Speaker 1: Well, come in. It is a Clippers talk live. Didn't
Speaker 1: think I'd be doing this so soon. If anybody can
Speaker 1: hear me, let me know in the chat. I would
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I just put up the tweet at follow
Speaker 1: out of may on X. I am suited and booted
Speaker 1: because today was Clippers media Day. So why am I
Speaker 1: already back from into it Dome, which was closer than
Speaker 1: I would have thought it was coming from Burbank here.
Speaker 1: I'm feeling good about that part of it. I have
Speaker 1: had some hearing issues as of late, this ETD issue.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit muffled, and so at media Day
Speaker 1: the microphone was going in and out and was very low.
Speaker 1: So after about Norman Powell, I realized I couldn't hear
Speaker 1: that much. So I thought I'd just come back and
Speaker 1: I'd start this live stream here and I'd give some
Speaker 1: commentary on what happened at media Day and go through
Speaker 1: some of the with you guys. Once again, if you
Speaker 1: can hear me, if you're out there, let me know
Speaker 1: here in the chat. Here's my guy jm I thirteen
Speaker 1: twenty four. I'm guessing he can hear. Welcome to Clipperstock.
Speaker 1: This is a live edition. I'm out of Mosland. I
Speaker 1: still have the tie on, still have the media credential
Speaker 1: on a bit of a frustrating day for me since
Speaker 1: it's usually one of my favorites. But I don't know,
Speaker 1: I couldn't hear that well there, Jeffrey Beltron says, come
Speaker 1: say hi to the supporter section. I will try to
Speaker 1: do that extra. Ernie TV says, it's that time again.
Speaker 1: We back clip gang. We are appreciate everyone for coming
Speaker 1: in here. I'm gonna keep this going for a while.
Speaker 1: I don't know how long. I got a couple of
Speaker 1: caffeinated beverages right here. I'm gonna drink through these. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna sort through some of the quote. In fact, let
Speaker 1: me grab my notes. I'll be back in one two days.
Speaker 1: Maybe we can go through in order of the guys
Speaker 1: were up who were up at the podium today, and
Speaker 1: go through some of the quotes that are coming out currently.
Speaker 1: I'll just pull up La Murray here. I'll pull up
Speaker 1: far A boydsen Shari. I saw there Joey Lynn was
Speaker 1: doing some really good reporting there, justin Russo, of course,
Speaker 1: and just try to give you everything that was of
Speaker 1: note you could say from today's media day, starting with
Speaker 1: Norman Powell. He came to the podium first, was excited
Speaker 1: about that. He said he was super excited to get
Speaker 1: the season started, was ready to go. He was asked
Speaker 1: if he wants to start this year. I believe that
Speaker 1: was La Murray pose that question. He said, I want
Speaker 1: to start every year. I'm excited to get back to
Speaker 1: that and show in training camp that I should be
Speaker 1: starting and I'm ready to fill whatever void or whatever
Speaker 1: is needed for the team. normOn Powell came across very
Speaker 1: very confident. In his presser, Holo Dolo says, I loved
Speaker 1: how all the guys said they are aware of the
Speaker 1: outside noise and motivated to prove them wrong. That's something
Speaker 1: else normOn Palell talked about. He said that he thought
Speaker 1: it was wild. Basically, I'm paraphrasing that a lot of
Speaker 1: people had the Clippers basically written off. They had the
Speaker 1: miss twelfth in the West. So a little bit of
Speaker 1: an added motivation there, I think, not just from normOn Powell,
Speaker 1: but yes, it was a theme going on last week.
Speaker 1: Toron Lou said he wants this Clippers team to get
Speaker 1: out and transition more and take more threes. This is
Speaker 1: coming from Justin Russo's so normOn Powell was asked about that,
Speaker 1: Pal said he thinks it suits him well and this
Speaker 1: team quite well, and noted the analytical side of things
Speaker 1: that shooting more threes is good. It is guys, shooting
Speaker 1: thirty three percent from three is the equivalent of fifty
Speaker 1: percent from two. So even if you are under league average,
Speaker 1: which is about thirty six percent from three, you shoot
Speaker 1: thirty three percent at high volume, that can still be good.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what the Boston Celtics shot at high volume
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals, and they were able to take
Speaker 1: out the Dallas Mavericks in five games. A lot of
Speaker 1: that was due to the three points shooting and playing
Speaker 1: the analytics game. Norman Palt talked about the off season,
Speaker 1: said he read a few books, said he was doing
Speaker 1: some meditation, didn't exactly say darkness retreat, didn't go Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers with it, but was taking care of his mental health.
Speaker 1: I guess this was interesting. Norm Pal said, I know
Speaker 1: media and outlets like to write us off because we
Speaker 1: don't have PG anymore. We're losing Russell Westbrook, and he
Speaker 1: brought up a point norm that that nineteen twenty Toronto Raptors.
Speaker 1: Year after Kawhi Leonard left to become a Clipper, they
Speaker 1: were still a top team in the Eastern Conference. They
Speaker 1: were still a top five seed. Jeffrey Belchan said, wait,
Speaker 1: you're not here anymore. No, I had trouble hearing with
Speaker 1: the microphone. I know it was going in and out.
Speaker 1: Time seemed a little bit low. I looked at my
Speaker 1: right and asked Tamara Zari. He said it was bad too,
Speaker 1: So maybe it wasn't just my hearing. I hope, because
Speaker 1: I've had some issues, but there's no issue when I'm
Speaker 1: plugged in and have an amplifier. It's basically a hearing
Speaker 1: aid when I'm doing radio and I have my headphones
Speaker 1: on and I can control the volume. So I thought
Speaker 1: I'd just come back home and I would start this
Speaker 1: live stream and I will keep it going for some
Speaker 1: time here. So join in, hang out. I'm not going
Speaker 1: anywhere over the next hour. Maybe we'll have some guests
Speaker 1: on to post Media Day and everybody getting up there
Speaker 1: at the podium Nora and Pale. One of the last
Speaker 1: things he said was he's really excited to continue to
Speaker 1: prove the media wrong. Nicholas Battou. He was next. He
Speaker 1: came up, talked about anticipating this season, how it's a
Speaker 1: new beginning, got a lot of new guys that he's
Speaker 1: excited to play with, new arena, new jerseys, they're wearing
Speaker 1: the blue, new logo. Everything is new. Quote, can't wait
Speaker 1: to play a game in this place. Now it's into
Speaker 1: a dome. Niko Pattoom said there were a couple offers
Speaker 1: out there, but he was talking to head coach Ron
Speaker 1: Lou and quote, it was pretty much what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do for me and my family, and Coach Lou
Speaker 1: is the guy I want to play for. Quote. I
Speaker 1: signed here after a really bad time in Charlotte and
Speaker 1: Coach Lou saved his career. That's nothing new. We've heard
Speaker 1: him say that for a long time now. He joked,
Speaker 1: don't expect me to score twenty five points in reference
Speaker 1: to the team losing Paul George and Russell Westbrook and
Speaker 1: him filling that void. He also joked over the summer
Speaker 1: he tried to beat tm USA but couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: He was great though. Then it was James Harden who
Speaker 1: was third, as Jeffrey Beltrian says, we appreciate you bro
Speaker 1: listening from the supporters section right on. I did see
Speaker 1: some people there that said they were listening to the
Speaker 1: podcast on the way into into it Dome, because I
Speaker 1: know there's a ton of fans there today. They made
Speaker 1: it available to a lot of people. Matthew A Jimi says,
Speaker 1: are we really going into training camp with PJ and
Speaker 1: no for other than Batoom, other than Kawhi, other than
Speaker 1: Kobe Brown, other than sliding up a mere coffee. More
Speaker 1: on that in a little bit. But you realize Kawhi
Speaker 1: started at the four all last season, my friends, so
Speaker 1: hopefully he is available. More on that coming up with
Speaker 1: some of those quotes coming from Kawhi, but we'll go
Speaker 1: in order here. James Harden was next after Niko Batoum.
Speaker 1: He was asked how his role changes aggressive Aggressive. We
Speaker 1: tried to last year to where we try to figure
Speaker 1: it out guys in their roles. It's kind of difficult
Speaker 1: when you got that high caliber of players or Hall
Speaker 1: of famers, it was pretty difficult. Certainly started off that
Speaker 1: way with James Harden where they were zero to five.
Speaker 1: That was when Russ was in the backcourt with him
Speaker 1: before making the change change to bring in Terrence Man there,
Speaker 1: James Harden said that this year there's a pretty clear
Speaker 1: space on what he needs to be doing on his
Speaker 1: decision to resign with the Clippers this offseason, and this
Speaker 1: is coming from Justin Rousseau, who I saw there was
Speaker 1: hanging out with. He said, James Harden said, quote, I'm home.
Speaker 1: I'm home, and I don't plan on going anywhere else.
Speaker 1: I want to leave a legacy, especially here, that is big.
Speaker 1: That is a pretty cool statement. Matthew a Jimi follows
Speaker 1: up now talking about the four spot. Isn't four too
Speaker 1: tough on Kawhi's body? I don't know. It seems like
Speaker 1: you're moving around less when you're playing the four, and
Speaker 1: he just played sixty eight games last season. You can
Speaker 1: say yes, but then he hit the wall, wasn't able
Speaker 1: to play in the playoffs. Well, it's not like playing
Speaker 1: the three kept him away from injuries. He toured the
Speaker 1: ACL he had the meniscus injury playing the three, and
Speaker 1: he played less games during the regular season than he
Speaker 1: did last season. So I don't think there's anything definitive
Speaker 1: to say that the four is too tough on Kawhi's body,
Speaker 1: because in theory, the three probably racks up more mileage
Speaker 1: per game with chasing guys around the perimeter more. Where
Speaker 1: as you play the four, you are restricted a little
Speaker 1: bit more to the paint and guys trying to back
Speaker 1: you down, and maybe that actually makes it a little
Speaker 1: bit easier, he says, gotcha now. Kawhi Leonard of note
Speaker 1: last season at one point did say, I'll play it
Speaker 1: until we get a real one. So do they have
Speaker 1: a real one. Niko batoom could be that guy, but
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's going to be playing more
Speaker 1: than twenty minutes per night on average, So therefore, can
Speaker 1: you really start him? Those guys typically are going to
Speaker 1: be playing twenty five plus minutes upwards of thirty minutes
Speaker 1: for some of the starters. I don't know if Niko
Speaker 1: Batoum would be able to do that. Shark in the
Speaker 1: Box says your starters, HU know, Norm, Kawhi, Djja and Zoo.
Speaker 1: Is that something coming out from coach Lou at this moment?
Speaker 1: Is he at the podium? I don't even know if
Speaker 1: it's for sure happening where. Yeah, Derek Jones Junior is
Speaker 1: at the podium right now. We'll catch up to that
Speaker 1: because Coach Lou and Lawrence Frank talked last week. Let's
Speaker 1: get to Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 2: Guys.
Speaker 1: I did post at follow out of May a good
Speaker 1: chunk of his press conference, about six minutes of it,
Speaker 1: if you want to check that out on Twitter on
Speaker 1: x And here was Kawhi Leonard on how he's feeling. Quote,
Speaker 1: We're taking it day by day. Everything has been great
Speaker 1: for the past month, but they're being very cautious for reasons.
Speaker 1: This is something I have said in trying to bring
Speaker 1: some hope and some optimism to the situation with Kawhi
Speaker 1: and why he's being held out of drills at training camp.
Speaker 1: They could just be so overly cautious right now. They
Speaker 1: could be understandably proceeding with an abundance of caution so
Speaker 1: that you know, as training camp, do they really need
Speaker 1: to push Kawhi then I don't think so. He's thirty three,
Speaker 1: he's been through this. He's not going to learn anything
Speaker 1: more there. And if they just want to strengthen the
Speaker 1: knee right now, it makes sense. Why risk inflammation at
Speaker 1: training camp when you're trying to have him complete a
Speaker 1: playoff series for the first time since the bubble in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty or at least since the first round of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one against the Dallas Mavericks complete a playoff run,
Speaker 1: you could say, Polo Dollo said when Harden was asked
Speaker 1: about Kawhi, he said he should take his time. Seems
Speaker 1: like un is confident in him making the playoffs regardless
Speaker 1: of his availability. I think it's more so he just
Speaker 1: knows the main goal is for Kawhi to be available
Speaker 1: when games are most important, when it's a playoff series. Now,
Speaker 1: I would make the argument that to get to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: they're going to need him as well. Without Paul George,
Speaker 1: with the way they've reconstructed this team offensively, they could
Speaker 1: really struggle at times. I think, of course, James Harden
Speaker 1: is that floor razer for the team, and that's big
Speaker 1: and if he's available for sixty five plus seventy plus games,
Speaker 1: huge for the Clippers. But make no mistake, in this
Speaker 1: really tough Western Conference, the gauntlet that it is, they
Speaker 1: are going to need Kawhi Leonard during the regular season.
Speaker 1: You can't just hold him out till March, like some
Speaker 1: people have said over the years, just wait then and
Speaker 1: then start playing him as the playoffs come around. Because
Speaker 1: you wait that long, you may not have him, you
Speaker 1: may not be in a playoff series to have him available.
Speaker 1: More on Kawhi Leonard, he said the team is making
Speaker 1: sure he's healthy for the important moments.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: On his removal from Team USA, Kawai said, I thank
Speaker 1: them for the opportunity. Things came out of nowhere and
Speaker 1: it was out of my control. Leonard said he was
Speaker 1: glad they got a gold medal. Kawai said the plan
Speaker 1: is for him to play on opening night. He was
Speaker 1: asked about that. Lawrence Frank was not committal on it
Speaker 1: last week. Non commital was Laurence Frank on him playing
Speaker 1: Opening Night last week? Kawai said he doesn't want to
Speaker 1: miss games, of course. Quote. It all depends on what
Speaker 1: we want and what we figure out. I think it
Speaker 1: is a positive to think I will play, but we're
Speaker 1: taking it day by day. Nobody knows at this point, guys,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you they have to see how the knee
Speaker 1: responds to training camp and the strengthening of the knee
Speaker 1: during their time in Hawaii and back here five days later.
Speaker 1: No one can know. Kawai doesn't know at this point.
Speaker 1: There is another juicy quote coming out from Norman Powell
Speaker 1: that I will bring up to you guys in just
Speaker 1: a little bit here, so I know I'm going a
Speaker 1: little bit out of order, but I want to keep
Speaker 1: going here after Kawhi Leonard and we can talk about
Speaker 1: that in the comments. I'm just kining to give you
Speaker 1: the quick rundown and gloss over some of the main
Speaker 1: points in talking points and quotes coming out of today's
Speaker 1: media day, which is still ongoing. My understanding currently is
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior is at the podium. We'll bring you
Speaker 1: some of those quotes too, but still going in order.
Speaker 1: Next up was of eatsa Zubats. He says he thinks
Speaker 1: he's going to see an increased offensive workload this season.
Speaker 1: Good need that quote, just being patient when I get
Speaker 1: the ball down there, taking my time, using my body,
Speaker 1: my strength and my height. It beats a zoobots on
Speaker 1: the new arena. It's great having something you can call
Speaker 1: your own. It's going to help a lot with scheduling,
Speaker 1: getting a better schedule for the season, not getting as
Speaker 1: many early games like we did in the past. I
Speaker 1: think that's going to be big for us.
Speaker 2: Nor Mormon.
Speaker 1: Powell also touched upon that a little bit he said
Speaker 1: the afternoon starts, he didn't mind that as much, but
Speaker 1: he still likes the fact that they are a priority
Speaker 1: now with their own arena. Avita Zubats said he was
Speaker 1: very happy this summer when the team resigned James Harden quote,
Speaker 1: I think this year we're going to take another step.
Speaker 1: That season. Those reps are going to help. This year
Speaker 1: is only going to be better. That is really something
Speaker 1: we're counting on. That's huge, because, look, they had to
Speaker 1: learn on the fly ten games in they bring in
Speaker 1: James Harden. I mentioned a little bit earlier that obviously
Speaker 1: it took some time before they got on that big
Speaker 1: run thirty one game stretch they go twenty six in five,
Speaker 1: but it was a learning curve and he and James
Speaker 1: were doing the right things after practice. They were putting
Speaker 1: in the work. They were doing what they could to
Speaker 1: develop that pick and roll chemistry. It's gonna be much
Speaker 1: more refined and you're gonna see more high pick and
Speaker 1: roll with James Harden. That was something coach lou said
Speaker 1: last week. I'm gonna run more high pick and roll,
Speaker 1: as they should. He's a pick and roll master, one
Speaker 1: of the best in the game to ever do it old.
