NBA Roundtable with Full Squad with a Heated PG debate, Bronny Talk, Lakers, Kawhi & More

The FnA Podcast with the NBA Roundtable with Kevin, Adam, Bob, Eric and Brie Brie on Paul George leaving the Clippers with hot debate between Bob and Adam, then Kawhi injury update, Bronny summer league and much more. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Let's get this. This is ghettobroadcasting live from the studios of AM five
to seven day. It's on awebsite. This is FNA man, I
am a god. Now what whydon't you get out of that jump suits?
Let me smack that fast. That'sa scary crew. As far as

(00:21):
the product goes, voice of anew generation, many of the young guys
are really at the top of theirgames. The two of them had something
in common. We bring you radioecstasy. Oh it's beautiful broadcasting live from
the studios of AM five to sevenday. Let it happen. This is
the FNA Podcast. Welcome into theFNA Podcast on a Friday Friday edition of

(00:46):
the show. It is our pleasureto be with you. I'm ad A
Oslin. We got k fig Kevin. How are you doing? Doing great?
Adam doing great? I feel likeit's been a long time since you've
done this, As some of youhave a lot of let us know on
social media, that's been a longtime that we've done And I mean it
could be a little nicer say hey, where you guys been. I've missed
you for a while. You know, I really don't think that the name
calling and the f bombs are necessary, but nevertheless, we're back where the

(01:08):
fuck you at? Motherfuckers? What'sup with this shit? It's that type
of thing coming from everyone, butit's still good to be missed. I
guess yeah, sure, I'm atFallo out of May. He's at kffig
one on Twitter. We're at fna show on x which is Twitter,
the Graham and Facebook. And tostart things off today, we go right

(01:32):
back into where we left off ofwith another NBA round table with a full
house and effect. Hey, it'stime for the NBA Roundtable on the FNA
podcast with Bob Schmidt and Eric Slar, the Duke of sports. Bob,
how are we doing good? Howyou guys doing pretty good? Thanks for

(01:56):
the intros always, Eric, howare you? What's up guys? How
are we doing in the house aswell? How are we doing? Good?
Morning? How are you guys?Everyone knows the voices, yep.
Everyone knows our positions and allegiances whenit comes to teams. I go for
the Clippers, Kevin kind of goesfor the Lakers. Duke definitely goes for

(02:17):
the Lakers. Bob goes for theCavaliers, and Briefery is a long suffering
Phoenix Suns fan emphasis on the suffering. Uh, should we start off with
my suffering? Or should we startoff with Brownie James here the Lakers,
JJ Reddick. I think your sufferingis probably the biggest, one of the
biggest in the NBA, so Ibelieve we should start there, especially after

(02:38):
your rant yesterday. You guys areanother one. You get off on me
suffering? Is that what this is? Cadam's going off on? People on
Twitter voted He posted a five minuteclip from clips and dip well, I
tried to rally the troops. Imean, times are hard. I have
to say I respected your stance.It's at least the second one because I
saw the previous one that he postedon top of the actual Twitter that you

(03:00):
want to back and forth with peopleincluding Bob Oh. Yeah, I saw
that on this Okay, speaking ofBob and I had been getting into it
a little bit regarding Paul George leavingthe Clippers. He is now a member
of the Philadelphia seventy six ers.He came out talking about the contract situation.
He claims that he got offered twoyears sixty million dollars at the start

(03:22):
of the season, a low balloffer. From the Clippers. Now through
a little bit more clarity. Someare saying, well, that would be
on top of him opting into thefinal year of his contract. So actually
it's one hundred and seven million dollarsto start with, and eventually they did
offer him the one fifty. Someare saying, well, he was still
bitter over the low ball offer andthat's why he didn't take the one fifty,

(03:42):
the same contract as Kawhi Leonard,and he asked for a non trade
clause unlike Kawhi Leonard, and theneventually YEP, I don't feel that's an
accurate I don't feel that's an accuratepresentation. Which part which part Paul?
If you want to take Paul athis word, what he said was he
agreed to take the three for onefifty with no trade clause before the All

(04:05):
Star break, and the Clippers putthe offer on ice, and then when
they wanted to revisit it at theend of the season, that's when he
wanted to know trade clause at itbecause he was aware at that point of
what was out there to be turneddown from the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
so he thought he had more leverage, but you're making it sound as if

(04:25):
he was never agreeable to the threefor one fifty with without the no trade
clause, And his story is differentthan that. I didn't hear it like
that, to be honest. Himsaying say that again, you're saying he
would accept offer it. He no, He said, they went to him,

(04:46):
they said, we'll give you thelike three for one fifty. He
said, all right, let's doit like I'm ready to sign it.
I'll sign and then they pulled itback. That's how he presented. He
said he was ready to sign thethree for one fifty without a no trade
clause at All Star breaks, andthey pumped the brakes, and then he
said when it got to the endof the season, that's when he asked

(05:08):
for the no trade clause because hewanted assurances that if he was going to
walk away from His implication anyway,was that if he was going to turn
down the Philadelphia offer, which wasmore money, that he wanted the no
trade clause as the quid pro quote. But he definitely implied, and I
would encourage everyone to just listen tothe whole thing that he definitely implied that

(05:29):
at All Star breaks he was willingto take the exact same deal that they
gave Kawhi Leonard. Yeah, withoutthe no trade clause. I guess with
that because that's the the hold upfor a lot of people, as you're
not asking for the exact same thing, if indeed you're asking for a no
trade. I didn't hear it likethat, to be honest, and I
posted the clips i'd follow out ofMay. I didn't hear the pull they
pulled it back on me type thing. I know they tabled discussions at some

(05:51):
point. Well, they weren't agreeingon anything, and they just will wait
till the end of the season.Well, I mean he actually says on
the podcast, he's like, Isaid, let's do it, Let's do
this thing. He said they didn'twant to do that. Yeah, he
was going down his list of whatever, and if I remember correctly, and
I'll see if I can try tofind it. But he's like, oh,
I say give me three pet fifty, give me what Kawhi, we're

(06:13):
the same, YadA YadA. Theydidn't want to do that. I feel
like he ended that statement with theydidn't want to do that. But I
could be wrong, and I willsee if I can find that, And
is it true that eventually at onepoint they did do the Blake Griffin thing
where they said he was going tohave his number retired and into according to
him, Yeah, that that's whathe says. Yeah. Yeah, he
says they gave they promised him allthe stuff they promised to Blake, and
then they ship Blake away what fouror five months later whatever, which is

(06:35):
why he wanted the no trade clause, which is understandable. I guess I
understand why he would want that.I don't have an issue with him wanting
it, no, and I don'thave an issue with them not giving it.
I do I nodge either side.I don't think any of us are
in disagreement that Like, I neverpushed back as far as what I saw
from Adam in regards to if theClippers are uncomfortable conceding on no trade clauses

(06:58):
or even going to a certain dollarpoint, I have no issue with that.
Well, I think the things thatI've bristled the most at in the
aftermath of him deciding to leave,and this isn't specific to Adam, but
just seeing people go out of theirway to say, well, Paul said
that he's a number two, Soof course we shouldn't have to give him
that offer. As if intractual valuesare some arbitrary like ladder off, that's

(07:21):
one in reality most yeah, exactly, like if there's few times where I
would say, hey, you knowwhat, I agree with Fred Rogan on
this, but that was one ofthose moments where he made he made the
point that you know, there's somethings that you just say that are lip
service. And that's exactly how Ifelt. Like if anybody expects Paul to

(07:43):
go into interviews and say I thinkI'm better than quiet, like, what
purpose would that serve? Dumb enoughto take that literal? It's like,
well, you said you were anumber two? Is we're going to pay
you like one? That's not howit worked. That's not what the free
mark is going to pay him.Like, come on, not only did
he say it without being prompted tosay it, he plays like a number
two all the time. When theidea was to come in as a one

