I mean, I'm Austin. We got Chuck Mockler on with us. We'll
up die kind of special guest we'll get to in just a moment. Coming
up on today's show. Yes, we'll talk about the Marcus Morris social media
post talking about Clippers fans. We'll also get into more what coach lew said
on the up in Smoke or All the Smoke podcast. Steven Jackson, who
I do own a jersey of the Pacers one because I was a degenerate back
in the day and I thought it was cool that he hit that fan.
It's not cool, guys, it's cool. But for another episode that the
gray area. Either way. We got Joey Lynn, who is a hit
with Clipper Nation. We all love him. He has at Joey Lynn two
ends with an underscore at the end on Twitter. He writes for SI Now.
He also works for the Sporting Tribune. He has the Clips Convo podcast,
and he is one of the most articulate, well spoken members of the
media, not just with the Clippers, just universally accepted that way throughout the
media in the sporting universe. Joey, thanks for joining us here on cn
D. How are you I'm doing great. I'm doing even better after that
intro, I appreciate the love. I should also say as a member of
the Eagles, the Biola Eagles, that is Biola University. I went there
as well. So what division are they playing? Hey, they're D two.
Now. You know what's funny, that's actually kind of how I got
my start in all of this. They were an AIA. No, they
were you might even an AI. I don't know when I first got into
Biola. They weren't nt double A like D two at all. But that's
how I kind of got my start. Was once they got bumped up to
D two, their broadcasts expanded and they actually had like a live stream and
all that, and that's how I got play by play rep. So I
worked out nice for me. So yeah, put some respect on the Eagles
a little D two accent now, yeah, hey man, that's yeah,
that's almost D one. That's good, Joey. Let's put some respect in
your reporting skills. You had the post or the tweet that rock Clipper Nation
a little bit. I guess it wasn't that unexpected, but it confirmed what
some people were hoping it would, which is that James hardened part of the
interests of him coming to the Clippers is because he wants to reunite with Russell
Westbrook. Just talk about their relationship a little bit going back to the Rocks.
Dis Yeah, so listen, I don't never pretend to know more than
I do. I'm obviously only a year into this whole reporting thing. Obviously,
you guys know I've been grinding towards this for several seasons. But in
terms of doing this actually as a job, I've only been in the business
for one full season now. So I don't pretend I guess that to know
more than I do when it comes to scoops and things like that. That
report wasn't that massive. It wasn't anything that I don't think can be really
deduced from people who are just kind of paying attention. But I did want
to put it out because I had seen a lot of people kind of mentioned
that, like way to Russe and James cool, Like, I know,
their time in Houston was a little bit weird. There were some reports during
their time in Houston that Russ I wasn't completely happy with the way that James
goes about his business. Russ actually came out at the time that that report
was published and kind of shut it down on Instagram. So, like I
said, it wasn't that big of a breaking news piece for me to say
that, But I didn't want to put it out because I think there's some
people who may have missed some of those things, which is why I said
it. And I've been talking to a lot of people throughout the course of
the summer. I've been going to a lot of different things, and I'm
probably hearing a lot of the same things that everybody else is hearing. But
as it pertains to that particular report, I can say with with you know,
pretty strong confidence that those two guys are on good terms. They do
have a positive relationship, and I actually have been hearing that for a while
before I put it out, before even Russ actually resigned that part of the
reason why James had the clippers on his radar was because he wanted to play
with Russ again. So it was more so just a little extra piece of
the puzzle. It didn't change a whole lot, but it was something that
I felt was worth But now, because like I said, some people didn't
really know or we're one hundred percent sure that though two guys want good terms.
So there's obviously no issue going back to the Rockets days. But in
speaking to James Harden and his interest seems like he's adamant about coming to the
Clippers. Is there anything else you'd like to break on C and D?
What you can say is Adam didn't clear this with us, Joy, He's
just going around. Listen, this is what me and Adam do. Like
even when I go on the Cliffs Talk Show, we don't talk about,
you know, any of the questions beforehand. We just go man, So
this is this is nothing new for me. But yeah, to answer your
question in terms of things that you guys don't already know, there's nothing I
can tell you on that front. But I think it's pretty obvious to those
who've been paying attention on what's going on here right The Philadelphia seventy six ers
want to continue to keep their championship window open, which is what they should
do with a player like dwell Ebid. So they're not interested in Marcus Morris,
Robert Cummington, Nicholas Patum. You know the tree many just got excited,
right, you know, so people who kind of need to understand that,
like just because these are the expiring contract that the Clippers can be offering
and they make the money work. And even with the lack of interest that
reportedly does you know kind of exist around the league when it comes to hardened.
Philadelphia is not just going to take an offer like that from the Clippers
because they aren't in a situation to do that. They got to keep and
beat Happy, They have to keep their championship when to open. So this
is not a rebuilding team that could just take on expiring money and say,
you know what, we'll just look towards the future. So because of that,
that's why you're kind of seeing a lack of movement on that front in
terms of Harden. So that's not again not all that hard to figure out,
but that's really what's happening right now. And for the Clippers on their
side, they recognize that, hey, look, there isn't a strong market
for James Harden right now, primarily because he can become a free agent at
the end of next season. You don't want to give up a whole lot
for a guy who one doesn't want to be there and two can actually leave
at the end of next season. It's not like Damian Lillard or Kadie from
a year ago, where you know, maybe he doesn't want to be there,
but he's under contract for four years, so you know you can actually
keep him around. There's a different situation. So the Clippers recognize that there's
a lack of interest around the league, So they're not just going to give
Philadelphia everything that they want right now, even if it does you know in
years pass. Comparing it to star packages that are usually sent out doesn't really
line up, even if you do include a guy like Man or some of
these other pieces. But the Clippers will want to hold on too. So
that's where we find ourselves right now. Philadelphia wants what they want, the
Clippers don't want to give that up, and the Clippers feel that as we
get closer and closer to training camp, Philadelphia is going to have to make
a decision. Do we want to accept what's on the table right now or
do we want to bring it potentially disgruntled and unhappy James Harden in a training
camp and then cause potentially problems they're starting the season. So that's where we're
at right now. Again, yes that's from what I've heard, but it's
also not all that hard to figure out when you just look at where they
are right now. But yeah, that's my understanding of what's happened. Do
you think it might turn into a staring contest between like the seventy sixers and
the Clippers about like how to guess a training camp, because I'm obviously I
think most of us are like, it would be nice if the Clippers should
get this done early so everyone can kind of gel and whatnot. So I'm
wondering if that might come into play, and it's kind of I mean,
it just feels like such a sea saw at that point. I actually just
mentioned that on one of my last podcast episodes, where this is a situation
where the Clippers obviously recognize that they're not bidding against very much right now,
time at the same time, right at the same time. The longer you
let this go on, I think there's a few risks that you run,
and one of them is what you just brought up. Some of the others
or I guess, you know, in theory, it would give Philly more
time to maybe mend things with him and sell him on the possibility of coming
back. I don't think that's all that big of a risk based upon what
we're seeing reported right now he doesn't want to be there, so that is
something to consider. And then also too, it gives other teams the opportunity
to maybe think, hey, James Harden might be an option for us,
like a team like the Knicks or some of these other teams that have been
kind of like floated around as potential options for him. So I don't see
those as major risk. But the point that you just brought up was actually
what I said on my last podcat is I think is the major risk for
the Clippers right now. The longer they let this go on, you want
to try to get him in as early as possible because listen, we have
seen this team have to take a little bit to figure things out, right
Like, they've had some pretty significant changes during this Kawhi and PG era,
and it hasn't necessarily been a thing that they figure out right away, especially
when you consider the fact that like guys are in and out of the lineup,
you know, all of a sudden, now we're in you know,
let's say February, and we're you know, putting out those tweets like oh
the Clippers are two and oh this year when fully healthy, it's like you
know what I mean, Like you want to try to get your full complete
roster together as early as possible to give them an opportunity to work things out.