Speaker 1: Dirty Dasher says, did you attend? Yes? I was there
Speaker 1: for I guess the first half of it, but I
Speaker 1: don't know. My hearing's not great. The microphone was low
Speaker 1: and it went in and out a few times, and
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna go home.
Speaker 1: Start the live stream. React to some of these quotes.
Speaker 1: John Rodriguez says, seeing everyone's Twitter post at media Day
Speaker 1: is getting me hyped. With the jerseys just as nice
Speaker 1: in person than the pictures. The jerseys are real, nice,
Speaker 1: real and spectacular. They were wearing the blue ones. They're beautiful.
Speaker 1: I heard complaints initially about the new logo. I'm hearing
Speaker 1: less and less of those as people are warming up
Speaker 1: to it. The alternate logos everybody loved immediately. Same with
Speaker 1: the jerseys. That is a hit. Going back to the cursive,
Speaker 1: they got a red jersey coming out to no complaints there.
Speaker 1: Izo said, I'm telling you right now, James is going
Speaker 1: to start the season off averaging twenty seven points. I
Speaker 1: think that's aspirational. He's thirty five years of age. He
Speaker 1: only played thirty four minutes per game last season with
Speaker 1: the Clippers. That was a low for I want to
Speaker 1: say since leaving Okay, see, I don't think he's averaged
Speaker 1: twenty seven, maybe twenty five, maybe twenty four. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna go from averaging eleven points per game. I know
Speaker 1: Paul George isn't here anymore and Kawhi could be missing,
Speaker 1: but he's not going from eleven points to twenty seven points.
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be difficult, and he's also
Speaker 1: going to be setting the table a ton. I just
Speaker 1: if he has to put up that many shots. I
Speaker 1: don't know if the Clippers are in a good space
Speaker 1: or good place. Jonathaning says, how was it being there
Speaker 1: and having the fans in the vicinity for media day?
Speaker 1: Saw some of the fans. I saw some of them,
Speaker 1: but I really didn't get a chance to interact. I
Speaker 1: was in the media room. I was hanging out with
Speaker 1: Brian Seemen a little bit La Murray Jessin, Russo tomer Azari.
Speaker 1: So I can't really comment too much on how that
Speaker 1: atmosphere was with the fans there as I'm still looking
Speaker 1: for a little bit more clarity with I believe it's
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior at the podium. I want to see
Speaker 1: if we have any quotes regarding d j J. Now
Speaker 1: we got something from this was Terrence Man about a
Speaker 1: half hour ago. He said, this comes from Joey Lynn.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be a real competitive team. We got a
Speaker 1: lot of dogs on our roster. I'll go to war
Speaker 1: with all the guys we picked up. He said. The
Speaker 1: Clippers see the media noise and they're hungry to prove
Speaker 1: it wrong. I like that. I like that Fishizl. But
Speaker 1: Dizzel I was referencing the amount of points yeah averaged.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, shots he averaged last season. I shouldn't have
Speaker 1: said points. You're right, James Harden was at eleven shot
Speaker 1: attempts per game. He averaged sixteen points per game last season.
Speaker 1: Going up eleven points is probably a lot to ask,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate pointing that out. I need to clarify
Speaker 1: he attempted eleven shots per game last season. Poetic Tube
Speaker 1: asks does this mean Norman Pale starting is still a possibility?
Speaker 1: I think it's a distinct possibility. I think Norman Powell
Speaker 1: has a bullseye on trying to be in the starting
Speaker 1: lineup because he has That has been his goal for
Speaker 1: a long time. That has been his motivation. He said
Speaker 1: Norman Powell was first at the podium, quote, I want
Speaker 1: to start every year. This is nothing new from Norm.
Speaker 1: He thinks in his mind he should be starting. And
Speaker 1: without Paul George. We talked about this last week with
Speaker 1: Att Murray, there's less of for him not starting now.
Speaker 1: The point would be where's his defense at? Where's his
Speaker 1: defense and where is his playmaking at? If you want
Speaker 1: to start next to James Harden, who yes, will have
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands a ton, but you still
Speaker 1: need to be a better passer and connector out there.
Speaker 1: If you're Norman Powell and you have to play better
Speaker 1: defense if you're gonna be in the starting backcourt next
Speaker 1: to James Harden or else. This Clippers defense, the identity
Speaker 1: they're trying to build on that end. If you get
Speaker 1: cooked at the point of attack, it makes things really
Speaker 1: difficult on your bigs on Avitza Zubots, on everybody else,
Speaker 1: secondary rim defenders like Kawhi Leonard, it makes things so
Speaker 1: much more difficult. Mike Dangs says James passed up a
Speaker 1: lot of shots last session last season trying to figure
Speaker 1: things out this season. He just needs to be more aggressive,
Speaker 1: as he said, yes he does agree with all of that.
Speaker 1: I just don't know if he's gonna go from eleven
Speaker 1: shots per game to twenty shots per game like that.
Speaker 1: Maybe I could sixteen seventeen shots a game. I could
Speaker 1: see that. Jonathan Ing says, looks like the first day
Speaker 1: of school. It kind of is like that old dirty
Speaker 1: Dasher says, best case scenario for me is barely making
Speaker 1: a play in tournament. That's best case, barely making the
Speaker 1: play in barely being tenth. I think that's overly negative.
Speaker 1: I think even if Kawhi Leonard only played forty games
Speaker 1: that they would have a good shot of still being
Speaker 1: eighth or ninth. But we'll see. Holo Dolo says, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm wrong, but I think James will also have a
Speaker 1: say in who his backcourt running mate will be, not
Speaker 1: just ty Lou. I agree with that. I think James
Speaker 1: Harden carries a lot of weight. The comfortability of James
Speaker 1: Harden in backcourt really is going to define this team offensively,
Speaker 1: So whoever he feels most comfortable playing next to, I
Speaker 1: think is huge. So if he wants a guy who's
Speaker 1: gonna be a gunner from the outside and Norman is
Speaker 1: not gonna pass down shots, like we have with Terrence
Speaker 1: Man over the years, where he's just not aggressive enough.
Speaker 1: He hasn't put up enough three pointers. You don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about that with Norman Powell. What you do
Speaker 1: have to worry about then, is him guarding the other
Speaker 1: team's two guard or point guard. He tries to guard
Speaker 1: up and guards their three, or they tried to hide
Speaker 1: him there against a three that's not much of a score.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna get picked on a little bit now.
Speaker 1: If he takes up the challenge of playing better defense,
Speaker 1: then I really think Norman Powell is much more in
Speaker 1: the running for the starting two guard spot. But we
Speaker 1: haven't seen that much as a Clipper. He was better
Speaker 1: last season defensively, but I want to see Toronto Raptors
Speaker 1: level Norman Powell defense. That's when I thought coming out
Speaker 1: of UCLA, guys he hung his hat on his defense.
Speaker 1: That's what he did, that's what he was known for.
Speaker 1: Nobody thought he would get to this point offensively where
Speaker 1: he'd become one of the most efficient scorers in the league,
Speaker 1: not just coming off the bench, just efficiency period. Shooting
Speaker 1: forty four percent from three. With the amount he took,
Speaker 1: Norman Powell has been damn impressive there with the proprison
Speaker 1: development throughout his career at this level. With his offense,
Speaker 1: it's his defense that has slipped maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: because of it that Mexican Nor says, Norman really needs
Speaker 1: to step it up. Averaging twelve points with nineteen minutes
Speaker 1: is not enough. Now I want to say, who was
Speaker 1: at fourteen points per game last season, which, yeah, is
Speaker 1: not going to be enough. Also, most likely depending on
Speaker 1: what else happens, Yeah, thirteen point nine points per game.
Speaker 1: He was playing twenty six minutes. So could his minutes
Speaker 1: go up? Could his scoring go up? Norm Powell? For sure,
Speaker 1: that could happen. I would imagine his efficiency would go
Speaker 1: down a little bit if that happens. But if he's
Speaker 1: only shooting forty one percent from the outside and he's
Speaker 1: taking more three pointers, you're fine with that. Last season,
Speaker 1: Norm Powe was at five three pointers taken per game.
Speaker 1: That's about what he's been averaging the last four seasons
Speaker 1: or so, going back to his last year with the
Speaker 1: Portland Trail Blazers. But Norm's got a gun. He's got
Speaker 1: to be a gunner. He's got to be on the
Speaker 1: aggressive side of things in looking for his offense. And
Speaker 1: I think he's well aware of that because here's the
Speaker 1: quote that people are talking about from Norman Powell that
Speaker 1: is very interesting and a little bit juicy. And I
Speaker 1: don't know because I was there when he said it
Speaker 1: today at Media Day, if he meant it in a
Speaker 1: way that was necessarily a shot at Paul George. But
Speaker 1: the quote is the quote, and I will quote it.
Speaker 1: Norman Powell said this on losing Paul George quote. I
Speaker 1: saw it as addition, by subtraction, more guys getting opportunities,
Speaker 1: including myself. That is going to make the rounds guys.
Speaker 1: That is going to be something that we are talking
Speaker 1: about coming out of this media day with again, on
Speaker 1: losing Paul George quote, I saw it as addition, by subtraction,
Speaker 1: more guys getting opportunities, including mysel. You can see this
Speaker 1: as two different things. Here a shot a bar towards
Speaker 1: Paul George or normOn Powell just being happy to get
Speaker 1: more opportunities. And that's the way he phrased it. Given
Speaker 1: the way he was talking about being more aggressive, trying
Speaker 1: to be a starter, I leaned towards that's how he
Speaker 1: meant it. But maybe there's something more to it. Maybe
Speaker 1: there was.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Was there locker room issues between him and Paul George,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Reen Zarit says Norm's standing on business.
Speaker 1: Mio says, love that line. I'm getting a Powell jersey
Speaker 1: on that quote alone. So the fans like it. I
Speaker 1: can understand why there were times over the last two
Speaker 1: seasons where people are saying Norman Powell was the third
Speaker 1: best player on this Clippers team, or at least the
Speaker 1: third best score because he would actually go out there
Speaker 1: looking to shoot to score and Paul George at times,
Speaker 1: you know, he'd have those games where he'd be up
Speaker 1: and down between game to game, between core to quarter
Speaker 1: with his aggressiveness. Matthew Ajimi says, I love it. Hope
Speaker 1: we hear more shots from other players. Let it be known, then,
Speaker 1: let them speak their mind. If you're looking at per
Speaker 1: thirty six minutes with Norman Powell, last season, he was
Speaker 1: still only at fourteen attempts per game, but the two
Speaker 1: seasons before that sixteen attempts per game, eighteen a game,
Speaker 1: but that was only in five games. Remember he broke
Speaker 1: his foot. I think a game against Portland in Portland
Speaker 1: right away as a Clipper that was unfortunate. I would
Speaker 1: look for him to get around fifteen shots per game,
Speaker 1: but there could be more competition than we are realizing.
Speaker 1: And yes, the Powell Rangers for real. Ree and Zarat
Speaker 1: said Norman Powell. We went into last season saying is
Speaker 1: norm a tradable piece to I'm saying, oh my god,
Speaker 1: he's so critical to this team. He has helped solidify
Speaker 1: one of the best lineups in the NBA, and the
Speaker 1: Clippers' best lineup which was starters, but Norm in for
Speaker 1: Terrence Man so him next to it was James Harden,
Speaker 1: Norm PG Kawhi and it Beta Zubats. They were nuking.
Speaker 1: Their efficiency was off the charts. J M I thirteen
Speaker 1: twenty four said it was a shot at PG rightfully,
Speaker 1: So both are sending shots at each other and I
Speaker 1: love it. If you guys have a quote from Paul
Speaker 1: George earlier today, by the way, because I know it
Speaker 1: was Philly's media day, send it over here. I'll read it,
Speaker 1: but it's got to be from somebody I trust. I
Speaker 1: don't want any fake news quotes coming from Paul George.
Speaker 1: I trust you guys. I love y'all, but I might
Speaker 1: have to double source it right now. Here's Joey Linn
Speaker 1: talking with Kevin Porter Jr. Discussing counseling, what he's learned
Speaker 1: during that time away from the league and his journey
Speaker 1: back to the NBA. Kevin Porter Junior said, for me,
Speaker 1: I've always believed in myself. I know my truth. I
Speaker 1: felt like I had a good fight getting back. Definitely
Speaker 1: didn't count myself out. We'll look for more on this,
Speaker 1: but KPJ was made available to the media. I am
Speaker 1: pulling quotes from our lovely reporters and media members and
Speaker 1: the local beat writers that I encourage you guys to support.
Speaker 1: Now I'm at Justin Russo. He has a video up
Speaker 1: from Tomara Azzari talking with Steve Balmer as they were
Speaker 1: in a different section of the arena at one point.
Speaker 1: Why don't I see what a good friend to marya
Speaker 1: Zzari has been posting He's gonna be all with me
Speaker 1: Wednesday from Hawaii. He'll be at training camp again. I
Speaker 1: want to reset a couple of things here Norn Palell
Speaker 1: and the Clippers. I've made it a theme to say
Speaker 1: they feel disrespected basically by the media. Pal said this,
Speaker 1: and he was first up quote outlets are riding us off.
Speaker 1: We lost PG, lost for USS and we're the twelfth seat,
Speaker 1: which is crazy to me, at least that's what they
Speaker 1: were saying. I've been a team where we've lost a
Speaker 1: superstar and we still got a top five seed the
Speaker 1: next year. He's referring to being with Toronto they lost Kawhi.
Speaker 1: He comes to the Clippers, they were still a top
Speaker 1: team in the East. The hole was greater than the
Speaker 1: sum of its parts. S is saying, it's media day.
Speaker 1: Is media day over? What are you doing back home?
Speaker 1: The microphone was low for me. My hearing is not
Speaker 1: great right now, so I was having trouble picking up
Speaker 1: on any quotes and the mic was going in and
Speaker 1: out a little bit. I just thought I'd come home
Speaker 1: and I do some analysis on some of this stuff instead.
Speaker 1: Hollo Dolo said Harden, saying he's excited for Zoo in
Speaker 1: terms of having a bigger offensive load is great. It
Speaker 1: just validates what all of us fans have been saying
Speaker 1: for so long. I don't think it's lost on the
Speaker 1: Clippers that of each the Zubots, he needs to be
Speaker 1: a bigger part of the offense. There just needs to
Speaker 1: be a more consistent, concerted effort to getting him the
Speaker 1: basketball on a nightly basis. That's it. It's not that
Speaker 1: they have and I have joked at times it looks
Speaker 1: like they're freezing him out. It's just when you have
Speaker 1: so many Hall of famers like they have had over
Speaker 1: the years, especially last year, you can get lost in
Speaker 1: the shuffle. But now it is a necessity, it is
Speaker 1: non negotiable. You either get it beats the Zubas involved
Speaker 1: early and often, or you are going to struggle offensively.
Speaker 1: He and James Harden I expect, you know, two of
Speaker 1: the first five times down the floor in the first
Speaker 1: quarter to be running high, pick and roll, and everything
Speaker 1: else should be working off of that, Jonathan Ing said.
Speaker 1: PG said it was the first time in his presser
Speaker 1: that it was the first time he was playing with
Speaker 1: an elite big and elite point guard at the same time.
Speaker 1: I did see that he is factually correct for the
Speaker 1: first time. I guess that is an accurate statement. I'm
Speaker 1: hoping Ivitza Zubats can still prove, as he's gonna be
Speaker 1: twenty seven throughout most of this season until March, that
Speaker 1: he can be an elite big and an offensive focal point.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to see. Uh yeah, double sourced
Speaker 1: it right here. Jm I thirteen twenty four said the
Speaker 1: same thing. People are overreacting to it. Yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: take that as much of a slight for the first
Speaker 1: time playing with an elite big and elite point guard.
Speaker 1: That that's a fair statement from Paul George renee Zarat says,
Speaker 1: what's the famous Gino Smith quote? They wrote me off,
Speaker 1: but I didn't write back. I love that one. Love
Speaker 1: you know Smith for that one. I Meana Sean said, Man,
Speaker 1: I'm still concerned for Kawhi as am I, but no
Speaker 1: more concern than I was coming into this, no less either.
Speaker 1: I guess they're taking a day by day basically. Guys,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be updated as this goes along. We hope
Speaker 1: during training camp how he's doing with the strengthening of
Speaker 1: the right knee, but we're not gonna know for a
Speaker 1: bit whether or not he's playing Opening night October twenty
Speaker 1: three against the Phoenix Suns because they have to see
Speaker 1: how his knee response. So follow Law Murray followed, Justin
Speaker 1: Russo follow Tilmarizari followed Joey Lynn follow the Great Reporters
Speaker 1: Miriam Swanson saw her today too. Mike Dang says, we'll
Speaker 1: see what PG says when Philly fans are killing him
Speaker 1: halfway through the season. I don't know. I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna start off hot now. Philly is notorious for being
Speaker 1: tough on their stars, especially you get paid there great.
