Speaker 1: What is up, Fellowsiko's I am Dana Valley coming at
you with another twenty twenty four twenty twenty five NBA
season Look ahet, We're up to Los Angeles Clippers. Very
topico given the Kawhi Leonard injury news. I'm speaking this
year once again with Justin Russo. He covers the team
on Substack Justin Russo dot substack dot com the link
that will be in the podcast and YouTube description. Follow
him on the Twitter machine at fly by Night that's
at fl y b y kN It does a great
job covering this team. Excited to get to speak with
him about a Clippers team that's in transition or kind
of has a weird direction or no direction at all.
I don't know a lot to ask him about with
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and we will heart you forever. But that's enough out
of me. Let's get to talking some Clippers with the One,
the Only, justin Brusso, justin welcome back your second year
coming back for Clippers look ahead. I always appreciate it
when guests agree to come back after getting into it
for the first time. How the heck are you doing.
Speaker 2: Doing all right? Just you know, it's the off season,
so I've kind of been enjoying some time away, just
kind of decompressing in various ways, whether it's what the
dog who's currently to my right, or kind of just
losing my mind on the laptop playing football manager for
hours on hours and just not caring about the outside world.
It's been nice. You.
Speaker 1: So you're a fantasy football guy, No, okay?
Speaker 2: So football manager is a soccer game, okay, And yeah,
you can basically like you run a team. It's actually
very fascinating, and I got into it a couple of
years ago and now I'm like really hooked, and it's
it's an obsession of mine, specifically in the offseason, just
because you can waste ten hours in a day and
not know where the hell the time went.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's dope. So is it like it's like
from ground up, like you're running a franchise or a
club or whatever they're called.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you take over any club in the world that
you want that's in the database. So like I'm an
Arsenal fan, so sometimes I'll do Arsenal, other times I
just do like unique saves with other teams, and you
basically just control literally everything, players that come in and out,
tactics stuff like you don't control any of the players
like on the field, but you control like the tactics,
who you bring in and out of the of the squad,
who you sell like all. Like it's it's very in depth,
like it really delves into like the minutia of like
that ass like a front office type aspect, and I
find that fast, but it's also like very time consuming.
So if any I always tell people, if you get
into football manager just be prepared to get like, you'll
just get waves and waves of information that you have
to digest. So take your time with it and just
you know, kind of enjoy whatever it is that you
enjoy in that realm, Like if you want to be
at a big team, who cares, you know, just enjoy
what you want to do in it.
Speaker 1: Well, at least you had some time for part of
the offseason, most of it until the Kawhi Leonarbaum drops. Yeah,
just out of media day. But before we even kind
of go there, we got to look at the Paul
George situation first in hindsight, just what do you ultimately
make of that entire saga, from even the extension negotiations
to him actually leaving.
Speaker 2: So I've written about this obviously a couple times throughout
the year, even as far back as January when Kawhi extended,
but specifically I wrote before it's free agency in June.
I wrote in June that the timing of the Kawhi
Leonard extension kind of screwed Paul George over in terms
of negotiations because PG had always been before Kawhi in
terms of the money aspect of getting what he was
going to get so after the bubble he gets an
extension of I want to say it's like a four
years with a player option at that time, and after
the bubble, before second whatever it was, he got an
extension before Kawhi did. And then Kawhi got the extension
a couple months later and missed the entire twenty one
to twenty two season the first year into that extension.
So PG had always been first, and my viewpoint on it,
and this is strictly me speaking, is Kawhi had the
leverage of always leaving, and the Clippers kind of were
just like, Okay, well, if Kawhi can leave, we'll just
keep PG. Not in like a, well we have and
we might as well just keep him. It was more
of a we want to keep Kawhi happy. He he's
the guy that we wanted from the get go, and
we scouted for an entire year. This was this is
our prize free agency in the history of the franchise.
We're gonna do whatever it texts to keep him happy.
And so we're gonna sign PG to an extension and
then Kawhi will agree, and that's what that's what happened.
They'd always been in lockstep as a pair, it was
always Kawhi and PG together, and then over the last
eighteen months things did start to change with like quotes
that would come out from PG where he would he
himself would say that he was the two to Coawi's one.
This was, you know, unprovoked. No one asked him about
this at all. He would just offer this at times.
And I know at another time a couple of weeks
after he made the comment about how you know he's
the two to Kawai's one, he went on to say, like,
I'm the glue guy. I just you know, I wanted,
I revel in doing the glue guy type stuff. And
I kind of think the Clickers just had a thought
of why are we going to pay a glue guy
fifty million dollars and then when he's older, we're gonna
pay him sixty million dollars. I think PG became the
third player in NBA history to get a MAX contract
at his age, right, something.
Speaker 1: I guess of that length, maybe because like we've had
staph and lebron Yeah, so I think in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah so, I don't think the Clippers ever felt comfortable
committing to that. Now I know that the the flip
side was always going to be well, they committed to Kawhi.
The difference to me is the Kawhi commitments only three years,
and once Kawhi did a three year, I don't think
PG was ever going to get anything beyond three. I
just think the Clippers were locked into three years. They
were never going to go beyond that. Hence why their
negotiations with James never even got beyond three. Obviously they
went to a two, but obviously I know he can
scoff that it like who's gonna give James R in a
four year contract? But like once a line is drawn
at the their biggest star, I don't think you can
deviate and go beyond. Then they ultimately chose not to.
And I obviously you know, there was the rumblings that
PG wanted a no trade clause if you signed a
three year. Clippers were never going to offer him a
no trade clause. That was a you know, that was
persona and Angrad. They were never going that route, so
you know, and then told we got what happened, which
was a star player you could argue, still in their prime,
who decided to leave in free agency to go three
thousand miles away and the Clippers. I mean from everything
I've from everyone I've talked to, from the things I've
seen them say and heard them say, they seem okay
with it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Does that mean they think they're a better team without him? No,
I think they just I think they liked the flexibility
a lot more now, and part of me does things
they thought it had run its course, so why let
it keep going?
Speaker 1: I think, And they definitely do value the flexibility the
way their response to specifically when the Warriors tried to
get in on the sweepstakes, it was a non startup
because they didn't want to take back any of the
money that Goley was offering. I think where and I
don't want to belabor this because every podcast has talked
about this ad nauseum. I just used his bad asset
management in the end because it does sound like from
people that I've heard. And then also what Paul George
said publicly is that had he just gotten the Kauhi
deal when Kawhi got it, that they might have still
gotten him on the three year thing. And if the
difference was a no trade clause, I'm not giving Paul
George no, I wouldn't get Honestly, I wouldn't give anyone
a no trade clause. That's probably why I don't run
an NBA. Like maybe there's one player that you would
do it for, But if it was like really over
a fourth year, I'm always up the mind like he
is someone that you could have figured it out later
and moved him. Now, if they really don't think they
could have moved him, I guess it's a different discussion.
But they knew his free agency was coming, they knew
that he would have a market. They didn't think he
was going to Philly. So I found there. I find
the justification that they're giving. Even if they believe it,
it still just rings hollow from my end because at
the end of the day, and we're going to get
into this are you doing now, It's like you have
James Harden and Kauai with the injury and that by
the way, that's so I'll jump into the Kauai injury stuff.
Is there one is there any chance that like they
kind of knew, like, oh, kawi'sney is cooked, if this
thing is done anyway, and that made it easier just
let Paul George leave or do you think that that
was even because at that point Kawi is with Team USA.
I think, well, free agencies kind of unfolding, so maybe
it wouldn't be, but it could that have been in
the back of their mind.
Speaker 2: So what I will say is free agent is Paul
had already made his decision by the time Team USA
camp had open in Vegas. Okay, then yeah, because Kawai
actually got asked about it by one of one of
my colleagues. I believe it was either Brad Turner or
Omyamusik of ESPN who we were. We were there together,
we were the Clippers people that were there, and they
specifically asked him about that in terms of PG. So
he gave an answer on that, and he said, you know,
I support his decision, like you wouldn't got you went
and got the money, like and I'll say this off
the bat, like I fully support PG and getting the money.
I think anyone should have at that point. I don't
know if the Clippers knew then that Kawhi was gonna
have the knee inflammation creep up again, because they thought
a Team USA that he was fine. They thought it
was the normal ramp up period. Everyone I talked to
had basically said he looks great, He looks fantastic. Apparently
there were drills where he was killing it on the
court in five y five. I didn't see any of that.
Media was let in for I believe two or three
ten minute sessions and then there was like a five
on five for about fifteen minutes on the final day,
But he didn't play on that final day from what
I remember, And he was never in shorts, if what
I remember is correct. He always was in like the
sweatpants and this and the warm up pants and all
that stuff. So I don't know if he had anything
on his knee at the time or anything like that.
But I don't know if their thought process was, well,
Kawhi's needs might be done, So what's the use in
playing Paul George? I kind of just think it was
like a relocation of assets where it's like, Okay, we're
not gonna give PG fifty million for this upcoming season.
What can we do to build around Kawhi and James.
That obviously is not you're not gonna get a player
like Paul George around them at that point because they're
so far over the cap. But what can we do
to at least make this team sustainable with optionality. If not,
you know, a year or two down the line, maybe
even at this trade deadline where you know, because they
give James a one plus one James Harden. If he
has a killer hat first half of the season, a team,
a team could come calling if the Clippers are not
playing well. Same thing with Kawhi. If Kawhi is you know,
healthy enough and playing well, which he was great last
year when he was on the ploy, played sixty eight games,
I think, which is the most he playing like eight years.
You know, he looked incredible for long stretch of that season.
And if a team comes up to them as like, look,
you guys, are you know eight games under five hundred,
but Kawhi looks good. He's only got two years beyond this.
What would what would you take for him? I think
they'd entertain it. Now would they do it? I don't know.
That's a tough sell in a new arena to then
start trading your stars. And I understand, like that sounds
like a weird thing to say because they let one
star just walk away. But I think there's a difference
in someone that they never viewed as their top star
with someone that they do view as their top star.
I don't think they think kawhi'snthing is like as bad
as maybe some people think. Maybe that's foolish on their part.
