frustrating,
I think for Lakers fans. You know it's in him, but he
consistently defers. And part of it may be me just playing that position where
you have to be dependent on guys getting you the basketball, and he's a
great screen setter, but it's not like he can just create everything on his
own, bring the ball up the court, call his own number and things
like that. When you're a big man, it's not as easy to be
the number one option sometimes. But I still think there's more to Anthony Davis
that he needs to show if he's ever going to get rid of that stigma
of him being mister inconsistent out there. And he's capable, we know he
is, but look, he goes through a long playoff run, and if
the Lakers won the championship and he was fantastic, that would erase all these
bad feelings towards Anthony Davis from Laker Nation, Adam, the Clippers looked good
last night. Obviously, James Harden played well, Kawhi Leonard was fantastic.
It was really the most complete game that probably all those guys have played while
on the court together since James Harden has been there. And I know that
reviews early on have been disappointing. They were what owned four to oh to
five when he first got in. But just from a fit standpoint, locker
room wise and reputation wise, how is James Harden blended in with the team,
Because this is another guy that's had the reputation of he gets somewhere,
he's unhappy, he wants out, and there's problems. What have you heard?
Well, he already had a relationship with Russell Westbrook and that's the dynamic
that was going to be interesting. It was gonna be a little bit touchy
because obviously James Harden, he's the better player. He is, he should
be in the starting lineup. So bringing Russell Westbrook off the bench finally,
after six straight losses, five straight with James Harden, that was the move.
Did they take too long to make it? I mean I was calling
for it back in July when they were saying James Harden could be a Clipper.
I said, okay, then Russ has to move to the bench.
You can't have two ball dominant guys. Was the same problem with the Lakers.
You can't have Russ playing next to Lebron, you can't have Russ playing
next to James Harden. And hope to get the best out of those two
guys because they are at their best when the ball is in their hands.
But they do get along those two as far as we know. Going back
to Houston, they wanted to get back together, and I think all these
guys are motivated to try to do something special for the city where they grew
up. They're all a bunch of socow guys. He Kawhi, Paul George,
Russell Westbrook. There's something to that. But winning solves a lot too,
and they have to start a winning streak here. It's not going to
be easy tonight against Golden State on this back to back, but after losing
six straight, you know they're still a game under five hundred. They are
not out of the woods yet, just because they're now five and two.
Since James Harden's been in the starting lineup without Russell Westbrook next to him,
there are a lot of encouraging signs though overall. Last night, as you
mentioned, Jonas that was a fantastic performance by the Clippers offensively, and it
started with James Harden getting off in that first quarter was seventeen. That's what's
so baffling. The only reason that they were struggling at times is because he
wouldn't shoot. I had people say, oh, he must be washed,
he's done. He just would shying away from taking shots. And then he
comes out shot out of a cannon last night, seventeen in the first quarter,
and everything just kind of flowed off of him. Because he is People
want to make fun of the quote he is a damn system. You have
to admit that because of the way he can run the pick and roll where
it's almost like free points. Sometimes offensively, you have to run the offense
through him. When people complain about the Clippers are too ISO heavy, go
to the pick and roll with James Harden. That's how they won that game
against Houston where he knocked down that four point shot at the three point and
one at the end. They ran pick and roll at the very end with
him and Vitza Zubots and went on a twelve to one run. When it
looked like they were gonna lose that ballgame, they finally showed up big in
clutch time minutes with something that looked like a real system, a foundation,
and not just your turn, my turn, kohiir, Paul George taking tough
jumpers. So I think there's a lot there potentially for this team if they
can balance everything out. What's missing, Adam, do you think with this
team so far? I mean they look good night? Is it another big
man? What's missing? You think? What holes do they need to fill
if they're going to make a serious, serious run. A lot of it's
just time building up chemistry and meshing. But they don't have Mason Plumbley right
now. He'll probably be out three more weeks or so. With that left
mcl sprain and that kind of messed up a lot of their rotations. Now.
They brought in Daniel Tice and he's been very good for him. PJ
Tucker it looks like he might be out of the rotation now. They're going
with Kobe Brown their number one pick this last offseason out of Missou. He
played last night. So they just have so many moving parts. It's tough
to see that chemistry building up when they've only played seven games so far.
