What is going on? Clippers fans? Welcome to season two, episode seventy
six of Clips and Dip. I am Chuck Buckler, usually joined by William
Updike and Adam Oslin, but they are enjoying their off seasons and I am
remaining here to talk about the Clippers. Today. We have the wonderful,
the fantastic, the effervescent Law Murray. He's a Clippers beat writer for The
Athletic. If you're not familiar, he's also covering the Drew League, I
believe starting pretty soon, which I'm very excited for. We're gonna talk Ty
Lou. We're gonna talk the young guys. We're gonna talk the Clippers lack
of wiggle room. But before we get into that, Law, how you
doing? Man? I feel a whole lot better after that intro, Man,
I appreciate it. Yeah, it's I'm excited for to that starts Saturday,
June first, and I'm just I'm I'm ready for the all season.
But man, these days don't need to be fast like we can take.
I'm enjoying. I'm enjoying the planet wheel right now. Yeah, there we
go. We have. We were kind of talking about it before we streamed
or before we started this. I think most Clippers fans are rooting for the
Celtics in this this NBA Finals, So we'll see, we'll see how that
happens. I saw someone photoshopped the Mavericks logo to be the Lakers colors,
and the Lakers fans are all Celtics fans now, so it's a very weird
time for LA sports teams. I feel like, no, the Lakers fans
are mass fans. Oh yeah, sorry, that's MAVs fans. Yeah,
so yeah, then we are going Celtics. Then that I think most of
Clippers nation will be going Celtics on this one. We're not here to talk
about the MAVs, thankfully, I guess. Anymore, the biggest news,
you know and Clipper dumb right now is Tylu. He's re signed. For
the most part, Clippers fans were on board with this, which given the
fan base, I was a little surprised there wasn't more split. There were
people calling for Tylu to be fired at one point last year, which didn't
make a whole lot of sense, but there was no I mean, take
aside the fact that Tyler is a great coach and has been with the team
for so long, there was no other way this was going to go down
right there. It didn't seem to me, at least, there's a world
in which Tyler wasn't re signing at some point. Yeah, I mean I
thought it was an elongated game of chicken, because I said, back,
there's a tweet floating while I'm not floating around because I haven't made it float.
But if you dig, like they're in the twenty twenty two offseason some
random day in July, I was like, yeah, I think Timrondlu's going
to get an extension this time next year. And you know, everything was
set up for that to happen. You know, like he got through his
second season with the team, a team that never had Kawhi Leonard and lost
Paul George for three months essentially, you know, starting in Christmas, and
that team got over five hundred and competed and that was a year after the
Conference finals appearance, which was the first in franchise history. So it was
like, yeah, of course he's going to get extended. They're gonna get
Kawhi back, they're gonna get Palled back, They're going to really make this
push and we're gonna see just how close they are to the championship. Not
only did their postseason get essentially canceled by the injuries, but before that,
they played thoroughly on serious basketball for a year, and everybody wanted to talk
about the dysfunction. I had never heard anyone want toronlu to not be the
coach of Clippers of Star as people who like, love and care about that
team from a perspective. Yeah, I mean I the first time I had
ever noticed that people were starting to chirp about that was shortly after they signed
Russ in February of twenty twenty three. And I remember I went to Denver,
and you know, people were, you know, because people were over
seeing Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris play together, and me, being someone who
has to be around the team all the time, understood why those guys were
playing absolutely right. So like I was shocked, you know, I was
shocked when you know, we get to Denver. This was after the double
overtime one seventy six seventy five game against the Kings, Right, I was
shocked when they get to Denver and and you know, I'm looking at my
mess mentions, I'm getting dinner on a Saturday night before this game and in
Denver, and it was like, man, they need a fire to lude
hire email Udoka And I was like, what is wrong with y'all that,
like you know, and you know, people were sharing inappropriate photoshops of Marcus
Morris, Like it was very uncomfortable. While that was what it was the
darker times, I feel so like the rest of the year, like I
just was like in this space where I was like, who knows what?
And how uncomfortable is this? Because t Lou like everyone kind of was like
what if TLU quits? Like yeah, it was super emotional when the Suns
eliminated the Clippers last year, and I was like, the hell is about
to happen? Is TLU about the like just upp and League, like we
knew that Telu was dealing with, you know, some family things, some
things close to him, in addition to the frustration of I don't know who's
going to start back to back games through this damn team, Like the way
that season was going, the front office should have extended him that year.
Instead, Winger goes to Washington. The guys in front office get promoted,
right and all TLU and the coaching staff get is you get to not be
a lame duck going into the twenty twenty three twenty twenty four season. They
got that last year. Tivu got his last year on his original deal guaranteed,
just so that knowing people like me can say, well, you know,
like they don't know him anything after that year. Right, Yeah,
that's a good call. But shout out to t Lou because you know what,
man, like, it got worse before it got better. They lost
six in a row, getting James Harden after running a whole training camp that
was supposed to be Camp Russ and it was Camp Russ. Like they came
out everyone you know who doesn't pay attention to stuff that I write and report.
They got comfortable with the idea that the Clippers were going to just keep
that training camp team through the balance of the season or wait, you know,
to not to make a deal. I was like, guys, this
is going to happen as soon as you know, Philadelphia happened as soon as
Philadelphia decides to make it happen. Daryn Morrey gets out of the ceilings like
it's going to happen. Yeah, And what happened. The trade gets made
a week before they have a four day stretch before playing in New York.
So you know, they failed, man, and then they succeeded, and
so Toronto, Lou. There's a lot of things that he can be better
at. You can say that about every head coach in the league, Okay,
like, for crying out loud, the two head coaches representing the NBA
finalist, or Joe mizzoula guy that most of y'all never heard of two years
ago, and Jason Kidd, a guy that you know when he took the
Dallas job, like everyone was going back to his previous head coaching spots and
how crazy things got there. Like everyone can be better at the head coaching
level. Every coach that has won with Lebron has never literally never won without
Lebron. Like, let's just be like in terms of a championship like cause,
apparently getting to a finals or winning games in the regular season or having
the respect of the most difficult personalized in the league doesn't mean anything to these
people. So when you look at it that way, Chuck, the extension
was like, this should have happened. We knew was going to happen.