Speaker 1: They patched you on the back and say, go prove it.
Speaker 1: We know what happened to Tobias Harris. It completely killed
Speaker 1: his confidence. I'm rooting for him in Detroit now. I'm
Speaker 1: still a Tobias Harris fan. But they chewed him up
Speaker 1: and spit him out a little bit, and it really
Speaker 1: wasn't his fault. They chose him over Jimmy Butler was
Speaker 1: a decision by Olton Brand. Was Tobias supposed to turn
Speaker 1: down that much money, No, it wasn't. They traded a
Speaker 1: lot for him. They felt like they had to pay
Speaker 1: him that. Mexicanara says, I would still trade Norman some
Speaker 1: seconds for Dante plus salary filler. I don't see norm
Speaker 1: getting better. Hopefully he proves me wrong. I can see
Speaker 1: Dante starting for US. Do you think Minnesota's trying to
Speaker 1: trade him? They just traded for him. Great takes two
Speaker 1: to Tango. I don't know if they're doing that because
Speaker 1: he is the better defender with probably a little bit
Speaker 1: higher upside. Dante DiVincenzo, He's had some injury stuff, but
Speaker 1: overall had a great season. Last year helped the Knicks
Speaker 1: get to the second round. They lost to Indiana. He
Speaker 1: put up fifteen per game on twelve shots. He shot
Speaker 1: forty percent from the outside. He is the better defender
Speaker 1: and he played eighty one games, So after a couple
Speaker 1: of seasons where he only played forty two games, he
Speaker 1: only played twenty five games two seasons. He's been much
Speaker 1: more durable. Dante DiVincenzo. Dante's inferno when he gets hot.
Speaker 1: Seventy two games his last year were Golden State, and
Speaker 1: then last season his first year with New York eighty
Speaker 1: one games. I don't think they just brought him in
Speaker 1: to trade him. That was a big get. That's a
Speaker 1: bigger get to me than Julius Randall in trading Karl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns. And he's younger slightly, No, he's a good
Speaker 1: four years younger than Norm Powell. Amina Sean says, when
Speaker 1: PG comes back to into it Dome, we get to
Speaker 1: see him get locked by DJJ again, I hope. So
Speaker 1: that's what I'm looking forward to. Derek Jones Junior put
Speaker 1: the clamps on him in that first round series, and
Speaker 1: that was the first guy that the Clippers made a
Speaker 1: splash with as soon as it was announced that talks
Speaker 1: had broken off between them and Paul George the first
Speaker 1: day of free agency, and they went out and got
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior. Coincidence just gonna sit my tea here,
Speaker 1: I don't think so why not? The Clippers said, I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to see what the new roster brings. I
Speaker 1: am two guys. I could see them finishing anywhere between
Speaker 1: six and ten. Much of that is just dependent on
Speaker 1: Kawhi and availability. But this roster defensively, I think has
Speaker 1: the potential to be a top eight defense, and I
Speaker 1: think they need to be. If they want to be
Speaker 1: the sixth seed, they have to hang their hat on
Speaker 1: their defense. Period. Halo Dolo says, the first ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen games are probably gonna tell us a lot about
Speaker 1: the season and how it's going to go or how
Speaker 1: it's going to look. Like. Excited for the preseason games
Speaker 1: as well, me too, I've been this excited for preseason
Speaker 1: in a long time because so many guys are competing
Speaker 1: for spots. Coach Lu said, not just one spot is open,
Speaker 1: but two. You talk, give me two shout out PMS. Yeah,
Speaker 1: guys are going to be fighting, battling in camp and
Speaker 1: that brings out the best the competition, the iron sharpening iron.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have coverage from guys in Hawaii all this
Speaker 1: week for training camp and then on a five to
Speaker 1: seventy LA Sports on Saturday, I think a pregame show
Speaker 1: starting at three for Clippers and Golden State Warriors from Honolulu, Hawaii.
Speaker 1: Why not the Clippers says I'm so excited to see Yes,
Speaker 1: I already read this one out of me dumbas JM
Speaker 1: I thirteen twenty four says, can someone explain to me
Speaker 1: what a hate watch is and why you do it?
Speaker 1: I think that's when people get off on drinking too
Speaker 1: much hater raid and enjoin the downfall of others. Shaden
Speaker 1: freudter Jonathan Ing says, will you be at front Wave
Speaker 1: Arena for the game on ten to eight versus the Nets?
Speaker 1: I will be an ocean side for that one. I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Amina Sean says, I think a seventh seed is probably
Speaker 1: a better bet considering Kawhi at most is playing fifty
Speaker 1: five or fifty two games, very interesting specifics. Fifty two
Speaker 1: I could see, but then fifty two, that's a very
Speaker 1: specific number there. We have no idea, Guys, I don't
Speaker 1: want to project too much. I'll say this, I don't
Speaker 1: think he's playing any back to backs. I didn't think
Speaker 1: that before we heard the swelling is almost gone. So
Speaker 1: that puts him at most if he's not playing any
Speaker 1: back to backs at sixty six games. Timothy Albin who says,
Speaker 1: what's your opinion on Larry Nance Junior? He would be
Speaker 1: a nice option if the Hawks go into cell mode
Speaker 1: in the last year of an eleven point two million
Speaker 1: dollars deal. Is that accurate he is in the last year.
Speaker 1: First of all, I'm a big fan of Larry Nance Junior.
Speaker 1: I am hustle guy at the four spot. He can
Speaker 1: play center two, He's versatile. He hasn't turned into a
Speaker 1: great three point shooter. He's only in his career averages
Speaker 1: one a temper game thirty four percent from the outside.
Speaker 1: Would have been nice to see him stretch the floor
Speaker 1: little bit more in that area. It's never really materialized.
Speaker 1: But I like him for twenty minutes a game. If
Speaker 1: you could pull that off, I'd say it's it would
Speaker 1: be a wise move. But I'm guessing because other teams
Speaker 1: know the value of him, that's not going to be
Speaker 1: easy to grab him. And you could say, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if you trade for him at this point, you'd
Speaker 1: have his bird rights coming out of Yes, him being
Speaker 1: in the last year of an eleven million dollars deal
Speaker 1: Larry Nance Jr. He'll be an unrestricted free agent next season.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how that would work cap wise, it
Speaker 1: might be difficult to retain him. Therefore he's rental. You
Speaker 1: gotta look at that part of it too. Luis Lemmas says, damn,
Speaker 1: I hate the Sixers. Maybe he's responding to da am
Speaker 1: I thirteen twenty four saying, uh, why people hate watch?
Speaker 1: Why do you do it? They don't like Paul George Now,
Speaker 1: I guess so they're hating on the Sixers. Uh see.
Speaker 1: He says, I don't know about y'all, but Harden got
Speaker 1: me hyped. Kawai can join when he's ready, Let's go.
Speaker 1: I've said this over the last week, since that presser
Speaker 1: last Tuesday, hearing about Kawai's health. Wasn't exactly encouraged, wasn't dismayed.
Speaker 1: But you know, if it's true that he had surgery
Speaker 1: in May and the swelling's almost gone now it's almost
Speaker 1: five months, it doesn't make me feel great about it.
Speaker 1: They're obviously going to have to manage it, and he
Speaker 1: can't do drills right now or is not going to
Speaker 1: at least in training camp. At that point, I said,
Speaker 1: it looks like it's James Harden's team for now. When
Speaker 1: Kawhi is available, he'll take the majority of the shots
Speaker 1: and hopefully he'll be back at the same level he
Speaker 1: played at last season, which was Elite top five and
Speaker 1: when he set the all time record for efficiency during
Speaker 1: a thirty game stretch where he shot fifty seven percent
Speaker 1: from the floor and fifty one percent from the outside
Speaker 1: while getting twenty six per game. Nobody had ever done
Speaker 1: that in NBA history. As long as he's back to
Speaker 1: that when he is available, then yeah, when he's out there,
Speaker 1: it's his team, But it could be James Harden because
Speaker 1: of his position, because of his availability, running the show
Speaker 1: all the time, and he's gonna be the hub on
Speaker 1: offense regardless if Kawhi is there or not, he's the
Speaker 1: hub because he's the playmaker. He's that traditional point guard.
Speaker 1: He'll be the guy everybody's playing off of. But when
Speaker 1: Kawhi is not there, he's looking to score even more.
Speaker 1: Helo Dollo says, this team gives me twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: Warriors vibes. I'm not saying we are winning at all. However,
Speaker 1: nobody expected the Warriors to do anything that year, but
Speaker 1: they shocked a lot of people. They had guys step up.
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins had his best season and was magnificent in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Jordan Poole was big for them that year.
Speaker 1: Kaminga had a few moments uh and they got enough
Speaker 1: out of Klay Thompson who wasn't the same but was
Speaker 1: good enough. And Steph Curry and Draymond Green played a
Speaker 1: very high level. Still, I don't hate the comp It
Speaker 1: might be too lofty, but I'd like it to play
Speaker 1: out that way. Amina Sean said, what's funny is l
Speaker 1: Frank keeps lying to us elaborate on that. In what
Speaker 1: way can you expand on that or are you just
Speaker 1: making some vague general statement that you hope gets attention
Speaker 1: on here And I probably shouldn't even brought it up,
Speaker 1: didn't screen it beforehand. Matthew a Jimi says, it's our year. Hey,
Speaker 1: that is the quote from will Updyke, this is our year.
Speaker 1: I think it's tongue in cheek and he's being ironically
Speaker 1: funny about it. Since if there was a time to
Speaker 1: not believe it is the Clippers year after Paul George left,
Speaker 1: it would be now. I don't know. Stranger things have
Speaker 1: happened in the NBA. I'm looking for some more quotes here,
Speaker 1: looking for stuff from Derek Jones Junior. D j J.
Speaker 1: Who should I check out here in the comments section?
Speaker 1: You know what, I'll go back to Joey Lynn. I
Speaker 1: like his reporting for SI now shout out Joey Lynn.
Speaker 1: Still not seeing anything on Derek Jones Junior. Maybe he
Speaker 1: didn't talk that much. Mike Danks said, KPJ going for
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two Jordan Poole role. That's interesting, Mike,
Speaker 1: Mike Big Mike, I don't hate that idea. Honestly, we
Speaker 1: know how talented Kevin Porter Junior is. The off the
Speaker 1: court issues and transgressions have been talked about enough on here.
Speaker 1: I want to focus on the court right now, especially
Speaker 1: on a daylight today and media Day. But the last
Speaker 1: full season in the NBA, nineteen points per game, almost
Speaker 1: six assists, the three turnovers played, fifty nine games started,
Speaker 1: fifty nine games. Was getting thirty four minutes a night.
Speaker 1: And he is a league average three point shooter at
Speaker 1: thirty six percent? Can he be better than that on
Speaker 1: a better team with more catch and shoot threes. If
Speaker 1: anybody has the number on Kevin Porter Junior catch and
Speaker 1: shoot threes, put it in here, because I'd be interested
Speaker 1: to know what that was. It looked like wow. According
Speaker 1: to a thread on Reddit in twenty twenty two, he
Speaker 1: shot forty eight percent on catch and shoot threes in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. So was that the start of the
Speaker 1: twenty two to twenty three season. Let me see here.
Speaker 1: Let me see here. I don't want to put out
Speaker 1: any inaccurate news. That just seems unbelievably good. That would
Speaker 1: be a very high percentage from the outside and I
Speaker 1: would be all here for it. Yeah. During the twenty
Speaker 1: one twenty two season, Kevin Porter Junior was at forty
Speaker 1: eight point two percent on catch and shoot threes. Guys,
Speaker 1: that's kind of revelation. Kevin Porter Junior in the twenty
Speaker 1: one to twenty two season. Was it forty eight point
Speaker 1: two percent on catch and shoot threes. I'm looking at
Speaker 1: an article in July of twenty twenty four from athlonsports
Speaker 1: dot com. Ooh, that is encouraging, to say the least.
Speaker 1: That's special. That is a guy that can knock him down. Now,
Speaker 1: my guess is the reason why his three point shooting
Speaker 1: overall that season wasn't nearly that high as because he
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of them or didn't take enough
Speaker 1: of them. But you, when you were one of the
Speaker 1: focal points of the offense for the Houston Rockets that year,
Speaker 1: he did shoot about thirty eight percent from three, but
Speaker 1: forty eight percent on catch and shoot threes in the
Speaker 1: twenty one twenty two season. Damn. And I'm looking at
Speaker 1: forty two percent on catch and shoot threes for KPJ
Speaker 1: in the twenty two to twenty three season. OOO, that
Speaker 1: is interesting. Mo Hassen says fingers crossed. Kai Jones can
Speaker 1: grab the last two way, we will see. He's basically
Speaker 1: on a prove it type of deal right now. It's
Speaker 1: a non guaranteed camp invite contract, but they have a
Speaker 1: slot open, one more two way spot. Luis Limis says,
Speaker 1: I like the Clippers grit now that SOFTPG is gone.
Speaker 1: Old Dirty Dasher says players have not played enough together
Speaker 1: to have a good year. Sorry, just being extra pessimistic
Speaker 1: this year. It's noticeable we can all tell. I think,
Speaker 1: given how good of Eacha's Zubots and James Harden looked
Speaker 1: over about a month and a half stretch before Zubots
Speaker 1: had that calf injury, I think they're going to be
Speaker 1: better than that this season together and that tandem is
Speaker 1: going to thrive and they need to. So I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of positives there. It's James Harden getting
Speaker 1: a training camp with this team. Now, that's much more
Speaker 1: chemistry built up, much more of an ability to mesh
Speaker 1: and meld some real continuity. Luis Lemmas says, if Kawhi
Speaker 1: is not able to go, I want to see Norm
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup. So that is one of the
Speaker 1: possibilities here. I brought it up last night. We had
Speaker 1: the guys on Brandon Marcus and Matt Matta Warren formerly
Speaker 1: of Sports Ethos. Now they have and I think a
Speaker 1: new one. The first one is coming out today the
Speaker 1: inaugural Voyage of Talking Ships is coming out their new podcast.
Speaker 1: Love those guys, check it out. But I made the
Speaker 1: point that if Kawhi is not able to go Opening Night,
Speaker 1: and we can throw this around here, guys, if he's
Speaker 1: not able to go Opening Night, who do you want
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup? Because it could not only affect
Speaker 1: who replaces Kawhi, but who starts next to James Harden.
Speaker 1: Because look at it this way, if everything in this
Speaker 1: ideal situation, with everyone healthy and everyone's available, I would
Speaker 1: say go James Harden next to Terrence Man. There's continuity there.
Speaker 1: Terrence Man started seventy one games last season with Derek
Speaker 1: Jones junior of the three, with Kawhi at the four,
Speaker 1: with it beats the Zobots at the five. But if
Speaker 1: Kawhi' is not available, that kind of up ends things
Speaker 1: because then you say, well do they need more scoring?
Speaker 1: Therefore you start Overn Powell next to James Harden. Could
Speaker 1: you then slide up Terrence Man to the three, djj
Speaker 1: to the four and it eats a Zubots to the five.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know does but toomb men start at
Speaker 1: the four and you keep Terrence Man where he is
Speaker 1: that the two. These are the questions, This is the
Speaker 1: uncertainty going into the season, and some of what makes
Speaker 1: it interesting. They just have a lot of options. I
Speaker 1: just I'm excited to see which direction they go, because obviously,
Speaker 1: if you're trying to get more buckets and more offense
Speaker 1: and have more of a scoring punch to start off games,
Speaker 1: you go with Noran Powell, but that hurts you defensively.
