Speaker 1: Another Clippers Talk live on a Clippers media Day. We
Speaker 1: got two specials for you here at Clippers Talk on
Speaker 1: the Clippers Talk YouTube side and if you're picking up
Speaker 1: a podcast somewhere on Spotify or iTunes or iHeart I'm
Speaker 1: at a Maslam welcome back in. If you missed the
Speaker 1: immediate show post media Day, I had Grant Mona on
Speaker 1: with me live from into a Dome. I left a
Speaker 1: little bit early so I could get on the stream
Speaker 1: and just start to analyze some of the colts that
Speaker 1: we're coming out now. I'm lucky enough to be joined
Speaker 1: by one of our friends. He's at fly by Night.
Speaker 1: Can it s where you finds him on X It
Speaker 1: is the great Justin BRUSSEO, Justin, my friend. Thanks for
Speaker 1: doing this today, no problem.
Speaker 2: It's been a long day. Ready to make it a
Speaker 2: little bit longer, but it's for a good cause.
Speaker 1: Let's make sure we get some promotion out. Have you
Speaker 1: already written piece or two or three or four today
Speaker 1: that you've dropped on media Day?
Speaker 2: I wrote none about Kawai.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have one tomorrow, kind of detailing just some
Speaker 3: of the comments that guys made about you know, players
Speaker 3: who just aren't here anymore.
Speaker 2: And then going from there, I you know, kind of
Speaker 2: plan stuff out for about three or four days since
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna be in Hawaii some as well.
Speaker 4: Plan stuff out just you know, from today onward.
Speaker 1: Where can people find this necessary content so they're up
Speaker 1: to date when it comes to Clippers news and information.
Speaker 3: You can find me on Justin Russo dot substack dot com.
Speaker 3: You can find me, you know, as you said on
Speaker 3: Twitter at fly by Night k N I t E.
Speaker 3: So people want to do it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I am starting to charge tomorrow October first, so just
Speaker 2: letting people know if you subscribe, I will write a
Speaker 2: bunch of stuff. It's behind the paywall. I apologize, it's
Speaker 2: the nature of the business.
Speaker 1: Now charge me double. It's such good content. I will
Speaker 1: pay double. It is that good. I've been along for
Speaker 1: the ride for some time now. So I appreciate your work.
Speaker 1: Appreciates you you and all this today and coming now
Speaker 1: here on Clippers Top to talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about media Day, and I guess we could start with
Speaker 1: what Norman Pale said initially, is he was the first
Speaker 1: guy up at the podium. Did you take what he
Speaker 1: said as a disk towards Paul George saying addition by
Speaker 1: subtraction or was that taken out of context where he
Speaker 1: was mostly just talking about how he has wonted more
Speaker 1: minutes and a bigger opportunity for some time.
Speaker 2: I took it both in and out of context.
Speaker 3: As weird as that sounds like, I don't think it
Speaker 3: was meant to be a shot against Paul specifically, as like,
Speaker 3: you know, Paul was this problem. I think it's it
Speaker 3: was more of a Okay, well, we lost this guy
Speaker 3: who had a really you know, high share of the workload,
Speaker 3: so naturally other guys are going to get more opportunities.
Speaker 3: So I think that's kind of where what he meant
Speaker 3: by the addition by subscription subtraction. But also I get
Speaker 3: if people read that as a shot, because it kind
Speaker 3: of comes across as one when you just look at
Speaker 3: the quote by itself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely interesting and it was an interesting way
Speaker 1: to start off the press. Or it was the last
Speaker 1: question he was asked. He answered it right at the end.
Speaker 1: What else did you make of normOn Palell just being
Speaker 1: in this position finally where he probably has the best
Speaker 1: shot to be the starting two guard, which has been
Speaker 1: a goal and motivation of his for some time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he talked about how he's going into
Speaker 2: the into camp trying to compete for the starting two
Speaker 2: guard spot, which should be his thought process going into it.
Speaker 2: Nor is an interesting guy because he is a veteran.
Speaker 2: He is a big time scoring option, especially off the bench.
Speaker 2: Had a very efficient year last year, so you know there.
Speaker 2: I think there is a level that Norm can achieve.
Speaker 2: And I think with PG Levy mean he views himself
Speaker 2: as that guy who could fill into that role.
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense scoring wise, with how efficient
Speaker 1: he's been over the years, that Norman Powe would try
Speaker 1: to take it upon himself and the coaching staff would
Speaker 1: look at him as a really good option to supplement
Speaker 1: some of the scoring loss. With now Paul George being
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, do you think there's an even better chance
Speaker 1: of him getting into the starting lineup if Kawhi Leonard,
Speaker 1: who will talk about in just a little bit, is
Speaker 1: not available for opening night, But that really could open
Speaker 1: up the door from Norman Powell because they just need
Speaker 1: more scoring, they need more shots up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes complete sense if CLI's not there.
Speaker 3: I think Norman is the kind of easiest plug and
Speaker 3: play type option for them.
Speaker 1: Noran Powell has been a plug and play guy. He
Speaker 1: has made it known he's wanted to be an All
Speaker 1: Star for a while. He has made it known he's
Speaker 1: wanted to be a starting two guard and believes that
Speaker 1: he can be a starting two guard. So the downside
Speaker 1: to that is d and then lacking it at the
Speaker 1: point of attack if he's playing next to James Harden
Speaker 1: to start off ballgames. But Norm kind of alluded to
Speaker 1: the fact that he wanted to change to the narrative
Speaker 1: about him. He wanted to get in the best shape
Speaker 1: of his life. He believes he's there that he can
Speaker 1: play forty minutes on both ends of the court. Now
Speaker 1: are you buying into him being a better defender and
Speaker 1: also playmaker and a guy who can run pick and
Speaker 1: roll because those were boys that he made today at
Speaker 1: the presser.
Speaker 4: He could I could envision that, you know, quite possibly happening.
Speaker 4: I'm interested in Norm as a downhill guy, especially as
Speaker 4: a playmaker and rim finisher, where they're not going to
Speaker 4: have to incorporate another guy amongst that group, because you know,
Speaker 4: we talked about it last year. You know, the Powell
Speaker 4: Rangers lineup with him and James and PG and Kawhi
Speaker 4: and Zoo. That's a lot of mouths to feed and
Speaker 4: with one less mouth defeat in that in that scenario,
Speaker 4: you know, Norm has a chance to do more things
Speaker 4: with the ball, especially going downhill to the rim. It
Speaker 4: was kind of interesting because I asked Norm about shooting
Speaker 4: more three how Ty said that he wants them to
Speaker 4: shoot more threes and get out in transition run a
Speaker 4: little bit more. And I said, you know, how does
Speaker 4: that suit you? And how does that suit the team?
