Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to a Friday
happy hour hang with myself, Chuck Mockler and Adam Oslin
til Maya Zari supposedly joining us later to talk about
his awesome exclusive about Zoo that came out earlier that
I am going to put in this chat. We're here
today to talk about We're talking about Zoo. We're not
talking about anything else. We're destressing from the last couple
difficult weeks of being a Clippers fan. Adam, how are
you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm okay, trying to distress, a little frustrated. Couldn't get
my headphones working earlier. But you know what, Media Day's Monday.
A lot to look forward to. Meet to Zubos in
a big, big season at the age of twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Also, for those of you who didn't know, media
Day is on Monday, which it's gonna be an interesting one.
I'm I think we're gonna hear when this is all
we're really gonna talk about this particular subject. We're not
even gonna say the proper downs for it. We're gonna
hear a lot of corporate speak at media Day, which
is usual for the Clippers. It won't be anything new.
Just don't expect any bombshells. I would say to fans
who are maybe hoping for some kind of large moment,
I don't think it's happening on Monday. You'll be there
on Monday as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Lawrence Frank is set to speak before
any of the players, so yeah, maybe he'll address it
and that'll be it. And I'm sure any questions directed
towards players that have anything to do with the NBA investigation,
well thank for me. Yeah, put out by saying, hey,
should I be an investigation going on? Man? What do
you expect anybody to say? Nobody's gonna say.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite media day? Random question? Do
you have a favorite media day?
Speaker 2: A favorite media day?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know who this is. I hope it's
still mare.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: The one where Doc didn't show up and didn't speak
to the media, just from a purely dramatic angle, was
my favorite.
Speaker 2: I like what Mike Scott said from the outside looking
in on this Clippers team, they ain't no bitious.
Speaker 1: Yeah that was a fun time. This is Joseph trying
to join the stream. But yeah, I'm excited. I'm looking
forward to media day. I will not be able to
be there because I have to be at work, but
Adam will be covering everything you need and we'll be
doing an episode later in the week, kind of breaking
down how it went. Joseph iya Ward is trying to
join the stream. We are hearing the tones. We're doing
our best. Okay. So this is actually a great question
from that Mexican Narra that I want to I wanted
to talk about. We loved Zoo's year last year. His
usage was great. It felt like it was coming together.
Do we think the additions of Brook and Collins, I
would say and beale just in terms of mouths to feed.
How are we feeling about that as of September twenty sixth,
twenty years twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, We've talked about it a little bit before, but
I do have concerns over Aviats' zubos getting lost in
the shuffle per usual. Really seems like he took some
major strides, and as did the Clippers really last season
with getting him more involved consistently finally and bade dividence
as any of us thought it would if they ever
played through beats the zoobox a little bit more so
I don't want to see his usage going down. I
think naturally it could. He may end up playing under
thirty minutes this season, just because they have a very
capable backup in Broke Lopez. But if that keeps him healthier,
if that keeps him fresher, So when he's out there,
he's always giving maximum I want to say maximum effort.
But he's closer to the peak of his abilities because
he's fresh. That's great. That could make him even more dangerous.
So Joseph in the stream, Yeah, he's in.
Speaker 1: I also thank you for letting me use respect him sometimes. Yeah,
I wanted to look up we're talking Zoo and his
usage next year with the new additions. I was going
to look up his usage rate right now, just so
we have some kind of Yeah, his usage in twenty
three twenty four sixteen and a half percent, twenty four
to twenty five nineteen and a half percent, his highest
since eighteen nineteen. How do you feel about Big Zoo's year? Also,
please drive safe? I will.
Speaker 3: I almost put a mint in, like I'm not doing
an audio medium right now.
Speaker 1: We pop them in in. I think it's okay, No,
it's good. It's gonna be good talking well, you know anyway, So.
Speaker 3: Obviously Zu did what we I think a lot of
people clamored for him to do for so long, and
I think he even exceeded the expectations of many. Not me, though,
I am hoping to see the usage great trend continue,
uh And I'm looking for a season twenty four maybe
twenty five percent.
Speaker 1: I don't think twenty five percent, Adam your take on
twenty five percent.
Speaker 2: I'd sign up for nineteen percent again with just how
much they've improved the team this summer, specifically in the
front court. But that's okay. I think he could still
even if he gets the ball less, like I think
a beast to Zubots is more comfortable in his role
and the Clippers are more comfortable with getting him involved
and knowing where he needs to be, so he can
still just be a more efficient player overall, even if
he does get a few less touches.
