Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Clips and Dip.
Speaker 2: It is Friday, so we are coming at you live
our normal third host. I don't know what order it is,
but he is out of town right now in Montana,
so Adam and I are holding it down after I
don't know, one of the the second best win maybe
o the Clipper season.
Speaker 3: I think it might have to be above. I thought
the best win went the win against Minnesota. Yeah, last
week and with Kawhi dropping forty one with the game
winner in Houston to get into the All Star Break
with a little bit momentum, that was big time?
Speaker 1: Is that a first? Like?
Speaker 2: When is the last time this team came into an
All Star break not looking like they were in a
straight slump?
Speaker 3: The only other one was it two years ago when
coach lew got kicked out against the Golden State Warriors
and they pulled through, like right after they said PJ.
Tucker home and bones Hiland home. Yeah, the game right
before the All Star break. The only other time.
Speaker 2: It feels like they always hit a little bit of
a slump, But not not this time around. Not this
time around, Charles said in here. Charles still gave us
some notes for those of you just tuning in. We're
listening later. Adam and I are here. Charles is not,
but he did send us a few notes to sort
of keep us on tracks, so we don't just talk
about movies and dips over here. But he said, haggler
or no haggle, The Timberwolves win still stands as the
best of the season.
Speaker 1: Adam is haggling.
Speaker 2: I think I'm inclined to agree just with the just
with the Kauhi game winner.
Speaker 3: The game winner was magical, Like that was much better
than the game winner against the Pelicans in the game
they shouldn't have been playing around with to begin with
earlier in the season. This was on the road. Everybody
knew it was going to him, turn around Joe and
one draws the foul. They were down fifteen in that
game early on. I mean, that was that was one
of the better wins anybody's had this season.
Speaker 1: Honestly, who's the more surprising ad I already know your answer,
but we're just gonna since it is the start of
All Star weekend, we're just gonna talk about it anyways, Like,
who's the more surprising? Ad Kawhi or was it Fox?
The last minute.
Speaker 3: Had for Jannis. I think yeah, I mean Kawhi should
have been in obviously from the.
Speaker 1: Get game from the beginning.
Speaker 3: That was wild. They righted the wrong and that was
the coaches vote. The coaches messed that up. They didn't
vote in Kawhi for some reason. I thought, so Wait, dearon,
Fox just got in, right, Yeah, you just got in.
I'm trying to think they've added I think four guys
to this All Star Game. Now we're up to like
twenty eight All Stars or something like that. But Kawhi
should have been in their day one. Obviously he could
have been. I mean, I wish we voted him in
as a starter, but just level of play end up
being All NBA First Team this season, he's been that good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is he in? The MVP talks.
Speaker 3: The two games under five hundreds. Still, I think it's
hard to make that argument. They start six and twenty one.
If they go on to get five games over five
hundred or something like that to end the year and
they get out of the play in that, then maybe
you start to make that argument. But SGA, you know,
he's the reigning MVP. They still are the best team
in the Western Conference. It's tough to unseat him and
Nikola Jokicic. I think can only miss like one more
game before he's ineligible for postseason awards, MVP Awards, NBA
All NBA Awards.
Speaker 2: I think a repeat last year though, like at the
All Star Break, were you're talking about, like where is
Kawhi in your MVP rankings because he was getting some
love I feel like from a very minor crowd, but uh.
Speaker 3: Well he didn't come back to like mid January last year,
two years.
Speaker 1: Ago, two years ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, the thirty game having fun, but it's your
ear the thirty game stretch that he had two years ago. Yeah,
where you set the all type efficiency record with fifty
seven fifty two to ninety shooting splits over thirty games.
We were definitely talking about him then. Yeah, I think
we could at least get the conversation started. But it's
totally contingent on if they come out, you know, win
seven of their ten coming out of the All Star Break,
and there's some tough games coming up and they just
continue to win, and it is Darius Garland going to
be back, you know, if he's not back for a while,
and Kawhi keeps carrying them, then you can make more
of an argument.
Speaker 2: Yeah, agreed. We're getting some questions about that in the chat.
I have not heard anything definitive. I would guess coming
out of the All Star break, do you think that
we'll get something resembling a timeline of sorts or at
least an update of any kind.
Speaker 3: I mean, if update is that somebody from the media
asked coach lou about it and he says, I'm not sure,
then yeah, maybe something like that. I don't yes, because.
Speaker 2: The latest was that, Uh, their concerns still about the
surgery toe.
Speaker 3: There's some soreness in his left toe. Yeah, that's the
one that had the turf toe last season. The right
toe not so much. That was a toe sprain this year.
Speaker 1: Have you done any deep dives on the recurrence of
turf toe? What's uh? What are you looking at there?
Speaker 3: Uh? The only thing I thought of was Okay, so
he was playing with Cleveland. He came back seven games
into the season. They were more in a win now mode.
The Clippers are looking towards the future. I just think
they're being more overly cautious because they know that they're
not a contender this season. The Calves were so they
were playing him and they wanted to try to get
him up to speed, but the Clippers aren't going to
push him like that with the state of the team
right now.
Speaker 1: How have you felt about a honeymoon on the Cavs.
Speaker 3: He looked great. I've heard the nickname.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just use it.