Maybe it's not. I always think they just take a
wait and see approach with this. They Lawrence Frank did
say on Tuesday that they think they've come out of
the other side of this and finally found ways to
like help and manage whatever whatever was going on with
it that was still causing inflammation. It sounded like he
that he did have an off season procedure, it probably
wasn't a major one. That's probably just like an arthroscopic
or you know, something like that. So, which is very
funny to say that an arthur' scopp surgery is not
a major surgery, because every surgery seems like a major surgery.
Speaker 1: It just has it's always phrasing the minor arthro'scopic procedure,
and I'm just like, this is not the thing.
Speaker 2: You're cutting somewhat open. I think I think it's pretty major.
Speaker 1: Like once you get plenty things involved, Like I'm of
the mind that it's more than minor.
Speaker 2: I mean, they don't seem that concerned. I mean, I
get why people are. Let me just throw my hands.
I understand why people are. I just don't think they are.
I think at the end of the day, they're very
maybe not confident, maybe not confident, but optimistic that this
is going to turn the corner. So that's where I
think they stand on it.
Speaker 1: I'll have to circle back later to that comment you
made about if they're struggling, if they would consider like
anything nuclear. But I want to ask you this, aside
from the fallout from whatever happened with Paul George him
not being there, what is the biggest storyline that you
will be tracking for this team, not just heading into
next season, but throughout next season.
Speaker 2: Is James Harden the James Harden that he was in Philadelphia.
He was very good last year, and so I don't
want to sit here and say he was better in Philadelphia.
His numbers were better in Philadelphia. But I think he
played really well last year. I think he was very efficient.
I think he never really went outside of himself to
handle the responsibilities. But they're gonna need him a lot
more this year, obviously with no PG in Japan. On
Kawhi's health status, not just to start the season, but
during the season, so I kind of look at him.
That's the biggest storyline for the season is what James
Harden do they get. Do they get the James Harden
of last year who averaged almost seventeen and almost nine assists,
or do they get the James Harden from Philly who
was twenty one and eleven, who's shooting more often. Tylo
said on Tuesday when he talked that they're gonna use
James and more pick and roles. They want him to
do more things. They need him to shoot more, they
need him to take more shots. They aimed to score more,
they aim to do everything. If there's one thing we've
learned about James Harden, he's one of the greatest offensive
engines in the history of basketball, and when he wants
to shoot, there's probably not five better offensive players in
the game right now than him. The problem comes down
to whether or not he will shoot, because at times
he would. You know, he dealt with injuries at times
the latter half of last season. And then it also
comes down to whether or not he's actually getting to
the rim. He didn't get to the rim a lot
last year. Last year, I believe he only got only
twenty five percent of his shots last year were inside
of eight feet. It was thirty three percent the year
before in Philly. I want to say it was forty
two and a half two years ago and three years ago,
I think it was forty five percent. Like he's he's
drastically gone down. He's become a heavy jump shooter, which
in his defense, great three point shooter, especially off the dribble. Obviously,
I just think he needs needs to get to the
rim a lot more. And I'm I'm really interested to
see that process. Because Ty talked about because I asked
Ty specifically on Tuesday, do you think with no PG?
And obviously I know I keep saying this, but losing
PG is obviously a big deal. But does losing PG
allow them to streamline their offense more where you're not
trying where you're not trying to get three main guys involved.
It's one main ball handler, another another guy like Kawhi
who is the best offensive player on the team, but
won't handle the ball as much as Kawhi, and then
everyone fits in around them rather than trying to fit
PG into that as a puzzle piece as well, And
he said he does think that to some degree, there's
gonna be a level of uh streamlining that's gonna that's
gonna take hold here. He said, that's the idea. He said,
it's always tough to replace that kind of player. James
and Kawhi are their focus offensively, but obviously Norm is
gonna be a focus and they aregue and he did
say they're gonna post if it's a Zubots a lot more.
And he said it's on him to find the right
spacing around those guys, which is gonna be the biggest
non James question of the season is how they non
James and Kawhi question this season, which is how do
they figure out spacing because they lost a like PG,
say what you want about him, all time great shooter,
especially for a size you know, floor spacer and all this.
They lost that guy and they have to find shooting
out of guys who not really had a great track
record of being great shooters. Derek Jones Junior obviously chief
among them, Chris Dunn also among them. They get Nico
Batoum back, very good shooter, but Nico doesn't shoot a lot,
so that like he helps with the spacing, but not
as much as a guy like PG would the big
wild card and all this. I'm sure we'll get into
this later as well, is what do you get out
of Kevin Porter Junior. We don't know if there's gonna
be a suspension from the League office. There probably will be,
just based on things that have gone around and been said,
but we don't know yet. We don't know what that
suspension length would be if there is one, and we
don't know what kind of player he is right now.
He went he missed a year of NBA basketball, He
went to Grease, he only played five or six games
in Greece, and then he came back. That's a lot
of downtime for not playing NBA high level basketball. So
that's the big wildcard and all this and what they
can expect out of their offense.
Speaker 1: So with James Harden, though, I guess you're gonna streamline
the offense that looks more like James Harden is kind
of the center of everything, which I thought he did
a good I mean, we saw this in Philly too,
where he was kind of toggled between two existences. But
like he goes to LA and almost half of his
made threes came off assists, which is just unheard of
for Harden. So if you're gonna put the ball in
his hands, I think that's mostly fine if you're looking
to streamline your offense, But if you're looking for more
variability and maybe hardened shot selection, you've kind of already
mentioned this, but how do you get him to the
rim if he's on the ball, because like that seems
more like at this stage of his career would have
to be an off ball thing because he's not going
to get by a ton of guys. And so I
think his rim frequency you mentioned like inside eight feet,
he was below twenty percent of shots coming from like
actually at the rim last year, which was a career low,
I believe. And so if you have I mean, like
Kawhi's even kind of that type of player now too.
This is you've added some maybe complimentary rim pressure and
Derek Jones Junior, so Terrence Man floating around out there,
Chris Dunn as well. But I just like, what a
streamline in the offense then, look like, is it just
running it through James Harden running a lot You mentioned
posting up zoobots more, but it is a lot more
picking rolls featuring James fun Like I'm just curious as
to what that winds up looking like.
Speaker 2: I think there's be a lot more picking roles. I
think they're gonna just have to lean they might end
up having to be one of the highest pick and
roll frequency teams in the league to have a sustainable offense.
I mean, Ty did talk about, you know, since he's
been there, they've been basically a top five offense every year,
and obviously Kawhi helped with that, and so does PG,
and obviously getting James last year. Like, of course, if
you have star players, odds are you're gonna have a
great offense. Like that makes sense. But Ty did work
a lot of magic in the year I want to
say twenty one to twenty two. Kaw I missed the
entire year, PG only played thirty games, and they were
still a winning team. I think that's what they're gonna
lean their hat on is, Look, we're not gonna be
as great offensively as we were last year, but we
have to be better defensively. They went out and got
all these defensive guys, you know, Derek Jones, Chris gun Niico, Batouma.
They get these defensive first guys to hopefully boost them
on that end. To where they're not always playing against
a set defense on the other end, and I think
when they do play against set defenses, they're just gonna
have to hope that they run enough pick and rolls
and have enough floor spacing to where on the off
chance James does get downhill, he has ample runway to
get to the rim and do what he needs to do.
I remember there was a game very soon after he arrived.
It was in la I want to say it had
to be Memphis because he was being guarded by Santi Aldama.
And I remember in the fourth quarter and I sat
where my old because they changed the media seats for
into a dome from where it was at Staples. But
at Staples, my media seat was basically center court up
where the broadcasters are, so I got to actually kind
of sit next to a lot of cool people in
my years covering them from that position. And I had
someone next to me, and James tries to take Santi
Aldama off the dribble, and it just it didn't happen,
like two or three straight possessions, and I remember this
person next to me, and I just going, oh, this
might be bad. And yet throughout the year I will
say this, he dig it into better shape. He was
able to start getting past people at a at a
higher rate. Obviously not the rate that prime James Harden,
because he's not prime James Harden anymore. But I think
they're hoping that he comes in, you know, knock on wood,
he comes in in shape. Everything I've seen seems that
he is in shape and in great shape in the fact,
and hoping that he's able to maybe not just get
the burst back, but get the will back to this
is your team right now. The ball's in your hands
all the time. Go do whatever you need to do,
and we'll live with it. And they're gonna have to
spam a lot of pick and rolls with Zoo. Maybe
they try to play small and just try to get
spacing that way where Nico plays the five and you
run pick and pop with Nico, because Nico is also
a great facilitator and connector out of those that maybe
that's another way, maybe you incorporate some of that to
get James a little bit more wiggle room. They have
a lot of questions they need to answer, but we
also don't know what the answer is going to be
until probably ten to fifteen games into the season with him.
Speaker 1: Especially playing by that point, we might have to wait
longer for what the full strength answer is.
Speaker 2: And I mean going off of what they've said, they
haven't ruled out opening night because they're not going to
rule out opening night until they absolutely have to, because
opening night is the opening of the new arena.
Speaker 1: I will I don't even mean to interrupt you, but
like that would be surreal in a negative way of
look at what they gave up the Pukwai and I'm
not religating the trade like those two were the face
of this different era. The whole point was kind of like,
We're going to open the init Dome with these three stars,
and imagine if I'm the opening night of the endo
it home they have one of one star and it's
neither PG nor Kawahai on the court. That's just like, yeah,
you could believe it because of everything that we've seen
over the years, but it's also kind of mind melding.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh as. I would say it's very Clippers
in a lot of ways that they've had thirteen straight
winning seasons and the one season they go into the
new arena, basically they it looks like the same old
thing has been happening for them, whether karma or curses
or just playing sheer dumb luck, they've had all of it.