(08:07):
B to couis one A. That'snot the dispute though, because because the
thing where things get lost is inthis NBA landscape, there's a million teams
where there's two guys on Max's wherethe under the new CBA though, Bob,
did that happen with how many?Then the Clippers are the first half
to deal with this under the newCB. My team has three of them,

(08:28):
Adam, and we don't have itone way? Did they sign under
the new CB? Like the newCB has just gone into effect. With
how Strange and Evan Mobley are bothextending on Max's this summer, Let's not
act like it's rare. How oldare The point isn't The point isn't that
I'm saying that they that they haveto give Paul George the money. The
thing I take the issue with isrunning him down in the aftermask by trying

(08:52):
to make the case that he's notworth the money that the market has proven
that it's willing to give him.Like if they want to justify it by
saying he not worth that money tous, that's one thing. But then
they say, well he said he'sa second he's not worth his money.
He clearly is because he got themoney. Aren't they saying he's not worth
it to us? Obviously they knowhe's worth it as somebody else, right,

(09:13):
right? But the quick the argumentis option he said Cowhi's number one.
That's the part that bothers me.It's like you didn't want him,
then let him leave. You don'teven need to drag him on the way
out to justify lowballing him during thiswhole process and then refusing to meet the
terms that the market created at theend of the team You're going off of
Chris Haynes report, Dragon who gave. I interacted with you, Adam.

(09:39):
I interacted with you on Twitter becauseyour comments were You had one that ended
with but I wish Paul George thebest. But everything that proceeded before it
was Paul George said he's number two, he played like ship in the playoffs,
blah blah blah. But I wishPaul George the best. I'll read
the exactly sweet, I'll read it. I got it right here, I
said. I quoted Paul George saying, just get me what Kawhi got.

(10:01):
Y'all have you us the same?I say, problem is even he didn't
view himself as the same. Hesaid he was the number two. Also,
Kawhi didn't get a no trade cause, so how is PG. I'm
happy for PG getting his money.Will always be a fan, best of
luck to him in Philly. Here'shere's my problem, Bob. This isn't
new criticism on Paul George that peoplejust started saying because he left. This

(10:22):
is stuff that the number two stufffor the money part, the number tying
it to the money that he's worth. Is absolutely a criticisms press release.
I mean that's not officially from theClippers. That's a Chris Haynes report from
something behind it about specific reports.Are you telling me that you haven't seen

(10:43):
out there all the people you AndyQuenta or whatever his name is, all
these dudes on Clippers Twitter that arejust shitting all over Paul George not being
worth the money that he's proven themarket. I'm telling you, Clipper Nation
has had this, this criticism ofPaul George for years. And this isn't
something just because he left. Iget calls about people calling him he just

(11:05):
wants to be a role player.He doesn't care about the responsibility of being
a max player. I've been hearingthis stuff for a long time. That's
that's why. Actually this though,Adam, do you think do you think
in this landscape they pulled George tono Christian's fair? I'm not again I'm
not saying that he's as good asKhi Leonard. That was never my contention.

(11:28):
My point is he's clearly a MAXplayer in the NBA, has proven
by the fact that he just gotone at the age of thirty four,
and I don't want to pay himthat. That's fine, But what I
don't think it serves any purpose isto shit all over the guy and tear
down his market value when his marketvalue isn't dictated by upset Clippers fans.
His market values dictated by what peopleare willing to pay him. So all

(11:50):
these victory laps on his failures duringhis Clippers tenure, to me just feel
petty. They just read petty.I think it's fair to point out why
you wouldn't want to give him themax Philly does. I think there's a
real reason why you, as theClippers wouldn't want to give him that,
which again I agree with you,but I think there's a difference between saying

(12:11):
this is why we wouldn't want togive him the max versus this is why
he's not a max player and isn'tworth that much. All right, Well,
let me jump in because there's twothings here, So put on Adam,
Adam, hold on, hold On. There's two things. So first
of all, when someone like ChrisHaynes or Woje or somebody reports something that
someone said or a team was quoteunquote blindsided, there's a reason for that,

(12:31):
and they got that from somewhere.Now, I do think there's a
there's a there's a situation where theClipper front office probably said something to him
to allow him to say they werea blindsided by these contract demands. Now,
with that, also go referencing thestatement that the team released that Adam
referenced earlier. They did say wewanted to retain our three stars on contracts
that will allow us under the newCBA to continue building the team. So

(12:54):
within that statement, they're saying wecannot afford or we didn't value him at
that necessary number because we know wetwith the new CBA, with us being
a second Apron team for two outof three years or whatever it is,
it's going to hurt us moving forward. So within the statement they released,
they essentially acknowledge we just could notafford to pay these guys the money that
they were all asking for. TheChris Hayneses thing is now, I don't

(13:15):
necessarily disagree with Bob on this one. To per se the idea that,
oh my god, we were ablindsided Why would he ask for that?
He said he was a number two. That's a little ridiculous to me.
But if you wanted to just relyon, hey, you buy yourself at
a certain level, cool, wedon't. We got to build a team.
We're not going to handicap ourselves forthe next seven years to give you
a three year contract at a numberthat you want that we don't. If

(13:35):
they just would arrested on that independentof the Chris Hanes Chris Haynes statement,
I don't think it would have matteredas much. I really don't think it
would have been a big of aduty. I didn't have an issue at
the Clippers statement. The Clipper statementis mostly fine to me. It's just
like the dragging out the quote thing. I'm just like Jesus Christ, Guys,
like, what do you expect peopleas a negotiating tactic to tear down
their own teammates over the like There'dbe no scenario where I'd say, you

(14:00):
know what, he is worth amax because he said Kawhi is worse than
him. Let's sign on the paper, Like that's the part to me that
I'm just I think it's just obtuse. Like I don't get why people keep
bringing it out as a justification becausePaul George said it, because if he'd
gone the other way, people wouldcall him delusional because everybody knows that Kawhi
Leonard went healthy is a better playerthan Paul George. He doesn't just say

(14:22):
it, he's his actions speak louderthan what he said. If he said
that and still played like a numberone and you knew what you were getting
most nights, the biggest criticism hasbeen inconsistency. Is he gonna be a
top ten player tonight? Is gonnabe a top forty player tonight? Is
he gonna take more than fifteen shotsper game when Kawhi Leonard is out against
the Dallas Mavericks and take up theresponsibility of knowing, Okay, it's on

(14:46):
me now. That series was ahuge part of this. I think if
he bawled out in that series andthe Clippers win or at least take it
to seven games and he was great, he probably gets it. Like that
was that kind of confirmed everything aboutPaul George. People have been saying for
years, I've been defending him becauseof twenty twenty one when he was really
good for the most part after Kawhiwent down and helped them get to the

(15:07):
Western Conference finals. But he wentright back to playing like people criticize playoff
piece stuff about against Dallas, likeyou can't you can't get seven points in
a playoff game. I love PaulGeorges, but my god, like he
had to take shots at least goout firing. I don't think it was

(15:28):
just him saying I'm the number twothat did it. It was his play
that did it. If that's howthey interpret it, then certain we certainly
I would understand that stance on it. But the idea, the problem is
the statement floats out there as well. He said he was a number two,
and that's what they They went inand said, he said you were
a number two. That's what we'regonna pay you. As there's more layers
today, I'm reacting, that's thepart of it. I'm not reacting to

(15:48):
it. Again. I've never feltlike the criticisms of pet are invalid.
What my issue is just what howthis has been treated after he chose to
leave. I think they could havetaken the high road, and I don't
think the Clippers statement was patty,But I think the reports that we're getting
out there that if you want topresume they're being pushed out there from people
within the Clippers camp, I thinkthose are the things that I just think,

(16:08):
let it go. I mean,you wanted to get off of them
anyway, you did, you justcouldn't come to terms on a deal.
Like the justifications after the fact.After I've watched people, you know,
you say, the criticisms have beenout there, but there's plenty of people
who have been defending him the wholetime too, and a few years so

