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Speaker 1: What is up?

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Speaker 2: Fellasiko's m Dana Valley coming at you with a super

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brief intro. Before we have our Los Angeles Clippers look ahead,

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I have Justin Russo back. He covers the Los Angeles

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Clippers and the LA Sparks for his substack. Find that

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link in the YouTube and podcast description. We recorded this

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on Tuesday night the news about Kawhi Leonard the Clippers,

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the now defunct environmental company where they allegedly were able

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to circumvent the salary cap by paying him out twenty

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eight million dollars. That report from Pablo Torre finds out

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with some follow up stuff from the Athletic. We recorded

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it all before this happened. I will record a separate

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podcast if anything really comes with this. As of right now,

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the League is investigating. The Clippers deny it. Steve Bomber

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denies it. We'll see how this plays out. It's objectively funny,

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so hopefully you appreciate the title of this episode as

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well as the thumbnail. I believe that I'll be making

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for it, but just wanted to give you a heads up.

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We didn't ignore it. It was just recorded like twelve

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hours or something before the news actually broke. But let's

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get to some actual basketball talk. What is up, fella,

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Sicco's I'm Dan for Valley, coming at you with another

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twenty twenty five twenty twenty six NBA season look ahead.

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We're on to those pesky Los Angeles Clippers, which means,

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for the third straight year running, I have the distinct

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pleasure of being joined by Justin Russo. He covers the

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Clippers as well as the LA Sparks and some soccer

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two for his sub stack, the link to which will

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be in the podcast and YouTube description. Go subscribe to him.

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He's awesome. You can find him on the social machines

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at fly by Night. Night is spelled Knie justin welcome back.

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Before I ask how you're doing, I just a psa.

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This is your third time here, so as I tell

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everyone who's been on at least three times, it's now

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your fault. The first two times you could do me

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a solog. You don't know what you're in for. Now

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it's your fault. How the heck are you doing? Welcome back?

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Speaker 1: Well, it's not the first time I've heard something that's

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been my fault, so you know this is this is

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natural for me. I'm doing good man. It's been a

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long twelve months. But you know, as you said, covering

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the WNBA, covering soccer, it's giving me, as we talked

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about before going live, it's giving me a nice little

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reinvigoration into the covering the world of the NBA. So,

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you know, the Clippers are gonna be exciting, and I'm

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thrilled to be talking about them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not what I said last year going into

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this being thrilled about the Clippers. I was going back

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through my notes, so let's putting together this year's outline,

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and I predictably destroyed them for everything they did. They

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just go out and they were probably like they had

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to be the NBA's biggest surprise. So for you covering

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the team and like following them so intimately, what was

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kind of the biggest revelation or takeaway for you from

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how last season unfolded.

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Speaker 1: I think what I talked to you last year, I

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think I pegged them at like forty three wins and

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they got to.

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Speaker 2: I probably had them lower. Yeah, I was probably like, oh,

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they're gonna get like twenty. I don't remember what the

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number was, but I was probably like in the thirties at.

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Speaker 1: They they look I don't care internally, or they'll tell

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you they expected to be good last year. They did

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not expect to be fifty one good. But the biggest

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revelation for me it was just and I guess it

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shouldn't have been when looking at the off season they

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had last year, but like, seriously, just how hard they

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played every night. It wasn't There was very few nights

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they just were like, all right, we don't have it tonight,

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let's pack it up. It was We're just gonna compete,

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you know, our tails off for forty eight minutes every

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night and just let's see what happens. And it worked.

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Speaker 2: The thing that struck me and I think you could

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we could have we talked about this, you could see

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it going in, was that they, well, actually, I want

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to start here because before we get into the nitty

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gritty basketball stuff of it all, given the way that

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they've structured their books, just looking at this, like the

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deals that they've signed and what they could do next

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summer in the summer of twenty twenty seven, what should

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we be like read like, how deeply should we be

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reading into that? Do they view this as just like

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a placeholder team that can be super competitive in the

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meantime or is this like, I don't want to say

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a core. They're prepared to mortgage everything they continue building around,

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but if opportunity present themselves, they will look to improve it,

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because that's what they come off this fifty win season.

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They're they're the biggest surprise. They make move everyone make

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moves everyone likes. But they also seem very geared towards

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while we're planning for like twenty twenty seven and beyond.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is oddly enough. This has just been their

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plan for the last couple of years too, Like when

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they lost PG last summer and we were here talking

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about it, their plan was always we're gonna look two

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years into the future, and last year they played with

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house money and it worked. This year, they're kind of

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just they did like the soft pivot of like, let's actually, hey,

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maybe we're not that far off from actually competing based

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on what they saw last year in the postseason. You know,

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dem and Denver go seven games. Several of those games

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could have gone either way, and then you see what

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Denver and okay See did against each other. It's like

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maybe it gave them a false sense of hey, we're not.

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We're not that far off. Maybe we're a little bit

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closer and if we just get a guy here and

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a guy there. But they they've never once deviated from

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their thought process of twenty six and twenty seven of

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the summers they're aiming for. Granted, the summer of twenty

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six took a brief hit with Luca re signing with

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the Lakers. But you know, as as Keith Smith loves

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to say on Twitter, cap space isn't just for signing

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free agents. Well it can't.

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Speaker 2: It can't be anymore because of the free agents that

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are available, right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, as we've seen over

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the last couple years is outside the PG situation where

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he obviously left and got two hundred and twenty million

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dollars or two undred and fifty million, whatever it was, you

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just don't see high profile free agents leave anymore.

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Speaker 2: Which down like the biggest of them, he wasn't even

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builled as that type of player when it happened in

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twenty twe I'm trying to think of I'm sure of

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forgetting somebody.

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Speaker 1: I guess it would be Miles Turner, right, Like Miles

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Turner was pretty big pivot pivoting from Indeed to Milwaukee, but.

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Speaker 2: Also zero career All Star. That's not I love Myles Turner.

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That's not even made an All Star game. We're talking

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like that was a pretty big free agency move.

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Speaker 1: So like, yeah, actually, like the last multi time all

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start if you if you push PG to the side,

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I don't know with the last multi time in their prime,

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like top level dollar free agent who left was I

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mean Clay went to Dallas, but it wasn't I don't

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even think. Yeah, yeah, but Golden State also didn't really

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try to retain them.

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Speaker 2: There's also a signing trade too that I mean, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So I don't. I mean, it's just the nature of

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the NBA now where these teams have cap space and

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they figure out different ways to kind of leverage that

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into getting the players they want, whether it's through trade

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or you know. How however, it's just I think we've

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had to like change our thinking with free agency and

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like that much cap space. It's mostly just to facilitate trades,

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but also bring in lower level free agents that you

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can pay a little bit over what other teams can

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to then so that when you trade for guys, you

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have pieces around them. That kind of kind of fit

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in a little bit better. So I mean it, but

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the Clippers, in the context of the Clippers, they're playing

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for twenty six and they're playing for twenty seven. Trey

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Young has a player option for twenty twenty six. I've

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seen his name. That will not shock me. I'm just

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gonna say right now, this might sound crazy, I understand

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the situation. It would not shock me if a year

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from now you and I are doing a fourth year

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of this where you have me on and we're talking

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about Clippers starting point guard Trey Young, it just wouldn't

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shock Wow. No, I'm not saying they're gonna get him,

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but I'm just saying the possibility of that, like it's

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it's something that I can't sweep under the rug is like, oh,

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that's cute, but it's not gonna happen, Like we don't know.

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Things change.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm fascinated by them, and just serve these other

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teams that have already made these bigger trades in the

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rear view and they're still rating for some of their

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draft picks to reaccumulate because it's you're probably not gonna

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have a young building block and like nobody's the thunder

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where you also have these young building blocks and tow

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there are other teams like the Rockets that might be

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straddling that line. But then you also don't necessarily have

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the trade assets to go out and get that caps

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lock star if they become up, Like the Clippers don't

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have the best package for a Giannis if he becomes

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available next summer, and they probably won't like if he

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becomes available next scummer. Excuse me? So does free agency

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come back around in that regard then? And I think

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the Clippers are also an interesting case because a team

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like them, the Lakers, even Miami like, when you're in

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those markets, cap space might actually mean something to you

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in free agency, where it's not going to for a

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lot of these other teams, which which has always been

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the case, but it feels like the difference is even

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starker now because of how few high profile free agents

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are actually leaving yet.

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Speaker 1: So next year they would have the ability next Auste

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then have the ability to I think it's trade two

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first and swap two first, cause they can they can

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trade twenty thirty and thirty two and then swap thirty

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one and thirty three. I think is what they can do,

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so like they'd have the ability to trade essentially four picks.

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But I also don't get the sense that they're in

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that mode right now of hey, let's just go trade

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more picks. I mean right, they kind of want to

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see what's gonna happen. I mean, asset wise, Yeah, they're

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a little strapped. I remember riding in the summer a

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couple months ago when it started that you mentioned Gianness.

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The only way they're gonna even get in the ballpark

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for your honis is if he specifically says I want

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to go to the Clippers, like that's literally it.

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Speaker 2: Otherwise there's their off best offer would be the type

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of offer that a team that's not on his list,

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or if the but I mean it's the Bucks, the honest.

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We know how the relationship plays into the politicking of

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all that. But if they wanted to just send him

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somewhere on a whim, they could probably get more than

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what the Clig. You would he would have to go

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full on James Harden forcing his way to the Clippers,

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Like yeah, really happen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's why I kind of look at the

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Giannis things like it's nice to think about but that's

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not exactly the reality of the situation. But beyond that,

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it's kind of interesting because I know a lot's been

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made about the roster. I'm sure we'll get into it

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about like their age and all this stuff, but like

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they went out and got John Collins, who's like in

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his prime, and I feel I feel like that gets

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kind of pushed under the rug, and like Zuo's in

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his prime and that type of stuff. So it's it's

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kind of fascinating. I'm not gonna use like the Warriors

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euphemism of two timelines, but it does feel like we're

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at the here's the aging Vets who are still really good,

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these guys in their prime who are probably gonna have

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to punch above their weight a little bit to make

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everything work, but also they very well could.

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Speaker 2: So about the actual roster. Watching them last year, I

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think for the most part which strikes you is how

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they were performing defensively. Their offseason has been fascinating to me.

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And I'm gonna go back and forth here for a second,

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because my first inclination is looking at what I think

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they're starting five is gonna be. And I think you

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agree that John Collins and Bradley Bee will both start.

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I find myself wondering if they then over indexed on offense,

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because now Kaui, his defensive workload in the starting lineup

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feels like it's higher. I have all the respect in

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the world for what Zoo does defensively, But then I

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start to look at the bench and I'm like Brook Lopez,

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Derek Jones, Junior, Chris dun and like, this team has defenders. Still.

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What have you made though of kind of the pivot

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to them leaning into the offensive? Where do you land

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on that entire discussion that I just because I've gone

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back and forth to where I'm like, yeah, I think

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they might have gone too far, and they're like, well,

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maybe not really.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you actually mentioned that, especially like looking at

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their bench to be like, well, actually, they still have defenders,

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because I had the same conversation two months ago with

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a colleague and we were having this like really end

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up conversation about their roster and like what it looks like,

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cause obviously, like you knew they were getting Bradley Bill

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at that point, and so he goes, uh, like they

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kind of got away from their defensive identity, didn't they?

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And I was like, no, they just kind of pivoted because, like,

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of their top eight minutes players last year, I believe

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it was the two who left are Norman Powell and

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a Mere Coffee, and those are offense first guys, Like

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those are their best shooters from last year, but those

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are offense first type players. So they still kept Derek Jones,

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they still kept Chris dun They added Brook Lopez, as

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he said, and all of a sudden you look at

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them and you're like, you know what, they just kind

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of recalibrated because their problem in the playoffs was their defense. First,

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guys were not respected offensively, right, Like that was a

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big problem. If you look at their offensive numbers for

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the season after Kawhi came back, they were I want

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to say, they were like top eight in offense, but

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their defense took a little bit of a slip. But

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they still finished the year obviously really good defensively. It

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was just there was like not enough offensive ceiling to

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cover the defensive part of the equation where you had

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to play guys for defense, but teams weren't really respecting them,

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and so it kind of bogged things down for them

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a little bit offensively and so I think what you've

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seen is they recalibrated a little bit to where And

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this is my personal belief of watching basketball of lately,

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So this is just my thought on this. I think

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we've become too keyed in on that or beholden to

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to the idea that defense wins championships. I'm sure Nico

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Harrison is somewhere pumping his fist about what I just said.

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But I do think that offense is the great equalizer

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because defenders can get played off the floor offensive players

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who are great. It becomes very hard, even in a

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defensive setting where you're attacking them to play them off

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because their value on offense is so high. But if

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someone's value on defense is at the equal level of

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someone's offense, but they're not paid attention to on offense,

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it kind of can bog four other guys down where

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they're not able to pick up that slack. So I

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think the Clippers kind of just were like, let's increase

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the offensive firepower to take some of the workload off James.

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James had a very high workload last year. I think

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he was like top five and minutes or something, and

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he was.

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Speaker 2: Just true usage too, is like the highest it's been

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in years, which is just like, h that's not where

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it should be when he's in his mid thirties.

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Speaker 1: And he got burnt out, Like by the end of

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the playoffs, he was burnt out. And look, I know

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people can make their James Harden playoff jokes and that's fine,

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but that man was burnt out by the end of

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the playoffs and had I mean, he killed himself getting

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them into the playoffs at that point. And they need

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to protect Kawhi on offense a little bit because of

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his workload as well. And I also think it was

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a signal that they've searched and I think incorrectly for

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a third star abroad for like these last few years.

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They went and got James for Kawhi and PG. They

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obviously did the rust thing with Kawhi and PG. They've

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done these different things of like these name guys, and

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so a lot of people are gonna look at the

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Bradley Beal signing and think, well, Bradley bial is the

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third Star. I think they've stumbled organically onto a third

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star in Zoo and I think that's what they're actually

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also basing these signings off of which are what if

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we get Zoo another guard who can shoot and a

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power forward in John Collins who can shoot and also

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roll and do these types of things, because Zoo's really

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good as a short role passer, so he could hit

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John Collins on corner cuts and stuff, I think, And

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also Collins is a good rebounder, so everything's not on Zoo.

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So a lot of the and getting Brook Lopez, we

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don't want to kill Zoo like everything for the offseason

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to me mostly felt how do we protect Zoo and

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not wear him out because of how vital he is

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to what they do on both ends?

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Speaker 2: How do you see that? How do you see what

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they have around him now where they did run more

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things through him last year? How do you see his

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offensive role being impacted by like these new additions they've

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made where it's specifically I think one Bradley Beal's another

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ball handler that's integrated in the equation, and then two

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this isn't as big of a problem because they are

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floor spacers. But like some of the times John Collins

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has struggled is I don't think he's always at his

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best when he's not able to be used as the

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primary screener, and so when you're playing him with another

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big I think it can work, but I don't know

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if that's where he's best optimized. And so I'm just

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curious is to see, like, are they gonna try and

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get these guys independent minutes of Zoo as well? And

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then how do you just use Zoo when you have

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more offensive options around him? Is there a chance for

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his He did a lot last year. I don't I

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don't remember what he finished on the Most Improved Player ballot,

344
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but it was probably too low. But he just did

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so much last year. I'm curious as to how this

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changes his offensive role.

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Speaker 1: I think to the lineup thing, I think he'll see

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guys get individual time because they're gonna need it like

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you need to. You know. The joke with the Clippers

350
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with media is a tinkering Tie. Tie likes to tinker

351
00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,200
with lineups to figure out what can and cannot work,

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and so he'll spend the first half of the season

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trying to figure things out, which is fine. So I

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think I'll see that. I don't know what else Zoo

355
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can show. I think last year was arguably the best

356
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season a Clipper centers ever had, which I know, like

357
00:16:56,759 --> 00:16:58,679
people are gonna look at like DeAndre Jordan was third

358
00:16:58,679 --> 00:17:01,000
team All NBA one year and like first team All Defense.

359
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I think the year Zoo had was so much better.

360
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Like the things he was able to do. He carried

361
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them offensively for stretches of games that was just remarkable.

362
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And adding brad is gonna take touches away from Zoo,

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But I'm also unsure how much because Norm got a

364
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lot of touches and that's I don't know, it's not

365
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necessarily like for Lack because Bradley's better on the ball

366
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than Norm was.

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Speaker 2: It feels like Norm Powell feels like a quicker like

368
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decision maker. He's not as good as a passer by

369
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any stretch, but he definitely feels like he's more of

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a quicker decision maker.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so you might see the Clippers offense be a

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little bit slower this year.

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Speaker 2: They're gonna be like, what is transition? That word is

374
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:45,480
not an ar vocabulary.

375
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Speaker 1: Well, actually their answer to that is transition is John Collins.

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That's why we got him. And you're just gonna be like,

377
00:17:50,759 --> 00:17:56,039
I guess you know, but no, I think Zoo's role

378
00:17:56,839 --> 00:17:58,960
is gonna be the fascinating watch because he's probably the

379
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guy who who could take the biggest hit production wise

380
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in terms of like raw numbers, but his impact will

381
00:18:06,519 --> 00:18:08,799
still like you'll still feel the same of like, wow,

382
00:18:08,839 --> 00:18:12,160
this guy's like he's so invaluable because every time he

383
00:18:12,279 --> 00:18:15,240
sat last year, they got hammered. It was it was

384
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drastic how much they needed him on the floor in

385
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:18,640
every situation.

386
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Speaker 2: His I also last year was cool because I think

387
00:18:22,559 --> 00:18:24,920
it finally shed a national or more of a national

388
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,519
spotlight on how valuable he is. Like defensively, he's been

389
00:18:28,559 --> 00:18:30,559
by value by metric like one of the best rim

390
00:18:30,599 --> 00:18:32,880
protectors for a while now, and then people are starting

391
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:34,680
to think, like looking at his position or the way

392
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,240
he's even able to move his feet, like he's just

393
00:18:36,279 --> 00:18:39,400
so much better on that end than I think a

394
00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,240
lot of people, including myself probably realized like until the

395
00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:43,759
past few years. And so it was cool to see

396
00:18:43,839 --> 00:18:45,839
him get not just the recognition for whoa look at

397
00:18:45,839 --> 00:18:47,680
he's doing all this stuff, or looking at his usage

398
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:51,119
just skyrocketing on offense. You did mention insulating him though

399
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,920
a bit, which is like important because his this wasn't

400
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:55,440
a guy who was playing as many minutes as he

401
00:18:55,559 --> 00:18:58,599
was last year, like those just upticked precipitously, but by

402
00:18:58,720 --> 00:18:59,599
necessity of course.

403
00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were worried. I know for a fact, they

404
00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,480
were worried about burning them out, like they've always been

405
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,599
worried about. He's a big body like and look, not

406
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,960
everyone is. Nikola Jokic's like energizer bunny of he can

407
00:19:12,079 --> 00:19:14,000
just roll out of bed and play forty minutes a

408
00:19:14,079 --> 00:19:16,839
night of like one hundred possessions, handles, looking like he went.

409
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Speaker 2: Through a war. His yeahs are always just like yeah.

410
00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,400
Speaker 1: I know this is a quick sidebar. But like, Nikola

411
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:25,400
Jokic might be the greatest athlete I've ever seen. And

412
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,079
that sounds crazy because you don't think of him as

413
00:19:27,079 --> 00:19:30,799
like the super athlete. But his motor, when you consider

414
00:19:30,839 --> 00:19:32,079
what they're asking him to do on a night to

415
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,559
night basis in the minutes he plays is crazy. Yeah,

416
00:19:34,599 --> 00:19:37,519
and like no, what no other player does that really?

417
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,519
But with Zoo, it's it's they were worried about wearing

418
00:19:41,599 --> 00:19:43,559
them out, which is why you saw the Brook Lopez signing.

419
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They knew they needed another backups. They knew they needed

420
00:19:45,559 --> 00:19:47,799
a backup center, not another they needed a backup center.

421
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So they go and get Brooke, but they get John

422
00:19:50,799 --> 00:19:52,880
who can play the five. They have Nico who can

423
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play the five. They have all these types of guys

424
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who they can fill in for spot minutes. So the

425
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their thing is to protect him because I think they've realized,

426
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as weird as it sounds, on a team with Kawhi

427
00:20:04,599 --> 00:20:07,359
Leonard and James Harden, if he's the Zubos might be

428
00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:08,440
the franchise at this point.