With this new starting lineup now, I'll say this, Terrence Man next to
James Harden with PG Kawhi and Visa Zubots. They have been elite out there
in their minutes, and that's the most important thing right now. For example,
Okay, if you don't like the offensive rating defensive rating stuff, I'll
explain it to you. You want to balance out possessions. If you just
went off points per game, some team like you know, the Houston Rockets
or the seven seconds or less Phoenix Suns from back in the day, they
were great offensively, but they also had more possessions, so it doesn't necessarily
tell you how efficient they are offensive and defensive rating does that well. The
best offensive rating in the league right now is held by the Indiana Pacers at
one twenty two. The Clippers starting lineups offensive rating this new starting lineup is
one twenty three. The best defensive rating in the NBA right now is one
zero six by the Minnesota Timberwolves. This new Clipper starting lineup is ninety nine.
So they have absolutely been elite. I think they just need even more
time out there on the court. And last night, when they were only
averaging sixteen minutes per game, this new starting lineup which James Harden and Terrence
Mann instead of Russell Westbrook. Well, last night, coach flu was really
chasing that victory. They played twenty eight minutes together the starting lineup, and
that's why I think they looked so much different. And by the way,
Kawhi Leonard is still him. I was hearing the exact same stuff that maybe
Kawhi isn't the same guy. Well, he had thirty four on eight teen
shots last night, dunked on Javal McGee. It looked like he had a
playoff Kawhi type of moment, like in Game one against the Phoenix Suns where
you called me postgame on Clipperstock Rodney. Hey, there aren't many guys you
take over Kawhi in a seven game series and a must win situation. And
given how much they were reeling with their worst loss of the year against a
Denver team missing their top three guys, they had to show something last night,
and they did. It started with James Harden, but then Kawhi Leonard
absolutely took over. How far off are they from what your expectations were when
he first got here, Kawhi or James James Harden, I apologize James Harden.
Uh well, I mentioned those ratings. They're there. But he cannot
shy away. He can't be passive like Anthony Davis. He has to be
James Harden. You don't bring in James Harden to play him off the ball.
I mean, he's one of the best scorers we've seen in the last
twenty five thirty years, maybe in the history of the game, to be
honest with you, yeah, further than back then. He's a force.
He's an offense unto himself and what he can do for you because when he's
running pick and roll, you don't know whether he's going for the floater,
he's gonna throw a lob, he's gonna drive to the basket, kick it
out for a three pointer. It keeps the defense off balance. It makes
everyone's life so much easier. That's the intent here. What you want is
what they had in Brooklyn. It was only sixteen games with him, Kyrie
and KD, but they went thirteen and three and they had instant chemistry.
The Clippers haven't had it so far, but since taking Russ the starting lineup,
they're five and two with James Harden. It's coming. I don't know
if Tonight is gonna be an easy ball game because the Golden State Oriers are
in that similar position. They don't think they should be two games under five
hundred. They just lost to the Kings after being up by twenty five.
They're gonna be out for blood. Draymond Green is back. It's gonna be
a tough ball game. But they are trending in the right direction. I
would say in a couple weeks, they got to be more of that well
oiled machine where you know what to expect every night from the Clippers. Because
right now, the defense, shockingly with James Harden, has been better than
the offense. So maybe that's encouraging. You say, we know the offense
is going to get there eventually. It's just guys figuring out their roles.
Next to James Harden, the shot distribution is different. How do you stay
in rhythm if you don't touch the basketball for five straight possessions. That's something
they have to figure out absolutely, and hopefully they get that all squared away
and get that rhythm going by Christmas. Adam next game? What Friday night,
Utah, Tonight, tonight tonight, Golden State. We can't get ahead
of ourselves Rodney next Friday, right though they are in Utah. Right Golden
State Slipper Countdown couple cownsound starting at six after Petrow some money right on right
on double A always Thanks brother, good Steph. Good to see you all
right, John, to talk with you, guys, Love you guys.
You Rodney La Sport, La Sport, La sport