Episode 417: Clippers Trade For John Collins + Is Bradley Beal On The Way? (LIVE Edition)

The LA Clippers trade Norm Powell for John Collins, what a day! CnD reacts to the trade, projects the starting lineup, and wonders if a Bradley Beal related move is next for the Clippers ft. Justin Russo! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to a Monday
night happy hour, live hang clips and dip. I am
Chuck Wickler joined by Adam Osland will Epdyke possibly might
be on later, who knows. If you're watching us, Thank
you for hanging out. If you're listening to this, because
I am going to put it out for the audio later.
You can watch these at YouTube dot coms lash at

(00:32):
Clippers podcast. The Clippers made a trade today. Norm Powell
no longer on the team. He is in Miami. They
get a great player in Norm Powell. The prophecy has
been complete now. Adam John Collins is an LA Clipper.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Speaking into existence. Like LeVar Ball, it happened.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
I don't know if they're related as anyway, but it
absolutely happened. How do you feel about I mean, how
do we feel before we get into the stats and whatnot.
I was a little surprised to see the news come in.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, we wondered, you know it was gonna happen. Why
hasn't it happened yet? I think we got our answer.
They were looking for a third team and that made
all three parties satisfied, with Norm going to Miami with
Utah getting a second round pick and some cap relief.

(01:31):
That's what they were looking for in the end, and
it makes sense. Lawrence Frank said today that they had
been looking at John Collins for some time, so it's
not like he wasn't on their radar. I don't think
he got bullied or pressured into getting John Collins from
Clippers Twitter. I know you guys did the best you

(01:54):
could and maybe there was some influence. Who knows, he's
already a fan favorite.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
He's coming into a very favorable situation. There might be
some people with Collins Jersey already made.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, I would be shocked if Carl Tart didn't have one.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Hen Collins can play the four. It's fantastic to see.
Obviously it's tough to see Norm go, but Norm goes
to a good situation. Before we get into this great question,
that's all on the screen. Shout out to Norm Powell. Man,
what a run as an LA Clipper.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
He was our guy.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
He man, he left it all on the floor. How
many times did he literally a and up on the
floor or how many times did he bleed during games
for the Clippers. The man, the man gave it is
all and the Heat, got a great player.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Got a permanent scar. I think between his eyebrows as
a member of the Clippers, I think he's just like, no,
this is me now, twenty four savage. Norm's a badass.
He's gonna be one of my favorite Clippers. Just the
consummate professional, somebody that was to root for Storm and
Norman Powell, the Powell Rangers like nothing but fond memories

(03:05):
and good things to say about Norman Powell and the
Miami Heat. Got a really good player, and he's going
to help him and he's gonna crush it in the
Eastern Conference.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Now, yeah, very true. The Clippers obviously pretty clear made
the trade because they didn't see the extension really matching
up with where we're at financially, we as in being
that front office and the window that the Clippers have
right now. If you look at all the recent deals,
they're two year deals. They match up with James and Kawhi.

(03:33):
Hopefully he can get the big extension. But another guy
who's going to be up for an extension is John
Collins after this season. He is it's kind of like
a prove it, not prove it, but chance to make
a lot of money if you have a good year
for John Collins, which I like from an off the
court motivation perspective.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I think that's real. I think that's something you
have to consider. He's turning twenty eight. He will be
smack dab in the prime of his career. At the
end of the season, he will be looking to get paid.
What that means for the Clippers moving forward, It's all
about what happens this year. Let's see what the fit
looks like. Let's see if what everybody wanted plays out

(04:15):
on the court the way they expected to.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
What people wanted was a four, an actual four size wise,
who can also shoot the three. Collin shot thirty eight
percent on threes, pretty much all catch and shoot threes.
So he's coming into a system that is the drivekickswing
and we know he can take catch and shoot threes.
So that's good, right.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Uh yeah, his catch and shoot three stuff. I mean,
he shot forty from three overall and all threes last season,
and I'm guessing he'll see more open threes, at least
he should at this point. I think the trade off
is that there's more high leverage threes you're going to
see playing for the Cliffers. They're going to be more
meeting any shot he took with the Utah Jazz that

(05:03):
is going through a rebuild.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Still, yeah, that's a good call. Yeah, where does he
We got a good question. Do you see him starting?
There's kind of been people are a little all over
the place. William Uptack is here. I just told someone
in the chat that will was in Italy. So it's
great that Will could make this despite the time change
Will wait, no, no, ja, I just how are you

(05:28):
tow vill Tell Blen, how are you feeling about the trade.
We just kind of set our feelings on it. Where
are you at? Do you already have the Collins ursy
being printed up?

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (05:39):
Well, I mean, first off, I had to make a drink.
There was a little amorrow in there because I'm in Italy.
Got a cheers to all the Collins heads who have
been asking for this for as long as I've been alive,
as long as John Collins has been in the league.
I'm not really even sure how to quantify it. At
this point, it felt like the most likely of outcomes
and somehow was still unexpected. I see we're getting some

(06:03):
Jurassic rebirth thoughts in the chat that makes sense, that
makes sense. Hoping that this trade goes a little bit
better than that.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, you guys saw it too.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
I haven't seen it yet. I did see your tweet
about it, which was very funny.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
God, what an abomination. And that's saying something because they've
had a few stinkers here.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
We'll save the movie talk for our Patreon, which also
includes diptok, so if you really want that, so just
forty debate really.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
One thing I thought was interesting I was listening to
Zach Loderday, who did some coverage on the trade. When
he was running down his starting lineup. He wasn't forecasting
John Collins in there as this as the starting four.
He had DJJ over him, which I thought was an
interesting sort of notion. I don't know about you, guys,
but I guess my immediate thought was the reason you

(06:55):
go for a four like John Collins, even taking a
step back from shooting, which we know the front office
was prioritizing, Even taking a you know, a step back
from scoring, which they they lacked drastically. You would think
that that would be with the ideation to go ahead
and play Collins at the four in that starting line.
I've had my off base. There is that where you

(07:16):
guys are at what what do we got going on there?

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Big casual vibes, zach Loow with big casual vibes. I
never would have thought, Uh no, I love zach Liw's
and I heard that earlier too, and I kind of
raised an eye. Probably. I don't think they're bringing him in.
I think I think it'll be his job to lose.
I think that's That's how I'm looking at this.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
That's and as we said, there's three guys, there's three guys.
Who's who's spot in the rotation is absolutely secured. Anybody
else I suppose is up for debate. But I would
be very surprised if John Collins was not your starting
for Opening night.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Uh he Also, I think the thing too, we're gonna
have our favorite French Canadian reporter hop on.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
We got Italy, we got Italy represented, we got France
represent We've got Canada represented.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Was that the idea of the you know, the defense
maybe falls off, which Collins isn't exactly known for his defense,
But if he's going to be between Kawhi Leonard of
Vitza Zubats, I feel okay about what his defensive prowess
is going to be for what he gets us on
the other end.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Law Murray did use the words earlier that he's a
nightmare on the perimeter or he was defensively on the
perimeter or nightmare for the Utah Jazz this past season,
and many have said, you know, he's better as a
five than he is as a four. At least he
was in Utah different circumstances that I think it's at
least something to be aware of here. Uh, you should

(08:51):
probably throw a little bit of cold water on your
face and just realize that just because his initials are
JC doesn't mean he's the savior for this team. It's
it's something.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Where is your hand on fire? Did you write that out?