(16:30):
I can't tell you how many peopleon Twitter have talked about Paul George as
a role player. I mean,I think he was the fourth best player
in that series. You specifically,though, do you feel like you've gone
this hard on Paul after this playoffseries? I said, he was the
fourth best player in this playoff seriesrelative expectations, And there is nothing I

(16:52):
can defend about his performance against Dallas. I was I was pretty tough on
him. Okay, fair enough enough, by the way, I guess,
to the bigger, to the biggercontractual picture, The part that bothers me
is sometimes when it'll be presented likehis worth within just the Clippers hierarchy,
and then you look around the leagueand you're like, okay, O Giannanobe
played fifty games and he's getting fortytwo million dollars a year. So this

(17:15):
idea that Paul George cost me fiftymillion dollars is some grossly out of line
with the market contract when he wasclearly perceived as the best legitimate unrestricted free
agent on the market this year.That's the part that bothers me. That
part is, but that's a that'sa free market situation. Like if the
Clippers don't value him as that consideringwhere their roster is, how they are

(17:36):
moving forward, what they're lacking,then they can say, yeah, you
could be worth it that one hundredmillion dollars per year. Yeah we ain't
paying that because right now we can'tafford. There was one team, Bob,
just like there was one team thatwas one team. Okay, when
you're acting like he was obviously thebest free agent out there, he could
get this money easily. No,there was one team that was given it

(17:56):
to him, and he got Oji. He got just like Ogi First of
all, Ogi resigned with his ownteam like there's also enough more money to
sign him to a max too.Who knows how that would have changed the
dynamic too, But Orlando operating ina vacuum, the point is operating like
like there is no outside competition.Just it backs up PE's point. If

(18:18):
they were thinking that they could leveragehim because that he he didn't have options
to escape, and it blew upin their face, then so be it.
But that was the risk that theywere willing to take. So to
drag the guy afterwards is the partthat I find his tasteful. I think
they knew the entire time that offerwas there from Philly. After Philly did
not spend any money at the tradedeadline. You knew they were saving their

(18:38):
cap room for him. All thereports were they were going to offer him
the banks, and he knew itthe entire time too. And then why
didn't they get him on the threefor one If they were willing to do
the three for one fifty, whynot just sign it on the All Star
break? So here's what I sawreports out there that it was there,

(18:59):
he wasn't. I'm signing it,YOA here's the quote. I found the
quote, his exact quote from thepodcast that we've been talking about. So
he says, season ends, Ifinished health, these seventy four games played,
had one of my most efficient seasons. Now we go into negotiations after
the season and they bring it tothree years one to fifty, basically what
they wanted to give to Kawhi.So part of me was like, all
right, cool, it sucks thathad to get to this point. We
couldn't get this figured out sooner.But now at the end of the year,

(19:22):
three years one to fifty, we'rein the ballpark. Now we can
have part Now we can have aconversation. Still, it wasn't about the
money, because when I went backto have the negotiation at the end of
the year, I presented three yearsone to fifty, no trade. I'm
taking less, but at least Iknow I'm here. And then he goes
off about that. So it doesn'tsound as if one fifty three years one
to fifty without a no trade clausewas the You better find the quote,

(19:45):
and that's I will. I'll flipit and I'll post it. I'll post
it because it's when he talks abouthow he spoke to Kawhi like he he
references it in the interview about howthat was that was at all sar break,
and he says, also, I'llfind it. I'll clip it.
But that that part at the endthat was after that, okay, and
look the clip, the clip thatwent viral was about a five minute rant

(20:06):
from an hour long podcast. Sothere's certainly could be bits and pieces that
have been missed that from what hasbeen amalgamated that I have that that's the
cliff that I posted that that post, the Bob reference earlier, me talking
about him and then saying I'll alwaysbe a fan. That's it's I'm absolutely
want to go find it, becauseif you even just read the comments of
people, there's plenty of people whopoint that out well, and they say

(20:30):
in reaction to it, they're like, there's the part where he says he
would have signed it and then theybacked off of it and wanted to wait
till the end of the season.And I just don't remember that part where
he said he'd do it and thenthey backed off. I honestly don't remember
that part. But I yeah,I mean I don't I don't think you're
lying. We could all be misinterpreting. Yeah, I could be too that.

(20:53):
And by the way, if thatis the case, I would understand
why he'd be upset at that.If indeed the offer was three years,
one fifty before the All Star break, and if their argument was well,
we got to make sure you stayhealthy, it was like, you just
gave this I'm healthier than this guy. You gave him a three years one
to fifty. What are you talkingabout? So I can le I think
the reason that would be relevant nowis because you pointed out that, you

(21:14):
know, they didn't they knew thewhole time. If what Adam says is
true that they really felt the wholetime that Philly was going to be able
to come with a max, wellthen they should have in con then if
that was the deal that they werewilling to do, but then went away
when Paul decided to throw in theadded wrinkle of a no trade clause at
the end of the season. Thatwould be the part that I find a
bit confused. Well, my understandingwas that it was there and he wasn't

(21:36):
taking it because he always knew hewould have the leverage of Philadelphia offering him
the max that was and I thinkThat's entirely possible, because I would have
assumed if you had come to meat all Star Break and said, okay,
should you sign the three for onefifty, Paul, I would have
felt like he had the leverage toget what he wanted out of the Clippers.
I didn't truly believe the Clippers wereas serious as they were about being

(21:57):
willing to let him walk away,you know, for nothing, rather than
just conceding on the extra year,because that was the other thing. I
mean, all up until this wholePaul George podcast, everything that was being
pushed out there was that it wasabout the extra year, and throughout the
course of that Paul podcast, itreally doesn't seem like it was. It
seems like it was about the dollarvalue more so than it was just about

(22:18):
the extra year. So we canall agree that the Paul George trade was
one of the worst trades ever though, right, Well, if you're devoid
of all contexts and the fact thatthey got Kawhi Leonard out of it,
what have you gotten out of it? Though? Adam, Yeah, it
hurts. It hurts. I mean, they should have known that Kawhi was
gonna miss one hundred and seventy eightgames and Paul George was gonna miss one

(22:41):
thirty three. Because that's what yousaid the day of the trade, right,
Eric, you said, don't youknow these guys are gonna miss half
the games for you guys, andKawhi's gonna do his acl and take a
bad step next to Joe Ingles.Don't you guys know this? So if
you want to dunk on him now, at least say I was on this
from the beginning, right, Isaid it wasn't going to be much of
a success as the Lakers, whatever, did you eventually you would have said

(23:04):
that in any circumstance with that,I would probably say that Dwight Howard and
Steve Nash was a worse trade thanwhat the Clippers got in their in their
deal, because at the very leastthe Clippers as some playoff runs and then
the Clipping Lakers were a disaster forfive six years after that. Yeah,
believe out of it. I wouldagree each ship, Eric, Hey,
it's up at least you got toa conference final. I mean, my

(23:26):
god, it's up there as abad trade though, because because because because
hold on, because everything out oftheir control, because everything out of their
control everything you couldn't predict. Whenthey were on the court, they had
a seven hundred win percentage. Idon't tell me it didn't fit when they
could play. I will say Ithink you could say that the Kawhi stuff

(23:47):
was fairly well established when he cameto LA as far as not being on
the court all the time, asfar as dealing with the entry issues.
Except he just won Finals MVP andmade it through an entire playoff run.
Well, we knew he hobbling throughthat too, and that he had a
knee issue and that you had tomanage. Yeah, that was one of
the best. That was one ofthe best runs of all time. I'm

(24:08):
not taking that away from Kuhi,But what I'm saying is to act like
there weren't people who were skeptical ofhis health, given how they handled the
situation in San Antonio, even howToronto handled it during the year. Definitely
there was people skeptical of his healthin the way in I think people just
looked at what he did in thatfinals run and said, this is worth
the risk. We're going to takethis risk. I think every GM in
the history of basketball does that move. Yeah, Oh, are especially if

(24:32):
you're going to you're criticizing every GMin the history of basketball. Eric,
when you say, yeah, everybodywould have made the move, I'm criticizing
the fact that the two one threeera was propped up as this savior of
Clippers basketball and it's gonna run Andwhy didn't work? Injuries undred percent?
Okay, so something they couldn't control. Sure, Okay, Still so it's
still a failure. You don't thinkthat's different than an on court failure.