So I do think that that's one of the factors that play here.
Is one Philadelphia doesn't want to run the risk of bringing a disrunted James Harden
into camp. But at the same time, the Clippers don't want to run
the risk of having to enter camp with potentially but guys that are going to
have to be sent out and also without guy who projects to be, you
know, a star and a starter level player on your team. So yeah,
that's definitely a factor I play in all this. Do you think if
Terrence Man was included today the deal would be done with Philly? I do,
Yeah, I definitely do. I think the Clippers know that as well,
because again you look around the league, and this again partially from what
also just partially what's already out there as well. There isn't a whole lot
on the table being offered to the seventy sixers right now for James Harden.
They're just not. So you look at a guy like Terrence Man, who
again he's I don't like calling him a young player because he's really not like
a lot of people call him that, but it's not really what Philadelphia needs.
They need a player who can help them win right now. They don't
need a young player, they need a good player, and Terrence Man is
a good player. See the type of player that would normally be included as
like the key to a star level package. Probably not, but in the
context that we're working within right now, Yeah, I believe that that's probably
the best player that Philly could potentially be able to get. So if the
Clippers were to offer them, I think that that we would be able to
have a deal right now. But I think the fact that the Clippers haven't
offered them speaks to the confidence that they have in the lack of bidding war
that exists right now. Let's play the hypothetical scenario forward a little bit.
Should James Harden become a Clipper, how much do you like the fit?
Where do you think there could be some drawbacks or some negatives? Yeah?
So I went back and forth on this on my last podcast episode, and
what I ultimately landed on was, yes, I do think that this is
a move that they should make. And the reason why I landed on.
That is because you look at where we are in the two one three timeline
right now, it's at the point where I think you're too far past the
point of, well, let's be conservative now right which just where Kawaii and
PG are contractually where your role players are, just in terms of their overall
productivity. So I think you're past the point of thinking, what, you
know what, let's hold on, let's not make a splash like this.
I think you're too late in the game to do that. They have to
make a play to be able to elevate their chances of winning a championship,
but I think they need to do it this summer. Could the Clippers as
currently constructed compete Maybe I kind of lean towards no, just because of the
health issues that we've seen. I just don't think if this were you know,
two K and you could turn injuries off and you look at the roster
that they have, I think you could say, yes, maybe this team
has a shot. But I mean, how realistically, you know, can
can we say that? Right? We've seen this now five years in a
row essentially where you know these guys are gonna miss time, and not only
does that become an issue if they're unavailable in the playoffs, but even before
then, like your seating is is something that you have to consider, Like
all of this is something that needs to be considered. So because of that,
I do think just in a vacuum, a player like Harden is going
to be the type of piece that can take you from maybe a team that's
like really trying to bank on some luck in order to get into the championship
mix to like, you know, if things go right, you should be
in the mixed type situation. So that's kind of where I land on that
in a broad sense. You spoke a little bit about his relationship with Russ
and it's good off the court. On the court, how do you see
those two working? Would they both be in the starting lineup? You think
game one if that was the roster. If I had to guess, I
would say yes. But I think it's a hard thing to say definitively.
I think that's also part of the reason why you would want to get him
in for training camp, right, because you want to look at these types
of things. I mean, last year, the Clippers entered training camp not
knowing who their starting point guard was going to be and they allowed Camp to
kind of make that decision for them. So it's hard to say that definitively
right now. But I do want to bring up one point that I've seen
kind of get float around when you talk about the potential starting lineup of Russ
and together, is that it slides Kawhi and PG up from the PG from
the two to the three, and then Kawhi from the three to the four.
And there are some people who have concerns about that. I have less
concerns about that because I think if you look at the NBA and where it
is right now, yes, there are some physical fours around the league,
but it's a lot different from how it used to be, even when we
were all younger and starting to watch basketball, and you have Blake playing the
four and DJ playing the five, and like Zach Randolph playing the four and
Mark Gasol playing the five, you know, buying them and Gassoul, Like,
if you look around the league, even just a decade ago, and
you see a lot of teams playing two traditional bigs, it's very rare to
see that now. Like, yes, there are guys like Aaron Gordon who's
more physical as a four, Zion Ad if they play him there, Jaren
Jackson if they play him there, and like, those are some things that
you would maybe have to switch your match up for, But just on a
league wide sense, I actually you can make the argument that it would be
better for Kawhi and PG to not have to slide with some of these smaller
guards and some of these more shifty players and actually play up a position than
it would be to keep them where they're at right now. So I don't
think that's as big of a concern when you're just talking about potentially having to
slide those guys up a spot to get hardened in the starting lineup. But
I do understand where people are coming from, but I just don't think it's
as big of an issue where you can say, well, we can't play
this lineup because Gaway can't play the four and PG can't play the three.
One of the reasons I think it would be important for them to get James
Harden is because while he may start in Game one, and that maybe your
back court with him and Russell Westbrook, and they've played together before, and
Russ had two of the best months of his career when the Rockets went five
out but I think it gives you a better opportunity to bring Russ off the
bench. I know you're a big fan of Russell Westbrook. You put up
some audio recently from podcast P and Terrence Man talking about what a great mentor
he is, but he obviously can be a polarising player in the fan base
as well. Just how do you think that fit would be. Would he
be better suited just coming off the bench and running that Secon unit with Harden
being the starting point guard. So I think part of what acquiring Harden allows
you to do as well is that if Russ felt more comfortable in the starting
lineup, or if Harden felt more comfortable running with those guys, even if
you wanted to start them all together, you still have the opportunity to bring
one out at the sixth minute mark and then bring them back in with the
second unit. So I don't think it's as big of a deal who starts
with which group as opposed to who gets the majority of the run with which
group. And I think when you're you're looking at what the Clippers potential roster
construction could be, you can't make the argument that Russ's skill set would be
better off next to some of the guys that are going to be in the
second unit. Again, we don't know one hundred percent who that's going to
be at this point. It could change a lot between now and the start
of the regular season. But his downhill ability playing with a big like Mason
who can finish, you know, playing with maybe a guy like Normangan,
we don't really know what's going on with that situation, but a guy who's
a great guy, shoo guy in Norm you would want to try to maximize
that a little bit. But if you wanted to steal start Russ, I
think you could do that and just bring him back in with that group.
And the addition of Harden, I think allows you to do that even more
so because you're keeping a primary, high level ball handler on the floor at
all times with Kawhi ANDPG. That way, you can keep one or both
of them on the court with Kawhi and PG at all times. I think
that that would be a positive thing. Yeah, it's funny because I feel
like people, you know, people point to the defensive rating, which is
really good with Russ on the floor with Kawhi ANDPG. The offensive rating is
a little low compared to what I think, you know, a championship type
team like we were just talking about, kind of is how does Harden fit
into that? And kind of just a totally separate thing. I think if
we can keep Terence and get Russ on the bench somehow with Harden, that
would be a really fun pairing, just kind of with kJ Martin and stuff
like that. But where do you sit kind of on the offensive fit with
Russ and Kawhi and PG. Is it just more time or what you know?