Thank god it's done. So we can move on to the other stuff that's
probably more important. Yeah, the uncertainty, And I thought it was and
the Clippers felt the same way too. Right as soon as Darvin Ham was
let go, what did we see an alert that the Clippers were working out
a long term right on Man's birthday too. Oh that's so funny. Yeah.
And and the other part you mentioned too is there's not a lot of
other coaches who can walk into this specific locker room with the amount of clout
whatever new word you want to use that the big four of this Clippers team
has and come in to really like shake things up. Right. This isn't
a team of young, hungry guys. This is older, hungry guys who
have been at the top of the entire game at one point in their careers.
So you can't just bring in someone to be like, we're doing it
my way now. Guys like that worked in Milwaukee, right who Milwaukee hired
for that exactly? So, Tylu, it's probably good. I mean,
it's as hard as coach coaching job maybe. But and for the fans that
you know, what do we all want as Clippers fans? Stability, some
kind of continuity. We got it. We got it in other than you
know, our player's health. We have it in probably the most important,
uh spot the Clippers could have it, and you know Balmber likes him.
If people read any of the quotes about how Tyloo feels about Bomber and stuff
like that, it's a good relationship between those guys. So great relationship,
I would say, yes, like they don't tolerate each other. They're not
like like man j Zoo, Bomber goes to Mexico, Missouri. Yeah that's
all you need. Yeah, back to Mexico Missouri. But like I've heard
Tlu talk about Mexico Missouri, like you gotta want to be in Mexico Missouri,
you know, like to get there exactly. Yeah. I'm trying to
think. Yeah, any any place in the United States named after another country
usually isn't a place where it's like, okay, yeah, this seems like
a good spot. I'm dying at Balmer driving into Mexico Missouri. I don't
know. I don't think it can the way the way t Lou says,
like, I think it was I forget what hotel, but it was a
star hotel. It wasn't It wasn't a five star hotel was staying that and
he was just happy to be there with T Lou like like they've and you
know, I wrote, I wrote this in my piece outside of the news
that hit Thursday morning, Like it's an investment, right, So it's clear
that the front office you're not going to upgrade on T Lou. Ownership knows
you're not going to upgrading on T Lou. Like you get a new head
coach because you want to switch things up when things need to be switched up.
But change for change his sake, which is something that a lot of
Clippers people is like addicted to for some reason, like the grass isn't always
greener on the other side, like and so like it was just a matter
of what's fair compensation. I think that's why it took so long. And
there's a priority list, like the Clippers have a whole lot more in this
all see this all scene is always going to be extremely critical. We knew
how critical twenty twenty four all season was going to be back in twenty twenty
one, and we're here for many the same reasons. The success of the
team hasn't been there. But you can't just throw blame and say someone's got
to lose their job because the team did not meet the expectations that they set
for themselves. That's how you get stupid ass organizations that spin their wheels on
an annual basis, like the Clippers, multiple coaches who don't coach for the
team anymore. No one wants to be in that organization. No, you
don't want to, you know, you don't want to have an organization where
it's like, Okay, it's bad enough you don't have the luck factor,
but the things in your control you also are showing that you don't have a
grasp of that either. And so yeah, can everyone be better? Yes?
Can luck be there? Sure? If the luck is there? Do
I think this championship window is still open? I've written that it. I
don't think it does. The organization doesn't have to agree with you, and
they are obviously they are. They have their actions, are you know,
the reflecting your belief that they have the right people in place? Yeah,
and we like. And one thing that people have kind of brought up is
the you hear the chatter of kind of the maybe different philosophies or different aspects
of the Clippers between kind of the Lawrence Frank part of the front office and
the Tyleru part. Right. You mentioned the Russell Westbrook thing. There's a
lot of If you go back and read the quotes during that time from those
two guys, there's a lot of different things being said. One of them,
you know, you mentioned like every coach has things to work on.
I think a lot of the things that fans want to see is the front
office and Tyleru and that Lawrence Frank perspective getting a little more on the same
page in terms of personnel and things like that, because we do have question
marks with the backup five and what is going to happen with the backup two
kind of going into this next season. Yeah, I mean, well the
backup two. You're talking about a guy who and Norman Powell who. I
just feel like I didn't really get the respect nationally that like people who saw
how important the Clippers were, whether they were at their best or not.
Like Norman I thought had a fantastic season. I regret not writing more about
him, But then again, my job ain't to cheerlead, so thank you.
Yeah. Look, man, you go through my whole season to work.
Uh, it's it's really hard to find a whole lot of fluff there,
Like I gotta get to a real good place to be, Like,
all right, I'm featuring anybody, Okay. I wrote one Kawhi Leonard is
dope story, all okay, And I'm pretty sure his social media managers saw
that, John like it was. It was a game at where they won
in Utah December, and I was like, Kawhi, he said he got
a bag for this season, and then they reposted that that that that,
so I was really proud of that, And I never wrote about Kawhi like
that ever again, So like it's hard for me to get to that place,
Like I got so much stuff to write about. But like Norman had
an outstanding season. He was on the ball less, his off the ball
efficiency was incredible, and his effort defensively was better than it had been in
years. And you could see that by how well the lineup performed when Norman
was in there with the other starters. Okay, the Power Rangers lineup,
Yeah, exactly. And so like you know, Norman's raw numbers are unimpressive
outside of his shooting, Like we know Norman isn't really going to pass the
ball, and we know that Norman is not a strong rebounder for his position,
and there's not a lot of defensive plays like spark splash plays. But
he fits. And when you got guys that fit, you keep that.
Terrence man he fits. Terrence man of is a player who has had to,
you know, basically get eaten alive by some of the matchups that he
has. But the playoffs reminded you, oh wait, he's better at guarding
some players than he is guarding other players. Like he can guarded Luka Doncic
more effectively than guard of Kyrie Irving. It's that's why I hate positionless tough,
because you need all types of body types. Those body types don't have
to be restricted by size. It's a matter of what can you do now?