Speaker 4: And he, you know, he kind of joked back, he goes,
Speaker 4: how do you think that suits me? So I think
Speaker 4: it suits you very well, just because of the fact
Speaker 4: that you know, he does get out and transition hating
Speaker 4: been such a good three point shooter. So there are
Speaker 4: things that the Clippers are trying to do to I
Speaker 4: think kind of alleviate the burden of PG leaving, especially
Speaker 4: on the offensive end, by trying to get some of
Speaker 4: these guys to maybe maybe not take like another stuff forward,
Speaker 4: but show a little bit more than they were able
Speaker 4: to last year, just because of the constraints of the
Speaker 4: people around them.
Speaker 1: If you have questions for justin so he's joining us
Speaker 1: for about the next forty five minutes or so. If
Speaker 1: you got him pertain to something you've heard today at
Speaker 1: media day, Justin was there. I was there for most
Speaker 1: of it before I dipped out. But these are two
Speaker 1: guys that I didn't see there at all today, And
Speaker 1: you tell me if I'm wrong. PJ Tucker in Bolones
Speaker 1: Highland anywhere to be seen. Anyone mentioned them. Do you
Speaker 1: still expect them to show up for training camp?
Speaker 4: So, I have no idea about the training camp. I'm
Speaker 4: assuming they'll be a training camp the first part though.
Speaker 4: I did not see PJ and Bones. However, I did
Speaker 4: see a video of Bones from media day today where
Speaker 4: he was there. I saw someone post it. I didn't
Speaker 4: see PJ. I don't know if there was a video
Speaker 4: of PJ. I have no idea. I'm not gonna sit
Speaker 4: there and say he wasn't there. I will just say
Speaker 4: I didn't see him. But I also didn't see Bones
Speaker 4: and Bones was there. You know this, Adam. It was
Speaker 4: completely different this year as opposed to the past years
Speaker 4: in terms of the setup, where in past years, because
Speaker 4: of the training center, we were kind of able to
Speaker 4: look out and see everybody as they would come out
Speaker 4: do their photos and everything. This was different. The press
Speaker 4: conference room at the arena was separate from by a hallway,
Speaker 4: and then everyone else was on the court and it
Speaker 4: was kind of blocked off in certain few sites and
Speaker 4: a few lines and stuff. So guys might have been
Speaker 4: there that we just didn't see. But I did see
Speaker 4: pretty much everyone else except for those two. But as
Speaker 4: I said, there was a video of Bone, so you know,
Speaker 4: I don't know the PJ could have been there. I
Speaker 4: just don't know for sure.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of places guys could be at the
Speaker 1: end to a DOL, it's not all on one floor
Speaker 1: like it used to be on a Planet del Vista.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Ing wants to ask if Norm's defense was already
Speaker 1: pretty bad given how he played last year, If he
Speaker 1: has more playmaking responsibilities and can do more creation as
Speaker 1: a secondary ball handler, his defense may not be as good.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing he's saying that's taxing him and taking some
Speaker 1: of his energy away. I would say last year was
Speaker 1: his best year defensively as a Clipperdge, would you agree
Speaker 1: with that?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't disagree. I mean, it's hard to put into
Speaker 4: context like his defense because I don't mean this in
Speaker 4: a negative way. He's not a positive defender, so like
Speaker 4: there are lineups where they have to insulate him to
Speaker 4: where he's not being taken advantage of quite a bit
Speaker 4: as much as other teams would like. I'm not sure
Speaker 4: if having more playmaking responsibilities would make his defense worse,
Speaker 4: only because I think he's surrounded by more defensive personnel
Speaker 4: on this team as opposed to last year's team with
Speaker 4: a Derek Jones, with a Chris Dunn, with guys with
Speaker 4: a Nico Batum, with guys like that that can at
Speaker 4: least take some of that burden away in those lineups.
Speaker 1: Good answer, and we have something from Shanina Shakes saying
Speaker 1: I was there both to pictures today. I saw him
Speaker 1: and he had great energy, so we double source it
Speaker 1: now moving along, James Harden was next up at the podium.
Speaker 1: He mentioned being more aggressive as he was asked about
Speaker 1: his role this season without Paul George. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's going to be a problem for him. He talked
Speaker 1: about how being home and leaving a legacy here is
Speaker 1: a big deal to him. He wants to play here
Speaker 1: the rest of his career and also make people believe
Speaker 1: in this team because he's been on other teams before
Speaker 1: that were doubted and he got them believing because he
Speaker 1: is a system and he can raise the floor and
Speaker 1: during a regular season, there is no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: But he was asked about style of play and how
Speaker 1: much you know, he has to have the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands versus other guys for them to really achieve
Speaker 1: the best version of this Clippers offense. He did say,
Speaker 1: it's going to involve.
Speaker 4: Me a lot.
Speaker 1: It was funny because he can create shots for himself
Speaker 1: and get others involved. And he mentioned how Luka Doncic
Speaker 1: plays the same way and just got his team to
Speaker 1: the NBA finals. Are you under the belief that the
Speaker 1: heliocentric style or play with James Harden can be a
Speaker 1: winning formula at the ultimate level in the NBA?
Speaker 5: Still probably not to the degree that the Clippers would
Speaker 5: hope because of his you know, he is what thirty
Speaker 5: five now thirty six?
Speaker 4: He's thirty five, now, that's a lot. In the workloads
Speaker 4: he had in Houston in basketball years, he might be
Speaker 4: closer to thirty eight thirty nine just because of how
Speaker 4: much was on his plate on an every night basis
Speaker 4: and the amount of minutes that he had and the
Speaker 4: amount of games he was playing. But what I will
Speaker 4: say is he's not wrong. You know, for as much
Speaker 4: as we you know, kind of poo poo on the
Speaker 4: Helio centric Syle offenses, for better or worse, they are
Speaker 4: very successful, if not just in the regular season, but
Speaker 4: also in the postseason. I think we sometimes forget the
Speaker 4: James Harden Rockets really only lost to the Dynasty Warriors and.
Speaker 1: The best team maybe of all time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like there is that context. They took them to
Speaker 4: seven games and had a real chance of winning that
Speaker 4: game seven if one of the worst three point shooting
Speaker 4: performances of all time never takes place. So twenty seven
Speaker 4: straight misses, I don't think he's wrong, But I also
Speaker 4: excuse me. I also acknowledge he's not the player he
Speaker 4: used to be. I think he kind of acknowledges that too,
Speaker 4: where at times he can't uptick the offense like he
Speaker 4: would like to from the past to now. So I
Speaker 4: think there is going to be a I have to
Speaker 4: be a little bit of a marriage between the player
Speaker 4: that he was the player that he is now and
Speaker 4: the players that the Clipper. The player that the Clippers
Speaker 4: need on a night to night basis, especially when kawhi'
Speaker 4: is not there to help share the workload.
Speaker 1: I like what you said about coming out of the season,
Speaker 1: getting out of the starting gates fast strong. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: don't get time for patients, Gotta get to it now.