Speaker 1: There's no perfect guy. Unless KPJ really emerges in trading
Speaker 1: camp and says I'm playing defense at a really high
Speaker 1: level and I can score, then I guess you start
Speaker 1: him with the two. But I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: a long shot right now. So you either go with
Speaker 1: offense with Norm Powell, more defense with Terrence Man. You
Speaker 1: can also go with Batoom at the four versus Dereck
Speaker 1: Jones Junior sliding up to the four. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of different combinations if Kawhi is not available that Mexican
Speaker 1: Nara says, I feel KPJ is being slept on, maybe
Speaker 1: so ashen Amina Sean says, I want to see those
Speaker 1: d j J lobs, Derrick Jones Junior lobs. Halo Dolo says,
Speaker 1: I think Tylu looked at that exact same stat and
Speaker 1: that's why he made those comments. Maybe so, guys, that
Speaker 1: is that is something. The twenty one to twenty two season,
Speaker 1: Kevin Porter Junior shot forty eight percent on catching shoot threes,
Speaker 1: and the twenty two to twenty three season was at
Speaker 1: forty three and a half percent. So even above forty
Speaker 1: two percent, if he's playing off ball more and getting
Speaker 1: more open looks next to James Harden, whoever else is
Speaker 1: out there, if he just has less of the defense
Speaker 1: angled his way like he did in Houston because he
Speaker 1: was one of their better players, so more attention went
Speaker 1: his way. If defenses get lost and leave him off ball,
Speaker 1: that could be a bucket. That's a revelation, I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: Amina Sean says, those lobs from Harden to DJJ are
Speaker 1: could it be amazing? They're gonna feed families. Mike Dangs says,
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic this year. Every time they count us out,
Speaker 1: we have an exciting season. This Clippers team traditionally has
Speaker 1: overachieved win counted out. We saw it the seventeen to
Speaker 1: eighteen year where they still won forty two games after
Speaker 1: they traded Blake. We saw it the eighteen to nineteen
Speaker 1: year after they traded Tobias, still making the playoffs and
Speaker 1: then pushing maybe the best team of all time, the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warris with Kevin Durant to six games. So
Speaker 1: there's reason, good reason to believe that's true. The twenty
Speaker 1: one to twenty two season the most recent of these.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say little engine that could teams,
Speaker 1: but teams with lesser talent that banded together to overcome
Speaker 1: losses from injuries. They didn't have Kawhi that entire year.
Speaker 1: They had Paul George for just thirty one games, and
Speaker 1: they still had a winning record. Made the play in,
Speaker 1: lost the first game, lost Paul George the second game,
Speaker 1: and lost with the Pelicans after I think they had
Speaker 1: a thirteen point lead in that fourth quarter. That one
Speaker 1: still frush me. Tru frustrates me. The point it leaves
Speaker 1: to me tongue tied that playing game. Mo Hassin says,
Speaker 1: do you think Van Gundy will help us be a
Speaker 1: top eight in defense? Yes? He will only help. They
Speaker 1: will not be a seventeenth ranked defensive team this year
Speaker 1: in defensive rating. They will not be that bad. They
Speaker 1: can't be that bad if they are the seasons cooked
Speaker 1: and maybe they won't make the plan. They can't be
Speaker 1: that bad defensively again, because I don't think they're going
Speaker 1: to be fourth offensively like they were this past season,
Speaker 1: and at times they were doing other worldly things on offense.
Speaker 1: I don't count on that. I still think though, they
Speaker 1: could be a top twelve offense, maybe even a top
Speaker 1: ten offense, just going off the data in the history
Speaker 1: with James Harden. Yes, I know he's older, but his
Speaker 1: offense is over his last twelve seasons and he has
Speaker 1: led pretty much all of them. He's the guy. Have
Speaker 1: never ranked worse than twelve, and on average they have
Speaker 1: been fifth. I don't expect fifth, but can they be
Speaker 1: eight through twelve somewhere in there, ten through twelve. I
Speaker 1: think so. And if you combine that with a top
Speaker 1: ten or top eight defense, I think they need to
Speaker 1: be top eight on the defensive end, then you have
Speaker 1: a top ten net rating. Top ten net rating is
Speaker 1: the goal to me overall. You marry those two things,
Speaker 1: where you're a top twelve offense and a top eight defense,
Speaker 1: you get a top ten net rating. That's what matters.
Speaker 1: Uncle Mike says, Bro, you finally did your homework on KPJ. Well,
Speaker 1: Coach Lou gave me reason to last week really after
Speaker 1: he said, and I want to quote this correctly because
Speaker 1: this changed everything of the way I read the situation
Speaker 1: with Kevin Porters Junior. This quote was everything to me. Guys,
Speaker 1: here's what Coach Lou said last week. Quote. For us
Speaker 1: to have success, he's gonna have to be a big
Speaker 1: part of that. That changes everything. I didn't know how
Speaker 1: you viewed KPJ. We still don't know if he's going
Speaker 1: to be suspended or not. How many games that could
Speaker 1: be if he is suspended when it comes, If it
Speaker 1: comes early enough, you can miss the preseason. That would
Speaker 1: hurt his chances. So it's fair to say I've been
Speaker 1: dismissive at times because you just don't even know if
Speaker 1: he's playing yet. If he's suspended early on in the season,
Speaker 1: with all these guys vying for different positions and roles
Speaker 1: on the Clippers, it would be a major setback for him.
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of letting this play out a little
Speaker 1: bit more. But I've gotten more familiar with his game,
Speaker 1: even though I knew him. Even though if you watch
Speaker 1: the initial podcast when we got the news live on
Speaker 1: clips and dip and I was cheering it on and
Speaker 1: I was big on the move. Now that also came
Speaker 1: before I knew everything that would happen with him off
Speaker 1: the court, and that was extremely disappointing. And I understand
Speaker 1: it's controversial and will be scrutinized, but if we're just
Speaker 1: talking on the court, I have done more and more
Speaker 1: research on KPJ because coach lou was a fan. He
Speaker 1: said there's a reason he was getting paid twenty million
Speaker 1: per year. He's a big time talent. And this Clippers team,
Speaker 1: as Lawrence Frank has said, they got to take chances
Speaker 1: on some fallen angels. That's what he has said before.
Speaker 1: So whether or not you like these type of moves,
Speaker 1: you can see the logic in them. And KPJ, I'm
Speaker 1: hoping you know. I'll read this quote again from Joey
Speaker 1: Lynn has made strides, has turned his life around in
Speaker 1: different ways again. Joey Lynn talk with him add into
Speaker 1: a DOLMA media day. When discussing counseling, what he's learned
Speaker 1: during his time away from the league and his journey
Speaker 1: back to the NBA, KPJ said, quote, for me, I
Speaker 1: always believed in myself. I know my truth. I felt
Speaker 1: like I had a good fight getting back. Definitely didn't
Speaker 1: count myself out. We will see how this materializes, but
Speaker 1: the talent is obviously there on the court and the
Speaker 1: Clippers they're gonna need help this season and if he
Speaker 1: can miss defensively to what I think he's capable of.
Speaker 1: I put up a defensive highlight reel of him on
Speaker 1: X at follow out of a I think he could
Speaker 1: be much better on that end than people realize I do.
Speaker 1: I think Kevin Porter Jr. Is not just an offensive
Speaker 1: talent who has shades of being a dime store no disrespect,
Speaker 1: but a poor man's James Harden. James Hard is the
Speaker 1: top seventy five player. Ever, it's no disrespect to say
Speaker 1: that about a guy. It's a compliment still, But a
Speaker 1: lefty that can run an offense. To what degree to
Speaker 1: how proficient he can be, we don't know. He hasn't
Speaker 1: been on a good team before, he hasn't been on
Speaker 1: a team with playoff aspirations before. But you can make
Speaker 1: the argument on the other side, because he was one
Speaker 1: of the focal points, if not the main guy on
Speaker 1: that Houston team. Teams game plan to stop him. So
Speaker 1: what happens when he's playing off of James Harden, when
Speaker 1: he's playing off of Kawhi Leonard? What happens then? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think there is a lot of untapped potential, clearly,
Speaker 1: And we can continue to talk about KPg now because
Speaker 1: the way they're talking about him leads me to believe
Speaker 1: he's gonna get a real shot at making an impact
Speaker 1: this season. And Production says, what will Harden's stats look
Speaker 1: like this year? He's got to match twenty five plus
Speaker 1: ten plus assists question mark. Here's what I'll say. They
Speaker 1: need to be bare minimum twenty points per game, eight
Speaker 1: and a half assists per game. So what does that mean?
Speaker 1: How much of an increase is that from last season?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you exactly. He was at sixteen and a
Speaker 1: half points per game last season, an eight and a
Speaker 1: half sis per game. What we need from James Harden,
Speaker 1: what I know you're hoping from bare minimum is basically
Speaker 1: what he did is last year in Philly, where he
Speaker 1: could have been at all star led the league and assists,
Speaker 1: he averaged twenty one to ten point seven assists per game,
Speaker 1: twenty one points per game on the dot and ten
Speaker 1: point seven assists per game wasn't his career high. That
Speaker 1: came back when he finished second an MVP voting in
Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen season. I think to
Speaker 1: Steph Curry or no, that was to Russell Westbrook with
Speaker 1: the triple doubles. But he averaged eleven assists per game
Speaker 1: that season. But he is a year removed James Harden
Speaker 1: from almost averaging eleven assists per game and twenty one points. Now,
Speaker 1: Embiid missed games that season, but you can still say,
Speaker 1: you know Embiid was there. He's feeding him. It was
Speaker 1: a good Philly team. Guys are hitting shots. The assists
Speaker 1: were up. James Harden bare minimum twenty and nine. I'll
Speaker 1: round up from eight and a half to nine twenty
Speaker 1: and nine bare minimum. Anything above that is gravy, assuming
Speaker 1: the efficiency doesn't fall off a cliff. Last season, while
Speaker 1: he only shot forty three percent from the floor, well
Speaker 1: when I mean seven of his eleven attempts per game
Speaker 1: were three pointers and he's from three, that's fine. That
Speaker 1: efficiency was fine last season. Yeah, if he can get
Speaker 1: it up to forty four percent from the field and
Speaker 1: almost thirty nine percent from three, that would be big.
Speaker 1: But there are nights where Kawhi is not going to
Speaker 1: be there, maybe even opening night, and James Harden has
Speaker 1: to take shots to put up shots and be a
Speaker 1: threat and keep the defense off balance with not only
Speaker 1: his passing but his scoring. So they don't know how
Speaker 1: to play him. Are we playing the step back? Is
Speaker 1: he driving past guys? And therefore makes the defense have
Speaker 1: to be in that predicament where is he going for
Speaker 1: the floater or is he going for the lob to
Speaker 1: a beat to zubats because that's when James Harden was
Speaker 1: at his best, when he had a roller in Clint
Speaker 1: Capella that you didn't know if that ball going up
Speaker 1: was going to be a floater from James Harden. And
Speaker 1: he's kind of shot away from that floater recently, not
Speaker 1: Game four when he closed that game out against Dallas
Speaker 1: last season in the playoffs, but overall he is not
Speaker 1: taking as many floaters. It hasn't been as efficient from him.
Speaker 1: But when he was right, when he was at his best,
Speaker 1: MVP James Harden, that is the guy that would keep
Speaker 1: a defense off balance with his playmaking and scoring. And
Speaker 1: the most obvious way to do that was with that
Speaker 1: little floater that could also turn into a lob. I
Speaker 1: see Grant Monas in the chat. Hey, Grant, if you
Speaker 1: want to jump in here for a little bit, let
Speaker 1: me know. I will send you a link. I don't
Speaker 1: know what your availability is, but I saw Grant Mona
Speaker 1: there today at Media Day. He's one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: He's been doing great things. And as Grant Mona said
Speaker 1: here and we've talked about on this show this Clippers
Speaker 1: Talk Live a Media Day special edition, Grant Mona says,
Speaker 1: this team is hearing the noise, They're accepting it. Loved it.
Speaker 1: Some more questions. Oh, moneyball approach. I like it. Build
Speaker 1: a Paul George in the aggregate. I'd say you make
Speaker 1: up for the loss of Jason Giambi. No one guy
Speaker 1: can do it. Multiple guys have to. Clipser Die says.
Speaker 1: Bleacher Report has the Clippers starting five of Harden, Man,
Speaker 1: Derek Jones, Junior Kawhi and Zoo ranked twentieth. I can't
Speaker 1: wait for this team to surprise people. I definitely think
Speaker 1: that starting five is higher than twentieth because outside of Harden,
Speaker 1: that is some elite defense there. That is a team
Speaker 1: that can get the job done and get a lot
Speaker 1: of stops and hopefully some easier points because of stops
Speaker 1: leading to transition points and runouts and advance passes by
Speaker 1: the Clippers. That's something Coachly wants. That is something he
Speaker 1: has talked about just last week. They need to score
Speaker 1: and take advantage of teams and transition more than they have.
Speaker 1: They have to play faster. It's great that they have
Speaker 1: the top two isolation players in the game Kawhi most
Speaker 1: points per possession and isolation last season, James Harden just
Speaker 1: below them, kind of significantly below him, but still second.
Speaker 1: Kawhi first, James Harden's second. But what you want is
Speaker 1: to not have to rely on that so much and
Speaker 1: get easier buckets. Part of that is just playing through
Speaker 1: a visa zubots more. In my opinion, I always say this,
Speaker 1: but there is an easier path to victories and it's
Speaker 1: playing through Big Zoo. So do that. But also with
Speaker 1: Derek Joes Junior and Terrence Mann, should they both be
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup, they can beat their man down
Speaker 1: the floor, find them with long outlet passes, advance passes
Speaker 1: over the top of the defense, that mortar fire pass
Speaker 1: where you catch them doing a little bit of cherry picking.
Speaker 1: That's how you do it. Amina Sean said, you're right, Adam,
Speaker 1: very jumpshot heavy team. We need to get easier baskets.
Speaker 1: They know it. They're trying to figure this out. It's
Speaker 1: easy sometimes to have these goals and talking points during
Speaker 1: training camp, but it's kind of the old Mike Tyson saying,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody's got a plan until you get punched
Speaker 1: in the face. And the Clippers, unfortunately, have not held
Speaker 1: to some of their principles as the season has gone along.
Speaker 1: They've said some of this stuff the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but it deteriorates as the season goes along. Some of
Speaker 1: it's just because of injuries. But the goal was to
Speaker 1: be a top five defense. Last season they ended up seventeenth.
Speaker 1: They have to maintain their identity. That is the key,
Speaker 1: and they're saying all the right things, but you got
Speaker 1: to do them consistently. You have to be able to
Speaker 1: go out there. I thought I heard Grant Mona trying
Speaker 1: to get in here for a second, but now I
Speaker 1: don't see him. You got to go out there on
Speaker 1: a nightly basis and know how you want to play.
Speaker 1: Your game plan cannot waiver based upon what the opposition
Speaker 1: is doing. Yes, there are times to make adjustments, but
Speaker 1: if you are imposing your will, if you're the aggressors,
Speaker 1: then you're winning a lot of ball games. That's what
Speaker 1: good teams do. Grant Mona's gonna join us here shortly.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he steal it into it dome,
Speaker 1: but this should be fun. Give me and my voice
Speaker 1: a little bit of a break. Jam thirteen twenty four says,
Speaker 1: what's up, Grant, He'll be here in a second. Matthew
Speaker 1: a Jimi says, any update on finding PJ a place
Speaker 1: on another team? Don't have that for you. I didn't
Speaker 1: see anything about that today. Evil bod Adams says, you
Speaker 1: think Kawhi is playing Opening game like he said? He
Speaker 1: didn't say that. He said he wants to play. Doesn't
Speaker 1: mean he's going to be able to play. It's a
Speaker 1: day to day thing. His plans to play Opening night,
Speaker 1: but it still depends on his body. His right knee
Speaker 1: is dictating things. If it's up to Kawhi, I mean
Speaker 1: in his head, of course he wants to play. He's
Speaker 1: a competitor, but he's at the mercy of how has
Speaker 1: rightning response to everything? Right now? Amina Sean says, hopefully
Speaker 1: we can reach our goals this season, such as being
Speaker 1: a good transition defensive team. That's another thing they're stressing,
Speaker 1: and a good rebounding team as well. Good points another
Speaker 1: thing they brought up. They haven't been a good rebounding team,
Speaker 1: so it's because they're undersized and Kauhi playing the four.
Speaker 1: But if guys don't step up with the rebounding this season,
Speaker 1: if you don't win the possession battle more often, this
Speaker 1: Clippers team's going to be in trouble. Because you can
Speaker 1: play great defense, but if if you don't close out
Speaker 1: a possession and get the board, it doesn't matter. You
Speaker 1: can't give up more opportunities. As we now have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to grant Mona from the Sporting Tribute grant help
Speaker 1: hear me and I help them hear you. Talk to me?
Speaker 2: What have we got testing? One?
Speaker 3: Two, three? I want to make sure this works. Look
Speaker 3: at that it works? Adam, you have the microphone works?
Speaker 1: Are you still in the building?
Speaker 3: I am yeah, I'm actually in the red lounge.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 3: It was amaze here this morning, Like I this is
Speaker 3: our first time doing this, so everyone was kind of like, hey,
Speaker 3: where do I put my stuff. So, yeah, I'm in
Speaker 3: the Red Lounge here where they had a whole bunch
Speaker 3: of food set up for us, which is, by the way,
Speaker 3: excellent stuff.
Speaker 2: I mean they.
Speaker 1: Swing the camera around. Can we get the three sixty views?
Speaker 1: Everybody gets their shot of the end to a dumb and.