(24:56):
They had plenty of on court failuresas well. I mean, situation pretty
bad. I mean, if youwant to say the one situation where something
should it should have happened. Shewas in the bubble and they collapsed.
Paul George was rough, Doc Riverswas coaching. I think the coach is
the coach. I mean, youcan blame who you want to blame.
They're all there playing against Nikola Jokic. Was not the move, But I

(25:19):
fully believe they were gonna win intwenty twenty one of quiet as in tarrors
a cl like that's they were setup. Everything was going their way,
especially after you see Boston win thisseason. It's like the Clippers were doing
the wing stop all the switch abilitywith shooters on the floor in twenty twenty
one, they had it, theyhad the formula. Should have would have
could have, we should have couldhave not won a Bubble title. Hey,

(25:45):
we that now are getting bitter?Yeah, exactly because if they had
won that Bubble title is like Clipperswon a championship that never would have been
respected. If they won the onlychampionship they had was of the Bubble,
nobody would have gave it a damnYou would, Yeah, I would in
an uphill battle the rest of mylife. Well, that's that's what it
is. I guess I'm out here. The fans are doing it too,

(26:07):
for the last championship they won.It's the same situation. Yeah. If
the Lakers have to fight just tohave legitimacy with the Bubble title when they
already had won sixteen, where arethe Clippers gonna have to do? If
that's our only win, it wouldhave been rough. It's better. I
guess it's better than nothing, right, I don't know. It would have
been so frustrating getting no respect forthat. You know what it is?

(26:29):
Eric, Well, look before wehop off of the Clippers and get to
the Lakers, can we talk aboutjust the Clippers as they are currently constituted.
With the moves that they have madeto try to I don't know if
you want to say replaced Paul GeorgePhillis spot. They've added some more depth
at the very least, But Idon't think, yeah, the Clipper,
any Clipper fans can look in themirror, look at the cevels with the
straight face and say, we're abetter team now than we were a month
ago. And I guess where dothey stack up now in the Western Conference

(26:52):
and ever improving Western Conference at thispoint in time. Based on where they
are now, I mean they're ateam that's fighting for five through five through
play in is the way that Ilook at it. Probably I agree,
And it also completely is hinging onKawhi Leonard's health. It always does,
but he just had to drop outa team. USA and I have been

(27:14):
brutally honest about that knee injury,going back to when it first happened.
I kept telling people, guys,it's the right knees, the ACL knees,
the meniscus knee. People pushed backand said, they're just saving them
for the playoffs. It's gamesmanship againstDallas. They don't want them to know
whether Kawhi is playing or not.I was one of those. It was
always real and it is extremely concerningbecause it's that knee, and because it

(27:40):
sounds like because Kawhi came out andsaid he had a turnaround about two weeks
before joining camp at Team USA andthat's when he decided to give it a
go. It's like, does thatmean for two and a half months it's
still been swollen? Like what's goingon? They said there was no structural
damage. I how can you notbe concerned? How can you not be

(28:02):
concerned as a Clipper fan? It'sjust and I just feel terrible for Kawhi.
I know he really wanted to playfor Team USA. That meant a
lot to him. That was abucket list type thing. And now I
don't know, is it he didn'tlook good enough and that's why they just
didn't think he was ready to gothrough the grind of playing five on five

(28:23):
or is it he looked pretty goodand we're just gonna pull him back to
save him for the Clipper season,because if we're gonna put wear and tear,
it's gonna be in a Clippers uniformon that knee, and Tyler's a
coach on Team USA. That wasone of the things in his favor.
I think tylu monitoring him, knowinghow he should look, because I said
the entire time, like you know, I've heard about the practices, but

(28:45):
five on five is always going tobe different, and I don't know how
he's gonna respond to that. Andwell and Clippers fans in general, where
I think pissed that he was evendoing Team USA stuff after I'm not participating
in the playoffs. Yeah, fourstraight year not being able to finish the
season. Some more upset about that. It was ultimately now just from a

(29:07):
standpoint of having to justify the decisionsthey made this offseason. The last thing
I would want is to roll intoa season with a Kawhi where people are
questioning if the injuries were you know, made worse by what happens this summer
more than ever. I mean,And there was pressure on him before with
Paul, There's going to be evenmore pressure now when they essentially prioritized him
over Paul. I do think thatthe Clippers were heavily, heavily influencing this

(29:32):
decision more than Team USA, becauseI'm guessing Team USA wanted him out there
for the purpose of having the bestteam out there. But I fine,
regardless, come on, no,I know they're fine regardless, But it's
just it sucks that we're not goingto see KWI. I'm very bummed that
I'm not going to see Kwhi Leonardplay with Lebron James on the same time.
Why Steph, Lebron KD would havebeen really fun. Yeah, oh,

(29:52):
it would have been incredible. Butit's I know, guys, Derek
White, I mean, but excuseme, we get the fourth Celtics player
who doesn't want to see that.I can't believe Grant Hill came up with
the excuse of, well, wegot to think about fit when we're putting
guys together. It's like, well, Jalen Brown doesn't fit next to Drew

(30:15):
Holiday and Jason Tatum. What thehell are you talking about? My favorite
explanation is when they're like, well, we wanted somebody who was okay,
would never play, It's like,I think you're you guys are missing the
point if you just want somebody who'swilling to sit on the bench the whole
time, you know, Finals MVPJalen Brown. Although I feel No,

(30:37):
I don't feel bad for Jalen Brownat all, not one. Everything he's
done since he didn't get picked justifiesexactly why it's not worth that exactly.
What are some of the tweets,Oh, he's been good. It's what
we're doing, YEA, referring essentiallyreferring all the choices are made by Nike
or or at least influenced by Nike. And he was, you know,

(31:00):
dude, you said what you said. If you thought that that was a
possibility, well you didn't have tosay it. You chose to be out
there railing at him. But beyondthat, I just think it's kind of
it's ridiculous because it's it's also backhandedtaking a dump on your own teammate.
Yeah. Well, and Jason Tatumwas asked about it, and Jason Tatan
was like, I haven't talked toJalen Brown. It's like these guys live

(31:22):
separate lives, they have separate stuffgoing on. They're not going to talk
every single day. It's like,it's it puts I think Jalen and Drew
kind of in a or Jason andDrew in a weird position too. The
one thing I'll say and going backto the Kawhi thing here, Kevin uh
I was kind of glad that hewas giving it a go to see where

(31:44):
he's at health wise than a fiveon five environment, because he doesn't play
five on five during the offseason ever. Eric was explaining this that you know
some aa you guys, they werebrought up that way. You don't play
five on five until it's real,definitely, so you don't. I don't
rather find out now what's going onwith the knee. If something needs to
be done, then game one ofthe regular seasons. Yeah, that makes

(32:06):
total sense. I guess it's concerningto a certain degree that what they say.
He ran out there for a coupleof practices and everybody figure, like,
man, this ain't working, Likeso is two more months? Is
there another procedure in the works.And they also think that the interesting thing
with the contract and maybe this hassomething to do with them moving into the
building and not wanting to do acomplete rebuild or something. But knowing what
you've known about Kawhi and his injuryissues, and I realized it was earlier