Speaker 2: I'm definitely rooting for him. I'm definitely rooting rooting for him.
Anything else you want to talk about from this game
against the Rockets, I mean.
Speaker 3: It was about as good of a feel good way
as you could have right before the All Star break,
and that was it. It tells you once again, it
just reinforces the fact that this team is not quit
on the season. If you're down fifteen and the All
Star break is right there and you could have a
foot out the door because you know, you got plans
and you could give in and give up on that game,
and they still don't. I thought that was really special.
Speaker 1: And do you have any thoughts on Benedict Mathern's debut.
Speaker 3: I mean, definitely look better in game two. I was
really encouraged because what do you think will He was
doing everything to me but score the basketball, which is
the trait that he's relied upon most. That is the
most you know, consistent thing with him is he's a
bucket out there, and actually he has not been hitting
so far, but he's been making plays. He's been playing defense,
he's been making good passes out there. That's the stuff
we kind of worried about, not whether or not he
can score. So I expect that to come along.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that that is going to be one
of those difficult things, especially in the absence of like
a true playsetter point guard. I think that that's a
little bit difficult. You know, only took two threes, didn't
make either of them. But yeah, like you said, he
was doing a lot of other stuff and he was
still a positive contributor in that game where you know,
if you're looking at the plus mind, there's a lot
of ups and downs going on there.
Speaker 3: He hit those clutch free throws late, Like he hit
four straight free throws in the fourth quarter that were
all big time shots to make, and that's one of
the abilities he has. He gets fout a lot. I
think he's attempting like seven free throws per thirty six
minutes or something like that. So that's needed on this team,
especially when you lose someone like James Harden.
Speaker 1: So did Matherins performance?
Speaker 2: Are you are you now assured that the zoom move
was one thousand percent?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: Are you saying good riddance? Are you burning your jersey?
Speaker 3: How dare you you know that would never happen? I
got the zoo flu right afterwards. I literally woke up
sick the next day with the flu, like it hit
me so hard emotionally, somehow came down with the flu
ors up that I called it the Zoo flu. But
I think it was still more so about the two
first round picks and Matherns more of a wait and
see because you look at it, they're gonna have to
pay John Collins and him this summer. Harden's salary is
off the books, obviously, Do you just redistribute that to
those two guys. Is Benedict Matherine a good fit for
this team moving forward? How much is he going to
man twenty twenty five million? What about John Collins with
how good he's been. I think a lots to be
determined the rest of the season with those two in particular,
more so Benedict Maantherin though, because we've seen a lot
of John Collins.
Speaker 1: Adam was absolutely physically ill after the Zoo trade. Let
us know if you had any any symptoms, if you
have any ongoing symptoms and.
Speaker 2: The chat post Zoo trade. But you're right, it's you know,
it's a move for the future. I wish we had
some sort of timeline on Garland. Obviously, as you said,
it's it's not.
Speaker 1: You know it.
Speaker 2: It doesn't determine necessarily the outcome of anything this year.
I mean, I think it could help them out, it
would bump them up, but it doesn't like vault them
into a contender conversation or anything. But having two guys
now that I mean, you know, look are going to
factor in potentially to this team's next timeline and having
a lot of question marks.
Speaker 1: It feels very classic Clippers.
Speaker 3: But ew, yeah, it's a bridge gap to the next
era or we're seeing some of the guys who could
be involved in that now instead of thinking, well, it's
gonna be Darius Garland and Beats zubas the only two
guys on the books. Darius Garland, maybe Don Collins, maybe
Benedict Matherin. We'll see what happens. But I think to
your point about it doesn't vault them to being a contender,
So why are you pushing him to come back anyways
this season when everything's really about the future. It was
Lawrence Frank in the post trade deadline pressure talking about
how we want to get back to a contender status.
Basically I'm paraphrasing, so that's admitting you're not one this season.
We can all see their ceiling is probably maybe a
first round win. Maybe that's their ceiling. Best case scenario,
you still are likely going to have to get out
of the plane. Why I'm saying, the goal is to
get out of the play and to begin with but
that's gonna really difficult.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, we'll do a little standings. Watch later
in the show. We got a super chat. Anytime you
come those you send those three those are going up
on the screen.
Speaker 3: Uh, but I don't care what they say.
Speaker 1: Wait a second, well there are some caveats.
Speaker 2: Okay, Uh the super chat this is from MB three
zero one two. They said, Kuhi got Leonard. Do you
think another championship window can be built with Kawhi and
youth or is this more of a post Kawhi move.
I mean, from what we've heard from the you know,
from the front office. So far, they're looking at clear
in the books, they're they're they're looking at retooling and
rebuilding in twenty twenty seven. But I think I think
the answer is the unfortunate answer is it depends like
what does his deal look like? You know, what is
he happy enough playing in Los Angeles? What is he
willing to sacrifice?
Speaker 1: Which is a lot to.
Speaker 2: Ask for a guy who has, you know, put his
body on the line pretty hard for this franchise. But
I think at uh, you know, at the market rate
or at a superstar like type deal, I don't I
don't see that being an option or a goal of
this franchise at this juncture.