429
00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:11,200
Speaker 2: That's such a bizarre thing to say, and I really

430
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,799
don't have any pushback against it.

431
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Speaker 1: It's it is strange, like it's a stripe thing to say,

432
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,279
but also I think it's true.

433
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Speaker 2: Praise be Mike Muskala. I mean, heyly shift to the

434
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:25,000
Clippers franchise.

435
00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:30,119
Speaker 1: That's the first Clipper statue that goes up, by the way.

436
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,759
Speaker 2: So there's no argument from a talent in a vacuum

437
00:20:33,799 --> 00:20:36,400
perspective going from Norman Pallell to Bradley Beal. Even if

438
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:38,559
you didn't like Bradley Bule in Phoenix, he still shot

439
00:20:38,599 --> 00:20:40,519
the hell out of the ball. It is, in theory

440
00:20:40,799 --> 00:20:42,640
a talent upgrade, I think because a lot of what

441
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:44,160
he could do on the ball. We saw Norm do

442
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,400
some more of that stuff, but he did fade and

443
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:48,839
also Bradley Beal is just like that's someone whose role

444
00:20:49,279 --> 00:20:53,039
can scale to the playoffs. Why should we believe, though,

445
00:20:53,279 --> 00:20:55,599
that the fit in Los Angeles is going to go

446
00:20:56,079 --> 00:20:57,599
so much better than it did in Phoenix? And I

447
00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,720
say that with the caveat of I think Bradley Beal

448
00:20:59,759 --> 00:21:02,319
tried really hard to adapt in year one. I think

449
00:21:02,319 --> 00:21:04,880
the shooting numbers were still fine through the time that

450
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,160
he was there, but it was just by the end

451
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,599
of it, like he was just very clearly disenchanted with

452
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,880
his role. Is this more of an eyes wide open situation?

453
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:13,799
Is it that the Clippers are built to give him

454
00:21:13,839 --> 00:21:16,480
more of the role that he is supposed to play.

455
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,799
I think it's more so the latter. I guess I

456
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,720
just don't trust that Bradley Beal is as adaptable as

457
00:21:21,759 --> 00:21:23,920
a lot of people believe that he is. After watching

458
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:25,039
what happened in Phoenix.

459
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Speaker 1: What I can tell you is they believe his Phoenix

460
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,920
stint was an anomaly. Yeah, they just think that it

461
00:21:33,039 --> 00:21:36,680
was just not doomed from the start, but just something

462
00:21:36,799 --> 00:21:39,079
was off from the get go. And I don't think

463
00:21:39,799 --> 00:21:43,880
I think they're going in with like a cautious optimism,

464
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:48,119
so to speak of he just had two coaches in

465
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:53,440
two years in Phoenix, and they changed systems, they changed defenses,

466
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,759
they did all this stuff. And you know, I think

467
00:21:57,839 --> 00:22:03,000
they're cautiously optimist that the Bradley Beal from Washington is

468
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,079
the real one, not the one from Phoenix. Although the

469
00:22:06,079 --> 00:22:08,599
one in Phoenix, as you mentioned offensively, when I went

470
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,359
through it, did a deep dive on Bradley Bial for

471
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,240
an article that I wrote a couple months ago where

472
00:22:13,279 --> 00:22:15,279
I looked at data and film and all this stuff.

473
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,400
He had a great offensive year. Like if you just

474
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:21,920
like as you said, if you just go through his

475
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:26,640
offensive numbers, Bradley Bial had a fantastic offensive year. The

476
00:22:26,759 --> 00:22:30,880
problem was Bradley Bial's defense was horrendous. The entire Phoenix

477
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:35,799
defense was horrendous, and the vibes were just horrific. And

478
00:22:36,759 --> 00:22:41,200
they think their chemistry in the locker room mixed with

479
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,920
their defensive infrastructure from last year and the need for

480
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,559
a shooting guard, like an actual shooting guard, is gonna

481
00:22:49,559 --> 00:22:51,799
give brad I guess, a little bit of a boost

482
00:22:52,279 --> 00:22:55,079
to get back to where he was in Washington. And

483
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,480
there was a very funny thing that happened with when

484
00:22:58,519 --> 00:23:02,559
Lawrence Frank had his Zoom interview with us. I think

485
00:23:02,599 --> 00:23:04,920
it was like the week was it the week after

486
00:23:05,039 --> 00:23:06,759
A couple of days after like the Bradley Beal signing

487
00:23:06,839 --> 00:23:11,519
became official, and I wrote this really long form piece

488
00:23:11,519 --> 00:23:15,119
on Bradley Beal, And in the thing, Lawrence Frank just

489
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,119
makes mention of we've seen all the data that everyone

490
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,440
has about his defense. We've seen we've seen all the

491
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,680
same video. We know the concerns, but we're optimistic that

492
00:23:25,519 --> 00:23:27,559
basically he'll get back to the level that he was

493
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,079
before Phoenix. And it just made me think like, oh,

494
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:35,440
they've read the bad stuff. They know, they know, they

495
00:23:35,519 --> 00:23:39,920
know the negative downside of what this could be. But also,

496
00:23:40,519 --> 00:23:43,160
at the end of the day, Bradley Beal for five million,

497
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,359
where are you finding that? Like you know, like that's

498
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,279
too big, that's too good of a swing to not take.

499
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,119
It's like, oh, you it's like someone throwing you a

500
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,039
center cut fastball on a three to one count and

501
00:23:53,039 --> 00:23:55,279
you're just like, uh, you got a swing.

502
00:23:55,880 --> 00:24:01,039
Speaker 2: Like, is is there like anything that you're either concerned

503
00:24:01,079 --> 00:24:02,960
about or that you think he's really going to need

504
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:08,359
to change or like just adjust to be like properly

505
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:10,400
integrated into a lineup. That's gonna have James sar and

506
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,880
he's gonna spend time with Kawhi will probably see some

507
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,160
of him with CP three. They're gonna want to use

508
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:16,720
Zoo in certain ways.

509
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: He can't. He can't doddle on the ball. You can't.

510
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,319
You can't be dribbling the air out of the ball

511
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,960
for fifteen seconds on a you know shot clock every eight, nine,

512
00:24:28,079 --> 00:24:31,119
ten possessions. You can't do that. Like it's that's number

513
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,720
one and one. B would actually just be defense, like

514
00:24:33,759 --> 00:24:37,559
he has to try. He's gonna be their main point

515
00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:40,480
of attack defender in the starting lineup. That's literally what's

516
00:24:40,519 --> 00:24:43,440
gonna happen. They already said it. That's their that's their

517
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,640
main defender on ball handlers. They're gonna I think, which

518
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:49,119
by the way, I know people are gonna be just

519
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:50,960
like scoff at that and be like, well, that's crazy.

520
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,599
He's not a good defender. I agree, But they're thinking,

521
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,599
at least to me, is how do you keep Bradley

522
00:24:57,640 --> 00:24:59,640
beal engaged? You make him engaged?

523
00:25:02,079 --> 00:25:04,319
Speaker 2: I it's I guess it's not a bad bet. The

524
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,079
thing that I struggle over with the starting five is

525
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,000
because if we expect Collins to start. Harden is a

526
00:25:11,039 --> 00:25:14,480
four on defense, and so you want Bradley beal guarding

527
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,920
the point of attack. That does kind of complicate life

528
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,400
for John Collins or it ends up making life on

529
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,119
zoobots a lot harder. And I think that's why it's

530
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,799
just again, I'm not saying it won't work. This team

531
00:25:25,599 --> 00:25:28,039
deserves the benefit of the doubt after last year, and

532
00:25:28,079 --> 00:25:31,559
I understand why they will start who we expect them

533
00:25:31,599 --> 00:25:34,920
to start, but I just still am sort of in

534
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:36,880
the regular season, I just feel like, is there gonna

535
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,400
be a potential for a slow starter or are they

536
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,960
just gonna run into some issues with that starting five.

537
00:25:41,039 --> 00:25:43,319
Maybe on the defensive end. There's no really arguing with

538
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,359
the offensive upside of it, though, especially in a playoff setting.

539
00:25:46,559 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 1: Dan, can I introduce you to the school of Jeff

540
00:25:48,519 --> 00:25:51,319
van Gundy. This is gonna be as great as challenge

541
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,200
as getting that group. But in all seriousness, it's yeah,

542
00:25:56,279 --> 00:25:58,799
James is a four. So like that's why I like

543
00:25:58,839 --> 00:26:02,440
the low of the athletic who covers the Clippers like

544
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,839
we always talk about all the time, Like James wasn't

545
00:26:04,839 --> 00:26:07,759
guardian point guards. James was the low man. James was

546
00:26:07,799 --> 00:26:10,440
literally the power forward. That's why you got eight hundred

547
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,200
block slash steals last year, just swiping down guys as

548
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,599
they went to the rim. So it's gonna be brad

549
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,400
on the ball handler the number one option. You get

550
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,200
Kawhi who's on the number two and is able to

551
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,400
play help side, and he and John are probably switchable

552
00:26:25,759 --> 00:26:29,240
to where if Kawhi needs to play more help side,

553
00:26:29,279 --> 00:26:31,240
you could have John guard more on the ball. Doesn't

554
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,279
mean John's gonna be a great level of doing it,

555
00:26:33,559 --> 00:26:36,720
but it's like you gotta figure things. And also, as

556
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,160
we've seen a negative against them, but I say this

557
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:45,000
for basically every team, like lineups change even early in

558
00:26:45,039 --> 00:26:47,640
games just because like the bench will come in like

559
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,440
six minutes in and you start getting these rotations. So

560
00:26:50,599 --> 00:26:52,640
like maybe it's like twelve minutes a night eighteen nine

561
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,400
stars together, but also how many game there are all

562
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,039
these guys gonna be available for at the same time

563
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:07,240
my forty year and then everything just so it's saying,

564
00:27:07,799 --> 00:27:12,279
you know, yes, they're old, but also like there's a

565
00:27:12,279 --> 00:27:16,799
lot of injury questions with guys. James's worklow was big

566
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,880
last year, how does that affect him this year? Bradley Beal.

567
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,359
I don't think he's played sixty games in a very

568
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:28,880
long time. John Collins misses time. Granted, last year, missing

569
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,319
time on the Utah Jazz was actually a vacation for him,

570
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,759
so that's good. Kawhi Leonard missed the first half of

571
00:27:34,759 --> 00:27:37,319
the year, but obviously this is the first offseason he's

572
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,240
been healthy in a long time. And I remember talking

573
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,079
to him after Game seven when they lost in Denver.

574
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,160
I explicitly asked him, you know, you came into the

575
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,799
year when you first started, you know, in January, that

576
00:27:49,519 --> 00:27:51,200
your goal was to get to the off season healthy.

577
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,680
How do you feel? And he said, you know, result aside,

578
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:56,839
they accomplished their goal. He feels great and he's ready.

579
00:27:57,559 --> 00:28:01,319
And this offseason, to be perfectly blunt with you, this

580
00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,880
was the must I've ever seen Kawhi Leonard publicized the

581
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,759
off season ever. This man is out on like world trips,

582
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:12,279
doing basketball camps. I've never seen this before. It's like

583
00:28:12,319 --> 00:28:14,960
a new guy. What the hell happened? He gets into

584
00:28:15,039 --> 00:28:18,000
what off season healthy and he just becomes Jacques Coustau

585
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:19,599
traveling the world.

586
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,839
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's huge too. And it's also you

587
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,039
mentioned this earlier. They're now able, and it felt like

588
00:28:26,079 --> 00:28:29,000
they went this his usage wasn't severely impacted, but they

589
00:28:29,079 --> 00:28:30,799
felt like they went about this last year of trying

590
00:28:30,839 --> 00:28:33,920
to streamline his offensive role at points, and now they're

591
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,680
really built to do that because this is someone who, yeah,

592
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:37,680
you want to put the ball in his hands, you

593
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,680
want him to get to his spots, but just like

594
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,160
the burden that should be on him from a night

595
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,240
to night basis when he's available, I don't when's the

596
00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:48,359
last time it was this low like when the Spurs

597
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,720
won the title with him. I'm just I'm honestly trying

598
00:28:50,759 --> 00:28:54,400
to think that's that's hyperbole, but it just that I.

599
00:28:54,359 --> 00:28:58,039
Speaker 1: Think you're right. I think you're right. Yeah, that Spurs

600
00:28:58,079 --> 00:29:01,680
title might be the last time that it was this

601
00:29:02,319 --> 00:29:05,960
lobe because possibly even the year after where they lost

602
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,079
to the Clippers in the first round, that might be

603
00:29:08,119 --> 00:29:10,279
the last time it was really like this level because

604
00:29:10,279 --> 00:29:14,319
they still had Duncan, and even though Duncan wasn't Tim

605
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,960
Duncan at that time, it was still like the ball

606
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:18,480
went to him, the ball went to Tony, the ball

607
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,119
went to Manu or Maman who wasn't there, but it

608
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:22,799
went to like Danny Green all these guys, so like,

609
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,640
but yeah, it's you're talking about a decade ago.

610
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's forever ago, and it's it's probably I mean,

611
00:29:30,279 --> 00:29:32,720
it's just important because he's getting older and given his

612
00:29:32,759 --> 00:29:35,640
injury history. But in a lot of his core lineups,

613
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,720
even if he's not the primary point of attack guy,

614
00:29:38,039 --> 00:29:39,839
it does feel like his lyft on defense is still

615
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,079
gonna be freaking heavy as hell. If you're gonna play

616
00:29:42,119 --> 00:29:44,440
with James Harden, Bradley Beal and John Collins a bunch

617
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,359
at once, and so making sure he doesn't have to

618
00:29:47,359 --> 00:29:50,440
shoulder too much responsibility at least, you know, creating for

619
00:29:50,519 --> 00:29:53,319
himself whatever, but give the guy extra space top rate,

620
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:54,920
so he's not working as hard to get his shots.

621
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,119
And then also at this point, it's like I don't

622
00:29:57,119 --> 00:29:58,720
really want his play making burden to have to be

623
00:29:58,759 --> 00:29:59,480
as heavy either.

624
00:30:00,039 --> 00:30:02,599
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like that was the trade off

625
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:04,640
is we'll get you these offensive guys around you, but

626
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,119
you need to go back to being yourself defensively. It's

627
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:10,519
like you need to take the top stuff and then

628
00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:12,640
you know, you have all these pieces around you on

629
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,359
offense to kind of mitigate your burden there, but we

630
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,000
need you on defense and he's still he's not the

631
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,079
defender he used to be, but man, when he turns

632
00:30:21,079 --> 00:30:28,000
it on defensively, yeah, it's incredible. I mean as we

633
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:29,839
as you know, like you've been in the arena for

634
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,680
like a lot of great performances, like like when someone

635
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:34,720
gets it going on offense, you're like, oh my god,

636
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,880
Like no one's like I've seen. I saw Lebron go

637
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,039
for fifty against the Clippers and he was he drilled

638
00:30:39,079 --> 00:30:41,279
like a career high in threes. I just remember just

639
00:30:41,279 --> 00:30:43,680
sitting there going there's nothing you could do could stop

640
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:45,720
that guy. But I've seen Kawhi on defense when he

641
00:30:45,759 --> 00:30:50,359
turns it on and it is It reminds me of

642
00:30:50,599 --> 00:30:54,720
I'm a Steelers fan, and I might be dating myself here. Now.

643
00:30:54,759 --> 00:30:57,519
I wasn't alive in the seventies, but I saw a

644
00:30:57,559 --> 00:31:00,799
lot of footage of Steelers nineteen seventies steel curtain defense

645
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:02,920
because my dad was a Steelers fan and that's how

646
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,839
it became one. It reminds me a lot of like

647
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:10,960
Mel Blunt on the perimeter, like Guardian receivers, where yeah,

648
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,759
he's physical and he gets away with a lot of

649
00:31:12,759 --> 00:31:15,559
stuff because it's Mel Blunt. It's Kawhi like you you're

650
00:31:15,559 --> 00:31:18,240
gonna let them get a little bit handsier, but man,

651
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,519
they can just totally shut down an entire like side

652
00:31:22,559 --> 00:31:25,079
of the full floor or the field. And that's what

653
00:31:25,119 --> 00:31:28,519
it reminds me of, like this dominant defensive guy that no,

654
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:31,680
he can't turn it on thirty five minutes a night

655
00:31:31,759 --> 00:31:34,559
for eighty two games, but when you you can get

656
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,640
one night every like week or so where you're just

657
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:41,680
like Jesus Christ, like like, how does anyone score against

658
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:42,160
this guy?

659
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,359
Speaker 2: It's those vintage Kawhi like highlight Like remember they do

660
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:47,480
that with Lebron all the time. It's like vintage leb

661
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:49,200
any time he does like a chase down block or

662
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:50,880
so they we'll get it, but we get more of

663
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,599
those those social media posts this year. It does feel like.

664
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,039
Speaker 1: It's like when he rips, when Kawhi rips a guy

665
00:31:56,160 --> 00:32:00,000
mid dribble and you're just like, you're just I remember

666
00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:02,279
there was a time this year somewhat dribbled against them,

667
00:32:02,319 --> 00:32:05,920
and he just like quite literally in the crossover, stuck

668
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:07,839
his hand out and the ball stuck to his hand

669
00:32:08,519 --> 00:32:11,440
and he went the other way, and I just remember going, what,

670
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,920
what the hell just happened, Like you just don't see that,

671
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:16,279
No you don't.

672
00:32:16,559 --> 00:32:18,039
Speaker 2: I mean the size of his hands, for one, but

673
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,039
just like the way he uses them, like being just

674
00:32:20,079 --> 00:32:22,640
so quick and on point with everything. I don't, Man,

675
00:32:23,079 --> 00:32:24,960
we all know he's like one of the bigger what ifs,

676
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,200
even though he's accomplished so much. But there's a lot

677
00:32:27,319 --> 00:32:29,039
just talked about, like how many titles would he win

678
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,200
or like would he have been League MVP at any points?

679
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,880
Like he's gonna go down as one of the greatest

680
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,880
defenders ever anyway, but what if he just never deals

681
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,799
with this knee stuff? Mostly like what do we just

682
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,240
remember him as defensively because it doesn't even seem like

683
00:32:43,279 --> 00:32:47,359
he has that same like miss like that lord that

684
00:32:47,359 --> 00:32:49,359
that that mystique is like a Draymond Green. The way

685
00:32:49,359 --> 00:32:51,519
we talk about Draymond Green is generational defender, and it

686
00:32:51,519 --> 00:32:53,640
feels like Kawhi would not be on that level. He

687
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:54,799
would be higher than that.

688
00:32:55,559 --> 00:32:57,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it seems like some of that's eroded just

689
00:32:57,319 --> 00:32:59,559
because of the injuries. Yeah. And then and then, like

690
00:32:59,559 --> 00:33:02,000
I said, you gonna blip every now and then we're like, oh,

691
00:33:02,359 --> 00:33:04,440
it's still there. It just it just needs to be

692
00:33:04,519 --> 00:33:08,079
coaxed out. And maybe that's what they're doing, is they're

693
00:33:08,799 --> 00:33:11,119
trying to limit the burden offensively, to coax it out

694
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,880
of them to where he doesn't have to do as

695
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:16,519
much on one end, so you just need him to

696
00:33:16,519 --> 00:33:19,039
pick it up on the other to protect the other guys.

697
00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:22,039
And I I think he I think he could do that.

698
00:33:22,119 --> 00:33:25,079
I think that. You know, yeah, he's still gonna average

699
00:33:25,079 --> 00:33:29,200
like twenty two points a game, but you might get

700
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,519
twenty two points on great efficiency where he's not shooting

701
00:33:32,559 --> 00:33:36,920
as much and defensively he's not where he used to be,

702
00:33:37,039 --> 00:33:38,240
but he's pretty close.

703
00:33:39,079 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 2: If he plays in sixty five games. There you go.

704
00:33:43,759 --> 00:33:45,039
How many back to backs did they have? I know

705
00:33:45,119 --> 00:33:47,640
Joel beeB was basically eliminated from awards contentions on that.