Speaker 2 (09:07):
One hundred cooking? Yeah? I think as excited as everybody is,
he still is a guy that has some major flaws
on the defensive end that could be mitigated by the
guys around him, or by the coaching staff, or by
just being in a change of scenery where he is
now getting a new lease on life in his career,

(09:29):
where he's out of Utah, where he's been the last
two seasons, not playing high leverage basketball.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
As I mentioned, but who doesn't for what the Clippers
have available to get. You're not getting a top twenty player,
You're not getting a top fifty player. You're getting like,
you know, like these are some of the better options
out there. I also do think playing next to Lorie
marketing presents its own sort of like issues. And if
you look at both of the teams where Collins was
at immediately before his Clippers tenure, they weren't exactly defensive stalwarts.

(09:58):
Not that I'm saying he's gonna around and suddenly be
like a much better defender, but I will say, like
even just a greater emphasis on on effort and some
some better defensive scheming. You know, I do think that
some of that can be mitigated a little bit. Again,
Not I don't think that he's gonna like somehow be
great now, but I do think that you can, you know,

(10:22):
elevate the floor of that defensive play.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Seville brought up in the chat to like, it's not
like Norm was killing it on the perimeter with his defense,
you know what I mean, Like, we're not we didn't
lose defensive guys in this trade at all, Like that's
we didn't.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
The problem though, could be like, you can get more
exploited with the guys. John Collins may be asked to
guard versus who they're hiding and where they're hiding. Noran Powell.
But it's I think. I think with this coaching staff,
they're going to get the best out of him. Whatever
he can do defensively, whatever he is capable of. It's

(11:03):
just if it's a motivation thing, if it's a motor thing,
I think they have the ability to bring out the
best and a guy like this.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
I mean, yeah, we have JVG. I'm excited to see
how hit like. We saw the defense change. Obviously, we
saw a bunch of Doune and Derek Jones Junior, whose
roles I mean, they're both kind of diminished. They're both
diminished from being starters. It'll be interesting to see what
he does with just the defensive scheme with a couple
of these new guys. I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
See, this is the stuff I feel like we should
pump the brakes on. This is our Aaron Gordon to
the Denver Nuggets type. Aaron Gordon was looked at as
like a number one or number two option on a
championship team when he was drafted and he was playing
with Orlando and was a very young player.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
How old when that trade happened? Five years younger?

Speaker 1 (11:57):
We have a French Canadian in the waiting. Guess I
have to let them in. Welcome to the show, Justin Russo,
how you doing, buddy?

Speaker 2 (12:08):
We we.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yes, yes, have you been justin?

Speaker 4 (12:13):
Have you been getting any sleep tracking all this, all
this Clippers free free agency insanity.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, between that and keeping up with the dog that's
been having some medical emergencies, I haven't been sleeping that much,
so it's been great. Yeah, he's fine. I think he'll
be fine. So just one of those things where it's
the off season, but apparently not for the dog who
decides that he needed to spice up my life a
little bit, and so did the Clippers and Lawrence Frank this.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Morning, he's locked in. Your dog is locked in.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
He felt his bones that it was happening.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, got that dog in.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
He was so overwhelmed with joy his body couldn't handle
it exactly.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
You know, we're all getting up there in age, you know,
so it's it's like when you could sense the rain
in your knee when you get older, you know.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
I in dog years he's been waiting for this trade
for seventy two years.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Uh, let's not age that much here, Russo, I wanted
to talk to you about this right away. Lawrence Frank
alluded to this using John Collins offensively alongside both of
and brook Lopez. How excited are we to look at
the three man lineup numbers of Collins, Lopez and Zoo.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Not that excited.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
I'm a high, Lawrence said it. I'm going off with
Lawrence Frank.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
He said, says, I thought he said Zoo and brook
Lopez they may experiment with.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
That.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
I got from someone's tweet who may or may not
be in this chat, said Lawrence Frank has talked about
the intricate ways they can use John Collins offensively alongside
both of Eats Bots and brook Lopez.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
That could be how he plays with one and then
how he plays that was.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
That was one and the other crazy?

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Not if you're crazy.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
Listen, if the rest of the Western Conference is gonna
it's gonna zig to two bigs, sometimes you got a
zag to three.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
So what the lineup Collins Brook Yeah, No, you gotta
get fully crazy.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
It's like Derek Kawhi and the three Bigs.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Like you.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, you just it's like terodactyls out there.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Good luck, dude, good luck keeping.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
Up with the Jurassic Park theme.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
By the way, realistically, justin uh, this is now a
better roster than the Clippers started last season with.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
Yes, I don't know who would disagree, even without the
addition of another guard, the lack of scoring.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, I I they're a little light at guard now,
but I think that gets solved.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
New problem, brand new problem for this team.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
You're just plugging holes and Philly, you gotta figure it
out as you go along. But I think the guard
thing obviously will work itself out in the coming days.
So we'll see.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
The language that Lawrence Frank used today makes me very
confident that it's gonna work itself out very soon. Here.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
I don't think you will alluded to it.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
To that degree if they didn't know something was very close.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah. Yeah, we address some needs, there are other needs
we have to address. Will continue to work through it.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
So Bill a done deal.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Right.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
It's looking like Bradley Beal will probably be We'll probably
be a Clipper.

Speaker 4 (15:31):
You would say, you would go ahead and say get
that jersey now.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Carl Tart by the Jersey.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
By the way, on Jersey Watch, Big Jersey Watch between
Brook Lopez and Jordan Miller.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Let's be honest here, Oh that's true.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Jordan Miller's only ever worn number eleven in college in
the NBA, so's Brook Lopez.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
M M. And if they got to play one on
one for it, I feel like it's only fair.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Listen, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
You think Bradley Beal ends up starting, would that be
something they'd be dangling during negotiations.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
I was just I was trying to figure that out
before we record this, because that makes every that you
talk about some rough point of attack defense James Hard
and Bradley Beal. That's a little difficult. Collins is starting
for sure too in that lineup.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I would be shocked if Brad doesn't start if he's here,
and I would be shocked if John isn't starting when
he's here. I'm on a first name basis now, these
are the people I have to cover.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Brad b Brad.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
I'm with like I'm with you, And I actually think
we already know about Dune sort of offensive limitations. And
I actually think that Beal next to Harden in the
backcourt is a closer pairing to what we had last
year when it was working. So I think that makes
the most sense. And then you you know, feasibly upgraded