Speaker 1: This is a team and you've talked about like the
need for rim pressure. They added defense. Was it sort
of like this active decision They've looked and they've always
been a team that like they spend more time in
transition than you think. It's just that they're not playing
necessarily super fast. When you go out and get Derek
Jones junior, Chris Donne even to a lesser extent what
Kevin Porter junior was during his heyday or whatever you
want to call it in Houston. Was it kind of
like an active thought process to say, like, we need
to get more athletic, we need to get more disruptive
on defense, need to add to this rim pressure, even
it's not coming in the form of primary ball handlers.
Speaker 2: The one thing we heard all last seasons, they are old.
They would say it themselves, we are old. They went
out and they got younger. That was the big thing
for them. They got younger. I believe the only two players,
if I can recall this correctly, the only two players
who played in the fourth quarter of Game seven that
I believe are still on the roster. Under thirty I
believe are. Oh everyone that played in the fourth quarter
that was over thirty is basically gone now from the
Clippers except for James Harden. That was what it was. Essentially,
they've gotten a lot younger. Daniel Tye has gone, not
saying daniel Tyse was old, but daniel Tyson's gone. Mason
Plumley is gone, obviously Pg's gone, Russ is gone. They've
lost a lot of guys who weren't really runners. Russ
did push in transition, I will give us a credit.
He was always trying to push the tempo and transition.
But they went and got guys who are play finishers
in transition who they can kind of lean on once
they get a stop to then run because, like I said,
they know their offense is not going to be at
the crispus of levels in the half court. And I
thought it's interesting that you mentioned they do run a lot,
and they are actually pretty efficient in transition. They just
don't maximize. Yeah, like it didn't. It never looked like
you thought what a great transition team would look like like,
which is always funny in a way. So they they
really did kind of bend your mind a lot in
that aspect. But I think they're gonna lean a lot
more on transition, and I think they're gonna be okay
with turnovers in transition as long as they're trying to
get to the rim or get good shots. They had
way too many silly turnovers last year that were just
mind boggling. Where you know, you can't cough up possessions
in the NBA needlessly, like if another team makes a
great play against you, that's fine. But they were just
throwing the ball out of bounds. They were throwing the
ball off people's legs. It just didn't matter. So the
whole thing for them is defense to offense and trying
to alleviate the burden of the stars in that setting.
And I do think Derek Jones is a big key
to that. Now, my thing with Derek Jones isn't how
is he gonna get along and transition, It's what is
his real three point looting three point shooting threshold? Is
it what we saw in the postseason and parts of
last year, or is it more in line with who
he was before that.
Speaker 1: My whole thing with that is I almost don't think
it matters because I think teams aren't gonna guard him anyway.
And unless he really gets the volume up there, like
that's the and he's hitting them at a clip of
like thirty five or thirty six or thirty seven percent
off the catch, then it starts to matter more.
Speaker 3: And I was actually going, well, it's like, I don't mean,
I don't mean, it's like the old Marcus Smart thing, right,
Like Marcus Smart might have shot thirty five percent, but
he shot it like he was a shoot a forty
percent shooter because of his volume, yep, And teams would
actually clothe out on him because of that.
Speaker 2: If you shoot like this kind of relates a little
bit to Terrence Man, which we'll get into I guess
a little bit later.
Speaker 1: First team will please shoot more threes, damn it.
Speaker 2: And I know that's the thing from the front office
that they want, Like I know, like Terrence Man specifically,
I know people will look at his you know, last
year's numbers gonna be like, well, this guy shot thirty
five percent from three. Are we sure he's actually a
good three point shooter. My counter argument that would be, well,
he started the season absolutely abysmal, coming back from an
ankle injury in twenty twenty four. He shot forty four
percent on threes, and that's the kind of guy they
they want shooting threes all the time. He just would
pass up too many, and teams wouldn't come out to
him as much as they would like him, as much
as they the Clippers would have liked them too, because
he wasn't taking enough despite him being a good shooter.
And that kind of goes in line with your Derek
Jones point, which is he could be a good shooter,
we just won't know because teams aren't gonna play him
like that and he's not gonna shoot enough most likely
for it to matter.
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Jr. And Chris Dune. But having them you
mentioned sort of streamlining life for the stars defensively. I mean,
even just Zubots's job around the basket gets a lot
easier because he's not gonna have to cover up for
as much stuff as happening on preimter. If Kawhi's healthy,
his job gets a lot easier. Do you worry? And
we've talked about this a little bit with the shooting,
but and I think it probably matters more for Derek
Jones Junior just because of the position that he can play, Like,
do you worry about kind of building the right lineups
not around him, but like, if you have zu Bots
and Derek Jones Junior in the floor, those are two
guys that do not stretch the defenses automatically, and so
it feels like you have to be very meticulous with
how you're going to outlay those those lineups from there,
or is it gonna be like, well, we don't really
want zu Bots and Derek Jones when you're playing a
ton together.
Speaker 2: I kind of don't think they're gonna have a choice
at times, like they're just gonna like they're just gonna
have to figure it out. I do agree with your
point that they're gonna have to They're gonna have to
find ways to never have more than two. I would
even just say to have to have less than three
above average shooters on the floor. If you have Zoo
and Derek Jones, I don't know if you can have
Chris Dunn. Not to say Chris Dunn's not a good shooter.
He was shot pretty well last year from what I recall,
but we just like teams are just not going to
play him up to him as much as you want,
And we just don't know what that spacing would look
like for the Clippers offensively, because and this kind of
all ties in with the James thing, right, Like James
needs his space. James needs a space not to just
get downhill to score, but downhill to pass. He's got
to have guys in the weak side corners to throw
skip pastes to. He's got to have guys up on
the wing that he can kind of trail and lead.
All these factors, you know, come into play. Derek probably
sees about twenty five minutes a night. I don't know
how many of those minutes would with Zoo, but they're
gonna have to figure that out. I don't think you
can play Derek, Zoo, and Terrence that much together either,
unless you're really just trying to grind teams out on
the defensive end. Like there is a potential lineup hypothetically
where and I don't think this lineup ever happens unless
something drastically goes wrong or you're in a blowout or whatever.
You could see Chris Dunn, Derek Jones, Junior, Terrence Man,
Nico batoum Vitza Zubots as a killer defensive lineup, but
the offense is gonna be very hard to come by,
and they're gonna have to figure things out obviously in
training camp, which starts on Tuesday for them, but they're
gonna I think the preseason for them has to be
taken with the great deal of urgency. I don't think
they can take preseason as like, oh, let's just get
ready for the season. I think they have to take
it like they're actually trying to figure stuff out and
not just going through the motions.
Speaker 1: Another thing that kind of fascinates me about this team,
and it's not necessarily because Paul George left, but you
lose some offensive creation with him gone. Now Kawhi is injured,
what does kind of the secondary playmaking situation look like
right now? Where are they gonna I mean, we saw
this in Utah with Chris Dunn. I would say more
than a little bit, like, are they gonna view him
as like an actual backup floor general? Is that something
they're gonna default to. There might be lineups where, let's say,
if James Sarnen's not on the court, we're not really
dealing with positions. It's a lot of secondary guys like
Terrence Man or Niko batoum are they gonna really lean
in and like or excuse me on a Bones Highland
or a Kevin Porter June, Like, how do you kind
of see not even if with it shaking out, because
we need to see the games first, but what do
you think their expectations are, what they're gonna try first
and foremost in that regard are.
Speaker 2: So what I would say is, I don't know what
they expect out of Bones. That's a that's a touchy situation. Obviously.
The PJ Tucker situation is also an interesting one. PJ
and Bones both kind of want to go their separate ways,
which is very fair. In Bones' case, he did show
at the beginning of last he can be an NBA
rotation guard. He had a great game against Chicago in
Chicago towards the like the middling point of the season.
I want to say of that game it might have
been in March, but he did show flashes. But I
kind of just think this is Kevin Porter junior second
unit now alongside Norman Powell. Yeah, I they just based
on what they've said, I think they're kind of I
think I think they're locked into Kevin Porter Junior getting
a pretty substantial role. I mean, Ty was asked about
him on Tuesday, that he can definitely make an impact.
Ty said it was his job to make sure he
gets the most out of them. Ty said he's gonna
stay on top of him, he's gonna coach him hard,
and he said for us to have success, he's going
to be a big part of that. So I kind
of just think that the second unit might end up
being some variation of Chris Dunn, Norman Powell, Kevin Porter Junior, Nico,
and then the fifth guy could either be the backup
center like a Mobomba or someone else that creates like
a small lineup alongside of them, whether that's a Terrence
or a Derek Jones on some Knights or Kawhi on
certain nights there. This is this is a roster that,
like when you look at their roster, there is good
depth on this roster. It's not a roster that's just
like three or four or five deep. Like, there is
good depth. I don't think they know role wise what
that depth actually is, and you know, until they get
five to ten, fifteen games into the year.
Speaker 1: I am honestly surprised I guess they did sign him,
and they gave him a player option too, so I
guess it shows that that wasn't a ton of money,
but that they do value a KPJ. And I will
say in his final year in Houston, like I think
he showed a lot of playmaking improvement when he was
going downhill. I just this team does feel like it's
going to etone who can like initiate like real half
court offense, and to me, that's just not gonna be him.
Like he would score efficiently out of picking roll in
Houston sometimes, but he would commit a lot of turnovers
like the Reids weren't there, And like, I don't know
if this team is gonna if you're gonna give him
the ball in the half court, like you better have
floor spacing around him, and that's gonna be another challenge.
So that might this is like a maybe it's a
sick o thing to monitor, but like I'm gonna be
looking at kind of what their secondary floor, general backcourt
playmaking rotation, every want to frame it is going to be.
And I think, look, this could have been an issue
with or without Paul George, but the Kawhi Leonard injury
now I'm just gonna expect the worst from it. I
don't care what they're saying at this point, Like that's
made it even more higher stakes. I'm from my end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean with the Kauhi thing, as I as
I often say in life is expect the worst or
prepare for the worst, expect the best kind of thing.
You know, like you you got to prepare for the
worst case scenario of the Kauai thing and just hope,
hope to god it's not. Yeah, the KPJ leaning in
would be a little I guess crazy to some degree,
considering he was out of the NBA last year. Like,
I don't there's you know, the.