Speaker 1: Do we think he finally has a longer leash? Like defensively,
he was so great last year. He was getting you know,
all defensive team talk and all that stuff. Like at
this point, I don't want to fool myself. He's got
to have the full trust, respect, whatever word you want
to use from Tayloon to go out there and do
the right stuff. Even if he hit some kind of
a wall.
Speaker 2: I think he had it last year. He's closed games
like I don't think that was an issue at all. Now,
if coach Lou falls in love with John Collins playing
small ball at the starting five to close out games,
or Brook Lopez is having a big game shooting.
Speaker 1: Guise playing together, you got you got brooklets the four
with the five obviously Hawiet the two. Yeah, well that
if he's still on the team.
Speaker 2: We don't know.
Speaker 1: Hey, we're not. There was no news this week, so
we're not talking about it.
Speaker 3: I needed to get Kawi takes off my chest. I
have been in a box not able to talk about
this for so long.
Speaker 1: But it's okay, Well, well we'll ignore it a couple
when you got to get out of here. I just
I am ignoring it this week because I have coworkers
who are like and I don't want to get into it.
It's been a stressful week at the museum with people
who know nothing about sports giving me their.
Speaker 3: Last classic museum water cooler talk is cap curcument.
Speaker 1: Apparently, now this is the hell we live in. I
think Zoo. Yeah, Joseph, for you out on the trust
from Tyler, I think Adams right. I like that point
he was closing games he played. I mean, it was
his best season ever, Like it would be hard to
not have the trust. No, he should have it.
Speaker 3: He should have it, and I and I trust that
he does have it. However, I do not trust Tylo
and the center position Flatley period, end of story. Don't
think that man has a grasp.
Speaker 1: On what to do with that position.
Speaker 3: So I think it'll be better, but I don't think
that it's like fixed, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: The depth is a lot better, which helps it bet
Like that makes my me sleep so much easier at night.
Speaker 2: And there's less an excuse not to play with the
traditional big which Hylu could get away with before because
they didn't have somebody of the quality of Brook Lopez
backing up of Eats Zubots.
Speaker 3: He can make mistakes, but they should have better outcomes
than they have in the past.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they still I'm excited to see Aviata, Zoobots
and James Harden in another full season after another off
season together does wonders for his big men. He was
great for beats Zubots last season. I still think Zoo
has been wildly underused throughout most of his tenure with
the Clippers, and last year they finally gave him the
ball more and it worked. And I don't think he
became a different player over last summer. But they can
keep refining things those two working in tandem, and they
could get a little bit cleaner and maybe there's less
turnovers at the end of games. We saw a start
off last season before Kawai came back with the James Harden,
So just that familiarity and building more chemistry with those
two can only be good for this team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like what you said, and I like this point.
I guess I don't like this point from Johnny sixty
to six because I thought Zoo's passing was really good
last year out of the short Roald team, I thought
he did improve his passing. Now with the starting lineup,
you have more shooters. He Zoo can pass to right,
like there's more spacing. Someone brought this u U Punk's
gone wrong, said with more shooters on the court. Joseph
sat of here. He said, with more shooters on the court,
is there more room in the paint for Zoo to work,
which I think is totally true. I think Zoo's passing
is good enough to where guys, you know, when an
extra guy can't come over and try and bat out
of his hands or something that kind of like that
defense like that the MAVs would play in those series
where they just wouldn't get foul calls that he'd just
get beat to hell. There's more guys to operate and
receive a pass from Zoo from in the art, which
has been really excited. I don't think he's going to
average like six assists, but he might average four, which
would be his highest I think, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I guess it depends on how much Chris Done is
playing compared to last year. How much is.
Speaker 1: Four would be a lot? He averaged, sorry, he averaged
almost three assists last year, which was double his of
any other year, So I think you could get to
four and a half assists. I would love that for Zo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if he's more of a threat, I mean,
that only helps open up the game for others out there.
So I do think his reputation precedes him a little
bit where teams have to key in on him and
focus on him a little bit more and he can
use that to his advantage with getting some easy passes
and getting some easy assists. Uh. And he is, as
you mentioned now, the short role. Especially last season, he
was making the right decision, he was making quick decisions.
So that's only going to get better from him. And yeah,
they could have one more shooter on the floor a
little bit more often than they had last season. But
again there's there can be a trade off there on
the defensive end, as much as people are saying because
of what happened in the playoffs with Chris Dunn and
that was the last we saw from him that he
needs to play less and they need more shooting out there.
You got to understand, this team made their bones on
the defensive end last season, so I don't want to
see them chip away too much at that identity. If
they're so good offensively, maybe it won't matter. But I
just it was really nice to have a team where
you knew exactly what you were getting, at least on
one side of the ball each and every night. Last year.