(17:06):
both positions.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
The problem is then your down to only two good
defenders and relying on Kawhi to defend more.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
That's what I'm worried about, right.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
That's a big identity shift.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Lawrence did say today that Kawhi was excited for the
trade and all signed. This is me talking now, not Laurence,
but all signs point to that. Uh, Kawhi has embraced
the fact that he's gonna have to play a little
bit more small forward this year and have to.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
And the guy who two years ago I'll play power
forward until they get a real one would have a
problem with playing small forward.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah, I guess I don't understand that far.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Well. The interesting part was Lawrence today said that Kawhi
has relayed that he'll do whatever it take, whatever it takes,
whatever the team needs for him to do.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
Has he ever vocalized that he was unhappy with the
trade and was unwilling to do whatever the tea No.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
But we can find out pretty soon if we just
ask him.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, that's true when he gets.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Back from the Paris Fashion show or if that's still
going on. I like we heard no, I'm just my
invertation got lost in the mail, you know.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
I like when we heard about James Harden too, that
he's helped with recruiting guys want to play with him.
That was cool to hear.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Yeah, Lawrence mentioned it in that because free agents are
seeing how playing with James can benefit them in the
open market if they hit it again. So yeah, yeah,
I mean, look, if you play with James Harden, odds
are your jobs a little bit easier? Offensively You're not
having to do as much. So it stands to reason.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
What do you rank John Collins's defense? Law Murray earlier
on with Me said he can be a nightmare on
the perimeter, or he was last season for the Utah Jazz. Like,
what are we in store for? And can they fix it?

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Would you rank it? I guess let's put it in
context of the team.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
I gotta remember, it's gonna sound terrible. I gotta remember
who's on the team. I'm pulling up the list, so
kawhis above him, shocker zoos above him? Oh is this
just perimeter defenders.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, let's do perimeter.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Okay, Kawhi's above him, Derek's above him, Chris is above him,
Nico's above him, and then you're getting to like between
him James and Bogie and okay, yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
I'm getting yeah, ok yeah, he's the border line. He's
basically the five hundred guy kind of because everyone else
is perimeter defense wise, a pretty sharp drop off from
that from the top of the Clippers.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
His his perimeter defense was was pretty bad last year.
But what I will say is his weak side defense
was pretty solid. And he did play quite a bit
with Walker Kessler, at least when they were both available,
and the numbers with him and Walker were pretty good
when they Like there's the misconception that Utah Jads were
a bad team, and they were a bad team. That's

(20:09):
not the misconceptions when they're guys. But when the guys
were on the floor, like their best players were actually
on the floor, they were a solid to good team.
They were a plus seven net rating with their four
best players on the floor. Like this is now granted
it was like three hundred minutes, it's function, Yeah, it wasn't.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
It was so good. They had to take them off
because they yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, pretty much pretty they had Yeah, are the Jazz
actually good two years away from the two years away?

Speaker 4 (20:43):
This is the most big brain to take I've heard
on this show.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
They look it sounds pretty plain to say when their
best players were on the floor, they were good. But
like they did have to bench John Collins and Lori
Markinen and Walkers Walker Kester was just chucking threes in
the second half of the year because they weren't trying.
It's just what happened.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
So they.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
They got Ace, Yeah, they yeah, they got Ace and
they got fined and then they fell from first to fifth.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
And Ace is hyped to be there, So that's gonna
work out great.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Never seen a happier man in my life.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Is there a world in which CP three comes with
the Clippers, because a lot of people have been excited
about that. There is a way they could get both
Bil and Chris Paul, But that because we're talking about
guys starting, and I don't think if they got Chris
Paul and Bradley Beal then both of them will be starting.
Maybe they would, and I would cut my own bench.

(21:42):
There we go save them. He could play the second
and the third quarter, he just doesn't play the first
and the fourth. Where are we at on Chris Paul
supposedly between the Clippers and the Suns.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
Right, I've heard two different things. I've heard that he's
not ruled out for the Clippers or he's not ruled
the Clippers on. And I've also heard that because they
are most likely the Bradley Beal destination, that kind of
rules Chris Paul out himself, if that makes sense. So,
I don't know, I.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
Mean, does he get his Lakers moment all these years later?

Speaker 3 (22:20):
He could he could play alongside Luca. That'd be fun,
just have two forty year olds on the court together.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
You know, Yeah, that sounds really fun. I would like
to see that.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Uh, some issues already. I don't know if that would
be the best move for them, Adam.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
I feel like this one was cued up for you.
The way this is phrase is very funny. Is l
Frank an underrated GM? I feel like we always make
the right trades, Adam. You have been not pulling receipts,
but looking at the till of what of some things
that people have said about Laura, it's Frank justin You

(23:01):
got to give me that one that was pretty good.
Uh is l Frank an underrated.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Gif only to his own fan base. He's a lot
executive of the year five years ago. Like to me,
people keep saying somebody was hitting me up saying something
to the effect of if you want a mid team
but not a championship level team. Yeah, he does a

(23:27):
pretty good job. And I'm like, guys who put together
the team we all thought was gonna win in twenty
twenty one before Kawhi Leonard towards ACL that would have
been Lawrence Frank. I think he just put together some
really good teams. I think for the most part, the
downfalls of the Clippers have been things outside of their
controls because of injuries. And then there comes the draft

(23:47):
people and they're like, well, he doesn't draft ball enough. Well,
almost all the picks or late first rounders or second rounders,
and those have a very small chance of making it.
You guys find the outliers like Christian Brown, but you
don't find all the other guys who ended up not
making it around the same area he was picked at,
and Clippers haven't had good enough luck there, And yeah,
they can do better with their drafting. I agree with that.

(24:10):
Nobody's perfect, but I think he's he's probably been underrated.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, I think underrated is fair.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Justin your rebuttal, I think it's hard to evaluate general
managers unless they're objectively bad. And you know an objectively
and you know an objectively bad general manager when you
see one, So like it's I I think a lot
of moves in the NBA require intricate context, and like today,

(24:42):
Lawrence Frank said about John Collins that he's someone they've
targeted for the last couple of years. So it's clearly
someone who's been on the radar that they just haven't
been able to trade for before today. So it's like,
how do you judge? How do you judge that move?
Like that he didn't make it two years ago, when
it's like, should he have given up more to get him?

Speaker 4 (25:02):
Yes, that's what.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Some people will argue, But turns out they only I
mean I say only, but they gave up Norman Powell
and really not take up a second but like really
nothing else. And that same trade maybe a year or
two ago, requires a lesser player going out but more
draft capital. So there's a I would have lost their

(25:28):
minds about. Yeah, I mean The big thing too that
I see is like, well, he can't draft, but why
is he trading draft picks? Well, if you think he
can't draft and you get mad at him trading picks,
the what's the what? What do you care?