706
00:33:47,799 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 1: I mean, Clippers have fifteen.

707
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 2: I think so that yeah, all right, curtains done.

708
00:33:52,799 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, it'd be sixty seven. But like he's still gonna

709
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,079
they're probably he's still probably gonna miss a game here

710
00:33:57,079 --> 00:33:59,519
and there. Now, granted, he did play one of the

711
00:33:59,599 --> 00:34:03,119
last back the backs last year, but also that was which,

712
00:34:03,119 --> 00:34:05,519
by the way, created one of the funniest moments of

713
00:34:05,559 --> 00:34:08,960
the year in the locker room because Ty got asked

714
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:10,880
after that game, I forget who they played. I want

715
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,480
to say, I don't remember who they played. But the

716
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,320
next night they played Houston and Houston wasn't playing anybody

717
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,199
at that time because they had the two seed wrapped up.

718
00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:23,800
And Ty gets asked, is Kawhi playing tomorrow? And Ty

719
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,960
just goes, oh h He goes, I don't know. We'll

720
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,159
have to talk to medical, but that's a decision for tomorrow.

721
00:34:29,519 --> 00:34:30,960
And so we get into the locker room and Kawi

722
00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:33,519
comes out and uh he walks into those locker and

723
00:34:33,559 --> 00:34:36,880
Kawhi last year, I just want to say this absolutely

724
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,039
incredible media wise, one of the best years I've ever

725
00:34:39,119 --> 00:34:42,599
had with Kawhi. He was always available to talk if

726
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:44,400
if if he asked you, if you needed him, and

727
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:49,239
you said yes, he would talk. It was great, fantastic stuff. So,

728
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,320
uh we we walked up to him and uh it

729
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,920
was me and two others and uh, we're like, hey,

730
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,079
you know we are you gonna play tomorrow or no.

731
00:34:58,079 --> 00:35:00,280
We didn't even say anything. He walks, he he walks

732
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:01,920
from the shower to go sit down and he goes,

733
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,559
I'm not talking tonight. I'll get you guys tomorrow and

734
00:35:05,599 --> 00:35:09,960
then three of us just go what does that mean? Like,

735
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,639
are you so what? One of the colleagues walked up

736
00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:15,800
and goes, are you are you playing tomorrow? And he goes,

737
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,199
that's the plan. But I got to meet with medical

738
00:35:18,199 --> 00:35:19,679
in the morning, but that's the plan. And that's how

739
00:35:19,679 --> 00:35:21,559
we found out he was going to play his first

740
00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:23,280
back to back of the year. So that was the

741
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:25,639
only time all year Kawhi turned us down for media,

742
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,239
but simply because he told us, whoul get us the

743
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,280
next night. So I say all that to say, maybe

744
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,119
he plays in back to backs this year, maybe not.

745
00:35:33,519 --> 00:35:36,679
They changed up his rehab this year. His rehab this

746
00:35:37,079 --> 00:35:40,400
past season was spearheaded by Maggie Bryant, who's their director

747
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:46,760
of health and wellness. Basically, they took a new approach,

748
00:35:47,079 --> 00:35:50,000
and I remember at media Day this past year. Last year,

749
00:35:50,039 --> 00:35:52,920
he Kawhi talked about how they finally got a handle

750
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,559
on the things that were bothering him. So you know,

751
00:35:55,639 --> 00:35:57,920
there's a potential that maybe he does play back to backs,

752
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,440
maybe he has a healthy year. But a healthy year, Kawhi,

753
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,199
I'd probably pin at like sixty four games, I wouldn't.

754
00:36:03,199 --> 00:36:04,519
I don't think he'll get to sixty five.

755
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,199
Speaker 2: Well, if he did, would he be all defense?

756
00:36:09,119 --> 00:36:10,800
Speaker 1: He could be. I think he's one of those guys

757
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,360
who has the gravitas where if they make the cut

758
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,559
in terms of games, he'll probably get in because if

759
00:36:18,599 --> 00:36:20,039
their team defense is good enough.

760
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,199
Speaker 2: To I'm very this was his This is no natural

761
00:36:23,199 --> 00:36:26,079
segue here. Chris Paul's prerogative was to go to the Clippers.

762
00:36:26,079 --> 00:36:27,920
I don't have a problem with him scaling down or

763
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,360
what he like that he's gonna have disillusions about his role.

764
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:32,639
But what is his role on this team? Is it

765
00:36:32,679 --> 00:36:34,519
gonna be more situational or do you think that he's

766
00:36:34,519 --> 00:36:36,360
gonna be penciled in for like a certain amount of

767
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:37,519
minutes regardless?

768
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:40,880
Speaker 1: Do I gonna tell you what they told us? Yeah,

769
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,039
the the go to line was there's gonna be some

770
00:36:44,079 --> 00:36:45,519
Knights where he plays a lot, and there's gonna be

771
00:36:45,519 --> 00:36:47,840
some nights where he doesn't play. That was the thing.

772
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,039
Speaker 2: But if you're asking me what I think is rolling

773
00:36:50,119 --> 00:36:52,360
Chris Paul on some Knights is a huge adjustment for career.

774
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,199
He just played in all eighty two games last year.

775
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:55,440
That's insane.

776
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he's the backup point guard. He's just

777
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,440
a backup point guard, and also now the Bogdanovich injury

778
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,599
for however long he's out for, that creates another spot

779
00:37:04,599 --> 00:37:06,280
that they kind of have to fill minutes for. So

780
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:08,280
I just think Chris is gonna play most of the

781
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:13,480
games if he's available, unless they get into a situation

782
00:37:13,559 --> 00:37:17,639
where it's like end of the season, they're competing for

783
00:37:17,679 --> 00:37:20,039
a like a certain seed or a playoff spot, and

784
00:37:20,079 --> 00:37:22,199
it's like we need to trim the rotation to like

785
00:37:22,199 --> 00:37:25,480
eight guys just to get in and maybe he doesn't

786
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,599
play them, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna play quite

787
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:29,719
not quite a bit, but he's gonna play most of

788
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:32,679
the games. Like I don't wanna it sounds weird to

789
00:37:32,679 --> 00:37:34,800
say it's Chris Paul. You're just not gonna not play

790
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:35,719
Chris Paul, right.

791
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,639
Speaker 2: I can't imagine the idea of him load managing, just

792
00:37:39,679 --> 00:37:41,599
to like throw that out there, but like taking I

793
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:45,159
just can't. It's just so on Chris Paul esque, Like

794
00:37:45,159 --> 00:37:47,480
I just I can't imagine that going over well with him.

795
00:37:47,519 --> 00:37:48,800
But I guess he's in a phase of his Like

796
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,639
I said, he's the one who really wanted to go

797
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:52,679
to the Clippers as well, so or at least in

798
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:54,440
Los Angeles be close to his family. So I doubt

799
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,280
he has any allusions as to what his role would be.

800
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,679
But that that's like it's a cliche, but that's a gamer.

801
00:38:00,079 --> 00:38:02,159
That's someone who just wants to play all the time.

802
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,679
Speaker 1: He loves. He wouldn't even talk retirement at his press

803
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:08,800
conference that he did. He just would He wouldn't entertain.

804
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,400
He didn't want to. He didn't want to talk about it.

805
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:13,119
But he gave great answers. He was great. And also

806
00:38:14,079 --> 00:38:16,440
he loves being back in LA. And I'm sure he's

807
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,280
already sick of seeing me. I've seen him at three

808
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,280
different places in like the span of like ten days.

809
00:38:22,039 --> 00:38:23,360
I saw him. I saw him when he did his

810
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,880
press conference. I saw him at a Sparks game in

811
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,880
an elevator. I was in the elevator and he walked

812
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,039
in and we said hi to each other. And then

813
00:38:30,039 --> 00:38:31,960
I saw him at the angel City match that I covered,

814
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,800
like three days later. He was there for his daughter's birthday.

815
00:38:35,079 --> 00:38:38,000
And I'm just like, I'm seeing this guy's quit essential LA.

816
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,480
Of course, Chris Paul's back here. It's great. Uh.

817
00:38:41,599 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 2: I do find it funny that they keep pairing James

818
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,960
Harden with guards that he played with in Houston.

819
00:38:47,039 --> 00:38:47,480
Speaker 1: So I don't know.

820
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:49,760
Speaker 2: I guess john Wall already did his Clippers ten years,

821
00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:51,039
so we don't have to worry about that. That one's

822
00:38:51,199 --> 00:38:53,159
gonna you can't be checked off the box. But how

823
00:38:53,199 --> 00:38:55,559
do you see Harden needing to some of it will

824
00:38:55,599 --> 00:38:57,840
be welcomed because of the role that he needed to

825
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,559
assume last year. Like how does Harden he do adjust

826
00:39:00,559 --> 00:39:03,400
to having all these like different offensive weapons on the team.

827
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,159
Speaker 1: Now did John Wall have the Clippers tad here? Did

828
00:39:06,199 --> 00:39:06,719
he did?

829
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 2: He really counts like sort of right?

830
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:13,320
Speaker 1: He was there, like, you know, nothing against john Wall.

831
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,960
It was a nice guy, but yeah, that didn't go

832
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,159
well for the Clippers. As far as the guards that

833
00:39:19,199 --> 00:39:21,719
he that James knows like, it's almost like a devil

834
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:26,400
you know, versus the one you don't. And James and

835
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,960
Chris I think are so competitive they'll figure it out.

836
00:39:31,079 --> 00:39:35,079
I know they had whatever happened in Houston, but everything

837
00:39:35,159 --> 00:39:38,840
since then has seemed amicable. For whenever they it gets

838
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:41,960
brought up, there's like there's no there's no drama there.

839
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:46,360
But for James, it's just I feel like for years

840
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,519
they've tried to get James to tone down his workload.

841
00:39:48,559 --> 00:39:51,440
Not the Clippers, but just everywhere. It's like, oh, you

842
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:53,400
go to Brooklyn, you're gonna handle the ball, but you're

843
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,360
not gonna have to score as much. That's why we

844
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:57,880
have Kyrie and KD. Then it's like, well, that goes

845
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,239
belly up. And then so he goes to Philly. Well,

846
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,800
now you're with Joel embiid MVP candidate. You're not gonna

847
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:05,039
have to do as much scoring. You just have to

848
00:40:05,039 --> 00:40:08,440
facilitate the ball. That goes belly up. And so it's

849
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,559
like here you are with the Clippers, it's like, well

850
00:40:10,599 --> 00:40:12,559
you got Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. You don't have

851
00:40:12,559 --> 00:40:14,920
to do as much and that goes belly up and

852
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,559
it's like what the hell are we doing? So in theory,

853
00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:20,840
James Harden doesn't have to do as much this year.

854
00:40:21,559 --> 00:40:23,840
In reality, he's probably gonna do just as much as

855
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:28,239
he did last year. Because that's James Harden, and I

856
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,000
think his fit with everyone they've got, I will say this,

857
00:40:31,039 --> 00:40:33,559
they've gotten guys around him who I think fit pretty

858
00:40:33,559 --> 00:40:38,119
well for him. Where I'm not gonna say they went

859
00:40:38,159 --> 00:40:40,920
the Houston route of like here's five out or not

860
00:40:41,039 --> 00:40:42,880
five out but like four out space eve and then

861
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:47,760
you're rolling big but they're pretty close. Like this is

862
00:40:48,679 --> 00:40:51,719
the type of offensive ecosystem James is thrived in for

863
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:57,639
a decade. So I think it'll be fine for him. Now,

864
00:40:59,159 --> 00:41:03,719
will his you usage decrease? It has to, you'll kill

865
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:08,480
the guy. He's like thirty six now, Like I no

866
00:41:08,519 --> 00:41:12,280
one has worked this hard this long at this usage

867
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,719
rate consistently, and I'm.

868
00:41:15,559 --> 00:41:17,320
Speaker 2: Playing the amount of minutes he does for sure.

869
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:19,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think people I'm glad you mentioned that.

870
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:23,840
I don't think people realize how much he plays. If

871
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:28,760
he's even fifty percent healthy, he's playing and he's playing

872
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,679
like thirty eight forty minutes a night, and it's like,

873
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:36,800
no wonder he burns out like he's a gamer. Like

874
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:38,840
you talk about Chris Paul being a gamer. That's probably

875
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:40,280
why they didn't get along towards the end of the

876
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,960
Houston tenure. They're too much alike, you know. I mean,

877
00:41:44,159 --> 00:41:47,679
it just is what it is. So I think for James,

878
00:41:47,679 --> 00:41:49,360
they need to tone down his workload a little bit,

879
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:51,559
or at least the stress of the workload. I think

880
00:41:51,599 --> 00:41:53,719
it's I think, like, if this usage rate is the same.

881
00:41:54,119 --> 00:41:55,440
It's not the end of the world, but it's like

882
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,760
the stress of that usage rate where if he's having

883
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,559
to create, you know, as the shot clock dwindles down

884
00:42:03,079 --> 00:42:07,599
time and time again, that's draining. But if he's able

885
00:42:07,639 --> 00:42:11,320
to just kind of get easier shots and create more

886
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,360
one on one style settings for other players, it won't

887
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,519
be as stressful for him, whereas where like this past year,

888
00:42:17,519 --> 00:42:20,760
he was facing a loaded box like quite often that's

889
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:21,440
that's a killer.

890
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:25,760
Speaker 2: What's interesting about him is that lightened workload for him

891
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:27,719
in something different where it's like more space for him

892
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,079
to operate on the ball to make that aspect of

893
00:42:30,119 --> 00:42:32,599
his job easier, because you don't as much as we've seen,

894
00:42:32,639 --> 00:42:34,840
like some of the off ball stuff, like the percentages

895
00:42:35,119 --> 00:42:38,199
in terms of frequency, they will fluctuate. I still just

896
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:39,960
never view him as like someone who's going to be

897
00:42:40,559 --> 00:42:44,280
this like incredible weapon away from the ball, and so

898
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,000
lightening his workload does feel more about like, well, giving

899
00:42:47,079 --> 00:42:50,199
him more space to operate to make his shots easier

900
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:52,480
to table set for everyone else, which is it's a

901
00:42:52,599 --> 00:42:54,880
form of diminishing your workload. But at the same time

902
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:55,639
it's also not.

903
00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:01,199
Speaker 1: Yeah, like his his workspace it's like his workload is

904
00:43:01,199 --> 00:43:05,119
the same, but his workspace is slightly skewed, especially like

905
00:43:05,119 --> 00:43:07,400
like you know, like you just took things away that

906
00:43:07,519 --> 00:43:10,639
just gave him a little bit more rube. So yeah,

907
00:43:10,679 --> 00:43:14,239
I mean their whole thing is like, let's not kill

908
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,199
the old guys, like seriously, And what's a way to

909
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:20,519
keep James a little bit fresher when he drives to

910
00:43:20,559 --> 00:43:22,559
the rim. Maybe there won't be three people every time.

911
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:28,000
It's one way. I I'm very interested because we can

912
00:43:28,039 --> 00:43:29,679
sit here and talk about the amount of talent on

913
00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:31,559
this team, and like, let's be realistic, there's a lot

914
00:43:31,599 --> 00:43:34,559
of talent on this team, like from compared to last year.

915
00:43:34,599 --> 00:43:37,440
It's pretty crazy the talent uptick they've had in just

916
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:41,480
twelve months. But there are a lot of questions and

917
00:43:41,519 --> 00:43:43,360
I think people will be kidding themselves that they don't

918
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:43,960
think there are.

919
00:43:45,079 --> 00:43:46,639
Speaker 2: When you look at We've talked a little bit about

920
00:43:46,639 --> 00:43:48,599
the front court rotation around Zoo, but what does it

921
00:43:48,679 --> 00:43:51,199
kind of say about what they're gonna default to on

922
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:53,039
the front line now that you have the three big

923
00:43:53,079 --> 00:43:56,159
approach of Lopez, zu Bots and John Collins, is there

924
00:43:56,199 --> 00:43:58,360
gonna be I know, defensively, you don't want to see

925
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:00,760
him here too much. Like quiet the four is kind

926
00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:02,840
of like a cheat code on offense, Like is that

927
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:04,800
still going to be a staple or we just need

928
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:06,920
to get Like they only have three bigs, but it's

929
00:44:07,159 --> 00:44:09,280
how many I guess one big setups are we going

930
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:10,840
to see from the Clippers this season.

931
00:44:11,159 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 1: I think we'll see quite a bit because that's ty

932
00:44:15,159 --> 00:44:18,960
loves spaced out floors offensively, and they love Kawhi at

933
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,400
the four offensively. You mentioned it. I've I've taken flag

934
00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:23,960
for this over the last couple of years. Their best

935
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:26,039
basketball is with Kui at the four. It just is,

936
00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:30,920
and at least on offense. On defense, there are some issues,

937
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:34,000
but I don't think the issue is Kui related. But

938
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:37,239
they're gonna get one big looks because they have to,

939
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:41,119
because you have to in a lineup with like Brook Lopez,

940
00:44:41,119 --> 00:44:43,119
you're gonna need him to have the space to both

941
00:44:43,199 --> 00:44:45,519
roll and pop. And then with Zoo, you're gonna have

942
00:44:45,559 --> 00:44:47,000
to get him rolling into the rim or in the

943
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,519
short roll with other people and all this stuff. So

944
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:55,400
in the sense of like trying to mesh everyone, they're

945
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:58,320
gonna have to toy around with one big lineups and

946
00:44:58,360 --> 00:44:59,760
I'm kind of interested to see the ones that they

947
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:03,199
pull because Lopez, more than any other big that they've

948
00:45:03,199 --> 00:45:07,119
had in recent history, is the most malleable guy as

949
00:45:07,119 --> 00:45:09,880
like a center, so he can play with anybody, and

950
00:45:10,039 --> 00:45:12,320
I'm generally interested to see how they make that work.

951
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 2: When you look at the offense overall, last year, it

952
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,480
did tick up Kawhi playing more basketball health Bogdanovitch was

953
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:21,280
actually pretty good for them. I don't think that people

954
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:25,119
realize that as much. How much does his injury if

955
00:45:25,119 --> 00:45:27,440
he's going to miss extensive times, if it actually is

956
00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,519
a hamstring tear, does that have any Like they have

957
00:45:30,599 --> 00:45:32,079
a ton of offensive talent on this team, but when

958
00:45:32,079 --> 00:45:34,360
you're looking at there's no Norman Powell, some a guy

959
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,519
that could just work almost exclusively off ball or fire

960
00:45:37,599 --> 00:45:41,719
these quick trigger threes. They don't necessarily have that guy

961
00:45:42,119 --> 00:45:44,440
right now. And so does this impact them in any

962
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,000
way if they don't have him available.

963
00:45:46,679 --> 00:45:49,639
Speaker 1: I think it does. I think because as you mentioned,

964
00:45:49,679 --> 00:45:51,440
like the three point aspect, where he's able just to

965
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,320
get the ball and go like he's a quick decision maker,

966
00:45:54,679 --> 00:45:57,360
he's a second side ball handler. He's able to operate

967
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,239
in some pick and roll settings. We've seen this with

968
00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:04,639
Serbia time and time again. It's just it's not a

969
00:46:04,639 --> 00:46:07,119
good injury to have for a guy who has dealt

970
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:11,880
with lower body injuriesies. Yeah, especially lower body injuries. Yeah,

971
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:13,480
and you know that could that can mess with you.

972
00:46:13,559 --> 00:46:18,239
So and also I don't think people realize like he's

973
00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:19,920
played a lot of basketball, like because you have to

974
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,199
go back to the international stuff for him to where

975
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:23,920
he didn't come over till he was like twenty seven.

976
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,199
I think, so he'd played a lot of basketball even

977
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:29,800
before the NBA. Sou which, by the way, was my

978
00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:32,519
favorite thing for people to figure out, is that Bogdan

979
00:46:32,599 --> 00:46:35,440
Bogdanovic was not like some twenty eight year old player

980
00:46:36,039 --> 00:46:37,920
because he didn't come up till he was like people.