(32:29):
in the season, so this wasn'tan issue when he signed the extension.
Maybe you wait a little bit longerbefore you start negotiating an extension with him
too, just knowing how things haveended for the last five years or whatever
the situation is, because now you'rebehind the eight ball. Some people like
Fred Rogan and I think there's alegitimate argument to be made to some degree,
like did you pick did you pickthe wrong guy? George might be
the worst player, but at leasthe's more reliable. I don't agree with

(32:50):
that, but I do think it'ssomething that's worth discussing, considering Kawhi is
not even available. Here's Paul Georgeis gonna play most of the time.
Kawhi has missed forty more games thanPaul George has. Paul George has missed
a ton of games too. Hemissed the last two playoff runs before this
one. Like it's it's to methe difference in talent between them is greater
than the amount of miss games betweenthem, and the reason I'd rather go

(33:15):
Kawhi is at least you know whenyou're getting when he is playing on the
court, he's a number one option, He's accountable, he takes up the
responsibility of being the team leader andeverything else that comes with it, and
I agree with that because he isthe better player. I guess my issue
is, I've committed this three years, one fifty to a guy and he's
not going to get any healthier wesee than the issue now he's having a

(33:36):
serize of the extension I get.So that's the big thing for me.
Did you have to extend him whenyou decided to extend him as opposed to
waiting get out knowing how these manyof these seasons have ended with him?
And that's the issue with me becausenow, yeah, you might be under
the luxury tax in the next coupleof years, we get some contracts off
the books. You know, whenyou're not paying both he and Paul George
fifty million plus, but you're stillplaying him fifty million plus and who knows

(33:57):
how that can hamstring you two yearsfrom now. That's the issue for me.
What I was going to say earlier, and we can end the Clippers
conversation at this and bought of somethingelse was Bob When the Clippers gave him
that contract, everybody interpreted that asthis is setting the market for the Clippers
roster. Anybody else is getting lessthan Kawhi, Paul George and James Harden,

(34:20):
and I think everybody knew that atthe time. I just think that's
a terrible way to view it,because again, it isn't the Clippers market
it's an NBA marketplace. And yeah, there's a lot of teams who won't
ever be able to enter it becausethe car out the amount of cap space
you would truly need to get aPaul George. It's extremely rare, but
there's still plenty of situations. We'veseen it time and time again where even
guys under contract can force their wayout and we'll find somebody who's willing to

(34:45):
give ten cents on the dollar sothat the Clippers don't lose him for nothing,
but don't have to take that cap. I mean, that's the part
I just don't like when people talkabout it as if he existed in some
closed loop where the only thing thatdictates what his dollar value is at is
where his position is between say Kawhiand Harden, or even below Harden for

(35:06):
some people. But that's that's thepart I don't like, because that's just
the silly way to look at itwhen your competition, like people don't want
to pay a lot of the guyswho are on restricted free agency, you
know, max level or mid levelcontracts. But they do because they know
the people out there who can bitagainst them will force them into those offer
sheets. So there's a million guysevery summer who end up signing for just

(35:29):
dollars over the mid level because theirteam doesn't want to have to run the
risk that somebody sets them up ona terrible poison pill offer sheet. So
they just concede, not because necessarilythey even think that that's what the guy's
worth, but because losing him isworth whatever the difference is between what they
think his market value is and whatit actually is set by the outside teams.

(35:51):
I just think this is going toend up being the start of what
we see a lot of the timeswith new cap casualties in the new CBA,
with old players, especially you mentionedDonovan Mitchell. It's like, all,
yeah, he's twenty seven or twentyeight, Paul George is thirty four,
giving him four years in the max. Great Philly. Hope it all
works out for you. But Ican completely understand, not only to I

(36:14):
totally agree. I totally agree witheverything you said there. I think if
there is one thing I would secondguests with the Clippers. Like you said,
I think it's valid for people toquestion, Okay, did it make
sense to extend Kawhi or to ridethat out? And then the other is,
well, did it make sense ifyou knew there was such a firm
line in the sand, and ifyou truly did foresee what was going to
be available to the Sixers? Wouldit have made sense to somehow get off

(36:37):
of him while he was still undercontract just in hopes of recouping something,
But again, you know you don'twant to take back equal money. Probably,
so that would have been well whatwas available out there for expirings and
some piece of value the Warriors dealwith what it sounded like with Taminga not
being involved, all, what's gonnahappen is you're still over the second cap

(36:58):
for Andrew Wiggins in Moody like,what is the point of that? What
is the point that I wouldn't helpthat team? I was totally I supported
that, like that that I wouldn'thave taken either. But I just mean,
if everything was as contentious as itwas in the middle of the season
and they already knew they had thishard line that Paul was just so resistant

(37:19):
to, I do wonder in analternate universe, what could they have got
that they had they shopped him,that maybe still would have been on the
roster this season because we saw whattheir pivot was. You know, they
got hardened on what I think isa good deal, meaning that they have
flexibility there. But the replacements wereyou know, Derek Jones junior, Kevin
Porter junior, Nicholas patoomb. Imean, it's it's nice that they added

(37:43):
some volume, but I liked whatBriesteam did swooping in the plug plumb me
for what three million a year?That was nice to add. So I'll
be curious to see, but Ido understand why they did it. It's
just a shame because it feels like, like you said, we were robbed
of the chance to really ever seethem full strength, and now they're digging
out of this salary situation they putthemselves in to try to have that,

(38:06):
and we were never even really giventhat. I just I think about good
process when I go back to thetwenty nineteen trade, and if something like
that is presented again, you stillhave to do it because eighty percent of
the time it likely ends up witha championship. Like you have to play
the odds. Good process doesn't guaranteeresults, but most of the time,

(38:29):
if you make the right move,it works out. And that's how you
have to run a business. That'sno. I think we all agree.
I think that's that's the point.You you're talking about Kevin. Where are
we going next? Oh, let'sgo talk about Paul George Quiley. Let's
talk about real superstars. I wantto talk about Ronny James perfect lighting up
the summer league. Wasn't he averagingone point five points and four rebounds or

(38:51):
something like like a plus fifteen thoughers? You the defensive stats, all right,
Yeah, I'm sure do they evenhave advanced defensive metrics for summer league
games? But blocks, I'm fine, steals some blocks. He's looked about
what we thought he'd looked like.Right. First of all, he's not
gonna be a contributor day one.We all acknowledge that he's a good athlete,
albeit undersized for the position that heplays. You hope he's a three

(39:13):
and D guy. The jump shotdowne looked that great to me at this
point in time, but he hastime to develop it. By this most
overhyped summer league appearance by any player. Even it almost has almost as much
of like a Lonzo Balls twenty seventeen, the way that people are all over
over a second round pick. Meanwhile, you got the fucking leading all time
scorer, I should say, thescore, the leading scorer in all of
college basketball last year on the sameroster, and nobody's talking about him.

(39:35):
Who's that's the guy I want totalk about. Whose fault is it though?
Is it Bronni's? Is it Lebron's? No? Is it the media
saying we we know this guy sucks, but we're gonna keep spotlighting it because
it's red meat for fans who justhate Lebron James and get off on hating
on BROWNI now too. Well,first, what it is to me,
it's a warshock test on how youfeel about Lebron. Well, there's a

(39:58):
couple of different things. First ofall, the media, there's two.
The media is always gonna talk aboutLebron and the Dallas Cowboys. However,
however, they can find a wayto wedge those into the conversation because they
know people are going to listen.Whether you love him or hate him.
Lebron James is a big part ofthis because he's the one of two years
ago they said I want to playwith my son. That's a big goal
that pressure the Lakers into taking himto begin with. What father wouldn't want
to play with their son? Probably? Is this such a big deal?

