Law Murray from Hawaii on it being Harden's team, JVG, Kai and KPJ

Clippers Talk with Adam Auslund as Law Murray also joins the show in the final half hour to discuss Adam's theory that it's Harden's team and there are similarities to PG/Russ/OKC now. Plus a discussion on JVG coaching, Kai Jones, KPJ and more.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Slippers talk from the mainland. I'm not in Whay, I

(00:03):
am out of Maslin. It's going to be with you, guys,
happy to be here. We might have a special guest
coming on in just a little bit as I get
my cord control under control. Was on ex earlier, was
on Twitter. Was checking out and reviewing some tape from
training camp today, and there were some interesting quotes from

(00:27):
coach Lou that reinforced a belief that I have had
with this squad. And if you're new here or just
getting in and you're Jeffrey beltraand and you're saying let's go,
I appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
It's gonna be on. This is the beauty of just
having my own channel. Now I could just start rolling
whenever I feel like it. Oh and the usuals are here.
Extra Ernie TV says yes we hear. Adam Clip Gang,
don't bang. Jay bowse Ay four says good evening them,
Good evening, j Bos, Good afternoon in Hawaii. If you

(01:06):
happen to be there with the team at training camp.
I wanted to focus on a subject today that I've
been talking about for a little bit, but I think
it's become even more clear after what Coach Lou said
just a little bit earlier, and going off some of
the training camp tape that I was able to find
and some of the interviews going on from our wonderful

(01:28):
local reporters like Joey Lynn La Murray, far Boysen, Shari
the usuals. They do a great job. A lot of
them are there. If you missed it, Carlojmenez was with
me here on Clipperstock Live last night from Honolulu, Hawaii. Also,
if you miss this, you can't do not miss this.

(01:50):
Trust me. I'm not proud of many things. I'm not
a proud man, but the Ralph Lawler interview I did
in Oregon a couple of weeks ago. Well, Part two
just dropped last night, late last night. It's on the
channel here. I would implore you, I would highly encourage

(02:10):
you to check out that Ralph Lawler interview. Whether you
saw part one yet, if not, go back at the
end of it you'll see the link to part two.
But Part two, to me is even more special. We
included a ton of stuff, a ton of clips pertaining
to the subject matter, like how Kobe Bryant could have

(02:33):
been a Clipper not once, but twice not once, but twice,
and Donald Sterling let him slip through his fingers, and
then you have the situation with an unknown player, a
lesser known player, someone who died tragically in his thirties.

(02:54):
Derek Smith was a Clipper in the last year in
San Diego, went with them to LA and was a
budding superstar. Was averaging over twenty a game, efficient and
explosive out there, Derek Smith. If you don't know his story,

(03:16):
you'll find out in the Ralph Lawler interview. Highly highly
recommend it, guys, And yeah, we talked about it as
Jay Bose eighty four brings it up here watching Drive
tonight after watching you guys talk about that scene in
the interview. Ralph Lawler is in the movie Drive, which
is a lot of people's favorite movie in the last
ten years or is up there. It is kind of
a cult classic, Ryan Gosling, really good flick. It is

(03:44):
one of the better movies you will watch in the
last ten years. And it happens to be centered around God.
I guess it's over ten years now, it's like twenty eleven.
It's centered around The starting scene is set in downtown
Los Angeles as he's making a pick up up at
Staples Center, and so Ralph Lawler's on the call. He's
listening to the game on the radio to figure out

(04:06):
when it's over. Really really cool. Talked about that with
Ralph too. But I want to, you know, get into
the meat and potatoes of the matter today here on
Clipper Stock and again I'm hoping for a special guest here,
but I'm gonna play you some audio. And this came
out earlier today, day three of training camp, and it

(04:32):
was from coach lou and I found it illuminating and
I found it encouraging, and I'll tell you why. But
first I want you to hear this audio as I
share the screen right now.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
What shames, what do you see other shames at this
stage of his career and what you.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
Envisioned just I've always been in his whole career, Houston.
You know, just make sure guys getting to the right spots,
knowing he's gonna be a deliver the ball any pass
you can make to get guys open shots. And so
just working with the young guys, tell them where to
be on how to get to those spots, you know,
when to get to second spots.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
And he's been great, you know, leading this young team day.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
So there it was Coach Lou talking about James Harden
not just being the focal point of this team, but
playing like he did in Houston, which means that is
a heightened focal point, nexus point, hub on offense, helio
centric ball level. Then anybody outside of Luka Dacic has

(05:40):
ever played in the NBA ever, Jeffrey Belcherin is asking me, Adam,
will you ever do an episode with fans as guests?
You know it's regular folk. Loll uh. Maybe I don't
know how it could work that out, but maybe I'll
consider that for sure if you guys are into it.
I appreciate you guys checking out the content and hanging

(06:02):
with me, So I'll try to figure that out at
some point. But I have been saying, if you listen
to Clips and Dip, if you listen here on Clippers Talk,
that this is James Harden's team now, and it has
to be out of necessity because unfortunately the lack of
availability with Kawhi Leonard. It's not that Kawhi doesn't want