981
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:39,800
I think people thought because he wasn't in the NBA

982
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:42,519
that long and then they saw his agent, they're like, oh,

983
00:46:42,559 --> 00:46:46,960
he's actually he's been around for a while. But yeah,

984
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,280
I I mean, you look at last year for Bogie

985
00:46:49,599 --> 00:46:51,960
and he ended up shooting uh forty three percent from

986
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:54,320
three with with the Clippers, but it was like thirty

987
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,960
six percent overall. I remember the press conference when they

988
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:07,280
got him. I asked Lawrence Frank because Bogie with Atlanta

989
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:11,440
last year had underperformed his shot qualities, the second most

990
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:14,079
in the NBA. So like that's why it was a

991
00:47:14,119 --> 00:47:18,800
fascinating trade is because they kind of bought into small

992
00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:21,760
sample size. He shot poorly, maybe there's other things at

993
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,920
play and we can kind of like when he when

994
00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:25,840
he figures it out, we are the beneficiary. And that's

995
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:30,559
what ended up happening, not having him as a big deal

996
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:35,599
because now you're talking about they got rid of Norman Powell,

997
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,599
they don't have a mere coffee's three point shooting, and

998
00:47:38,639 --> 00:47:40,960
they don't have Bogie at least for the probably the

999
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:42,880
beginning of the season, if not more, I don't, we

1000
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:46,239
don't know yet. That's three big time three point shooters.

1001
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:50,000
And now that falls onto yes, you got Bradley Beal,

1002
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,039
and yes, Bradley was a great spot up shooter, but

1003
00:47:55,119 --> 00:47:57,519
he didn't do a lot of it. And now you

1004
00:47:57,559 --> 00:48:00,280
need to kind of offset the Bogie loss by having

1005
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,119
brad do more. And it creates a weird thing, which

1006
00:48:03,599 --> 00:48:05,519
I know, Bogie's not gonna play a lot next year,

1007
00:48:05,599 --> 00:48:07,800
Like he'll probably play I would say, like eighteen minutes

1008
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:10,320
a night probably, but those are still eighteen minutes of

1009
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:14,280
a league if not league average player who's good on

1010
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:18,920
offense that you could count on, who's well.

1011
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:20,519
Speaker 2: Actually you mentioned this before us I want to ask

1012
00:48:20,519 --> 00:48:23,000
you about it. Where they said John Collins is going

1013
00:48:23,039 --> 00:48:26,000
to be their transition offense, and I know their transition

1014
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:29,079
frequency kind of did downtick towards the end of last year,

1015
00:48:29,079 --> 00:48:31,239
but like, is that really like does is this team

1016
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:34,199
gonna have that gears it's some of the second units

1017
00:48:34,199 --> 00:48:36,440
that can drive a lot of the full floor stuff

1018
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:40,079
still or is that element going to fade from that part?

1019
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:41,519
And by the way, like a lot of the time

1020
00:48:41,559 --> 00:48:43,760
you're operating in transition, it might it says a lot

1021
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:46,480
about your lack of faith maybe and what you can

1022
00:48:46,519 --> 00:48:48,079
do inside the half court. And they're not gonna have

1023
00:48:48,119 --> 00:48:50,639
any shortage of half court creators, but just from like

1024
00:48:50,679 --> 00:48:54,719
a varying your cadence perspective, I'm kind of wondering if

1025
00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:57,039
the Clippers are going to have the ability to shift

1026
00:48:57,079 --> 00:48:58,199
those dials.

1027
00:48:58,679 --> 00:49:03,880
Speaker 1: Their idea of transition offense. And this is what it is,

1028
00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:08,079
hit ahead passes from James and Chris. That's quite literally

1029
00:49:08,119 --> 00:49:11,880
what their thought is. It's not someone grabs the ball

1030
00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:15,480
and go, it's get the ball to James, hit ahead

1031
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:18,039
to someone, get the ball to Chris, He'll hit ahead

1032
00:49:18,039 --> 00:49:20,880
to John, or he'll head ahead Derek or someone like that. Like,

1033
00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:24,800
their transition offense is gonna be kind of unconventional in

1034
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:29,679
some aspects, but yeah, like it's not gonna be a

1035
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:33,000
fun transition offense. It's not gonna be one where you're like, oh,

1036
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:35,840
if we stop the Clippers on transition offense, like we

1037
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:38,440
have a great chance. It's no. The Clippers game plans.

1038
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,280
They're gonna grind you out in a half court setting,

1039
00:49:41,199 --> 00:49:45,199
and that's that's it. Their transition is gonna be semi transition.

1040
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:46,320
That's what we'll call it for them.

1041
00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:48,039
Speaker 2: They'll be yeah, semi transition.

1042
00:49:48,119 --> 00:49:52,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like like sure, there might be moments where Kawhi

1043
00:49:52,159 --> 00:49:54,960
gets the ball on a rebound or whatever, and that's

1044
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:58,239
a transition layup or dunk or something, But most of

1045
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:04,239
the time it's gonna be ball finds James, ball hit

1046
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:06,679
gets hitd ahead to John or Derek and it's a dunk.

1047
00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:10,559
That's literally. They're gonna be their entire transition sequence except

1048
00:50:10,559 --> 00:50:13,039
for one aspect. I will say when I did my

1049
00:50:13,079 --> 00:50:15,519
deep dive on Bradley bial one thing. I came away

1050
00:50:15,599 --> 00:50:19,239
very impressed with him. With Bradley Beal was an elite

1051
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:25,679
transition player last year, especially spotting up for threes. Brad

1052
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:27,599
runs the floor in a way that I think is

1053
00:50:27,639 --> 00:50:30,760
conducive for the Clippers offensively in transition, where he will

1054
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:34,440
actually hard sprint to corners and will act as a

1055
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:38,480
trailer above the break that I think is an area

1056
00:50:39,079 --> 00:50:43,800
where we probably think of transitioning the way of like, oh,

1057
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:45,639
so and so gets the ball, runs up the floor,

1058
00:50:45,719 --> 00:50:48,559
dunk over and over like that's or rips someone in that.

1059
00:50:49,079 --> 00:50:52,079
But the transition spacing with Brad is gonna be a

1060
00:50:52,079 --> 00:50:57,119
lot better, especially with like his penchant for aggressively running.

1061
00:50:57,559 --> 00:50:59,599
Is he gonna get the ball in transition as much?

1062
00:50:59,639 --> 00:51:02,239
Maybe not, but he's still gonna do a job or

1063
00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:03,480
it frees up other people.

1064
00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:06,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I make the semi transition joke before,

1065
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,880
but like, anytime you can go against a tilted defense

1066
00:51:10,599 --> 00:51:12,199
is just it's going to help you, even if it

1067
00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:13,960
ends up being a half core possession, if it was

1068
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:16,639
set up because Bradley Beal is running his ass off

1069
00:51:16,679 --> 00:51:18,480
down the floor and it stretches out the defense or

1070
00:51:18,639 --> 00:51:21,480
causes a cross match or something that ends up being

1071
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:23,960
probably a pretty big boon for the offense. So I

1072
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:25,480
am just kind of it just because you look at

1073
00:51:25,519 --> 00:51:27,920
Bradley Beal, even if he has the ball, James Harden,

1074
00:51:28,159 --> 00:51:30,440
Chris Paul Kawhi Leonard, like, those are guys that want

1075
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,320
to grind you down for the most part, and I

1076
00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:35,599
think that they have the talent to do that. I'm

1077
00:51:35,599 --> 00:51:37,599
just curious if there's gonna be Like I think part

1078
00:51:37,599 --> 00:51:40,000
of what made the Clippers so enjoyable for me last year,

1079
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:43,000
aside from just being so wrong about them, is there

1080
00:51:43,039 --> 00:51:45,679
was this like unpredictability to the way they could play

1081
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:47,559
at some points, and then there also wasn't because like

1082
00:51:47,559 --> 00:51:50,920
you're featuring James Harden so heavily, and I'm curious to see,

1083
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:54,440
like not so much with their core starting five or whatever.

1084
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:56,440
I'm just curiously what some of the secondary lineups might

1085
00:51:56,480 --> 00:51:58,079
look like offensively for them.

1086
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:01,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating. Like like last year, I

1087
00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:04,760
think going in even though the talent level wasn't to

1088
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,599
this degree as it is this year, I think we

1089
00:52:07,679 --> 00:52:09,079
kind of have like an idea of how they were

1090
00:52:09,079 --> 00:52:11,639
gonna play, like it was gonna be. These were the

1091
00:52:11,679 --> 00:52:13,639
three things they needed to do. They needed to play defense,

1092
00:52:13,639 --> 00:52:15,400
they need to play hard, and they needed to try

1093
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,039
to score as easy as they could when they didn't

1094
00:52:17,039 --> 00:52:19,559
when they weren't in the half court. And this year

1095
00:52:19,559 --> 00:52:22,800
it's almost like offense in the half court shouldn't be

1096
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:25,920
a problem, but now they need to like uptick in

1097
00:52:26,039 --> 00:52:30,000
other areas and it's good. I'm fascinated by them. I

1098
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,440
think they're one of the more interesting teams in the league,

1099
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:34,280
just from that point of view, Like there's obviously all

1100
00:52:34,679 --> 00:52:36,440
all the teams are interesting in their own right. It's

1101
00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:39,039
just right from a Clipper centric point of view, it's

1102
00:52:39,079 --> 00:52:41,679
like we kind of think we know what the Clippers

1103
00:52:41,679 --> 00:52:43,960
are gonna be, but they they could zig or other zag.

1104
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:45,480
I don't know well.

1105
00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:47,360
Speaker 2: And also it's just like a team last year that

1106
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:50,239
by and large was smaller just compared to a lot of

1107
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:52,559
other teams, that they're just first in defensive rebounding rate,

1108
00:52:52,599 --> 00:52:56,039
and then they got bigger. It's just that's insane.

1109
00:52:56,599 --> 00:52:58,360
Speaker 1: It's funny. It's funy. It is funny to think they

1110
00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:01,519
were first in defensive rebounding rate and couldn't rebound in

1111
00:53:01,559 --> 00:53:05,719
the postseason, right, which they talked about too. They actually

1112
00:53:05,760 --> 00:53:07,360
did talk about they they they.

1113
00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:09,800
Speaker 2: Were very match into John Collins. I know, the whole

1114
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:12,199
you're getting Bradley Beale ship out, Norman Powell, he's the

1115
00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:14,440
extension eligible, gonna be a free agent, that whole thing.

1116
00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:16,239
But they also had to be part of the reason

1117
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:19,239
to like, Okay, John Collins is someone who can rebound.

1118
00:53:19,159 --> 00:53:21,039
Speaker 1: Well yeah and put and it pushes Kawhi back to

1119
00:53:21,079 --> 00:53:25,360
the three. Yeah, And that was the thing is their

1120
00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:28,880
whole their whole mindset is when Kawhi Leonard is on

1121
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:31,880
the floor, we're a very good basketball team. And they're

1122
00:53:31,920 --> 00:53:35,880
not wrong. They rebound better, they defend better, they score better.

1123
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:39,280
Everything about them is better. But I do think they

1124
00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:44,480
thought they needed John to move Kawhi to the three

1125
00:53:44,559 --> 00:53:47,840
to get more size for better rebounding, not even just

1126
00:53:47,880 --> 00:53:52,639
for John himself, but for Kawhi to rebound against smaller threes.

1127
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:56,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean that makes sense, and they're also

1128
00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:59,440
kind of what they did, just not as it feels

1129
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:02,800
like they're not reliant on any one player where it's

1130
00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:05,400
I think anyone could miss time and you feel for

1131
00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:07,440
maybe Zubats is the one that you would still feel

1132
00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:08,400
finicky about.

1133
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:09,239
Speaker 1: But even then, it's like a.

1134
00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:12,960
Speaker 2: Slide in and give you a base like defensive guy.

1135
00:54:13,159 --> 00:54:16,159
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's weird, right, that's the like think of

1136
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:18,679
think of how weird that is, because I don't think

1137
00:54:18,679 --> 00:54:20,639
it's been like that for the Clippers in my time

1138
00:54:20,679 --> 00:54:23,920
covering them. Is like when Blake Griffin went down, it

1139
00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:26,159
wasn't like, Okay, this guy can stet. It's like, oh shit,

1140
00:54:26,199 --> 00:54:28,840
Blake Griffin's down. Oh Chris Paul's down. Well, now we're

1141
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,280
kind of screwed. I will say, if James goes down,

1142
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:33,440
they're probably that's the one guy where I like, if

1143
00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:36,519
you lose James, that could get a little bit dicey.

1144
00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:39,679
But I mean even losing Kawhi is not the end

1145
00:54:39,679 --> 00:54:41,119
of the world. We saw that last year.

1146
00:54:41,159 --> 00:54:42,280
Speaker 2: If they just did it, yeah.

1147
00:54:42,239 --> 00:54:48,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, I mean it's I don't you know,

1148
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:50,679
if there is a pressure point, I will say this,

1149
00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:54,079
if there is a pressure point, and I cannot believe

1150
00:54:54,079 --> 00:54:55,519
the sentence is about to come out of my mouth.

1151
00:54:56,679 --> 00:55:02,760
What happens if Bradley Beal misses forty games Because your

1152
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:08,440
backup is your backup's Bogdanovich, which even if he's healthy, yes,

1153
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:12,159
he's a replacement level shooting guard starting caliber type guy,

1154
00:55:13,039 --> 00:55:15,480
but like there's a trickle down effect at the guard

1155
00:55:15,519 --> 00:55:18,639
spot after that, to where do you start Chris and

1156
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:23,360
James together? Do you like, Like, I know that sounds crazy,

1157
00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,000
but like you might just have to like, I.

1158
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:28,760
Speaker 2: Don't know, Yeah, that's a good point.

1159
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:33,880
Speaker 1: It would because obviously Chris Dunn, Chris Dunn is like

1160
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:35,519
the guy that I was.

1161
00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:37,199
Speaker 2: Gonna ask, like, do you just go to Chris Dunn

1162
00:55:37,199 --> 00:55:37,840
in that instance?

1163
00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:41,760
Speaker 1: Then you you probably do, but like it kind of

1164
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:45,159
still if you're trying to go more offense to like

1165
00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:48,119
keep the spacing around your main guys, I don't know.

1166
00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:51,159
Speaker 2: Who do you think? That's what I've also given a

1167
00:55:51,199 --> 00:55:53,159
lough about us. Who do you think? And this, you know,

1168
00:55:53,199 --> 00:55:54,639
this kind of circles back to what you were saying

1169
00:55:54,639 --> 00:55:57,079
about in the beginning about what their offense can look

1170
00:55:57,159 --> 00:55:59,440
like in the playoffs, Like based on last year's team,

1171
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,280
who he gets impacted more by the new look of

1172
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:04,920
this roster in terms of their role, Derek Jones Junior

1173
00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:10,760
or Chris Dunn. My gut, my gut reaction was Chris Dunne,

1174
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:13,400
just because it feels like they have so much guard depth.

1175
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:16,880
But he also does something that literally knows their other

1176
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:17,440
guards do.

1177
00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:25,159
Speaker 1: Yeah. Man, he's so good defensively too. Yeah, I can

1178
00:56:25,159 --> 00:56:27,519
tell you they were internally pissed that he was not

1179
00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:29,960
eligible for all defense. Some of it was their own

1180
00:56:30,039 --> 00:56:33,639
doing because no one still understands the rules about sixty

1181
00:56:33,719 --> 00:56:36,239
five games, like what is and what is not a game,

1182
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:41,159
that it's still a thing, which quick sidebar. I talked

1183
00:56:41,199 --> 00:56:44,000
to people at the team who had I had posted

1184
00:56:45,039 --> 00:56:47,400
that I think they need to change the requirement for

1185
00:56:47,559 --> 00:56:51,199
awards from sixty five games of like twenty plus minutes

1186
00:56:51,519 --> 00:56:53,920
to just like a straight like you play thirteen hundred

1187
00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:56,679
minutes and you're eligible for whatever award that you're eligible for.

1188
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:59,000
I have someone with the team tell me that that

1189
00:56:59,159 --> 00:57:01,280
is something they would like to he changed, because not

1190
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:03,679
even just for like their guys, but they think a

1191
00:57:03,679 --> 00:57:05,239
lot of players around the league are kind of getting

1192
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:08,239
screwed by this. And yeah, but.

1193
00:57:08,639 --> 00:57:10,400
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a year. I don't know that we've

1194
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:12,519
seen it yet, but like where some of the award

1195
00:57:12,639 --> 00:57:16,880
that awards battles are gonna just look insanely bad in

1196
00:57:16,960 --> 00:57:19,239
retrospective because of the way it's set up. And I

1197
00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:21,199
still don't I know, people say the players didn't get

1198
00:57:21,199 --> 00:57:23,280
hard in the CBA. But I'm just still wondering why

1199
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:25,519
they didn't push back harder against a lot of this stuff.

1200
00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 1: The sixty five game thing didn't make sense, like the

1201
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:32,719
raw minutes should have been what it is because like hypothetically,

1202
00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:36,000
like hypothetically, if a player plays sixty minutes or sixty

1203
00:57:36,039 --> 00:57:39,760
games of like thirty two minutes a night, is that

1204
00:57:39,840 --> 00:57:43,639
guy not more valuable to a team that then.

1205
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:46,280
Speaker 2: Like I want to see players play, Like I understand

1206
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:48,239
people's thing, like we wanted to have these players up

1207
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:50,320
in all these games, Like what matters more playing in

1208
00:57:50,519 --> 00:57:53,719
seventy five games at seventeen minutes a clip, We're playing

1209
00:57:53,719 --> 00:57:55,960
in sixty games at thirty four minutes a clip, Like

1210
00:57:56,000 --> 00:57:58,800
that's a pretty clear like, especially when it comes to

1211
00:57:59,159 --> 00:58:01,480
cause it gets all all sorts of just wonky when

1212
00:58:01,519 --> 00:58:04,280
you get to the all defense ballots, specifically like a

1213
00:58:04,280 --> 00:58:06,360
lot of the other awards and even most Improved Player

1214
00:58:06,639 --> 00:58:08,039
maybe six Man of the Year, like a lot of

1215
00:58:08,039 --> 00:58:10,679
that stuff is it's not as cut and dry, like

1216
00:58:10,719 --> 00:58:12,320
some of the awards are cut and dry, the all

1217
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:14,079
defense stuff and like six Man of the Year, most

1218
00:58:14,119 --> 00:58:16,360
roop player or not. And so that's why I'm not

1219
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:18,559
in one of them. Do you need the what's the

1220
00:58:18,559 --> 00:58:19,639
one that you don't need?

1221
00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:23,559
Speaker 1: The rookie doesn't rookie doesn't need it, And I think

1222
00:58:23,599 --> 00:58:24,400
there's another one.

1223
00:58:24,719 --> 00:58:26,679
Speaker 2: Six Man of the Year at least doesn't have the

1224
00:58:26,719 --> 00:58:30,559
Maybe it's not the sixty five one because most improved

1225
00:58:30,559 --> 00:58:32,800
Player definitely has it. I think it might be the sixth.

1226
00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:34,920
Maybe it doesn't have like that minutes threshold where it's

1227
00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:36,679
like you needed to clear a certain amount of minutes.

1228
00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:40,159
Maybe in a number of performances. See how long have

1229
00:58:40,199 --> 00:58:42,960
we covered the league and we fancy ourselves sickos and

1230
00:58:43,039 --> 00:58:45,840
here we are, we're still not fully grasping it.

1231
00:58:47,039 --> 00:58:48,760
Speaker 1: I mean, you look back at the you mentioned All

1232
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:50,960
Defensive Team. Chris Dunn should have made All Defense, but

1233
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,199
he just wasn't eligible. You know who else was't eligible?

1234
00:58:53,239 --> 00:58:55,320
Alex Caruso not eligible?

1235
00:58:55,679 --> 00:58:58,000
Speaker 2: Like yet all these players would have made it, Like

1236
00:58:58,079 --> 00:59:00,960
if those awards weren't about really wasn't in place.