Speaker 3: What they This is the Red Lounge, guys, This is
Speaker 3: like where all the really luxury, nice rich people come
Speaker 3: to to watch the Clippers. But uh, yeah, that's where
Speaker 3: they have the media set up right now. We've got
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of legends in the building right now,
Speaker 3: but you're one of Yeah, so I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I tried to get out as much content as it
Speaker 3: possibly could, Guys, to trust me, it was going rapidly.
Speaker 3: It was my first time again, so I was trying.
Speaker 1: But I ask you, yeah, because I was there, we
Speaker 1: saw each other, we connected, and I left after Kawhi
Speaker 1: spoke and eatsa Zubats was going up there. I was
Speaker 1: having trouble hearing the sound from the microphone through the speakers.
Speaker 1: Was it low to you?
Speaker 3: Yes, the MIC's cut off here and there, so sometimes
Speaker 3: like Kawhi was speaking and you were there, like Coawi
Speaker 3: was speaking, and then the mic would cut off and
Speaker 3: he'd have to raise his voice, which I know that
Speaker 3: he doesn't like to do. But he had to raise
Speaker 3: his voice a little bit. Then it went back on
Speaker 3: and he was too loud, and so they had, uh,
Speaker 3: they had some technical difficulties. Like I said, first hear this,
Speaker 3: so they got to get this figured out. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it wasn't just you, it was it was all of us.
Speaker 1: We'll give him a pass for that. It was still
Speaker 1: beautiful to see the into a dome. Any day. Being
Speaker 1: at the end to a dome is a good day,
Speaker 1: whether the Clippers are playing or not. It's just it
Speaker 1: is a site to behold. It feels like a basketball
Speaker 1: theme park. It is so damn cool, Clibernation. I can't
Speaker 1: wait for all you guys here in the chat to
Speaker 1: experience it. Keep the questions coming. We got Grant Mona. Now, Grant,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw one at you right away. Natural Haunt
Speaker 1: said this could done potentially start alongside Harden to maintain
Speaker 1: the defensive identity.
Speaker 3: Listen, I think that's a big possibility here. I think that,
Speaker 3: you know, from what I've heard from a lot of
Speaker 3: the players. Terrence Man, Norm Powell, Derek Jones Junior had
Speaker 3: the opportunity to ask a question about They all seem
Speaker 3: like this is an open kind of conversation about the lineup,
Speaker 3: and I really love that. I think that it's going
Speaker 3: to bring a lot of competition here. So I personally
Speaker 3: love Chris Dunn. I think Chris Dunn is one of
Speaker 3: the best perimeter guard defenders in the NBA. And he
Speaker 3: was with the Jazz for a couple of years, and
Speaker 3: I remember he was in the Clippers system too, and
Speaker 3: they just never brought him up from the G League.
Speaker 3: But this is a guy that I think can be
Speaker 3: one of the better defenders at the guard position in
Speaker 3: the NBA if you really want to go all in
Speaker 3: on defense. And from what I heard from everybody around
Speaker 3: the team this whole media day was like, we have
Speaker 3: a defensive identity. We brought in defensive players. All this
Speaker 3: is about defense. If that's really what they're going for,
Speaker 3: then maybe you could see Chris Dunn slot in next
Speaker 3: to James Harden in that backcourt. Because listen, we know
Speaker 3: that James Harden is he got better, I feel like
Speaker 3: last year in the defensive end with his swipes and
Speaker 3: staying in front of people. But again, he's not labeled
Speaker 3: as a good defender, so if you compare him with
Speaker 3: a guy that is a good defender, and I know
Speaker 3: that Kris Dunn isn't that great offensively, but he's really
Speaker 3: good defensively. It may cause some spacing issues. That's one
Speaker 3: of my concerns, like maybe that could be an issue,
Speaker 3: But I think that it would be pretty cool to
Speaker 3: have a James Harden, Chris dun Kawhi, Leonard, Derek Jones Junior,
Speaker 3: and Vitza Zubats starting five at some point. Again, I
Speaker 3: think this is fluid, so it's not really a set
Speaker 3: in stone thing with the starting vibe. I mean, Adam
Speaker 3: you or there Norm Powell so that he wants to
Speaker 3: start at the two as well. So there's a lot
Speaker 3: of different people, a lot of different quotes here. I
Speaker 3: guess we're just gonna have to see his training camp
Speaker 3: in folds.
Speaker 1: Tell me more about DJJ, because I wasn't there for
Speaker 1: his presser. You're saying he conveyed, just like other guys,
Speaker 1: that it's an open competition basically for not just the
Speaker 1: two spot, but the three spot. Because that's what we
Speaker 1: heard last week from KOJ Lou where while the incumbent
Speaker 1: is Terrence Man and he just got paid and congratulations
Speaker 1: to t Man. There are not just a spot open
Speaker 1: because of Paul George's absence, but there's one that is
Speaker 1: up for grabs because even though Terrence Man started seventy
Speaker 1: one games and maybe the favorite, other guys are competing
Speaker 1: for it as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, And I think that, you know, the availability
Speaker 3: for Derek Jones Junior was kind of underrated. I feel
Speaker 3: like he's one of the guys that I wanted to
Speaker 3: hear from the most because he was in all sense,
Speaker 3: I mean, he was basically their top off season signing.
Speaker 3: I know you re signed guys who extended guys, but
Speaker 3: Derek Jones Junior was the guy that they brought into
Speaker 3: kind of anchor that defense on the wing position. And
Speaker 3: I asked him a question. I said, you know, is
Speaker 3: you know, are you going to be this high flying guy?
Speaker 3: Have you talked with James Harden about being this high
Speaker 3: flying athletic presence because the Clippers really haven't had that
Speaker 3: in years past. And he said, you know, I haven't
Speaker 3: really talked about it, but I think that's just given
Speaker 3: that was this kind of thing. It was just given
Speaker 3: that I'm going to do that stuff. But in terms
Speaker 3: of what he said on the defensive end, Adam, he said,
Speaker 3: I want to guard the best player.
Speaker 2: I want to be.
Speaker 3: I talked to Ty, said, Ty put me on the
Speaker 3: best player, and those two sentences right there, I.
Speaker 2: Was talking him out.
Speaker 3: I was like, this is exactly what I wanted to
Speaker 3: hear from Derek Jones Junior, because if he's saying those things,
Speaker 3: that takes the burden off Kawhi trying to guard the
Speaker 3: best player. That takes the burden off of I don't
Speaker 3: know me, Chris Dunn or Terrence Mann trying to guard
Speaker 3: the best player. If Derek Jones Junior is up to
Speaker 3: that task and that's his mentality coming into this year
Speaker 3: for the Clippers, that everyone should be pretty excited about that.
Speaker 3: I think that's one of the things that you know,
Speaker 3: we know about his offense. We know that he can
Speaker 3: shoot the three at times, and he's not a forty
Speaker 3: plus percent three points. But if his defensive mindset is that,
Speaker 3: paired with JVG, paired with Niko Batoom and all the
Speaker 3: guys that they brought in, that was really an awesome
Speaker 3: quote for me, and I think Clipper fans are going
Speaker 3: to be really excited about him.
Speaker 1: Grant Mona is our guests here on a Clipperstock Live.
Speaker 1: He's still it into it Dome. I'm back home. Follow
Speaker 1: him at g Mona forty eight on X. He covers
Speaker 1: the Clippers for The Sporting Tribune. David rr says, if
Speaker 1: you start done, why start DJJ for more defense? To
Speaker 1: lean into that defensive identity. I don't think Dunn and
Speaker 1: Terrence Man are polar opposites of players. There is a
Speaker 1: lot of crossover between those two. And to be honest,
Speaker 1: as good as Terrence Man as defensively, Chris Dunn is
Speaker 1: at another level when it comes to point of attack defense.
Speaker 3: Grant Yeah, And I think that's what a lot of people.
Speaker 3: You know, he was tucked away in Utah. He played
Speaker 3: for the Jazz, and a lot of people are like, Okay,
Speaker 3: who's this guy that they're saying is going to replace Westbrook?
Speaker 1: Go watch him cook the Clippers in preseason last year.
Speaker 3: Guys, I've been watching this too.
Speaker 2: I've been watching a lot of his film.
Speaker 3: There is a clip on I believe it's YouTube of
Speaker 3: his highlights and the Utah Jazz put up this great
Speaker 3: montage of his highlights, not just his offense, but his
Speaker 3: defense as well. And he was locking up guys like
Speaker 3: shake Gil just Alexander. He was locking up guys some
Speaker 3: of the top guards in the West, Jamal Murray, and
Speaker 3: that is what the Clippers have lacked in years past. Now, look,
Speaker 3: I'm not this is no disrespect to Russell Westbrook. I
Speaker 3: think at times Russell Westbrook could have been that defender.
Speaker 3: But every game you're gonna get defensive intensity from Chris
Speaker 3: Dunn at the guard position, and he is not afraid
Speaker 3: of guarding some of the best players in the NBA.
Speaker 2: And he wasn't.
Speaker 3: He was guarding up like he was guarding threes and
Speaker 3: fours at times for the Utah Jazz. So I hope
Speaker 3: everyone that's watching this goes and watches the YouTube video
Speaker 3: clip of Chris Dunn all of them, because he is
Speaker 3: an awesome, awesome defensive player and his offensive game has
Speaker 3: gotten a little bit better too. So I think that,
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, they're two different players, him and Derrick
Speaker 3: Jones Junior. But you know, in general, I think that
Speaker 3: if you put both of those guys in a lineup,
Speaker 3: even if you put Niko Batoum with a small ball five.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's very versatile defensively, you can switch one
Speaker 3: through five, I feel like, and man, that could be
Speaker 3: a cool lineup to see.
Speaker 1: He's a different player than Derrek Jones Junior. He's a
Speaker 1: different player than Terrence Man, who he could be competing
Speaker 1: for minutes with or competing for the starting two guard slot,
Speaker 1: because I just he's a defensive specialist. When it comes
Speaker 1: to point of attack. He is a Patrick Beverly type
Speaker 1: of pest, and Terrence Man is very good in that area.
Speaker 1: I thought the defense he played against Luka Nancich was
Speaker 1: probably the best defense he's ever played, considering it was
Speaker 1: the playoffs and he peaked at just the right time.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned the three point shooting from Chris Dunn.
Speaker 1: What's interesting is, well, you know, he only played twenty
Speaker 1: two games for the Jazz during the twenty two to
Speaker 1: twenty three season, so the volume's low. But if you
Speaker 1: go out after his or go off of his last
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty takes from the outside from three
Speaker 1: over the last season and twenty two games he played
Speaker 1: with the Utah Jazz, we're talking about somebody that shot
Speaker 1: like forty one percent from three. Now, it's not a
Speaker 1: huge sample size, and it's one season where he's playing
Speaker 1: twenty two games, combining that with the sixty six games
Speaker 1: he played last season for the Utah Jazz. But he's capable.
Speaker 1: He's capable of knocking down catch and shoot threes. Something
Speaker 1: that I found interesting. Earlier we were talking a lot
Speaker 1: about Kevin Porter junior after what coach Lew said last
Speaker 1: week Grant regarding him and how if the team is
Speaker 1: going to have success, he's going to have to make
Speaker 1: a big impact. Why just looked up his catch and
Speaker 1: shoot numbers from his last two seasons forty eight percent
Speaker 1: and forty three percent on catch and shoots threes. That
Speaker 1: is a revelation to me. A guy shooting almost fifty
Speaker 1: percent for a season during the twenty one to twenty
Speaker 1: two season. Kevin Porter's junior from three how much? And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you talked to him. I saw
Speaker 1: he was what near court side? Yeah, at into it dull,
Speaker 1: But how much of an impact are you expecting from him? Now?
Speaker 3: Well, listen what Tyler said a few weeks ago or
Speaker 3: last week at the presser. You know, but that he
Speaker 3: and Lawrence Frank held it seems like they hold him
Speaker 3: in a high regard. Right, They hold Kevin Porter Junior
Speaker 3: as this guy that can make an immediate impact. And
Speaker 3: I feel like a lot of the sentiment around Kevin
Speaker 3: Porter Junior is the off the court stuff, and that's rightfully, so,
Speaker 3: I mean there are some off the court issues that
Speaker 3: he has to work through. Yeah, You've been very adamant
Speaker 3: about mentioning this is like, Hey, we don't even know
Speaker 3: if he'll be on the court for some time because
Speaker 3: there's still an ongoing investigation regarding it. But from everything
Speaker 3: that I've heard from him on the court and what
Speaker 3: I've seen from him on the court, I mean I've
Speaker 3: known his game for a long time since he came
Speaker 3: into the league, and even overseas.
Speaker 2: I watched some of his overseas.
Speaker 3: Highlights, Adam, you mentioned like the forty eight percent catch
Speaker 3: and shoot that is up there like mere Norm Powell status.
Speaker 3: And we know how good Norm Powell was at catch
Speaker 3: and shoots last year, how good he was in the
Speaker 3: corners last year, So you can you can get that
Speaker 3: with Kevin Porter Junior, who's a long guy. You mentioned
Speaker 3: you put up his defensive kind of highlight clip and
Speaker 3: how he can interpassing lanes and all that stuff, if
Speaker 3: you can get maybe just like an average Kevin Porter
Speaker 3: junior on defense, but that type of offensive output. I mean,
Speaker 3: this is a guy that knows how to score the basketball.
Speaker 3: It has never been about his on the court ability.
Speaker 3: It's always been about his off the court stuff. So
Speaker 3: if they can get that intact and from all the
Speaker 3: quotes that I've seen, and he actually was interviewed by
Speaker 3: a few people, Law Murray has some stuff on X.
Speaker 3: Justin Rousseau as some stuff on X. They were there
Speaker 3: talking to him and asking him questions. He really seems
Speaker 3: to be humbled by his whole experience off the court.
Speaker 3: He really seems to want to be a better person.
Speaker 3: He's going through counseling and stuff like that, and therapy
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. So if his mind is right,
Speaker 3: and if the team thinks that he can be a
Speaker 3: really good part of this team, there's no reason why
Speaker 3: he won't be a big part of this team offensively,
Speaker 3: I mean even defensive with his length.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Norman Powell there and talking about extreme efficiency
Speaker 1: on catch and shoot threes, and he had a quote
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering how much you thought this was a
Speaker 1: shot at Paul George or not. But Norman Powell said
Speaker 1: regarding losing Paul George quote, I saw it as addition,
Speaker 1: by subtraction, more guys getting opportunities, including myself. Is there
Speaker 1: a little bit of smoke there, Grant?
Speaker 2: I think there is?
Speaker 3: Adam, there were some quotes today and Kawi mentioned one,
Speaker 3: And you know, Kawi.
Speaker 2: Is not the type of guy to go at people.
Speaker 3: You know, he's just kind of like an individual guy
Speaker 3: where he keeps himself, he tries to work hard and
Speaker 3: does all this stuff. But when Norman Powell said that,
Speaker 3: there was like a gasp in the room, almost like
Speaker 3: I was looking around to the other media members and
Speaker 3: they were like, Oh, I'm do you guys hear that?
Speaker 3: Am I hearing the right thing?
Speaker 1: I would be honest? I asked Brian Steemen, who was
Speaker 1: directly on my right, did he just say that about.
Speaker 3: Paul George exactly? And I think a lot of people
Speaker 3: are like, did he mean it that way? Because it
Speaker 3: came out like he didn't obviously meet it in a
Speaker 3: derogatory way, but the way it came off it was like, Hey,
Speaker 3: I think this is going to open up more opportunities,
Speaker 3: not just for myself but for the players. That were
Speaker 3: behind Paul George or didn't get playing time because of
Speaker 3: Paul George. And he's right in that regard, like you're
Speaker 3: gonna see more opportunities for guys because you don't have
Speaker 3: those four superstars on the court at the same time
Speaker 3: or in the rotation at the same time. So I
Speaker 3: think that you know what he meant by it was like, hey,
Speaker 3: you know we're losing that type of player, and yes,
Speaker 3: that's gonna hurt, but it may be additioned by subtraction
Speaker 3: because it allows the development of other guys or it
Speaker 3: allows guys to blossom in that way. So it wasn't
Speaker 3: a little bit weird. And I rememberkaw I said cau
Speaker 3: I said something like.
Speaker 1: Got it.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I said, for anybody on the court, I don't
Speaker 1: look at him to be my savior. Basically, he was
Speaker 1: talking about the mindset if it changes with Paul George gone,
Speaker 1: and cow I said, quote, he obviously made things easier
Speaker 1: on the court for players, but as far as my
Speaker 1: mental focus going into a game, I don't think it's
Speaker 1: going to be harder for anybody on the court. I
Speaker 1: don't look at him to be my savior. I agree
Speaker 1: with you, though, Grant, I don't think either were necessarily
Speaker 1: pointed at Kawhi. It's just we're confident still. And in
Speaker 1: terms of Norm Powell, he's been looking for this opportunity.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think Norm Powell is the kind of
Speaker 3: guy that always just kind of lives with an edge.