(06:26):
to play, he does, his knee doesn't always want to listen.
A troublesome right knee and once again didn't participate in
any of the drills of practice. Again today, I'm hoping
they're just being overly cautious to an extent we haven't

(06:47):
seen before in the Kawhi Leonard era of Clippers basketball,
because why not, after what has occurred the last four years,
they should be. It makes sense to be, It is
wise and would be wise of them to do so.
Just realized I forgot to put my selfie light on.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
But whatever, who needs it.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
James Harden is the guy.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Now.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
How this Clipper season goes, a lot of it is
going to depend on James at the age of thirty five,
just turned it. I don't know. I think a month
ago somewhere there now when he was with Houston in
his last season there. He was at the age of

(07:38):
thirty the nineteen twenty season, his last full season, you
could say, where he played sixty eight games. He started
the twenty twenty one year, played eight games, wanted out,
They made it happen, and he went to Brooklyn. I
don't expect James Harden to go back to averaging thirty

(07:59):
five four points per game. I don't expect him to
average as many points as his age is currently, and yeah,
he turned thirty five on August twenty sixth. That's unrealistic.
But what I do expect from James is for him

(08:21):
to be featured and run the show offensively and make
the trains run on time. For the Clippers, everybody knows
they're playing off of James Harden. That's it. That's the
type of team this is going to be, and those
teams have been very successful in the past. You can

(08:42):
argue and quibble over the fact that he hasn't won
a championship, and then you can say, well, his style
of basketball must not work. He just brought up a
media day on Monday. How obviously it can work. Luka
Donci's just got to the NBA Finals. He plays the
exact same way. Everything's focused around him, everything flows through him.

(09:05):
I don't know if this Clippers team as currently constructed
as a championship contender now, but I do know a
James Harden offense with him as a system. He didn't
say the system, just just to be you know, particular
about this and pedantic inaccurate.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
He didn't say.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
The system. He knows there's a lot of different systems
out there. There's not just one or he's not elevating
himself and saying that there's only one way to do this.
I am the system, he said, a system, and the
full quote is I'm not a system player, I'm a
system facts inarguable. In fact, I was gonna ask him

(09:48):
if I got a chance at media day to get
a little bit inside the mind of James Harden in
terms of what he sees and what he's looking for
once he crosses half court and how he reads the
fl or so well. Because he's been doing it for
a long long time. It's proven it is a system

(10:09):
that is successful. Anthony Lutie says, those teams have been
very successful in the past, quoting me and said thank
you in all caps, Yeah, they have. In fact, there
was a two year window there with the Houston Rockets
where they had one of the best teams of all time.

(10:30):
I'm telling you, one of the greatest teams of all time.
He had CP three as his running mate. We're talking
about the seventeen eighteen eighteen nineteen Houston Rockets. Here was
the problem, Well, they might have been a top ten team, ever,

(10:52):
they happened to be in an era where they were
taking on the greatest team ever, the Golden State Warriors
that won seventy three games in the added Kevin Durant
and were on steroids at that point, not literally, but
they had that much firepower already. You add Kevin Durant
another jolt. They already were making the argument for the

(11:13):
best team ever and blew a three to one lead
in the NBA Finals of the year before, and then
got to add KD. The only reason that James Harden
doesn't ever ring is because he happened to be in
the wrong place at the wrong time taking on the
KD Golden State Warriors. So don't tell me this garbage

(11:34):
that it can't work. Please spare me. Look at the
context of that situation, look into the details there. How
many teams have been as good as that Houston Rockets
team were. They took Golden State to seven games without

(11:56):
CP three the last two, and it still took them
missing twenty seven straight three pointers at one point, an
all time NBA record for Golden State to win that
game seven with Kevin Durant. In some ways, Golden State
was fortunate, but in pretty much every way, the Houston
Rockets were very unfortunate. So when I heard James Harden

(12:19):
talk about this. I don't know if it was yesterday
or today, but where's he at when it comes to
a championship. He realizes how much luck is involved, how
circumstantial it is, and how much is outside of your control.
I think the Clippers. If any franchise has known this
over the last five years, it's them. They didn't build

(12:43):
a team that couldn't win a championship. They had the
roster in place. Kawhi and Paul George worked on the court,
but they couldn't stay healthy. And the window may have
shut when Kawhi unfortunately did it acl in that Game
four in the second round against the Utah Jazz in

(13:04):
twenty twenty one. That's outside of your control. That's not
Lawrence Frank's fault. I saw somebody the other day saying
it's not working with Lawrence Frank. It's never worked with him.
Why because of reasons within his control or reasons outside
of his control? Because you kid have predicted what happened

(13:26):
to Kawhi there. Yeah, we knew there were some injury concerns.
Nobody said, well, I mean he's got the bad thighs,
so that means he's gonna tear his acl at some point.
Nobody said that. Nobody said he'd take that bad step
next to Joe Ingles. Nobody predicted any of these things.
I don't want to hear any revisionist history. Now, nobody

(13:49):
could have seen Paul George missing as many games as
he missed as a Clipper. He only played forty more
games than Kawi did, and Kawhi miss an entire season
because of the ac Paul George had just played. I
think seventy seven is last year with oksee, even with
the shoulders. I mean, my god, if it wasn't for
bad luck, the Clippers would have no luck at all.