That very theory is what got the Clippers in trouble of why people thought
that there was a sunction between the front office and the coaching staff. The
front office saw t Lou in twenty twenty one when half to service by the
Luka Doncic absolute heater by removing amits A zubots from the equation entirely. Sergebaka
his back gave out and we knew what the deal was there, and so
Nicholas Vatum essentially had to play center for the Clippers to survive that series.
Right, the same thing in the next series, They're like, we're not
going to beat the Utah Jazz with if it's a Zubas on the floor,
not because if it's a Zubas is a bad player, but because Rudy Gobert
is just able to do what Rudy Gobert does and Utah's offense is too good
for that. So what do you do. You space the floor out with
Nico at center again, make Rudy Gobert have to guard out a five out
lineup, and the drive game was enhanced. That was they were able to
do that even when Kawhi towards ACL. So the front office saw that they
knew they weren't gonna have Kawhi for a year, and they were like,
let's try some things different with the roster. Let's punt point guards, Let's
just get as many wings as possible. Isaiah Hartenstein was not an investment.
He played himself into one, and then the team was like, you know
what, we have so many wings. They've accumulated so many guys, Like
everyone looks at John wall is the reason why Isaiah Hertenstein's it's like, nah,
Robert Covington, Marcus Morris, and Nicholas buttoom was as much of a
reason why Isaiah had to take money elsewhere as John Wall Because yes, the
coaching staff the Stars, they're like, hey, we probably need another point
guard besides Reggie Jackson. But the other part of it is you only get
to have five basketball players on the floor at once, and they paid Marcus,
Nico and Roco and they believe that one of those guys could be the
backup five, especially with Kawuhi there. Yeah, so when you build a
team full of wings, you're like, let's play all the wings, and
yeah, like they're gonna let Isaiah take money elsewhere. That screwed the Clippers
up. It screwed up those power forwards because obviously Rocco wound up sacrificing.
And you know, the thing that I will always give Lawrence Frank in the
front office credit for is whatever lace Frank says he would like to do if
he had carte blanche, Like, he does wind up collaborating with his stars,
he does wind up collaborating with his coach, and he does wind up
serving those guys, you want a point guard, here's russ Even though here's
the most point guard point guard we can possibly give you. At this point
the option, Lawrence made it very clear what kind of guard he would prefer
playing with Kawhi and PG, Like they literally got Bone Tiland and Eric Gordon
on the same afternoon, okay, and then Paul George blows that whole thing
up and it's like, yeah, I'm we're not satisfied with that Russell Westbrooks
available. Let's get him the backup center spot. Like Toron Lou, the
same guy who you know benched if it's a Zoo Bots to win multiple playoff
series, was stewing about the fact that if Zoo wasn't on the floor and
Kawhi wasn't available, because Kawhi makes all of those small lineups work, and
Kawhi wasn't Kawhi from a health perspective or a performance perspective. Until January and
middle of January, the clipers were under five hundred last year. Yeah,
see Lou, I remember walking up to him after or they got Mason Plumbley
and they beat the Warriors, and TV was like, we finally got a
backup center, Like We really needed that, Like, yeah, we've had
to watch Moses. We watched Moses Brown play a lot of basketball for this
team exactly on a two way contract. That was like, you're on a
two way just so that we can, you know, maximize the roster spots.
So when you think about all that, Chuck, it's like, yeah,
they have your typical front office head coach. We're not always on the
same page. Why because they're human and they're both you know, they've both
done some things in this league. Yes, they both have ideas, but
the credit has to be due to the fact that they understand where their weaknesses
are and they address them the best that they can. This past year,
it was an issue like Mason I think was going to have a better season
if he didn't you know, damn near Tarrors ACL in New York. That
was I watched that because I remember it was Randall and I watched the replay
of it the other day just and I was like, oh, that was
does that That was very close the disaster. He got carried, Chuck,
he got carried off the floor. Yeah, like we saw if it's a
zoo by spraying his mcl you know, in the twenty twenty one Western Conference
Finals against the Suns. Yeah, and I thought Zoo was actually going to
finish that series. It's like, it's not like Zoo had to get carried
the hell off. Yeah, you know, Mason was Yeah, that was
Mason looked like he was done for this season. I was like, Okay,
who else is out there? Daniel Tice had to save the damn rotation
and and so Mason obviously came back and had an uneven year. Daniel is
you know, I give him credit. He exceeded anyone's expectations. But Daniel
Tye is a marginal rotation player, and you saw that by the end of
the year when he didn't play. You know, he's a tweeter in size
too, right, Like he's he's he's a tweeter, but he's like,
he's not a center. Yeah, he's six eight and he's a load up
jumper, and he's over thirty and he's had knee issues. So everything you
got out of Daniel Tice exceeded my expectations simply for the fact that Daniel hasn't
played you know, real minutes in two years before you know, getting a
chance with this team to fill in while Mason was recovering from the mcl And
when it comes down to it, I think both of those guys who are
free agents, like the Clippers need to upgrade there. The Clippers need to
upgrade on PJ. Tucker. Like the Clippers knew they needed to upgrade in
January and February, they tried. Everyone knew what they needed to do.
And when I say everyone, like the front office. I talked to the
coaching staff. Well, the coaching staff is like whatever, We're just trying
to get a win. Like I don't think people realize this coaching staff.
Toront lou Is is not a meddler, like he's he's trying to be Bill
Parcells, docers cook the groceries. It's like, just I'm gonna coach who
I got. Just all t lou as ors is complete rosters and consistent rosters
from the health perspective. Yeah, and you can see how that's gone.