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Like you can't know he can't draft, don't own the
trade picks? Make it make sense.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
It's like, well, maybe if he knows he's bad at drafting,
he's trading picks, then obviously he knows he's bad at drafting.
It doesn't need them, so like who cares? But I
I think with a lot of things in sports, and
especially in the NBA, there's nuance that needs to be applied.
And I think he's an objectively fine general or he's
not even a general manager, effectively fine president of basketball

(26:10):
operations because Trent rends the GM j G. That's that's
what I hear.

Speaker 5 (26:15):
Yeah, you all know who's really pulling the string.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Yeah, leads in the back room, just dialing it up.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Crushing by the way.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
I think it's like when everyone it's like when everyone
gave Jerry credit, Jerry West credit for like signing Kawhi
or trading for PG and it's like, well, it's a
collective body that does this, and then one guy ends
up making the call and the guy that mixed the
calls of technically Steve Balmers. So I don't know where
you want to want to lay it down at the
feet of So it's it's it's a basketball organization. It's

(26:49):
not one guy.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Yeah, everything that was good was Jerry West. Everything that's
bad is Lawrence Fring.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
People also forget that Jerry West Jerome Robinson was Jerry West.
Guys problem yeah, yeah, I'm oh, yeah, shit happens, you know.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
So I'll never forget that. Some of us will never
forget that.

Speaker 5 (27:11):
Uh oh.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Someone is also bringing up in the chat that, which
I've thought about too. I do think that part of
being a GM is you're sort of managing some of
like player wants and demands that are someone outside of
your control. I'll always remember the uh, the famous Lawrence
Frank press conference after uh, the press conference immediately preceding

(27:38):
the signing of Russell Westbrook when we talked about the
kind of guys that we want on this team, sensive minded, uh,
three point guys. It's good stuff, good stuff.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
How did people still think he gave up the How
is there still a thing l Frank gave up the
entire farm for PG. How do people still not realize that,
Like obviously they did it to Lri Kawhi, Like how
do you not add in that context?

Speaker 4 (28:05):
And that's another situation too, where like their hand was
a little bit forced by the star that they wanted
to get.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
And there are partnerships now with players with player empowerment.
Every every star is like a franchise unto themselves in
today's NBA league, And if you don't work with them,
you're probably never getting those guys. Everybody does it to
some degree.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
All gems from Adam today question we were talking about
on the last episode Harden's second, you're being partially guaranteed.
I don't want to sound like a rube. How does
this work? And why did he agree to it?

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Rube away, That's that's me.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
I generally, I'm like, what, I don't I assume he's
getting paid another forty million dollars, so.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
It works like a mutual option. He picks it up.
So like if he picks it up, then the Clippers
can basically just decide not to pick up the remaining portion.
He is partially guaranteed. I want to say from what
I've heard. I think it's like thirteen million or so. Yeah,
and I saw that floated out there by someone. So basically,

(29:18):
in this scenario, like James picks up his player option,
the Clippers have declined their aspect of it basically and
waive him and they start to pay him the thirteen million,
and then they get that money, not get the money back,
but you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
So, yeah, it's like a thirteen million dollar buyout basically essentially.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
Yeah, towards the cap.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, the thirteen will count against the cap. Yeah, some
people caught the Bradley.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
That's fair. I've been wondering that all day.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
All day. You've been wondering this all day.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
What have you been doing a very slow day at work?

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Okay, let's thin.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Showing up man saving for the Patriot. The Patriot is
dip talk and film talk. That is it. Yeah, like
that Adam was about to go on about he.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Had a slow day at work, He's just washing the clock,
like the beginning of about Schmidt.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
I will say, just to add on one thing. I
do find it rather interesting the Clippers have had de
facto team options essentially on their three signings of the
summer James obviously the mutual option with the non guaranteed
second year or at least partially guaranteed second year, and
then Brooke they got a team option, and Nico they
got a team option. If I said waving, I'm sorry,

(30:43):
it's a long day, my brain is fried. I don't
know what that even means.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Oh long day for Justin Okay.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Oh maybe I did say Wavid. If James Hardy gets Wavid,
you know, so some say, but yeah, no, it's interesting. Yeah,
it's interesting that they got three kind of team options
on the older guys, so it gives him some leeway

(31:10):
going into the off season. I know, and a lot's
been made about twenty twenty seven, but I had heard,
even as of two years ago, before the PG thing
had come into fruition that or even the I'm sorry
the James traded even come into fruition, that they had
looked at basically keen in on twenty twenty six offseason.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
Yeah, so they saw a lot of flexibility the time.
One could be a year quicker year.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
Six possibly I think in cap space for that year.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, like yeah, it works, it should I.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Mean because basically, like Bogie's on a team option, Nico's
team option, Kobe Brown's team option, which his his team
option data I believe is coming up or maybe it
already got picked up. I'd have to go double check,
but uh didn't. But then you end up going through.
It's like the guaranteed guys in terms of money on
the roster are Kawhi, Zoo, Derek and then Cam Christy

(32:13):
really and Yana and Yanna Conanederhauser. I don't know why
I said.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
His full name will probably be on there too. After
the end of this season.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
We should just become an all name team, you know,
just get the greatest names you could ever think of,
and who knows, maybe you could maybe you can throw
then maybe you could throw it in Luka Doncic and
the ganis onto the Kompo like for all names. As
we discussed this, you know, going into next season or
twenty twenty six, I.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Think after today, because you trade out one expiring contract
for twenty million for an expiring in John Collins as
twenty six million, they might be able to get up
to about sixty six million this offseason. If he went
partial guarantee on James. You mentioned Brook Lopez, He's got
the team option. They don't bring back John Collins, but

(33:03):
to bogie. Like, I think twenty twenty six is back
on the menu. Boys, Like enough of this two year
we have to wait two years. Twenty twenty six is real.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
I want to pull up a list of the twenty
twenty six free agents for Garrett Griffin specifically we're talking about.
I'm trying just about the YouTube. I've tried to promote
the YouTube for the audio channel. Oh yeah, sorry, watch us.
You can watch me yell at these guys at YouTube
dot complished at Clippers podcast. Thanks for hanging out Garret
Griffin proceed.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
Uh justin Well, Charles looks this up. Let's say the
deal deal isn't as done as we think it is.
Where do we pivot from there? If that doesn't end
up being the case?

Speaker 3 (33:47):
I mean it would be Chris right, Chris Paul Just
that's the logical pivot.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Is that enough scoring? Can he slot into a starting rule?

Speaker 3 (33:57):
I don't think with Chris, I don't think it's a
scoring thing. I think it's more of like they had
turnover issues last year and he doesn't throw the ball over.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yeah, audition by subtraction if you will, Oh no.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
You're two to addition to subtraction.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Do you think there's any chance he was.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
Auditioned by subtraction the double negative? Baby?