(14:11):
As Brian Seman likes to say it has said on here.
If they just had bad luck and not horrific, horrible,
completely unfortunate, out of this world bad luck, they would
have won at least a ring or two. But the
hits kept on coming and Kawhi hasn't been able to

(14:33):
stay healthy. And this is how you get to the
point where James Harden at thirty five, is running the
show and a system is he and the Clippers are
building around it. You know what that means. They have
a built in identity. It's James Harden basketball heavy EYESO,

(14:55):
heavy usage rating. Be prepared for a lot of catch
and shoots and guys surrounding him. There are three and
D players which they have a plethora of, and be
prepared to eat the zoobots to find yourself rolling to
the basket for some easy ones. Here's what's really interesting.
James Harden traditionally has just worked with a rim runner

(15:22):
and finisher, a lob threatuinn't Capela was amazing, I beats zoobots.
Has more to his game, a lot more. You couldn't
give it to Capella on the block and just let
him go to work like Big Zoo Camp. Now Zoo

(15:42):
not quite the finisher as Capella, but he's not bad
in that area. So then you add this other dimension
he has where you can say, Zoo, go get a bucket.
And he talked about it on media Day and he's
talked about it a ton. He has all the belief
in the world when he's on the block, when he
down low that he can create for himself and get

(16:03):
a basket and use his size and his force and
his coordination with both hands. We've seen the left hand
being used much more now. The right hand was always
a problem. I remember what was the quote from who
is the MMA Fighter back in the day from Pride

(16:23):
Crow Cop Crow Cop. I forget where he was from.
I don't know if he was from Croatia, but he
used to say something like right leg hospital, left leg cemetery,
or maybe the reverse of that. Because his kicks were devastating.

(16:43):
It would knock you out all the time, and if
he caught you with the dominant leg, you were cooked.
A lot of guys were outside of Fador Avitza Zubots
dominant with the right hand, but the left hand ain't bad.
Tanned hospital, right hand cemetery, that type of thing. It

(17:08):
is going to be that two man duo that is
going to find the fine A lot of what happens
on the offensive end for the Clippers all season long,
it's gonna be up to them, and it starts with
James Harden. And I don't know if there's many better
guys in NBA history with where you'd want the ball
in their hands more than James because good things happen.

(17:32):
And I don't think you guys understand James Harden is
so analytical, and this is why I wanted to ask
him on media David. I didn't get a chance to
about how he sees the floor. It's like if you
have Clippers court Vision and you've watched that program, it's beautiful.
You're gonna see all the percentages when a guy takes
a shot depending on where he is on the floor,

(17:53):
you see what he shoots from that spot. That's one
of the cool features. It's like when James Carden crosses
half court, he has the augmented reality on or James
Harden Vision, where he's running through all the analytics depending
on where somebody is on the floor, what they shoot there,
where they're most comfortable. He's computing all this at once.

(18:18):
Called the Bearded Wonder, call him data. It is important
to him and I think he learned this working with
Mike D'Antoni. To create the most efficient shot as possible
each and every time down. That's what you're looking for
in your leader and your floor general. That's the name

(18:39):
of the game. Points per possession, that's it. The team
that's more efficient there gonna win. And James Harden, the
reason his teams have always made the playoffs is because
he optimizes the points per possession and it's really damn impressive. Now,

(19:02):
what can he do at the age of thirty five,
because last season, while playing seventy two games, he was
only at thirty four minutes for ball game for the Clippers,
fewest amount of minutes he had played per ballgame since

(19:23):
the twenty eleven twenty twelve season with OKC, when he
was a third option At thirty five, Can he still
play Let's see where he was in Houston in his prime,
thirty six thirty seven minutes a night. I don't know.
Those aren't just any minutes, you know, when you talk

(19:43):
about pitchers, and we're about to see this this weekend
here in La Dodgers taken on the padres, but there
are innings that are more taxing than others. When there's
high traffic on the base paths and those high leverage moments,
they take more out of you. James Harden's thirty six

(20:06):
thirty seven minutes are different than other guys because he's
playing with the ball in his hands so much. It's
not the same They are taxing. So I don't know,
at the age of thirty five, if he can play
thirty five minutes tonight, I don't know. Do I think
it's gonna be necessary? For the Clippers to get by

(20:29):
probably probably will efficiency go down a little bit likely,
but that's okay. It can dip some because he's gonna
have to put up more than eleven shots per game
like he did last season. He's not playing next to Paul,
George Russ and Kawhi anymore. It's just when Kawhi is available,

(20:51):
so the shots are gonna go up. I think somewhere
between sixteen and eighteen per game, somewhere in that range.
It all depends how many games Kawhi Leonard ends up playing,
but I wouldn't be surprised if the overall effective field
goal percentage or true shooting percentage goes down for James Harden.

