Hey, welcome back into Clippers Talk. I'm out a mouseland eight sixty six
ninety seven seventy eight sixty six ninety eight seven two five seventy. We'll hear
from coach Lou, but I do want to get to Will Updyke first.
Who's joining us from C and D Clips and Dip podcast on a night like
this. Hey, Chuck has had to wear some tough losses on this show.
Will, it was your turn tonight. Thanks for doing it. Yeah,
absolutely my pleasure. It's normally a tradition you bring me on for a
garbage game or a craft loss. Oh well you can start that up again.
Apparently, Uh, what what are you most contract? What are you
most disappointed in right now with this group? Because I know you weren't on
the C and D episode yesterday with me and Chuck, but I just kind
of laid out that I got real concerns about the roster construction. With having
four guys that are at their best when the ball is in their hands.
It's not like any other big four that I think we've seen. Yeah,
I think that there is definitely issues in the roster construction. I think that
that is one of those problems that just with the sheer amount of talent that
to me feels overcomeable just with some of just with some changes in the rotations.
Like I think there are ways to optimize that. Obviously. You know,
the loss of Plumblee is huge. They're gonna have to address that right
away. They're gonna have to figure that out. You know, that was
an unforeseen circumstance, but that is going to have to be addressed like immediately.
I don't know how they can can continue without, you know, a
true backup center. But I think the thing that has got to be most
troubling to watch the Clippers lose four straight, especially the way they've lost this
last three, is like there is something rotten at the core of this team.
This team feels to me like they do not want to win. And
we keep saying the same things every game, every loss, every season.
Oh what's their identity? Oh, they're gonna find out their identity. Oh
something was born out of this. The players come back and they say,
we're gonna approach the regular seams more seriously, We're gonna do this, We're
gonna do that, We're gonna play every night like it matters. And then
they've dropped too, and then we hear Paul George run that back, and
it's just it feels to me, again and again and again like this team
does not really want to win. They do not really want it. You
don't get that many points, you don't get almost get a one fifty dropped
on you. If you want to win, you don't almost come back in
the fourth quarter with half a quarter left, and the starters still don't come
in because you know that they don't want it bad enough that they're not gonna
get over that hump. You've got to use your second and third stringers to
have even a little bit of spark of energy. Well, I'll say this,
there have been a lot of setbacks and restarts, and it just feels
like since Collide towards ACL there's been zero continuity consistency out there basically, and
it always comes down to them just having to figure out who's available that night,
how are we gonna play this night, where's the foundation that you fall
back on. And it's not like they haven't had great wins the past couple
of seasons, and they haven't had moments where they have you believing again.
But right now, I know Clipper Nation is down, and so is Paul
George. The last three games now with James Harden fourteen points per game,
shooting twenty seven percent from the field, seventeen percent from three, been a
minus twenty eight. That was from Joey Lynn on X. But to me,
what was alarming was, okay, great, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden
have it going in the first quarter and Paul George and Russell Westbrook combined to
go zero for five. They have no rhythm. How do you balance that?
How do you figure that type of thing out? As Paul George finished
three of twelve and I know Russ had some inconsequential layups in the third quarter,
it looks a lot prettier now five of eleven with fourteen. But Paul
George is too important to this team and was getting off with such a great
start. I gotta think there's a connection and there the last three games with
how bad he's been playing, and it seems to be since they brought in
James Harden. I'm not saying it's his fault. I'm just saying this transitional
period is really taking his toll on Paul, which makes like I have to
be honest with you, that seems to me like a like more of a
Paul George mental thing, because fit wise, basketball court wise, he makes
the most sense around James Harden or James Harden and Kawhi than any of the
other players. He's you know, he's used to you know, he's used
to playing off ball. He's used to like being a little more malleable offensively.
And you know, we heard in the Doc Rivers area it wasn't necessarily
his favorite. He wanted to handle the ball more. That didn't work out.
We've been We've sought every single possible point guard. I don't think that
this is a hard I have to be really honest with you. This is
not a Harden issue to me. No, these games are not a hard
an issue to me. If the answer was that simple, then I don't
think we would have had three straight losses with garbage time minutes and all of
them. That's not one person. One person on a team of fifteen guys
doesn't throw the entire game away. I don't know what happened at the end
of that first quarter, but that lineup out there with Russell Westbrook next to
Bones Highland and Norn Powell and Terrence Man and PJ. Tucker. Maybe I
do know what happened. They went so small and in a minute and a
half they just got destroyed by Kyrie Irving going off and they lost all momentum.
A twelve point lead in the first quarter. Kawhi coming out cooking like
he was against the Lakers, looked great. Harden had fourteen in the first
quarter, and they just gave it all back. And I don't understand that
lineup, and I don't understand what is going on with so many guards playing.