Because I mean more time is kind of always the answer with the Clippers
stuff. But other than time, what are you think it is? It's
just why I want a minute trading camp, right, That's what it's hard
now, Absolutely why I looked at those notes as well, because when I
was writing my piece about why I thought the Clipper should bring Russ back,
I was looking at a lot of those numbers and obviously, like you said,
the defense looked good, the offensive rating was low. But I think
too one of the things that you have to consider, and Man brought this
up on a podcast episode, was that the Clippers first five games, that
five game losing streak when everybody was freaking out when they first added Russ.
I think four of those games came without Zeah and it bumped Mason into the
starting lineup, which was just not a good hit. And it also just
bum Some people had to take it back some things they said about Mason Fumby's
ability on this team when we saw well, you know, it was funny.
This is a complete side point. I'm not going to go too far
off on a tangent, but I swear like any time a center not named
Zoo does something positive on this team, there's some people on Clippers Twitter or
like, get Zoo out of here. This guy's better, like we've seen
it with almost every single big Clippers have had. That's a completely separate point,
but I know what you're saying. So during that five game stretch,
I think you can't take a whole lot away from the overall sample size that
we saw just you know, per one hundred posessions. Wise, when you're
looking at Russ's entire tenure with the Clippers, because there just wasn't and it
plays into your your answer of more time. There just wasn't enough time with
him next to the best version of the Clippers. And you gotta remember too,
like you know, there was still the Marcus Morris situation was still going
out of that time, like he was still pretty much cemented into the starting
lineup. So it's like if you best with Mark right. The Denver game
was when it kind of really you know, everybody realized like this is,
this is becoming an issue. So I think you could you could you could
look at those numbers and you could see some good things. You can look
at those numbers, you can see some bad things. But um, I
want to get back to the point I was making about Terrence. He brought
that up that when you're looking at those first five games specifically, the Clippers
were not only playing without Zoo, but they were also um playing some really
good teams. So it's like they were they were they were playing you know,
Denver, they were playing I think Kings twice, so like they were
playing some good teams as well. Um So I'm pretty optimistic just based upon
you know, what I've seen, what the guys have said about how they
feel comfort wise, that the fit could work offensively. I definitely acknowledge the
numbers that that say it wasn't where it probably should have been, like you
said, for a championship caliber team. Um, but I don't think there's
some contexts as well when you just talk about who was in the lineup,
who wasn't in the lineup, who they were playing, a lot of that,
and get these guys together for full training camp, and you have some
reason to believe that that that it could work out, because, um we
also saw the Clippers as as flawed as taylou was last year, I think
you saw him get pretty creative with his deployment of Russ offensively. Um So
I think you have some reason for optimism there as well. Like it it's
not going to be a situation with the Lakers where it's like you saw him
standing in the corner a lot with the Lakers, and that's just not I
don't think the best use for him, even if you do want to get
him off the ball and get the ball in the hands of Kawai and Peg,
there's better ways to do that, and I think the Clippers were kind
of starting to figure that out last year, and hopefully with the full training
camp and a full season, Lord willing, they can get that gone.
Do you think Russ is a still that guy that can bring the best out
of Paul George because he did have his best season statistically with him, I
mean PG said so, so I think you kind of just got a rock
with that, as you know, polarizing as that topic can be, where
you can argue whether or not you think that that should be the case,
right, Like should Paul George need a player like Russell Westward to bring events
out of him? You know you can argue that all day long. But
if that's the case, then you know, I think that it's it can
be a positive thing. So all we can go is based upon what PG
has said, well Kawai has said. Obviously Kawhi is not as vocal,
but he was this in his comments about how he felt Russ made him better,
made the rest of the guys better. And I think to the point
that I keep bringing up and this is something that you're never going to see
on you know, NBA dot com, you know, looking at stats.
But again, this is nothing against people. I do that all day long.
So I'm not taking a shot of box score Joey, right, I
try to leave room for both. So what I was gonna say is that
I just think the overall belief and just the overall level of intensity and just
focus that russ demands of his teammates is going to be good for this team
because anybody who's watched this team really throughout the entirety of the KAWHIMPG era,
but definitely last year there was just a lack of urgency that persisted far too
often where you just feel like, how badly do they want it? And
I think that's a combination of one just an aging roster that can probably be
both one fatigued and or injured, but also true, I do think there
was just a lack of urgency that said in at times, and that's just
something that Russ doesn't allow for, and it's in practice. He approached it
the same way in games, he approached it the same way. So I
think that just that overall mentality having him in the mix from day one is
going to be good for everybody, from tylu on down to the rookie Sell
looking forward to that for sure, that's a good call. We got to
take a quick break because we do have to pay some of the podcast bills,
but coming up, we're going to talk the contract extension stuff that was
kind of floating around to day on Clippers Twitter. Kind of what you alluded
to earlier too, as well as how they can take the season more seriously.
Verse there's ads. If they've been loud for you, go ahead and
turn it down. Some people complained about that. We got ads in three
two one. All right, so we're back here on clips and Dip.
We talked a little bit about Harden and the Russ fit. We're gonna talk
a little bit about the regular season. Taylu made some comments on All the
Smoke about how he'd like people to take it more seriously. There have been
comments from fans throughout the offseason about how they'd like to see younger guys utilize.
But let's start out talking about something that is going to become very pertinent,
which is the contract extensions for both Kawai and Paula George. I believe
Kauai is eligible right now. Paul George will be eligible shortly and basically from
what I've heard, and Joey correct me if you've heard anything else, there
has not been a lot of movements so far as anything serious in the way
of offering you extra years. You know, we have seen Kauai in the
past kind of let it ride on an extension. I'm not sure if that
would be the same approach here. But by all indications, it seems like
the front offices pitch or their intention would be to try and get these guys
to maybe come for you know what we've been calling like the hometown discount.
Given some of the availability concerns, Where are you at with that? What
would you be willing to extend these guys for. Do you think that's something
that you could sell one or both of these players on or is it a
situation where by not offering the max, you've kind of opened the Pandora's box
where you could lose one or both. Yeah, so it's a good question.
I think a lot of people that are in the know are saying the
same thing right now. Olm was just on ESPN with he was on the
Low Post podcast, so that was on YouTube and I was watching that,
and basically what Olmes said is that, no, there hasn't been a whole
lot of discussion right now. He didn't get too far until why that's the
case. But he also mentioned as well that you know, the Clippers of
course, are potentially hopeful that they would be able to strike a deal and
you know, let for less than the four year max and Olm didn't say
exactly what he thought that might be, but he folded out like maybe a
two plus one or you know, maybe you know, whatever it may be
that's less than than the four year max. It would be, you know,
what the Clippers would hope for. And again, like I said,
that's very consistent with what other people are saying. Brian Windhorse said he would
be shocking if either of those guys got the four year max. Zach Lowe,
you know, echoed similar sentiment. So you're pretty much seeing around the
industry from people who would know that one there hasn't been a whole lot of
traction with Kauai who was currently eligible right now, and two, the Clippers
are probably hopeful that they wouldn't have to extend those guys to four year max
extensions. And I honestly think it's going to be less about like the hometown
discount thing than it would be just about like what the market for those guys
would be outside of the Clippers right now, because when the Paul George Knicks
rumors were kind of popping up where you saw like, you know, maybe
the Knicks would be interested in trading for PG like we saw some reports that
you know, the Clippers were fielding, like not necessarily fielding calls, but
we're open to listening on on PG. One of the reports, or one
of the consistencies and all of the reports that continue to pop up, was
that the Knicks and even the Trailblazers at that time, when we were thinking,
like babies, they're going to be a scoot for a PG swap,
they were hesitant to do it because they didn't want to extend him to the
max extension that he is reportedly seeking. So when you look at that and
you say, Okay, you know, maybe a team like the Knicks wouldn't
be interested in doing it, a team like Portland, you probably start to
think that, like league, why there probably aren't going to be a lot
of teams that would just max these guys one because there aren't a lot of
teams that even have the ability to do that. But for the teams that
can, it makes sense why they would have that hesitancy. And it's nothing
against what those two guys are capable to do, capable of doing when on
the court, but it's just the fact that they haven't been on the court
enough to justify that. So I think that's a bit of leverage that the
Clippers have. I don't think it's going to be as much of a citgion.