(21:12):
Not about that. Yes, sufficiency is important points per possession,
but even him with a dip in those percentages is
better than a lot of the other guys that are
out there. But he's also going to raise and elevate
everybody around him. All Right, We got some questions here

(21:34):
as we're talking about James Harden's Clippers, because as I
played the audio or earlier from coach Lou when you
hear him talk about going back to Houston with James
Harden and how we need to play like that. That
tells you all you need to know. It is his squad.
The reason because of the position he plays, because of

(21:56):
how unique he has been in this game and the
way he plays it, and the availability or lack thereof
of Kawhi Leonard where his knee has been unreliable. I'm
not gonna put it on him. He wants to play.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's his knee.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
I'm gonna make a comparison for you here. I sent
it on Twitter a little bit earlier when I posted
that audio from coach Liu. Some people may not like
this because of the names involved, but I think it's
accurate when it comes to roles, and I'm talking about
a duo that Clipper Nation knows really well, and I'm

(22:33):
drawing a parallel to how I think things will go
with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard this year in terms
of roles. I think it's gonna be somewhat similar to
what we saw from Russell Westbrook and Paul George in
ok C in the twenty eighteen twenty nineteen season. Here's

(22:54):
what I mean by that. It was still Russell Westbrook's team.
It was it centered around him in his chaotic style
of basketball. In that way, he's very different than James Harden.
But the reason I say it could be like that
because Paul George played off of him and was still

(23:18):
the leading scorer, getting six more points per game. He
was at twenty eight points per game. Russ was at
twenty two while it was still Russ's team. Just because
you're the number one scoring option doesn't mean it's your team,
doesn't mean you can't still be playing off of someone else.
Everything was still geared towards Russ, but Paul George was

(23:42):
playing as the number one scorer out there. I think
that's what we're gonna see when Kawhi Leonard's available next
to James Harden. That's why I say that comparison, because
while James is gonna be in control of the basketball well,
making the decisions out there, Kawhi is gonna play off

(24:03):
of him and benefit, and he's gonna get Kawhi to
his spots, just like Russ would do with Paul George.
During that eighteen nineteen season where PG thirteen ended up
top three in Defensive Player of the Year voting and
MVP voting, Jonathan Ing says, if you haven't talked about
Chris done yet I forgot who said it, but done
pushing hard in camp, guarding ninety four feet against harden

(24:26):
against point of attack defenders. Clippers haven't had an attack
dog like that since Pat Bev. Thanks Jonathan Ing. I
know you read my tweets, man, just give me credit.
You know I've already been saying it. Not trying to
pat myself on the back here, but that is the comparison.

(24:48):
There's a lot of Patrick Beverly in Chris Dunn, and
it's his style of play. And if you want to
check out the tweet I put out yesterday, I had
the DMX music going in it. Here it is I said,
Chris Dunn is my new favorite Clipper saw a clip
with Joey Linn and want people to know they once

(25:10):
again have a tone setter and a physical presence on
defense like they haven't had since who since Pat Bev.
Not looking for anyone to get hurt, just excited for
that toughness and passion. Again. I feel like you probably
saw that, Jonathan, But great minds think alike. Whatever. He
goes on to say, lack of attack dog explains how

(25:31):
DJJ locked up PG because he didn't have reps from
someone who would push him. Love having the attack dogs
we have defensively this year between Dunn, DJJ and Terrence Man. Yeah,
we do. I don't think that was the issue with
Paul George really at all, to be honest, Russ Bens
would say, what do you mean he was the attack dog?

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Well it went eight for forty two the last five
games of that series. So I do think there's an
edge that Chris Dunn plays with that can inspire others,
let's say, can bring out the best in others. Jam

(26:15):
thirteen says, what's good, Adam, I know we were just
having a discussion about Kawhi's playing style or you just
want him to play in general.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
I made that comparison with Paul George and Russell Westbrook
in the eighteen nineteen season, and oka see to how
James Harden and Kawhi could play off one another in
their roles and how it could be defined this season.
And he said and started talking about Kawhi need to
take more three pointers. I'm like, man, we're not even
at the point yet to where we can say what

(26:45):
Kawhi Leonard needs to do when he's on the court.
We just need to get him on the court. Let's
see him get on the court. I'm just hoping the
guy can play.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Fifty five games right now.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Style of play? Why are we talking about that? I
get I'm too greedy with it. We just want to
see him out there. Yeah, he's a great, great three
point shooter and doesn't get enough credit and probably doesn't
take enough. Mostly is taken as in a season on
average is six. Paul George that season with OKC eighteen

(27:15):
nineteen year was taking almost ten three pointers per game,
which is why anythink that was his best season as
a pro. I wish he took more as a Clipper.
Caesar Guerberro says, is there anything else besides defense that
you were concerned about with James Harden? Not really up
and down play in the playoffs? But why are we
even talking about playoffs yet? Clippers gotta get there. Some

(27:44):
people might say he's two ball dominant. I don't like
this style of play. My guy Dime Dropper would say
that I don't care what you like. I care what's effective.
I'll take effectiveness over preference and style. So why people

(28:05):
would say all the time with Russ Oh, I love
his energy cool. Energy's great, No, it's better effectiveness. James
Harden is that do you want to win or do
you only want to win your way? That guy Spencer said, well,
team Man step up with pg guhnn as a score.