But like everyone knew, Like there's a reason Danilla Gallinari I mentioned this in
the mail bag I put out earlier this week, like they would have cut
Josh Primo in February if Gallo wanted to come to the Clippers and Gallows saw
rightfully, I would say Gallo saw a better opportunity in Milwaukee, and Gallo
did play until it was clear that Gallo was not it. So, you
know, like if the Clippers would have traded for PJ. Washington, for
instance, what kind of resources would it have taken the Clippers to get to
beat what Charlotte got. Charlotte got Grant Williams, a guy in his twenties
and service very good. Yeah, like I'm not the biggest. Like I
thought Dallas paying Grant Williams was asenine to start for them. I just didn't
think Grant Williams is a starting caliber player and you saw Dallas was They figured
that out by by Christians? Yeah, yeah, like by Christmas. I
don't want to even comment on how they felt about him on a personal level.
Just on the court, Grant Williams was not you know, he was
not worth. He was not a starting caliber player for that team. Maybe
he is for Charlotte, but we're you know, different spots. Yeah,
exactly. So Like it's like what would have taken to get PJ. Washington?
Like I don't think the Clippers would have wanted to stomach that. I
don't know how well PJ would have played. Obviously he wouldn't have made Dallas
as good. But also I mean, how valuable is a PJ Washington if
a Kawhi Leonard can't stay on the floor. It's a very good point.
How good is Dallas if Luka Doncic can't stay on the floor. So that's
where I'm at with the backup situation. The front office knows what they need
to do. The coaching staff with toronal lo is going to enjoy Paris and
and Brad Turner out there. Yeah, I'm sure that'll be in insane Lincoln
exactly. But I think everyone's on the same page about what needs to happen.
The question is how hol chuck that was? So that was gonna be
my next thing? We have? There are some young guys who people are
excited about on the Clippers. I think, you know, we have the
k we have the Kai Jones signing, which a lot of people have used
certain mental gymnastics to justify as maybe he's the next Bix thing for the Clippers.
I think maybe are there any young guys you see who can maybe find
some time and we're not you know, I'm not saying the full backup five
or something like that, but developmental minutes within the Clippers, the Clippers first
team for the for these guys, because that is a tough spot on a
young team with expectations like this. For an older team, yeah, I
think it's it's gonna be hard on because let's start with the back of five,
because you do have those free agents in Mason and Daniel Tye. I
believe that if you're an older team, or in this case, the oldest,
like, I think you have to you know, I mean, the
Clippers were the oldest team in twenty twenty one as well, but the difference
is a lot of that age was in the role players. Whereas you know,
your stars were still reasonably they were just touching thirty. Now you now
you have so many guys who are over thirty that are at the top of
the food chain, and you have to get younger from anyone else who is
not an elite player. Like So, in other words, I know that
the front office isn't tripping about the age of Kawhi or Paul or James or
I would say Russ, But the front office has been pretty clear about not
including Russ in the same group as James, Paul, and I think makes
sense. Yeah, yeah, Like that's just where they are. And so
when you think about that, it's like, Okay, they might not worry
about them, I clearly do. Like I worry. Look, I'm always
going to worry about Kawhi's age as it relates to his health, Paul George's
age as it relates to his contract, James Harden's age as it relates to
the on ball role and the mileage, the crazy mileage he has had throughout
his career. James hasn't had the injuries that Kawhi and Paul have had.
But James also is older than those guys, and you know has a role
where that is the fastest position in the league. And then now you got
James Harden. James used to play at that speed, like the Houston Rockets
and James Hart Prime, they used to be one of the fastest paced.
We're talking about a decade ago, Chuck. So we're you know, we're
in a different era now. And so like if you are the Clips,
everybody else has to reasonably be in their primer younger. You can't have PJ.
Tuckers on this team anymore. You can't have Mason Plumleaz or even Daniel
Tice's on this team anymore. You can barely tolerate a Norman Powell on this
team anymore. And so Kai Jones has a huge opportunity ahead of him because
he can be your Isaiah Hartenstein, a guy who is non guaranteed, who
has had some years and multiple teams in the league, who's had to deal
with some things, but clearly has some skill sets that could emphasis one could
you know, be relevant is Kai has an opportunity. He got signed and
everyone, you know, when he got signed, everyone was like, he
can play in the playoffs. Yeah, you guys clearly clearly don't listen.
But that's cool, you know, because we don't need to talk about last
season. We're talking about the off season, and that's where we need to
see Kay Jones make the biggest impression. I don't care about the highlights.
I don't care about his athleticism because those are things that are you know,
you can put those in the bank. What you need to be able to
rely on is feel for the game, things that when Kyle Jones was at
Texas he wasn't good at. And feel for the game is both ends of
the floor offensively if we're gonna play you at center. And that's what the
Clippers are training, they're grooming him, getting him ready for is to be
a center, not a power forward. Like a real scene. Have you
seen the Clippers play basketball the last four years? Like I can't. I
can't tell you, Chuck, how many times people are like, just put
daniel Tys at the four. It's like, y'all want to win a battle
and lose the war. Yeah, and we've seen it. Why don't we
play tresen zoo together? Why don't we do it? And it's just like
stop, do y'all think that this is Charles Oakley and Patrick Ewing in the
nineties Knicks? Like what league are y'all watching the same? You know?
Like this ain't that league no more. That's not how the Clippers played.
That's really and a lot of teams that played two non shooting bigs, right,
And so everything with kai Jones is theoretical and you need to turn that
theory into real practice and production. And the way kai Jones does that is
I'm almost certain he'll be playing summer league. He has to play basketball.
He went an entire year where he barely was on an NBA roster at all.
He played in the you know quarto for Bahamas. He played for Bahamas,
and then he got the two way or not the two way to ten
day from the Sixers. He wasn't healthy enough to last on that ten day.
They put him in Delaware. He played two games there. His hamstring
flared up again. Things that happen when you're not around the game and you
haven't been hooping like that, and so that's why Philadelphia didn't keep him again.
He was fine there, he wasn't healthy. They needed bodies because Joel
Embiid is already hurt, Robert Covington already hurt, like they needed bodies that
could play and be available. He gets to the Clippers and the only time
I saw Kai Jones like he was with strength and conditioning. He was working
with Mussa Diabate, who Musa is another guy like Musa injury luck last year
too, which is tough. Yeah the end the I don't think the the
injury luck with Musa was unforced errors. Like I don't think Mussa got hurt
when he broke his hand in January. I don't think that that was a
thing that happened on the basketball court. I just think that Musa was had
a had Let's just say it wasn't a basketball injury. So like, is
he gonna be in the drew again because he was in the drew, he
played drew, But he's got bigger things to worry about. I don't know.