Speaker 1: Reasons for the violence issues, Like it was a you know,
and we'll see you said, he'll probably get a suspension.
I mean, the league has been pretty inconsistent with stuff
that it does. But like based off what they how
they handled mild Bridges coming back, I would think he
gets a suspension. I just from a basketball perspective, and
I hate making that segue, but that's how you have
to do it if you're find yourself like leaning Kevin
Porter Junior in twenty twenty, I just it doesn't feel
like an ideal place to be. Like you mentioned, they
do have real depth on this team, but if that's
who they and look, maybe there's a reason these people
run a basketball team and I don't. But like I
didn't see it in Houston, so I'm not gonna see
it now. I just there have been people who would
really go to the woodshed for KPg is a basketball player.
I've just a KPg excuse me, and I've just never
been one of them. Maybe maybe I'm wrong, but if
they're gonna use them that way, it might be at
least watchworthy because they're gonna glean some real information for
better or bear.
Speaker 2: I mean, not that it's cynical, but like part of
me has wonder at times. And I haven't reached out
to check this because there's no reason to, but like
I kind of wonder if KPJ is the Norman Powell insurance,
if he's if if if Norman gets injured or if
they trade him or anything like that. Like we have
this guy that's making what is he making like two
and a half million dollars? Yeah, that you know, making
ten times less than Norman Powell, who can do hypothetically
eighty percent of the production. Maybe that's a cost you
live with, you know, in the interim to kind of
see what you can get down the line on Norman
Powell trade it is. It's a flimsy ship at this
point in terms of the in terms of the KPg stuff,
because you know, this is probable suspension and we don't
know what he is. And I think that's okay. I
think it's okay to say, es sports people, I don't know.
Speaker 1: What he is or what you no, we have to
we have to have an opinion opinion on everything, Justine.
You know that.
Speaker 2: I mean, he would be a fifteen point per game guy.
He could also be horrendous when he sees the court
and it's just one of those moves where like, well
they gave it a shot, so you know, no harm,
no foul from an from an on court perspective, but
you know, they seem pretty hell bent on seeing what
they have in him. And you know, if if you
have to go off the Houston years, he's probably their
fourth best offensive option, which is which you know, because
it would be Kawhi and James, then Norm and then KPJ.
Speaker 1: I might take you that's over that. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: I would probably take the zoobots, post off post ups
off above that as well. But in terms of like
guys who you can give the ball to a you'll
make a play or go get a bucket, I think
he and that's kind of the situation for them.
Speaker 1: I think also this might be uncomfortable. I'm I don't
know how I feel about Bones Island at this point.
I was all in after his rookie season. Clearly was
wrong about that. But if you were to add the
layer of you want someone who could create their own bucket,
but also trust them to maybe set up for others,
KPJ probably moves up to third then, because that's not
gonna be Norman Powell's game at that point if you
need him to like set up others.
Speaker 2: So yeah, Norm just sounds like a negative. I don't
mean this as a native. He's a very simplistic passer,
and when he gets downhill it's usually just a drop
off or just a straight kick, like there's nothing to elaborate,
which is fine. I think that's totally fine im basketball
to have out of a guy you know what you're getting.
But Norm's primary values are getting to the basket to
score or get fouled and being a dead eye, knockdown,
catch and shoot guy. He was phenomenal last year, especially
in corners. There was a lineup that they had for
a long time last season which was called the Powell
Rangers lineup that another Clippers podcast UH tabbed, which was
Norman Powell in the starting lineup alongside James PG, Kawhi
and Zoo. They were incredible together as a five man unit.
Throughout the entire season. They outscored teams by a major
amount of points. Obviously that didn't happen the postseason because
everyone got hurt, and that's the Clipper way. But Norm
is Norm is a lot better as an off ball
and second side guy than on the ball, and I
so I am kind of fascinated, like how does he
fit with KPJ. Does Chris Dunn handle the ball a
lot more on a second unit if the three of
them are on the floor together. And I already know
there's a segment of Clippers fans that are going, please God,
no more three guard lineups. But this team's gonna have
to run some three guard lineups at times because they're
gonna need offense and the quickest way to get offense
for this team might be three guard lineups.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, especially if KUIs is any time at all,
you're gonna have to go to that he's missing time.
Speaker 2: I think we could just say he's missing time. He's
missing at least sixteen games. They play sixteen back to backs.
I would be absolutely shocked if he played in both
sets of the back to back at all this upcoming.
Speaker 1: Season, a Vitazubas gets an extension, which I think, even
in the current pigman climate, super team friendly extension. I
may have asked you this question last year, but like,
why don't we understand Well, I'm not saying you, but
why don't we collectively just not appreciate what a Vita
Zubos is on the defensive end, or at least as
a rim protector.
Speaker 2: Because I don't think he I don't think he looks
like a modern big man, and we have like this
idea fara foul, We have this idea of what the
modern rim protecting big man looks like. Either they're tall
and lanky like Rudy Gobert and Victor Webber Yama, or
they're mobile and they're able to get out and do
lots of things like an Anthony Davis or a Bam
Auto Bio. A Vita Zobots is more of what I
would classify as an anchor big. You leave him on
the back line, he can, he takes care of things
very well. I also just think we have like a
miss understanding of like what defense is as a big
in the NBA. I think we think of blocks a
lot of times. The blocks are not what matters. It's
it's the guy that didn't shoot. And I actually remember
talking to a Visa Zubots about this for an exclusive
last year in Utah about why he doesn't think he
gets the recognition defensively. And he says, and he said,
because he doesn't. He said what I said, which is
he thinks that people don't understand what they're watching. He
he thinks that people only pay attention to like the
highlights and the blocks and the Steelds and these these
really highlight type plays, but they kind of lose the
forest for the trees, so to speak. In that he's
deterring a lot of stuff at the RIM. And they
have a metric that they track in house for what
they've classified as like RIM deterrence of basically people who
drive to the rim and then don't shoot against the
specific big. And he was basically at the top of
the list. And obviously, like Rudy Gobert is at the
top of this Victor one, but was at the top
of the list all these great defensive bigs. Obviously, but
I don't think we value enough of guys not shooting
around someone that if a center blocks one out of
every five shots he faces, we view that as an
incredible achievement, Like, Okay, he blocks twenty percent of the
shots he faces. But if he's not blocking, if he faces,
if the guy who's not blocking shots faces half as
many shots, that's probably the more impressive mark, because guys
aren't shooting directly at the rim around them.
Speaker 1: It's funny bring it up because the one of the
stats that I think showcases his impact is the cleaning
the glass stat. When you look at the opposing team's
frequency at which they get to the basket when he's
on the court, it dropped by six point four percent
below their season average. This is just last year.
Speaker 2: And I think I think their three point rate also dropped.
If I'm not mistaken, teams I think teams should shoot.
Maybe they didn't maybe it was the year before that
it dropped a shot.
Speaker 1: They shot more threes with him on the NY floor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last year. I think the year before they shot fewer,
which was interesting.
Speaker 1: I think what's more wild about that is, so if
everyone who played at least five hundred minutes last year,
so we're talking like a pretty true sample size, only NICOLEA.
Jokic has like a bigger on off impact again last
season of opponent frequency at the rim so and THEO
Zubots has been even when you look at the raw
rim protection numbers, especially last season, he's always been up there.
Do you think that his job gets a lot easier
now when you look at some of them? Not a
lot easier, but or how does it change? I would
ask you with the personnel that's now, let's say in
front of him, when you're looking at well, if KPg
actually plays, but also Chris Dunn and Derreck Jones Junior specifically, it.
Speaker 2: Should be a lot easier. I've talked to Clippers personnel.
They were not happy about all the switching they had
to do the last couple of years. They internally they
thought that they switched way too much. That was like
they but it felt like a player driven thing more
so than anything coach related or the players. The system
was designed to make it easier for the players, rather
than the players making it easier for themselves by doing
the hard work and then getting more stops that way,
I think we're gonna see a lot more people fight
over ball screens. I think that's why they went out
and got Derek Jones, Junior, Chris Dunn, Nico Batom's excellent
to getting over the top of screens. I think they've
heavily invested in guys who will put the effort on
the defensive end for forty eight minutes to not just
make their lives easier defensively, but make Zoos's job easier
to where, Okay, we have this guy who's kind of
locking down the rim, why don't we just chase more
guys off the three point line? Then why are we
just soft switching on every pick and roll and guys
are just stepping back and hitting threes, Like, why wouldn't
we try to get them off the line to make
them take tougher shots. So I think that's what we're
gonna see, and I can't gloss over it because it's
to me, it's probably the third biggest addition they made
all season or all off season. They went out and
got Jeff Van Gundy, and Jeff Van Gundy's gonna make
them get over screens and play defense. Ty had a
very funny quote on Tuesday where he said, I always
tell Jeff he's never happy unless he's mad, and just
gonna get mad at this team to get them into
shape mentally for an eighty two game season defensively, and
I think we're gonna see guys who actually want to
compete on that end of the floor rather than kind
of just go through the motions at times. And that's
not a shot at any player specifically, it's just I
do think last year's team got into a mindset where
they just kind of just went through the motions for
a month or so, and I think it kind of
came came back to buy them, so to speak.
Speaker 1: Sticking with Zubab for one more question, him and James
Harn developed a nice chemistry. You've already mentioned that he
might get more post ups for when you look at
Paul George's leaving Russell or left, Russell Westbrook left, Kawhi
might miss time. Is there any one that like we're
talking about those four players represented the guys who assisted
on most of his buckets last year, Like, those are
the four top ones. Three of the two of them
are gone and one of them could miss or will
miss substantial time at some point. Is there any two
man dynamic featuring Zubots beyond the hardened thing, beyond the
names I just mentioned, and of course two of them
are gone, so you can't that. You would like to
see the Clippers maybe explore more. Do we default to
Nico just because he's been there like kind of done
that with Zubots before.