(28:27):
He has to to some degree. I think you will
if you look at what he did in the playoff
series last year against the Dallas Mavericks. I think we
got a glimpse into the future with Terrence Man and
what he could do this year. His points per game,
you know, they weren't up by much, but they were
up a little bit. He was getting thirty two minutes

(28:48):
per game during the playoff series against Dallas versus twenty
five minutes per game during the regular season with the
Clippers last year. But nine points, five boards, a couple
of assists. Oh, and then there's this little set about
Terrence Man that I saw today. I knew his defense

(29:09):
was good, and I knew in that series against Dallas
he had peaked as a defender. Not it's all downhill
from here peaking. I just mean that was the best
he had ever played defensively. Because Luca Dodgis only shot
forty percent in that series and twenty three percent from
three against the Clippers. Well, guess what if you go

(29:33):
off the matchup data with Terrence Man against Luca, which
is more accurate than just saying, well, Luca overall in
the series shot forty percent because multiple guys are guarding
him during the series. But if you go for the
matchup data and isolate him versus Terrence Man, Man guarded

(29:54):
Luka Doncis for twenty eight minutes and fifteen seconds total
in the six games. Remember these are sport be cameras.
It's not a perfect science, and I think the chips
they have in their jerseys putting this stuff together. It's
not perfect, but it's pretty good. Twenty eight mans in
fifteen seconds. He was on Luca one on one. Luca

(30:15):
during that time was fifteen of thirty nine from the floor.
That's thirty eight and a half percent, so even lower
than he shot over all the series and went over
twelve from three against Terrence Man. He didn't hit a
three on them. Guys, I'd say that's elite defense. I
say that's a guy worth paying under sixteen million per year.

(30:38):
Some Laker fan was getting on me earlier. I told
him he should stay out and sit this one out.
I don't know why Lakers fans are getting wind of
their jaws and wanting to talk about the Clippers and
worry about their role players and how good they are
and if the contract was comparable to their play. I mean,

(31:02):
come on, worry about yourself, worry about your own team.
Laker fans. I don't need this stuff, but I'll show
it to you because I think you guys will be entertained.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
And it's always fun to dunk on the Laker fans.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Why not. Uh, this guy named Sean who's at you
are dumb twenty four, I've known him to be a
bit of a troll on Twitter. Watch out for him.
I don't think he was trolling though when he said
man average nine to five shooting for forty one percent
from the field. Oh, he didn't shoot forty one percent

(31:38):
from the field last year. That's yes, what he shot
in the playoff series against Dallas because he mostly was
taking threes where he shot forty five percent. But on
the season he shot fifty one percent from the floor.
And let's not forget what he was able to do

(32:00):
at the basket. For the last two years at the
guard position, he has finished top three in the restricted
area in field goal percentage, Terrence Man. And while you
started off so slow last season from three, he ended
the year his last fifty games, and then when he
added the in the playoffs shooting forty five percent from

(32:21):
three over a fifty game sample. Don't tell me this
was an overpay please, or just tell me you weren't
paying attention like Sean you are dumb twenty four? Who
I think I said, read you're at in the mirror
to yourself. I got time for these Laker fans, but
I probably gave him too much time. That guy Spencer said,

(32:44):
is twelve points per game too much to ask? Uh from?
Terrence Man? No, I think I think twelve is reasonable.
It might be on the high side just given he's
been around eight. But more points per game I think
as possible. I really do. Let's see how many shots

(33:07):
he took an attempted per game last season. Oh my goodness,
he was only at six field goal attempts. So let's
say he gets to ten. There you go, he's got
a great chance. And then have going from eight point
eight points per game where he was at the last
two years, to possibly twelve, especially if he starts hot.

(33:29):
From three this year. Last two seasons he started so
willfully low from the outside guys, that was the problem.
Finish strong over the last fifty games into the playoffs,
just over forty four percent from three. Terrence Mann. It's

(33:51):
a good problem to have that The only issue is
him shying away from taking threes, kind of like Luke
Canard at times, who would get bench when he didn't
take three pointers. He turned out a three. Coach would
take him out. You're too good at Sorry, you gotta
teach guys lessons that way. It's tough love. But team
man almost needs to be the same thing. He's not

(34:13):
the sharp shooter that Luke Kennard is, but he's a
thirty seven percent career three point shooter. He's an above
average three point shooter. They need him to take and
make those shots. Can't make them if you don't take them.
What's the old Wayne Gretzky quote. The office then took

(34:34):
ownership of I can't stress enough how important it is
for Terren's man to start fast. I think if he
starts fast from three, there's not gonna be an issue
at all because they'll have the confidence coming off the
playoff series, coming off the last fifty games from last season,
and he'll continue to shoot him. The only issue would

(34:54):
be if he starts cold and then he loses confidence
and shies away. That cannot That happened. We got some
good questions here, keeping coming, guys. I appreciate y'all. Jonathan
Ing waiting again, t Man locking up Luca matched the
eye test that his shooting splits ended up being, Yeah,
it did. Jeffrey Beltre says, bold prediction, bull move cotton