1237
00:59:01,119 --> 00:59:04,760
Speaker 1: Loukenz Door wouldn't even have made first team, like I

1238
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:06,880
think he made first team. He wouldn't have made first team,

1239
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:09,760
like even like there was like three guys on his

1240
00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:13,719
team that were better defenders. And it's just but that's

1241
00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:16,400
the nature of the oars is these guys get slipped

1242
00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:17,960
through the crack because of this, and like Chris down

1243
00:59:18,079 --> 00:59:20,559
was one of them. But to answer your original question,

1244
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:24,559
the guy's role whom I changed the most, it might

1245
00:59:24,599 --> 00:59:28,239
be Derek just because there's more forwards on the roster now, okay,

1246
00:59:29,320 --> 00:59:34,360
I but also like Derek is such a good defender too,

1247
00:59:34,480 --> 00:59:37,840
and he's such he gives them something. I mean, John

1248
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:39,840
kind of provides it with like his above the rim

1249
00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:43,960
cutting and athleticism and all this stuff, but Derek's such

1250
00:59:44,239 --> 00:59:46,239
a different athlete that I.

1251
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:47,159
Speaker 2: Stick a dynamite.

1252
00:59:47,320 --> 00:59:50,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he and he and James had incredible chemistry.

1253
00:59:51,639 --> 00:59:55,760
And also the one thing I want to point about

1254
00:59:55,760 --> 00:59:59,519
Derek one of the very best screen navigators I've ever seen.

1255
01:00:01,559 --> 01:00:03,719
Chris Dunn's great at it. I think Derek Jones might

1256
01:00:03,719 --> 01:00:07,199
actually be better, which is a disgusting thought when you.

1257
01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:09,159
Speaker 2: When you like think back even to how Dallas used

1258
01:00:09,199 --> 01:00:10,880
him before he came over to the Clipper specifically, like

1259
01:00:10,880 --> 01:00:13,000
he's always been really good at like handling a lot

1260
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:15,920
of the smaller assignments too, which in part has to

1261
01:00:15,920 --> 01:00:17,719
be because of his green navigation.

1262
01:00:17,920 --> 01:00:22,480
Speaker 1: And so I think it like his size is a

1263
01:00:22,559 --> 01:00:27,119
hindrance against like bigger players, but yet I think that's

1264
01:00:27,159 --> 01:00:29,199
the reason he's so good at screen navigation, because he's

1265
01:00:29,199 --> 01:00:33,559
not a bulky guy. He's like this wiry like dude

1266
01:00:33,599 --> 01:00:37,960
who slithers around screens by just getting his shoulder through

1267
01:00:38,000 --> 01:00:41,840
the gap and just like melting through. And it just

1268
01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:45,239
something I'm If you go back and watch some footage

1269
01:00:45,239 --> 01:00:47,960
from last year, it's some of the most bewildering stuff

1270
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:50,719
you'll see about how like he'll get screened and he's

1271
01:00:50,800 --> 01:00:53,599
just the next frame, it's like Derek Jones back in

1272
01:00:53,599 --> 01:00:55,000
front of this guy and you're like, what the hell

1273
01:00:55,079 --> 01:00:55,719
even happened?

1274
01:00:56,239 --> 01:00:58,119
Speaker 2: Kind of hoping michal Bridges might have worked out with

1275
01:00:58,199 --> 01:00:59,280
him a little bit this summer.

1276
01:01:00,079 --> 01:01:02,960
Speaker 1: And look, that's a whole other thing for michale. You know,

1277
01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:09,079
Like I will say, mckal bridges, he really is an

1278
01:01:09,119 --> 01:01:12,360
iron man. I will give him that, Michel Bridges, that dude.

1279
01:01:12,199 --> 01:01:15,599
Speaker 2: Every game, But are you the type of person I'm

1280
01:01:15,639 --> 01:01:17,280
an alarmist And I've said this now a bunch of

1281
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:19,039
times where it might be like a character flow, but like,

1282
01:01:19,039 --> 01:01:22,679
because McHale Bridges has just played all these games, I

1283
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:25,519
just assume that he's due for like some type of

1284
01:01:25,559 --> 01:01:28,039
like catastrophe, where I don't look at it as that

1285
01:01:28,199 --> 01:01:29,760
being like being iron Man is cool and it's an

1286
01:01:29,760 --> 01:01:32,760
accomplishment for him. But I'm I'm waiting for the first

1287
01:01:32,800 --> 01:01:34,920
shoe to drop. Now, I'm like a person's always waiting

1288
01:01:34,920 --> 01:01:36,519
for the other shoe to drop, and if it had,

1289
01:01:36,559 --> 01:01:39,159
if one hasn't dropped, I'm like, well, it's gonna come sometime.

1290
01:01:39,280 --> 01:01:41,119
And that's how I view this, And that's probably a

1291
01:01:41,159 --> 01:01:43,679
little sick, but that that's how I feel about it.

1292
01:01:43,679 --> 01:01:46,519
Speaker 1: It's because we're cynical by nature, right, Like you're just like, oh,

1293
01:01:46,679 --> 01:01:48,840
it has it has to happen. But I don't know.

1294
01:01:48,880 --> 01:01:51,280
Maybe it's just ac Green where he just plays twenty

1295
01:01:51,360 --> 01:01:54,480
years at a pretty good level of minutes and you're

1296
01:01:54,519 --> 01:01:57,760
just like, oh, he just like Andre Miller made an

1297
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:01,519
entire career playing a bunch of minutes without ever getting hurt. Now,

1298
01:02:01,519 --> 01:02:04,679
granted Andre Miller never jumped off the floor once in

1299
01:02:04,719 --> 01:02:07,880
his life, but you know, it helps them not get injured.

1300
01:02:07,920 --> 01:02:10,440
But I don't know, Maybe Michael Bridge is just an anomaly.

1301
01:02:10,840 --> 01:02:13,000
They're probably gonna study him thirty years from now and

1302
01:02:13,039 --> 01:02:16,280
find out that he had some like weird mixture of

1303
01:02:16,400 --> 01:02:21,079
like mus muscle tissue that like connected and it was

1304
01:02:21,119 --> 01:02:23,119
like the old Nolan Ryan thing, Remember that thing with

1305
01:02:23,159 --> 01:02:25,840
like Nolan Ryan. Wasn't it like his elbow was like

1306
01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:29,039
different or something, or is that justin someone's elbow? It

1307
01:02:29,119 --> 01:02:31,639
was like Justin Verlander or Nolan Ryan or something like

1308
01:02:31,679 --> 01:02:34,760
their elbow had like this weird like ligament that was

1309
01:02:35,639 --> 01:02:37,639
it wasn't in like the natural formation, so it helped

1310
01:02:37,679 --> 01:02:40,119
with like elbow trauma or something. It was. It was

1311
01:02:40,239 --> 01:02:42,000
very strange. I think it was. I think might have

1312
01:02:42,039 --> 01:02:44,159
been Justin Verlander. And then he ended up tearing it.

1313
01:02:44,159 --> 01:02:45,760
And now he's forty five and still pitching at a

1314
01:02:45,840 --> 01:02:48,840
high level because nothing makes sense anymore.

1315
01:02:51,400 --> 01:02:54,119
Speaker 2: The less proven people on this roster that probably are

1316
01:02:54,119 --> 01:02:55,159
not gonna have a ton of roles. Do you have

1317
01:02:55,159 --> 01:02:57,320
any impressions of, like, let's start with Niederhouse or the

1318
01:02:57,400 --> 01:02:59,440
rookie that's coming in. Any early impressions of him after

1319
01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:00,199
Summer League?

1320
01:03:00,719 --> 01:03:04,840
Speaker 1: Very raw, But I see it I now. Granted, I

1321
01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:08,639
do think they were my personal belief, there were players

1322
01:03:08,639 --> 01:03:10,320
on the board that they probably should have picked over him,

1323
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:14,000
But I understand why they picked him. He was the

1324
01:03:14,039 --> 01:03:16,960
best athletic center in the Combine history that they had.

1325
01:03:17,639 --> 01:03:19,800
Like it's kind of wild when you think about the

1326
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:21,960
centers you've gone through it, but like when you adjust

1327
01:03:21,960 --> 01:03:24,360
for like size and frame and all this stuff, he

1328
01:03:24,400 --> 01:03:27,800
was the most athletic one who tested out. And you

1329
01:03:27,840 --> 01:03:29,559
watch him play and you see how raw he is,

1330
01:03:29,639 --> 01:03:32,519
but you see that you see the upside. He didn't

1331
01:03:32,519 --> 01:03:34,199
start playing basketball, I want to say, till he was

1332
01:03:34,199 --> 01:03:39,000
like fifteen, and he has a very fascinating background where

1333
01:03:39,039 --> 01:03:41,760
he took judo as a kid and he used to

1334
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:47,679
take he used to take a train uh from Switzerland,

1335
01:03:47,800 --> 01:03:49,960
like wherever he lived in Switzerland. I believe it was

1336
01:03:50,239 --> 01:03:52,800
to like basketball camps, and that's how we started playing basketball.

1337
01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:55,440
He suffered a really traumatic knee injury. When you want

1338
01:03:55,480 --> 01:03:57,719
to believe he was like seventeen or fifteen, they got

1339
01:03:57,719 --> 01:04:00,559
about fifteen. He suffered a traumatic knee and maybe it

1340
01:04:00,559 --> 01:04:02,039
was seventeen. It was one of those ages, it doesn't

1341
01:04:02,039 --> 01:04:04,599
really matter. Suffered a traumatic knee injury and he was

1342
01:04:04,639 --> 01:04:07,599
actually bedridden for like eight months, and that's when he

1343
01:04:07,639 --> 01:04:11,679
actually went underwent his height, Like he got a growth

1344
01:04:11,679 --> 01:04:14,440
spurt of like eight inches over like two years, and

1345
01:04:14,519 --> 01:04:17,880
so he dealt with this. He was originally a guard,

1346
01:04:18,599 --> 01:04:21,480
and so when you watch him, there was plays in

1347
01:04:21,480 --> 01:04:24,800
the Summer League he would get the ball like off

1348
01:04:24,800 --> 01:04:26,760
the board or a steel or a block or whatever,

1349
01:04:27,119 --> 01:04:30,559
and he would push. In transition he'd go behind his back. Now,

1350
01:04:30,559 --> 01:04:32,400
the finishing left a little bit to be desired, but

1351
01:04:32,440 --> 01:04:35,559
also he's just moving very fast at his size. And

1352
01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:38,639
you know, I tend to not evaluate people in summer

1353
01:04:38,679 --> 01:04:42,960
leagues that seriously, but he his handle was a lot

1354
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:45,360
better than I think people thought for a center, so

1355
01:04:45,519 --> 01:04:49,039
that guard aspect came. But he's he's really good, I

1356
01:04:49,079 --> 01:04:52,360
think in terms of potential. Not a really good player

1357
01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:54,920
right now, but they think he can grow down the line.

1358
01:04:55,039 --> 01:04:58,199
And all I'll say is if they got a rotation

1359
01:04:58,320 --> 01:05:01,519
level center with the thirtieth pick, I don't think people

1360
01:05:01,519 --> 01:05:04,320
should gripe about that. I think that's where I'm at.

1361
01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:07,360
Speaker 2: One two things stuck out to me when he was

1362
01:05:07,400 --> 01:05:09,519
doing Summer League was I think that he could end

1363
01:05:09,599 --> 01:05:12,159
up being like a really big, like defensive playmaker like

1364
01:05:12,159 --> 01:05:14,079
the aggression Kim Wax and Reign right now. But I

1365
01:05:14,119 --> 01:05:16,079
think that he's gonna be super disruptive if he ever

1366
01:05:16,119 --> 01:05:18,199
reaches his final form. The other thing that stood out

1367
01:05:18,280 --> 01:05:19,960
is I guess it speaks ton't know the point guard

1368
01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:21,639
background about him, but it was the game against the

1369
01:05:21,719 --> 01:05:25,360
Lakers where he like picks that pass and then uses

1370
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:27,360
two dribbles to go more than three quarters of the

1371
01:05:27,360 --> 01:05:30,119
court and finished. So it's just like, oh God. And

1372
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:34,039
my final my final thing was they've literally surrounded him

1373
01:05:34,039 --> 01:05:37,199
with or maybe not literally but virtually surrounded with every

1374
01:05:37,239 --> 01:05:40,159
type of big man that he can kind of call to,

1375
01:05:40,360 --> 01:05:42,519
Like just think about how different John Collins and Zubots

1376
01:05:42,519 --> 01:05:44,480
and Brook Lopez just are on the grand scheme of things.

1377
01:05:44,519 --> 01:05:47,880
And I'm like, we romanticize everything after Summer League, where

1378
01:05:47,880 --> 01:05:51,360
it's I we throw we go up vibes like fuck efficiency,

1379
01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:51,960
who cares?

1380
01:05:52,119 --> 01:05:52,639
Speaker 1: I love it.

1381
01:05:53,000 --> 01:05:55,840
Speaker 2: But he's in a pretty good situation, like to just

1382
01:05:55,880 --> 01:05:58,559
be around these guys, if he's even just practicing with them,

1383
01:05:58,559 --> 01:06:01,440
like that's I wouldn't under estimate that. And so I'm

1384
01:06:02,199 --> 01:06:04,920
again every all the caveats have light here, but I'm

1385
01:06:05,079 --> 01:06:08,440
I'm I'm intrigued by him, and he doesn't look the

1386
01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:10,559
way he moves kind of at both ends of the floor,

1387
01:06:10,559 --> 01:06:12,360
but even more so defensively and he's certainly not someone

1388
01:06:12,400 --> 01:06:14,079
I would think to travel the full length of the floor.

1389
01:06:14,440 --> 01:06:16,280
He doesn't move the way that he looks.

1390
01:06:17,119 --> 01:06:21,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, he doesn't move like seven one or whatever he is.

1391
01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:25,039
It's it's remarkable, really like it's And I do wonder

1392
01:06:25,079 --> 01:06:28,559
how much of that is like the maybe I'm reading

1393
01:06:28,599 --> 01:06:30,000
too much. I wonder how much of that could be

1394
01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:33,400
a judo background, like where you studied something else to

1395
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:35,199
help you with movement. So I wonder if that like

1396
01:06:35,480 --> 01:06:38,760
helped your body structure in terms of fluidity and muscle

1397
01:06:38,800 --> 01:06:43,559
dexterity and all these things. He he fascinates me because

1398
01:06:45,119 --> 01:06:49,119
you see why he's so tantalizing, and it comes in

1399
01:06:49,199 --> 01:06:54,199
like spurts. And I remember when they talked about him

1400
01:06:54,239 --> 01:06:58,360
on Draft night at the arena. It got scoffed at

1401
01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:02,760
and like laughed at online. But Trent Redden says the

1402
01:07:02,760 --> 01:07:06,440
Clippers GM. Trent Redden says, if you or no, it

1403
01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:09,599
was Lawrence Frank. You said, if you squint in about

1404
01:07:09,920 --> 01:07:12,000
two to three years from now, you can see him

1405
01:07:12,000 --> 01:07:16,480
becoming a person who starts shooting threes, and like he

1406
01:07:16,639 --> 01:07:19,719
never shot threes in college, but they like the way

1407
01:07:19,719 --> 01:07:23,760
his shot looks. But in summer League. He started taking them.

1408
01:07:23,800 --> 01:07:26,440
He didn't make any, but you saw him take some

1409
01:07:26,519 --> 01:07:30,360
and you're like, oh, his shot actually looks okay for

1410
01:07:30,679 --> 01:07:33,840
his size. This goes back to your point. If there's

1411
01:07:33,880 --> 01:07:36,320
anyone you want to learn from about how to go

1412
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:39,159
from a center who couldn't shoot to a center who

1413
01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:43,800
just only shoots threes, Brook Lopez might be the best guy.

1414
01:07:46,039 --> 01:07:50,719
Speaker 2: Any strong feelings about Kobe Brown, Cameron Christi or even

1415
01:07:50,719 --> 01:07:53,199
about how do they have fourteen guaranteed contract right now?

1416
01:07:53,239 --> 01:07:55,159
So about how they might use their final roster spot

1417
01:07:55,239 --> 01:07:56,119
or if they use it at all.

1418
01:07:56,800 --> 01:07:59,159
Speaker 1: Kobe Brown for the half of Summer League that he played,

1419
01:07:59,159 --> 01:08:00,960
he played with the first half of the first game

1420
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:03,159
of Summer League. He looked great, He looked exactly how

1421
01:08:03,199 --> 01:08:05,559
he should and then he got shut down with an injury.

1422
01:08:07,360 --> 01:08:09,280
It's a make or break year for Kobe. He's gonna

1423
01:08:09,280 --> 01:08:11,719
get minutes, maybe not a lot of mints, but they're

1424
01:08:11,719 --> 01:08:13,719
gonna have to play him at times. It's a make

1425
01:08:13,800 --> 01:08:16,800
or break year for his for his career at this point. Cam,

1426
01:08:17,159 --> 01:08:19,920
How's another year where I would say of like development,

1427
01:08:20,279 --> 01:08:22,399
But they really like Cam. They like his shot form,

1428
01:08:22,479 --> 01:08:25,920
they like his aggression at times. Cam thing is gonna

1429
01:08:25,960 --> 01:08:28,720
come down to defense and whether or not he can

1430
01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:31,760
make threes, but they like him as a development prospect.

1431
01:08:31,840 --> 01:08:33,760
Outside of that, there's really not much. I mean, I

1432
01:08:33,800 --> 01:08:35,079
don't want it. That sounds me to say, there's not

1433
01:08:35,119 --> 01:08:36,520
really not much else to say, but that's just where

1434
01:08:36,520 --> 01:08:36,880
they're at.

1435
01:08:38,199 --> 01:08:40,520
Speaker 2: Are you ready to enter the Cookie Cutters last Lightning

1436
01:08:40,600 --> 01:08:42,520
round portion to close this podcast?

1437
01:08:42,560 --> 01:08:44,039
Speaker 1: Oh, I just want to say one more thing. I'm

1438
01:08:44,039 --> 01:08:45,880
sorry you asked me about their final roster spot. They

1439
01:08:45,920 --> 01:08:46,760
can't sign anyone.

1440
01:08:47,399 --> 01:08:51,239
Speaker 2: They're literally right because they're so close to the Yeah, yeah, yeah,

1441
01:08:51,239 --> 01:08:55,039
they're hard capped at the first apron, and I don't

1442
01:08:55,039 --> 01:08:55,279
want to.

1443
01:08:55,800 --> 01:08:57,119
Speaker 1: I guess I could pull it. I have a I'm

1444
01:08:57,159 --> 01:08:59,479
a nerd. You know that I have a spreadsheet.

1445
01:08:58,920 --> 01:09:01,199
Speaker 2: Of no don't. I'm also staring at their salary cap

1446
01:09:01,239 --> 01:09:03,880
situation right now too, to where it says that they're like.

1447
01:09:03,840 --> 01:09:07,000
Speaker 1: Seven thousand tacks uh.

1448
01:09:06,439 --> 01:09:10,199
Speaker 2: From the apron, and their point they sign an undrafted

1449
01:09:10,279 --> 01:09:11,319
is that it's not even enough for an.

1450
01:09:11,279 --> 01:09:14,279
Speaker 1: Hundred, like a zero. It's not rookies, it's not They're

1451
01:09:14,319 --> 01:09:17,720
gonna wait for like the pro rated uh pro rated

1452
01:09:17,720 --> 01:09:20,199
buyout guy in them in like February you don't.

1453
01:09:20,319 --> 01:09:22,479
Speaker 2: They're not gonna want to just because they're inside seven

1454
01:09:22,520 --> 01:09:24,279
million of it. This isn't gonna be a team that's like, hey,

1455
01:09:24,279 --> 01:09:25,920
how do we lop off like seven and a half

1456
01:09:26,000 --> 01:09:28,800
million dollars mid season of duct attacks? Entirely, that's not

1457
01:09:28,960 --> 01:09:31,359
where they're at it. I mean, I'm sure things go shitty,

1458
01:09:31,399 --> 01:09:34,760
but if they're relatively who they think they are, that's

1459
01:09:34,760 --> 01:09:36,239
not something they'll be looking to do. Correct.

1460
01:09:37,239 --> 01:09:39,319
Speaker 1: I wouldn't rule it out. They want to, they don't.