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Would you say that CP three in the starting backcourt
with James Harden, do you think that's possible.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
I don't rule it out at some point, just because
Chris is a smart basketball player and he wants to start.
I understand like the hesitancy about like, well, he's forty
years old, so why like why would you let him start.
It's like all he's ever done is start, outside of
like forty games in Golden State where he was pissed

(34:52):
off coming off the bench, but he still did it,
but like he wasn't happy about it, and then he
got shipped off to what was a Washington not what
it was, and he got bought out. Yes, yeah, So,
I mean I don't think it's the worst thing in
the world if he starts. I also think if he
were to start, it's like twenty five minutes a night.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Hm. I do have concerns about this reconfiguration with the
starting lineup, and there's a lot of ifs here because
they don't even have Beal or CP three yet. But
you're taking one more defender off the floor with the
lineup we just talked about earlier, and this team was
third in defense last season, so it would be a
pretty big shift away from that great point of attack

(35:39):
defense that was kind of what they hung their ad on.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yeah, I've seen people talk about, well they got rid
of like they're three what people classifiers are three worst
defenders or whatever, and then they brought in Brook Lopez.
It's like, that's true. They brought in Brook and they
brought in oh my god, I just blank John Collins
and they resign Nico. But the other aspect of this

(36:04):
is like it's an old team. Everyone talks about their age,
it's an old team. It's another year and you're asking
Kawi to do more on the ball stuff, which could
have repercussions because Derek and Chris aren't doing it as
much as they did last year, which was a big
reason for the defense being as good as it was.
So there is gonna be a there's a high likelihood

(36:25):
of a defensive I'm not gonna say drop off, but
a slippage of some sort this year where in an
offense and in a starting lineup where it's going to
pivot to a more offensive structure. The defense is the
thing that's most likely to take a hit when you
adjust for the way guys are gonna have to accept
new roles of who to guard, Like James is gonna

(36:46):
have to guard on the perimeter a lot more. Now,
that's just the way of life.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah, they're not gonna be a top five defense. I'm
pretty comfortable in saying that because they also shouldn't need
They should be top ten hopefully, but they shouldn't need
to be a top five defense to win fifty games.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah. I mean, the offense could pick him up because
they basically were back to being a top ten offense
when Kawhi Leonard was back to himself last twenty or
so games of the regular season, and that could balance
things out. It's just they really solidified an identity on
that defensive end last season and having Kawhi having to

(37:29):
guard more because all of a sudden, he's your best
wing defender in the starting lineup. If Bila is in
there with John Collins this year, next to James and
two bots, that's something to think about. Hey, we got
Kawhi away from playing the four, but now he has
to guard way more and move around more on the perimeter.

(37:49):
Is that the goal here?

Speaker 4 (37:51):
What do you want? What do you want him to do?

Speaker 2 (37:59):
It's a personnel thing, Will, not a one thing with Kawi.
It's do you want Bradley Beal starting over somebody like
Chris Dunn or DJ.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
Yeah, I do.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
I'm willing to take that risk. And I like scoring points.
I would like to watch the team that puts up
points in a game that.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Saying how we're how good they were defensively last season,
and how you can rely on that every night.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
If they can top they can be top ten and
just be not bottom five in offense. That'd be great.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
I'm not worried about bottom five in offense. They weren't.
And if Kai starts the year healthy, I think you're
pretty much guaranteed. If he and James Harden are out there,
you're gonna be a top ten offense.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
At top ten of both.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
All right.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
Around. I'm doing nothing.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Let's trade has broken Will's brain. Will Well, it's like,
what if we start what if we brought Norm back?
Somehow we started hard Norm Beal? Why columns we start small?

Speaker 3 (39:20):
I will say, I will say that the columns fit
is a little interesting because it does seem pretty seamless.
But I think there are worry parts of the fit
in terms of the overall defensive aspect, and I am
curious to see how he's used offensively. I think I

(39:41):
think there is a lot of potential. He's he's been
a good corner three point shooter over the last couple
of years, and he's been a fairly solid above the
break three point shooter as well. I want to say
he shot like thirty seven and a half percent over
the last two years on just above the break threes,
which is a good sign of shooting acumen among the
types of threes. Uh, he hasn't taken a lot of threes.

(40:02):
It's like three and a half per game, which isn't
a lot. So they're gonna need him to uptick that
when he's on the floor. But I do think there
there are interesting ways. Lawrence Frank touched on it today
in the Zoom call with with Media where he talked
about like he can play alongside Zoobie because Zoo's so
good in the short role that he could find for

(40:24):
a little dump opser or lobs underneath the hoop, which
we saw somewhat sometimes this year with Derek Jones. And
Zoo in a similar setting, or if he plays alongside Burn, Yeah,
and then if he plays alongside Brook, you have Brook
as the floor spacer and John is the roller. And
this way that's that's another dynamic that opens up. So

(40:44):
there are ways to use him offensively. I don't I
just don't think people should expect like, oh, here's a
twenty to ten guy or eighteen.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
How many is he going to be taking if he's
the fourth option? That's the big question, right, like how
many more is it than three point seven per game
or whatever? And I don't mean that disrespectfully, Like he's
the fourth option.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
Five get five attempts a game?

Speaker 3 (41:14):
I think that's hard. I think five attempts per game
on this team for a non top three option is hard.
Nor was normOn got there because half the team was
gone when Norm was doing it, So like he was
the guy who had to do something.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
He was at like sixteen per game when Kawhi was
healthy or something like that. What three points I would play?
I think he was what three? No points per game? Sorry?
Oh no, not three.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
I think when he came back from this, when he
came back from injury and Kawhi was I want to
say it was like fourteen to sixteen if I remember correctly,
somewhere in that range, and he genuinely struggled because there
was just less shots to go around.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
And he was coming back from the injury at that point, right, Yeah,
that back until.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
After he was injured.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
So but shot diet wise, yeah, Collins isn't going to
be hoisted up that many where he wasn't.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
I put it out earlier. I got to find my
tweet again.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
That's not a knock on John Collins. Also, yeah, it's not.
I don't mean that in a bad way. He's brought
in here to do exactly.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
That, because yeah, if he only puts up like, let's say,
one hundred and fifty to two hundred three pointers, like
variance is going to very much well, like to a
game gets you to one sixty, you know, one hundred
and sixty four in a season, but that's going to

(42:41):
bring a lot of variance to his three point percentage.
That could freak people out, I think.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
But won't the shot diet change though quite a bit,
because those like nine to two point field goal attempts,
that's not what he's here for, like, and that's not
really what he's on the floor for except for minutes
when he's playing small ball five for the most.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Part, which will be fun. Those are going to be
really So it suckered into wingstop again. And I've been
there before, and sometimes it's good. It's very rare that
it's good because we don't see it a lot. It's
always closed. But it was always good and always well
in real life. But Clippers wing stop is the opposite
of real life wingstop.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Maybe because they're sponsored by the Lakers and sabotage.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
I like that idea, and this goes all the way
to the top of wingstop to dl.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
The fight I tweeted out earlier today, like it was
like ten to forty in the morning. Colin shot thirty
eight percent on three and a half threes over the
last two seasons. That's not a lot of threes, but
all all but six of those were catching shoot. So
it's not like John call is not just pulling up
willy nilly off the yeah, which I.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Was when she was shooting forty percent doing that. That's
will basketball, that's will uptake basketball.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Apparently, none of this nerd stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
Yeah, none of this of that you dribble up, you
take the quicker.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
You get out of the offensive possession, the faster you
can get back on defense.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Okay, Phyllis, it's a simple math.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
He shot thirty nine percent on corner threes, He shot
seventy three percent inside the restricted area over the last
two years, which obviously is great. Had one hundred and
seventy two dunks. You'll always take dunks, let's be realistic.
But here's the interesting part of this is he was
eighty first percentile and effective field goal percentage onn threes,
which is really good. But he was thirty second percentile