(35:21):
uh t Man averages fifteen, seven and four. Yeah, that's
highly unlikely. I don't think he's going to almost double
his points per game average. I think fourteen or thirteen
points per game is probably the max because if he's
getting if he's averaging fifteen, what you have to understand, Jeffrey,
is that means he's having a bunch of games where

(35:43):
he's getting twenty and a bunch of games where he's
getting ten two. Most likely. I don't know if he's
gonna have a bunch of games gaining twenty. I don't
know if he's that type of score. He hasn't proven
it consistently. He's good, he's necessary. We have our friend
friendship went in I think team managed twelve points per game,
but Zoo is sixteen points per game or higher. I

(36:05):
think that is correct. I agree with that. I can
see both guys finishing somewhere plus or minus a point
from where you just put that. So that guy, Spencer,
You've got a friend here. Someone else believes it too.
Appreciate you guys joining me here on Clippers Talk Live.

(36:26):
I believe we'll have a special guest in about ten
minutes here from Hawaii. From Honolulu, somebody at training camp,
Jonathan Nings says Harden being in really good shape, looking leaner,
makes me optimistic about how he's going to be the
number one option on Nice Kauhi is out. Yeah, I
think James Harden and I hope. I've been wondering this

(36:50):
for a while if even though he's getting older, even
though he's thirty five, is there something to getting further
and further away from the hamstring injury he had in
the playoff series in twenty twenty one with Brooklyn. Those
things can linger and sap some of your explosiveness in
that first step, and I wonder if just a few

(37:12):
more years removed, maybe he'll regain a little bit of
that burst we'll have more blowbys as blow by watch
as a thing between me and Darni and Missouri Don Dropper.
We love watching to see if he and Kawhi can
still get by guys. Harden looks so Lean, says, Jbo's

(37:33):
eighty four and in shape, and he's going to have
a ton of help on defense this year. I think
he'll have a bit of a renaissance year this year
in surprise the rest of the NBA. I think some
people will definitely be surprised. My friend Jason Smith on
Fox Sports Radio, somehow, I don't know, some way came
to this conclusion that James Harden his contract was the
worst contract given out during free agency, which is insane

(37:59):
on so many love Jason, I love you, but it
is a one plus one, my friend. It's seventy million total,
thirty five this year, thirty five next year. And oh yeah,
there's a player option after this year, so he probably
is gonna opt out, which means he's also playing for
his next contract. In what way could that be the

(38:19):
worst contract in the league. Nonsense? Jam I thirteen twenty
four says, I thought this was going to get I
thought Terrence Man was gonna get twenty million on the
open market, but glad he got sixty million per year.
Team Man earned.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
That contract it was given.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
I'm really happy for Terrence Man. I'm really happy happy
for the Clippers because it looks like it means to him.
He probably could have gotten more if he has a
good year. He definitely would have gotten more in the
open market. But a burn in the hand is better
than two in the bush. Who knows what the year
could bring. Maybe it's going to relax him more not

(39:04):
having to play for a contract and bring out the
best in him. But all I know is Team Man
is so grateful to this organization for taking a chance
on him. He said at Media Day. He was talking
about his last year of Florida State going to play overseas.
He didn't even think he'd be drafted, and now he's
going into his sixth season in the NBA. It's a

(39:27):
great story and it epitomizes what Clipernation is all about
with trying to build a culture around guys like Terrence Man,
who are competitive grinders who earn everything out there. I
think Terrence Man, I hope, is going to be a
Clipper for life. We'll see, because it's also a very

(39:50):
tradable contract and you never know what needs you could
have down the road. But we love him. He's a
fan favorite. He was voted fan Favorite. Clipernation has been
on te Man's side and has had his back for
some time now. Caesar Gamero says this, this is funny.

(40:12):
Are we going to see Harden go close out Kawhi again?
Remember after passing the ball, Kawhi's taking that three on
the far side corner and Harden goes up and put
a hand up. Afterwards, said I was just trying to
have some fun out there. I think it was during
that stretch with the Clippers were struggling around five hundred
for about a month and a half, just looking for something.

(40:34):
I don't know if that's what got him out of
that slump, but it was humorous. Uh what else we
got here? What twenty five and under guy are we
optimistic about? Says Caesar Gamaros. Jordan Miller, Kevin Porter Jr.