(40:22):
Pick fifty five? Are you kiddingme? Go look at the last ten
pick fifty fives. One of themis still in the league. It doesn't
matter. I don't disagree with anythingyou just said at him as a shit.
I can't take the outrage over this, Bob. Yeah, I don't
care. I mean, but likethis, this is one of those things
to me where it's like, allright, we know Lebron has a ton

(40:44):
of power. Do I think he'sgonna be some great player? No,
I don't do. I think I'mtruthfully, I was way more offended by
the agent stuff than I was aboutthe I got my son in the league.
I didn't. I had way moreof an issue with the you know,
blackmailing teams did not take him andsaying, well he won't, he
won't come over, Like that's thepart that bothered me more the situation.

(41:06):
Yeah they weren't. I don't thinkthey were blackmailing teams, but blackmail is
not a good word. I mean, I mean essentially essentially the problem with
someone manipulating don't draft this guy,there's an implied threat. There's a if
you don't do right by us,then it's going to come back to bite
you with the I mean, yeah, that's it though, and Austin,

(41:31):
Austin Kay agent said to not draftme at all. But it wasn't a
threat. And we know threat liketo take the NBA draft process, which
is intended to reward crafty teams withthe prospects in better positions, to try
to manipulate that in a way thatit goes against the purpose of the draft.

(41:52):
I won't like it no matter whodoes it. And I and it's
not specific to Clutch, it's justClutch drags this tactic out again and again
of litting getting through the press.They did it with the Cats. You
already saw stories where Rich Paul addressedit with Haines about well, you know,
if Donovan re signs, you know, I would consider asking for a
trade for Darius Tarling because we haveto do what's best for the markability of

(42:14):
our cus. And yet and it'slike that's all fine and good. It
doesn't mean I have to like totack it. I think it's bullshit,
and I would think it's bullshit ifRich Paul does it or anyone else.
The draft exists for a purpose ifyou're intentionally trying to get guys to I
felt the same way with Yijin Lonthat way back when. I don't like
people trying to manipulate the process.I think it's bullshit. I think if

(42:36):
you're gonna come into the league,then you should come into the league on
a level playing field with everyone elseWhere prospects sometimes end up in places that
they don't want to be, butbecause of his agent and his father,
he has the leverage to do it. I get it. That's how the
world works. That's the part Idon't like, though. As far as
him getting a place in the leaguenow, I mean, he only has
as long to prove he's going tobe in there as Lebron's in the league.

(42:58):
So if he's worthwhile, stick around. If he's not, he won't.
But like to what to the pointAdam said, it's a second it's
a late second round pick. Peopledo weird shit with those picks all the
time. I don't like the pearlclutching about nepotism all of a sudden because
it involves Lebron. Jalen Brunton gothis fucking dad as an assistant coach.
Dwayne Wade, part owner of theUtah Jazz, got his son drafted as

(43:22):
a late round pick by the Jazza. This stuff happens all the time.
I don't think Giannis's brother has takennearly as much scrutiny as some are trying
to say. Now, we madefun of that, like made fun of
it is different than what's happening withLebron James and people acting like this is

(43:43):
the end of the world, inthe end of professional But that's what I'm
saying. This entire thing is about. Just say you hate Lebron. Guys,
just say you hate Lebron because yourarguments aren't very good. They don't
hold up, and they are consistentevery time the guy would walk off the
court before the buzzer. And meanwhile, it happens a thousand other times a

(44:04):
year, but nobody puts cameras onthose people. It's just that that's the
part to me that I say,like, I don't really give a shit,
because I agree it's part for thecourse, like people were going to
rip it no matter what. ButI do think it's a bad trend.
Like I'm tired of seeing all theseleaks coming from agents trying to man it
because between that and like when Paulwanted out and Anthony Davis wanted out and

(44:25):
Handling knows the way that they didthat stuff should happen behind the scenes and
there shouldn't be out and out manipulationof the draft process. Eric, you
want to put a bow on thisor move on to something else here.
Well, I was just going tosay. I also think it's funny that
everyone was making a big deal aboutthe contract that Brownie signed. When when
was the last time anybody actually lookedinto a second round picks contract? You

(44:46):
have examples of other guys. Well, it's exceedingly rare that a got I
guess like eight was a seven eightmillion dollars guaranteed as a second year as
a second round pick. One thingthough, it saves them money on the
cap, because someone on a rookieminimum makes less than someone on a veteran
That conversing up space, Yes,so Maxwell Lewis the Laker. Cround picks

(45:06):
don't count against the cap. ThoughAdam right, that's also true. That's
all what I heard of Bobby Mars. If they if they sign a fully
true thing, I have to doafter this. I have to go get
that video clip and I have todunk on you about this. Well.
But because typically they get a twoway instead of getting Bronnie got a full

(45:27):
contract, right right, But likeMaxwell Lewis, the Laker's second round pick
from twenty twenty three to the fortiethoverall, he signed a four year,
seven point six million dollar deal samebasically the same deal Tray Jackson Davis second
round pick, but he didn't signa fully guaranteed deal. That's it's it's
almost that's where people. Bronnie didn'tsign a fully guaranteed deal either. Only

(45:50):
two and a half years are fullyguaranteed. Okay, oh okay, yeah,
I did not realize I read itwas the four year eight million roughly.
No, no, no, thethird year is only half guaranteed,
and then it's a club option forthe fourth year. Okay, yeah,
I didn't know that. Do anyof you guys think he's gonna end up
in the league five years from now? Do any of you think he's going

(46:14):
to change the championship expectations for theLakers this season or next year? No,
no, are we talking about Well? Look, first of all,
we've seen second round picks literally comeout of nowhere. We've had one of
the great players in the history ofthe sport right now is the second round
pick that nobody had ever heard of. So I can't discredit whether the kid
puts in the work. Look,if he puts in the work, he
has the athleticism to be able todo it. Can he be the three

(46:35):
and D guy that they project himto be? I guess it just depends
on, you know, his howhis work ethic is. So I can't
definitively say in five years, sixyears, will he or will he not
be in the league. I reallydon't know, and that's hard to say.
Adam, are you ready for this? Adam? I have? I'm
a queued up ready to clarify allright. In the twenty twenty three CBA,
the NBA addressed the issue by addinga new second round pick exception,

(47:00):
which looks like a win for bothteam and player. Teams will have the
freedom to sign their young players tomulti year contracts without having to worry about
carving out cap room or exception moneyfor them. Players meanwhile, don't have
to worry that their new team's capsituation might force them to accept a minimum
salary contract or two way deal.But wouldn't that still mean as opposed to

(47:21):
signing a guy on a vet menLike either way, it doesn't work against
the cap the same. Well,they said, the people who sign on
the second round tick exception, theydon't count against the team's cap between July
first and July thirtieth of their firstseason, so they don't. Those people
on that second round pick exception don'tcount against the cap periods. But evat

(47:43):
men would still count against the capheading to heading towards like a hard cap
for example. Got it right?So a vet men taking up a fifteen
one of the fifteenth spot in theroster in this case would count against the
cap. Brownie's not. Yes,I mean, it's still the sphere of
what I would saying. It's kindof right. Oh you're practically you're right,
Bob. Yeah, But to puta bow on I lost the spirit

(48:06):
of what you were saying long ago. I don't even remember what you said
to but we got playoff b here. To put a bow on what Kevin
was saying, and to answer Kevinor Adam's question about, uh, if
Brownie will be in the league infive years or if he'll have an impact
on the championship aspirations for this season. In the same article where Rich Paul

(48:30):
did an interview with Chris Haynes onMay twenty fourth, where he said that
was the first time Rich Paul hadsaid Bronnie's not taking a two way contract.
We're not doing that. So thatwas on May twenty fourth, But
he also said in there that hecompared Brownie to Eric Bledsoe. So if
if Bronnie can be an Eric Bledsoetype player, he can find a listen.