(44:35):
in three point attempts per seventy five possessions. So he's
efficient when he shoots them, he just doesn't take them
a lot. And I know people think five three point attempts.
You know, he could possibly get to. What I will
caveat this with is Marcus Morris during his best years
with the Clippers average five three point attempts per game.
Marcus was a great three point shooter. Like, we can't

(44:56):
deny that if John got to period, if John was
able to get the five per game, because Marcus was
playing like twenty nine minutes a game. So if John
can do that and get to that level. Just on
that part alone, it's a major win. Especially as a
corner three point option. That's a major win because Norm's

(45:18):
three point shooting, especially from the corners, was great. And
I'm not saying it's a like for like, but he does.
John Collins will have to not replicate it, but at
least supply some of that and also other facets, especially
around the room.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
You mentioned the offensive rebounding being a good thing that
I think I saw your tweet about it. Risso about
calls me a good offensive rebounder, looking forward to that
because that has always been a little frustrating sometimes.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, he's a solid offensive rebounder, especially as a corner crasher,
which is the Clippers offensive rebound philosophy. We saw Derek
do it a lot this past year. Some of you
want to do it a bunch and yeah, and they
wanted a mirror to do it a lot if he
was in the corner, Like it was just their athletic guys.
If you're in the corner, just go crash the glass.
It's a basic basketball philosophy anyways, Like in covering the

(46:10):
LA sparks and being able to see their practices that
are open to media, they do the same thing. It's
you corner crash anyone at the hash and up. You
just got to get back. That's literally the simple, simplest
way to do it. He'll have his opportunity as to
offensive rebound because outside of Zoo there and at times Derek,
there wasn't much inct offensive rebound. This is a way

(46:37):
to boost that. I thought. The interesting part in Lawrence
Frank's statement that they put out in the press release
talked about the value of extra possessions because that's the
way the NBA is gone. I know it sounds simple like, oh,
just get more possessions and you're likely to win the game.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Whippers fans have watched us and not get extra possessions
or what feels like not get extra possessions In some
pretty agree just cases, it's been it's.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Pretty big reason against Denver they lost.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Yeah, I like this question by uh Stuie b Stewie.
Is Bogie are sixth man? How do we feel if
that's the case, Is Bogie the first guy off the bench?

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Now?

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Also, yeah, Collins is going to be starting. Uh Done
off the bench first, Bogie off the bench first, Lopez
off the bench first. Where we are who's.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
Just will in the back of for who.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
So starting? Let's go Harden? Uh do we do.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
That?

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Just just go with the roster that's there. Now, you'll
save yourself some headaches.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
Will it? But is it? If it's going to be Beal?

Speaker 2 (47:57):
I think justin just told us it's not Wow, go
right there.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
For okay? So then do both of them. If Bradley
Bal's here, who's your first player off the bench? And
if he's not here, who's the first player off the.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Bench, then it's defense. If Bradley Bual is starting. If
he's not, then it's offense. Then it's bogey. So done.
If Bradley Beal starts Bogie if he's not, I would.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Say, yeah, I like that idea. That makes the most
sense because we would need defense at some point in
the first quarter at the.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
Point of attack done or DJ, assuming neither one of
them are starting. If Bradley Bual is.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
It feels like a don It feels like a done
requirement to get him on the floor first for the
second energy going for the point of attack stuff, and
then drew extra ball handling to save James early.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Yeah, shooting takes a hit.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Who needs shooting apparently, you know, like you just bring
in Chris and Derek and then you got you got
Brooke with them. Who can do all the shooting. You know,
I can just bomb away from uh from the Librea tarpits.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
Guys like, Hey, shout out Librea Tarpets. Everyone go and
buy a membership. Yeah, these guys laugh at me. You know,
we get that Collins Lopez Zoo light up out there.
We're set. We are good to go. Size.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
That's why your first sez you gotta get out of there.
Get the dead weight out of there.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
The dead it's Kawhi, It's for Kawhi, dude.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
I do really like the pairing of Lopez and John Collins.
I think there's a lot to cook with there with
Lopez before John Collins then gets unlocked as more as
that rim runner when he's not playing next to Zoo
but playing next to Brook Lopez.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
The hardened Collins Lopez minutes will be fun to look
at and probably a point of contention for Clippers fans.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
I did find it funny today in the Zoom call
where Lawrence talks about signing Brook Lopez and like how
impactful he's been and can be for this team. And
then starts rallying, rattling off and then says, no disrespect.
But since Isaiah Hartenstein, I'm just like, oh no, Like.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
You must listen to the pod.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
It was just nice to hear it Isaiah shout out,
you know, just randomly. NBA champion Isaiah Hartenstein.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Thanks to this and we brought we wanted you on
to remind us that the Oklahoma City Thunder won the
championship Champion. Let's talk the rookie. We have summer league,
we got Summer league coming up. How excited are we
for Yannick and Poolakitis? Will will start with you. Are

(51:01):
you more excited to see Poolokitis or Yanick both?

Speaker 5 (51:08):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (51:08):
No?

Speaker 1 (51:09):
I interesting answer?

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Are you Pool excited?

Speaker 4 (51:15):
Yes? No?

Speaker 1 (51:16):
I mean like that is it for Justin Russo?

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (51:21):
Yannick is probably closer in like the biggest of air quotes.
Uh do a potential uh NBA rotation spot with the Clippers?
Uh Poolokitas? I mean if the if the skill set transfers.
I just don't think there's anything that's going to be
surprising from Poolokitas in Summer League. I guess is all

(51:43):
that I'm saying. Charles, You're on mute. You're beauted, but
you're having a hell of a time by yourself.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
I think I think Polokias's skill set will transfer over.
I think nothing else will be able to catch up.
I think he'll hit his three. I think he'll probably
shoot forty five percent in the Summer League and get smoked.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
He's just on exhibit ten, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
It's not Yeah, but we drove we you know, we
go deep.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Oh no, I'm room for him all day. Of course.
I want him to get that complete, full standard contract.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Can I just say I actually like Politis, Like I know,
it's like.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
A we all love. Yeah, we're in good coaching, man.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I I don't know. I kind of think it's cool
to just have a dude who just shoots the ship
out of the ball. That's nice. There's nothing, there's nothing allowed. Yeah,
win to Yale. Yeah it's a smart son of a bitch,
you know.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
So Yeah, just chewing tobacco right now. If you're not
able to watch the scream, just spit Yanik. Though we've done.
The issue for Yanik is his the pick and roll
defense seems a little rough. We talked about it last episode.