Speaker 2: That would be the simple option is that Nico knows
how Zoo operates, and they do have a chemistry. They
did like playing alongside one another. There was a very
funny quote from from a player a couple of years
ago to me which was talking about that. This was
on the topic of Rudy Gobert, but the player said
it while pointing out a Viatza Zoobots, which was, you
have a seven footer and he's around the rim, Just
get him the ball. It's that simple. Just get him
the ball. And that's kind of like Nico can do that.
Nico knows how to spot those weaknesses and those those
spaces to exploit. Maybe KPJ, maybe Norm to some degree.
Maybe Chris Dunn not a great you know, obviously it's
not a like for like, but some of these guys
are gonna have to are gonna have to see an
uptick and playmaking responsibilities because you know, James is gonna
miss time too. This isn't like James is playing all
eighty two games thirty five minutes a night and we're
getting prime every night. Houston, James Harden, He's gonna miss time.
I think in this landscape of the NBA, every superstar
is likely to miss five to ten games a season,
just just unless you're NICOLEA. Jokicchen you know you're a cyborn.
But there's gonna have to be chemistry that's found, which
is why the training camp in the preseason is gonna
be so interesting. Maybe it's also with Terrence. Terrence, there's
a sneaky thing that Terrence had the pension for doing,
which is when he would drive into the lane, he
primarily if he wasn't finishing for himself, would always usually
draw two and dump off to zoom. That was like
his trademark of driving. And we might see more of that,
especially if Terrence can exploit closeouts and kind of get
that going in his favor.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good segue into is there a next
gear for Terrence?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 1: Is it more about putting together the consistent tools that
the Clippers need from him? Most? I know there is
a subset of I don't know if it's Clippers fans
or people that watch the Clippers that think that he
has like all this on ball juice to give. I
don't know that I've ever I mean, he's had like
he had some wild moments and what was that the playoffs?
Speaker 2: Is that twenty one like what is?
Speaker 1: And especially now where there might be there's like a
more wide open pecking order on offense. It feels like
is there a next frontier for him? And what does
that actually look like?
Speaker 2: It's very interesting. He's the one guy who's had his
role change the most of anyone. He was a three
and D guy when he first came up, or and
I shouldn't even say three. He was just an energy,
impact defensive guy when he first came in. Built himself
into a really good shooter. We've talked about shoot, but
he's a really good shooter. He's worked on his mechanics
a lot. He is a very good catch and shoot
three point shooter, especially on the corners, very good from
that from that area, very good driving to the rim,
very good second side creator. The interesting part to me
was before they acquired Russell Westbrook in twenty twenty three
February twenty twenty three, Terrence got a couple of games
where he ran as the starting point guard. They looked good.
Not like Terrence was making these incredible plays or anything,
but the ball was in the hands of their stars
a lot more, which yielded high leverage results going forward,
and Terrence was a big part of that. But Terrence,
I think there is another level he can get too offensively,
but I will carveat it with this. On October eighteenth,
Terrence turns twenty eight. He's not twenty four, he's not
twenty five. He's gonna be a twenty eight year old.
That's not an old guy by any stretch, don't get
me wrong. But in terms of raw linear improvement, I
don't know what's left. But I do think there is
more of his basketball ability that he can still show
of the ability that he's had, rather than like a
new skill he's developed, and they might have to lean
into him a lot more with Okay, so and So's
out tonight, you're gonna be on the ball a lot
more as a creator and driving to the rim and
doing all these things. Okay, James is here tonight. You're
gonna have to start shooting a lot more. The biggest
thing for him is he has to shoot. If he's
not shooting, I don't want to say he shouldn't play,
but if he's not shooting, he can't play as much
as he should play because he is a very important
piece on this Clipper team. So he has to shoot
to stay on the floor.
Speaker 1: If they could get him up to like six three
point attempts per thirty six minutes, which is like pretty
high above his career average, which is a little bit troubling,
that would be huge. And he's another I know I've
said this a bunch now. It also feels like for
him there might be a trickle down effect defensively to
where they needed him to kind of handle outside assignments
a bunch of times. And now that you haven't done
a Derek Jones junior and like Nicholas Patum's back, I
wonder if he starts to because people have criticized him
a lot on defense, and I get some of it,
but the other part. I always have empathy for guys
where it's like they're doing stuff that they really shouldn't
have to. And now it feels like he might settle
into a role that's more befitting him on defense and
then maybe does that somehow help him on offense. I
don't know, but this is the low hanging fruit. But
I do think it matters. Is the three point I
mean the volume. Sure, you need him to shoo, period,
but like the three point volume just needs to come up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it used to come up in a major way.
It's funny because he did so well defending Luca in
that first round series and it just felt wasted because
obviously they didn't win the series and they lost and
how they lost it with Kawhi out again, it just
it just really felt like wasted energy from him and
I and he was gutted after it. Zoo was gutted too,
because you know, you feel like it's another year that
you put everything into it and nothing happened. But for Terrence,
the volume has to not just go up. But like
as you said, way up. I think you mentioned six
per thirty six for a three point times. I think
he was out four last year for thirty six. He
he needs.
Speaker 1: He's never been at four for his career. He was
a three. It was a three point nine point nine,
like three point four for his career, and like we're
talking five years now. But what's this isn't I don't
mean to use the word sad, but like it's increased
every single season and it's topped out at three point
nine per thirty six, and I just that's way too
low for the position.
Speaker 2: It's funny because he is a good shooter. We've seen
the results. Just shoot more shot, which is funny because
like they said, it's funny twice. But like they've had
great shooters who wouldn't shoot too like Luke Kenard, all
time great spot up three point shooter. One of the
big problems the Clippers ranted him with him is like
he didn't shoot as much as they wanted. When he
let it go, they were very happy. The Clippers need
to get up more threes. Ty talked about it on Tuesday.
They have to play faster, we have to play in transition.
We have to shoot more threes. They need to take
better shots. I think they've realized their shot quality has
not been to the level that they want it to be. Yes,
they're okay with guys taking midterrraane shots. They've said this
many times. More specifically, they're okay with Kawhi taking midterraane
shots because he's one of the greatest midterrane shot makers
in the history of the NBA. So you live with that.
You're not gonna tell him no r. But for everyone else,
they have to fall in line with shooting more threes.
Whether you are Terrence Man, whether you are Derek Jones,
Chris Dunn, Kevin Porter, Junior, Niko Batoum, just shoot. I
don't think they care if you missshots. Just take them.
At the end of the day, they need to get
the volume up. Like I forget what the exact winning
percentage they had last year, but when they shot or
when they attempted forty threes in a game last year,
they were very good. And I know that's like a weird,
you know, benchmark for them, But they didn't take forty
threes a lot, but when they did, they reaped the
rewards of that. They need to get back to that
take a lot of threes. Their best offense is threes.
It opens up everything else for them, especially on a
team who's two stars don't get to the rim as
much as you would like anymore.
Speaker 1: What is the path to this team having like an
above average offense? Like, what does that look like? What
has to go right?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 1: You already kind of mentioned there'll be more aggressive on
defense that could lead to turnovers and extra transition opportunities.
Like what else kind of needs to happen?
Speaker 2: Play sounds very simple, but play smart. Just don't have like,
just don't have brain dead turnovers, Like you have to
just be connected at all times for them offensively to
have a great offense, which you know, if you want
to classify as top five or even top ten, that's fine,
they have to take great shots, they have to keep
bad turnovers down, and they have to actually get out
and run. For them, they have to win the possession game.
They lost the possession game quite often last year, whether
that was through rebounds, turnovers, or anything in between, they
just lost the possession game a lot. They have. Rebounding
is a big deal for them. Rebounding is going to
be the biggest factor for them. Is whether or not
they're a good team as well. They have to defensive
rebound because if you can't get out in transition, if
you don't redefensive rebound, and that was a problem for
them last year. Terrence was a part of that problem.
He didn't rebound nearly as well as he could Numbers wise,
you know, PG wasn't as good as he could have been.
Kawhi as well, even James with some degree. Guys just
weren't as involved as they could have been. And this
year's gonna have to be a wake up call. Maybe
it is. Maybe maybe the large caveat of the PG
thing is maybe maybe you make them realize that things
are not always great. You have to work for greatness,
and maybe that's what this can do.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter portion of
the podcast? Okay, So when you look at the roster
right now, before we see any of the games being played,
what do you view as the biggest need for them?
Speaker 2: A shooter? They need a two that can shoot. When
I say a two, obviously like they classify Terrence as
a two and norm to them as a two, which
I understand, I mean like a like a Terrance size
two that that is a consistently good shooter who isn't
a negative on defense. That guy is hard to find
in the NBA, and I understand that, but that is
a whole The other thing I would actually say is
who's their backup center.
Speaker 1: That's a I would saying that for the rotation question
because I'm the secondary front court like that's another rotation.
That's another thing that's just feels like it's just billowing
in the win right now.
Speaker 2: It's rather interesting they liked Mobamba in the draft. He
was a guy that they they did like when they
came in when he came in for a draft workout.
And I'm that several years since that transpired, but obviously,
you know, you go back to kind of the guys
that you like. But if Mobamba could even give them
an ounce of three point shooting and rim protection, I
think they'll take it. My gut instinct is I think
they're gonna They're gonna probably try Mobamba out to start.
Depending on how it goes, I think you're gonna see
Nico play a lot more five Oh wow. And I
know that's draining. I know that's not something he wants
to do all the time, but Look, if there's one
guy who's consistently sacrificed to help the team, it's him.
I think he'd do it again because they're gonna they're
gonna have to patchwork this thing together to get a
winning season again. And you know, I mentioned that before,
you don't thirteen straight winning seasons. They take pride in that.
This is not an organization that's like, oh, we won
thirteen straight seasons. Yay. Like they they do not want
a losing season. I know that for like, obviously no
team wants to have a losing season, but they take
pride in that winning streak and they wanted to continue.
And guys are gonna have to buy in. But backup
center is a big deal. I don't think they did
enough in the backup center department. I can easily be
proven wrong in the first few weeks and have to
eat my words. But you know, I also I don't
hate the flyer that they took. They took a flyer
on Obama's talent. I think there's worse things to do
for backup center. It also could just signify an added
responsibility and kind of belief in it beatsa the Zubats
to play you know, thirty thirty five minutes a night.