Speaker 1: You were getting elite. Yeah, Scott Tran brings up a
good point. Hopefully Zoom improves his free throw percentage this season.
Last season was an anomaly for his free throw percentage.
Speaker 2: Think he started really slow. He picked it up the
second half exactly.
Speaker 1: He shot sixty six percent from the line, which is
which was his worst mark since he was a rookie,
since he was nineteen years old. I think last year
was an anomaly. He was at seventy two percent. The
year before that seventy percent, seventy three, seventy nine. Like
he's he will be above seventy percent, you know what.
Like I think last year was an anomaly. Yeah. Also,
he was taking three a game last year. It's not
it didn't. I mean, obviously it would have been nice
for him to have a better percentage, but the Clippers
didn't lose games because he was missing freeze. But I
hope it bounces back, I think, Scott, I totally agree
with you here. I hope it bounces back.
Speaker 2: He shot seventy one percent the last twenty eight games
post All Star Break. I'm not overly concerned about it
at all. I think it was in his head a
little bit early on. You could see there's some frustration
at the line.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can tell when Ze's frustrated, which I
kind of like, like when he got subbed out that.
I don't think it was that series against that first
playoff series against the Warriors where it was like, oh,
he's not ready to play defense against this kind of
team yet. It might he like slammed the chair or
something like that, and he doesn't show a lot of emotion,
or at least he didn't at that time. It's nice
to see him like really feel it, I guess, because
you can tell he wants to improve, as he has
every year he's been on the Clippers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's been demonstrative at times the last few
years when he feels like I think he's doing his
part defensively and guys aren't rotating. He's gotten into it
with Kawhi at times. I think all that stuff's good
because it shows how tight knit this team is. Or
if you can see guys or if you do see
guys being that animated with one another, and then you
know the next game or the next time in the huddle,
it's already calm down.
Speaker 1: I need more of this pose here though, if I'm
being honest, I need more of the the shrug. It's
what I'm looking for next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's it's a team that moves on very
quickly because everybody knows their teammate is rooting for them
and they are a close knit group. But a Visa
Zubos also gets a really bad whistle, and sometimes sometimes
as much as it's fair to complain about, because I
think he's gotten a really bad whistle at times. Sometimes
he lets it eat it him for a couple of
possessions and yeah, some bad body language out there. Downside.
Speaker 1: He can sulk a little bit. I have my dad's
side of the family is a sulk family. He can
he sulks a little bit, but it's because he cares
and he bounces back. Like you mentioned, he's usually incredibly consistent, right, Like,
it's not like he sulks and then it's like he's
missing gimmes or something like that. For the most part.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and yes, you guys, is Michael Scott saying in
here an extremely.
Speaker 1: That horrible whistle, one of the worst other than when
Paul George was good and on the Clippers. Uh zoo
gets the worst whistle of anyone on the Clippers in
the two one three era.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think so he gets hacked. I
mean it's the old shack theory where they let little
guys get a little bit more handsy with bigger players because.
Speaker 1: They're pounding on a door.
Speaker 2: Basically, Yeah, Alex Caruso versus Nikola jokicch in the second round,
they let him get away with all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1: I feel like he hit him with like a crippler
crossface at one point, and they were like, this, Caruso
is so scrappy. You get that, you get that defensive
that like that first team All defense if you're small
guard and you can just whack the shit out of people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, his rep definitely helped him get away with a
lot Morgan's bigger guys than you know kis as we
saw but a Visa Zubas last season. If that's the
start of his peak or the start of him reaching
his prime, I think we're we're in for some really
exciting play at the center position between him and Brook
Lopez this year. That's a real strength. How many teams
have a better one two punch at center than the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Honestly, this is a very funny bad nickname. Zoob Dual
Jachim O'Neil perfect love that. Yeah, I can't tell you
how excited I am for competent backup center minutes. It's
been since Isaiah Hartenstein it has been a nightmare. There
has not been a good back up center who's like
still in the league in any capacity in which they're
playing minutes to kind of really help the team. You know,
like how many ex Clippers centers are on like exhibit
tens now or something like that. At least two Kay
Jones and Moses Brown I know of like and.
Speaker 2: Brook Lopez is starting center caliber. Yeah, he could have
gone somewhere else and been a starting center this season.
Maybe if he goes to the Lakers, they don't know
getting DeAndre and he's their starting center. You know, he
was doing it for over thirty minutes a game last
year in Milwaukee. He's a couple of years removed from
being second in Defensive Player of the Year. He may
be thirty seven, but he still moves well out there,
and he's so savvy. It's a smart, cerebral player that
at fifteen to twenty minutes a night, you're really going
to get the best out of him. Now backing up
Big Zoo, and.