Speaker 3: Kauhi the same way. You don't really need to throw
Speaker 3: any extra motivation at him. Norm Powell's a guy that
Speaker 3: grinds as hard as anybody in the NBA. He works
Speaker 3: on his game as hard as anybody in the NBA.
Speaker 3: Kawhi the same way. So I think that, you know,
Speaker 3: whenever we talk about, oh, what do they think about
Speaker 3: Paul George, I think these guys are just level headed
Speaker 3: enough to say, like, hey, he left, it's a business decision,
Speaker 3: it's the NBA, and you know we're going to get
Speaker 3: better from this. So I think that was a sentiment
Speaker 3: as well around the team is like, hey, yes, we
Speaker 3: did lose Paul George, Like we all get it, Hey,
Speaker 3: we should be the twelve seed. They kind of accepted that,
Speaker 3: and they're like, we want to work hard. We're going
Speaker 3: to be hungry, and we're going to be dogs on
Speaker 3: the court, and that's Something else that I really love
Speaker 3: that they said is that listen, we know the expectations
Speaker 3: for this team. We've heard the media noise. We hear
Speaker 3: what all the outlets are saying about how we won't
Speaker 3: even make the play in. But we're accepting it and
Speaker 3: we are hearing it and we are going to work
Speaker 3: hard to not let that happen.
Speaker 2: And that is awesome to me. I love that they
Speaker 2: actually heard because you.
Speaker 3: Know, Adam, you know this, like a lot of teams,
Speaker 3: a lot of players would come into these media days
Speaker 3: like we don't listen to the outside noise.
Speaker 2: We don't do that. You know.
Speaker 3: This team was like, hey, we did hear it, and
Speaker 3: we're going to try to not do what they said
Speaker 3: that we're going to do. So I love this mindset
Speaker 3: from the team. Terrence Mann came on right before Dereck
Speaker 3: Jones Junior, and he said himself like, we got some
Speaker 3: dogs in there and we are we're hungry to change
Speaker 3: that narrative.
Speaker 2: So I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: Who else spoke because I'm looking for Obamba stuff. I
Speaker 1: don't know if any of the young guys, Jordan Miller Camp,
Speaker 1: Christy Kobe Brown spoke. Was there anyone else gramp.
Speaker 3: No, they were just on the court taking pictures. Obviously,
Speaker 3: you know we got a mere Coffee was another guy
Speaker 3: that was down there on the court taking all this photos.
Speaker 2: But the last guy to take.
Speaker 3: Media availability was Derek Jones or so after that, nobody
Speaker 3: actually spoke in front of a mic. Now, obviously, if
Speaker 3: you go to La Murray's page and Justin Rousseau and
Speaker 3: a few other guys, you'll find some personal interviews that
Speaker 3: they did with those guys. I believe they interviewed Kevin
Speaker 3: Porter Junior, I'm me here coffee, maybe Mobamba I kind
Speaker 3: of left there before Moe actually came onto the court. So,
Speaker 3: but in terms of the actual microphone availability, Derek Jones
Speaker 3: Junior was the last one.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this because we've been having this conversation.
Speaker 1: If Kawhi Leonard is not going to be available opening night,
Speaker 1: and nobody can know that because it all comes down
Speaker 1: to how his knee response to the treatment and strengthening
Speaker 1: they're going to do during training camp over the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. But if he's not available, how do
Speaker 1: you think that changes the starting lineup with maybe not
Speaker 1: just one guy being out with Kawhi and replacing him
Speaker 1: maybe with Nicholas Battou, But I think it could upend
Speaker 1: the entire starting lineup because then you're looking for more
Speaker 1: scoring and therefore, I remember, you can't start Chris Dunn
Speaker 1: or Terrence Man next to James Hard and then it
Speaker 1: has to be Norman Powell. What do you see as
Speaker 1: the ideal starting lineup or just what's your read on
Speaker 1: the situation with coach lou if Kawhai is unavailable?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that that's what what we're talking we
Speaker 3: were talking.
Speaker 2: About a little bit earlier, is like.
Speaker 3: It depends on what kind of mindset and intensity you
Speaker 3: want to do, Like do you want to be that
Speaker 3: defensive team? Okay, fine, then you'll put out the best
Speaker 3: defensive lineup. But if Kawhi isn't in there to start
Speaker 3: Opening night, you're probably absolutely going to see Norm Powell
Speaker 3: start at the two. I think that you know, when
Speaker 3: you have a guy like Norm Powell and he's an
Speaker 3: eighteen point per game scorer at times, he can be
Speaker 3: a twenty point per game scorer in my opinion if
Speaker 3: he gets the volume to do it. But you put
Speaker 3: him in that lineup if Kawi's out, and say you
Speaker 3: have like hardened, Norm, Derek Jones Junior like, I don't know,
Speaker 3: Derek Jones Junior, Batoum and Zuba like, I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's a it's gonna be kind of a juggle of,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of what they want to do. But
Speaker 3: it seemed like to me like Coawi would say, hey,
Speaker 3: I want to play Opening Night, I want to be
Speaker 3: and again he wants to do a lot of things,
Speaker 3: and I feel like the team is kind of saying, listen,
Speaker 3: we want you for the long run. But if Kawhi
Speaker 3: is out, I am almost certain that Norm Powell's going
Speaker 3: to slot into that too. And if that's the case, Adam,
Speaker 3: then what does the bench look like? Does Bones Howell
Speaker 3: or excuse me, Bones Highland get an opportunity at the
Speaker 3: backup point position? Then you have Chris Dunn at the
Speaker 3: two if you want to do that. So, I don't know,
Speaker 3: it shuffles things around a little bit.
Speaker 1: Did you see Bones Hiland or PJ. Tucker in the
Speaker 1: building anywhere?
Speaker 3: No, very weird. I didn't see either, you know what,
Speaker 3: That's a good point. I didn't even realize that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just the riding might be on the wall. Look, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not like Lawrence Frank hasn't made it known that
Speaker 1: they tried to trade them further request last trade deadline,
Speaker 1: and then during this off season they just haven't gotten
Speaker 1: whatever they're looking for back. It takes two to tango here.
Speaker 1: Did anybody say anything about PJ Tucker? So we didn't
Speaker 1: hear from coach lou today, We didn't hear from Lawrence
Speaker 1: Frank today. What we heard from them happened last week,
Speaker 1: so basically we can take that out for media day.
Speaker 1: But we didn't even hear a guy mentioned PJ Tucker.
Speaker 3: I don't think right, No nobody mentioned PJ Tucker. Nobody
Speaker 3: mentioned bones Hiland. Everyone kind of mentioned like, hey, we
Speaker 3: love the new guys coming in, but you know, there
Speaker 3: was really no talk of those two guys, which is
Speaker 3: something that like, I think it just slipped to my
Speaker 3: mind because I was so focused on what was going on.
Speaker 2: But you, I mean, you bring up a good point.
Speaker 3: Those guys weren't even here, Like I could understand if
Speaker 3: they're here and they take the pictures and they don't
Speaker 3: do media availability, but they just weren't here in general,
Speaker 3: which I don't know what's going on there.
Speaker 1: I want to say they had Marcus Morris to start
Speaker 1: last season, and he also wasn't at media day because
Speaker 1: it felt like he was going to be traded. Just
Speaker 1: not to put them through that, because they knew they
Speaker 1: were on the chopping block, and I think they both
Speaker 1: want an opportunity somewhere else. I think the feeling might
Speaker 1: be mutual at this point. I don't know, but it
Speaker 1: would have been interesting to hear from kach Slue regarding them.
Speaker 1: If they are going to be at training camp, are
Speaker 1: they competing for a spot? And as you mentioned, if
Speaker 1: there's gonna be an op opportunity for them, if Kawhi's
Speaker 1: not playing, what does that mean for the four spot?
Speaker 1: What does that mean for Bones? Highland fighting with all
Speaker 1: these guards now, yeah, it's it's kind of out of sight,
Speaker 1: out of mind, and maybe the silence speaks volumes to
Speaker 1: some degree because they're not here and saying anything. That
Speaker 1: means it's pretty definitive at this point that they are
Speaker 1: looking to move them. If there's a real trade out there,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's going to be. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: just PJ Tucker making eleven million dollars per season. I
Speaker 1: could see a trade package because somebody might want Bones Highlands.
Speaker 1: Somebody does want Bones Highland. There's no doubt about that
Speaker 1: to me. But yeah, Holo Dolo says, Wow, I totally
Speaker 1: forgot about PJ and Bones being there. It just seems
Speaker 1: like they've moved on. They're not in the short term
Speaker 1: or long term plan for the Clippers anymore. This team
Speaker 1: and what we heard today and some of the themes
Speaker 1: coming out of this now grant with having that competitive
Speaker 1: spirit and hearing the outside noise and nailing up some
Speaker 1: of that stuff and those reports on the bulletin board
Speaker 1: for extra motivation. I like hearing that we heard more
Speaker 1: about the defensive identity. There was something else with Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard and I'm not sure who asked the question. I
Speaker 1: think it was Om Yung Masouk. He asked him specifically
Speaker 1: whether or not this could be an ongoing issue with
Speaker 1: his knee. I want to know if you can give
Speaker 1: me a little bit of feedback on that, because again,
Speaker 1: my hearing wasn't great and I haven't seen that exact quote,
Speaker 1: but it didn't seem like Kawhi shied away from that one,
Speaker 1: although he asked him maybe to repeat it once.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was Om.
Speaker 3: Mom asked the question, like you know with this inflammation,
Speaker 3: is it is it, you know, something that you can
Speaker 3: manage or is this something that you're just gonna have
Speaker 3: to deal with for the rest of your career? And
Speaker 3: you know, I can't remember Kawhi's exact you know, quotes,
Speaker 3: but he said something to the fact like, uh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it is. We're just gonna have to manage
Speaker 3: it because I haven't been able to finish playoff runs.
Speaker 3: That's something that Kawi mentioned multiple times, is like I
Speaker 3: haven't been able to finish playoff runs. And I think
Speaker 3: that is really getting to him. I think that's somebody
Speaker 3: that he look, he lives for the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 3: good of a playoff performer he is, and I know that,
Speaker 3: you know, it doesn't show it in his emotions, but
Speaker 3: it is eating at him that he can't be able
Speaker 3: to be out He wasn't able to be out there
Speaker 3: for the last playoff run. So listen, I don't know exactly,
Speaker 3: you know, how Kawai wants to approach this. I don't
Speaker 3: know how the Clippers want to approach this, but from
Speaker 3: whatever I'm gathering, and even Adam James Harden said something
Speaker 3: that I don't think a lot of people are responding
Speaker 3: with or are talking about.
Speaker 2: Is that you know?
Speaker 3: James Harden said, listen, I you know Kawhi hasn't been there.
Speaker 3: He hasn't been there in the past playoff runs, and
Speaker 3: like we we want him at the end. We don't
Speaker 3: really care about him being there to begin And I
Speaker 3: was thinking, I was like, that's not really something that
Speaker 3: I'd love to hear from your co star, right, It's
Speaker 3: like he may you know. It's kind of saying like, hey,
Speaker 3: he may not be there to begin the season and
Speaker 3: he may not be his full self at the beginning
Speaker 3: of the season, but down the line is when we
Speaker 3: really need him.
Speaker 1: So I would thought about that too. I kind of
Speaker 1: at the same way where a red flag went up.
Speaker 1: But he also said basically, he'll be ready when he's ready.
Speaker 1: We want him to be healthy. He said all the
Speaker 1: right things there. And it also I guess had my
Speaker 1: intenna going up because they can't get by and get
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. I don't think if Kawhi, you know,
Speaker 1: they can't just rest him till marsh They aren't good
Speaker 1: enough to stay above water and to stay in the
Speaker 1: playoff hunt. To me, grant this time around, if Kawhi
Speaker 1: is out for a significant portion of the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, And like, I think that's the sentiment right now.
Speaker 3: That's what everyone should be talking about, is that.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 3: You can say what you want about like sitting Kawhi,
Speaker 3: resting Kawai and making sure that he's ready for the playoffs,
Speaker 3: but the Clippers aren't going to make the playoffs if
Speaker 3: Kawhi isn't playing fifty six at least fifty games. I
Speaker 3: say fifty that's like a lot missed, but like at
Speaker 3: least sixty games in my opinion, because the West is
Speaker 3: that much tougher. The team doesn't have another twenty point
Speaker 3: per game score on the roster unless you think that
Speaker 3: Nom Powell is going to elevate to that. So I
Speaker 3: think that, you know, Harden is one of those guys
Speaker 3: where I think he's just like Kauhi and norm where
Speaker 3: it's like, hey, I'm trying to do my thing, and
Speaker 3: obviously I'm for the team, but like I don't want
Speaker 3: to hear the outside noise.
Speaker 2: I don't really care about it.
Speaker 3: But the fact that he mentioned Kawai and that he
Speaker 3: mentioned about how he wants him to be there at
Speaker 3: the end of the season this year, and that they
Speaker 3: don't really care about how he is at the beginning
Speaker 3: of the season. It kind of reminds me a little
Speaker 3: bit about that, you know, when Kawai came back from
Speaker 3: that torn acl and everyone's like, it's gonna take him
Speaker 3: some time. I remember Nico Batum that year, he said,
Speaker 3: give us until Christmas, and then from Christmas on, that's
Speaker 3: and we'll be a right team. Obviously, they were never
Speaker 3: together as a team even after Christmas, but I feel
Speaker 3: like that's the kind of vibe we're feeling from this
Speaker 3: Clippers team. It reminds me, and unfortunately, it reminds me
Speaker 3: a lot of what happened when Kawai came back. I
Speaker 3: think that was a twenty two to twenty three year,
Speaker 3: whereas up and down, the Clippers finished as the five
Speaker 3: or six, the five seed, they played the Suns. I mean,
Speaker 3: everyone was down that year. That was a down year
Speaker 3: for the West in general. But I feel like that's
Speaker 3: kind of where we're at right now with this Kawhi situation.
Speaker 3: I hope it's better. I hope the outcome is a
Speaker 3: lot better. But even from players, when what they're saying
Speaker 3: is that's kind of the vibe I'm.
Speaker 1: Getting that quote we mentioned starting this conversation about Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard here from Omjung Masuk was and he's paraphrasing, I
Speaker 1: think a little bit, but this is accurate, he said.
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard says the inflammation in his knee is something
Speaker 1: that he could have to deal with for the rest
Speaker 1: of his career, but he says he and medical staff
Speaker 1: have a handle on it and are doing what is
Speaker 1: needed to keep it from being something that will be
Speaker 1: an issue down the road. That is concerning to me,
Speaker 1: and it goes back to this is the swelling down
Speaker 1: because he's not playing high level basketball yet and once
Speaker 1: he does, it could rise back up or flare up,
Speaker 1: or the inflammation will reset. That's always been my concern.
Speaker 1: That's what it was in the playoff series when they
Speaker 1: thought they had it more under control. You look decent
Speaker 1: in game two overall considering he hadn't played basketball in
Speaker 1: like a month, but then in Game three, after the
Speaker 1: swan went up after playing in game two, he looked
Speaker 1: like a shadow of himself or a fraction of himself.
Speaker 1: It was really concerning, and that's what worries me. Sore
Speaker 1: Losers Gaming says, we have no choice let's just load
Speaker 1: manage and pray he's okay for the playoffs, and just
Speaker 1: be more cautious than previous years if possible. Here's the
Speaker 1: problem for the playoffs. Are you gonna be able at playoffs?
Speaker 1: Are you gonna be able to get buys? Zim More
Speaker 1: would say, if you don't have him enough during the
Speaker 1: regular season to what Grant's saying, you know, I think
Speaker 1: they need him at least fifty games to be in
Speaker 1: the playoff picture, Like you could flirt with being outside
Speaker 1: of the play in if you don't have Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 1: enough this season. When you look at teams in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference, Grant that are getting better, the Spurs are
Speaker 1: gonna be better, The Houston Rockets are gonna be better.
Speaker 1: The Golden State Warriors might be about the same. The
Speaker 1: Lakers could be better, the Pelicans could be better. Most
Speaker 1: teams are getting better. Well, there's a couple contenders that
Speaker 1: you could say got a little bit worse. People are
Speaker 1: saying Denver gonna a little bit worse. People are saying
Speaker 1: Minnesota got a little bit worse. Okay, see did not
Speaker 1: get worse. But for the most part, I mean, maybe
Speaker 1: Dallas got slightly worse, they lost DJJ. For the most part,
Speaker 1: some of the young teams are on the rise outside
Speaker 1: of Portland and Utah. How many teams do you think
Speaker 1: the Clippers are clear cut above in the Western Conference
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 3: I mean, clearcut is one thing. I know that they're better,
Speaker 3: like balance wise than other teams because they have two stars.