Speaker 1: And by that last year he was at like twenty
six or twenty seven, and so like that leaves a
lot of he's gonna play under thirty at least quite
a bit of minutes at the five to then fill
without him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he played twenty six point four, which was down
from the year before, but he also did miss uh.
He only played sixty eight games last year, which which
is a rarity for him because he had been an
iron man for them for several years and then he
finally missed extended time. And you know, they they felt
the pain of that because when that happened, Mason Plumby
came back early from his injury and Mason never got
back into the swing of things and it did hurt them.
So they need Zoo to stay healthy. But they needed
to play thirty two to thirty three minutes a night
as their lynchpin defensively there, you know, and also their
their best pick and roll option.
Speaker 1: Is there any chance that Ky Jones we talk about,
you know, athletics, have any chance that he made because
he's on They got him on an exhibit ten, right,
it wasn't Exhibit nine. So I have the same difference.
Basically Gleigu Rit's attached to one of them. But still I.
Speaker 2: Think there's a chance. I don't think he's ready. This
is just my but I don't think he's ready. I
think I think he he still needs to be taught
how to function at this level. Very nice guy. We've
we've talked to him once for his intro pressor very introspective.
Thought it was an amazing presser that he gave about
mental health. I thought it was incredible. I don't know
if he's ready for on court NBA high level. Okay,
it's the middle of the season. Go give us ten
minutes against NICOLEA Jokic, please. He's not ready for that. Now.
I understand there's other centers I could have brought up,
but like, that's a tall task that you're asking out
out of this young man after everything he's been through.
So I think the plan is, and I don't have
this is for sure, but I think the plan is,
let him go down to the G League, let him
get some time, let him get up to speed, and
then we can figure this out. If Mobamba doesn't work out, okay,
if something else doesn't work out, here's a roster spot
for you. They also have the Jordan Miller question that
they need to answer because Jordan Miller is pretty deserving
of a guaranteed contract, but they don't have an open
roster spot, so that's another situation. But Kai is a
very interesting guy for this roster that I think is
gonna have to be. He's gonna have to bite his time,
I think. Now.
Speaker 1: So if they are gonna mean on Nico at the five,
what does that do for like opera? Like does that
mean that PJ. Tucker is just written off? Could they
try and use him in that role? Or doesn't mean
because they're gonna go smaller that might open the door
for No, this guy's gonna play center. But like if
you're playing really small, like does a mere coffee then
get like they kind of dust him off? Like how
like what would be the ripple effects of just okay,
if we're not gonna go with Mobombo or zoobots and
Ky Jones isn't on this team, Like who I guess
what would be the dark horse on this roster? And
it's weird to call PJ. Tucker a dark horse when
he's eighty years old, Like who would be the dark
horse contributor on this roster that might benefit from that.
Speaker 2: Look, it's hard to say. I mean, it really is.
Because Lawrence Frank talked about how he would use roster construction,
which is a point three wings in a big That's
how he said he views it. He doesn't really look
at position by position, but obviously there's a point guard
and there's a center that center spot. I think there's
a lot of guys who can play there, and obviously
guys who could play the four, so to speak, next
to it. You know, they specifically did talk about a
mere copy. He's played the four at times, you know,
Pj's played it, Nico's played it, Terrence has played it.
They have options. I'm not sure how it unfolds, and
I don't know how happy they are with the options.
You know, at hand, especially because of the PJ. Tucker situation,
they're not gonna wave and stretch them. If they worry
it would have already happened. They could outright wave them
the closer they get to the trade deadline. If they
don't get an offer, and you know he has, he
tells them, hey, this team's gonna sign me if you
let me go. That might be a viability. Then you
get someone moves into that fifteenth guaranteed contract. But there
are out of size deficiency and deficit right now where
you know, a mere coffee as a four not great,
but I think they like the scrappiness of their guys
at that position.
Speaker 1: I have said it multiple times this podcast. I'm kind
of in a mere Coffee stand. I still believe to it.
I know obviously last year didn't see it so much,
but the way that before he went into free agency
was at twenty twenty three, I think like specifically very
plug and play on offense has kind of always been,
but like the way he was able to shimmy between
not just all these different archetypes on defense, but like
the level of players that he was actually guarding. It
just stood out to me. And so I look at
him and I'm like, I'm not trying to say, you know,
he's a future star that the Clippers need to build
around him. Review hims untouchable, but this is someone who
at six seven, I feel like can capably guard maybe
four like different spots on the floor. And he's not
going to monopolize any of your offense. Now, will he
give you enough volume is a different story. But I'm
really hoping that I know there's a ton of guys
who need minutes on this team. I'm really hoping that
we get to see more of him next year.
Speaker 2: I do too. I think I think he's a valuable
asset for them on the floor and in the locker room,
but on the floor specifically, like you talk about, he
can guard four positions. The big thing for him in
terms of helping this team is twofold. Number one, he
is a willing shooter, he will take threes, and number two,
he does get to the rim in transition. He's one
of their best transition options. And that's kind of a
thing where I think he should play more than he
probably will this season. They like him a lot. He's
twenty seven. You look at his numbers last year. He
shot thirty eight percent from three on solid volume, not
great volume, but solid volume. And when he did get
the option and the chance, he would become you know,
an offensive option, an offensive what I want to say weapon,
but offensive choice for them that they could run through
at times. He's gonna have an interesting role because there
are gonna be times where he just doesn't play. You
know that that happens. And I know he wants to
play because everyone in the NBA wants to play obviously,
which is obviously why you're in the NBA. But I
think they need to use them a lot more. The
problem is I don't know how he how guys fit
in around him, Like what lineups would a mere Coffee be?
And like it's going to be in a lineup with Terrence?
Is gonna be a lineup you know that bench lineup
that you said where where that we talked about where
it's like, you know KPJ, a mere Nico and then
two other guys in the mix there who can supply
things as well, even if you go smaller, if you
play a big or what I He's He's the ultimate
for this team, the ultimate Swiss army knife. He's very malleable.
He give into any situation. I think they have to
take advantage of that and know what they have with him.
Speaker 1: Is there nothing cookie cutter about that portion of a
cookie cutter podcast? But is there anything about this team
we haven't talked about that you think is whether it's
a player or development, a storyline, whatever, question, weakness, strength
that's flying under the radar that you think needs more attention.
Speaker 2: This is gonna be funny. The storyline for the Clippers
season isn't whether or not they make the playoffs or
even finish with a winning record. The only not the
only thing, but the main thing that people should pay
attention to do with the Clippers this season is do
they finish with a better record than the Houston Rockets.
That's gonna be the biggest factor for them because their pick,
the Clippers pick, is a pick swap that okay see
has the rights to. Okay See also has a Houston
Rockets pick swap, but it's top ten protected. If the
Clippers finish with a better record than the Rockets, and
the Rockets are outside of the top ten, so like
eleven or twelve whatever, and the West is gonna be
very tough. So the odds is that a team who
misses the playoffs in the West by being the eleven
or twelfth seed in the West could probably have the
fourteenth worst record in the NBA. So you know, there's
that possibility because the East of so whatever we want
to call it, I guess, but the Clippers have to
finish with a better record than the Houston Rockets and
they get to keep their first round pick in all likelihood,
which could be a lottery pick. I think there's the
growing I think there's the misconception that the Clippers pick
is just going to okay, see no matter what, and
that's not the case. I think what people should focus on,
besides the on court stuff with them is are they
better than the Houston Rockets at the end of the season,
And if they are, they're most likely keeping their pick,
which could be a very valuable lottery pick in what
is supposed to be a good draft, which they then
could help themselves with going into the following season when
they don't have a pick in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: Did not expect that answer, but it's a great one.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, there's other things on the floor, you know,
like can James keep up a high level of play
at his age with the ball in his hands, even
more than he expected when he came to the Clippers.
Can Kawhi get on the floor? But we already talked
about that.
Speaker 1: Can Oh yeah, none of that stuff is flying under
the radar.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I guess the other flying under the radar
thing is at what point if it's not going well,
at what point do they pull the plug.
Speaker 1: Well, let's let's get into that part, because like, what's
more likely for this team. I'll frame it this way,
that they are to make a trade that reels in
an upgrade, and I guess you could say it cost
them draft equity, but they don't have a ton ton
of draft equity to give up, or that they if
it's not working and they do pull the plug because
the latter scenario, I think people they just say that
as like a throwaway, but like they don't control, they
don't they don't outright control of the rights to their
next five draft pick, And so like how much does
that factor into whether they would pull the plug if
things aren't just not going according to plan? But like
the disaster factor or risk has certainly been has certainly
been increased.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can trade their twenty thirty. They can swap
their twenty thirty one. I think they can trade twenty
thirty two. Now, if I'm not mistaken, no could.
Speaker 1: Go because that's seven drafts, that's eight drafts away, right.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, okay, so they can't do that. So they
have a swap and a pick they could trade for
an upgrade, depending on who else is out there, and
I will say they've had negotiations for an extential with
Terrence Man. They obviously haven't yet come to an agreement.
That's a big thing to watch because if they do
come to an agreement, he can't be traded for this season.
If they don't come to an agreement, he could potentially
be on the table, and he's a very valuable role
piece that I think a lot of teams would call
them about. Samely with Norman Powell. That's for your question.
It's very interesting, I think would be I think it
would be likely that they try to go for an upgrade.
I don't think they would be comfortable pitching to the
fan base four months into a new arena and an
off season after you lost your second, slash third best player. Hey,
we're gonna get rid of everyone that's worth you know,
that's the superstar level, and we're gonna try again next
year and you know, go from there. The only way
I think they do that is if either Kawhi or
either James are at a level that the Clippers don't
think is sustainable and another team comes calling them for
So hypothetically, if like, for instance, if OKC came calling
for Kawhi Leonard in February and said, hey, you saw
what Brooklyn did.
Speaker 1: We need a seventh man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you saw what Brooklyn did. Would you like your
picks back and we'll just take Kawhi. I think I
think it would depend on a lot of factors, because
it would depend on where the team is at currently
and what else. Okayse's willing to give up, but that's
the kind of level I think they for Kawhi specifically.