Speaker 1: I'm excited Michael Scott. Most people thought he wasn't tall
that was our Twitter account's best tweet with romantic Oh
you know you don't think Moses Brown is.
Speaker 2: Hitting next securing out dul Jabbar for all the haters
and say that tall so good?
Speaker 1: That was his peak on the Clippers. Was your tweet
about him. I'm excited too. Defensively because like offensively with
backup centers, you know, you had Mason Plumley doing behind
the back passes and like just a bunch of weird,
like like a Tony Rotent impression. And defensively, backup center
is like the worst position defensively in the NBA. Like
there's not a lot of backup centers who are even
just okay at defense. Like your backup center is usually
just a sieve. And so now we have a guy
who is very much not a sieve and able to
like help. It's gonna help the bench as a whole
so much that the guy at you know, in the
dunker spot or whatever is going to be able to
play above average, if not just average defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a point we've kind of been making over
the last year that as much as people complain about
the Clippers backup center situation, you look across the league
and it's uh, it's album throughout.
Speaker 1: Yeah, who's the best backup center other than Robert than
Lopez right now? Than Brook.
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I mean Isaiah Hartenstein, He's.
Speaker 1: So good, so it's I mean, Heart's better than Lopez.
I don't think anyone EG. Four thousand not listening for
the real listeners who remember EG.
Speaker 2: I honestly, I think it's pretty close. Now, Isaiah does
start a lot next to Chet, that's true. He's not
a three point shooter, at least he hasn't shown that yet.
Like Brook Lopez, he doesn't have that dimension to him.
Speaker 1: He's gotten better defensively.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you look at still post defense numbers, I
think Brook Lopez hasn't beat there. Honestly, it's closed. He's younger,
so that that is meaningful. But I was looking, you know,
a Beata Zubots on off splits, they're twelve. They're almost
thirteen points per one hundred possessions better with a Beata
Zubots on the floor versus off. So it's just this
huge swing last year with Zuo without Abata Zubots and
now for the first time since they had Hartenstein and
they had a top ten defense that year in twenty
one to twenty two, and I think it's because they
had him coming in off the bench. So for the
first time since then, you have more continuity between I
mean styles of play. Was still having a traditional big
man out there, although he can stretch the floor a
little bit, but traditional rent protector out there. That probably
is the best case for the best argument for why
they could keep a top five defense this season, even
if they're playing Chris Dunn and Derek Jones less. Just
the fact that you have a backbone with your second
unit with Brook Lopez, that's meaningful.
Speaker 1: Those on off numbers make so much sense because the
Clippers backup centers last year was a triumvent of Mobamba,
Drew Eubanks and Kai Jones, three guys not necessarily known
to be defensive stalwarts.
Speaker 2: No, and so if Zubats is playing less minutes.
Speaker 1: Australia's own because you got.
Speaker 2: Brook Lopez playing eighteen to twenty minutes a night, that's okay. Yeah,
I would love I think long term and the long
game with the Viatza Zubats is if this is one
of your core pieces and we know he is and
he's on our team, friendly deal this is one of
your core pieces moving forward. You want to extend his
prime and his longevity as much as you can, so
having somebody that take the burden off him, even though
he's just twenty eight and it's like, yeah, he's in
his prime, let him run. It's like maybe the league.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like that's a lot of pro basketball even though
how young you are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to keep as much tread on his
tires as possible moving forward, and I think Brook Lopez
helps with that and maybe that can help Aviatza Zubats
have a longer and also higher peak for longer with
this Clippers team.
Speaker 1: I like that you're talking about longevity with Zoo and
his legacy with the Lopez edition. I also love what
it does potentially for his playoff minutes because Lopez, we've
we all love Zoo on this pod, but the conditioning
has been something that it's a thing, right, Like there
was a reason why he didn't play a bunch of
minutes for some seasons because the conditioning or whatever wasn't
where it needed to be so he could play at
the high level. We know he can for that much
that many minutes. Now it's like, well, now in the playoffs,
maybe we get maybe we get the thirty five minutes Zoo,
you know what I mean, Like Lopez can save some
regular season miles, which is huge for a guy like Zoo,
and like CP three can save some a little bit
for Harden in terms of initiating the offense. Also, what
a five.
Speaker 2: Well even last year in that first round series, I
think Zoo was averaging around maybe even more than thirty
five per game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but whatever, whatever the more would be, you know
what I mean, Like it's he'll be fresher. I'm I'm
excited for that.
Speaker 2: He was almost a thirty seven. Well yeah, it.