Speaker 3: Yeah, kaw I said something jokingly. I think it might've
been after the winning Sacramento right after the trade deadline,
like maybe I can ride the young guys coat tails
at some point. But he's going to be thirty five
later this summer. This will be the final year of
his contract where he's making about fifty million, and I
think you put a best will, it's dependent does he
want to come back on a cheap deal and hang
around and be a mentor and also be a you know,
he can start at times and have throwback type games
here and there, but he's less relied upon as being
the franchise player and he can just kind of blend
in and star in his role, and you know, I
think that would be interesting, but there's so much we
have to figure out before that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're getting a lot of stuff just since we're
on the Kawhi topic here. Not to derail things too much,
but we are getting a lot of questions obviously about
the aspiration thing, which we know there was never going
to be any sort of ruling before this All Star break.
Does the put in my tinfoiliest of hats on here?
Does the All Star nod give you any indication that
that could be a positive thing for the Clippers, that
maybe maybe things aren't looking too shabby in the old.
Speaker 1: Law firm there.
Speaker 3: Guys still had to get hurt for him to get in,
So I don't think that much of it. He's that
into a dome and the fact that nothing, they haven't
laid down any punishment, any ruling. We don't know what's
going to happen. The eighth episode from Pablo Toy came
out this week, which was kind of expected just because
leading up to the All Star Game being an into
a dome. Of course, that would be big traction for
him to talk more about it. I'm not saying there
wasn't anything new or revelatory too. Maybe some people feel
like there was. I thought some of it was rehash.
Speaker 2: But you need has to be finding out where Nancy
Guthrie is of this. Enough of this Clippers nonsense. You
don't get on the real issues.
Speaker 3: Pablo Well, I think he did another one this week
about the subject matter that wasn't Clippers related. But uh, yeah,
I it doesn't. It doesn't tip their hand to me
to being able to read whether or not this is
going to be in the Clippers favor, this ruling coming
up at some point when it could be this offseason.
We have no idea.
Speaker 2: We yeah, we really don't. We really don't, And I
don't know what do you think we're looking at there?
Do you do you think that that was a factor
in the acquisition of picks? I mean, obviously the Zoo
deal was just so sweet. I don't know if you're
in a spot like the Clippers are at right now,
how you would turn it down. But do you think
that that was all at all a factor?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: I mean, Lawrence Frank said that, you know, we operate
without worrying about that or thinking about that, because's douted
their control. Obviously, now you'd worry that a ruling comes
down and all of a sudden, worst case scenario, you
lose the picks that you got from the Indiana Pacers
or something like that. That would obviously be worse one
of the worst case scenarios. I guess you could say.
Speaker 1: Can they do that?
Speaker 3: Though that's no games, no idea, that's not even ours.
I don't want to speculate too much. I don't I
don't know where this is going. I just know it's
looming and it's going to be talked about. Adam Silver
is probably going to be asked about it tomorrow with
the media when he speaks about taking and everything else,
and I'll probably just say it's a league wide investigation.
There's nothing more to say at this point and dodge it.
But you know it's understandable that he would, So we'll
see if anything comes out tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Well, that doesn't I think that about sums up where
we're at after this latest Clippers victory going into the
All Star breaks strong.
Speaker 1: We'll take a.
Speaker 2: Little audio break here for our audio listeners. If you're
watching this on live on YouTube dot com at Clippers Podcast.
There's no break, as there should be. But coming up
we'll talk a little bit about the All Star Game.
I know Adam has some thrilling updates about the celebrity Game.
We'll talk a little bit more about Kawhi and his appearance,
as well as the Clipper standings and what the rest
of the season could look like coming out of this break.
So all that more coming up in three two one.
Speaker 3: Welcome back. In Clips and div Season four, episode twenty three,
I'm out of Mosley's will Updyke.
Speaker 1: These seamless transitions, Man, Sometimes when it's just the two
of us, it's like it's just water, you know, flow.
Speaker 3: What does What does Chuck always say when when one
of us is out.
Speaker 1: Unattainably, unavoidably detained.
Speaker 3: Unavoidably detained. Chuck is out for this one. But we're
doing the live for you guys. It looks like we
have this up on the audio coming up too. But uh,
it wasn't just the guys getting you know, a big victory.
But some guys didn't play in that game against the
Houston Rockets, including Niko Batum for rest purposes. Now. I
don't think the league is going to find the Clippers
for taking because of this, because they know they don't
have their first round pick this season. That wouldn't make
any sense. And Niko Batum is an older player and
they got a lot of new guys out there. But
what did you think about Nico getting a little bit
of rest there in Game two against Houston?
Speaker 1: Love it? Love it? Yeah.
Speaker 2: We got to preserve Nico as much as we can,
especially during this Like I always feel like during these
periods of new fit things, another little spotlight goes on
Nico because he is like he can be such.
Speaker 1: A glue guy. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I Nico's the one I, you know, worry about least
when it comes to getting back in and getting back
to a rhythm and flow. If he was out for
a couple of weeks, I feel like he can hit
the ground running as soon as he came back because
he's sets a Charlotte solid vet and that's shootings. You know.