Speaker 1: Got to get off to a good start, make our
Speaker 1: name and presence fell from the beginning, and also mentioned
Speaker 1: how we have to hang our hats on our defense,
Speaker 1: and then mentioned Jeff van Gundy and how much he's
Speaker 1: meant to him already putting notes in his locker of
Speaker 1: goals and what he's looking for from James Harden and
Speaker 1: he just really liked the way he's already challenging guys
Speaker 1: and how detail oriented he is. I thought that was
Speaker 1: really interesting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I asked him specifically about Jeff because I have
Speaker 4: been working on a larger form piece and so I've
Speaker 4: been asking some guys you know, about him. The hardened
Speaker 4: answer about JBG really surprised me. I would never have
Speaker 4: guessed that that was something that was already taking place,
Speaker 4: And I found it very interesting how even something as
Speaker 4: simple as Zach can kind of get James to buy
Speaker 4: back in on the defensive end even more to where
Speaker 4: Jeff is able to kind of get through to him
Speaker 4: with these little notes, and James said that that's something
Speaker 4: that hadn't happened for him in a long time in
Speaker 4: his career. You mentioned it happened before for him, which
Speaker 4: I'm kind of curious what other coach had done this
Speaker 4: for him, and probably not, Yeah, probably not D'Antoni. So
Speaker 4: I'm curious what other coach had done it for him.
Speaker 4: And I'm kind of curious, like if from talking to
Speaker 4: players and talking to personnel, a lot of people are
Speaker 4: very excited internally about the Van Gundy higher. They They've
Speaker 4: to a person talked about the energy, they've talked about
Speaker 4: the different schemes that they're talking about and trying to implement,
Speaker 4: and a different way of doing defense, uh with Jeff's ideas.
Speaker 4: So I'm very interested to see how they go about
Speaker 4: doing all of this. But I can say that James
Speaker 4: is not the only one excited about the JVG hire,
Speaker 4: and with the way that Jeff has been able to
Speaker 4: get through to some guys, which is I guess on
Speaker 4: the whole, is really fascinating to me that Van Gundy's
Speaker 4: already assessed and found different ways to get through to
Speaker 4: different people and know that, Okay, this guy needs this this,
Speaker 4: but this guy over here, this is how I need
Speaker 4: to approach talking through defense with him. It's a very
Speaker 4: fascinating concept and kind of shows, you know, even though
Speaker 4: he's been out of the NBA coaching sphere, so to speak,
Speaker 4: for about twenty years, Jeff Van Gunny still has it
Speaker 4: at least, you know, before the season gets underway, and.
Speaker 1: He's like customizing his messaging right now to each unique
Speaker 1: individual player out there. As we move into talking about
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard and get the injury update straight from the
Speaker 1: horse's mouth with him speaking about it today, did you
Speaker 1: think there was anything to the way James Harden was
Speaker 1: talking about it when he said, quote, Kawhi just needs
Speaker 1: to take his time. We need Kawhi later in the
Speaker 1: year and healthy. Whenever he's ready and available, he can
Speaker 1: just take his time and join in. Did you read
Speaker 1: anything into maybe him giving away where Kawhi could be at.
Speaker 4: I guess I could see that. I could also just
Speaker 4: see it as like the kind of speak that someone
Speaker 4: does where it's like, hey, whenever so and so is ready,
Speaker 4: we're we're gonna be here. So you know, it could
Speaker 4: just be something as simple as that. It couldn't be.
Speaker 4: I mean he could have given it away, but also
Speaker 4: could just be the simple hey when you know there's
Speaker 4: I took it more as like there's no pressure on him.
Speaker 4: We don't want him to put pressure to get back
Speaker 4: right away if he doesn't feel that he's ready right away.
Speaker 1: Did you take it as I got this? This is
Speaker 1: kind of my now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So what I will say is I think there's
Speaker 4: been a slow changing of the guard, so to speak,
Speaker 4: in this is still Kawai's team an organization, Actually, this
Speaker 4: is still Kawai's organization. I think it's James's team where
Speaker 4: he's gonna be the guy who, basically on a night in,
Speaker 4: night out basis, he's the driving force there to take
Speaker 4: his queue on things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've disagreed with Chuck and Will on clips and
Speaker 1: dip regarding who's going to average more points per game.
Speaker 1: I still think it's going to be Kawhi when they're
Speaker 1: both playing, He's going to get up more shots, but
Speaker 1: James Harden is likely to be the much more available
Speaker 1: player out there. So you can say when you're the
Speaker 1: catalyst for the offense, when you're setting the table out
Speaker 1: there you have a bigger impact of what's going on,
Speaker 1: and you're going to be playing more minutes and that
Speaker 1: is a huge deal for this team that has lacked
Speaker 1: availability for years. But James Harden for the most part,
Speaker 1: knock On Wood has been a healthy player in this league,
Speaker 1: but is at the age of thirty five now. So
Speaker 1: let's move on to Kawhi, who talked about how everything
Speaker 1: has been going great, you know, the past month, but quote,
Speaker 1: they are being very cautious, you know, for reasons in
Speaker 1: the past, I haven't been able to finish some playoff runs,
Speaker 1: making sure to stay healthy for those important moments. Unquote.
Speaker 1: Do you think this is more about them just exercising
Speaker 1: an extreme amount of caution right now because the knees
Speaker 1: in a good place and they just don't want to
Speaker 1: do anything to disrupt that, and therefore even drills and
Speaker 1: training camp are out.
Speaker 4: Yes, I also view it as an organizational mantra internally
Speaker 4: for them. I'm not saying this is how they view it,
Speaker 4: but like this is how I look at it from
Speaker 4: their perspective. I think they've realized they can't win a
Speaker 4: title in October, but they sure can lose one if
Speaker 4: he's not ready to go, and they rush him to
Speaker 4: get on the court early, and then something more catastrophic
Speaker 4: transpires and then he's just lost for the year. And
Speaker 4: I think they've had no qualms about what kind of
Speaker 4: roster this is. They know it's a roster in flux
Speaker 4: and in transition, and that there are holes that they're
Speaker 4: trying to patch. But I think they believe that this
Speaker 4: is a team that can have a winning record. Tie
Speaker 4: and Frank talked about it last week. They take great pride,
Speaker 4: you know, you and I talked about it. They take
Speaker 4: great pride in thirteen straight winning seasons, and I don't
Speaker 4: think they want to jeopardize that by Russian Kawhi out
Speaker 4: there and he's not ready. I think they want to
Speaker 4: make sure that he's good to go before they even
Speaker 4: think about risking him with anything serious.