(48:52):
It's as impact player. It's atall ask. Eric Bludsoe was getting
twenty a game along. I know, I know, I don't think.
I don't think Bronnie's gonna get twentya game, but I can see body
type wise, Yeah, he's builtlike that. I don't think he's the
athlete Bledsol was though at his best, and he can't handle the guns and
he can't handle the ball at allat all at all. Maybe he just
meant that, Maybe he just meantbrown he will be like I don't want

(49:13):
to be here. Hey, hewas in the hair salon with his wife.
He did not want to be there. I mean, I will say
in a league that's you know,searching for on ball defenders and there's a
dearth of them around, if hecan be an impact on ball defender,
which Eric Bletsoe in his prime wasable to, even if he can't shoot
all that well, he can carveout a niche at the end of somebody's
bench in the NBA, for sure. I think what really limits him is

(49:36):
just his height. Yeah he's sixto one, he's not even six three.
Yeah, he's in today's league.In the nineties, you could get
away with that. Yeah. Theonly the argument is he's short, but
he has longer arms and if hehas the lateral quickness to keep up with
certain guys on the perimeter, that'sthe way that he can make it stick.
But whether or not he can dothat, I really don't know.
I mean, he's got dropped liketwice already in summer league. But I
was also a kid that just cameout of college that played seven games or

(50:00):
whatever. Hard exploded and we're judgingnot something to laugh about. But you
no, it was real, Likepeople are acting like, oh, he
was terrible in college. He almostdied. He was a McDonald's All America.
Correct. He looked the part inthat game, and I went back
and draft Express when he was inhigh school said he was trending towards a

(50:21):
lottery pick. So like all thesepeople saying like he was always a dud,
I don't think that's true at all, and there's not politics. It
was weird though, because he washe was always like he wasn't. He
wasn't the first option on his highschool teams. Those were stacked teams that
he was on. I got that, but just the idea that he was
relatively you know, second third typeof featured dude. I was like,

(50:43):
well, this seems this seems likea pretty optimistic, you know, uh,
genetic type rating that he's getting McDonald'sAll American thing. I didn't ever
put much into that. I mean, that's my Jaylen Brown conspiracy theory as
far as is this what we're doingMcDonald's, you know, like to a
certain degree, yes, but there'salso I mean, they're Michael Jordan's had

(51:04):
kids who tried to play basketballs.There's generally speaking, they're not. They're
not trying to play Kate to Lebronor anybody else when it comes to this
situation. Now, maybe it's alittle bit different because of Lebron and Rich
Paul and the clutches that they haveover so many players. When it comes
to to the clutch Sports, Iguess I was a pun intended or not
intended on that one. Maybe there'spolitics involved to a certain degree. But
Draft Express and all these other placesprojecting him to be a lottery picked four

(51:29):
years ago, they're not being swayedby anything that Rich Paul says or anybody
else says. So I do so, I do think there's something there.
It's not that Bronn. It wasjust some some you know, slappy nobody
at the end of the bench.Because his name is James, you know
that people are just you know,anointing him as the next great NBA player
here though he's not good if youlook back, if you look back of

(51:52):
these high school classes, guys likelike look at Himni Bay. He was
on sports Like people said he wasthe number one prospect in his class and
he ended up being a late secondround pick who may never even play in
the league. There's a lot ofroom for projecting what they think a guy's
improvement will be early on in therecruit ranking process as opposed to when you

(52:12):
get later on. So I everput a ton into the early on prospects
because people were obviously going to bankon the idea that this is a guy
who has access to the stuff thatLebron James has access to to work on
his game and craft his game.You know, no expense is spared,
and maybe he just didn't reach thepoint that people projected him too well.
And I think that's also something somethingI've always believed about sons or kids of

(52:37):
professional athletes. They were not bornor trained to play high school level sports
or college level sports. They weretrained to play at the pro level.
They're training with pro So it's like, that's also kind of why I've always
given Brownie the benefit of the doubtin high school and in college, especially
after the HUB. He has askill set that translates better to the NBA,

(53:00):
Yes I do, I don't.I mean, I think his skills
better could have been honed had hestayed in college. For if I stay
for an additional two seasons, Ithink he could have been a lot of
right. I don't disagree with DocRivers say before, like, no,
you get better playing against better players. You should come up if you can.
It's the maturity issue. It's thewhole coming out of high school thing.

(53:22):
Yeah, it's it's but are youactually He's right, He's right at
him, But are you actually playingagainst better players? Are you sitting at
the end of the bench. Imean, is the competition at the G
League in some senses better than highlevel college basketball at times? I don't
know that. I think so.I would think I would think facing grown
men can only benefit from him.Yeah, it's like how many new guys
like I had a brother who isfour years older than me and much taller,

(53:44):
and I'm still a terrible basketball player, but I've always been capable of
getting shots off against bigger people becauseit was the only way I could play
when I was playing him. Andnot to say that's not a parallel,
but to say that, you know, Brownie has to face you know,
grown men out there. I thinkit is a sink or swim thing,
But I do think it'll be betterfor him in terms of his progression to

(54:04):
be tested as much as he possiblycan be. Either whole rise to the
challenge or he won't. But Ialways think facing better players is ultimately better
for your development, because it doesn'tmatter if you develop some of these skills
if they can't be applied to thecompetition as you level up. And to
Bob's point about the early draft prognostications, they might have thought he was gonna
get taller, as simple as likeLebron's six eight sixty nine, Like he's

(54:30):
still gonna goro a couple of inches. That's also why I've always said that
Bryce is going to be better thanBrownie. Yeah, you're not the only
one. Kevin. Where are wegoing next? I mean, I mean
that's pretty much a bow one Andunless we want to talk about the Lakers.
So it's spectacular offseason save for Bronnie, James anddal to connect. Well,
I like, by the way,and no one's talking about I'm pretty

(54:52):
offended. We just blew right pastthe biggest extension. It ain't the cast,
No, it's not incredible turn ofevents. All these people telling me
that the man did not want tobe in Cleveland, and where are we
now? Now? You should getto dunk on Crow. I've heard your
recent fear of the FRO podcast whereyou're playing clips from people saying that he

(55:15):
was not going to be a Cavalierafter this season. So it is is
what they told me? They said, they told me. Kendrick Perkis told
me one hundred percent, he's playedhis last game for the Cavs. Everybody,
you know what bothers me and Ithink Risillo had this general take and
I was I could not agree more. It's like one person says it,

(55:35):
and everyone else in the Analyst universeis like, Okay, well this guy
said it. I guess we canrun with that now. And it's just
every single person Donovan did not saygoddamn thing. But oh yeah, he
wants to go to New York.Everybody knows it. He's out. The
first chance he gets, well,where did that go? Where did that
go? Nowhere? And now everybody'sreversing, Oh well, it was the
smartest thing for him to do.He can still ask out later. Of

(55:59):
course he can't, so can everysingle other player in the NBA. I
want apologies. It's not from you, guys. You deserve it all.
But since Kevin brought it up quickly, Kevin, do you think it's the
Lakers? Being an issue, Lebronbeing an issue, them not drawing in
free agents. It's just a capsituation. It's out of their control.
Like, why do you think KlayThompson didn't come, which would have had

(56:21):
to be a sign in trade bythe way, with the Golden State Warrior,
who wouldn't want to do that,most likely with the Lakers. But
well, where are you going withit? Well, one, considering his
agent contract, I don't know ifI want Klay Thompson at that number.
Considering where the Lakers are right now. Anyway, that's number one. I
don't think there's an issue with LebronJames. It's rarely been an issue of
whether or not players want to playwith Lebron James's whether the teams, whether
he's playing in Cleveland, no offense, Bob, But that was a big

(56:42):
issue his first go around there.It wasn't that players didn't want to play
with him, they just didn't wantto go there. Now, granted,
it's a different it's a different scenariowith the Lakers, but they're hamstrung by
the salary cap, by the currentrestraints that Rob Polenka on the record has
talked about the second Apron and howbig of an issue that is, even
with Lebron taking the pay cut tokeep them under the second apron was it
five million dollars exception or whatever itis that they're able to offer. You're