I don't think it's lasting to go even as a
veteran that's always going to be there. It made sense, uh,
And I don't know what's gonna happen moving forward now,
like Bogie hasn't been playing at all and did not
get traded at the trade deadline. But if you do
get Darius Garland back, some of these young guys are
going to have to lose minutes with Kobe Sanders and
Jordan Miller. I know some people were down on them
because the last week or so they haven't been playing
as well. It's like, guys, this is this is how
this works. When you're developing young players, They're they're not
always that consistent, They're not always that steady or liable.
These are the growing pains you have to go through.
This is all part of it. A lot of people
are getting on Jordan Miller recently for not playing as well,
and it's like this, this is this is what it is.
You got to accept it to some degree.
Speaker 2: Well, and this is like every franchise that has it
rebuild or has like young stars, you're going through a
period of some rough basketball. Even much higher draft picks
than a Kobe Sanders. It's just it's just sort of unavoidable.
And it's one of those things like you can't have
it both ways. Everybody wants the team of like young
young all stars, but you gotta you gotta get them there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just you know you're gonna take your lumps
along the way as young players in this league. Even
though Jordan Miller's twenty six, he's young when it comes
to experience. Kobe Sanders is a rookie this year. They
still have been instrumental in this Clippers turnaround over the
last six seven weeks. So let's not get on them
too hard when they have a couple down games here
and there. It's gonna be all right. They still have
been pivotal and this is how you build, this is
how you develop. We haven't been this stage for so long.
I think people have forgotten, you know that you do
have to go through those growing pains as I mentioned.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely absolutely getting some love for mathin in the chat.
He won over Stump forty five twenty two in that
Rockets game, So that's great to hear. And speaking of rest,
you know, like I feel like the Clippers have kind
of slumped before going into the All Star break, and
we've seen them come out of long periods of rest
in previous iterations. Obviously, this team has gone through several
core information changes. Even in this era, which is this
era over.
Speaker 1: What do we call it now?
Speaker 3: It's not a contending era. There were always times the
last few years, outside the twenty one to twenty two
season where they're missing Kawhi the entire time, Paul George
on and plays thirty games. Outside of that, there were always,
you know, sections and segments of the season that would
get us back into saying, if this goes right, if
this player gets healthy, we could talk ourselves into still
being a contender. I don't think you can do that
this season. I think even the most positive Clipper fan, no,
they may still think there's a chance, but like I
think success would be getting into a first round series
and playing competitive basketball, getting experienced for the young guys,
and let the chips fall where they may. But I
don't think they're a contender, especially in this Western Conference.
Right now. It's just you lost, losing of eatsa Zubats.
I mean, what does that do for you in matchups
against you know, uh Nicol jokicchanew in a playoff series,
who was basically like add or below his averages last
year in that seven game series, and a lot of
that is due to it beats a Zubas. You don't
have your back line defense guy anymore, your defensive anchor.
That hurts you. I just don't know if you can
really make that case anymore. And that hasn't been that
hasn't been the deal for years with this Clippers team.
We always thought, you know, at some point they could
get to contender status.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I think.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, our version of contender status this year
is like, if you can get into that seven eight
and only have to win one one play in game,
I would consider that a massive success on the season.
I mean, obviously, best case scenario, you match up with
the Spurs, you get some like actual playoff experience for
this lineup. Hopefully you know, you have a healthy Garland
by then, and you can get this iteration of the
Clippers in.
Speaker 1: Some sort of a playoff series.
Speaker 2: And I actually do think that long term, that's better
obviously than the outcome would have been, you know, if
Hardened and Zoo are still on the team, because we
you know, this year was always kind of like an
in between year. It's a little bit of a stop
gap year. And while we didn't know exactly what was
gonna happen at the trade deadline, you know, the best
case scenario is like you get playoff reps with a
lot of older guys who already been there, so you're
not really getting a whole lot of new data there,
and then you know you're still looking to offload guys
do a major shift in the offseason if you don't
do it at the trade deadline.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if your transitional season is making the playoffs and
getting in a first round series and being competitive, that's
a damn good year for a transitional phase that this
team is going through. I mean, I think that would
be viewed as a success. We'll see, there's too much
work to be done with what twenty seven to twenty
eight games left in the schedule. That gets tougher along
the way, and they're only in ninth place right now
on the West, so they've got plenty of work to
do here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed, Agreed.
Speaker 2: Let's pivot a little bit to the back to the
All Star Game. We talked about Nick Putoon getting a
little bit of a break. Do you have any thoughts
on what we're going to see from Kawhi in this
All Star Game? Do you have any breaking updates you
need to share from the celebrity game currently going on?
As we're streaming, which is a crazy conflict for us.
I don't know why we opted to do that, but
I know a lot of people were peeling you away
from what you what you'd like.
Speaker 3: To be watching, you know, Keenan Allen can hoop a
little bit. I thought it was interesting that Jannis had
Shams on his team, so a guy who he didn't
seem to be too fond of with his reporting about
Yiannis over the last year with the Milwaukee Bucks. Now
he's coaching on the sidelines here and everybody was freaking
out that Jannis. It looked like excuse Shams was looking
at his phone while he was on the bench, like
for breaking news. And Chris Haynes actually put out that
Zach Levine is out for the season with the right
hand surgery he's dealing with. As if the Kings want
any of the guys to be playing anyways that could
actually help them get victories, you know, Jared Jackson juniors
out for the season. Hope he's okay, of course, dealing
with that adnirmal growth abnormal growth, but they said it
wasn't cancerous, but that that's about as good as we've
gotten so far in this game. Our taco fall has
been out there dumping on people at seven six a
little bit. It's it's not great, But are they ever?