Speaker 1: I think it's wise to err on the side of
Speaker 1: caution and extreme caution when it comes to Kawhi. Leonard
Speaker 1: who was asked a question by Ohm Young Masuk of
Speaker 1: ESPN regarding on if this is something you're going to
Speaker 1: have to manage for the rest of your career, and
Speaker 1: he said something to the effect, Actually i'll quote the
Speaker 1: first part because after that the microphone cut off, but
Speaker 1: he said, uh, yeah, it can get that way, but
Speaker 1: there's not really my cuts out. I don't know everything
Speaker 1: else that was said. It was kind of paraphrase by Oh,
Speaker 1: but the gist of it was, it sounds like this
Speaker 1: could be something these flare ups that are needed to
Speaker 1: be taken into account the rest of his career and
Speaker 1: the way they go about Is that how you interpreted it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So the rest of that quote was him basically
Speaker 4: saying they got a sense of how it got to
Speaker 4: that point. So I, in total, I took his presser
Speaker 4: and I understand why some people took it in like
Speaker 4: a doom and gloom way of Oh, he's heard again
Speaker 4: and he's going through all this stuff. I kind of
Speaker 4: interpreted the opposite way, which was I think he finally
Speaker 4: found some clarity to what the issue was and the
Speaker 4: ways to manage it to get him on the floor
Speaker 4: and have him be effective more than he has in
Speaker 4: the past when something like this is crept up. I
Speaker 4: do think they've kind of found you know, they've made
Speaker 4: They've made their way through the wilderness, so to speak,
Speaker 4: of this injury, and I think they're coming out the
Speaker 4: other side and try and finally understand the everything into
Speaker 4: taking care of this injury and managing it for as
Speaker 4: long as they can. So it's a really delicate balance
Speaker 4: because obviously we know him he wants to play. If
Speaker 4: he's even eighty percent, he wants to play. Like there's
Speaker 4: not a guy who likes to I think there's this
Speaker 4: negative connotation of Kawhi where he just doesn't want to
Speaker 4: play basketball. That's not the player that he is. He
Speaker 4: loves to play and his body at times has failed him.
Speaker 4: And yet I kind of think that he's found some
Speaker 4: level of comfort in knowing they might have actually found
Speaker 4: a way to turn the corner on this and at
Speaker 4: least make him get on the court more, and which
Speaker 4: is what he wants.
Speaker 1: Is that what you kind of gleaned because you asked
Speaker 1: him about is there any sense of relief right now?
Speaker 1: Is that right?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I asked him if he was any sense of relief,
Speaker 4: and you know, like he kind of ended up talking
Speaker 4: about how there's a lot of things that go into
Speaker 4: it and a lot of things that we don't see,
Speaker 4: you know, and if you talk to people and the
Speaker 4: work he's doing off the court, you'd get like a
Speaker 4: better understanding of it. I generally think that we lack
Speaker 4: the critical understanding of everything he goes through to even
Speaker 4: get to the point of potentially playing, and there's everything
Speaker 4: he does to actually play. So there is a seriousness
Speaker 4: that they've taken and undergone with this injury. And I
Speaker 4: do think there is an actual relief not just with
Speaker 4: the organization but with Kim in that they have potentially
Speaker 4: found something and how to manage this going forward.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting. And that was hopeful. That answer he
Speaker 1: gave you, I thought was good to hear. I also,
Speaker 1: going back to the last two years at media day,
Speaker 1: thought he looked noticeable leaner for this time of the year.
Speaker 1: I thought he looked five to ten pounds leader did
Speaker 1: did you see it that way?
Speaker 4: Yeah? He didn't look as I would say bulky. He
Speaker 4: didn't look as bulky as he has in the past.
Speaker 4: I remember, was it two years ago when he first
Speaker 4: came back. That was actually kind of scary to.
Speaker 1: See when said he looks big as hell. Yeah, he looked.
Speaker 4: He looked massive, and it actually turned out to be
Speaker 4: a bad thing. I think I think athletes have thought
Speaker 4: of like putting on muscle as like the best way
Speaker 4: to get ready for the year, but in a weird way,
Speaker 4: as kind of like Jamal Crawford and Kevin Durandam show
Speaker 4: him like there's there's a different type of in shape,
Speaker 4: like you can get in shape but not be like
Speaker 4: super muscular. To define that, I understand with Kawhi it's
Speaker 4: a little bit different from him because he is a
Speaker 4: very muscular guy. But I think there is a point
Speaker 4: of no return and you know the point of diminishing
Speaker 4: return with too much muscle, and two years ago I
Speaker 4: think he reached that. He then toned back to start
Speaker 4: of last year's camp, and I think he's even toned
Speaker 4: back a little bit more for this camp. He did
Speaker 4: look slimmer, which I did notice. I thought it was
Speaker 4: very interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought he looked closer to almost Toronto Raptors
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard, because he has gotten stronger each and every year.
Speaker 1: You look at old tape with him with the San
Speaker 1: Antonio Spurs, even justin twenty seventeen, like he's so much
Speaker 1: leaner than he is now. And I'm not saying, oh,
Speaker 1: that's contributed to anything. Guys naturally get bigger and stronger
Speaker 1: typically as they get older. But it was noticeable that
Speaker 1: he had dropped a couple of pounds. We're guessing that's intentional.
Speaker 1: This is somebody that stays in shape year round, stays
Speaker 1: in elite athlete shape year round. It's not like exactly
Speaker 1: like the rest of us. Did you make anything of
Speaker 1: him talking about his mental without Paul George out there
Speaker 1: and saying, quote, for anybody I'm on the court with,
Speaker 1: I don't look at him to be my savior. I
Speaker 1: take it in my own role and own challenges. I
Speaker 1: have to face each and every game, you know, go
Speaker 1: in there and try to dominate the game. Did you
Speaker 1: see that point as Paul George, Because at one point,
Speaker 1: I mean, he kind of clarifies that, you know, for
Speaker 1: anybody I'm on the court with, he took it outside
Speaker 1: of just Paul George.
Speaker 4: I think so this is the second time I've seen
Speaker 4: him say something similar, like of the same vein because
Speaker 4: at Team USA he was asked how much will be
Speaker 4: on him to lead the team now that Paul George
Speaker 4: is gone, and he said the same as it was
Speaker 4: last year, it doesn't change. So I don't think he'd
Speaker 4: used it as I'm sorry, my dog is trying to
Speaker 4: be the star of this show.
Speaker 1: Right, that's all right. So there's got some dogs too
Speaker 1: out here.
Speaker 4: I think he looks at it as business as usual,
Speaker 4: like it doesn't matter who's around me. My mindset, my
Speaker 4: process physically mentally on the court does not change. That's
Speaker 4: how I kind of took it. I get why people
Speaker 4: might take that as like a shot against Paul George.
Speaker 4: I just took it as like an like an internal
Speaker 4: mindset viewpoint that he has of himself.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I saw it like that too. Let's move on
Speaker 1: to Big Zoo meets the Zoo boss talking about the
Speaker 1: new contract. Feels like it's home here. He's been here
Speaker 1: for quite some time in Los Angeles, going back to
Speaker 1: his Lakers days, and he did say he sees an
Speaker 1: increased role on offense, said quote, I'm pretty good in
Speaker 1: the post down low, getting to my right hook, especially.