Speaker 3: Like you know, the Spurs have Victor Webbin Yama, but
Speaker 3: they don't really have another star. I mean, I guess
Speaker 3: you could say Devin Bissell or or somebody like that.
Speaker 3: They brought Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes. But you know,
Speaker 3: the Clippers at least are banking on their two stars
Speaker 3: being that good, like getting back to their prime version.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know Kawhi is already the prime version
Speaker 3: of himself. He just had an insane year. But they're
Speaker 3: banking on James Harden getting back to his Houston days.
Speaker 3: So I can't really say like clearcut because the Clippers,
Speaker 3: I feel like, are if everything goes well, they will
Speaker 3: be a middle of the pack team. They aren't going
Speaker 3: to be a top four team in my opinion, because
Speaker 3: of the ascension of OKAC, because of Minnesota, and I
Speaker 3: don't know what Minnesota is going to look like now
Speaker 3: because they traded Awa Karl Anthony, Towns have got Julius
Speaker 3: Randall and Dante di Vicenzo, so we were going to
Speaker 3: have to see about them. That's another question mark. New
Speaker 3: Orleans added to Jonte Murray. The Dallas Mavericks added Klay Thompson.
Speaker 3: We'll see what kind of version of Klay Thompson we get.
Speaker 3: We'll see what Naji Marshall brings to that team. He's
Speaker 3: kind of like the Derek Jones junior replacement.
Speaker 2: Denver.
Speaker 3: I feel like got worse they lost KCP. Yes, they
Speaker 3: added Russell Westbrook, but that fit remains to be seen.
Speaker 3: While we do say that the west got better at him,
Speaker 3: and we said this probably about twenty twenty three as well,
Speaker 3: there still are a lot of question marks, right And
Speaker 3: I think we've talked about this before, Like we just
Speaker 3: saw Dallas Mavericks team that a lot of people didn't
Speaker 3: really feel like we're going to go to the finals.
Speaker 2: This past year.
Speaker 3: They made it, traded a couple of trades at the deadline,
Speaker 3: and they leaned on their guys and they made it
Speaker 3: to the finals as a five seed of Okay, so
Speaker 3: yes in theory. We do say that the West is better,
Speaker 3: and yes, on paper, it is better. I want to
Speaker 3: be deep. It's a deep conference, but the East.
Speaker 2: Is as well.
Speaker 3: I feel like if you go into the season and
Speaker 3: it's say it's February, right, and this team is kind
Speaker 3: of in the middle of the pack, like we all believe,
Speaker 3: are they gonna make that trade for somebody or are
Speaker 3: they just gonna stand put and say, hey, our focus
Speaker 3: is on the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven free agency,
Speaker 3: let's not make a move.
Speaker 2: I feel like.
Speaker 3: Right now, Adam, they are better than a lot of
Speaker 3: teams that I feel like people are putting up there.
Speaker 3: I feel like they're better than the Lakers. I feel
Speaker 3: like the Clippers are a little bit better than the Lakers.
Speaker 3: I feel like the Clippers are better than Warriors, the Kings.
Speaker 3: I love what they did with the mar Derozen. But again,
Speaker 3: it's not clear cut. That was your first question. It's
Speaker 3: not really a clear better.
Speaker 1: So it's only if they have Kalai right and that Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we're already talking about uncertainty with Game one to
Speaker 1: start this season. They don't know if he's going to
Speaker 1: be available. I guess my point is outside of three teams,
Speaker 1: with Portland, with Utah, with san Antonio, I don't think
Speaker 1: there's enough clear separation between the Clippers and anybody else. Now,
Speaker 1: if you tell me Kawi is good for sixty games
Speaker 1: and James Harden's good for sixty five plus, then okay,
Speaker 1: then maybe they have a shot at the sixth spot.
Speaker 1: But right now, it's really hard to say that with
Speaker 1: any amount of certainty that Kawhi is gonna be okay
Speaker 1: for that many games. Amina Shawn has said, we've tried
Speaker 1: everything to keep Kawhi healthy. Best bet is to have
Speaker 1: Kawhi play fifty seven or sixty three games. Just throwing
Speaker 1: out random numbers here, like, I have no idea. How's
Speaker 1: his KNI going to respond to any of this stuff?
Speaker 1: Jonathan Ing has a question that I think is pretty good.
Speaker 1: Lucas style was mentioned by Harden and to avoid overextending
Speaker 1: and overuse given his age, how is the ball handling
Speaker 1: and supplementary playmaking from the bench going to look grant
Speaker 1: in your opinion? So Cardon isn't overtaxed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 3: You know, I was kind of banking on Bones Island
Speaker 3: and kind of being that guy if you know, because
Speaker 3: he is a great offensive player, but he's not I
Speaker 3: guess a part of the team anymore.
Speaker 2: So we'll have to see about that.
Speaker 3: Norm Powell is I mean, he's mentioned things about ball
Speaker 3: handling and pick and roll and playmaking.
Speaker 1: That was big to me actually him saying the thing
Speaker 1: he worked on most was playmaking and pick and roll
Speaker 1: and that is something he has to do right.
Speaker 3: And we've talked about this and I've heard you talk
Speaker 3: about it on the show. Is like, that is something
Speaker 3: that he doesn't bring. He's just offensive. He's just an
Speaker 3: offensive score. So the fact that he actually mentioned that
Speaker 3: and being able to play off ball and being you know,
Speaker 3: I guess malleable and his offensive output, I think that
Speaker 3: is really That's something that I think really stood out
Speaker 3: to me, is that he was willing to work on
Speaker 3: his playmaking. He was willing to work on his pick
Speaker 3: and roll. And maybe, you know, to Jonathan's question, like
Speaker 3: maybe the front office or maybe coach Lou approached him
Speaker 3: and like, hey, I know that you've been a score
Speaker 3: for us in the past, and we've had the four
Speaker 3: Stars and you played excellent around those guys, but we're
Speaker 3: going to kind of need you to be that guy
Speaker 3: that you were on the Raptors where it was a
Speaker 3: two way player. You were great on defense, you could
Speaker 3: handle the ball a little bit, and you were still
Speaker 3: a great scorer. So maybe that's what they're banking on,
Speaker 3: is Norm Powell kind of being that guy off the
Speaker 3: bench where he can be the guy that can ball
Speaker 3: handle and be a supplementary playmaker like Jonathan's asking. So again,
Speaker 3: Chris Dunn is not the guy that is going to
Speaker 3: be an excellent ball floor general. He's not that kind
Speaker 3: of guy. He can't handle the basketball. He can score sometimes,
Speaker 3: but he's not that type of player. So I think
Speaker 3: that it's going to be a little bit of a process, right,
Speaker 3: It's going to be like, hey, let's just try Chris
Speaker 3: Dunn out the backup point. Let's see if that works.
Speaker 3: Maybe they try Norm Powell at the backup point if
Speaker 3: he doesn't get that starting two spot.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: So at this point, Look, everyone always clowns me because
Speaker 3: I mentioned that the Clickers are signing another guard, like
Speaker 3: they signed Trent and Flowers and they got all these
Speaker 3: different guards. But the fact that they have guards and
Speaker 3: they can be a little bit dynamic with that, I
Speaker 3: think that's a good thing, right And maybe Kevin Porter
Speaker 3: Junior assumes that role.
Speaker 2: We don't know.
Speaker 3: If everything clears with him and he's the guy that
Speaker 3: we think he can be, maybe he's the guy behind
Speaker 3: Harden that can kind of be that supplemental offensive piece.
Speaker 3: So again, Jonathan, I don't really have a clear cut
Speaker 3: answer for you, but there are options.
Speaker 2: The Clippers have the options to do that.
Speaker 1: I like the way you put that, d end. There
Speaker 1: are options. It could be backup point guard by committee.
Speaker 1: Terrence Man could play some backup pointyard. Chris Dunn has
Speaker 1: had a couple of seasons where he's averaged five assists. Like,
Speaker 1: I think he's capable. I think he, Man and KPJ
Speaker 1: are all more capable than Norman Powell at this point.
Speaker 1: Norm just hasn't shown off a high proficiency when it
Speaker 1: comes to pass it. He hasn't. If he's worked on it,
Speaker 1: If it's better now because of this offseason and the
Speaker 1: training he's done, I'd love to see it because if
Speaker 1: Norm could add that extra element with his scoring. Now
Speaker 1: you're talking. You mentioned him with the Toronto Raptors and
Speaker 1: the defense he used to be able to play. If
Speaker 1: you add a couple different elements. With him being a
Speaker 1: better playmate now and a better defender, then you have
Speaker 1: someone who's much more valuable to this team, and it
Speaker 1: would help his own cause with getting minutes. If he's
Speaker 1: not so deficient in these other areas and he's just
Speaker 1: being a one dimensional scorer out there, that's no disrespect.
Speaker 1: I don't want to make the Chris Carter he only
Speaker 1: scores touchdowns type of mistake. It is very important what
Speaker 1: normOn Powell does, but he does have weaknesses that keep
Speaker 1: him from being on the court enough in a season
Speaker 1: where you no longer have Paul George and you have
Speaker 1: a guy who's a bucket. But if he can't playmaking,
Speaker 1: if he can't be a connector if he can't be
Speaker 1: a great defender out there, and he's a liability or
Speaker 1: a negative defender, then he can't play as much and
Speaker 1: he's jocking for position with other guys that do some
Speaker 1: of those other elements better than he does right now.
Speaker 1: But that could be big. I mean, Ashwan said this,
Speaker 1: normOn Powell is more of a catch and shoot attacking
Speaker 1: closeouts players. Yes, agree, he can create, but he excels
Speaker 1: off of attacking closeouts and catching shoes he can create
Speaker 1: is kind. Norm Powell has been a bit of an
Speaker 1: adventure you could say, when he's trying to create for others.
Speaker 1: That's just not what he does well. He scores, and
Speaker 1: like you said, he's a decisive scorer and he takes
Speaker 1: the right shots. He's an analytics Daryl Morey type of
Speaker 1: dream because everything's at the basket or catching shoot three.
Speaker 1: But I think for the Clippers to have success this season,
Speaker 1: Norm is going to have to expand his game in
Speaker 1: the ways he talked about today. Gret.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you know this point about Norm Powell,
Speaker 3: and I think we want him to be a lot
Speaker 3: more because you know, he's away from that four star
Speaker 3: kind of look. And you know at this point, if
Speaker 3: he does become the guy that we know that he
Speaker 3: probably can be with his talent.
Speaker 2: I mean, he works so hard.
Speaker 3: I think if he works harder on his playmaking and
Speaker 3: his pick and roll game, he can blossom into that
Speaker 3: kind of player. And he look, he's not an older player,
Speaker 3: and he's like twenty nine to thirty years old, so
Speaker 3: he's not entirely young, but he still has room to
Speaker 3: grow as a player. In my opinion, there's been plenty
Speaker 3: of players that have kind of transformed their game as
Speaker 3: their careers have gone on to manipulate themselves into being
Speaker 3: a team player.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So I think for Norm, every comment that I've seen
Speaker 3: from the past couple of media days is like, Hey,
Speaker 3: I want to be an All Star this year.
Speaker 2: Hey, I want to.
Speaker 3: Be like a starter this year, and everyone like Clipper
Speaker 3: Nations like, eh, kind of temper your expectations because that's
Speaker 3: not really who.
Speaker 2: You are this year.
Speaker 3: If Norm Powell wants to have that kind of mindset,
Speaker 3: I'm all for it because they're going to need as
Speaker 3: much offensive output as possible. But you know, I think
Speaker 3: that you know I mean, is right, and you're right, Adam,
Speaker 3: like the catch and shoot guy, Yeah, that's what he is.
Speaker 3: He at tax cls out players. He's not the guy
Speaker 3: that's going to slide his feet and stay in front
Speaker 3: of a guy and hound them on the defensive end
Speaker 3: and his creation. I'm glad that he mentioned that he's
Speaker 3: getting better at that. But I think if and here's
Speaker 3: the other thing, Adam, if he does go to that
Speaker 3: starting two spot next to James Hardy, does that kind
Speaker 3: of hinder his offensive ability because I feel like if
Speaker 3: he's on the bench, he has more of a free
Speaker 3: will to kind of be norm and be a guy
Speaker 3: that can blossom. So I'm that's something that just popped
Speaker 3: into my head, like, yes, he could be great around
Speaker 3: the guys like around Harden, around Kawhi and the starting lineup,
Speaker 3: but we probably won't see the full Norman Powell experience
Speaker 3: unless he's on the bench and unless he's playing with
Speaker 3: that bench unit as the main scorer on the bench unit.
Speaker 3: So that's a little bit of a concern too, A question,
Speaker 3: I guess.
Speaker 1: No, that's true. He'd be playing much more off ball
Speaker 1: and wouldn't be a focal point if he's in the
Speaker 1: starting lineup. He's dangerous there off ball, but he has
Speaker 1: more of a green light if the offense is more
Speaker 1: centered around him with the second unit. Let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about somebody else. I want to see more
Speaker 1: of a focal point from with this Clippers team this season.
Speaker 1: And that's a beats a zoobas what did you hear
Speaker 1: from him today, Grant, that needs you to be a
Speaker 1: little bit more encouraged that not only has he gotten
Speaker 1: paid and that should encourage him to have a bigger
Speaker 1: role on this team, but just with what he said
Speaker 1: today at media day to back that up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, everyone asked Zoo about his offensive volume,
Speaker 3: his offensive output, and you know, Zoo is is kind
Speaker 3: of a low key guy, so he doesn't really like
Speaker 3: to talk himself up that much. But when they asked
Speaker 3: him that, he said, you know, I've been working on
Speaker 3: my left and right hooks. And I believe that either
Speaker 3: Law or till Mayor asked it. I think till Mayor
Speaker 3: asked him, Hey, are you going to be quicker going
Speaker 3: to with your back to the basket, because that's a
Speaker 3: lot of people's concern is like when you get it
Speaker 3: to Zoo, it's going to take him four or five
Speaker 3: seconds to get into his offense and do his thing.
Speaker 3: So are you is that something that you've been working on,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe in the Olympics with Croatia, And Zuo
Speaker 3: was like, not really, because I have to read the
Speaker 3: defenses and I have to kind of see what the
Speaker 3: defense has given me and what it's not. So I
Speaker 3: didn't really work on it, but that is something that
Speaker 3: I want to key in on. That's something kind of
Speaker 3: that he wanted to focus on. Another big thing that
Speaker 3: I heard from Zoo was like, I think somebody asked him, like,
Speaker 3: your experience with Croatia and the Olympics and the ability to,
Speaker 3: you know, play as kind of the main guy for Croatia,
Speaker 3: and he said, look, I played with Croatia and they
Speaker 3: expected me to have a higher offensive volume and so
Speaker 3: I'm not, like, it's not like it's new to me.
Speaker 3: I'm used to being like a higher offensive volume guy,
Speaker 3: a guy that they rely on more. So it's not
Speaker 3: really something that I have to work on it because
Speaker 3: when I go over to Croatia and when I play
Speaker 3: with the national team, that's what they expect of me. Anyways,
Speaker 3: So coming back here and signing the extension and everyone's like, hey,
Speaker 3: you're the third option now, it's like he he kind
Speaker 3: of basically said, like, it's not really that new to
Speaker 3: me because I do it in my international team. So
Speaker 3: that is a really good sign because that does that
Speaker 3: means that he doesn't really have to work on a
Speaker 3: lot because he's already kind of familiar with that. More
Speaker 3: I guess attention on him. So I think Zoo understands,
Speaker 3: like he understands that they lost a twenty point per
Speaker 3: game score and Paul George, they lost that kind of
Speaker 3: offense about what and he knows that he's gonna have
Speaker 3: to step it up. But I think that, you know,
Speaker 3: he also talked about his defensive ability, the ability to
Speaker 3: you know, play on the perimeter and and be more
Speaker 3: laterally quick, and you'll be that rim protector that the
Speaker 3: Clippers love and they that they need honestly, and that
Speaker 3: means right like, Zoom needs to probably average fifteen or
Speaker 3: sixteen points per game in order for them to be
Speaker 3: a very good team this year. So again, I think
Speaker 3: I loved what I hear what I heard from Zoo,
Speaker 3: but I think I would love to hear a little
Speaker 3: bit more about how he can expand his game. I
Speaker 3: think Law like joked with him, Hey, are we going
Speaker 3: to see you shoot any threes this year? And he said,
Speaker 3: I don't really want to answer that, and last said,
Speaker 3: come on, just just give me an answer, and Zue said, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'll shoot the threes for you man. So I'm not
Speaker 3: going to say he's going to do it, but it
Speaker 3: was kind of like a tongue in cheek kind of answer.