This is my opinion, But I don't think it's going to be as
much of a situation where they're trying to sell those guys on, you know,
a hometown discount. We got the new arena coming up, like we
could still win. All that, Like, all that is great and all
that you know is true, but I don't think it's really going to be
what it's going to take when you get into these negotiations. The leverage that
players often have is what other teams are willing to pay for them. So
if there aren't a whole lot of teams outside of the Clipper that are going
to say, hey, like, yeah, we would love to give you,
you know, the four year max, and the Clippers can say,
hey, you know, here's here's what we understand to be your your value,
and here's what we're continuing to build here and you know, here's the
offer. So um, I haven't heard anything much different than that. It's
it's obviously what's been said publicly already by guys like Ohm who would know,
and by guys like Wind orse who would know. So I think that's where
we're at right now. In terms of my opinion on that UM, I
think it's probably pretty much the same as everybody else. I don't think you
can just blindly offer those two guys for your max contracts right now. You
can't do it right Like, it's just you can't do it. And I
understand the the dilemma where you're entering a new arena next year and you don't
want to, you know, enter a new arena with a rebuilding team.
But at the same time, I think this actually kind of goes back to
a point I made earlier when you're talking about why would you make a trade
for James Harden? Well, I mean where you're sitting right now organizationally with
this era, you got Kawhi ANDPG both you know, capable coming off the
books next year. Russ can come off the books next year. What's another
one, you know what I mean, What's what's another guy like Harden at
that point that has the ability to come up with the books. I mentioned
that as a potential concern on my last podcast, throwing another guy like that
in the mix. What I ultimately determined was that, you know, where
you're at right now, You're going to have to figure this out anyways,
So why not go for it in this final year and then you know,
stumble into those contract situations next summer when when they actually are able to opt
out. So one thing I will I would say about extending these guys is
under this new CBA, it looks like the cap could and likely with all
these like second Apron implications and everything, could raise by as much as ten
percent every single year. So on the flip side, and I'm not advocating
this because obviously availability is a concerned, obviously market value as a concern,
But if you were to lock those guys into a number set to the current
cap as it is right now, you could end up that that could end
up looking like more of a value deal, say three four years from now.
Chuck, I'm curious about your thoughts. Is there any way that that
would be something you would interest be interested in knowing that those two guys are
going to be here and you know, assuming that there could be I mean,
if the CAB increases by thirty percent over the next of the year they
sign it, Yeah, that contract is all of a sudden, it's not
looking so bad that it. Man, the cap rising thing is an interesting
point, and I mean, if we knew that it was going to go
up to thirty percent, then I would say probably I would definitely strongly consider
that. It seems like the cb Yeah, the CBA opened up for some
new investments and things like that, so it seems like, I don't know,
that could maybe help it. But when you put it that way,
I think i'd still maybe offer Kawhi the max versus both of them the full
max. Yeah, but no, I'm just trying to think of the cap
figures because I'm trying to figure out if they could then sign another max guy
because ideally, you know, they would never be bad enough to bottom out
right if that happened, so they'd be kind of not stuck because it would
be a tradable contract if the cap was thirty percent. Yeah, I say
do it. I don't know if we know the CAP's gonna be up thirty
percent from when they signed that contract, like, yeah, I mean we
max, maybe PG close to it. I don't know. I mean,
I think you've got to play a hardball with them because of the issues,
injury issues and when they're thirty five and six sliding it across the table.
Yeah, put it on the Napkins slide across the dinner table. But ultimately
you got to bring them back at least for this season probably the next couple
for talking about the Intuit Dome and the attraction of having a major star there,
But the other side of that is I've seen people say this, you
know, if the availability isn't there from them, what does it matter if
you have that star on the roster, Like people aren't going to be coming
to the game if they always know somebody's not going to be available, or
they're going to be missing thirty of the games per season, and that's pretty
much what we have seen so far with these two guys. Unfortunately, the
payoff of the load management stuff. And while of course coach lou was right
when he talks about they're not load managing in the playoffs, we're trying to
win them. These are legitimate injuries. But when they had missed games in
the regular season, it's become such an issue with the fan base that they're
a little bit turned off by that. And if you're not getting the payoff
of them winning the championships in the end, and you're seeing them get to
the pot of goal, the end of the rainbow, that's where becomes problematic.
But they could win it this season, and that gives you a ton
more equity because it's proof that this team was constructed the right way. It's
just been a lot of bad luck that's been going on. Well, they
talked about it. We've talked about a lot on this podcast about how you
know the stadium like is a factor, right, like building the intoit dome.
You can't afford a rebuild. But I think at the same time,
like my question would be, let's say things end similarly this year as they
have for every year during the Kauhi Paul George era, are we really that
convinced that at that point Kauai and Paul George are the draws for audiences that
like, maybe we herald them as right now, because I'm not so convinced
that you know that happens for the fifth year, that you're really selling out
seats at an at a much higher ticket price for these season ticket holders.
If that's the draw, right, if it happens again this season, I
don't know how people can talk about it. Well, they have to hold
onto these guys because they're getting a new arena. If the guys can't play
on the court in that new arena, what does it matter? Ultimately if
this era is just going to be defined from disappointment because as of injuries,
you know, that's disastrous obviously, and that's how it's gone so far,
unfortunately. Joey, I don't know if you feel in a similar fashion,
because I know you followed this team forever, but last season I would say,
relative to expectations, may have been the most disappointing season in the history
of the franchise. It probably was, And I think I tweeted about it
quite a bit throughout the course of the year, and I see it back
towards the end of the year because like, honestly, I just felt like,
you know, I was just I was just hitting on so many of
the same talking points. And I think too, you do kind of start
to feel for the guys who aren't able to play, because, like ty
Luka things to say, this isn't a situation where they are perposely sitting out.
I do think there were a few games last year where you kind of
look at it, it's like, all right, you know that one didn't
make a whole lot of stuff. Memphis game. You know, I was
going to bring up a Memphis game, and I was also going to bring
up the Denver blowout when they didn't you know, they played like what you
know, fifteen minutes in the first half, didn't play the second half right,
And so I think there were a few instances where you look at it
and it was like, all right, like you can, you can have
a gripe with that, but you know, that's a game here in a
game there. If that's all having this conversation, right, Like, the
reason why we're having this conversation is because they both missed significant time with injuries.
So I think when you continue to harp on it does become a little
bit tough for that reason. But back to Adams point, Part of the
conversations that I was having quite a bit last year was you looked at where
the Clippers were record wise, and you looked at where they were record wise,
again to good teams, like the teams that they were going to have
to beat eventually if they did want to become the championship team that they hoped
to be. At no point last season did they look like a legitimate championship
contender, and people argue, people argue that that stretch with Terrence as a
starting point guard, you know, like all that was the stretch where they
were starting to look like a championship contender. I've back against that, you
know, pretty strongly, because it was a good stretch, But it wasn't
like until you look at the context of how they won some of those games.