(53:00):
It doesn't that's kind of what I'm looking for in
the summer league from if that can help.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
Do you think JVG being on the staff helps any
of these players that, like, if the biggest concerns are
defensive concerns, that they can like find some pathway towards
even a couple of minutes.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Will he can't get out there for them? Listen, I
watched Jeff Gundy guard Lebron James at Team USA camp. Okay,
just saying that right now he might be able to
be like the fifth best perimeter defender on this team.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
Who won the matchup?

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Please him, dude, Yeah, it.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Was right there.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
Lebron was just sunned by JVG repeatedly.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Just just the hard and slap, just slap time.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
How do you think James got so good at it?

Speaker 1 (53:55):
I think I don't know if the rookies can benefit.
I think they can get good habits from it. But like,
jvg's not like a developmental coach like this Clippers team
isn't a team that like brought him off. No, and
I mean like we like guys.

Speaker 4 (54:07):
The front office has already said these guys are not
going to get any playing time if you know we
bring in Bradley.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Be were I mean said Adam, Am I wrong or
am I right? That Lawrence Frank had like a weird
the young guy's got to play more than we signed
a bunch of older guys.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Well, we had the quote talking about having them up
with the team more so they can practice with them,
more so they can show more practice, even though there's
not a lot of practices in today's NBA, but whichever
ones they do have, they want those guys available.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
My favorite part about that was Lawrence basically saying that
in his day, the best way for a coach to
see if a player was ready, if essentially was to
just whip the ass of a veteran in front of
them and practice. That's basically what he alluded to. And
that's kind of funny because that's how it was, and
I think it's different in this day age. But I

(55:01):
don't mind the youngster's practicing more with the NBA team
if it's gonna give them any chance of playing, because
let's be realistic. What good is the G League gonna
do Jordan Miller for another year? Absolutely nothing.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
I don't know what he's gonna do for him.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
Why do I.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Because he needs reps because they have no spot to
play him in the in the regular team right now?

Speaker 4 (55:27):
Yah?

Speaker 3 (55:27):
What do you do with that?

Speaker 2 (55:28):
If he cooks were like cool, he cooked last Summer League,
it doesn't mean now he's ready for the NBA. Unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
Yeah, that's why I wish he wasn't at summer League.
I don't understand the Like, Okay, that sounds bad to say.
I don't understand the point. I get it, he needs reps.
Same with Kobe, I get it. I don't know what
it does for them, That's what I don't know. Like,
if I see them kill it on the ball, does
that change anything? No, because they're not gonna be able
to They're not going to handle the ball in an

(55:55):
NBA setting with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden and John
Call and potentially Bradley Beal on the team. It's not happening.
So it is. It's like February fourth on the road
on a back to back in Boston and nine people
are sitting. Then that's about it. But you're not seeing that.
So and how much of the little things do you

(56:17):
need to see? Because they've raved about the little things
that these guys do. So if they've already done the
little things and you need to see them get more
on ball reps. But they're not gonna get on ball reps,
So what's the point. I don't know. I think it's
also like there's a point of diminishing returns with summer
league for thirty year guys, especially when they especially when
they look great last year, Like why would they have

(56:39):
to be back? There are some guys in Summer league
this year. I'm like, why are they there.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
On a summer league roster this year?

Speaker 3 (56:46):
Khalail Ware is in Summer League from Miami, and I
get why. Yes, I understand he was at the California
Classic or whatever. I understand why he's there, but it
doesn't make sense when you factor in that, like the
things he's doing there are the same thing he did

(57:07):
at the NBA level, so he's not working on anything new.
He's not ball handling for them at a summer league level.
Because the one thing I go back to, and I'm
sorry this is taken a while, but like Keegan Murray's
second year in the league, he went to Summer league
in the California Classic for the Kings, but they had
him work on ball handling and point of attack defense,

(57:27):
so he did a lot of it. He killed it
for them in the California Classic. They shut him down.
He didn't even do Vegas. But I talked to him
in Vegas about it when he was there for Select
Team USA Select Camp ahead of the World Cup that year,
and he talked about how that was the plan is
he goes to the California Class, he works on these
specific things, and then once they saw it, that was

(57:48):
it and that's all they needed to see. But like,
if you're not sending a guy to Summer league and
having them do those things, I don't understand the point
of it. So that's where that's like where the disconnect
is for me.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
But isn't the Summer League champione like the thinking Man's
Larryo by.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
Some people? Some people say the most valuable trophy you
can win in Vegas?

Speaker 1 (58:13):
You know, hey, it's about they go and just don't.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Miller and Kobe just not play that much, Like they're
just there to help the young guys go through it.
I'm not saying they're not playing. What if they're not
playing that much, they're.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
The Crisp Paul of Summer League clip Clippers. The forty
year old's just running through everybody.

Speaker 4 (58:37):
Would that should mean Chris Paul's real farewell tour, play
in Summer League, playing the Cup, you know, hopefully playing
in the finals.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
I just more passive out there. They're just being connectors
and trying to make the other guys comfortable. You know,
they're not taking the high usage of my NBA.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
I I like that idea.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
My NBA hoop idea that I've had for years is
I think each NBA team, she'd have to designate one
all Star player or what you would classify potentially as
an All Star player to go to Summer League for
two games and just let them beat the ship out
of everyone. I want to see that.

Speaker 4 (59:15):
I'd be proud if not, if like there was zero
injury risk, which made that's fair.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Only concern.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Risk.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Could could you imagine Lebron like peak Lebron in Summer League,
like just going against like day Kwon Cook or someone
and just just running right there.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
It would probably look like when peak Lebron was in
the NBA is what it would probably look like, but.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
Like so much better peak Lebron versus the nineties.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
Oh sorry, yeah, oh oh no, we're not that's also
all right.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
Now, the conversation.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
No, someone brought up in the chat. Uh, what's going
is a mere coffee coming back to the Clippers?

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Or is that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Null and void with the John Cotton Like the need
isn't really there anymore? Kind of ish.