Is this whole weekend? You know? Is it just more
about the kids? Like it? What's the principal skinner thing? Like?
Am I out of touch? No? It's the children, Like
maybe it's the kids who are wrong. The older crowd
that bashes All Star Weekend forgets what this is really
about a little bit, And I'm just happy it's it
into a dome and they're gonna put on a great
show for him, and we'll see what Kawhi ends up doing,
because I wonder what the finger issue that he was
shaking and not even giving high fives with in that
game against Houston, which made that performance even better. How
much is he going to play in the All Star Game?
You know?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely? Yeah. It's it's interesting too.
Speaker 2: It's like talking about All Star Weekend, they're sending something
that the NBA is sending something like two hundred influencers
to the get in like content creators across social media
platforms like to the All Star Game. So they're clearly
trying to shift it a little bit too, trying to
figure something out there, but.
Speaker 1: It's been it's it's been cooked for a while. She's
well done.
Speaker 3: What did you think of what Kevin Durant said the
other day actually was postgame, I think right after the
Clippers beat him saying that. He basically said, why are
you guys looking at the Old Heads being the problem
for the All Star Game eroding? What about Luca? What
about Nikola Jokich? Are they competing out there? Are they
playing hard? I'm paraphrasing that's basically what he said. And
I think there's two ways to look at it. First
of all, it's easily refutable because you're the Old Heads
for a reason. You've been in way more All Star
Games for way longer than Luca and Jokic have been
in the All Star Games. So if anyone's responsible for
the game being less competitive, it would be the Old
Heads and the guys who've been playing in it for
years that changed the level of competitiveness in the game.
The other I could be Kevin Durant trying to inspire
more competition by taking a shot there at Luca and
I like it, like it?
Speaker 1: I like it? Yeah, why not light a fire under him?
I don't know, like competition, Like.
Speaker 2: The lack of competition at the All Star Game isn't
something that's entirely surprising. I mean, it's a break for
these guys. It's it's summer vacation, and it's I kind
of feel like they should just lean into that being
the vibe, like I just let it be like a
little bit goofy and weird.
Speaker 1: Like I don't think people like pressing, like like pressing
full court is going to change how I feel about
the All Star Game, Like I don't think that that's
suddenly going to be like, oh wow, this is this
is definitely way better than it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think the last good one we had was
in twenty twenty where Kawhi was the MVP. It was
right after Kobe's death. I think it was in Chicago,
and it was the first one with the elam rules,
so there was a score that you had to hit,
so there was going to be a game winner and
it came down to the very end and that was
a really fun game. But that was, you know, six
years ago. Now, that was the last time. And then
before that, every once in a while, Jordan's last game
was good. There was a time I think in two
thousand and two thousand and one where the East had
like a twenty point comeback. There have been some games
here and there that have been fun, but I do
think a lot of it is just nostalgia and people,
you know, painting a prettier picture than it actually was
back in the day. Yes, they were more competitive. I
also have footage of a game from like nineteen ninety
where at the very beginning that Shrodman foul somebody, and
the announcers say, oh, looks like they might actually want
to play some defense this year in the All Star Game. Well,
why are they saying that if it was known for
being more competitive back then. No, even back then they
didn't play a lot of defense. So it's just what
it is. I think we overly scrutinize a lot of
things that you know, it's just it's show fodder. It's
for talking heads to debate. I guess.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think like All Star selection, I do think is important.
I think there should be some changes in the way
that the like how those votes are tallied and and
who ultimately gets there versus like just solely like versus
there being a lot of the fan vote and everything,
not that it isn't for the fans, but I think
like just having being able to have the All Star
thing on your resume. I mean, we know that it
affects contracts and everything else. So I do still think
that that is important, even if the game itself isn't
as important. I still think like the designation and the recognition.
I do think that there's something to that.
Speaker 3: It would be nice if voters took things more seriously.
And part of it is so for the starters. It's
what a third fans, a third media, a third players.
So a couple of the players voted for Bronnie James,
like they don't take things seriously, they don't care enough,
and then you realize at the end of the career,
possibly it could have been just his dad voting for
him and somebody else.
Speaker 1: Uh lebron voter fraud, Pablo Tory investigate.
Speaker 3: But all Star votes matter. I would think All NBA
is more significant, But it would be nice if people,
you know, took it a little bit more seriously, because
when you look at a guy's Wikipedia at the end
of his career and you're talking about someone's legacy, that's
something that gets brought up early on and it can
affect Hall of Fame status too, But we know there's
far more, you know, all Stars than just the twenty
four total, with how deep and how talented the league
is now, so there's always going to be snubs. That
stuff's going to happen should they expand to thirty. I mean,
we ended up getting a twenty eight right now just
because all the injury is going on the replacement all
stars in there. So I don't know, it is what
it is. I don't usually don't like saying that, but
I think we're maybe trying a little bit too hard
to correct it. And look, if it's more competitive on Sunday,
I'm all for it. That'd be great if the Slam
Dunk Contest ends up being very competitive and we see
some new dunks out there, even though the guys that
are competing aren't exactly the big names cool I am
interested probably most the three point Contest, yeah, because they
have some real guys with real names out there. Damian
Lillard's even participating, and I know some people don't like
that because he's taking a spot away from a guy
who's actually played this season, and I totally understand that,
but I'm also very intrigued to see a guy who's
coming off in Achilles that's only been shooting. Being this contest,
who is I think won it before?