(40:58):
Kai Jones, Kobe Brown, Bones Highland, all those guys for me,
all of them. Now, I've almost given up on Bones
Highland being a part of this team, just because we
know they've been upfront about the fact that they have
tried to accommodate him and trade him to a team
that will give him more minutes. He and PJ Tucker

(41:20):
the trade deadline got sent home because they were unhappy
after not being traded. Laurence Frank reiterated that point this summer.
So I don't know if Bones is long for being
a Clipper. I'd love him to be, but I also
don't know where he fits in with you bring in
Chris Dunn and Kevin Porter Junior. Yes, you lost Russ,

(41:42):
but you just brought in two more guys for playing time.
How does Bones beat them out? I saw a highlight
from trading camp of him on a catch and shoot
three look good. It was the same clip that Kobe
Brown off and went down to. There's a lot of guys,
young guys that have an opportunity right now, because, as
coach Lou said, our young guys quote, are going to

(42:07):
have to step up. They got to play now. It's
gonna be an open competition. I hope this is a
real open competition and not just trying to motivate guys
to play hard in training camp when they already might
know who exactly is going.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
To have these positions and roles.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
I hope it's a real open competition with real ramifications
by how guys play, because then it makes preseason and
training camp much more interesting. We got a game on Saturday,
preseason game number one from Honolulu Clippers take on the
Golden State Warriors. Pregame at three on a five seventy
LA Sports. Here we go from Jonathan Ings saying, if

(42:53):
Zoo isn't averaging seventeen to eleven boards, the Clippers are
going to be in trouble. I mean, if you got
six or fifteen and ten, I think they could also
be okay. It depends because if he's not averaging that,
but Terrence Man is at fourteen points per game, you're okay.
Other guys supplement it and figure it out. Not everybody

(43:16):
has to have the huge breakout season. You could have
a bunch of guys incrementally taking a step forward. Fifteen
and ten for Zoo would still be a step forward.
Jonathaning also says media folks looking at the hardest contract,
not looking at the details only the years and dollars,
but years and dollars also should not make anyone say

(43:39):
this is the worst contract given this summer when it's
two years at most, it's seventy million for James Harden.
Are you kidding? There's no way to explain it away
that that could somehow be a bad contract. Yeah, if
he got hurt and never played all season long, people
would say that retroactively, but that's stupid. You can't plan

(43:59):
for that stuff. But given who he is with production
and also a marketing element from having a superstar like that,
thirty five million is likely all they're going to pay
because after a year he's probably going to opt out
and he's primed to have a big year with how
lean he looks and how much of an opportunity you

(44:21):
will have to run the show. It makes no sense
to me. Jason Smith was just out of his gourd
with that one, or maybe just going for a hot take.
Caesar Gamaro says, yes, Team Man Clipper for Life, put
that up already. Zam My thirteen twenty four says, I
think Harden's going to average twenty ten and six this
year for real. I think it's very likely. I think

(44:48):
those are all reasonable, realistic numbers. That's a fair stat
line to put out there. You know, I want to
know what his splits are going to be with Kawhi
in those games versus without Kawhi when he's missing games
in those games without Kawhi, is he gonna have to
average twenty six twenty seven points? Is he gonna have

(45:13):
to get twelve assists to have to put up that
level of scoring with all those assists numbers? But he's
done it in the past. I just don't know if
at thirty five you can rely on that. Luis Lemis says,
can't wait to see the Sixers give PG soft the
Tobias treatment. Sixers fans, it's gonna be a rough time

(45:37):
when he does struggle. That is bound to happen at
some point, But I don't know. I'm worried about the
Clippers guys. I kind of want to move on. We'll
talk about November sixth, we'll talk about it in the
game in Philly, But outside of that, I don't plan
on talking about Paul George a Ton, whether he's playing
well or playing poorly, that's not my thing. I don't

(46:02):
want him living rent free in anyone's mind at this point.
JM I thirteen twenty four says with Kawhi, he's got
a bit twenty ten and six without Kauai about twenty
four nine and seven. Well, therefore, your season ending averages
could be somewhere around depending on how many games Kawi plays.
Let's say, if he plays fifty five twenty two, twenty

(46:25):
two points per game, twenty three points per game. I
don't know. Yeah, give me some more likes, y'all. I
love when people come in here and say that for me,
y'all are too nice. I have a guess coming on.
I think it's just moments here from Hawaii, which I'm

(46:46):
excited for. We're definitely gonna show this person some love,
so I want some more likes when this guy comes in.
But I am very much encouraged right now by what
I'm hearing in seeing and training camp, based upon the
conversation around and surrounding James Harden, because this is like

(47:08):
your safety valve or security blanket. Having James Harden running
the James Harden offense. Traditionally that means you're going to
be a top ten offense. I don't know though, at
the age of thirty five, if we can say that
for sure anymore you could a few years ago. You
can pencil it in top ten offense. Oh, James Harden

(47:30):
top ten offense, just like r to Gobert if you
have n't top ten defense. This is going to be
kind of an experiment this season in a lot of ways,
but truly we're gonna find out where James Harden is
at in his career and how close he is to
his prime. A friend from Japan and I can't read

(47:51):
the name. I'd love to know what it is in English,
says Adam. Do you think the bamba mobamba injury situation?
What do you think about it? Can we look for
him to playing the Saturday game? So I was watching
tape earlier from training camp and I did see him
going through I don't know if you consider this walk
through some half court sets. He wasn't moving all that fast.
It was just five minutes of tape. Saw Jeff van

(48:13):
Gundy preaching and teaching out there along with coach Lou.
It was really cool to see guys like Jeff Van
gundhy back coaching and with the Clippers. This is so awesome.
It really it really puts.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Some wind in your sales, so to speak.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
The Clippers got the guy that a lot of people
have wanted to come back to coaching for a long time.
In the NBA. You can make the argument because I
already think coach lou is a top three, top five
head coach at worst, that the Clippers have the best
coaching staff because they have him and Jeff Fan Gundy,
two guys who were on Team USA. Anybody else have