They got lucky at the end of a bunch of them, quite a
few of them. You had the Nico bailout three in New York. They
completely blew that game and he hit that three to tie it. They had
the game in Brooklyn that they completely blew where Nico saved that ball out of
bounds ended up getting the hand. One that was the game where Brooklyn didn't
have Kde Kyrie. Like, there were those types of games that they didn't
deserve to win and they wanted to get it the goals to win. So
yes, they won the game. But one, they weren't playing great opponents
during that stretch. And two a lot of the wins that they had the
same problems that had persisted all season, the blow leads at the end,
the rotations that didn't make sense, all of those things were still there,
but they snuck a few wins during that stretch. So I completely pushed back
against the idea that they looked like a championship team during that stretch of games.
Is that the best stretch of games that they had last season? Perhaps,
but did they look like a championship contender? And absolutely not so when
you're talking about the level that they need to be at in order to win
a title. We didn't see that for any sustained stretch last season, which
is why I think you can make the argument that it was the most disappointing
season of the two one three era because of all the hype that they had
in the off season, right like they you know, supposedly addressed some of
the issues that you know, they had the year prior. And it's tough
to even say that because like the year is probably what did you even really
look like? You know, Kawhi and PG were both out almost the entire
season in twenty twenty two, so it's tough, But there was a lot
of high expectations coming into that year. You were like, Okay, this
is the Clipper team that made the play in pretty much without Kawhi and PG
entirely. Now they're putting them back into the mix. You know, they're
adding John, you know they're adding you know whoever else. And it was
one of those things where people that they actually might have a chance and then
it just never came to fruition, and it was mixed in with just so
much frustration that I think fans are really starting to think, like, Okay,
this might just be time to chalk it up on this era. But
for some of the reasons we've discussed, they obviously haven't made that decision yet,
and I think it's they're just so far into it, especially with resigning
Russ. You can't you don't resign a guy like that to go and then
trade Coimpg like they obviously resigned him with the expectation that those two guys will
be on the roster, they would continue building around them. So I think
it brings me right back to my heart and point, you just got to
go for it this year and deal with whatever comes after it, because you're
so far into it by now and it's so ugly already that you have to
just continue to do what you can at this point. And if a player
like James Harden, who would normally never be available for what he could potentially
be available for is actually there and nobody else is really trying to get him,
then hey, go for it and see what happens. And then after
that, you know, entering the into a dome, you can let the
professionals make the decisions that they need to make. And I I don't want
to push back too bad, like too much on the heart and availability thing.
Obviously we've talked about it a bunch here makes a lot of sense for
the Clippers. One team that it really doesn't make any sense for is his
current incumbent team, and I think that like part of it is is a
you know, we have nothing that's of the value to offer. And I
understand one hundred percent that Harden's value is not at the level of a Dame
or obviously you know, Kevin Durant or what we've seen for other players.
We know that he wants to play for this certain team. But if you're
Philadelphia, there's one guy on the roster who's far more important than James Harden.
And I don't see any situation currently unless you somehow work out a three
team or with Portland or something where you can get a good enough player to
keep Joel and being happy. And I think if you look historically at the
NBA, like so, essentially for what the Clippers have to offer, the
Sixers would need to be in a position where they're essentially ready for a rebuild,
right. And I think if you look historically at the NBA and you
look at teams that have traded a player after an MVP season, and I
mean directly after it, I can only find two. And you have to
go back to the Wilt Chamberlain trade in Moses Malone, and those were also
very situational things where it was very different. I understand the heart and trade
for the Clippers. I would love it. I think that it's truly the
best move for them. I don't really understand it for the other side.
And I think that it makes sense that, like I understand that the Terrence
point, like Terrence is a sticking point for fans and stuff. But if
I'm Philadelphia and I'm staring down an offer that's centered around Norm Terrence maybe a
first in some Secdler, well, I'm saying, like that is that's the
Godfather offer, right, That's the Godfather offer for the Clippers. That that
is truly, that is all that we can give you. We cannot offer
you anything else. I think, literally, yeah, And I'm looking at
well, that's why I said earlier. Yeah, I mean, but if
I'm looking at that, I'm saying, I like, am I am I
ready to trade? Like? Am I ready to trade? Joel Ebieve?
Like that? Is that a good enough contender in the East to keep an
MVP who after another second round exit, no matter what you do, might
be gone. Like is that enough? And I think, you know,
if I'm Darryl Morey probably hanging up the phone on that offer. Absolutely,
And that's why I said earlier, that's why we don't Yeah, because it's
not yeah, no, one hundred percent. That's why I you know,
kind of broke down where we are and said, that's why I don't think
we have a deal. And I don't think we're anywhere close to the deal
because what the Clippers one are offering right now. But even even like what
you bought up is not consistent with the type of package you would normally see
sent out for a player like James, you know, because that could be
another avenue, right like they do a deal with the Clippers, they get
rid of Harden. Maybe they're willing to move off a MAXI, but like
from what win Horse was saying, he's completely unavailable, So you know,
it's it's just it seems very puzzling to look if you if you're looking at
it from the Sixers perspective, it could oh what one hundred percent is?
And I think that that's why this is just such a unique situation because I
don't think we've ever seen a player of Harden's caliber, even at this stage
of his career, be valued this low around the league. And I don't
think it's as much to do with what he's capable of, but just his
current situation. We've seen what an unhappy James Harden can look like. And
if you're a team acquiring him on in a contract year where he can walk
in the off season, I think that that's why we're even having a conversation
that the Clippers have the ability to potentially acquire a player like in U.
So yeah, I completely under stand where we're coming from. And like I
said earlier, that's why, point blank, we don't have any real new
traction on a deal because the seventy six ers are not in a position to
take on what the Clippers are currently offering, or potentially what their best offer
would even be because of where they are as an organization, they have to
continue to maintain that championship window. With an MVP like Joel Embiid. You
can't just take expiring deals in some future picks back for a player like James
Harden. You just can't do it because you have to maintain your championship window.
And that's where we get to our staring contest. I think we're gonna
end up at a fork in the road where we're getting towards training can't and
the Clippers want to get James Harden in the mix. The Philadelphia seventy sixers
know that he doesn't want to be there, but they also feel as if
organizationally, they can't afford to accept what's being offered, and something's gonna have
to give. I can't predict right now what that's gonna be, but that's
where we're headed. And the point that you bring up is the reason why.
Because if it were a situation where the Clippers had one something they were
willing to offer, and two something that the seventy six Ers were willing to
accept, we'd have a deal already and we'd be talking about what James Harden
is going to look like in a Clippers uniform. But that's not where we're
at. So for the points that you brought up, we're heading towards a
very unique, perhaps unprecedented type of staring contest where we're looking at a player
that wants one team and one team only, but that team understands they aren't
also in a position to give up one of their best assets and Terrence,
because you look around this roster right now, what type of roster construction are
we been talking about if you can't rely on a guy like Terrence? Obviously
we know Ty doesn't play him as much as he should, but a guy
like that to play big, rotational minutes with the other guys that would potentially
still be left on the roster. Do we believe even with James Harden,
that is a championship contending team with some of these guys maybe having to play
more minutes than they already did last season. So yeah, there's a lot.
There's a lot to talk about when it comes to this particular James Aren't
situation, and I don't think anybody can predict one hundred percent what it's going
to look like, because it's pretty unique. We haven't seen anything quite.