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
I'm sure things could change, but I'm sure things could change.
But I've heard from even before the summer that he
was not coming back, well, I.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Mean an unspoken message when he didn't play at all
in that playoff series and towards the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
I just think that they had prioritized other needs. And obviously,
as we've seen, they've gone out and done that. And
I think they're more than happy to let him go
get his money elsewhere. And that's what I've been told
from even before free agency. And I mean, I also
think it's just a really slow free agent market in general,

(01:00:45):
Like this has been bleak outside of but.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
I was told, I was told by reputable sources this
was going to be the craziest free agency ever. I
stayed awake.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
It was all a sham.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Suck Adams been on fire this chat. You see what
happens when his internet works, folks.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
Oh yeah, Adam, let's talk about your internet for a second.
You have like three hamsters in a wheel somewhere. They're
just working overtime.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Remember that old Lance Armstrong Sports Center commercial where they
just found him keeping the energy on. Yeah, well we
knew he was a scumbag.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
Hey, okay, we'll get into the Lance Armstrong talk on
the Patreon too.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
This is my s You were talking about doping and.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
You really want to talk about does anyone We're gonna
wrap this up justin thank you so much for coming on.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
I'm glad I could crash it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
You didn't crash it all.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Start blowing up my phone. You guys are doing this,
gibb me I did.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
I literally text him. I was like, oh you and
Chuck are live. I was like, where the where the
hell was my advite?

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
Just okay, chop liver over here.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
You know, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
We'll add another road to the sheet. We'll put you
on the list. We're crashing Google sheets at this point.
Clippers have a Summer League game the eleventh, which would
be very fun. Uh justin Rousseau final thoughts. Oh we
got a block.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
That's not good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I just got blocked. Someone got blocked. Uh justin Rousseau.
Your final thoughts on the Clipper. How the Clippers look
right now, because right after we end this pod, they
will train for Bradley Beal and we will all have
to assemble, not trade for him. Yeah, Sie Bradley Beal. Hey,
what your final thoughts on the John the new look Clippers.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
I think it's fine. I think they're actually rather interesting
going into the year. Obviously they have like a hole
at the two guard spot right now, but I don't
think it's the end of the world and none of
none of Like, trading Norm was not unexpected, it was
I think it took a little bit longer. I know
it's crazy to say a week into free agency, but like,

(01:03:02):
it took a little bit longer than I think people thought.
But once you saw John Collins player option got picked up,
you had to have known John Collins was getting traded
in them from there, it wasn't that hard to fathom
that this was something that could happen and that they
needed to possibly pivot from Norm. Not because of anything
Norm did. Is just the way of the world. Their their.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Fault.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
Yeah, yeah, their roster composition is rather fascinating. I will
just go on record and saying I don't like the
potential Bradley beal fit I. I I think it could work.
I'm just not a major fan of it, but but

(01:03:47):
I understand the pathway why they would do it and
the opportunity that they would have to pick up a
player of his ilk for nothing, essentially.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
High ceiling swing will a risk, high reward.

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
It can be. I mean it could. It could go
pretty sideways rather quickly too. It's a weird team. Well,
you never know. Let's just be realistic here. We've seen
some things, sir, with with something. It's about who people

(01:04:25):
want it to be about. I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
It's this is about k Jones.

Speaker 3 (01:04:30):
Dude, very nice guy. By the way, I have nothing
all right, It's it's just it's an old team. And
and look, there's two ways to look at this. Old
teams can be good because there's a lot of veteran
know how, there's a lot of experience, they've been through everything.

(01:04:51):
Old teams can also struggle just because they're more likely
to get injured. Maybe guys don't accept lesser roles because
of ego, which is more than fair. So there's all
these factors. But what I will tell people who've wanted
the Clippers for a while. To get younger is in
the current aspect and iteration of this Clippers organization and
the way they've been doing things and the assets that

(01:05:13):
they do or don't have. You could either be young
and bad or old and good, and they've gone the
old and good route, which I don't think is the
bad as the bad call. So that's kind of my
viewpoint on everything. Are they Are they a Tier one
title contender? No? Are they a Tier two below that? Sure?

(01:05:35):
But I think their whole thing is let's just keep
if you keep our If they were able to keep
themselves in that level of at least giving themselves a
chance at the conversation, they have to keep doing it,
and I don't fault them for that. They haven't had anything. Yes,
I think right now that the fourth best team in
the West.

Speaker 4 (01:05:56):
That's all I needed to hear. That's all I need.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Counterpoint. Also, this might be there here.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
I don't know if you've heard, but the Olympics are
consued into it, and so is basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
There maybe when all those those are going to go
off without a hitch.

Speaker 3 (01:06:17):
Hey, look when those athletes roll into into it, doome
for that gold medal game? They look up at a
Clippers championship banner. You're gonna remember this conversation, Chuck.

Speaker 4 (01:06:28):
I will.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
Okay, I hope I do up will Okay, you're getting
darkly prophetic with some of these these tape. We're getting
very nihilistic with some of these. Uh will? Where can
people since we are putting this out on audio, where

(01:06:51):
can people find and maybe review us if they'd like to?

Speaker 4 (01:06:55):
Yeah, you can check out the audio version of this
show wherever you get your podcast. If you have to
listen over on app podcast or Spotify, you can leave
a little rating or review. You can leave comments over
there on Spotify. But if you want to get in
on these lives, get in the chat, mix it up,
you want to check us out or on YouTube dot
com that's at Clippers Podcast. Please subscribe if you haven't already,
hit the little notification so you know when we're doing stuff.

(01:07:15):
But you know, however, listen whoever you watch.

Speaker 1 (01:07:18):
We appreciate you, We very much do. Adam Osland, you
have the hardest job on this whole pod. One positive
thing for these Clippers fans before we head into the
week of the first Summer League game.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
For the Clippers, the positive here. Well, if it doesn't
work out with John Collins, you have no one to
blame about yourselves this time first or responsibility and accountability.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
How many receipts do you have bookmarks? Right now?

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
Adam? I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
So from justice conversation and you said I was nihilistic,
I did.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
I stand by it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
The collective GMing that was done today by Clipper Nation
to speaking into existence with John Collins has happened. But
I will say to Justin's point of yeah, it's cool
getting younger, but you know what's even better getting better,
And sometimes that means you have to be a little
bit of an older team, and the Clippers are. But
they brought in a guy who's gonna be twenty eight

(01:08:23):
all this season with all that athleticism. So I'm excited
about it. Let's go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
He's excited about it?

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
Is he the third youngest player on the team? Well, fourth, fourth,
it's like him roster, Yeah, it's like him, Yannick, Jordan
and Kobe right, those are like the four youngest guys.
Chuck just took it. Chuck just took the biggest gulf

(01:08:50):
as he realized.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
That Kobe's like thirty four right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
I mean brook low Pez is a spring chicken. What
are we talking about here?

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
You think Brooks lifetime supply to Disney is just going
to get the whole team into like the matterhorn.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
No, we need to stay away from rides. All right,
we're ending the stream. We're gonna talk more about the
rides on the Patreon. Thank you for hanging out again.
If you want to watch us, check us out at
YouTube dot com. Slash at Clippers podcast. Thank you to
Justin Rousseau. Find him on substeck, find him on Twitter.
He makes wonderful content for Clippers fans and WNBA fans. Okay,
he's trying to argue, agains himself. We have to get

(01:09:30):
out of here. Uh, Kobe Brown is not thirty four.
For the person in the chat asking that we will
talk to you all soon. Goodbye,