1461
01:09:39,359 --> 01:09:43,479
They they want to reset the repeater tax. They they

1462
01:09:43,479 --> 01:09:45,119
were out of the tax last year. They made moves

1463
01:09:45,119 --> 01:09:47,720
it the deadline to get out the tax. I asked

1464
01:09:47,800 --> 01:09:51,159
Lawrence Frank on the record if they're gonna try to

1465
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:52,840
get out of the repeater tax, if being in the

1466
01:09:52,920 --> 01:09:55,079
luxury tax is something they're gonna do. They said, if

1467
01:09:55,079 --> 01:09:56,439
it makes sense, they'll be in the tax, but they

1468
01:09:56,439 --> 01:09:59,199
want to reset the repeater tax. I have it on

1469
01:09:59,239 --> 01:10:01,319
good authority from people I've talked to around the team.

1470
01:10:01,760 --> 01:10:03,960
They don't want to be in the tax. If not

1471
01:10:04,119 --> 01:10:09,960
this year, definitely not next year. What I will say,

1472
01:10:10,079 --> 01:10:12,880
we've talked about him a little bit as important Bogdanovitch

1473
01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:13,439
is the guy they.

1474
01:10:13,399 --> 01:10:18,239
Speaker 2: Would move, and they like at this point, not that

1475
01:10:18,279 --> 01:10:20,720
he's immovable, but coming off the injury, and just like

1476
01:10:20,760 --> 01:10:25,119
the numbers, not just let send you here. And so

1477
01:10:25,560 --> 01:10:28,720
I keep looking at Derek Jones's junior money. It's just

1478
01:10:28,800 --> 01:10:31,640
like that someone will slide into someone's exception pretty easily,

1479
01:10:31,920 --> 01:10:33,760
I know, and maybe it would be Chris Dunn, but

1480
01:10:33,800 --> 01:10:35,439
he doesn't make enough to fully get them out of

1481
01:10:35,479 --> 01:10:38,279
there either. So I'm just do they have the sweeteners

1482
01:10:38,279 --> 01:10:39,800
to include with them. I'm not saying they need to

1483
01:10:39,800 --> 01:10:42,039
include a first round pick they get off like bogdanas

1484
01:10:42,079 --> 01:10:43,199
is some what it's saying. It just seems like that

1485
01:10:43,319 --> 01:10:45,640
number is. It's not close to but if he's coming

1486
01:10:45,640 --> 01:10:49,079
off his hamstring injury, it makes a lot more challenging

1487
01:10:49,079 --> 01:10:49,760
to move him.

1488
01:10:50,119 --> 01:10:53,319
Speaker 1: So Bogdanovic has two I shouldn't say Bogdanah. The Clippers

1489
01:10:53,359 --> 01:10:56,159
have two things working in their favorite with Bogdanovic. If

1490
01:10:56,159 --> 01:10:57,520
they do trade him, they can do a two for

1491
01:10:57,600 --> 01:10:59,199
one where they get two guys back to fill up

1492
01:10:59,199 --> 01:11:01,239
some of the void. So like that will give them

1493
01:11:01,479 --> 01:11:05,000
fifteen guys on their roster at that point. The other

1494
01:11:05,039 --> 01:11:08,560
part of it is he has a team option for

1495
01:11:08,800 --> 01:11:13,800
twenty six, twenty seven. So if there is a team

1496
01:11:14,079 --> 01:11:17,600
who looks at him and goes, if we trade for Bogdana,

1497
01:11:17,640 --> 01:11:20,800
there's the upside is either we don't pick up the

1498
01:11:20,840 --> 01:11:22,960
team option and we get that cap space, or at

1499
01:11:23,039 --> 01:11:25,840
least we get that salary off the books, or we

1500
01:11:25,920 --> 01:11:27,680
pick up the team option and we could flip them

1501
01:11:27,720 --> 01:11:30,439
for someone else and like some type of deal. So

1502
01:11:30,520 --> 01:11:33,359
I do think there is some like wiggle room to

1503
01:11:33,399 --> 01:11:35,520
where they have like they could convince a team to

1504
01:11:35,920 --> 01:11:37,880
I'm just gonna say a team. There's not been I

1505
01:11:37,960 --> 01:11:39,479
just want to say there's not been a discussion. This

1506
01:11:39,560 --> 01:11:42,520
is not a thing. I'm just hypothetically saying Brooklyn still

1507
01:11:42,520 --> 01:11:44,279
has cap space. So if you went to Brooklyn where

1508
01:11:44,680 --> 01:11:47,800
not now, but like you get to like February deadline,

1509
01:11:47,840 --> 01:11:52,399
and we're just like Bogdanovich for whatever works salary wise

1510
01:11:52,479 --> 01:11:56,279
to get the Clippers under the luxury tax while getting

1511
01:11:56,359 --> 01:11:59,279
Brooklyn to kind of eat the rest of that as

1512
01:11:59,319 --> 01:12:02,079
cap space, maybe there's a thing that you can work on.

1513
01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:05,640
But yeah, it's gonna be something. I think he's the

1514
01:12:05,640 --> 01:12:08,079
one movable guy. But to your point about Derek, he

1515
01:12:08,079 --> 01:12:11,039
could possibly be movable. Chris could be movable. Now, granted,

1516
01:12:11,079 --> 01:12:13,119
as you said, Chris won't get them under the luxury tax,

1517
01:12:13,159 --> 01:12:15,600
but I don't know. I think they have machinations. But

1518
01:12:15,640 --> 01:12:17,479
also they might just see it through on the luxury

1519
01:12:17,520 --> 01:12:20,159
tax and then going to next off season, like, hey, guys,

1520
01:12:21,239 --> 01:12:23,159
you already take some pay cuts to get under the

1521
01:12:23,239 --> 01:12:25,560
luxury tax because we could add someone if you.

1522
01:12:25,520 --> 01:12:28,680
Speaker 2: Do, like you let you on Collins Walk and it

1523
01:12:28,760 --> 01:12:30,159
just makes it a lot more palatable.

1524
01:12:31,520 --> 01:12:44,199
Speaker 1: Yeah, or actually him, you know, and add talents because

1525
01:12:44,279 --> 01:12:51,920
they're space. And then you keep going once once more

1526
01:12:51,920 --> 01:12:53,720
into the breach until you get to twenty seven.

1527
01:12:54,439 --> 01:12:56,640
Speaker 2: Now, are you ready to enter the lightning round clothes?

1528
01:12:56,840 --> 01:12:58,279
Speaker 1: Yes? Sorry about that.

1529
01:12:58,399 --> 01:13:00,159
Speaker 2: No, No, I'm all for tangents. I just don't to

1530
01:13:00,199 --> 01:13:02,000
keep you here. I'm already keeping it here too long.

1531
01:13:02,319 --> 01:13:04,119
So we've talked about some of it. But when you

1532
01:13:04,119 --> 01:13:06,319
look at the roster, what do you view as its

1533
01:13:06,359 --> 01:13:08,199
single biggest weakness right now?

1534
01:13:11,760 --> 01:13:12,880
Speaker 1: That's a great question.

1535
01:13:13,199 --> 01:13:15,479
Speaker 2: I mean it would be cop out and say youth,

1536
01:13:15,600 --> 01:13:18,039
but would say durability?

1537
01:13:18,079 --> 01:13:23,199
Speaker 1: Youth, yeah, durability probably, yeah, I and I and I

1538
01:13:23,239 --> 01:13:28,319
am a little bit skeptical of their shooting, and I

1539
01:13:28,359 --> 01:13:32,479
know that sounds weird. Because they added Bradley Beal. You

1540
01:13:32,520 --> 01:13:35,119
obviously still have James Harden, you have Kawhi. Yeah, John

1541
01:13:35,159 --> 01:13:37,800
Collins is a good three point shooter, but I gotta

1542
01:13:37,840 --> 01:13:39,680
see it. I think for me is the thing is

1543
01:13:40,359 --> 01:13:42,600
because for me, shooting isn't just oh did they shoot

1544
01:13:42,600 --> 01:13:45,840
well from three? They're gonna take a lot of midrraane shots.

1545
01:13:46,520 --> 01:13:51,680
They added Yeah, Yeah, they added brad they added Chris Paul.

1546
01:13:51,760 --> 01:13:55,119
They love midterrane shots. So I'm kind of worried that,

1547
01:13:55,279 --> 01:13:58,920
like they're gonna shoot well as a team, but are

1548
01:13:59,039 --> 01:13:59,920
they the right shots.

1549
01:14:01,279 --> 01:14:05,039
Speaker 2: I what gives me some hope is again I think

1550
01:14:05,479 --> 01:14:08,000
Bradley Beal can do it, and then Chris Paul kind

1551
01:14:08,000 --> 01:14:09,520
of did it with San Antonio last year, like his

1552
01:14:09,560 --> 01:14:12,159
three point volume was up there with the Spurs. So

1553
01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:14,279
but yeah, I think that would be a fair concern.

1554
01:14:14,359 --> 01:14:17,560
Is there anything that's like flying under the radar about

1555
01:14:17,560 --> 01:14:19,880
this team, whether it's to strength, the storyline, whatever, that

1556
01:14:20,000 --> 01:14:21,239
isn't receiving enough attention?

1557
01:14:22,239 --> 01:14:32,399
Speaker 1: Oh hmm, that's a good one. That's that's a tough I.

1558
01:14:32,399 --> 01:14:35,479
I would actually say John Collins. I don't think John

1559
01:14:35,479 --> 01:14:38,279
Collins got the publicity because I think the Bradley Bual

1560
01:14:38,359 --> 01:14:41,279
thing happened so soon after the John Collins thing that

1561
01:14:42,039 --> 01:14:45,039
the Bradley Beal became like the spotlight for like, oh,

1562
01:14:45,159 --> 01:14:47,760
the Clipper's got Bradley Beal, but it kind of went

1563
01:14:48,560 --> 01:14:52,279
overlooked it, like how much John Collins probably helps them.

1564
01:14:52,560 --> 01:14:57,000
John Collins was really good last year, to the point

1565
01:14:57,079 --> 01:15:00,600
that I'll just say it, Utah shut him down because

1566
01:15:00,600 --> 01:15:01,439
he was too helpful.

1567
01:15:02,600 --> 01:15:06,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that team got fine for tanking or

1568
01:15:06,760 --> 01:15:08,399
or they got I think they really got fined for

1569
01:15:08,439 --> 01:15:10,920
like Walker Kessler shoot threes. But that's latter here there.

1570
01:15:10,960 --> 01:15:14,079
Speaker 1: By the way, my greatest subplot of the post trade

1571
01:15:14,079 --> 01:15:17,439
deadline was keeping a daily track on a Walker Kessler

1572
01:15:17,560 --> 01:15:20,840
just heavied threes. It was like, oh, Walker Kestler took

1573
01:15:20,920 --> 01:15:24,039
six threes in the first half today. Yeah, I'm sure

1574
01:15:24,079 --> 01:15:27,039
that was the real game plan going in, Like okay,

1575
01:15:27,119 --> 01:15:33,199
man like so great though. Uh but John Collins last

1576
01:15:33,239 --> 01:15:35,000
year four, I know, I said, I do worry about

1577
01:15:35,000 --> 01:15:37,039
the shooting, but mostly because of the right shots. John

1578
01:15:37,039 --> 01:15:39,399
collinslast year shot forty percent on threes, didn't take a lot,

1579
01:15:39,439 --> 01:15:41,960
took under four a game, but still shot forty percent.

1580
01:15:41,960 --> 01:15:46,119
He shot thirty seven percent the year before, great around

1581
01:15:46,199 --> 01:15:51,640
the rim, good rebounder, great offensive rebounder, just played two

1582
01:15:51,680 --> 01:15:56,399
straight years alongside Lorie Marken and Walker Kessler, who when

1583
01:15:56,399 --> 01:15:58,119
the three of them were on the floor, the Utah

1584
01:15:58,199 --> 01:16:01,159
Jazz were actually not bad. They were pretty I'm not

1585
01:16:01,159 --> 01:16:04,079
gonna say pretty good. They were good. They were a good,

1586
01:16:04,159 --> 01:16:05,840
solid team with the three of them on the floor.

1587
01:16:07,000 --> 01:16:09,239
So he knows how to play next to traditional big.

1588
01:16:09,840 --> 01:16:12,560
He knows how to play alongside another high usage forward.

1589
01:16:14,720 --> 01:16:17,359
I do think it's funny you mentioned the John Collins

1590
01:16:17,399 --> 01:16:19,479
screen stuff way early, like an hour ago when we

1591
01:16:19,479 --> 01:16:23,479
started this as John Collins screen. The fascinating thing for

1592
01:16:23,560 --> 01:16:25,920
me with John Collins with the screens in particular was

1593
01:16:25,960 --> 01:16:29,039
when I went through a Utah footage of him. They

1594
01:16:29,119 --> 01:16:32,439
had a lot of success with him and Walker Kessler

1595
01:16:33,079 --> 01:16:36,800
playing double drag together with a ball handler, where Walker

1596
01:16:36,840 --> 01:16:40,359
would hard roll, John would pop, And I kind of

1597
01:16:40,399 --> 01:16:44,520
think that's a way for the Clippers to unlock a

1598
01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:47,920
new thing offensively. The Clippers haven't done that as much

1599
01:16:47,960 --> 01:16:52,039
with a true shooting four since they had Marcus Morris.

1600
01:16:52,560 --> 01:16:54,960
And that's a couple of years ago, back when you know,

1601
01:16:55,039 --> 01:16:58,319
it wasn't great at the end of Marcus's Clippers tenure,

1602
01:16:58,600 --> 01:17:01,840
but you go back to the twenty one playoffs, Marcus

1603
01:17:01,920 --> 01:17:05,439
was incredible. And that's the thing I think they're gonna

1604
01:17:05,439 --> 01:17:07,760
try to unlock again, is we have this six', nine

1605
01:17:08,239 --> 01:17:11,640
three point shooting four who we get him in double

1606
01:17:11,720 --> 01:17:14,359
drag With zoo And james and we could and you

1607
01:17:14,439 --> 01:17:16,279
Got kawhi parked in the. Corner we could do all

1608
01:17:16,319 --> 01:17:19,000
these sorts of things to get easy. Shots SO i

1609
01:17:19,079 --> 01:17:22,199
kind of think that's the. Thing john is just very

1610
01:17:22,239 --> 01:17:24,199
fascinating to. Me AND i Know i've said that word a,

1611
01:17:24,199 --> 01:17:27,760
lot but, LIKE i still think we don't know what he.

1612
01:17:27,920 --> 01:17:32,920
Is he's he's what eight years into the, league AND

1613
01:17:33,279 --> 01:17:35,239
i don't think we still know What John collins. Is.

1614
01:17:35,279 --> 01:17:37,960
Like he has these years where he shoots very well from,

1615
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:39,920
three and he finishes around the rim, great and he

1616
01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:45,239
does great, roller great rim, threat good, shooter but it's

1617
01:17:45,279 --> 01:17:48,800
never been all, together especially with. Defense and if The

1618
01:17:48,800 --> 01:17:51,479
clippers can get, that and they've had a good track

1619
01:17:51,520 --> 01:17:53,960
record of bringing stuff out of guys in recent, Years

1620
01:17:55,000 --> 01:17:58,399
i'm genuinely very interested to see the type of season

1621
01:17:58,439 --> 01:17:58,760
he could.

1622
01:17:58,760 --> 01:18:01,479
Speaker 2: HAVE I i wonder kind of how The hawks is

1623
01:18:01,960 --> 01:18:04,920
how much The hawks's trajectory when he was there set

1624
01:18:04,960 --> 01:18:07,600
him back because they kept going through these phases where

1625
01:18:07,960 --> 01:18:10,279
when you look at the perimeter personnel they surrounded with

1626
01:18:10,600 --> 01:18:12,720
then having him play next to like the types of

1627
01:18:12,760 --> 01:18:14,720
bigs that he was playing next, to even something like

1628
01:18:14,760 --> 01:18:16,640
the non shooters on the. Perimeter it felt like it

1629
01:18:16,680 --> 01:18:20,720
constantly warped and marginalized what his offensive role could. Be

1630
01:18:20,880 --> 01:18:22,960
and it feels like it took him a while to

1631
01:18:23,640 --> 01:18:25,840
at least adapt where Maybe utah he found it and

1632
01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:28,199
then Also Will hardy was definitely like they run more

1633
01:18:28,239 --> 01:18:30,399
creative offensive stuff, there BUT i felt like it took

1634
01:18:30,479 --> 01:18:32,079
him a while to adapt to just, like, oh let

1635
01:18:32,079 --> 01:18:35,960
me find more of a like like stability from not

1636
01:18:36,159 --> 01:18:38,279
being someone who either's won gonna have the ball in

1637
01:18:38,319 --> 01:18:41,199
his hands a ton or to be the primary. Screener

1638
01:18:41,239 --> 01:18:43,439
AND i say all this stuff with like his, shooting

1639
01:18:43,800 --> 01:18:45,560
like when you look at cleaning the, glass like he's

1640
01:18:45,600 --> 01:18:48,199
always just in the upper echelon of, percentiles with the

1641
01:18:48,239 --> 01:18:50,720
exception that final year In utah where it was his

1642
01:18:50,760 --> 01:18:53,520
absolute nay. Dear so he's always been like a good,

1643
01:18:53,520 --> 01:18:56,439
shooter BUT i don't know that he's always looked super

1644
01:18:56,479 --> 01:19:00,079
comfortable in the offensive roles that he's been put into.

1645
01:19:00,640 --> 01:19:03,920
Speaker 1: The other one The. Clipper This clipper seems like an

1646
01:19:03,960 --> 01:19:08,760
interesting mix of Like John collins archetypal archetypal stops. Too

1647
01:19:09,239 --> 01:19:12,680
oh you have this ball dominant point guard who can. Facilitate,

1648
01:19:13,039 --> 01:19:15,239
yeah he played with that guy At. Atlanta well he's

1649
01:19:15,239 --> 01:19:18,039
all The clippers In James. Harden oh he played next

1650
01:19:18,079 --> 01:19:21,439
to a traditional big In utah and also In. Atlanta

1651
01:19:22,560 --> 01:19:24,640
he's here, too and we had like it's it's like

1652
01:19:24,680 --> 01:19:30,840
this weird mix of things where he's seen similar type of,

1653
01:19:30,880 --> 01:19:34,119
things but he hasn't played it all together in one.

1654
01:19:34,199 --> 01:19:37,560
Spot AND i just, think like he's gonna be twenty,

1655
01:19:37,600 --> 01:19:40,279
Eight like if if he's gonna have the best year

1656
01:19:40,279 --> 01:19:43,000
of his, career it's gonna be. Now and that might be.

1657
01:19:43,079 --> 01:19:45,359
It like they're gonna have to figure it, out especially

1658
01:19:45,359 --> 01:19:47,840
because he's playing for a new. Contract LIKE i, know

1659
01:19:47,880 --> 01:19:50,600
we all you know the contract year thing and, everything

1660
01:19:50,600 --> 01:19:54,479
but it's a big. Deal that's ALSO i know he's

1661
01:19:54,520 --> 01:19:56,640
going like turning back the clock a little, bit but

1662
01:19:56,720 --> 01:19:59,960
like that could be the thing that undoes The. Clipper

1663
01:20:00,279 --> 01:20:01,680
how many of these guys are in contract?

1664
01:20:01,760 --> 01:20:05,319
Speaker 2: Years oh, YEAH i Mean James ardens forever in a contract.

1665
01:20:05,359 --> 01:20:10,000
Speaker 1: Year now that man lives in a contract, here it

1666
01:20:10,039 --> 01:20:12,119
could be that quite literally could be an. Undoing you

1667
01:20:12,119 --> 01:20:14,199
get a lot of guys who if they start out,

1668
01:20:14,239 --> 01:20:16,840
slow you might end up getting all, right, well time

1669
01:20:16,840 --> 01:20:20,279
to play for myself and my next. Deal not saying

1670
01:20:20,319 --> 01:20:21,840
that's gonna, happen but, no.