Speaker 1: Doesn't just Drew Banks, but he was.
Speaker 2: It's not like we saw Vista Zubos wear down and
by the end of games Nikola jokicch was more effective
against him. He was steady. He was steadily, very good
against Jokich, as good as you can be throughout that
entire series. So I'm not too concerned with it. But yeah,
you're gonna get a better version of Vitza Zubots the
more gas he has left in the tank, and Brook
Lopez can provide that.
Speaker 1: I like this question. We don't do a lot of
debate stuff on this show because we're I don't know,
chill guys. I guess uh shar is asking Zoo or Cat.
It's a good question.
Speaker 2: It's funny. I used to get into it with a
guy about Zoo versus savonas Oh.
Speaker 1: I know, I've seen I know her anyway. Sorry, give
me the guy who can actually play like the real
center position all day.
Speaker 2: Well up until this year. Sabonis has a bunch of
numbers and he's like Jokic light. You could make that argument,
but to me, I always said, I want a guy
that can play the five, and I trust as being
a defensive stalwart and anchor there because it means so
much to your defense, and I think it beats the
Zubats always projected better on a championship team. I don't
think you can win a championship with Sabonis being your
number one player or your number two player, because that
means he's playing forty minutes a night. He's not a
great rim protector out there. He's a little bit undersized.
He is a good rebounder, but some of those stats
look a little bit fu gayzy to me with sabone,
who I do love as a player.
Speaker 1: Of course, he gets. I feel like Sis gets like
those rebounds that like Steph would get as a guard,
like he gets like guard rebounds. If that makes sense. Yeah.
I would also say you mentioned he is Sabonis light,
I would say he is diet or he is a
joker light. I would say he is diet caffeine free joker.
He is you know what I mean, He's at can
where you're like, I've never seen this before.
Speaker 2: Say diet. But I think there are similarities between him
and Cat. Cat also maybe even a worse defender than Sabonis,
a better offensive player I think overall, because he gets
more proven with stretching the floor.
Speaker 1: It's real, that's real, and his most game is good.
Speaker 2: I have the same questions about Kat at the highest level.
Can you win with him playing the five in an
MBAL series? Maybe, but you know they want to play
him next to Mitchell Robinson at the four, and he
can do that because he can stretch the floor.
Speaker 1: I just I don't know.
Speaker 2: He's less of a traditional big to me, and that's
what I value. Even though yes, the OKC Thunder they
had Chet, they had Isaiah Hartenstein. Chet's still very raw.
But those guys, you know, they're pretty unique. Uh, and
their defense was so good and chets are really good,
especially help side defender. And he can still improve with
his one on one defense, but he's still much better
than Cat overall on the defensive end. Yeah, while maybe
not being the traditional center that I'm talking about here
with the beats zubas, like, he still gets it done
for you. I can't rely on non defensive big men
winning a championship for me.
Speaker 1: I like that, Meara. He gets into foul trouble some
of those fouls in the playoffs from Cat, like he's
running it again. He's like a guy's behind you know
what I mean. Like there were some fouls from Cat
where it's like, now, say what you want to say
with Kat with a coach like Van Gundy, but right
now his decision making on defense, This is a great point.
He gets into foul trouble a lot if you have
in weird ways like not like he's trying to make
plays that make sense, they're just they're foolish fouls. And
I love he's very good. I'm not, but like, this
is a good point, Nara.
Speaker 2: If you're talking about a play in level team talent wise,
and you need somebody to be your number one option
and carry them to the playoffs as a very low
seed cast. The better option there if you want to
win at the highest level, I think it might be
of Eats a Zubos. Now, he's not going to be
your number one or even number two option there. But
I don't think Cat can do that honestly, So I'd
rather have Zoo as a compliment than.
Speaker 1: Count is your one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and have a different number one or number two
and Aviata Zoo Bots is at least holding things down
on the defensive end.
Speaker 1: I I like that point. Yeah, Zoo is your as
a foundational piece. I think you put on the last
slight we did with Resso, which is a great way
to reference Zoo. He's a foundational piece for the team.
Versus paying Cat thirty whatever percentage of your cap, Yeah,
I would feel a lot better about that.
Speaker 2: All this was not even taking into account how much
more Cat makes than a Beata Zoo Bots. But that's
also it's huge to think about.
Speaker 1: Zoo makes twenty million dollars a year. We have him
locked up until twenty seven, twenty eight. He has an
unrestricted free agent when he's thirty one years old. I'm
the Clippers aim to have that cap space. So he's
at twenty million dollars a year. Kat is at a
cool fifty fifty three next year fifty seven sixty one
million dollar player option twenty seven to twenty eight. So
the value Zoo is and I know that money is
weird right now in the NBA, Zoo is a borderline
value contract at twenty.