Speaker 1: The three point competition has weirdly become like the most
exciting part of All Star weekend.
Speaker 3: Do ball.
Speaker 1: There needs to be more do balls in other in
other portions of the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Mountain Dew four point ball, whatever it is. Yeah,
I'm good with that. But the All Star Game being
it's a round robin with three different teams, four games
total twelve minute quarters for you know, it's it's it's
four twelve minute quarters and four different games. Yeah. So
hopefully we do get the World team versus one of
the Stars or Stripes teams in the final, because maybe
that would get guys up for it a little bit
more just playing for their country. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Olympics are going on. I mean great news. Uh.
In the chat no Eagle announcing the Rookie.
Speaker 3: Game, Yeah, I texted Noah, I was like, could you
guys put the three point contest last please instead the
dunk contest Saturday night? I think he might be involved
with that too, But yeah, though Eagles, the young Goat
is all over it as he should be, as.
Speaker 1: He should be. Who uh, who's the next Clipper to
get an All Star nod? Currently on the.
Speaker 3: Roster looking towards future years here? Yeah, Garland?
Speaker 1: You think it's Garland? Mathroom doesn't make a jump.
Speaker 3: He could. I just Garland's He's a two time All Star,
so he's got the pedigree. Yeah, what if? What if
things don't go well enough? In Matherverson on the team
after the season, the contract, you know, he wants too much.
I don't know. Garland's just the the the chalk bet,
the betting favorite.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's fair. Or Kobe I was gonna say,
what about Kobe Sanders though?
Speaker 3: We shall see? Uh. Do we want to get to
some of the standings here at the all our game?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, let's break it down. Where are we at?
Adam Clippers Slippers?
Speaker 3: Wait there? I thought there were ninth? What happened here?
The tenth?
Speaker 1: Because yeah, we have an identical record to the Trailblazers.
Speaker 3: Well, the Clippers have one less win than them and
one more loss. This is interesting. Portland's twenty seven and
twenty nine. They have a four to eight to two
win percentage. The Clippers are twenty six and twenty eight
a four to eight to one win percentage, So they're
just behind them, even though have they beaten them both
times this season. Now I feel like that might be true.
Speaker 1: I think so.
Speaker 3: Regardless, Clippers, this is it. You got work to do now.
Staying in the play in should not be a problem.
Memphis tanking, Dallas taking Utah, obviously taking New Orleans. It's
just bad they don't have their first round pick this
season because they got what's his name queen in the
draft they trade with Atlanta. Sacramento bad tanking. Also, so
oh Yannix scores the first points stars game, there's the MVP,
there's your next All Star. Maybe. So, I do think
the Clippers are secure to getting the play in. But
like we talked about earlier, getting that seven to eight
matchup win, it be the seventh seed. You don't want
to be one eight, and then you end up taking
on Oklahoma City in the first round because the San
Antonio Spurs are still three games back of Okay. See,
even though they beat them three times, I don't think
they're going to be able to take the number one
spot from them. What you really don't want to see
is Denver get going the rest of this season and
they take the number two seed away from San Antonio,
because I think it would be more favorable if you
get in that two seven to face San Antonio with
their youth and inexperiences, even though it would still be
a really tough series and they'd be favored, you'd rather
see them than Denver, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean absolutely, they don't have the reps and
you know us having some younger talent too. I do
think it's like an interesting I do think it's a
more interesting matchup versus a Denver team that kind of
has our number in the playoffs. How do you like
the chances if we do end up in that seven
to eight matchup. Let's say it's we got to take
on the Suns.
Speaker 1: One game.
Speaker 3: Light work. The Suns in the playoff series a problem
for the Clippers. They've lost them three times in the playoffs,
unfortunately in their history.
Speaker 1: There's some aster risks in there.
Speaker 3: I believe, No, you're right, you're right, But in a
one game play in I think they get the job
done against the Suns team because the Clippers, like they
put themselves in that hole starting six and twenty one.
But on PA. They're just a much more talented team.
And if you're telling me Darius Garland's going to be
back later this season, what you would expect.
Speaker 1: I am telling you that.
Speaker 3: Well, I think they're the best then of Phoenix, Golden State,
Portland in that grouping right now in the play in easily.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: In fact, everybody else up top would be rooting for
the Clippers to lose in case they draw them in
a first round series. The Clippers would be that sneaky,
dangerous team nobody wants to see in a first round.
Speaker 1: Who can't wait for the talking heads to hop on
that one.
Speaker 3: That's usually when things go wrong for us. But yeah,
even like, okay, so they're currently you know, they're basically
tied with Portland. They are what two and a half
games back of the Golden State Warriors right now. Golden
State is Steph Curry playing in the All Star Game.