I guess it's a necessity at some point now because of the trade they
made. But I'm sitting here thinking, you know, Mere Coffee is still
on the team, and he's a wing, and he has done very good
things for this franchise. The past couple of seasons had some nice flashes in
the fourth Yeah, cook, cook on that because some of those guys they
look like they had more continuity and rhythm, guys that have not played probably
together or at least significant minutes at all this season, and they looked.
Okay, I give them credit. Yeah, no, I agree that.
Yeah, that unit that was out there with bones and terrans and a mirror
and brown and diabaate. I mean that was lively. Like, look,
man, if we had taken three straight losses and the team looks like that
on the floor, like there was that kind of energy, Uh, this
would be totally different. I Like, it's not just that they're losses,
it's that they're blowout losses with garbage time minutes and like it does, it's
not looking any better. And you know, still only three games. This
sky hasn't completely fallen yet. But man, I mean you just look ahead
of the Clipper schedule and it's it's just not looking very friendly. You know
what else the guy who's probably disappointed me most because he's been so consistent and
so reliable, and he has been there no matter who is playing next to
him, he performs and holds it down. It's been Big Zoo, and
he's going through one of the worst stretches since he's been a Clipper. Right
now, he just looks lost and doesn't have the same bursts. I don't
know if he's hurt, but something's going on with Big Zoo and we know
how important he's been to this team. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's
that's the thing too, is like defensively, like we knew that they would
take a step back. Obviously we got rid of so many wings who had
their own limitations. But yeah, I mean with the injury to Plumbley,
like Zoo can only do to do so much, and I mean you brought
up a possible injury. I really hope that that's not the case, because
if that's the case, like, I don't see how this team is not
dead in the water. So that second quarter, I mentioned the end of
the first quarter and who was in it was Russ, Bones, Norm,
Terrence, PJ. Tucker. The only thing that changed to start the second
and going off the game log was Paul George came in for Bones, so
it was PG, Russ, Norm, Terrence, PJ. Tucker. I'm
not saying I hate that lineup, but with the way Paul George is playing
like he obviously just has to be better in those minutes, that was his
time to start to catch a rhythm and a feel for the game out there.
There was no Kawhi, there was no James Harden. That's just okay,
you guys took over the first quarter. Tag us in it's our turn,
it's Russ and it's Paul George just start to impose their will and they
had two points through the first six minutes of that second quarter. To me,
that's where the game was lost right there. Yeah, yeah, I
mean you have to be able to do more with that. I mean,
like I thought when we first talked about this game one, and I wasn't
that a about the loss of the Nick. So it's like, this is
gonna be a great situation for norm Like things are gonna be easier for him,
and he didn't share the end up sharing the floor with Harden. But
we need more from him. We definitely need more from Paul George and I
don't know they like it's only it's only three games, but man, it
has been just a miserable it has been an absolutely miserable three games. It's
been about a bad of a start as you could ever in the worst fevered
nightmare type dream could foresee after bringing in James Harden. That's just why it's
so alarmed. But like it's not and it's not, No, I'm with
you about James. It's not James. Like he's actually looked relatively pretty darned
good out there, considering this was just his third game played. No training
camp, no preseason, no games with Philly since last may you know,
yeah, absolutely, and it already looks like, man, he's he's trying
to take more catch and shoot, he's trying to set his teammates up.
You know. I again, only three games, but it seems like he's
at the point in his career where he is willing to do the things that
take to make the team win. It just it It isn't coalescing. I
guess the real question is are the pieces there? They just have to be
reconfigured for this team to click in. Do you believe the pieces are there
and there is a team that can get on a roll. They just have
to find the right rotations in lineups and continuity barring injuries. Yet, like
right now, even down Plumbly, I don't think that they don't. I
don't think that they have enough pieces defensively, and they can't really cover up
with it on that second unit. Yeah, they're getting destroyed on the boards.
It was I know, you look at the box score afterwards, and
because of the second half, it's very much skewed. But they gave up
nine offensive rebounds in the first half of this game, and they had nine
turnovers in the first half when it was still somewhat in the balance. So
it's kind of a tough game to evaluate in the final box score because it's
not indicative of how this game went whatsoever in the first half when it was
still in the balance. He is Will Updyke of C and D. I
think we're going to have a tripod on Sunday after the Clippers game against the
Memphis Grizzlies. Maybe we'll do it live. We'll have some fun with that.
Will, thanks for coming on tonight. Thanks for the epic grant.
Appreciate you man, my friend. Absolutely I wish I was on under better
circumstances. I hope you leave these fine posts to something more positive than I
brought to the table today. Hey, you made a better circumstances tonight here
on Clippers Talk. That's all I can ask for before we get out of
here. Three things. First, final call, brad mission, Vajo,
what's up.