Speaker 1: He talked about needing to ask for the ball down low,
Speaker 1: more punishing the mismatches and taking another step next to
Speaker 1: James Harden because now they have a training camp. What's
Speaker 1: realistic and feasible with those those two working in the
Speaker 1: pick and roll when you compare them to some of
Speaker 1: the partners James has had in the past working with
Speaker 1: him in that area.
Speaker 4: Zoo's gonna be an interesting case study for this upcoming season,
Speaker 4: I think, because in theory, Zoos should get probably a
Speaker 4: third of the touches that Paul had last season. So
Speaker 4: like that's a big bump for Zoo specifically. I don't
Speaker 4: think it's crazy to envision a world where it eats.
Speaker 4: The Zoo bots is averaging fifteen and eleven, you know,
Speaker 4: and is actually a very focal point of the offense
Speaker 4: he he has. Last year when James came, there was
Speaker 4: a little bit of a I guess a learning curve,
Speaker 4: so to speak, between them, but they found it out
Speaker 4: very quickly and they talked about it all throughout the season.
Speaker 4: And I honestly think that James might be Zoo's biggest
Speaker 4: supporter because I think I think when you end up
Speaker 4: looking at Biggs around the NBA, a big like Zoo
Speaker 4: is very valuable, but we only view him in the
Speaker 4: traditional sense, and with Zoo like he's a rim protector,
Speaker 4: he's a rim roller. Andy is a post threat. That's
Speaker 4: a very valuable guy in this era of the NBA
Speaker 4: when you need spacing. And I know that sounds weird
Speaker 4: to say, but I mean that because Zoo will draw
Speaker 4: attention in the low post and then he could find
Speaker 4: guys you know that are open after that. But he's
Speaker 4: also a great screener and that's what James needs out
Speaker 4: of a pick and roll partner and their ability to
Speaker 4: play the two man game. And Zoo to find his
Speaker 4: floater was such a major boon, and I'm actually very
Speaker 4: excited to see what Zoo can do. You know, we
Speaker 4: talk about guys who look like they slimmed down. I
Speaker 4: think Zoo slimmed down a little bit. He looked very
Speaker 4: much in shape. I think playing the summer to try
Speaker 4: to get croatianto the Olympics was a big deal. So
Speaker 4: he looks in great shape. He looks ready to go.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Ings says Zou said that what he expects for
Speaker 1: his role this year is no different than what the
Speaker 1: Croatian national team asked of him. That's not exactly what
Speaker 1: he said, but he said, quote, that's how I play
Speaker 1: with my international team. Get a lot of touches in
Speaker 1: the post. I don't think he means he's expecting to
Speaker 1: get the same amount. He's saying that. I am used
Speaker 1: to it, so it wouldn't be a big adjustment for me.
Speaker 1: Should I get more touches down on the right or
Speaker 1: left block. He talked about also being more of a
Speaker 1: leader on this team, and you kind of have to
Speaker 1: be when you're a big man and you're guarding the
Speaker 1: basket and all that mentioned communication now and the perimeter
Speaker 1: has to be better, so he can be better when
Speaker 1: it comes to being up to touch and hedging more
Speaker 1: and letting guys know when he can't guard someone one
Speaker 1: out on the perimeter and asking for help.
Speaker 4: So, you know what's interesting. You know what's interesting. You
Speaker 4: mentioned the leader thing. That's one thing I wanted to
Speaker 4: ask him today that I didn't get to ask him.
Speaker 4: He's the longest tenured Clipper, and I wonder if that
Speaker 4: comes with a certain level of inherent leadership built in
Speaker 4: where you are. You're the guy that's been here the longest,
Speaker 4: You've seen the most I under maybe maybe not. People
Speaker 4: go to you for everything that they're curious about. But
Speaker 4: he's seen more than anybody with this Clippers team. He's
Speaker 4: experienced the heartbreaks, he's experienced the wonderful wins, you know,
Speaker 4: and and all this stuff. And I kind of wonder
Speaker 4: if that means he he takes on a larger leadership
Speaker 4: role with PG gone with the rust on and you know,
Speaker 4: we don't know kind of really Kawi is gonna be
Speaker 4: ready opening night. I know Kawai said the plan is
Speaker 4: for him to be ready opening night, but he also
Speaker 4: said that's how he thinks, rather than that is exactly
Speaker 4: what's gonna happen. Yeah, day by day, But I really
Speaker 4: do view Zoo as a potential impactual leader for this team.
Speaker 4: So I'm really curious to see if he takes on
Speaker 4: that vocal leadership ability, especially because he is the defensive anchor.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, you want to enlighten people on the contract
Speaker 1: with the Visa Zubots and how they can't trade him
Speaker 1: at all this year?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Okay, Zoo can't be traded because he signed
Speaker 4: his contract. Was that a couple weeks ago now? So uh,
Speaker 4: he's also going to be traded six weeks after he
Speaker 4: signed his extension, which puts it after the trade deadline,
Speaker 4: So he can't be traded this season if he's a
Speaker 4: zubotches the one guy this season with the Clippers who
Speaker 4: effectively literally cannot be traded, even if he went to
Speaker 4: them and asked for a trade, he can't be traded.
Speaker 1: Weep zoo haters, you casuals. Let's talk about a tomb now.
Speaker 1: He mentioned coming back once again because of coach lou.
Speaker 1: This is the guy who revived his career, as he says,
Speaker 1: saved his career. He joked, don't expect me to score
Speaker 1: twenty five per night to make up for the loss
Speaker 1: of Paul George. He believed they got more athletic. He
Speaker 1: mentioned we got the one and the two, meaning Uno
Speaker 1: and Dose. With two top guys in Kawhi and James
Speaker 1: Harden they can rely on. But then he also mentioned
Speaker 1: Man's role will expand because he's been a big fan
Speaker 1: of Terrence Man, who will talk about also here only Buttomb.
Speaker 1: You know, we'd be talking about him, but he's only
Speaker 1: talking about other people, Like he's so selfless. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to talk about Patune, but all he did is talk
Speaker 1: about other guys and how much he loves being a
Speaker 1: part of this organization. So I guess we can jump
Speaker 1: right past him to Terrence Man. Love the Patombs. Thank
Speaker 1: goodness they're back. Man look jack to me, not in
Speaker 1: a beefy way, but in a shredded way. He looked
Speaker 1: like damn ramble with that bandana on as I was
Speaker 1: reviewing some of the tape earlier. Did he look stronger
Speaker 1: in a more shredded way? To you?
Speaker 4: So I only saw Terrence from up close one time,
Speaker 4: and I wasn't I wasn't in the room when he
Speaker 4: did his presser because we were interviewing somebody else. But
Speaker 4: I will say that he did look bigger. I know
Speaker 4: there's been pictures or pictures but video of him doing
Speaker 4: all season workouts for like the shooting drills. His form
Speaker 4: looked slightly different too, in a much more fluid way.