Yeah, that's fair. I don't I don't know what's going to happen
with Musa. But because of the presence of Kai Jones and so, I
think Moosa is going to be you know, the Lawrence Frank said that the
team has a decision to make with him. And usually when I hear stuff
like that. The last time I heard something like that was Jason Preston in
his summer That means that you could see Musa go in the summer league.
The difference is, you know, and just like Jason, like, there
are teams that were interested in Jason Preston, Like obviously Memphis picked him up
for a while for their G League team and then he finished the year with
the Utah Jazz. You know, Preston has NBA skills, but do teams
think he's an NBA player? That is, the jury is still out there
with Musa like when the Clippers drafted him, the idea was, first of
all, Musa played power forward in college for an offense that let's just say
Juwan Howard is now coaching in the NBA again, but like, you know,
you drafted college power forward and say we're gonna make you a center.
Does that sound familiar. That's what they're doing with Kai Jones now, a
guy who you know, Kai might think that he's got all these outside the
paying abilities, and he still might, but the Clintons are putting him in
a certain box. And why do you put a player in a box?
Normally you want to say the game is positionless, you can do anything,
but you put a player in a box. It's the same thing I told
Terrence Man last year. I know you love that positionless bullshit, But if
you earn a starting job and you're playing one position that you know you're going
to be in the best unit to start both halves every game, that is
the best thing to have a consistent role. So they're trying to give kai
Jones a chance to have a consistent role next year's Clippers team, and to
do that, it's at the center position where he can utilize his athleticism on
both ends of the floor. So I'm not looking for dunks and I'm not
looking for highlights. I'm looking for Can kai Jones set a screen? Can
kai Jones roll and make decisions out of short roles? Can kai Jones understand
where he needs to be as a rim protector because kai Jones, as tall
and athletic as he is, doesn't have the great his wingspan, And again
going back to Texas, he is not known for being a reliable rim protector,
a reliable defender. If he was, he would have played in Charlotte.
And so those are things that need to develop over time. Like a
guy as athletic as kai Jones shouldn't like again, go back to Texas.
His last year there twenty four blocks in twenty six games. For a guy
with that kind of height and athleticism at college level is like a red flag.
It's like something's missing here. He doesn't have the greatest wingspan and he
doesn't have the greatest feel for the game, but that was three years ago.
If he can develop a reliability there, then that's going to be huge
for his chances, and that's going to be huge for the Clippers, a
team that openly is trying to find wins in the margins. That's where they
need to look at the center fasis, that's the young guys there. You
want to talk about Kobe Brown. I love Kobe Brown coming out of Missouri
for everything that he could do offensively, and he did nothing but validate that
in Summer League and the G League. The Clipper's biggest issue, though Chuck,
was their defensive rebound. Meame, it's not a strength to Kobe Browns
like Kobe Brown, for all that he can do offensively, defensively it's going
to be a little bit tougher. We know that he got an opportunity to
play, and the reason why that opportunity didn't stick is because that dude was
more likely to pick up a foul in the defensive rebound. Yeah, it
was, And that was a knock coming out of college. Was his feet
on the perimeter. He had had some slow feet, which is harder to
make quicker when you're going from college to the pro level. Yeah, and
I think that he can defend, he can hang and survive on the perimeter.
I think that he works his ass off, and I think that he's
going to be a smart team defender, and even a guy who can make
some plays, a guy who can get some steals, like I thought Kobe
showed that in Summer League, the ability to shrink the floor, the ability
to stay in front of guys, the ability to get in passing lane,
to make plays with his hands, I thought, I think Kobe Brown has
outstanding hands, and so I think that he can survive as a four.
But he's not going back to college. He's not a run protector, he's
not a great rebounder, and so you know, I believe that the Clippers
need to add a veteran power forward, a guy who can play the four
and the five, who can you know, if Kobe Brown beats that guy
out, then okay, that's cool, but that's great. Yeah, but
you also want a guy who like just can play either one of those spots.
Kobe Brown's going to get an opportunity, especially if they get PJ.
Tucker relocated as they need to do. And offensively, I can believe in
Kobe Brown. Defensively and on the glass, that's that's an area of weakness
that I don't think. Kobe Brown feels that the veteran power forward that the
Clippers needs to try and acquire. That's where they kind of need to look
for. And as far as guys like Jordan Miller, because he's the other
guy that Lawrence Frank specifically mentioned as young guys who had big summers to show
the team something again. I think the team is surprised and pleased with what
Jordan's showed offensively, but Jordan needs to show that his defensive tools can translate
a little bit better. So that's what I'll be looking for. He's got
the length, he's obviously a little on the slight side, and he's got
to show that he can be a game changer on that and the floor to
get out of that too ay contract that he's in, but he's already locked
in next year, okay. Yeah. And then Brandon Boston a fan favorite.
Some the expectations for Brandon Boston are all over the place from Clipper's fandom.
I know that offensively he's very good. He had the injuries last year.
He has flashes. I should say, yeah, I would agree with
that, But that's been my thing with Brandon Boston is there hasn't been any
consistency when he's had time with the first team, and obviously his lineups.
He's not in lineup with you know, the top of the rotation or anything
like that, but it's still it's just kind of feels choppy since he's been
on the team. When he's with the first team. My thing with Brandon
is he works his ass off and he loves the game. I have been
saying this for the better part of his three years. The ball does not
find the bottom of the net consistently enough for a player who is literally right,
yeah, I mean, I mean shoot like, he's taken six hundred
shots in the NBA, and you know he's a sub forty percent shooter from
the field. He's at thirty one percent on his one ninety two career three
point attempts. So you're seeing a player who if he gets to his spot,
he doesn't score at that spot. And then you got a guy who
takes tough shots because I mean, he's not really one to pass it.