1671
01:20:21,800 --> 01:20:23,319
Speaker 2: BUT i mean it. IS i mean you're looking at

1672
01:20:23,359 --> 01:20:26,079
Like Bradley beal probably still and there's also that stigma

1673
01:20:26,119 --> 01:20:28,439
whereas Like Bradley, beal, now yes he was bought out

1674
01:20:28,439 --> 01:20:30,159
and once you take, less you can never get. Back

1675
01:20:30,159 --> 01:20:32,680
Like Brook lopez remember way back when he signed for

1676
01:20:32,720 --> 01:20:35,199
the bi annual with the was that The lakers and

1677
01:20:35,239 --> 01:20:36,560
then or was it The bucks at the end of

1678
01:20:36,800 --> 01:20:39,359
whatever it was and then like he builds up HIS

1679
01:20:39,439 --> 01:20:42,119
vye from, There like that arc is so, rare and

1680
01:20:42,159 --> 01:20:44,479
so Will Bradley beal have that? Mindset like you, Said

1681
01:20:44,560 --> 01:20:47,680
James harden is like still kind of fighting a, stereotype

1682
01:20:47,720 --> 01:20:50,279
particularly in the, postseason and he's living in a contract.

1683
01:20:50,359 --> 01:20:52,840
Year John collins IS i think a lot of people

1684
01:20:52,880 --> 01:20:56,239
consider him close to like out, moded just where it's

1685
01:20:56,239 --> 01:20:58,760
a peer four, That, yeah The clippers might be built

1686
01:20:58,800 --> 01:21:00,520
to let him play the, five but like you don't

1687
01:21:00,560 --> 01:21:03,039
really want him playing the, Five so that's we probably

1688
01:21:03,039 --> 01:21:05,720
don't give enough credence to that. Stuff Especially i'm really

1689
01:21:05,720 --> 01:21:08,239
like data, driven Like i'm a pragmatist when it comes

1690
01:21:08,239 --> 01:21:09,960
to the on court, Stuff LIKE i love the off

1691
01:21:09,960 --> 01:21:12,800
court drama or the. EXTRACURRICULARS i should say that drama

1692
01:21:12,840 --> 01:21:15,399
related to the on court, stuff BUT i probably don't

1693
01:21:15,439 --> 01:21:18,560
give enough like weight to the, whole like the personalities

1694
01:21:18,640 --> 01:21:20,680
or the contract year, stuff or like the voices in

1695
01:21:20,720 --> 01:21:22,760
the locker room who talks on defense and stuff like.

1696
01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:26,880
Speaker 1: That it's it's funny BECAUSE i, have as you, know

1697
01:21:26,960 --> 01:21:29,840
as you, MENTIONED i cover the sparks and in talking with,

1698
01:21:29,880 --> 01:21:32,640
people they have a first year head coach And Lynn,

1699
01:21:32,720 --> 01:21:35,880
roberts who's this very much Like x's And o's offensive.

1700
01:21:35,920 --> 01:21:39,880
Genius but then WHEN i was talking to, people part

1701
01:21:39,920 --> 01:21:42,960
of the reason that they were so sold on her

1702
01:21:44,159 --> 01:21:47,399
wasn't because of anything x as And. O's it was

1703
01:21:47,479 --> 01:21:51,119
basically how she could talk to people and get like

1704
01:21:51,119 --> 01:21:54,920
a group of human beings and people to buy into

1705
01:21:54,960 --> 01:21:59,079
a similar. Ideal so like we tend to always think of, like,

1706
01:21:59,319 --> 01:22:02,600
oh Coaching x's And, o's you gotta tell them exactly,

1707
01:22:02,640 --> 01:22:05,439
this but like it's also like the massaging of egos

1708
01:22:05,479 --> 01:22:08,600
and personalities and bringing like you become like a, therapist,

1709
01:22:09,199 --> 01:22:13,159
Right like it's it's very fascinating the more you're around

1710
01:22:13,159 --> 01:22:18,000
it and the more you, realize like, okay, like, yeah

1711
01:22:18,039 --> 01:22:20,119
knowing where to be and pick and roll coverage is very,

1712
01:22:20,199 --> 01:22:23,119
important but also how do you convey that to someone

1713
01:22:23,159 --> 01:22:27,159
without losing them to where now they feel belittled or

1714
01:22:27,239 --> 01:22:31,479
less Than so you become almost like the soothsayer to

1715
01:22:31,560 --> 01:22:34,000
where you're you're trying to have to manage all these

1716
01:22:34,039 --> 01:22:36,479
people and all these individuals to get them to buy

1717
01:22:36,520 --> 01:22:39,159
into a. Collective and the one PHRASE i always keep

1718
01:22:39,199 --> 01:22:42,520
going back to is basketball. Team like all sports teams

1719
01:22:42,960 --> 01:22:46,119
around the, world it's an, ecosystem and if one of

1720
01:22:46,079 --> 01:22:47,920
the thing, crumbles it can bring the whole thing.

1721
01:22:47,960 --> 01:22:51,319
Speaker 2: Down, YEAH i, mean there's a REASON i made fun

1722
01:22:51,359 --> 01:22:53,079
of You donnis has them having a roster spot In

1723
01:22:53,119 --> 01:22:55,479
miami for so long Or Derek temple being In, Toronto

1724
01:22:55,520 --> 01:22:58,159
but like they do serve a purpose for stuff like. That,

1725
01:22:59,439 --> 01:23:01,800
okay just and this team is fully, healthy so that Includes.

1726
01:23:01,800 --> 01:23:05,079
Bogdanovich what's the ten man rotation look like in terms

1727
01:23:05,119 --> 01:23:06,640
of it doesn't have to be the exact, order but

1728
01:23:06,640 --> 01:23:09,119
do we. AGREE i think That's John Collins bradley be

1729
01:23:09,239 --> 01:23:11,359
on the starting lineup With James, Harden kawhi And.

1730
01:23:11,520 --> 01:23:13,920
Speaker 1: Zoo, yeah i'd agree with. That, yeah how do we

1731
01:23:13,960 --> 01:23:14,279
build it?

1732
01:23:14,279 --> 01:23:16,399
Speaker 2: Out who are the? Five like key reserves from?

1733
01:23:16,399 --> 01:23:23,439
Speaker 1: There? Derek oh my, god this is. Okay So derek

1734
01:23:23,439 --> 01:23:26,720
And brook for, sure because then they're gonna have to. Play. Uh,

1735
01:23:26,920 --> 01:23:30,760
CHRIS i would say is probably. Eight oh actually Which,

1736
01:23:30,840 --> 01:23:40,079
Chris Chris paul probably be, Eight chris donn. Nine AND

1737
01:23:40,119 --> 01:23:42,640
i think it comes down To nico And. Bogie so

1738
01:23:42,800 --> 01:23:47,239
last year they Protected nico a lot for. MINUTES i

1739
01:23:47,319 --> 01:23:49,279
think we might see something. Similar, NICO i think is

1740
01:23:49,319 --> 01:23:53,680
their locker room, guy so he might not have to

1741
01:23:53,680 --> 01:23:54,000
play that.

1742
01:23:54,119 --> 01:23:57,840
Speaker 2: Much and also it's weird BECAUSE i view him is

1743
01:23:57,880 --> 01:24:00,399
better THAN i know his stat lines ever to show,

1744
01:24:00,439 --> 01:24:01,920
it but LIKE i view him as if he's a

1745
01:24:01,920 --> 01:24:03,640
locker room. Guy he's one of those locker room guys

1746
01:24:03,640 --> 01:24:05,000
that feels like they could still, play kind of like

1747
01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:09,479
A Kenrich williams And oka see who's much younger, obviously but, still.

1748
01:24:09,159 --> 01:24:12,439
Speaker 1: Oh nico is so valuable to them on the, Court

1749
01:24:12,479 --> 01:24:15,319
like if, you oh, man stats really do not Too,

1750
01:24:15,439 --> 01:24:18,520
nico but do any justice whatsoever because you'll just watch

1751
01:24:18,520 --> 01:24:20,479
a play there's just like this guy's never in the wrong.

1752
01:24:20,520 --> 01:24:24,319
Spot like if there's a defensive breakdown And nico gets

1753
01:24:24,359 --> 01:24:26,680
mad at someone or like annoyed at, Someone i'm, like all,

1754
01:24:26,760 --> 01:24:30,000
right that is that player really screwed up For nico

1755
01:24:30,079 --> 01:24:33,800
to get that annoyed or. Whatever so, Yeah nico is

1756
01:24:33,880 --> 01:24:38,039
just such to not kill the. PHRASE a consummate professional

1757
01:24:38,760 --> 01:24:42,600
just understands what it takes at every. Level and BUT

1758
01:24:42,680 --> 01:24:44,359
i think it would come down to him And bogeye

1759
01:24:44,920 --> 01:24:47,439
because it's gonna be, like what do you need on

1760
01:24:47,479 --> 01:24:50,720
that given. Night do you Need nico size with his floor,

1761
01:24:50,760 --> 01:24:55,920
spacing rebounding ball, movement shooting HIGH iq or do you

1762
01:24:55,920 --> 01:24:59,680
Need bogie for his shooting but as a bigger guard

1763
01:25:00,239 --> 01:25:01,840
to where he's able to do that type of. Stuff

1764
01:25:01,800 --> 01:25:04,319
Because nico can play the, five that's like their big

1765
01:25:04,359 --> 01:25:07,279
thing Is nico's their five in small, ball in small ball,

1766
01:25:07,319 --> 01:25:09,199
Lines but how much do you need small? Ball you

1767
01:25:09,199 --> 01:25:10,920
Have Brook lopez, Now SO i don't. KNOW i, mean

1768
01:25:11,840 --> 01:25:14,039
i'd probably say it comes down Between nico And. Bogie

1769
01:25:14,079 --> 01:25:16,000
SO i think the first nine are pretty much like.

1770
01:25:16,119 --> 01:25:19,479
There but then after that it's probably gonna be, like all,

1771
01:25:19,560 --> 01:25:22,960
right what do we need tonight or in this like

1772
01:25:22,960 --> 01:25:24,279
what do we need in this lineup right?

1773
01:25:24,319 --> 01:25:28,159
Speaker 2: Now this is always to some extent matchup depending but

1774
01:25:28,199 --> 01:25:30,319
what winds up being there go to crunch time? Unit

1775
01:25:30,399 --> 01:25:32,199
is it just the starting five or do you see

1776
01:25:32,199 --> 01:25:34,560
one or two spots that tie Will futzon fill.

1777
01:25:34,640 --> 01:25:41,479
Speaker 1: WITH i think you'll See James Kawhi zoo for, sure

1778
01:25:44,119 --> 01:25:47,319
one Of brad And john depending on who they're. Playing,

1779
01:25:47,680 --> 01:25:51,039
Actually brad's probably closing. Regardless so the pibby comes down

1780
01:25:51,039 --> 01:25:58,439
to Like john and Then Derek john And Derek john

1781
01:25:58,479 --> 01:26:01,840
And Chris, Dunn john And Chris. Paul if you need

1782
01:26:01,880 --> 01:26:03,439
an extra ball, handler.

1783
01:26:03,800 --> 01:26:06,159
Speaker 2: Like you Think John collins is kind of the spot

1784
01:26:06,399 --> 01:26:07,239
that would be more.

1785
01:26:07,279 --> 01:26:10,279
Speaker 1: Malleable, yeah BECAUSE i think you're GONNA i think they're

1786
01:26:10,279 --> 01:26:12,199
gonna Keep brad on the floor in crunch time because

1787
01:26:12,560 --> 01:26:15,960
as no disrespect To John, collins It's Bradley, Beal, like

1788
01:26:16,000 --> 01:26:18,920
you have this all star, level high level offensive player

1789
01:26:19,840 --> 01:26:21,960
and you can just kind of go from. There, now

1790
01:26:22,359 --> 01:26:24,680
will they be small if they Take John collins off

1791
01:26:24,680 --> 01:26:27,880
the floor for anyone but A Derek jones or A

1792
01:26:27,960 --> 01:26:31,319
nico or. Someone, yeah BUT i kind of don't think

1793
01:26:31,359 --> 01:26:33,800
that's like the killer for. Them it will be interesting

1794
01:26:33,800 --> 01:26:36,800
to see if they would they, like would they ever

1795
01:26:36,920 --> 01:26:39,479
roll With Brook lopez as a closer Over zoo if

1796
01:26:39,560 --> 01:26:42,119
you if if they thought they might need more, spacing,

1797
01:26:42,920 --> 01:26:45,840
okay like for shooting aspect, wise But zoo does so

1798
01:26:45,880 --> 01:26:47,920
many extra things THAT i just don't think that would

1799
01:26:47,920 --> 01:26:48,399
be the. Case.

1800
01:26:49,039 --> 01:26:51,119
Speaker 2: YEAH i MEAN i Think, Kawhi harden And zoo would

1801
01:26:51,119 --> 01:26:53,960
be the ones locked in. STONE i, think being, diplomatic

1802
01:26:54,079 --> 01:26:56,199
it feels Like Bradley beal has to close because if

1803
01:26:56,239 --> 01:26:59,359
that becomes a trend where he's not. Closing we talked

1804
01:26:59,399 --> 01:27:01,239
about the dynam mix of being in a contract year,

1805
01:27:01,239 --> 01:27:04,119
everything like that's something that could also play a role

1806
01:27:04,119 --> 01:27:04,920
in undermining the.

1807
01:27:05,000 --> 01:27:08,600
Speaker 1: Roster, yeah, Exactly like you don't want to can't Kill

1808
01:27:08,640 --> 01:27:11,000
Bradley beal's, confidence you, know like you might need, Him

1809
01:27:11,039 --> 01:27:12,319
you might need him for a first round.

1810
01:27:12,359 --> 01:27:15,279
Speaker 2: Series is there a weird o lineup you want to

1811
01:27:15,319 --> 01:27:16,399
See ty try this?

1812
01:27:16,479 --> 01:27:21,600
Speaker 1: Year? YES i have thought about this so at times last.

1813
01:27:21,640 --> 01:27:24,039
Year he actually AND i can't believe this is a

1814
01:27:24,079 --> 01:27:27,800
sentence coming out of my. Mind. Again he Played kawhi

1815
01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:32,720
And derek as like the two three in some combination at,

1816
01:27:32,760 --> 01:27:38,279
times and that like fascinated me because they leaned into like,

1817
01:27:38,359 --> 01:27:41,880
this all, right our offense With kawhi is, good but

1818
01:27:41,960 --> 01:27:45,079
let's make our defense so swarming that like we can

1819
01:27:45,119 --> 01:27:47,720
just get away with every. ANYTHING i think next year

1820
01:27:47,760 --> 01:27:49,239
they're not gonna play this line, up BUT i want

1821
01:27:49,239 --> 01:27:52,760
to see it so bad where it's like Brook lopez

1822
01:27:53,319 --> 01:27:58,079
Of Viza, Zubats, Kawhi, Leonard Derek, jones and Like Chris

1823
01:27:58,199 --> 01:28:01,239
dunn Or i'd Probably Chris paul because you need the

1824
01:28:01,279 --> 01:28:03,680
ball handling point guard out, there AND i would just

1825
01:28:03,760 --> 01:28:06,680
kill to see that one, time to where you have

1826
01:28:06,880 --> 01:28:09,680
like this picking a pot Between Chris paul and Brook,

1827
01:28:09,720 --> 01:28:12,800
lopez but also you have like this rolling threat Of,

1828
01:28:12,920 --> 01:28:18,319
zoo the the threat Of, kawhi and then you Got

1829
01:28:18,359 --> 01:28:20,399
derek who can just play on the ball defensively with

1830
01:28:20,479 --> 01:28:23,199
two rim. Protectors, now granted you're probably playing just a

1831
01:28:23,279 --> 01:28:26,279
pure zone, defense BUT i just want to see it one,

1832
01:28:26,359 --> 01:28:28,960
time just to see what it would look, like BECAUSE

1833
01:28:30,159 --> 01:28:32,520
i WHEN i wrote about Brook lopez Is, FIT i

1834
01:28:32,520 --> 01:28:34,880
did SAY i don't think you'd ever See Brooklyn zoo play.

1835
01:28:34,920 --> 01:28:37,600
Together BUT i don't think it's crazy to see it

1836
01:28:37,640 --> 01:28:40,600
for like two minutes here and there like once every

1837
01:28:40,680 --> 01:28:41,079
like couple.

1838
01:28:41,199 --> 01:28:43,840
Speaker 2: Weeks, WELL i had the same line up a. STEP

1839
01:28:43,960 --> 01:28:48,239
i Wanted, Chris Chris, Dunn Derek, Jones, Junior, Kawhi, zubots And.

1840
01:28:48,239 --> 01:28:49,800
Lopez SO i didn't Have Chris paul.

1841
01:28:49,960 --> 01:28:52,720
Speaker 1: And it's those four To, chris that's all that.

1842
01:28:52,720 --> 01:28:55,760
Speaker 2: Matters, yeah that's, honestly you could throw Out Triple big,

1843
01:28:55,840 --> 01:28:58,439
too like let you want, Too let's Go collins And

1844
01:28:58,560 --> 01:29:02,359
zubots And. LOPEZ i, mean your spacing will be fine

1845
01:29:02,720 --> 01:29:05,359
on offense during THAT i don't know what your defense

1846
01:29:05,399 --> 01:29:07,840
look like or how you're supposed to Like, Kawhi and

1847
01:29:07,840 --> 01:29:09,520
then who would be if you're actually trying to round

1848
01:29:09,520 --> 01:29:11,520
out that? Lineup is It harden has to be the

1849
01:29:11,560 --> 01:29:14,000
next best option there probably be.

1850
01:29:14,079 --> 01:29:17,119
Speaker 1: Done it'd probably bet it'll probably Be, james, right because

1851
01:29:17,119 --> 01:29:20,520
like you need an actual like head of the snake type.

1852
01:29:21,279 --> 01:29:22,960
Speaker 2: Thing can maybe you could go with if you Think

1853
01:29:23,000 --> 01:29:25,079
beale can defend anything at the point of, attack, though

1854
01:29:25,119 --> 01:29:27,279
maybe you go With Beale harden can't guard the four

1855
01:29:27,319 --> 01:29:27,560
in that?

1856
01:29:27,600 --> 01:29:32,319
Speaker 1: Lineup, no, no you just, yeah so, yeah maybe Maybe.

1857
01:29:32,359 --> 01:29:36,119
Brad that would be actually be. Fun that would like who? Cares? Man,

1858
01:29:36,239 --> 01:29:39,399
like sometimes you gotta get a little bit, Wonky AND

1859
01:29:39,439 --> 01:29:41,199
i think that's what they should try. Sometimes, now LIKE i,

1860
01:29:41,239 --> 01:29:42,800
said you don't do it, like, oh here's an eight

1861
01:29:42,840 --> 01:29:45,159
minute stint of this, lineup but CAN i see it

1862
01:29:45,159 --> 01:29:47,079
for like two, minutes just just to see what it

1863
01:29:47,119 --> 01:29:50,680
would look. Like it's like doing. It it's Like charlotte

1864
01:29:50,760 --> 01:29:52,760
a game that where you're, like all, right the other

1865
01:29:52,800 --> 01:29:55,119
forty six minutes we have to take, seriously but for

1866
01:29:55,199 --> 01:29:58,119
these two, minutes let's see what we. Got all.

1867
01:29:58,199 --> 01:30:01,119
Speaker 2: Right so how many games do you see team? Winning

1868
01:30:01,199 --> 01:30:02,920
and where do you see them winding? Up in just

1869
01:30:02,960 --> 01:30:04,119
The Western conference in?

1870
01:30:04,159 --> 01:30:06,640
Speaker 1: General WHEN i looked at the schedule a couple of weeks,

1871
01:30:06,680 --> 01:30:09,279
AGO i originally tweeted out THAT i went for a

1872
01:30:09,439 --> 01:30:13,399
very conservative number and of the eighty games that they

1873
01:30:13,399 --> 01:30:15,119
have on the, schedule because obviously we don't know what

1874
01:30:15,159 --> 01:30:17,479
two of them are going to, be, which by the,

1875
01:30:17,479 --> 01:30:20,840
way is still very strange to say, That, like it's

1876
01:30:20,840 --> 01:30:22,880
not an eighty two, game it's an eighty game plus

1877
01:30:22,920 --> 01:30:23,760
two random.

1878
01:30:23,800 --> 01:30:25,800
Speaker 2: Games at some, Point, hey it could be an eighty

1879
01:30:25,840 --> 01:30:27,720
three game season for them if they really care about

1880
01:30:27,760 --> 01:30:28,159
THE Nba.

1881
01:30:28,239 --> 01:30:31,399
Speaker 1: Cup, hey THEIR Nba cup. Groups actually it's kind of

1882
01:30:31,399 --> 01:30:31,920
winnable for.