Speaker 2: Million dollars a year, like, I think he's probably the
best deal in the NBA. Honestly, I think he's at
least all first team best deals in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I was just going to make a joke that would
have hurt all of our feelings. I have an idea
it is all with this, but I think you know
I would say, well, not until Kawhi gets his contract
void and has to sign for the minimum. I'm sorry,
I don't think that's going to happen, but the joke
was there.
Speaker 2: All this is probably mood because New York ideally, I
think would want Kat at the Ford, Mitchell Robinson playing
the five, so we're not even comparing at four. Five
too eats Zoo bots in this case, they're very different players.
Speaker 1: Paul Thomas saying saying Zoo is better than Kat is
just biased part of it. Yeah, but also.
Speaker 2: Zoo is better as your five. If you want to
win a championship, you have a better chance, not if
he's your number one option. But Cat's not going to
win as your number one option playing the five.
Speaker 1: Uh it would I would like to see whatever Zoo
looks like as the number one option for a team.
I don't think that team's very good.
Speaker 2: That's why I said as a number one option type,
Cat's going to get you further, but he's still not
going to get you a championship. Zoo is a complimentary
piece that's better than having Kat as your number one
option that's not going to win for you.
Speaker 1: What do you mean? It seems like there's some kind
of nuance that I that I'm rejecting from your argument.
I'm seeing it as face value, Zoo is better than Cat.
Speaker 2: I see why we don't do this stuff really well
exactly well, I can't see slight differences. As an individual player.
You can make the arguments the bonus and Cat are
better than it beat to Zoo, boss, But if you're
trying to win at all, could you win with those
guys in the type of roles that they're in now,
where they are number one or number two options. I
don't think so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Alex Webb saying, let's hope Zoo jumps up to
eighteen nineteen points per game this year. I think there's
too many mouths to feed. I don't think Zoo is efficient.
The only way that Zoo's getting the nineteen points per
game this year is if he shoots like eighty five
percent from the floor. And I don't mean like he's
just there's just we talked abou a little bit earlier. Yeah,
there's just not enough. There's only one ball and he's
not going to get enough shots. He took twelve shots
per game last year, he shot sixty three percent. He
averaged seventeen points. So really, what you're asking for is
one more bucket per game, basically, or just a couple
more free throws. So I guess this is possible. But
the attempts, I is he breaking double digit field goal
attempts per game? He was at twelve last year, which
is a lot. His next high is total. His next
highest per game was seven point sixth the year before.
It's a big jump.
Speaker 2: I'm interested in looking at the splits because how many
was he taking per game before Kawhi came back? Who
we are crossing our fingers and assuming will be starting
the season with the Clippers this time. So if obviously,
if Kawhi is there, he's taking more shots.
Speaker 1: What was that the first thirty games.
Speaker 2: Or something, right, Kauai?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Even more?
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, yeah, man? So I mean, well, let's just
look at the first yeah, I mean thirteen from game
one thirteen, seventeen nineteen. But then any up games where
he just take like eight, like it's kind of it's
pretty evenly split, honestly, just a quick scroll here, you
know what I mean. Like because when they were crushing
it at the end of the year. Funnily enough, you
look at from game sixty six to game eighty when
they really went on a tear fourteen eighteen, fourteen ten,
fifteen fourteen ten, fourteen seventeen six, Like interesting, how they
were playing very well when he was getting more double
digit field goal attempts.
Speaker 2: Now, this is interesting because in the month of March
he was at thirteen point eight, his highest for any
month last season. Kawhi's back and playing at that point, hmmm, that's.
Speaker 1: Good, wee.
Speaker 2: That makes me hopeful.
Speaker 1: Right, they were playing better. They played better, not because
he had more shots, but they were playing better during
the period, which of eats the Zubox was taking more
shots per game at least later in the season for
the Clippers when they won ship Tunnel games, not to
win take it to fifty, he was taking more shots.
It's not a causation, but it is something.
Speaker 2: We may have to remember though, that Norman Powell was
out for a lot of that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, let's say we already got We already got
an injury to a shooter on the team, So I
think we can safely assume that there might be some
other guys out too. Guys are going to be out.
Speaker 2: Bradley Beale's only played fifty games the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: And no disrespect of those guys, you know what I mean,
Like it's just the Clippers, Like we're old. There's gonna
be some guys out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So how about Avisa Zubats ends up with twelve
or thirteen attempts per game this season and it doesn't
take a step back in attempts.