So and he's you mentioned slight, he's one of his problem with the skinniest
guy on the team would be I mean, he shares a roster with Bones
Highlands, So yeah, oh yeah, fair yeas said that. Yeah,
but the look, man, I thought it was notable that Lawrence didn't have
much to say if anything will either Bones or Brandon, And I think both
of those guys are guys who love to see the ball released from their fingertips
towards the rim more than they're going to look the pass. But both of
those guys, you know, Bones obviously has shown that he can score at
the NBA level at a high rate. But it's but if Bones, I've
set this plenty of times. When Bones doesn't make shots, his whole demnor
changes. Is different with Brandon, it's a matter of we just never see
him shoot or score efficiently. Like he's really not good at, you know,
consistently putting the ball in the basket when that's the main thing that he
works for, that's his main kind of thing. And it's been three years
at this point, you know, like there's a reason and Brandon was a
late second round pick, even though he was the top five recruit coming out
of a place that we all know, Sierra Canyon. Like Brandon has had
a put the ball in the basket consistently issued for a long time. He
shot thirty five and a half percent from the field at Kentucky. Man,
you know, so like I believe there is something there with Brandon, but
like he's at a point where you got to look at Brandon Boston versus a
Mire Coffee, and Brandon has to do two things. Number One, He's
got to get and stay healthy. Brandon was going to have every opportunity ahead
of a mirror to be a rotation player as soon as this year. Unfortunately
he had the quadriceps tend an apathy in Hawaii. He only you know,
he got into that first preseason game in the first quarter. That's how highly
he was going to get a chance to really get a chance to run.
Like he had a great summer. They held him out of Summer League because
they thought that highly of him. Unfortunately, he had a back with that
quad and he never got healthy until December. And by December, it's like,
Brandon's too old to be going to the G League getting these reps.
That's right, Gobe Brown, that was Joshu Roprimo, that was all you
know, Jordan Miller, those guys had to get those reps. They're like,
nah, Brandon, you got to be with the team. And Brandon
just rarely got an opportunity to play. And so I believe Brandon can be
a better player when he's playing with the best guys. But to play with
the best guys, that ball has to find the bottom of the net.
A Mere Coffee kept his spot because a Mere Coffee did an outstanding job of
making shots in his role. You know, Brandon just has never shown the
ability to do that at a consistent level. And he's running out of time,
Like he's going to be a restricted free agent if he gets an opportunity
this time around, Brandon's got to look at a Mere Coffee, a guy
who you know, shout out to a mirror, but a mirror is literally
going to be twenty seven years old this summer, and like a mirr was
not good enough to stay on the floor this postseason when a mirror had a
mirror stretched. As a guy who gets extended minutes in a rotation, if
you're Brand in Boston Junior, you got to beat that guy out. And
again we got to see how the team navigates his free agency. But I
don't look at Brandon as a guy who is going list of guys who,
yeah, like, he's not a He's he's not a guy who like if
a team overpays because they really want Brand in Boston Junior and restrict your free
agency. Like yeah, the Clippers will say, you know, good luck
and they'll move on. And so like that's Brandon when it comes to Bones,
everything with Bones is going to come down to what happens with russ and
and James to an extension. But I just feel like Bones is a shooting
guard and a point guard's body. And so if you look at why Josh
Primo was signed and Josh Primo we can talk. You know, the off
court stuff is the off court stuff and the development of Josh Primo from a
you know, just a therapeutic, psychological whatever. Same with Kai Jones.
You know, Lawrence is very open about this. It's like the development plan
for him there as much as the basketball development plan, sure that was relevant,
but as far as the player, they wanted a Josh Primo type because
it's the same thing san Antonio because he was overdrafted. Premo should have never
been a lottery pick. It was insane that he was a lottery pick.
So but he was a lottery pick and san Antonio try to have him be
a point guard even though he had not been not shown that he was that
kind of player at any point previous to his pro career starting. The Clippers
try to pick that up like they try to You know what does Laurence Strength
says he wants. He wants big guards who can be as effective on the
ball as they are off the ball. We saw the Luton yard. We
saw it with Eric Gordon, saw with Landry Shammitt, right like, so,
what do you expect me to say about this draft? They're not looking
for another brand in Boston or a Bones Island. I do think they're looking
for another Josh Primo. And that's where if you look at development, this
team does not need more young bigs to develop. You have Bob Brown and
now you have both Kay Jones and Musa Diavate on the same roster, and
I don't know if both of those guys make it to or through training camp.
There's enough bigs to develop if you will. Jordan Miller, you just
used a second round pick on him as a as a wing who is not
a natural ball in hand guy, even though he's showing flashes that he could
beat that guy three years ago. You picked three guards, in effect,
three guys who were scorers. In Keon Johnson again, a big guard who
has no business being trained as a point guard, but the Clippers were trying
to talk themselves in the having him be like a point guard. That was
Keon Johnson pe We were gonna forget about Kon because he didn't last one year.
But you have to remember who the Clippers look at and wind up selecting
with their picks. They looked at Kean, who is a hyper athlete who
needed to learn how to play basketball, Preston, who is literally the exact
opposite of k in every way. And Brandon, a long, young kid
who had high school pedigree who you just were like, let's see what there
is there. That was three years ago. Brandon's restricted and Jason and Kean
are long gone. They need to replenish the guard situation because even if James
and Russ come back, you're talking about two point guards who are in their
mid thirties at a position that we've already established is full of young, fast
talent. Okay, you need I look at the Clippers not to draft a
point guard sized player, but to draft a guy who you could talk into
playing the one or the two. That's gonna be the biggest puzzle piece of
who their clippers going to draft next month. And it's difficult with the draft
too, because their draft in a spot where you everybody is an option,
you know what I mean. It's not like they're in the top five or
you're at the forty six pick where the talent pool is wide ish and the
amount of guys you can take is astronomical. Yeah, well, you're not
drafting for needy, you know, at the middle of the second round.