Has Steph Curry been back? They obviously lost Jimmy Butler
for the season. They didn't make some huge trade move.
They brought in Chris DAPs and he unfortunately dealing with
the illness. I think the Clippers can chase them down
pot and a half games.
Speaker 1: He's got pots.
Speaker 3: It's as long as it's sad. I love Kristaphs game,
and I actually liked that move for Atlanta. I thought
that would have been interesting. They still play Golden State
here two more times, including the last game of the season.
Once again, this time is set into it dough, un
like last year where they won that that nail bider
to play in to stay out of the play in
against them. So Golden State is definitely a team to watch.
Two and a half games up, chase them down to
get in that seven eight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean those are the most I mean,
the Suns could hit us skid, but I'm seeing from
where I'm at right now, the Warriors and Trailblazers being
the most the most likely fallers if the Clippers are
to rise outside like into a better playing position.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Phoenix also just got Devin Booker back. Now they're
currently oh they're five and a half games up, yeah
on the Clippers, but I still we've been waiting for
them to come back to the pack a little bit.
They did go five and five their last ten games
before the break. Uh, They've been missing Jalen Green throughout
most of the season. I'm not sure if that's necessarily
the biggest negative, but Dylan Brooks has been holding it down.
Devin Booker came back right before the break. They have
a defensive identity. Now it's gonna be tough to get seventh.
It's really eighth where you just have to hop over
Portland and the Golden State Warriors. So therefore you'd be
on the road for that play in matchup for the
seven to eight likely against Phoenix, maybe is the most
most likely scenario.
Speaker 2: Right now, we're gonna get some hopeful take in the chat.
Ali Malik Lac says, I still think sixth, which.
Speaker 3: Uh, Phenix is five and a half games up on them.
That's see a lot to make up.
Speaker 1: And then six is seven games away.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Minnesota's thirty four and twenty two. And if you
look at strength of schedule, the Clippers, uh they're right now.
Oohh okay, so wait a second, no, this is good.
They're twenty eighth in strength of schedule, or maining that
Slippers are the Clippers are now Portland's thirtieth, and Portland's
right there with them, And then you look at Golden
State they're sixteenth. So virtually everybody else is going to
have a tougher strength of schedule moving forward, including the Sons,
who have the ninth toughest strength of schedule. Minnesota actually
has the third toughest, so there is that going in
their favor at least.
Speaker 2: Yeah, would you what what standings are you watching closer
right now? Clippers play in playing position or Pacers draft
pick position.
Speaker 3: I'm watching the Clippers a little bit more closely, but
make no way.
Speaker 1: You have two tabs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can walk into you gum here and Indiana
they ended up winning that game against the Knicks that
I did not expect to happen, and I was like, hey,
go Pacers there, and they just got fined what one
hundred grand? They didn't get the same fine that Utah got,
but they got fined for player violating player participation policy.
So they just won their last two games against the
Knicks in the nets before the All Star break. We
do want them to win. We do want them to
win some not a crazy amount, but we do want
them to win. Winning a crazy amount would be crazy
because they're fifteen to forty on the season and two
bots hasn't played yet.
Speaker 2: Someone in the chat is asking, how do you stop tanking.
I'm just going to throw my hat in the ring.
The in season tournament should be for the teams that
are eliminated from the playoffs, and there's some sort of
incentive there in your draft pick, like not an outright
like who wins gets the highest pick, because I don't
I don't think that that's fair, but it you have
some sort of multiplier in your increase odds.
Speaker 3: Uh, yeah, I think it's I think this is a
very unique level of taking we're seeing currently because of
the upcoming draft class and just how things have gone
with some of these teams and protected picks like Utah
having a top eight protected pick, or else it goes
to OKAC or the protected pick now with Indiana with
their intentive is to lose more, or else it goes
to the Clippers. Like maybe we're making a little bit
too much out of Yes, it is wild seen tanking
before the All Star break. That's starting way too early.
If it's you know, mid March, late March, early April
whatever that the league's been dealing with that for a
long time. I just don't know what the owners are
going to sign off on doing. What's really what's realistic
when it comes to changing some of these rules to
avoid taking, and.
Speaker 2: It doesn't always pan out in your favor, is the
other thing. I mean, it still sucks for the on
like for the on court product.
Speaker 3: But unintended consequences could happen if you try to, because
that's what happened with them flattening the odds in twenty nineteen.
They said, instead of the worst team having a twenty
five percent chance of gaining the first overall pick, we're
going to flatten the odds. So the top three worst
teams or the bottom three worst teams all of a
fourteen percent chance of getting the overall first pick. So
now last year you get Dallas, who I think only
had the tenth worst record in the league, ending up
getting the first pick. San Antonio got second. The teams
that were the worst three teams in the league last year,
none of them got top three picks. Yeah, so then
they go, Okay, I guess we got to take again
this year because we didn't strike iron, we weren't able
to get our top pick, so we got to go
back in. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, and that's the process. Like if you if
it doesn't result in a top five draft pick, I mean,
unless it's a you really hit on some gold, or
it's like a particularly loaded class.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's.
Speaker 2: It's it's very likely that you're going to be in
a similar position the next year. Yeah, I say remove
the aprons, make people spend more, make your team better
with money.