I think they believe in him so much it would
take more, obviously than James. I think if James is
playing at a high, high level, I don't think it's
the end of the world. I don't think it's impossible
to see him getting moved if they think it's the
best way to pivot from this current season to the
next one in a in like a building aspect.
Speaker 1: So you don't think it's a situation. By the way,
I wonder if we're gonna see more of teams reacquiring
their own draft picks when you just look at how
many of them are trade away, so many distant future ones,
and what just happened with Brooklyn and Houston. I think
so if just hypothetically, if Okase was to give them
back their two thousand control over their twenty twenty six
and twenty twenty having first round picks. Is that enough
to get the Clippers thinking?
Speaker 2: In my opinion, it would get me enough in their
enough to think about it, just because I don't know,
I don't know what they expect out of this current
iteration beyond this coming season. I know that they have
their sight set on twenty twenty six for free agency
in terms of whoever might be available then when obviously
it's Shay and Luca, but you know, names are always
potentially available, and then people sign extensions, so you never know.
But as the Great Keith Smith always says, cap space
is available for more than just free agents. They always
use it for trades. So there is that factor to consider.
They're gonna have a lot of flexibility this coming off season.
I think that's the other thing that we have to
consider here, is maybe they're right out this year for
better or for worse than just decide, look, this offseason,
we're gonna have a lot more flexibility. We can use
that flexibility to acquire whatever we think we're missing, keep
a lot of this roster intact, and then go from there,
and because of the sorry cap projected jumps, they're not
going to be in the first apron and obviously not
the second apron for a little while now, unless uh,
they start acquiring stars again to get to get up
to that level.
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna be Maybe that'll be good enough
that it doesn't matter, But I think even that becomes
then fascinating, where Okay, everything you just kind of outlined, like,
is this a team that you think, Okay, things are
going fairly well, let's just say that they're in the
thick of the playoff race, Like, are they willing to
give up like that did those distant first round rights?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's that's that's gonna be a key
question if they're in that, If they're in the thick
of that race. I mean, the other thing we have
to consider is James Harden's never missed the playoffs. Kawhi
Leonard when he's played, has never missed the playoffs. You know,
they they touted the winning percentage that those players have
when they're on the floor, and that's a very real thing. Yes,
they were part of a lot of great teams, and
I understand that there are a lot of other great
on those teams, but they very much bank on the
kind of the veteran winning ability of those players to
get other guys over the line, and they think they're
gonna have a winning season. I don't think it's crazy
that they have a winning season. I don't think it's
crazy they they we even went up to like forty five,
forty six games. If things go their way, allow would
have to go their way to get beyond that. But
I think they're in a unique position where a lot
of teams in the West we don't know what to expect,
and they're chief among them. They're probably number one. We
don't know what to expect out of this team, so
you know they're gonna have a lot of questions. We've
talked about a lot of them, obviously. But if they
get to February and they're seven or eight or ninth,
and they're right there, close enough to six to have
a real chance, and Lawrence Frank talked about this on Tuesday,
The difference between fourth and tenth last year was five games.
If they think they're in the thick of it, they
probably would go for it because they know the value
in consistently putting out a winning product, even if you
don't achieve the postseason success you would like. I do
think winning matters to them at a granular level where
they want to be a winning franchise. They want to
turn around the stigma that they are, you know, the
second losing this franchise in the history of the NBA.
I believe behind Minnesota if I'm not mistaken. So they
want to turn that around, and they want to keep
winning even if you know, if it's forty two and forty,
they'll take it.
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about the lineups they could play,
who could play at full strength, and it might be
best to bring this team specifically to break it down.
What does the top ten rotation look like? So I'll
start here. Who do you envision will be the starting
lineup again at full strength for this team.
Speaker 2: That's an interesting question because it got asked on Tuesday
to Tie. Tie said, it's an open competition. Basically, I
don't think any spot is locked in stone outside of
James and Kawhih and Zoo when they're there. I think
there's two open spots and guys are gonna have to
fight for it, including parents. I think this is a
training camp where guys are gonna have to guys are
gonna play that their way into the roles that they have.
I don't think there's set in stone rolls. If you're
asking me what I think the starting lineup will be
on night one. If Kawhi plays, obviously that's not a lock,
but I think I think it will be, not could be.
I think it will be James, Terrence, Derek, Kawhi, Zoo.
If they're all healthy and all on the fly, I
think that will be the initial starting lineup for them.
From there, who knows.
Speaker 1: I mean, it does sound like there's probably like eight
locks right when you're looking at so I mean, to
go through it, you would have hardened Man. Kawhi, Batoom, Zoobots, Powell,
Derek Jones Junior, and Chris Dunn are the names that
I have penciled in. Is like those guys are all
gonna play on a regular basis.
Speaker 2: And did you say Nico as well?
Speaker 1: Yes? I did?
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, So so yeah, that's probably the eight in stone.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like from you that Kevin Porter Junior
might need to be the ninth in stone.
Speaker 2: Probably be the ninth, I you know, and then on
some nights you get mo Bomba. On some nights you
get a mere coffee. I think they're going to start
off trying to go nine deep and then kind of
figured it out from there, you know. I mean, maybe
on night one, it's not a Kevin Porter Junior fifteen
minute night. It's maybe like a Kevin Porter Junior, here's
eight minutes and Mobamba's our backup center for the ninth spot.
You know, it could be one of those. They're gonna
have to figure this out. I think I think I
feel pretty confident. I know a lot of teams could
say this, but I feel pretty compassating the team that
they are in opening night will not be the team
that they are at the end of the season in
terms of like how the minutes and rotation shakes out.
Speaker 1: This mays that this coming question that much tougher. It's
always to some extent matchup dependent. But if you'd guess
right now, what winds up being their most used crunch
time lineup?
Speaker 2: Oh, crunch timelineup. They like going kind of small and
crunch time. But I don't know if they can, uh,
if they're all healthy. I'm assuming James, Norm Kawhi Zoo, Derek.
Speaker 1: Now Linhem could play some defense, I.
Speaker 2: Think because Derek insulates the other guys defensively to play
on ball, and you get Kawhi as a roamer. Norm
isn't picked on as much, and you do need a
spacing same with James as the ball handler, and you
get Zoo for the rim protection. Now, if they opt
to go small, it's probably Nico in place of Zoo,
and you just roll with that. Maybe you get Terrence
instead of Derek because Terrence is a has a longer
track record as a shooter.
Speaker 1: Is there a weirdo, funky, off beat lineup that you're
hoping Tyler rolls out this season?
Speaker 2: I kind of like the one I said earlier. It
was like, why Chris Dunne, Terrence, Derek, Nico and Zoo.
I think that'd be fun. I mean, they'd probably win
their minutes with the defensive radio like thirty and an
offensive radio of thirty one. But you know, why not
try it out every now? I kind of like dumb, dumb,
stupid lineups that look like they shouldn't work, and you
throw them out there for two three minutes just see
what you got. You know, why not try that? Why
not try Derek and Nico and Terrence and a Mirror
and James just to get five wing sized guys.
Speaker 1: That that was kind of close to the one I
want to see, except I had Done and Kuhi in
there with Derek Batum and uh, oh my god, who's
the other one? Who's the other one you needed? Why
am I blanking?
Speaker 2: It was?
Speaker 1: But so it was I had Batoum, Kawhi, Chris Done,
Derek Jones Junior to mir Coffee was the five that.
Speaker 2: I yeah, Terrence as well, so that would be the one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So and look, they's I could be fun
with what you're saying that. They almost view getting weird
as like a prerequisite of the roster they have in place.
Speaker 2: So they look, I don't want to make it sound
like it's worse than it is, but like it is
like throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.
Like some nights they're just gonna have to do that,
you know. On Tuesday when when I asked them specific
I asked Lawrence Frank at the end of Tuesdays saying, like, look,
a couple of years ago, you guys were without Kauhi
for the entire year, PG only played thirty games. You
guys still had a winning season. Granted that, I believe
they were forty two and forty and they had like
a four four game win streak at the end of
the season to get to a winning record. If there
was anything that they could take from that, and he said,
you know, that's when he gave the comment of they
take a lot of pride in winning, Like it's not
just a like a thing. Like it's not just like
a thing they say, they do mean it, And I
think there are things they can draw from that season
where it's like, you know, they walked to scratch and
claw on a lot of nights and get weird and
get funky and throw lineups out there that might look
stupid that for this thirty second stretch of basketball got
a stop that you needed, or anything relating to that,
Like they there's a lot that they're gonna have to
figure out. Last year, they went into the season pretty
much knowing exactly what their roster and like the the
hierarchy was gonna be. That got thrown into flux when
James came a lot of people, I shouldn't say a
lot some people never fully adjusted to that and it
led to some issues that they despite their twenty six
and five stretch across thirty one games, at one point
they never really got over and yeah, they're gonna have
to figure it out. I I gotta say talking to Tylo,
I kind of think he's reveling in this. I think
this is where he's in his happy place, where he's
no one's expecting anything out of them. No one's expecting
them to be a top four seed, or have home
court in the postseason, or even win the NBA Cup,
or even win their group of the NBA Cup. So
I kind of think he's in his happy place. I
think he's happy he has Jeff with him, and I
think he's happy he's got guys who are going to
compete defensively and give it there all every night. And
I think he expects this team to outplay and overachieve
what the outside world thinks of them. And I kind
of think that's why he's excited. Now, will they long
way to go between here and April, but I think
he's excited, and being around Tye, I will say this
that man is excited about the craziest stuff in terms
of like basketball. So when he gets excited about something,
it's it's kind of a joy to see.
Speaker 1: As we record this, they're speaking of the you know,
not really having a handle on the Clippers, and this
did shift after the Kwhi Leonard injury news. The Clippers
win total SAIDT thirty eight and a half as of
right now. Would you take the over the under on that?
Speaker 2: I'm a little opt I think I go over, Dave.