Yeah, you just want what Lawrence says, you know, pick the player
that can make an impact, that can make the team develop and contribute in
a short manner of time. So even now with me saying I think it's
going to be a big guard that they look for, you know, like
that doesn't mean that it's some big who is good and drops like you know,
next this year's Gigi Jackson, for instance. Like if that player is
available and it's like, oh, he fits and he's good and he might
even he might win a job, like he might be, you know,
better than the bigs. If that player is there at forty six, it's
just like, yeah, you're gonna pick him because he's better than whatever project
guard might be there. Yeah, so you consider every position, But I'm
planning a flag now that I expect a big guard to be the priority.
Especially. The other factor is Xavier Moon is not too a eligible and at
Xavier Moon's age, you know, not that Xavier Moon is an old person
on Earth, but as a player on that kind of a you know,
roster spot, I think that Xavier is probably not going to be a player
that the team gives serious consideration too for a roster spot. If he was,
he would have already had one, because Xavier deserved the spot over someone
like Joshua Primo for instance. There's a reason why Xavier Moon was with the
team, and josh Primo, before he messed his ankle up, was still
not with the team, right, But you know, maybe asks you invite
him and say, hey, can you win a job just in case?
But the reality but the reality is they need to replenish the guard developmental spot,
and if they don't draft a guy, maybe that's a priority undrafted guy
as well. We've meant you briefly mentioned the Paul George and Harden returns for
this team. We got a couple more minutes at this point. It just
it feels inevitable that and I mean I could be wrong, but it just
feels like there's this there's this weird situation where the Clippers are kind of like
negotiating against themselves while Paul George has this leverage of well, I could get
a max from so and so. Are we just kind of inching towards the
clip? Do you feel that we're just kind of inching towards the Clippers giving
Paul Georgia max the four years. I I'm not there yet, man,
Okay, I'm really not because I think what needs to happen is this,
the Clippers can pay Paul George more money than anybody else. However, the
Clippers have let it be known that from a year's and a average you know,
uh, annual salary standpoint, they're not willing to go there. And
so Paul is gonna be like, all right, well, y'all are going
to be on the same level as everybody else. Maybe less. Let's see
what these other teams are really talking about. I'm Paul George. I'm opting
out and I'm getting all these dinners. Man, I'm going to Philly,
really got some Look, I'm from Philly. You know you're gonna get some
good casine there. Absolutely, I'm going to Orlando. I was just in
Orlando. I'm sure Orlando got some good food down there. I'm going to
New York. I'm gonna say, you got New York City. I'm eating
good Man, I'm opting out and I'm letting, I'm, I'm, I'm
like and I'm and I'm going to see who by late June early July is
really serious about the kind of money that they would commit to a player who's
played fourteen NBA seasons already and is looking for a reason to leave everything behind
in La to go to be cold on purpose. And I lot just I'm
like, if I'm Paul, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna see who blinks.
Because all these teams can talk now and try and disintegrate a relationship that
has been formed over five years at least, right, they can try and
do that. And it's easy to lie in May and June, but it's
hard to do it when you're sitting across from the dinner table and trying to
figure out who's going to take the check, you know, And so let
me tell you how these things work. We hear a lot of noise and
a lot of bs until it comes real time. We thought James Harden was
going back to Houston, and then Houston hired Emai Udoka, and that was
the wrong coach to be trying to have a reunion with James Harden. So
you never know when the bag, the bag that you thought you was going
to get based off of what some reporter was willing to print four months ago,
disintegrates when the time comes to really make your decision. So I expect
Paul George, and I think the Clippers kind of expect Paul George to opt
out to test this thing, But I'm gonna see who when it really comes
down to it, is really trying to give Paul George a blank check to
leave everything behind because it will hurt Paul if he's got to leave. Man,
he got family here, new family, blood family. You know,
he really cares about the dudes that he's been playing with, cares about Kawhi,
the relationship with him and Tilu coaches Paul hard, but Paul has always
taken to that positively. The relationship there is not going to be white.
Paul leaves, like, I look at all the factors and Paul knows that,
like maybe the championship window law. Murray said that that ship's closed.
But like, and I know Paul is really thinking hard about, Hey,
if I go somewhere else, is gonna be younger teammates, healthier teammates,
guys who you know might maximize in the spring where he hasn't had a chance
to do that with Kawhi. I see all that, but let's see what
it really looked like, because it ain't. Like I keep saying, Chuck
Grass ain't always green On the other side, and pg's already been called out
by high level players for quote unquote running from the grind right, like you're
gonna go to Joel MB's scene. I ain't never seen Joel and be healthy
in the playoffs, Right, you're gonna go to You're gonna go to New
York like Julia what happened to the playoffs? Julius Randew healthy in the playoffs?
And Tims is the coach? Is gonna coach Paul George. Oh,
you're gonna like forty minutes, Yeah, you're go on MLKDA bro, Like
you're gonna go to Orlando. Them mos, them moos just just got their
first taste. Like, Okay, you're gonna go there and be the guy
like I think Orlando makes the most sense if you're gonna leave like good weather,
no taxes, a coach that ain't embarrassed himself yet. Uh like young
big big dudes right like you ain't. You ain't gotta worry about playing the
three or the four down there. You want to play the two, go
ahead, play the like Jalen Suggs. He'll chase and hit anybody you want
down there. You know what I'm saying. That's the threat. And again
it comes down to, bro, do you want to go to Orlando?