The other layer to all this is now the NBA is trying to put the
kabosh on stars wanting out and right to go to one team and one team
only with the release they've made regarding Damian Lillard. So it's going to be
an exceptionally challenging how they're declining every call from Harden's agent. We don't want
any leaks of what the anything to do with that, you know what's the
other day, dude, I literally wrote about that the other day because everyone
was talking about hard Ericcuse Lillard when this came out, and rightfully so,
it was directed in him. But I think it was a very unique situation
for Hardening the Clippers because what it did was and who knows what the punishment's
going to be, right Like, it could be, you know, the
type of flap on a risk where it's like a player doesn't really care,
but let's just for the sake of the argument, pretend that it's something that
would actually deter you know, a player like Hardened from you know, engaging
in the type of behavior that the league's trying to stop He just lost a
little bit of his power play, right, Like, if he's able to
come out eventually and say, hey, I'm not gonna suit up for the
Knicks if they trade for me, you know, I'm not gonna suit up
for me. They basically shut that down in that memo. So it's also
something to consider. It could just be baked in anyways, because it's James
Harden and people know how he tends to go about these things. But to
transition away from Philly, who could be in a transitional phase over the next
year, I could see them just waiting for Tobias to come off the books
and sell Joel and bead On. Hey, we're gonna bring somebody else in.
But that's tough. He's in his prime. But going back to the
regular seasons off that we had, we played the audio somewhat. You play
the audio from your phone from my phone into the microphone of Coach Leu on
all the smoke pod, a very unprofessional manner. We played it here,
but a lot of people, I'm just gonna throw this out there to everybody,
but a lot of people immediately after we're hearing his comments talking about taking
the regular season more serious than him directing that at Kauai and Paul George felt
some kind of way about Coach Lou, saying that when there was a lot
of experimenting last season openly post game, he would talk about it, and
some of it's very understandable because of the transition with the roster and bringing in
new guys all the time, and then Russ, But they did ask for
that. How did you guys feel about Coach Loose saying that, I guess
coming from him where a lot of people did early in the season point the
finger and say, well, you're kind of lending itself to lending the regular
season to some of these losses because there's so much fiddling. As we talked
about the Fiddler. I think we said that about Coach Lou early in the
season. I think it was Fiddler. Yeah, Yeah, we love Coach
Lou, but obviously it was happening during the regular season. So how do
we how do they go about taking the regular season more seriously when it's not
just they're two superstars, but also coach lew who wants to try things out
in the regular season. Yeah, so I actually saw it a little bit
differently than some of the people who were talking about the you know, too
much tinkering, too much trying you know this or that, I think it
was kind of the opposite. I don't think there was enough trying new things.
We saw Marcus continue to start well beyond uh, you know, the
amount of games that he should have. You know, we'll talk about Marc.
We never saw the all wing lineup that was kind of touted in training
camp. Um, you know, there were some things that we just didn't
see that we thought we were going to see, Like they stuck with the
three guard lineups way too long. So I think it was more a lack
of tinkering and adjustments than you know, trying too many things. I get
we had different moving pieces with you know, John and them being in and
then out and then Russ being in, So I get that that was part
of it. But when you're just talking about it straight from an adjustment standpoint,
part of why people coming into the season were confident in the roster that
they had, even without a backup center at the time, was because of
Tyler's ability to kind of experiment and find what works. We didn't really see
that as much as we thought we were going to we saw a lot of
sticking with what wasn't working, whether that be three guard groups or whether that
be you know, Marcus or whatever it may be. I think we kind
of saw a lack of tinkering, you know, kind of putting my fingers
in quotes what it was that, you know, we hoped to see.
But to the point of his comments about taking the regular season more seriously,
my question is, well, what exactly does that look like? Because if
we're having the conversation about load management and saying that, well, load management
wasn't exactly what was occurring last year. It was more so like when you're
talking about on a wide scale the miss games were actual injuries, then what
are we exactly referring to log Right, It's like, what are we exactly
talking about when we say we need to take the regular season more seriously.
I don't think we have like a direct answer of what he was even kind
of suggesting. And honestly, that's that's something that I don't mind asking,
like you know, at Media Day even or whenever we talked to Ti Nex.
It's like it's not in a way to try to tricker more challenge and
this is an honest question when you talk about, what, you know,
taking the regular season more seriously and what that looks like, what exactly are
you suggesting, Because obviously Ti isn't the type of guy that is just you
know, of the belief that KAWHIMPG were just sitting out because they felt like
sitting out. One that's not what was occurring, and two that's certainly not
something that he felt. So when you talk about taking the regular season more
seriously, I still don't think we one hundred percent know what he was referring
to. I kind of believe perhaps it was just the overall intensity level,
because Ty has talked a lot about how much that change once Rush showed up,
right, Like, they went harder in practices, they went harder in
games, Like just their overall focus level was better. So perhaps he's talking
about just having that from day one. But again, I don't want to
make sure I hit on the point that you brought up about fans being upset
about that message coming from him when there was just a lot of you know,
questionable to be nice about it, you know, decisions that were made
on his part. I get it, and I completely get in, and
I don't think that you need me to tell you that right now, for
you to know that I get it, Like I feel like I was pretty
consistent last year with pointing out the things that that didn't make sense, So
I understand the frustration. I definitely know where it's coming from, because there
were quite a few things last year that just flat out didn't make sense.
I think you can make the argument that even with the injuries that the Clippers
dealt with, and even with the very conservative approach to Kawhi, Leonard Paul
George's workload, if they would have had a more locked in approach to one
just the season in general, but also too, if Ty would have been
more intentional about, you know, maybe pivoting away from some of these things
that so clearly weren't working, the Clippers would have been in a better spot
last season then they were when the season ended, even with the injury situation.
So there's a lot of that to break down. When you talk about
taking the regular season more seriously, it's a lot more nuance than just saying
Kawhi and PD need to play more. Clearly, No, and I think
you touched upon it, it is just a lack of intensity quarter to quarter,
possession to possession game to game at times with these guys. Where we
saw it when they flipped that switch against the Memphis Grizzlies when they were down
seventeen or whatever it was coming into that fourth quarter after fifty one, after
just getting lit up by Memphis team without Jaw and they just knew they had
to win that game and they did, and you could see there was a
different level of energy out there. And I do think he was trying to
figure out a way a lot of mouths to feed with all the guards to
start off the season, to make it work where everybody was getting minutes,
and that's not an easy job. So it was kind of like he was
takering in all the ways that people didn't want him too when you just wanted
to see wingstop and we were having those expectations coming into the season. It
never came to fruition. But and it was the ten game sample size too.
I think from Tylou that kind of like it is the right amount of
games to figure out if things work. But when you're only doing kind of
like he said, I'm kind of maybe different areas that should be fixed for
ten games, it gets well. You know what's interesting is that last year,
he actually I don't know if this even got tweeted out a whole lot,
but he actually said that he was increasing his usual ten game sample size
even more than that because of how many new moving pieces they had, and
partially because Kawuhi started this season like two games off the bench and then we
didn't see him for a long time. So he was actually asked that question
at beginning last year, and again I don't know really if it got tweeted
out or if it got tweeted out a whole lot, but I do remember
him saying that he was actually going to increase that window of ten games.
So he didn't give like a number of it, but he's like, it's
going to be more because we just have to see so longer. But it
got to a point where it's like you also got to start winning games,
and you also have to start putting your best product out there on the floor.
It's an eighty two game season. It's his in baseball, where you're
playing one hundred and sixty two games and you have more time to figure some
of these things out, Like especially with the Clippers not having their best guys
available at the time, their margin for air wasn't that large, so last
year they couldn't afford to play with some of these things, I think as
long as they did, which is where some of the frustration was setting in
with the fan base, where it's like, Okay, clearly this isn't working.