Speaker 1: I'd be a static if he ended with eleven point
eight or whatever.
Speaker 2: Again, yeah, I think like just taking the same amount
of shots would be progressed considering how many guys are
around him and are demanding of the ball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, doing nothing, saying John Collin CB three, Brad beil Brook,
How's he gonna have more offensive action? I'm hoping for
the same amount of offensive action. I think that's the success.
I think not, you know what I mean? Like a
success is him averaging eleven point eight.
Speaker 2: Again, there was a great line from the late Marty
Schottenheimer in like twenty ten Hard Knocks with the Jets.
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks was good also when you would see people
but like really going through shit.
Speaker 2: That was with I think they had the terminator out there.
John Connor and his son Brian was on the coaching staff,
who's now a head coach with Dallas. And you were
talking about Mark Sanchez going into his second year, and
Marty Schottenheimer goes, he's a guest of practice, says, if
you can get your second year quarterback to play the
same way as he did his first year, that's progress.
Because you're expecting a sophomore slump. You know, you're expecting
him to regress. There's more tape on him, teams are
scouting him, better.
Speaker 1: He didn't curse when he said that. First. Schottenheimer Paul
Thomas with a good point. We just need you to
anchor the defense, especially now since he has to cover
for the new guys more. We don't know how much
he's gonna have to cover for the new guys more.
There will be some coverage, there will be some growing pains.
He's one of the guy He's been in the system
the longest in terms of games played, you know, for
for a center on this Clippers team with Tylo as
the coach, so his value will be felt more on
the defensive end.
Speaker 2: I honestly think, though, and I've been saying this for years,
there's an easier way to win basketball games. It is
getting of Vista Zubas more involved on the offensive end.
I disagree with this point. Yeah, you want a guy
shooting over sixty percent from the field that gets you
easy buckets.
Speaker 1: How I agree, But that's just not gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Well, just have it happened at the same rate it
did last year. Like, I just don't like to just
have him as the defensive anchor. No, he's a weapon
on offense. He has moves, he has hooks with both hands.
Speaker 1: He has some.
Speaker 2: Unguardable stuff that he can do out there. We can't
just negate them.
Speaker 1: His footwork, there's just been he's one of the slowest improvers,
and I don't mean that in a bad way. He
improves the a that everyone is chasing the outlier, Right.
You want a guy to come into the league and
play like this, and then a second year you want
him to go up to top twenty level or whatever.
Zoo has been a steady like thirty two to or
you know, like fifteen degree incline, like his whole stretch
right here. So I I agree with the point. I
mean his often should be featured more. I'm just prepared.
I just hope it's a light point eight.
Speaker 2: Again, you can't peak as a team of Vivitza zu Bots.
Isn't a focal point on offense.
Speaker 1: Because me to be yeah, but a focal point because.
Speaker 2: He offers something they really don't have enough of, just
easy buckets. They don't have a ton of slashers that
gets you easy layups. I Vitza's Zubots is that guy
that can bump up your overall fuel goal percentage because
he's still effiicient near the rim. He beat Jokic from
five to nine feet out last season. He was still
good in that area this past year. Like, what are
we talking about?
Speaker 1: Do you think he's making Did he make a a
defensive team last year? Yeah? He was second team All Defense.
Speaker 2: I think he was six and dpoy Yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Think he will all right, do enough and got me
on this one. I'm still banking on Cambodian Jokic. Hey,
we know we got scouts over there. You know that
the Clippers are finding the next tiny Jokic.
Speaker 2: There's another part to the equation. Paul Thomas still going,
always going to be exhausted for how hard he has
to work on defense. If you want your big men
to defend the rim, you must get him involved on
the offensive end. That's just how it works. It's human nature.
They give you a better effort on the defensive end
if you're getting them involved on offense. That's me. It's
a non negotiable beats. Zubas has mismatches all the time.
You gotta get him going the mismatches. That's what's nice
with Harden because I feel like Harden recognizes the mismatch.
He said, great, I know how to play basketball. Let's
give the big guy with the ball who's being guarded
by the little guy that has unlocked a lot for you.
I think that's probably not a hot take at all, No,
but it's a good one that that's probably the most
sure way of eats a Zuba stays involved because he's
playing with Harden now and he's going to keep him involved,
and Harden's the one who could have to sacrifice more offensively.
Speaker 1: Someone mentioned that earlier in the stream. They were like,
I think they were just saying, like, you know, I
kind of think that Harden will be more of a
pass first guy with the new starting lineup because we
don't have a you know, we have everyone can kind
of shoot outside of Zoo. Obviously, it's gonna be interesting
to see because Harden's gonna want to make those guys
feel comfortable early, so he's going to be conscious of
getting them in a rhythm.