You wanna go to Orlando, You're gonna say goodbye and you're gonna have to
come back and you're gonna get a thirty second tribute video and into it,
don't bro, So like, uh, Chuck, you're gonna have to clip
all this off because it's real talk. Though it's real talk. So I
think that's why the Clippers are like they're gonna courteously, gently but directly be
like Paul, if you opt out, we're gonna be here, bro,
Yeah, we're gonna be here with the same offered as me here. And
it's gonna be up to you to decide how much it really means to you
to take that last big bag somewhere else, just so you can say that
you mixed. I mean, that's a fantastic breakdown of it. And now
James Harden, is there a team I was rattling this round. Is there
a team that can offer James Harden enough money and also a chance at winning
a ring? Then the Clippers can because it doesn't maybe Orlando, but it
doesn't. See you know what I mean. It feels like this he should
stay is what I'm called, like three for one ten, three for one,
twenty line it up with Kawhi's contract. I don't know, maybe it
seems too easy in my head because I've been thinking of the Paul George negotiations
Kevin Garnett. When you wiggle your way out, you only got one or
two wiggles, You ain't got infinite wiggles. I'm just gonna stand on business
with that, because James don't. Everything just made sense for James, Unlike
Paul, James has been through this time and time again over the last four
years. Man. He was with the Rockets in twenty twenty, the Nets
in twenty twenty one, the Sixers by you know, twenty twenty two,
and then he opted out and did the sacrifice, and that costs Sixers money,
and that obviously played a role in how the last summer went. In
twenty twenty three, he's literally on his fourth team in five years. Really,
we can don't even need five, we could. He started the year
in Houston, even though he won it out again that year. So I
just don't think James wants to keep doing this. Like I got to be
around James quite a bit bit, even though you know, again, I
don't show nobody favoritism. You'll never like again, y'all see me, y'all
see me right, y'all see me on social media. I clearly am the
opposite of an agenda writer. Okay, Like I'll ask anybody anything and I
won't Yeah, like I don't hit peace, but I also ain't here you
describe what's happening, you're I'll let you know. I'll let you know,
so like it's not like you know, James is going to be hitting me
up after the pot, you know what I'm saying. However, I really
got to be around James on and off the floor multiple times, like he
was comfortable and happy with how he was moving, and he and t Lou
like considering James literally has head coaches that go on TV talking about how much
they didn't like coaching James Harden, you know what I'm saying, Like James
and TLU got along very well, and TLU relied on James more than Telu
even relied on Kohi or p Like James was playing forty minutes in the damn
playoffs and was playing well. Yeah, him were great. James didn't play
poorly in the playoffs until Game five. By my estimation, Game five,
James was terrible. But even Game six, James had thirteen assists, while
you know, his co star wasn't shooting the ball or taking the ball by
his horns. And I don't even put that on Paul George, like Paul
unless Paul said that PJ. Tucker should start Game six, like that didn't
happen, And so like, I just feel like I'm not really looking at
realistic ways where James doesn't stay with the Clippers, like the relationship was there
Bomber, You know, Bomber knows what it is, Like he knows what
it is. He's not even really a factor here. The front office loves
James, like James was the ideal guy to bring to the team to play
point guard when they already had a starting point guard. Bro okay, and
then you saw how it was to everybody else, Like there's a conversation about,
you know, James and PA's connection. But James made things pretty easy
on Kawhi, and so the means of getting James meant that you were short
at the wing, the big foard position, and they never fixed that and
now is part of the heart attacks. But that's not James Harden's fault.
I thought the trade was good. You gave up a lot to get him.
Everyone knows what it is. He's from here, he's got roots here,
he's old. He says he wants to retire here. There's really no
reason for that not to happen. He hasn't been around long enough to say,
oh, I wonder if this was no like like he didn't have a
training camp with the Clippers. Right, the Clippers can legitimately go into next
season and say, you know what, we're going to be five games better
because we're not going to have a six game losing streak trying to integrate a
new point card in November. Bro, Like, that's what you can reasonably
go into next season saying if you can say you can bring James back,
you can bring Paul back, and you can find the dude who has the
Kawhi Leonard need voodoo though, do all that shit, and you can reasonably
say, hey, we can be we can be better. We can at
least be at the top four in the West again. And then it always
comes down to the health. At that point, I'm not looking at James
leaving the Clippers. There's just it just makes too much senser and to figure
it out. Yeah, well, I'm happy to hear that. That's kind
of where my head was at law. That about wraps things up. Thank
you so much for coming on the show and talking Clippers. We love it.
We usually have some kind of chip and dip combination because we are clips
and dip. I didn't want to subject you to just watching me one on
one eat chips and dip. Do you have any advice, insights, or
thoughts about chip dip that you were a favorite dip perhaps that you would like
to pass on to our listeners. Uh? Absolutely, nah not. I
just say, you know, make sure you have a good glass of water
or something. Man ain't nobody trying to choke on that stuff. So that's
kind of nice. Yeah, I'm not I'm not a I'm not a dip
person. I'm barely a chip person. You know, is dope. I
appreciate y'all having We appreciate it. Please go ahead plug anything you would like
to plug, any advice anywhere to find you so these people can get become
better Clippers fans. Yeah, you know, so, Chuck and I was
talking about the finals before I got on, and we ain't talked about that.
I know y'all want to see two forwards at the three in the four
spot, uh and and have a sign that that is going to work.
Then it's clear what team y'all should be hoping gets through this thing. I
think the Boston Celtics can be inspiring to the Clippers. So I'm going to
just put that out there, and I'm also going to shout out all my
guys at the Athletic covering the finals. Now, Tim Cato, who I
hope that y'all saw. Tim Cato. He and I have a great connection
every time it's Maverick's Clippers, So shout out to him. I'm excited that
he's going to get to cover this, and and then y'all saw two years
ago this when the Celtics made it to the finals. Jarrewis and Jking they've
been here before, so I'm sure we had our national writers as well,
and we have a great news desk and our outlet. Really we don't.
We ain't here to blog, man, We ain't here to wait for someone
to say something for us, or write something, or someone's ig story to
be like, you know, someone break broke their silence on this shit.
Like those dudes are really trying to put some different stuff out there, so
support them, support me. I'm still writing, and we got a whole
lot going on the month of June. There we go. We thank you
so much. Check out the Athletic, check out all of Law's work.
The Tripod is going to be back next week, assuming Will and Adam are
okay and healthy. I think they are. You can find us on YouTube
over at YouTube dot com, slash at Clippers Podcast. You can find us
on Twitter at clippers Pod, and if you would like to argue with me,
you can find me on Twitter at Chuck Mackler. Although I may mute
you. Thank you for hanging out, and as always, let's go clips,