And there were some of the things that were like very glaring, right
like when you just talk about you know, the Reggie minutes and even the
John minutes early on, and those guys with other guards that just even if
you never saw them together, you would probably be able to predict that it
wouldn't work. There was just so many of those things that even if his
sample size and again I'll give him that because he was open about that,
even if it was, you know, planned to be increased, because of
so many moving parts that the Clippers had going on, it got to a
point last year where it's like, Okay, you can't just continue to run
with this because it's so clearly not working and we're falling down the stand and
now you know, two weeks left in the season, we actually have to
keep ourselves out of the play it. So he alluded to that on all
the Smoke, and we'll see what it looks like next year, we'll see
what it looks like in terms of, you know, him and the team
in general taking the regular season more seriously, It's tough when you got to
get guys to buy in and give him that opportunity to fail, which could
be ten games or however many games that were promised, even though everybody's seeing
it the same way. It's tough to go back on that if you already
told somebody, hey, we're going to give you this amount of time and
see what it looks like. I'm sure it's just not easy being a coach.
Counterpoint, incredibly easy. That's why so many coaches m championships. All
right, coming up, we got to talk about some random stuff. There
was some weird drama about Jandre Jordan's old number as well as Marcus Morris is
on threads for those of you who were on threads and want a new follow.
But first we got ads coming up. They've been a little out for
some people. So if that's been your because we hadn't turn it down.
We got AD's coming up in three two? What all right, we are
back with random stuff. kJ Martin is going to wed DeAndre Jordan's old number
is this weird. I've been going back and forth in my head if this
is weird or something that I'm just thinking about because it's the off season and
there's a horrific heat wave ripping through my apartment without central AC. But Adam
Will Joey, is this weird? Will? We'll start with you weird,
not weird. It's like our version of haggle, no haggle, but much
less. We're fined. I don't think it's that weird. I'm sorry,
not weird, all right, I don't think it's that weird. Um.
Look, I love DeAndre always will one of the funnest eras of Clippers basketball,
most fun. But the way I gotta be honest, man, the
way that his tangure ended here kind of left me with a bad taste in
my mouth. Also, like, how do you determine what number is off
limits? You know? Like, is you know, proud as I am
of like what they were able, how they were able to develop DeAndre the
incredible rebounder that he was, truly Like, I like, if that's the
caliber state, not to be rude, but like, if that's the caliber
of player that the number is off limits, then what number do you choose.
I mean, he's the all time leader in games played for them,
rebounds, field goal percentage. But I get it too, I could see
either way. I mean, did kJ Martin Was he a fan growing up
here in so Cal? Was that his guy? Because if he wants to
board like DeAndre Jordan's I'm fine with that. If his number of wearing his
number inspires him, I'm good. Joey. Yeah, So I don't think
Again, we don't know if this is a situation where DJ really cares or
like, because I mean, this is obviously that's a great point for it.
But did he post a thread today? Are sure that he didn't?
Like? The Angels just gave Randall Richard Tim Tim Salmon's number fifteen. Uh,
he's the first. Yeah, he's the first player to wear it since.
But Tim Sammon actually went on the record and said, like he's completely
fine with it. Um, you know, didn't have an issue with it.
So it's like, we don't know how the players themselves feel about it,
right, So like there could have very well been a conversation between DJ
and kJ Martin where they talked about it. Das, dude, wear my
number, you know what I mean? So, like we we don't really
know that, um. In terms of how I feel about it personally,
I think the only thing that kind of caught me off guard a little bit
is that I don't know if you guys remember two seasons ago when incorrectly,
when you Gabriel was listed on the roster with Blake's thirty two. I don't
know if you guys remember that, but it was when we had him for
what was it a ten day or that game against hey Man. Yeah,
maybe put his his jersey in the routers that touch that number one. Yeah,
but actually initially winning was listed on the official Clippers or also at NBA
dot com when number thirty two, So people might yeah, you know,
you know I feel about that. You know I feel about that. So
I was like, man, what's going on with this? Got a Kia
commercial? Now? It's crazy? Right? Um? You probably you probably
know Max Resa, right um works for the Clippers, and I just lived
a twitter by he's the director of team operations. Uh. When that was
all going down, he cleared it up and he said, no, Gabriel
is not thirty two, he's actually thirty five. He said, we hold
thirty two off limits. So this wasn't. I just put it up on
my phone. This was January first of twenty twenty two, and he got
a response on Twitter and fan asked him which other numbers do you guys hold
off limits? And he said, three, six, and thirty two.
They started the culture here, it's only right to block those off. So
I actually had a couple of people send me that yesterday because I was part
of that thread, because I was one of the people who was like,
wait a minute, why when the game will have Blake thirty two? So
I was actually tagged in that threat. So a couple of people send me
that yesterday. They're like, wait, what's going on? Why does kJ
have number six? When m Max said that they were holding it off?
So again I don't know what went into that. It was his number Inston
too, because the other part is that it was his number before the league
officially retired six for Bill Russell, so he can keep it as long as
he doesn't change it. So I wonder if you under like DJ is still
an active point player, so it's not like he's a retired player and they're
getting ready to a ceremony for him at into a dome or something. Yeah,
right, And I think it would be different if he had thirty two,
right, Like, let's say it just for sure it wasn't. I
I'm very fond of DJ and what he meant to the Clippers during that era,
and I do think he should have his jersey retired um at the end
to a dome. But it would be different if it was thirty two.
So I think for that reason, um, you know, there could have
been a conversation. I think we'll probably eventually find that out. Right,
Um, I think DJ's a pretty chill guy. I don't think he's the
type of guy that would really have that big of an issue with it.
So in terms of being an actual issue, no, I don't think it's
an actual issue. I just think that there was some confusion because of well,
like I said, it had been at least somewhat kind of probably stated
that six was being held off limits with three and thirty two. Um,
so there's that's where some people were like, wait, what's what's going on
with that? But again, we don't know exactly what's going on. It
could just be a situation where DA's like, men, where isn't the tire
the chair retire the chair yea retire the chair that what number was? What
was Brandon Knight wearing when DeAndre Jordan dunked on him? What number he has?
Mine says eleven number? Yeah, all right, And we got to
talk about the Marcus Morris thread. I it's that was a thing on Twitter
announced what Instagram calls their version of Twitter, that's lost half of its user
base, but not Marcus Morris. He is still on thread for better or
for worse, he tweeted. He threaded something to the effect of wish I
had my Twitter bum ass Clippers fans l O L. I think there was
a Z. I maybe it was bumb ass the Clippers had a Z.
I don't know. I thought Threads was a nice, friendly place. I
thought that was how they were distinguishing themselves from Twitter. I'm gonna say this
before. I think I totally get where Marcus Morris is coming from, because
Clippers Twitter people were creating specific accounts to horribly troll this man who was never
supposed to be the number one option on the Clippers team. I don't.
I think sometimes people think maybe he had some kind of power over Tyler where
he was like, let I'm gonna play I don't think that's what happened.
I can see him not wanting to be on Twitter at all because of how
a small percentage, very small percentage of Clippers Twitter in particular, kind of
went at Marcus Morris during this year. It just got mean, you know,
it just got me Adam go ahead, now mean inappropriate? Over the
line. Also, is he supposed to not start if he's in the starting
lineup and give up his spot like Vince Carter in the All Star Game for
MJ or something like if the coach wants to put him out there, he's
going to start. We know, especially the last half of the season,
Marcus did not perform like he had previously with the Clippers. But this is
somebody who hit big shots in the playoffs, obviously against Dallas with the seven
three pointers, played big when Kawhi went down, especially against Phoenix in a
couple of games in the Western Conference finals, like the incoming got a little
bit uncomfortable. I think for everybody who was there to make weird stuff about
him. It was, yeah, the pictures like his wife and saying like
Marcus, time to come home, time to retire, and stuff like it
was over the line. It crossed the line. I think it took the
fandom. I know people are just doing it for cloud and retweets and likes
a lot of the time, and they're not that serious about it, but
it's still it was unbecoming of Clipper Nation. I would say, I'm becoming
Joe a very small minority of Clipper Nation. Do you have a stronger word
than unbecoming to use? You know, people, people might not believe this
about me, because obviously I do, you know, tweet frequently, but
this obviousason. In particular, I've been trying to stay off of Twitter as
much as possible because during after my first full season on the beat, like
I was just exhausted mentally, I was just trained. It was. It
was an exhausting year. So I don't know what's developed this summer a whole
lot in terms of like how people were coming up Marcus. But I did
see some of the stuff during the season. I mean some of it was
in my replies. I would post the starting lineup and it would be in
my reply, So like, yes, I've seen quite a bit of it.