Speaker 4: He doesn't appear to have the same uh dip that
Speaker 4: he used to have on his threes when he would
Speaker 4: catch it and go up. So I'm actually curious if
Speaker 4: that's been like a focal point for them. And I'm
Speaker 4: curious to see what the added muscle does for him
Speaker 4: in terms of uh like efficiency as a shooter, because
Speaker 4: that can come into play as we've seen, like I
Speaker 4: know someone in the chat mentioned earlier two years ago,
Speaker 4: amre Coffee came into the camp really jacked and and
Speaker 4: it messed with a shot and we've we've actually talked
Speaker 4: to Amir about that, and he came in last year
Speaker 4: slimmed down, talked to a mirror again today. He's once
Speaker 4: again lost a couple more pounds coming into this camp, but.
Speaker 1: Forgot man coffee.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I think Amer's gonna have a good
Speaker 4: role on this team this year. But with Terrence, you know,
Speaker 4: I do find it funny that he has such a
Speaker 4: big fan in Nico specifically, because I do think there
Speaker 4: is a lot of them in each other where. If
Speaker 4: Terrence could just get a little bit more of Nico's
Speaker 4: willingness on catching shoots, I think he'd be the perfect
Speaker 4: role player for the Clippers. Not to say he's not
Speaker 4: a good role player for the Clip, but like the
Speaker 4: absolute best fit for what everything they need. But Terrence
Speaker 4: has a big year ahead of him. He still can
Speaker 4: be traded with his contract, obviously because of the CBA.
Speaker 4: I think the thing was one hundred and twenty percent raise.
Speaker 4: If it falls underneath that, or it was like within
Speaker 4: one hundred and twenty percent of the average NBA salary,
Speaker 4: If that was his extension, then he'd still be able
Speaker 4: to be traded. Which it fell into that category.
Speaker 1: Not on him gone, But I do want to ask
Speaker 1: you how tradable do you think that contract is? How
Speaker 1: team friendly is that. How do you think the league
Speaker 1: views that contract?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think it's a positive contract in the
Speaker 4: context that you know he's going to be twenty eight
Speaker 4: in about two weeks, so that contract runs him through
Speaker 4: his age thirty one season.
Speaker 1: It feels like a deal to me.
Speaker 4: You're talking fifteen and a half a year or thereabouts
Speaker 4: for a guy who's going to be in his prime
Speaker 4: in his salary cap that is ever increasing, which by
Speaker 4: the final year of that contract, if you go off
Speaker 4: just cap projections, he's eight point three percent of the
Speaker 4: salary cap, which is nothing. And I think that is
Speaker 4: the thing to keep in mind going forward. Is the
Speaker 4: one thing Tom Mayre and I have talked about this
Speaker 4: quite a bit, which is, I know it's really hard
Speaker 4: for people, and I still have to learn how to
Speaker 4: do this. So believe me, you guys are not alone
Speaker 4: if anyone does this. But we also have to stop
Speaker 4: looking at the actual numbers of contracts and start looking
Speaker 4: at the percentages of the contracts. So with Terrence, this
Speaker 4: not this season, but the first year of his contract
Speaker 4: extension is twenty twenty five twenty twenty six, that's only
Speaker 4: ten percent of the salary cap. If Terrence Man's making
Speaker 4: ten percent of the soldur cap, that's perfectly acceptable. And
Speaker 4: I don't think anyone should ever have a problem with
Speaker 4: a positive role player only making ten percent of the cap.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: I think when you frame it that way, when you
Speaker 1: look at the percentage of the cap a contract is
Speaker 1: taking up, that's the appropriate way to go about whether
Speaker 1: or not it's a good or bad contract. But continue
Speaker 1: with what you were saying about Terrence Man, the shooting
Speaker 1: or other ways he could develop.
Speaker 4: I guess yeah, he He's got to be a much
Speaker 4: more willing shooter. I believe last year he averaged three
Speaker 4: point nine three point attempts per forty minutes, which is
Speaker 4: not a lot. I understand like the volume is an issue.
Speaker 4: Over his last fifty games, he he shot forty four
Speaker 4: percent on threes, but he averaged two and a half
Speaker 4: three point attempts per game. He needs to up that
Speaker 4: to at least four attempts per game, most likely five.
Speaker 4: In fact, if he's going to get the minutes workload
Speaker 4: that we kind of think he will, he's got to
Speaker 4: be a very willing shoot. I was talking with someone
Speaker 4: today at the arena about him. On the developmental side
Speaker 4: of things, and basically they're trying to work with everybody,
Speaker 4: not just terns, but with everybody about the mental aspect
Speaker 4: of shooting that it's okay to just shoot it, like
Speaker 4: it's okay to shoot and miss. Like you, there's no
Speaker 4: such thing as the perfect shot, and usually the first
Speaker 4: shot you get will probably end up being the best
Speaker 4: shot you can end up getting. So you need to
Speaker 4: take them when the opportunity presents themselves, and they've been
Speaker 4: trying to work with guys to overcome the mental side
Speaker 4: of Okay, maybe I can pass this and get a
Speaker 4: better shot, when in reality that's unlikely. So all in
Speaker 4: a lot of ways, it all comes down to that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just confidence. It's just him being a willing shooter.
Speaker 1: And I think justice is just gonna come up or
Speaker 1: come down to him getting off to a hot star.
Speaker 1: If he starts. I don't think there's gonna be any
Speaker 1: problem with him putting them up. It's if he starts
Speaker 1: another year cold like he did the last two, then
Speaker 1: you could shy away, but hopefully he's over that. He
Speaker 1: just stopped forty four percent. It was the last fifty
Speaker 1: games of last season he was at forty four percent.
Speaker 1: It was the first twenty one where he really struggled
Speaker 1: and was shooting about twenty one percent from the field.
Speaker 4: There, Jones Junior, I remember I remember you and I
Speaker 4: because I was in Utah in December. I remember you
Speaker 4: having me call in for the pregame and we went
Speaker 4: over how poor he was shooting the ball, and how
Speaker 4: uh he'd gone off to a slow start the year before,
Speaker 4: and then how he turned it around very very much
Speaker 4: like how Pat Bev used to always end up doing
Speaker 4: when the calendar flipped. He would always somehow turn it on.
Speaker 4: Never made sense, by the way, but it always happened.
Speaker 1: I think Paul George needs a little bit of a
Speaker 1: nod for his leadership in this one area.
Speaker 4: He said to.
Speaker 1: Man twenty twenty four, we're shooting the shit out of
Speaker 1: the ball.