Speaker 3: Better better for the Clippers that. Yeah, I don't know
if they're an easy solution for taking. We'll see Adam Silver.
He'll be asked about that tomorrow too. Yeah. Yeah, do
you want to take a three, or make a three
or just take a three?
Speaker 1: I think he took it three.
Speaker 3: But he didn't make it because he hasn't made one yet.
I think he's taken like two this season.
Speaker 1: Let me see if I can pull up this box star,
this box.
Speaker 3: Score like he is, he's out of the game right now,
he is capable. I pulled the audio earlier. Uh. I
put it that fall out of May because I stumbled
upon this when they drafted him. But I went back
to some of his Penn State interviews and the guy
asking the question says, a lot of your teammates say,
you're one of the best shooters on the team. You know,
how much do you work on that? Like he's he's
been working on shooting for a long time.
Speaker 1: Oh he made one. He's one for two from three.
Speaker 3: Oh he made one. Yeah, he should definitely show it
off in this game to get the coaches to give
the green light because he hasn't made one. But I
don't know many. How many he's attempted so far this season.
I thought he attempted. He's attempted at least one. Yeah,
oh of two O three in the regular season.
Speaker 2: X Mango Project keeps keeps pitching an idea that I
like about the tanking issue, which is that teams should
vote on the top eight because naturally the teams will
vote for the worst teams to get the top pick.
Speaker 1: But I still think that could go awry.
Speaker 3: They'll vote for the worst teams to get the top pick,
interesting because they don't want they don't want, okay, see
you to get it. They don't want any of the
best team to get it. As who what you're saying?
Speaker 2: Yeah again, I think it just needs to be more
more odds based than an outright like that, this is
your number, like the NFL.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's too monumental. It's just five guys on
the court. One superstar makes such a big difference in
the NBA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna We're gonna have.
Speaker 1: To sleep on this one. We're gonna have to think
about this more.
Speaker 3: We'll talk to them silber tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Guys, are you doing Are you doing any all star stuff?
Are you gonna be over it? Into it at all?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: Not one of the two hundred bust in by the NBA. Huh.
Speaker 3: The influencers, Yeah, I can't even hate. If I had
a business, I'd be like, let's just get a bunch
of influencers. I have a bunch of followers. That's a
great idea for advertising.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, Why.
Speaker 3: Would you not do that? I know it's popular. I
hate all these things label people, influencers and stuff, but hey,
that's marketing in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Uh do you have any part any partying thoughts on
this rest break for the Clippers? Where their head should
space should be out? What do you want to see
guys doing during this week?
Speaker 3: I want to see Kawhi not shaking out his hand
on Sunday. I hope he's got some relief after having
a few days off and the hand issue isn't going
to be a problem moving forward. I just want to
make sure, you know, guys, stay with that same level
intensity coming out of the break, because if you can
make big trade moves like the Clippers did to they
may make two bigger trade moves than they did and
they still went three and one post trade deadline. This
team once again has not quit. They didn't quit when
they were six and twenty one. They didn't quit after
the trade deadline. They didn't quit down fifteen the last
game before the All Star Break. They've had all these
opportunities to give in and it hasn't happened yet. So
they just got to keep holding on to that rope.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hold on, hold on to the rope. Over this
All Star break, I want to see Garland and a
Rascal Scooter. I think that that would be good.
Speaker 2: Just just just rest up there, buddy, put up some
shots from the raw school.
Speaker 1: I want to see mathin. Just relax and get a
good breakfast. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. I'm ready to get away from the.
Speaker 2: Fake basketball and get back in, especially with the note
that we ended on in that Rockets win. But I
think that'll about do it for the stream. Do you
have any did you have any other parting thoughts? Do
you do you want to leave the folks with something positive?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, it could be him. I'm dangerously high on
Yonick because I've been saying this summer, dangerously high on Yonick,
the real drug. You just have another dunk? Yeah, another throwdown.
Not a lot of defense being played in the Rising
Stars either here. I'm okay with it.
Speaker 2: Oh all right, we gotta we got another super chat
come through, so you know we have to answer those
Stop forty two wants to know do you think Chris
Paul is going to start a podcast after announcing your retirement?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: Or no?
Speaker 1: I don't know who would want to be a guest.
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know if CP three is that type.
I don't know. Is he big social media guy? Has
he ever been that? No? I don't think so does
the commercials? I guess damn Yani put his head on
the rim. Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen. But
congrats CP three. Incredible career, all time great clipper. Wish
things ended better this season. Unfortunately it's tough.
Speaker 1: We'll still probably retire the jersey though, right, we.
Speaker 3: Got to, I say, retire his and Blake same night
put him up in the raptors into it, don't.
Speaker 1: Does he show up?
Speaker 3: Come on now?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: Uh well that will do it for this stream. Thank
you everybody for tuning in. We usually do these every
Friday around five thirty pm. You can catch those over
on YouTube dot com. That's at Clippers podcast. You can
also listen to this wherever you listen to podcasts. If
you happen to listen over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
go ahead leave a little rating or review, loving all
the yonic love in the chat. But that'll do it
for us. We are clips and dip until next time.
As our unavoidably detained co host always says, let's go
clips