Um. Absolutely, the stuff that Adam mentioned is too far, should
never happen. It's the same stuff that, um, you know, we
would call out the Lakers fan base for doing right, Like there's certain things
that you just should never say. Um, certain lines you should never cross.
So if that's what he's referring to, and if it's a situation where
like he's seen some of that, I don't know what he's seen or what
he hasn't seen, then of course you're going to have an issue with that.
Um. It was just very shocking to kind of see him call out
the fan base directly like that. Again, I'm not going to sit here
and right because obviously, yeah, he would be he was already commentrated this
offseason, and he would definitely be a player would be included in one of
these traits. So yeah, like obviously all that's at play. I don't
know what he's seen was specifically he was responding to, So I'm not going
to pretend to know. Um, but yes, I've seen the stuff that
has uh you know, crossed the line, and I don't think it,
you know, takes somebody with like some super high like moral conferences say like,
yeah, that shouldn't happen, Like obviously there's certain things that that shouldn't
be said, and um, there there have has been some of that,
and I don't think I've seen all of it, but I've seen some of
it. So um, yeah, it's kind of just where I'll leave that
will counterpoint. Now you argue the other side of this argument, drag him
further. You know what, Marcus Morris, you think it's tough here way
you're in Philly, buddy, just he's from there, right, Yeah,
I think he would, he would, but the situation is probably untenable,
not just because he was almost traded, but now this, like I have
a hard time seeing Marcus Morris being in the roster opening night from both from
both sides, it just seems like a situation where he will be moved,
regardless of if we're talking about James Harden or not. Yeah, And I
mean I want to be clear too, like going back on the world of
saying, I don't want to come across as if I'm like bashing Clippers fans
for being upset the way he playing, because like that's not where I'm at
either, Like I'm just strictly talking about like you said, and you know,
making accounts of his wife and something like that, like be serious.
It's like, let's not let's not do that. Um there there there's stuff
that I did see a little bit of that that it's like, all right,
yeah, we obviously shouldn't do that, but also want to be clear
too, like I completely understand where some of the frustration is coming from from
Coobers fans, because it's just it's beyond just his his poor play as well,
like we had the report from Andrew where he was like upset with with
his role. Um. And I think too, like there's Coolbers fans who
observed body language, um, you know, observed different things that they saw,
where like Rocco was a guy who was out of the rotation all season
long last year. You know a lot of people felt wrongfully so and you
watch him on the bench and like every single game he's up, every single
game, he's cheering, Like every singal game, he's engaged, like sacrificed.
So I think fans see that and they say that's how a player who,
in their opinion, and I think, you know, rightfully, you
know, hold that opinion should have been playing who was the ultimate teammate.
Whereas now like we're getting reports where Marcus got much longer of a lease than
he should have and we get that report from Mandu where he was still unhappy.
So um, I think that's where some of the frustration stems from from
the fan base. In no way would I ever say that that warrant making
an account of his wife and like, you know, taking that that's ridiculous.
But when you're just talking about the overall sense that the fan base had
towards him and then now him like saying bumbask slippers fans, I get where
that that kind of riff is. So um. Yeah, that's criticizing someone's
play. I think it's always fair game. You're a paying customer. You
want to see guys play better. I don't know if it's always helpful.
I don't know if booing a guy. I remember when Bias was taking a
ton of incoming from Dodgers fans all the time. I don't know if that
helps a guy with his confidence. But it's your right to do so.
I don't agree with taking it too far, and that's what it got to
eventually. But I brought up his play, and I was taking calls every
night, and I don't think I think half the calls I got last season,
somebody had something to say about Marcus Moore. You were started with dollars,
you were upset with callers like no, I mean, it just got
to the point where, look, I can't explain it either, why he's
still still starting when I'm watching that game, a critical game against the Pelicans
late in the season, the home game for the Clippers, and I think
there were eighteen points scored on him in the first quarter and it was tough
to watch. They were trying to hide him. It wasn't working. But
again, that's Marcus is a paid player to be out there. It's not
his fault. He's not going to bench himself. But yeah, a lot
of stuff crossed the line obviously for sure. Well, we are about to
wrap this up. This has been a wonderful episode. Joey. You need
to promote what do you got coming up? Where can these wonderful people find
you if for some reason or not already following your Clippers content? You have
minimum fifteen minutes to promote yourself now, I'm just kidding, Where can people
find you? Yeah? So you have not been as considered when my podcasts
and summer as much as I would like to, because I really have just
been listen, man, I'm being honest when I say last season took a
lot out of me. It was of pretty much every reporter there. It
was a crime man, And I am so blessed and thankful to have the
opportunity that I have to be able to work the job that I work.
So I want to make that clear that I'm not complaining. But when last
season ended, like I needed to take a break just from just talking about
basketball in general. So I've only released a few podcast episodes, but I
do have my clothes that I will sporadically be you know, having episodes up
throughout the summer. Once the season starts, I'm going to get right back
into it. I'm honestly thinking about maybe kind of like rebranding my clips combos
Instagram and making it just more so like my own personal like you know,
NBA work stuff where I post my videos and like stuff like that. So
I might do that, you know, towards the beginning of the season.
But in terms of where I'm most active, obviously Twitter, Joey Lynn underscores
where I'll probably be you know, one through you know, twice three times
a week. Maybe whatever I'm doing this summer, I'm not all that active
but you guys know that during the season, I'll be tweeting about all the
relevant stuff that needs to be talked about. So yeah, that's where you
can follow me on Twitter. Joey Lynn Underscore were the offiction on Pocombo's Joe.
If you want to peek in every week or two weeks, there might
be a new episode there. But that's where we're out right now. Well,
we appreciate you stopping buy. It's been fantastic. We hope the rest
of your off season is relaxing and the Twitter break is good for you.
We should probably all take a break from Twitter. Well, where can people
find this podcast and video of this podcast? If they haven't, you could
check this podcast out over on iTunes or Spotify. If you left rating or
review for us on either one of those platforms, it'd be great. You
can also listen to us on Google Podcasts. We're on Stitcher, We're on
Deezer, We're on Amazon Music. Anywhere you listen to podcasts, you can
listen to this show. You can check out the video of this over on
YouTube that's at Clippers Podcast and don't forget to chop it up with us over
on Twitter that's at Clippers Pod. We're still there until it burns down or
whatever, so appreciate Yeah, thanks for listening, Adam. Any positive to
leave the Clippers fans off with, Yeah, I'll kind of underscore what Joey
was saying. We're definitely dealing with some first world problems right now. Clipper
Nation is not used to that with the team with championship expectations, first world
NBA problems. But a wise man once said, worst day in the NBA,
best day anywhere else, and that man would be Brian Seaman, who
I believe is going to be joining us at some point in the near future
on this podcast. So we'll tease that out. We absolutely will. We
appreciate everyone. We hope you have a great rest of your weekend. As
always, let's go clips.