Speaker 4: He did, and he did, like I remember that game
Speaker 4: in Utah, he knocked out a couple of threes, and
Speaker 4: it felt like that might have been the start of
Speaker 4: the turnaround. But then he obviously he had a couple
Speaker 4: more little slumpy weeks after that, but then he turned
Speaker 4: it around. And I don't think we can underestimate how
Speaker 4: much the ankle injury at the start of last season
Speaker 4: really might have affected him in that department with lyft
Speaker 4: and with efficiency and consistency and everything in between.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe we're grouping it together with the year before
Speaker 1: because he started slow, But the reasons were completely different
Speaker 1: between both years. The first one could have been confidence,
Speaker 1: the second one could have been just physically he wasn't
Speaker 1: there yet. Uh, let me know, because we're talking about
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior. Now, if this is out of pocket
Speaker 1: or not. As I just put this up on Twitter,
Speaker 1: hopefully nobody under that him to jump with me, because
Speaker 1: we know what I'm gonna do to Jones.
Speaker 4: Don't goes for Jones, goes for Jones, goes for Jones
Speaker 4: for Jones Jones, we know what I'm gonna do to.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong? Am I wrong for that? That's the
Speaker 1: first thing I thought of when he said that. All
Speaker 1: I could picture was him dunking on Paul George Game five.
Speaker 4: I got no comment on that. I got no comment
Speaker 4: on that. I'm very interested to see Derek this year, though,
Speaker 4: because I think he's the biggest question mark. And I
Speaker 4: don't mean that in a negative way. I just mean like,
Speaker 4: if his shooting is real, that is a great equalizer
Speaker 4: for not just him, but the team in general.
Speaker 1: I think the way he talked about being aggressive today,
Speaker 1: where he mentioned they haven't seen this version of me
Speaker 1: aggressive offensive mind, said that I have. If I got
Speaker 1: a shot, I'm taking the shot. If I got a drive,
Speaker 1: I'm taking the drive. Do you think it's twenty seven?
Speaker 1: We talk about this all the time with Terrence Man,
Speaker 1: But a guy can really come into his own and
Speaker 1: make a big leap still later into his career, as
Speaker 1: he's still entering his prime.
Speaker 4: I think so because and I've learned this in sports
Speaker 4: over the you know, however many years I've been digesting
Speaker 4: them and trying to analyze them. I don't think progress
Speaker 4: is linear. I think I think we think that just
Speaker 4: because a guy's twenty two, he'll be better at twenty three,
Speaker 4: and then when he's twenty four he'll be better than
Speaker 4: he was at twenty three. It's not always like that.
Speaker 4: Sometimes there is a year that you get lost in
Speaker 4: that you have been kind of end up getting back
Speaker 4: the level of the year before a year later. So
Speaker 4: with Derek, I think it's possible he can find a
Speaker 4: new peak, so to speak. And I'm very interested to
Speaker 4: see with him if the progress is linear, especially with
Speaker 4: a shot, because obviously there's been like a steady incline
Speaker 4: for his shot the last like two years, I believe now,
Speaker 4: especially just with Dallas. And we know the type of
Speaker 4: shots that Luca got guys in Dallas, so that might
Speaker 4: be the saving grace is the type of shots he
Speaker 4: got in Dallas. He's very much most likely going to
Speaker 4: get similar shots here with James, and I think that
Speaker 4: is a big boost to whether or not he has
Speaker 4: any type of severe drop off from where he was
Speaker 4: last year.
Speaker 1: And he said, quote the things he was working on
Speaker 1: catching shot mid range floaters. He knows he can dump,
Speaker 1: but he wants to handle the rock better and just
Speaker 1: be want to be.
Speaker 4: Honest with you, if I see Derek Jones junior floaters,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be pleasantly surprised, or maybe not so pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 4: Derek Jones junior floaters might be the one thing I
Speaker 4: never thought I'd ever see in life, because at that point,
Speaker 4: just rise up, young fellow.
Speaker 1: He'll be jumping so high the floater might hit the
Speaker 1: three sixty, the halo three sixty. Boys.
Speaker 4: The thing is massive, by the way, good lord, yes
Speaker 4: it is. I hope people have chiropractic appointments after being
Speaker 4: at that arena, because it's gonna be like this for
Speaker 4: like fifty percent of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned talking to another player while Terrence Man
Speaker 1: was up. There was that Kevin Porter Jr.
Speaker 4: It was, Yes, there was a scrum done with local
Speaker 4: beat writers with Kevin Porter Jr. Was the first time
Speaker 4: we've had the chance to talk to him since he
Speaker 4: signed with the Clippers. It was enlightening to some degree. Uh.
Speaker 4: He he owned what happened, and I thought it was
Speaker 4: very interesting.
Speaker 1: Because I am what type of words you use, So.
Speaker 4: I thought it was interesting and I'm gonna end up
Speaker 4: writing about this. He talked about the work he's done
Speaker 4: with therapy and stuff like that and how he he's
Speaker 4: worked through his up he said, his upbringing, and he
Speaker 4: specifically used the phrase and what my triggers are. So
Speaker 4: I will say that sounds like someone who's actually doing
Speaker 4: the therapy, which is a very positive development. He was
Speaker 4: also asked what he thinks the NBA is going to
Speaker 4: do as far as fines or suspensions. He said, it's
Speaker 4: basically just in their hands and he just preparing for
Speaker 4: the season, you know, whether or not whatever their decision
Speaker 4: is it was. It was a pretty all encompassing scrum
Speaker 4: session with him. I have it as lasting nearly ten minutes,
Speaker 4: which you know, that's that's not a small amount of
Speaker 4: time that he did this. He answered everything that we
Speaker 4: asked of him. I asked him if basically what led
Speaker 4: him to the Clippers, like why why were the Clippers
Speaker 4: the team that that he's on, And he said he
Speaker 4: had a relationship with Steve Bomber and that he had
Speaker 4: played with Steve Bomber's son back I believe, he said,
Speaker 4: in high school, so that there's like an actual relationship
Speaker 4: there between them wow Steve, And that he really like
Speaker 4: has an open door communication with Steve and that they're
Speaker 4: able to talk about everything because they're both from the
Speaker 4: Seattle area and everything like that. So there's that is.
Speaker 4: He talked a little bit about Tie, but I thought
Speaker 4: was interesting. I asked him, were the Clippers the only
Speaker 4: team that was interested in you?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 4: I like, because if the Clippers were the only team,
Speaker 4: that would kind of tell you what the rest of
Speaker 4: the league thought. But he said he had other offers
Speaker 4: and he chose the Clippers basically because he thinks that
Speaker 4: is where he should be with this team with this organization,
Speaker 4: with Steve at the Helm, someone that he knows on
Speaker 4: a personal level and that's where he feels comfortable right now.
Speaker 4: He also did talk about how you know, he was
Speaker 4: from the area he went to USC so there was
Speaker 4: also that factor. So it was it was a arranging
Speaker 4: amount of topics, but he was an open book for
Speaker 4: for better or worse at that point.