(57:04):
not gonna get truly impact players withthat amount of money. So they're just
in a tough spot where they're inbetween trying to win now while also trying
to take a look towards the future. Some would call that no man's land
the way I look at it,and I think, Adam you explained this
earlier in the offseason. Consider thatlast year, not this past season,
but two years ago, they werein the Western Conference finals with many mostly
the same players on this on theroster. You didn't have Jered Vanderbilt,

(57:27):
who was injured, who was animpact player defensively for them. Gave Vincent
was going to be an upgrade onthe perimeter for them defensively, and maybe
if he can replicate what he didhis previous year in Miami, can make
him outside shots. Considering how muchof a jumblep mess the Western Conference is,
yes, they can improve. Arethey a great team? Absolutely not?
But if things break their way,why can't they be a team to
contend for the conference finals again goinginto this season. It's just not the

(57:49):
sexy. Is not the sexiest moveto bring in a rookie head coach and
JJ Redick and I know, Adam, you've been more supportive of that than
a lot of other people have.I certainly wasn't the greatest fan of it
necessarily either, but to a certaindegree, who else were you gonna get
what has James Brego done? Maybeyou take a shot at JJ Reddick and
maybe maybe you swing for the fencesand see see if you can hit hit
one out. That's the way thatI look at it. Eric, Yeah,

(58:12):
I mean, and I'm glad Kevintalked about what Rob Polinka said about
the restrictions with the new CBA andeverything like that. It's just for me
as a fan. What was frustratingis the talk at the trade deadline last
season when the team didn't make anymoves, was wait till the summer.
We have our three first round picksavailable, We'll be able to make some

(58:32):
moves. And now it's just kindof been Crickets for the most part.
I mean, they resigned Max Christito his extension and you had to see
Dejonte Murray go the Pelicans. Yes, had to see de Jontay Murray go
to the Pelicans. Delo opts backin for the eighteen million dollars, but
that they expected that. I don'tthink they expected that either. He has
not been mentioned once in any officialcapacity at any of the press conferences with

(58:55):
JJ Reddick and Rob Polinka. Anythere was an interview that JJ Reddick did
with Mike Trudell where he was talkingabout Ruey, Vanderbilt, Austin Lebron and
ad obviously, but no mention ofDi Lo Saul. I think Rob Plink
is trying to work the phones rightnow to work a deal out for DL
and maybe some other salary filler togive the Lakers some more breathing room because

(59:16):
I'm looking at spo track right now. And obviously you, Adam and Bob
are much more in tune with howthe new CBA works than I am.
There's a reason I went into broadcastjournalism and not accounting. It's really not
that complicated. It really no ifif you look at the like, you
know who does a really good breakdownof it is Yosi goes On or Goeslan

(59:37):
on Twitter. He's like a capguy. Well, Eric pink is also
he's the number one, doesn't Diagelis staying in some roundabout way potentially help
them though. Yes, if heopts out, you don't have the eighteen
million dollars you just go to givesomebody else. Correct, You at least
have his contract on the books.If the market is cold now, which
it is, it might not bein December or January. Yeah, and

(01:00:00):
now you have an expiring deal thatyou can trade away. So they might
not want him, and they mightnot see that he fits. He did
have a good year last year upuntil and even in a couple of those
playoff games against Denver. Now grantedthat they melt it down in the second
half of every game, but inone of those first halves he carried them
like he's a talented player. SoI think it actually works in their favor
that he didn't opt out and theyhave him as an asset nine now at

(01:00:20):
least before the deadline. He's aninnings Zeter during the regular season for sure.
Yeah, because he's not he's nota playoff now it's fools gold because
once he gets to the playoffs,right, but he's against Denver, you
know what's happening in terms of wherethe Lakers are at as far as first
apron, second apron, all ofthat, the Lakers are ten point seven
million dollars into the first apron,they have three hundred thousand dollars away from

(01:00:43):
the second, then right forty fivethousand and one dollars just under the second
apron. Well, Lebron gave upso much on his Yeah, he gave
up. He gave up two pointsixty five million dollars. I don't mind,
Bob, you can get the lastword, and before Kevin takes us
out, I don't mind Lebron tryingto put pressure on them saying I'll take
less if you go out and makea move. First time he's taken lessons

(01:01:04):
he's been with the Miami Heat.It wasn't a ton, but it was
something he would have. It soundlike if they were going to get Demarta
Rosan or somebody that he would havetaken significantly less. Yeah, they weren't.
They weren't going to be able toafford tomorrow. Though he ended up
getting twenty two million. Yeah,I think the most they could have gotten
given him was what even if hehad twelve was twelve and a half or
something like twelve. Maybe I wasbeing unrealistic. I thought Lebron was really

(01:01:24):
going to do some Tom Brady stuffand be like, I'll right, I'll
take twenty million this year. I'lltake twenty Bob, Yeah, I was.
I was fine with it. Imean, I don't think it's anything
that amazing to celebrate, but it'snice. It's a nice gesture. I
think it's just it doesn't seem asspecial when it was paralleled against the suggestions
that he might take fifteen twenty millionless to bring in somebody. So obviously

(01:01:47):
that didn't work. I get it. There wasn't a lot of great options
out there, but you know,it kind of lessened the impact of dancing
under the second apron there. Butgood for him, Bri The Suns were
brought up early with Mason Plumley assomeone who saw every possession from him last
season. Good luck, Hell,what the hell? It's a great analysis.

(01:02:10):
Why I bree right by there?At least KD said he's ready to
run it back with d book andBradley beal he's happy. Like that's a
positive sign. We have a happyKD. I mean, that's like ninety
percent the battle right there. Now, Yeah, the season is now.
Yeah, it's only July. Youknow, he'll be asking for another trade
by the time you're your team overthe second Apron four hundred shift. If

(01:02:31):
there was a fourth Apron, Phoenix, it'd be over that. See,
people keep saying the Clippers got nothingfor Paul George, just like guys they
got under both aprons, which gavehim the full taxpayer or non taxpayer mid
level. And the problem with Fanmuel, yeah, Adam, is that people
don't see this like they look atit now, like what are you doing.
You're tearing down five years, sixyears from now when they bring another
star in their competing. They don'trealize Phoenix is probably gonna be screwed for

(01:02:53):
a few years. Not having firstround picks. You got guys who are
injured, guys who are old likePhoenix. This is putting it behind the
eight ball for a long period oftime. The Clippers, even after Kawhi
is done in three years, ifyou assume this is his last contract,
we'll be able to turn this aroundfairly easily and fairly quickly. But are
you looking forward to have your firstround picks frozen and the back of the

(01:03:13):
line. Are you looking forward tothat after being over the second game for
multiple years? Four hundred million payroll, Like, I don't even I've never
heard of that in my life.I wish I had four hundred million dollars
for payroll. That's how much theMilwaukee Bucks went for in like twenty twelve
or something. Four hundred million,real quick, Bob Kevin, any thoughts

(01:03:35):
on Joel Embid playing for Team USA, Bob, Bob has some pizza,
so I just thought it was hilarioussquatching him file out in twelve minutes he
fouled out. It was crazy.Good luck chripton on an international stage.
I love that the FOEBA reps arejust being like, no, we're not
giving you that. I do too. Kevin gets out of here. Hello,

(01:04:02):
Bob, are you ready? Welost Kevin? Damn it, No,
no, he had to go.We love you guys. Thanks for
listening to the Roundtable boor Kevin figuresfor Brewbrey, for Eric Scarr and Bob
Schmidt. I'm Adam Oslin. Thishas been another edition of the f and
A podcast. Every month and monthtold me did I couldn't around? Now

(01:04:26):
I can let these dreams killers,kill myself esteem, or use my agricance
that's esteemed the power with my trees. I use it as my gas,
so they say that I'm fast.Bob, are you still there