1883
01:30:32,000 --> 01:30:36,039
Speaker 2: Them will they be going for? It? Though hashtag going for.

1884
01:30:36,159 --> 01:30:39,800
Speaker 1: It IF i know one thing About, tylo he wants

1885
01:30:39,840 --> 01:30:43,399
to be In Las, vegas so they he will be

1886
01:30:43,479 --> 01:30:43,800
trying to.

1887
01:30:44,039 --> 01:30:44,960
Speaker 2: Games, yeah there you.

1888
01:30:45,000 --> 01:30:48,239
Speaker 1: Go, yeah, listen this might be the underdog for THE

1889
01:30:48,319 --> 01:30:51,079
Nba cup is what team wants to get To Las.

1890
01:30:51,199 --> 01:30:56,800
Vegas BUT i THINK i conservatively pegged them at fifty one,

1891
01:30:56,840 --> 01:31:02,439
wins and that's just BECAUSE i WAS i baked in some.

1892
01:31:02,600 --> 01:31:06,600
Injuries and then like their schedule has some like really

1893
01:31:06,640 --> 01:31:10,800
tough stretches because they're hosting The All Star game this,

1894
01:31:10,880 --> 01:31:14,840
year and there's like A i want to, say there's

1895
01:31:14,880 --> 01:31:20,920
like a stretch Post All Star break that is like pretty, Tough, whereas,

1896
01:31:21,039 --> 01:31:24,880
okay so the, yeah they're Post All star break Stretches Verse,

1897
01:31:25,000 --> 01:31:26,960
denver so they're at home actually ra after The All Star,

1898
01:31:27,000 --> 01:31:29,279
break but then it's At lakers on the second night

1899
01:31:29,359 --> 01:31:32,840
of a back to, back Versus, orlando Versus, minnesota Versus

1900
01:31:32,880 --> 01:31:36,079
New orleans At Golden, state and then they end up

1901
01:31:36,079 --> 01:31:38,239
going through like these weird stretches throughout the season of

1902
01:31:38,279 --> 01:31:42,239
like long road. Trips SO i THINK i penciled them

1903
01:31:42,239 --> 01:31:44,159
into fifty one because they have fifteen back to, backs

1904
01:31:44,159 --> 01:31:46,279
all this other extra, stuff, Injuries kawhi is like to

1905
01:31:46,439 --> 01:31:48,359
play a full year just because of the back to.

1906
01:31:48,399 --> 01:31:54,680
Backs BUT i might actually amend. THAT i think they

1907
01:31:54,720 --> 01:31:55,319
get to fifty.

1908
01:31:55,359 --> 01:31:59,880
Speaker 2: Three it's weird to think of them winning one extra

1909
01:32:00,279 --> 01:32:03,399
game with all the talent that they. Added, also AND

1910
01:32:03,680 --> 01:32:05,800
i understand how stuff, played but it'd be. Weird so

1911
01:32:06,239 --> 01:32:08,520
fifty three sounds. RIGHT i haven't gone through my win predictions.

1912
01:32:08,560 --> 01:32:12,800
Yet is there a team, though Non Oklahoma City division

1913
01:32:12,920 --> 01:32:16,520
that's just that's? That, like that's either a fascinating or

1914
01:32:16,520 --> 01:32:18,640
a particularly tough matchup when viewed through the lens of

1915
01:32:18,640 --> 01:32:20,800
a playoff series for? Them is It denver? Again for?

1916
01:32:20,880 --> 01:32:23,680
You is someone else snuck in? There Maybe, Houston minnesota

1917
01:32:23,720 --> 01:32:25,840
and other Team they.

1918
01:32:25,760 --> 01:32:32,199
Speaker 1: Really struggled With houston last, year but.

1919
01:32:31,319 --> 01:32:32,720
Speaker 2: Didn't get that Justin, yeah that's.

1920
01:32:32,960 --> 01:32:35,119
Speaker 1: Fine, yeah believe, me a lot of the people on

1921
01:32:35,159 --> 01:32:37,920
The clippers didn't get it either because they were very

1922
01:32:37,920 --> 01:32:41,479
confused on how that. Happened but But houston's kind of

1923
01:32:41,479 --> 01:32:45,000
obviously with The durant trad altered their like their their

1924
01:32:45,279 --> 01:32:47,279
chemistry a little bit in terms of like on, court

1925
01:32:47,560 --> 01:32:51,239
so it's still Probably, Denver like it's still probably Just

1926
01:32:51,319 --> 01:32:55,840
denver because Obviously Nicola, yochis they still Have Jamal, murray

1927
01:32:57,399 --> 01:33:00,960
still Have Aaron gordon who traumatized. Them believe, me that

1928
01:33:01,039 --> 01:33:03,560
was the most wild Thing i've ever seen in. Person

1929
01:33:03,600 --> 01:33:06,039
then one of the most Incredible i've never seen an

1930
01:33:06,199 --> 01:33:08,960
entire arena of beat writers just try to figure out

1931
01:33:09,000 --> 01:33:11,920
if but it actually was a good, shot which was like.

1932
01:33:12,119 --> 01:33:15,760
Incredible we all sat there like from bull Size denver

1933
01:33:15,960 --> 01:33:18,960
And la just, like, NO i think he, no, MAN

1934
01:33:18,960 --> 01:33:20,520
i don't think he. Did, NO i think he did get.

1935
01:33:20,520 --> 01:33:22,760
THAT i, like no one knew it was. Great it.

1936
01:33:22,800 --> 01:33:23,439
Was it.

1937
01:33:23,199 --> 01:33:24,840
Speaker 2: Was it was just one of those moments you were

1938
01:33:24,840 --> 01:33:27,359
So i'm watching from home where it's like audible, gasp

1939
01:33:27,760 --> 01:33:30,279
like actual out. Loud it's just insane.

1940
01:33:30,680 --> 01:33:34,079
Speaker 1: Because when The yoka just shot went, up everyone realized

1941
01:33:34,159 --> 01:33:36,880
it was it had no. Chance so there was like

1942
01:33:37,479 --> 01:33:40,359
a brief second where everyone's like overtime and then like

1943
01:33:40,439 --> 01:33:43,760
he caught it and dunked it and you're just, like oh,

1944
01:33:43,840 --> 01:33:45,600
no that was after the, buzzer and then like you

1945
01:33:45,680 --> 01:33:48,199
started seeing like frame by frame in the arena on

1946
01:33:48,319 --> 01:33:51,479
like The halo board and you're just, like, oh this

1947
01:33:51,520 --> 01:33:54,880
is really. Close and then they showed one frame and you, went,

1948
01:33:55,399 --> 01:33:57,920
oh my, god he actually he actually dunked like he got.

1949
01:33:57,960 --> 01:34:01,520
It like that's, crazy and, Like i'll never forget that

1950
01:34:02,079 --> 01:34:04,399
because even, afterwards AND i know this is like a side,

1951
01:34:04,399 --> 01:34:09,680
tender but even afterwards in the the media workroom and into,

1952
01:34:09,720 --> 01:34:16,720
it there was like thirty forty people and everyone's talking

1953
01:34:16,840 --> 01:34:18,800
And i'm just sitting there like pounding out my article

1954
01:34:18,840 --> 01:34:22,640
for the game and doing transcriptions and someone just, Goes,

1955
01:34:24,279 --> 01:34:27,680
MAN i like you, know that's, yeah could The clippers

1956
01:34:27,720 --> 01:34:30,439
have done this differently with this lineup and? This AND

1957
01:34:30,479 --> 01:34:33,399
i just yelled, out he just missed it so, Good

1958
01:34:33,880 --> 01:34:36,920
like what do you? Do like like they played great,

1959
01:34:37,000 --> 01:34:39,760
defense it just didn't matter like at the end of the.

1960
01:34:39,840 --> 01:34:43,920
Day But denver's probably the. TEAM i am interested to

1961
01:34:43,920 --> 01:34:49,720
see How denver does With Cam johnson, there because as

1962
01:34:50,239 --> 01:34:52,600
not good AS mpj was at times in that, series

1963
01:34:53,039 --> 01:34:55,359
he still killed, them like he still shot forty percent

1964
01:34:55,399 --> 01:34:59,760
from Three And i'm genuinely interested to, See like The cam,

1965
01:35:00,319 --> 01:35:03,600
fit he should be a seamless. Fit But Cam johnson's

1966
01:35:03,600 --> 01:35:06,359
also been injury. PRONE mpj played a lot last, year

1967
01:35:06,479 --> 01:35:09,840
SO i don't, know but that's the one team Where i'm,

1968
01:35:09,880 --> 01:35:12,840
like that's a tough matchup for The, clippers if you,

1969
01:35:12,920 --> 01:35:15,760
know if it happens in the playoffs, again which it probably,

1970
01:35:15,760 --> 01:35:17,640
will because that's what the gods are gonna beem for

1971
01:35:17,640 --> 01:35:20,119
the end of. Time it's Either Clippers dallas Or Clippers

1972
01:35:20,199 --> 01:35:22,000
nuggets until we all. Die that's what it.

1973
01:35:22,079 --> 01:35:26,720
Speaker 2: Is, justin COULD i get one More clippers prediction from

1974
01:35:26,760 --> 01:35:29,000
you for this coming? Season you could take it whichever

1975
01:35:29,119 --> 01:35:29,640
direction you.

1976
01:35:29,680 --> 01:35:37,560
Speaker 1: Want. Huh that's a tough. One it's hard to make

1977
01:35:37,600 --> 01:35:40,960
a prediction like kind of like out of left field for.

1978
01:35:41,000 --> 01:35:43,319
Speaker 2: Me or it could be it could be as unbold

1979
01:35:43,359 --> 01:35:44,880
as you. Want AND i Just i'm looking for something

1980
01:35:44,920 --> 01:35:47,520
other than maybe not maybe not fifty three, wins just

1981
01:35:47,560 --> 01:35:48,119
anything from.

1982
01:35:48,159 --> 01:35:57,760
Speaker 1: THERE i think at the end of the, season, like

1983
01:35:58,039 --> 01:35:59,800
no matter what happens in the playoffs with, THEM i

1984
01:36:00,039 --> 01:36:01,920
don't think that's the title. Team but the crazier has

1985
01:36:01,920 --> 01:36:06,479
happened whatever happens at the end of the. Season at

1986
01:36:06,520 --> 01:36:08,359
the end of this past, season a couple months, ago

1987
01:36:08,359 --> 01:36:10,119
when the season ended the regular season was, OVER i

1988
01:36:10,159 --> 01:36:13,399
wrote an article saying The clippers were, Right like a

1989
01:36:13,399 --> 01:36:16,039
lot of people gave them crap for Letting Paul george,

1990
01:36:16,279 --> 01:36:19,920
walk which it would to be, fair Though dan was

1991
01:36:20,079 --> 01:36:23,279
fair because it didn't look like they had the means

1992
01:36:23,319 --> 01:36:25,840
to replace. Him now obviously they, did they just didn't

1993
01:36:25,920 --> 01:36:28,720
waste people didn't. THINK i think when we get to

1994
01:36:28,760 --> 01:36:32,039
the end this, year even if they don't win the,

1995
01:36:32,079 --> 01:36:36,520
title let's say they make the playoffs losing hypothetically the second,

1996
01:36:36,560 --> 01:36:39,159
round we might end up looking back and just being,

1997
01:36:39,279 --> 01:36:43,000
like this, TEAM i think this would be their fifteenth

1998
01:36:43,039 --> 01:36:45,479
straight winning season if it, Happens.

1999
01:36:45,439 --> 01:36:47,039
Speaker 2: Holy, SHIT i didn't even realize.

2000
01:36:47,039 --> 01:36:50,920
Speaker 1: That. Wow, Yeah, LIKE i genuinely think people are gonna

2001
01:36:51,079 --> 01:36:56,319
appreciate a decade and a half of winning even without a.

2002
01:36:56,399 --> 01:37:01,800
Title like fifteen straight years of win seasons is. Crazy

2003
01:37:01,880 --> 01:37:05,439
and if they get, THERE i hope people appreciate. It

2004
01:37:05,479 --> 01:37:08,680
and so my bullet prediction is gonna be that people

2005
01:37:08,760 --> 01:37:11,439
will appreciate the fact, that, like you have this team

2006
01:37:11,560 --> 01:37:14,960
who is just not rolling over and just being, like,

2007
01:37:15,000 --> 01:37:18,520
hey it didn't go so well this. Era you know

2008
01:37:18,560 --> 01:37:21,239
we're gonna Do we're just gonna punt and tank and

2009
01:37:21,279 --> 01:37:23,840
see what. Happens AND i think there will be a

2010
01:37:23,880 --> 01:37:27,439
greater appreciation for a team that just continually, tries BECAUSE

2011
01:37:27,479 --> 01:37:30,359
i remember Those Dallas mavericks teams With. Dirk they could

2012
01:37:30,359 --> 01:37:32,960
have pivoted and, tanked and but they Want they just

2013
01:37:33,039 --> 01:37:37,000
kept year after year going until it finally. Worked AND

2014
01:37:37,079 --> 01:37:41,399
i think that's the beauty of, sports is continually just

2015
01:37:42,319 --> 01:37:46,279
picking yourself up and, Going, okay we'll do it next.

2016
01:37:46,359 --> 01:37:48,800
Year we'll get him next, year like the Old Lovable, cubs,

2017
01:37:48,880 --> 01:37:51,600
right like all the lovable, losers The Chicago. Cubs BUT

2018
01:37:51,720 --> 01:37:57,880
i remember what will always stick with me is Postgame

2019
01:37:58,000 --> 01:38:02,079
game seven In, denver in that lock room and just

2020
01:38:02,119 --> 01:38:04,880
seeing the look on A Viza zubat's. Face Viza, Zubats

2021
01:38:05,640 --> 01:38:08,600
god love. Him he's the longest tenured Active. Clipper he's

2022
01:38:08,600 --> 01:38:10,479
been here for a lot of. Stuff most people wouldn't

2023
01:38:10,479 --> 01:38:14,199
even think he, is but he. Is AND i just

2024
01:38:14,239 --> 01:38:18,840
REMEMBER i saw how much it meant to him that

2025
01:38:18,920 --> 01:38:24,319
they didn't, win and he just looked, exasperated and just

2026
01:38:24,399 --> 01:38:29,199
like you could see how much it affected. Him and

2027
01:38:29,239 --> 01:38:34,720
that's WHAT i keep going back, to is we tend

2028
01:38:34,720 --> 01:38:38,680
to think of, like, oh that guy's got to go

2029
01:38:38,720 --> 01:38:41,199
to a different team because they're not, winning like they're

2030
01:38:41,199 --> 01:38:43,399
not winning the, title so he has to go find.

2031
01:38:43,399 --> 01:38:45,520
Something but THEN i looked at that zoo that night

2032
01:38:45,560 --> 01:38:47,439
and it kind of hit me, that, like this is

2033
01:38:47,479 --> 01:38:49,199
a guy who's in here for the long, Haul like

2034
01:38:49,279 --> 01:38:51,359
this is what it means to. Him it's not just

2035
01:38:52,319 --> 01:38:57,079
oh okay and just moving. On it's, like, no we

2036
01:38:57,079 --> 01:39:00,560
we should have, won and it's kind of that we.

2037
01:39:00,560 --> 01:39:04,039
Didn't AND i took it, personally and and NOW i

2038
01:39:04,399 --> 01:39:08,279
look back at, Them i'm, like, yeah continually trying to,

2039
01:39:08,319 --> 01:39:11,000
win because even if you end the season with that

2040
01:39:11,159 --> 01:39:15,079
level of despair and like, heartbreak it's so much better

2041
01:39:15,119 --> 01:39:19,039
than just twenty five wins and, hey maybe we'll get

2042
01:39:19,039 --> 01:39:21,199
the ping pong ball to go our. Way and then

2043
01:39:21,600 --> 01:39:24,279
then you find Out dallas Gets cooper flag and you're just, like,

2044
01:39:24,359 --> 01:39:26,680
okay what was the point even you know.

2045
01:39:27,000 --> 01:39:29,159
Speaker 2: That was part Of Nico harrison's. Plan then you hear

2046
01:39:29,279 --> 01:39:33,720
your yeah yeah because that division now, right, yeah the

2047
01:39:33,800 --> 01:39:37,079
vision that left us all blind because no one had

2048
01:39:37,119 --> 01:39:40,119
the foresight to see that.

2049
01:39:39,159 --> 01:39:40,880
Speaker 1: That was a. Possible but what they have like a

2050
01:39:40,920 --> 01:39:43,520
one point eight percent, chance like get out of, here

2051
01:39:44,079 --> 01:39:48,000
it's freaking. Red that just makes me mad Because dallas

2052
01:39:48,079 --> 01:39:52,640
ended up Getting Paige beckers And Cooper, flag and then

2053
01:39:52,640 --> 01:39:55,479
they Traded Michael parsons because of course no, one no

2054
01:39:55,479 --> 01:39:58,199
one In dallas can be. Happy So Cooper, flag you

2055
01:39:58,199 --> 01:40:00,000
got like five, years, Buddy you'll be somewhere.

2056
01:39:59,720 --> 01:40:04,560
Speaker 2: Else Justin this was. Great thank you for giving me

2057
01:40:04,640 --> 01:40:07,039
ninety plus minutes of your, time the longest look ahead

2058
01:40:07,039 --> 01:40:07,359
we've had.

2059
01:40:07,479 --> 01:40:09,560
Speaker 1: Yet that was way too.

2060
01:40:09,640 --> 01:40:12,720
Speaker 2: Awesome are you able just to tell our listeners were

2061
01:40:12,840 --> 01:40:16,319
and watch, viewers, subscribers audience where they can find you

2062
01:40:16,359 --> 01:40:17,439
in all the great work that you. Do.

2063
01:40:18,039 --> 01:40:20,520
Speaker 1: Uh you can follow me On twitter at Uh it's

2064
01:40:20,600 --> 01:40:23,720
at f l y b y K N i T.

2065
01:40:23,800 --> 01:40:27,039
E if you're On Blue, sky, uh it's fly By,

2066
01:40:27,119 --> 01:40:30,439
night same, spelling dot beskuidet. Social if you want to

2067
01:40:30,439 --> 01:40:33,199
follow me on, substack it's Justin russo dot substack dot.

2068
01:40:33,239 --> 01:40:36,720
Com i'm actually AFTER i get done with, YOU i

2069
01:40:36,720 --> 01:40:38,560
gotta write about The sparks game from last, night because

2070
01:40:38,560 --> 01:40:40,359
WHILE i was Covering Angel, CITY i actually had that

2071
01:40:40,399 --> 01:40:42,680
on the. Laptop SO i need to end up. Writing

2072
01:40:42,960 --> 01:40:45,239
The sparks are still alive for the. Playoffs oddly, enough

2073
01:40:45,520 --> 01:40:48,640
they keep surviving and it's. Great it's they if they

2074
01:40:48,640 --> 01:40:50,479
don't make the, playoffs it'll be five straight years without

2075
01:40:50,479 --> 01:40:51,920
a playoff birth then they desperately need.

2076
01:40:51,960 --> 01:40:54,880
Speaker 2: One justin thank you so much for all your.

2077
01:40:54,880 --> 01:40:55,920
Speaker 1: Time you. Do great work.

2078
01:40:56,079 --> 01:40:57,720
Speaker 2: Everyone i'll have to link to his substack in the

2079
01:40:57,720 --> 01:41:00,039
podcasting YouTube. DESCRIPTION i don't know how you cover so

2080
01:41:00,119 --> 01:41:02,000
much stuff as in depth as you, do BUT i

2081
01:41:02,119 --> 01:41:04,960
super appreciate. It thank you for coming back and rest.

2082
01:41:05,000 --> 01:41:06,800
Assured as you know by, Now i'll be pestering you

2083
01:41:06,840 --> 01:41:07,319
again in.

2084
01:41:07,439 --> 01:41:10,520
Speaker 1: Future that's, fine no, problem man'. UH i do it

2085
01:41:10,520 --> 01:41:12,359
Because i'm a. Sicko IF i didn't have, IT i

2086
01:41:12,399 --> 01:41:13,560
don't know What i'd be, doing you, know