Speaker 1: And you felt like he exhibited the appropriate amount of
Speaker 1: contrition with the way he talked about the off the
Speaker 1: court issues.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna say no, like I think I think
Speaker 4: he understood the severity of what happened, and it does
Speaker 4: sound like, based on his comments that he is doing
Speaker 4: the work too, you know, kind of at least better
Speaker 4: himself after what happened. And you know, I guess you
Speaker 4: wait and see. Is the only approach that can can
Speaker 4: be taken, is you know, you can only take someone
Speaker 4: at their word and and their actions, and so we'll wait.
Speaker 4: What is that to see?
Speaker 1: Because I was asked earlier here in the chat, I think,
Speaker 1: do you have any idea on if the NBA has
Speaker 1: a set level that they can suspend someone for or
Speaker 1: it could be any amount of games.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure the set level. The only thing I
Speaker 4: would ever look at for this is the Miles Bridges
Speaker 4: situation where they both missed an entire year, and then
Speaker 4: I think they had What did Miles miss to start
Speaker 4: last year.
Speaker 1: Was a ten games ten games?
Speaker 4: It was like a thirty game suspension, but they basically
Speaker 4: said twenty was already served for the miss scene retro. Yeah,
Speaker 4: so Kevin, from my understanding, pled guilty. I believe Miles
Speaker 4: pled no contest. If I'm not mistaken, I could be mistaken.
Speaker 4: So I don't know if that makes a difference to
Speaker 4: the NBA or anything. But if I had to guess,
Speaker 4: and I don't like to guess on this, but if
Speaker 4: I had to guess, I'd say ten to fifteen upwards
Speaker 4: of that maybe depending on how they how they decide,
Speaker 4: I mean, it's in their hands. Whatever they decide, the
Speaker 4: Clippers just have to go with.
Speaker 1: Obviously, last one for you here justin but you were
Speaker 1: at the press conference last week with Lawrence Frank and
Speaker 1: Coach lou and I was a little taken aback just
Speaker 1: how effusive he was with his praise for Kevin Porter's
Speaker 1: junior on the court, not that he isn't a talented player,
Speaker 1: but he made a certain statement that led me to believe, Wow,
Speaker 1: he's really in the running for playing time this season?
Speaker 4: Is this ty said?
Speaker 1: What Tye said? Yeah, for us to be successful, he's
Speaker 1: gonna have to make a big impact or be a
Speaker 1: big part of that. Did that surprise you at all?
Speaker 1: And what do you think his role could be?
Speaker 4: It's because on one hand, I was surprised, like, this
Speaker 4: is a minimum signing that you're talking about, like like
Speaker 4: and it's no little thing, Like you're talking about a
Speaker 4: minimum signing this way. That's a big deal, but also
Speaker 4: kind of not because we did see what he was
Speaker 4: in Houston, a near twenty point per game score believer
Speaker 4: in Brown's six assists, Like, there is definitive talent there.
Speaker 4: And I don't think it's too crazy to see KPJ
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five minutes a night. I don't think that's
Speaker 4: too crazy. I you know, now, now whether it comes
Speaker 4: to fruition is a whole nother story. So I'm on
Speaker 4: one hand, it was it was crazy, and on the
Speaker 4: other hand, it also made sense to me. I think
Speaker 4: I think they buy into the talent. They sure for
Speaker 4: sure buy into the talent that he has. It's whether
Speaker 4: or not everything else, whether the suspension, anything else arises,
Speaker 4: whether there's you know, a big learning curve for him
Speaker 4: in this organization, something could arise. But they believe in
Speaker 4: his talent. I think I think their thought process is
Speaker 4: talent at the end wins out, and that's kind of
Speaker 4: what they're going with.
Speaker 1: He is Justin Russo at Fly by Night K and
Speaker 1: I e s where he finds him. Subscribe to his
Speaker 1: sub stack which is just starting up. Now there's a paywall.
Speaker 1: There's a reason for that. Did you just hear how
Speaker 1: he laid out that situation with Kevin Porter Junior And
Speaker 1: you're writing about this for your next piece now.
Speaker 4: Justin, Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be one of the next
Speaker 4: few pieces. That all right, because like I said, he
Speaker 4: talked for nearly ten minutes and he answered everything. It
Speaker 4: wasn't like he just was like, oh, I'm not going
Speaker 4: to talk about that, or he talked about it and
Speaker 4: you know, God gave ten minutes of answering questions. So
Speaker 4: we'll see.
Speaker 1: Well, I look forward to the column and future columns
Speaker 1: from you will all season long. Get on board with
Speaker 1: Justin Russo Rousseau. Like I always like to say, Russo
Speaker 1: just russo Sicilian?
Speaker 4: Is it?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 1: What's the latalion Italian?
Speaker 4: As I tell people, if there's a vowel for the
Speaker 4: for the final letter in the name, just guess Italian.
Speaker 4: I can't really know. Wrong.
Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate you doing this. I know you've had
Speaker 1: a long day. You put in a ton of work and.
Speaker 4: I've six am.
Speaker 1: No is that?
Speaker 4: And I was I was in a car for like
Speaker 4: five of those hours.
Speaker 1: How long was your drift into Uttel? Where the hell
Speaker 1: were you coming from?
Speaker 4: So? Uh, I had to pick up I hope he
Speaker 4: doesn't mind saying I picked up till mayor just because
Speaker 4: it's easier to carpool and I dropped him off at
Speaker 4: the airport.
Speaker 1: We just assume you guys rolled together.
Speaker 4: So listen, in this economy, we're trying to save money.
Speaker 4: I got no problem.
Speaker 1: So he couldn't bring you on the plane as a
Speaker 1: stowaway to Hawaii? How dare he?
Speaker 4: I know right, I could have saved even more money.
Speaker 4: It was about an hour and a half all told,
Speaker 4: from my place into it and getting there, and then
Speaker 4: there was like the little Lax sidetrack and then from
Speaker 4: Lax back home. For me, it was about an hour
Speaker 4: and forty hour, forty five minutes. So I was been
Speaker 4: in the car a lot, and I I'm not looking
Speaker 4: forward to the four or five quite a bit this year,
Speaker 4: I can tell you that much. There a lot of
Speaker 4: over to Boulevard, are.
Speaker 1: Getting used to it. It's a different trek. But happy
Speaker 1: to go to the new home, the first home for
Speaker 1: the Clippers. Knee into it Dome. It was good to
Speaker 1: see you today, Justin. Thanks for coming out tonight here.
Speaker 4: Brother, No problem for Justin Rousseau.
Speaker 6: I met am Oslin. I appreciate everybody in the chat.
Speaker 6: We'll talk to you tomorrow. I think I got Noah
Speaker 6: Eagle and then Carlo jimen is on from Hawaii later
Speaker 6: tomorrow night. So two shows daily right now here at
Speaker 6: Clipper Stock.
Speaker 1: Talk to you then,