It's hard for me to say under, only because I
have seen them win so many games for the last
decade and a half. I think that they are ingrained
as a winning team and with the guys that they have,
and I understand that that's Vegas anticipating that Kauai is
out for an extended period of time, and he might
be I don't know, but I think they get to
at least thirty nine. I think they get obviously, I
think they go over.
Speaker 1: With that in mind, however, which teams in the Western
Conference as of right now, before we're basically training camp
is right here? Would you be prepared to guarantee or
feel confident that the Clippers will be better than just
looking specifically at the West.
Speaker 2: I'm just looking specifically, but I'm going to pull up
with actually West thing real quick because I believe or
not actually do forget some of the teams in the
West sometimes, Okay, I think they're gonna be better than
the Warriors.
Speaker 1: Well, we're getting spicy right off the bat.
Speaker 2: Then and Houston, actually, I'm sorry, not the words Houston,
San Antonio, Utah, Portland, and then I think it'll be
neck and neck with them, Golden State and possibly Memphis.
I understand that there's a big thing with Memphis where
like everyone just expects them to go back to where
they were. I think I think they could. I'm not
saying they can't. I just think there's gonna be a
little bit of like a not a trial and error period,
but an adjustment period back to that.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean we still haven't seen the you know,
the whole group with Marcus Smart we never really got
see last season. And then they are just expecting a
rookie and Zach Edie to play this huge role for them,
and so if that doesn't pan out, things will shift.
You are a little bit.
Speaker 2: And I guess neck and neck with the Lakers too.
I'm sorry, I I've actually I think, at the risk
of being like ridiculed by Lakers, but I think they're
pretty neck and neck in terms of like rosters stars, well,
for the Clipper stars, obviously James is below where Anthony
Davis is, But in terms of like the overall hierarchy,
I think I think they're about neck and neck with
each other. And I don't know how JJ Redick's gonna
be as a head coach. He could be amazing, honestly,
and I think that's a caveat the factor into this.
So I think those teams and the Clippers are gonna
be kind of in that tussle for those final couple spots.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I honestly I have them in the same tiers
like the Warriors Lakers. For me, like that area, I
think the only teams are prepared to guarantee they'll be
better then and like the Kawhi bugaboo of it all
definitely plays a role is u Jahn Portland, because those
are the only teams that we know really aren't as
interested in winning right now. And I think you know
you mentioned like the Lakers, the Warriors, then the Spurs
I think are a wild card. Like I think it
might be fair to say, well, they'll be better than
at least maybe you go on through a Houston they'll
be better than at least one of those teams. I
could probably stretch the number to three. I'm not gonna
lie though, And maybe this is me just being a
prisoner of the moment. Like the Kawhi Leonard write me
update for me, just yeah, I actually feel better about
them after talking to you for the past ninety minutes
or so. But like that update, I was just like,
this team is cooked, Like I just have zero faith
in what they're gonna be. I see the vision more
so after talking to you, but I'm just like, we're
here again. It's another lower body Kawhi Leonard, and just like,
what is gonna happen?
Speaker 2: Listen. I will tell people all day they're fully within
their right to be skeptical. I completely understand it. I'm
still skeptical to some degree on it. I completely get it.
I think they need a lot of things to go
their way to get to the upper echelon of like
what I think they're seeming could be. But I do
think if on the surface, if Kawhi plays fifty five games,
so he misses, you know, all sixteen back to backs
and a few more and eleven more games after that,
I think if they can win thirty of those fifty five,
you know, do I think they can win another nine
to get to their over on to get over I
think they could. I think they can claw nine wins
out of that. So the beginning of their schedule is
actually not that bad. In certain stretches. It lightens up
here and there at times. What I will say that
they're actually very excited about is because of their new arena.
They have no afternoon home games this year and last year.
Last year, I believe a quarter of their home games
where afternoon starts. So they're very excited about this.
Speaker 1: I mean, between that and all the toilets.
Speaker 2: Like I will say, for anyone who hasn't been to
the arena, which I understands probably a lot of people
at this point, if you ever have the chance to go, go,
it's a very nice arena. I've sat in the chairs.
I am not a slim person, but these chairs have
a lot of space and it's probably the best chairs
I've ever sat in at an arena. There's a lot
of space everywhere. It's the scoreboard, the little halo board,
not little. The halo board that they have is really cool.
Their arena is something else and I think they view
that as like the crown jewel in keeping this run
of success going because of the star power they might
be able to bring in as a result, because of location,
new arena, everything's under one roof, YadA, YadA, YadA. I
think it's gonna play a factor down the line, but
for this season it will be very interesting. I just
think people should go see a game there. I know
people have been to concerts there already. They said it's
an incredible concert venue. Obviously, it wasn't built just for concerts.
It was built primarily for the NBA, but they they
went all out on this arena, and that's the other reason.
I think, as weird as it sounds, that they're not
gonna be into a tanking type situation of selling guys
off is I don't know if they do that. I
don't know if they can bring people back. That's a
very very long road back to that prominence that they're
at right now. Because people are still excited about this team.
It might not be like around the area, it might
not be you know, rainbows and lollipops every day, but
there are people who do want to see this team,
and I think that matters to this organization, and I
don't think they want that to change. And I think
they're gonna try to go balls of the wall for
lack of a better phrase, to get there. And we'll see.
That's that should be the model for the twenty twenty
four to twenty five Clippers. We'll see because a lot
of things they are gonna be have to be seen
a close.
Speaker 1: If they see the expectations that they have one of
their trademark like twenty five to thirty two game hot stretches,
it'll have to be called rainbows lollipops because I like
that too.
Speaker 2: I'm trademarking that if that happens. Okay, I'm making shirts.
I'm doing it. I gave Reggie Jackson his nickname, and
he knows that I gave him his nickname, so I
should have monetized that when I had the chances. Yeah,
I'm not gonna miss out again.
Speaker 1: Justin, is there anything related to this team I haven't
asked you about that you think needs to be covered
before I let uskidaddle.
Speaker 2: All I'll say is, and I know it's a weird
thing to end on. I'm very excited to see what
Jordan Miller can do. Maybe not at the NBA level,
but specifically to him. He killed it in the Summer League.
I thought he should have been Summer League MVP. He
was incredible, great person to talk to. I did an
exclusive interview with him at Summer League before I left,
and I posted on my substack a couple months ago,
very very down to earth, quick learner. I wouldn't be
shocked to see him get minutes this year in the NBA, especially,
you know, if some guys do get traded down the line,
but with him, I'm very excited to see him in
the G League. Setting for this team, specifically, they moved
G League facilities. They were totally rebringing their G League.
They moved down to Ocean Side. They moved from Ontario, California,
down to Ocean Side, which is near San Diego. They
built an entire new sports complex down there. I believe
it's like five thousand seats. They have essentially dorm rooms,
like condominium dorm rooms for the for the G League players,
right next to the arena, so like everything they need
is right there, and it feels kind of like tacky,
but I kind of appreciate an NBA team putting that
much thought and care into something as the G League.
Speaker 1: I mean, after reading Life in the g that is
definitely a standout priority for an NBA team for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like they built, you know, a place for these
players to stay. They can go to the facility every
day to get food, to do their workouts, to get
their treatment, to get anything they need. I think that's
incredible and I think Jordan Miller is gonna be a
beneficiary of that. And I think there's something there with
him along the lines of what we saw with Terrence
Mann a couple of years ago where he first broke out.
The difference between Jordan and Terrence. Jordan is a lot
more willing of a shooter, and I think that could
get him rotation minutes down the line, not day one,
but down the line in the season, because I do
think he can impact them in a positive way. Does
that mean he's gonna help them make the playoffs? I
don't know. That's like pie in the sky, but I
think rainbows and lollipops. But I do think there are
things that they can find with him that I think
they need to explore more. Same thing with Kobe Brown
to a lesser extent.
Speaker 1: Justin are you able just to tell our listeners where
they can find you on social media and where they
can find all the great work that you do cover
in this team.
Speaker 2: You can find me on Twitter I refuse to call
it the other thing that you can find me on
Twitter at fly by Night, f L y B y
K and I T E. You can find me. My
substack is justin Russo dots substack dot com. I will
tell people I am starting to charge as of October first,
so if you do join, it's five dollars a month.
My only my explanation for this is I'm sorry. Things
are expensive now and I need I need to live,
you know, so you can find me there. I do
write about basketball quite a bit. Obviously, I'll write about
Clippers a lot, but I'll write about other things basketball related.
I do write about soccer from time to time. If
that's not your cup of tea, that's fine, that's okay.
Most people don't really care about soccer the America anyway,
so that's fine.
Speaker 1: I thought you were talking about the NFL when you
said football manager, so lo and behold listen.
Speaker 2: Do you know there is a growing population of people
within the football manager community that want to see a
basketball version made.
Speaker 1: I've I can see like so much. I know the
league has changed, but the way it's covered in the
way a lot of people. I say this having insight
into the numbers behind articles I write for a big company,
they are still so obsessed with the transaction part of
this league. It feels like something like that would do
very well. That's all I have.
Speaker 2: So there's already a Baseball has had their own version.
I apologize for the train. Baseball already has their own
versions called out of the Park Baseball. They've been around
many many years. So has Football Manager. Football Manager has
been around, like I want to say, like twenty five
years now. Yeah, it started as I believe Championship Manager.
Hockey has Hockey Manager, which isn't as popular. But if
the NFL and specifically the NBA ever delved into this
and went into that line of computer games or anything
like that, I honestly think people would love that, and
it would also help people learn more about the game
and more about the players, and more about just the
way front offices work and cities and infrastructures work within
I think it would actually be pretty cool. I'm kind
of on board with it. I kind of hope NBA
teams kind of make it happen somehow.
Speaker 1: Uh, I ad excuse me as I'm talking to usted.
Here you can find a link to justin substack. It
will be in our podcast and YouTube description. Thank you
so much for having me oh so much of your time.
This was a blast for the second year in a
row and rest the short. As you probably know by now,
I will be best bring you again in the future,
So thanks again for time.
Speaker 2: That's fine. I apologize for talking so much. Kind of
what I do