Speaker 1: Stretch. Zoo is a bucket. We saw it a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago when he got one attempt off. I
Speaker 1: think in the twenty twenty one season against the Houston
Speaker 1: Rockets the last game of the year, and then they
Speaker 1: took him out of the ballgame after he made it too.
Speaker 1: That's interesting to me. I agree with Amina Sean here
Speaker 1: saying he feels like it beats a Zoo Bots needs
Speaker 1: to average fifteen or sixteen points per game. To me, Gret,
Speaker 1: you give me your numbers, but I'm going with sixteen
Speaker 1: and eleven if Zoo is anywhere in that range. To me,
Speaker 1: the Clippers are staying afloat in the Western Conference.
Speaker 3: Number Adam was fifteen to ten, and that's like kind
Speaker 3: of like a baseline, I guess number stat line. I
Speaker 3: think all of us that are expecting a lot from
Speaker 3: Zoo are kind of expecting that kind of kind of
Speaker 3: stat line. Sixteen to eleven is very fair. I feel
Speaker 3: like if he gets more touches, if he's more involved
Speaker 3: in the offense, And he said himself like him and
Speaker 3: James Harden have been working very hard and they you know,
Speaker 3: having a full off season together, and it seems like
Speaker 3: they've gotten together. I mean, James Harden mentioned this, like
Speaker 3: they've already had some time together to kind of mesh
Speaker 3: in the off season. They've gotten together in Arizona, and
Speaker 3: the team has gotten together on bonding trips and they've
Speaker 3: worked on things already, which is a cool sign. So,
Speaker 3: you know, Zoo mentioned his chemistry of James Harden, like
Speaker 3: he wants to take that next step and he feels
Speaker 3: like that next step is there. So if you have
Speaker 3: a Zoo and hardened pick and roll game that is
Speaker 3: even better than it was last year because last year
Speaker 3: was so good, then that means a lot, not just
Speaker 3: for James Harden, but for Zoo as well. If he
Speaker 3: can get more points in that pick and roll situation,
Speaker 3: he has the ability to pass out of that pick
Speaker 3: and roll as well. So maybe we see his assists
Speaker 3: numbers go up. I'm not really sure, Adam, but I
Speaker 3: think the scoring output, he understands it, and the fact
Speaker 3: that he's willing to kind of manipulate his game. He's
Speaker 3: willing to work on his game in other areas. With
Speaker 3: the left hook, the right hook, you'll maybe farther from
Speaker 3: the basket. I think that's really good. And you know,
Speaker 3: the fifteen and ten again, that's baseline. I feel like
Speaker 3: that should be what he's shooting for. But sixteen to eleven,
Speaker 3: I think would be a blessing for this team. I
Speaker 3: think that would be That would mean that the Clippers
Speaker 3: are in the mix in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And it means they're no longer forgetting about it. Easta
Speaker 1: Zubots exploit of Eatsta Zubots in a good way. Use him.
Speaker 1: He can help this team get easier buckets, which they've
Speaker 1: had a tough time generating over the years. They've been
Speaker 1: in much of a jump shooting team. Evil Bot Adam asks,
Speaker 1: you think it's going to affect them in some level
Speaker 1: with the chemistry on practice time, not knowing from the
Speaker 1: start who's going to be the starter at shooting guard.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's a problem in training camp.
Speaker 3: I don't think so. I think that whenever you have
Speaker 3: competition for these spots and better as the team. I
Speaker 3: remember Adam in twenty twenty one, this was before the
Speaker 3: conference finals were on. They brought in Niko Batoum, and
Speaker 3: everyone was like, who's going to start the four, Marcus
Speaker 3: Morris or Niko Batum. It's going to be an open
Speaker 3: competition for that fore spot. And you know, Niko Batum said, listen,
Speaker 3: I don't care. I just want to help the team.
Speaker 3: Marcus Morris said I want to be the starter. He
Speaker 3: was basically saying, I want to be the four, and
Speaker 3: I believe Marcus Morris got hurt and Niko Batum came
Speaker 3: in at that four spot, and it was a competition
Speaker 3: in training camp. Niko Batum started the season at the four.
Speaker 3: When Marcus Morris came back, he didn't really play that well,
Speaker 3: you know, he didn't really play that well, and Niko
Speaker 3: Batum was playing well. So Marcus Moore said, hey, you
Speaker 3: can take that four spot for now because we're doing
Speaker 3: so well. Buttoom started to slow down a little bit.
Speaker 3: Then he passed it on the Marcus Morris. He said, look,
Speaker 3: Marcus has gotten hot, he's probably the best fit for
Speaker 3: the starting lineup, and he allowed that to happen.
Speaker 2: So hopefully that's the case this year.
Speaker 3: Hopefully they this open competition for all of these spots
Speaker 3: doesn't affect the chemistry. If anything, I think it'll help.
Speaker 3: I mean, from everything that I've seen from these guys
Speaker 3: and what they've been talking about, the chemistry is at
Speaker 3: a really high level right now. And they haven't even
Speaker 3: gotten to a practice yet. I know they've had their
Speaker 3: off season stuff and they've gotten together there, but I
Speaker 3: don't think it's going to affect the chemistry in a
Speaker 3: negative way at all. I think that all of this
Speaker 3: talk about who's going to start the two, who's gonna
Speaker 3: start the four, that's going to better the team because
Speaker 3: now you're going to say, look, there's gonna be competition
Speaker 3: in training camp. In years past, it's been like, Okay,
Speaker 3: here's our starting five, and it's kind of what it is. Now,
Speaker 3: it's like, hey, you're gonna have to earn these spots,
Speaker 3: and I think that will be better for the team
Speaker 3: chemistry wise. I mean, all these guys have a dog
Speaker 3: kind of mentality, I guess you could say, and they
Speaker 3: all have that hunger. So that's going to better the chemistry,
Speaker 3: not negatively affected, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: I want to nip something in the bud here because
Speaker 1: I'm so sick of people saying this about Aviza Zoobots
Speaker 1: and if I stayed long enough to ask him this question,
Speaker 1: I might have done so today because there's this misconception
Speaker 1: about Aviza zubots. Amina. Sean says, also, he needs that
Speaker 1: efficiency to be higher than last season. So number one,
Speaker 1: No One was better from five to nine feet out
Speaker 1: in the league at the center position than Aviza Zubats,
Speaker 1: not even Nikolo Jokic. I think he ended up shooting
Speaker 1: sixty four percent from five to nine feet out. So
Speaker 1: there's false narrative number one, number two, while also being
Speaker 1: a much better rent protector. Nobody in the effing league
Speaker 1: was a better rent protector last season than Aviza Zubos.
Speaker 1: Teams only shot fifty one point nine percent in the
Speaker 1: restricted area against Aviza Zubats. Are you guys seeing this?
Speaker 1: Do you get it? Do you understand just how good
Speaker 1: he is on that end? Oh, he's also a lead
Speaker 1: at defending the pick and roll. He was only second
Speaker 1: to Rudy Gobert there. Aviza Zubats, his entire tenure with
Speaker 1: the Clippers has been top five in rint protection and
Speaker 1: multiple times has been the best at the season end
Speaker 1: when it comes to field goal percentage in the restricted area.
Speaker 1: Could we stop the false narrative about him? Please? My god,
Speaker 1: it is I'm sorry, it is just a mind no.
Speaker 2: It's so fair though.
Speaker 3: Like I and I remember listening to Clippers talk like
Speaker 3: for the radio last year and people were coming on
Speaker 3: They're like, well, we should put him Mason Plumley to
Speaker 3: start over Zubots because he just doesn't know what he's
Speaker 3: doing out there. And I just couldn't believe what I
Speaker 3: was listening to because all of these stats like these
Speaker 3: aren't just like random analytical stats. These are like critical
Speaker 3: essential things that teams look at when they're valuing their
Speaker 3: big men or whether when they're evaluating centers. And look at
Speaker 3: the names he's up there with. It's not just look
Speaker 3: Chet Holmgren, Kristaps Porzingis Wehm bin Yama, like that guy
Speaker 3: was in the conversation for defensive Player of the Year
Speaker 3: and the fact that I Vitza Zubats is near the
Speaker 3: top of that. I think Vitza Zubats is near the
Speaker 3: top guarding Nikola Jokic too, who is obviously the best
Speaker 3: center in the NBA. So I don't know where this
Speaker 3: narrative came from. I think it's just that Zoo isn't.
Speaker 2: This flashy player.
Speaker 3: He's not this dynamic, unbelievable stretch five that you see
Speaker 3: from a lot of other teams. He gets the job
Speaker 3: done at a high clip, and that's why they extended him.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 3: I don't know why people don't understand that.
Speaker 1: It is one of the most frustrating things that you
Speaker 1: have to deal with when it comes to beats a zoobots.
Speaker 1: It is a false narrative perpetuated by people that have
Speaker 1: no idea about ball. And to your point, I don't
Speaker 1: want to call them casuals. I'll call them low level
Speaker 1: information fans. To your point, this is something that every
Speaker 1: front office and every coaching staff looks at and evaluates.
Speaker 1: Rimp protection. It is one of the most sought after
Speaker 1: things when it comes to a big man, a roller
Speaker 1: and a rint protector. That's what you look for in
Speaker 1: today's NBA. And to your point, and I know you
Speaker 1: got to leave here in a second grant, but nobody
Speaker 1: has been better defending Jokic in one on one plays
Speaker 1: in isolation than Avitza Zubats. In fact, it's by such
Speaker 1: a wide margin it's incredible. If you're going off the
Speaker 1: last five seasons, including the playoffs, points per possession against Jokic,
Speaker 1: Jokic is only getting point six to eight points per
Speaker 1: possession against Avitza Zubats one on one. The next closest guy,
Speaker 1: Jokich is getting a point per possession against, So there's
Speaker 1: a point four to two difference. It's incredible. His defense
Speaker 1: against Jokic. He doesn't get applauded for it enough. He's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite players. I feel passionately about it.
Speaker 1: If that's why it sounds so intense right now. It's
Speaker 1: just one of those things. It's a crime against Avitza
Speaker 1: Zubats and the Clippers organization that value him so much
Speaker 1: to give him this new contract if you don't realize
Speaker 1: that he has been one of the top rim defenders
Speaker 1: and just was the top rim defender in the league
Speaker 1: this past season, and there's nobody better against Jokich.
Speaker 2: Great clip that so many clip that put it on socials.
Speaker 1: If that's what it takes an unhinged rant for me, Grant,
Speaker 1: where could everybody find your wonderful work? And I know
Speaker 1: you're going to be posting a lot of stuff after
Speaker 1: today's media day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, I posted a bunch of stuff at Gmono
Speaker 3: forty eight on X and that's what we'll be posting
Speaker 3: a lot of the quick updates, the video stuff. I'm
Speaker 3: also at money Moo Media on YouTube. I'll be posting
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff there in terms of long form.
Speaker 3: Money Moo Media TV is my TikTok where I post
Speaker 3: a lot of clips basically every day. And you know,
Speaker 3: I'll have all my written stuff at the Sporting Tribune,
Speaker 3: so the Sporting Tribune dot com. We are all LA
Speaker 3: all the time. Also cow all the time. So Adam again,
Speaker 3: is a pleasure being here. But it's good to see
Speaker 3: you today and all this passion. I hope the Clippers
Speaker 3: have heard it. I hope that they are going to
Speaker 3: embrace it. And I hope that Vitza Zoo Bots doesn't
Speaker 3: listen to any of these people, because he's the man.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, there's an easier path to win ball games,
Speaker 1: and it's playing through Big Zoo. Grant, love your brother,
Speaker 1: Good to see you, good to bro hug you today.
Speaker 1: We will talk again soon again. Guys, follow Grant Mona
Speaker 1: for all this good information from the Sporting Tribune. Please
Speaker 1: if you listen to me, well you're also listening to
Speaker 1: him already because I take notes of things he says.
Speaker 1: So please, if you're gonna respect me, here, respect Grant
Speaker 1: Mona because he has been a part of this show.
Speaker 1: I think it's the third time he's come on the
Speaker 1: last month. Grant, I have a good one safe drive home.
Speaker 1: Get all that good content up for the people.
Speaker 2: All right, Adam, take care. We'll see soon. Man.
Speaker 1: All right. The live stream will continue here, but it
Speaker 1: was good to have Grant Mona on live from Into
Speaker 1: It dumb as this is a Clippers Talk Live. Jam
Speaker 1: thirteen twenty four says, will you be more active on
Speaker 1: your YouTube this season? Grant, he will be. That's a fact.
Speaker 1: I've talked with him about this. Jay says, just got
Speaker 1: off work. I'm gonna have to rewind it for the drive.
Speaker 1: But I did catch James's media on my lunch and
Speaker 1: like what I heard, and I like how he's looking.
Speaker 1: Hope he walks the walls. Not is it because of
Speaker 1: the Clippers wall walks the wall instead of the walk.
Speaker 1: I don't know. He did talk for a bit. I
Speaker 1: like what James Harden said too, walks the walk is
Speaker 1: what he meant there. So we've pretty much gone through God,
Speaker 1: I want to say everybody, at this point, maybe I
Speaker 1: should just end this so you can go back and
Speaker 1: listen to the beginning of it, and if any other
Speaker 1: news breaks later today, I will start another Clippers Talk
Speaker 1: Live related to media day coming up tomorrow. We have
Speaker 1: Noah Ego coming on, your former radio voice of the Clippers.
Speaker 1: He will join me here and maybe I'll talk with
Speaker 1: somebody from Hawaii at training camp tomorrow night. We'll see ano.
Speaker 1: They're flying out to Honolulu. They have a game against
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors that is on Saturday. We'll have
Speaker 1: it for you on the radio side on seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: I believe the pregame show will be starting at three Wednesday.
Speaker 1: I already know I have til Marrazarali coming on from Honolulu.
Speaker 1: He'll be joining me Wednesday, So a little bit of
Speaker 1: a rundown and what to look forward to on the
Speaker 1: schedule here on Clippers Talk. But if more news breaks,
Speaker 1: if more comes out, we will have it all for you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate everybody here that's been in the chat, that
Speaker 1: has been asking questions here, that has been supporting of
Speaker 1: eatsa zoobots, like evil Bot Adam who said zoo is
Speaker 1: like my paycheck. It's doing work, but I don't see it.
Speaker 1: That's pretty funny. I will not be in Hawaii. I
Speaker 1: gotta stay here and help Fred Rogan at a five
Speaker 1: seventy LA Sports. But I at least had the day
Speaker 1: off there to some degree. So the work will continue.
Speaker 1: The content will continue here on the Clippers Talk side.
Speaker 1: I told you once the Clipper season started, I will
Speaker 1: not miss a day when it comes to posting and
Speaker 1: uploading content on YouTube at Clippers Talk. But you can
Speaker 1: also follow me at follow Adam a on Twitter, on
Speaker 1: x at Clippers Talk, on the TikTok at Clippers Talk,
Speaker 1: follow Adam Ay on the Instagram. Jonathan Ing says, Adam
Speaker 1: the Clipper content goat. I don't know about that, but
Speaker 1: I am posting a lot, so I appreciate the love.
Speaker 1: I appreciate everybody who's been here for the last two
Speaker 1: hours on Clippers Talk as I drove home midway through
Speaker 1: the media day session going on, because I could just
Speaker 1: talk to you guys and do a little bit of analysis.
Speaker 1: Evil bot Adam says, if you haven't subscribed, what the
Speaker 1: f or you're all waiting for to have the best
Speaker 1: Clippers analysis and news, Hit the like and subscribe button.
Speaker 1: I concur hit the like, hit the subscribe button, show
Speaker 1: a little bit of love here. Moas Scene says. Getting
Speaker 1: Zubots in the Mouskala trade was a steal, I said
Speaker 1: at day one, and he's been excelling his game every year.
Speaker 1: Zubots is a real one. One of my favorite Clippers
Speaker 1: of all time already and he's only been in for
Speaker 1: what five and a half seasons? All right, it's been
Speaker 1: two hours. I gotta rest the voice. Maybe I'll get
Speaker 1: a workout in and come back and do another live
Speaker 1: later tonight. For that scheduling, just check follow outamea on
Speaker 1: x I'll post it there as always, or if you're
Speaker 1: subscribed and you hit the little bell button, you'll know
Speaker 1: when we go live. You'll know when there's a new
Speaker 1: episode here of Clippers Talk. So for Grant Mota, thanks
Speaker 1: again for coming on. I'm Madame Maslin. This has been
Speaker 1: a special edition of Clippers Talk Live on Media Day.
Speaker 1: We will talk to you guys soon.