Speaker 2: I think he'll play more like he did when he
first came to the Clippers that first year where Paul
George was still there. Yeah, he was facilitating more picking
and choosing his spots. That's what we're going to see
when this team is fully healthy.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: Richard Cabrera saying, no doubt ZU is a significant upgrade
over KST. I don't know how he can compare a
human to Korean standard time. I will take your word
for it, Richard, I look that up. That is what
KST stands, all right, Uh fahad who we were showing,
call them if you have an issue. ZUS should be
compared to Kareem. That's it. I hope he brings as
many chips uh as Kareem brought. This is an interesting debate.
We'll talk about at midway through the sea.
Speaker 2: Who's the modern day Bruce Lee Bigazoo could be working
out with?
Speaker 1: Yeah, where's that at? Thank you? Punk's gone round for
mentioning that we acknowledge your mention. I'm excited for Zoos season.
I'm excited for basketball to actually start. I think that's
going to be It's very cathartic for all of us.
Speaker 2: We need No one needs it more.
Speaker 1: No one. That's a great point. I rambled about this
on our last live about how the fans are the
ones getting screwed. So I'm excited for the fans to
get basketball back, because that is what we should have
to talk about.
Speaker 3: Not.
Speaker 1: Bullshit that the fans have nothing to do with and
would have said, please don't do that. What are you
gonna do if you see Pablotoria media day on one day?
Speaker 2: Give him the death stare.
Speaker 1: I don't know that so funny? Oh, here we go
goes figured it out. Zoo can train with Donnie in Yeah,
make that happen, Balmber legally make it happen. Let's yeah
the man. Yeah, Donnie is like.
Speaker 3: Them.
Speaker 1: I like how riled up Paul Thomas is getting. Paul
Thomas cannot take a joke. Don't ever make a joke
A Johnny's an r KO Papa. That's very funny. All right,
I have to go pick up a dog that I'm
dog sitting. Our other host is in New York tampering,
trying to get some stars. Adam, please promote your show
and please give us one positive thing.
Speaker 2: Uh Well, the Clippers talking rom Go tomorrow is being rescheduled.
If you guys were going tomorrow on account of me,
what the hell got I got gotta reschedule.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't give you the presidential suite or what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's back to the negotiating table now, unclad. I'll
give you guys an update down the line. Okay, we
got media Day on Monday, and we're gonna get our
first conversations really with the media. And we heard from
CP three and we heard a little bit from Brook.
We didn't have a traditional introductory press conference for Bradley
Beale or John Collins, so I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was like one photo of John Collins shared
the Clippers Superad. It was like, uh, there's been no
photos of John Collins. It was like, yeah, that's fine.
He's not a he's kind of Kawhi like in his
social media.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all good. He wants to float in the
background until he's throwing down on two guys. It's fine
until he's floating towards the room. So I'm excited to
hear from them their expectations. If I get a chance,
I'll ask Kawhi question. But yeah, I'll probably come home
and after the first hour there and start podcasting on
Clippers Talk. Maybe he wants to jump on a live.
Speaker 1: Then yeah, Alex, I'm saying, what time does media start
so we can tune in? You cannot tune in the
Clippers media Day. That is not something that is possible,
So sorry, Alex Web just follow all the amazing beat
writers like Tamara Zarley who ghosted us tonight, as well
as Justin Russo, Adam Anslin, Love Murray. There's a whole
at Grant Mona, Joey Lynn. The Clippers beat is great.
I'll also give a shout out to everyone on the
actual Clippers beat. Yeah. I'm excited for media Day. I
will be watching from work or following from work, and
then we'll have a full episode out for y'all, probably Tuesday,
so we can kind of digest everything. Thanks having on
the live stream Paul Thomas, we hope you have a
wonderful night. Don't watch any comedies, seems very difficult.
Speaker 2: He only watches his own movies, which I hear the
new one's pretty good.
Speaker 1: I'm going tomorrow at eleven am. So I'm so highed.
Oh yeah, that was Paul Thomas Anderson. That's I forget.
He's a big Clips fan. I saw him in a
weirdly in an Ola, Wa, Kandy, Jersey the other day.
I was just you know, at Arawan spending seven thousand
dollars on groceries. I said, is that pta a candy man?
All right? Thanks? Shogging out everybody, Adam will be with
you on Monday after an hour over on Clippers Talk.
If you went to Morano to see him, get a
refund you deserve it.
Speaker 2: Let him know you came to see me. I got shook,
I didn't show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks for hanging out and as always, let's go
Clips