(48:51):
two coaches that were on Team USA in the league? No, No.
Richard Heacock says Harden should be able to go twenty
to ten at good efficiency. He'll do his part go Clippers.
If it was prime James Harden, I would say easy money.
I don't know where he's at physically, and even if

(49:13):
he starts off the season hot, there's likely going to
be some down points. Little injuries, nagging injuries happen that
could slow him down, and they tend to prolong when
you're older. It's just harder to make it through the
eighty two games. I think I would love to see

(49:36):
him be able to play seventy this season. If he can,
I think he can keep the Clippers afloat, But I
still need to know where Kawhi Leonard's at. I think
they need him for fifty five games or more to
have a shot to get out of the plan. Probably
sixty or more to have a shot to stay out

(49:58):
of the plan. But I could be wrong. Other guys
could rise up. Guys like Norman Powell could have a
huge year, and maybe his defense will be better, and
maybe he's going for that second number two spot in
the backcourt, playing the two slot two position next to
James Harden. Therefore he has to play better defense. If

(50:21):
Norm has a really efficient, high scoring year where he's
averaging twenty points per game, I mean that cure is
a lot of what ails you right there. If you
just tell me Norm Powell is getting a fish in
twenty per game, which is very reasonable. That cures a
lot of losing James Harden, or excuse me, losing Paul George.

(50:42):
And it might tell you who could be playing. That's
to James Harden a lot. Jonathan Ing says the Clippers
may get poor treatment at the free throw line from
the refs, but also Harden can't do a ton of
the drifting he used to be able to do. No,
he can't. He hasn't done as much. He hasn't gotten
to the line as much. There's been a precipitous drop

(51:03):
off there from James Harden. It's what happens with guys
when they get older. He's not attacking as much, so
there's less of a chance that you're going to get
as many free throws attempted. I'll give it to you.
From last season, he was only at four point eight
free throws attempt to per game. That was down from
six point two from the year before. The year before
that he was eight point nine, So pretty steep drop off.

(51:24):
You go from eight point nine just two years ago
nine free throws per game to five free free throws
per game. Richard Heacock says, another plus is that James
will not turn the ball over nearly as much as
PG or Russ. That is a plus. This automatically makes
us more efficient. Plus I think our shooting splits will

(51:44):
be much better without Russ. Yeah. Probably. Speaking of things
being much better, I got a guy here who's gonna
make the show much better. Live from Honolulu, Hawaii. Is
the great La Murray of the Athletics zipping on my time.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
I can absolutely not absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Ah, what's good, my friend. Thank you for doing this
here on assignment with Clippers training camp. No less, I
don't want to keep you too long. You tell me
when you got to go because I know there is
some downtime and I want you to enjoy Hawaii. But
thanks for coming on clipperst Off Live.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
Yeah, thanks for having me and and it's it's good
to be out here. I'm trying to enjoy it tonight.
So yeah, I ain't gonna be here forever, but none
of us will be right.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
So when you go, give me the peace sign and
just fade out like that one guy in those memes,
just give me that.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
We need to up We need to update our memes,
like we got too many memes that uh some of
some of y'all, some of y'all parents was using it,
so like we need to We definitely need to upgrade
on some of those things. But I'll let you know.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
If I see a Jordan crying face, I'm gonna start crying.
Come on, guys, it's too old now, uh La. I
thought you had some great questions the last couple of
days at training camp, and today you tried to probe
Coach Lou a little bit pause. You tried to ask
him and press him on some questions regarding a starting unit.
He would not divulge or show his hand. You did

(53:17):
the best you could, so what's your guest right now
where he could be leaning? You said, obviously James is
in there, beats a Zubos Kawhi if he's healthy. But
who are some of the other guys that you think
are most likely to be in that starting unit.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
I mean, I've already since the beginning of July kind
of playing on my flag on the four guys who
started for the team last year and Derek Jones Junior
in place of Paul George. And you know, I'm not
moving off of that. But Kawhi's status, especially this preseason,

(53:51):
lends itself to other guys and other options. You can
go so many different ways, and I think the way
that I think I'm gonna kind of stay on is
having Norman Powell wind up starting when Kawhi is not there.
Uh there. That makes you for sure small that forward.

(54:14):
But with the way that team wants to play, I
think that that's probably what what they wind up doing.
I think offensively, it's good enough. You got James is
the main piece, getting his enough guys you can handle
the ball, shoot the ball, score the ball, have energy
if it allows you to play extremely fast, and.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
Then breaking new starting lineup down here we go.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
You know, I just I just feel like that's that's uh,
that's that's the line up that I'm kind of sticking with.
But there's other guys that we've kind of seen over
discuss over the last ten days or so. I don't
think Nicholas Patum is a series his candidate to start,

(55:01):
but he makes sense in a lot of regards. If
Kawhi is not there because of the position that he plays,
then there's a guy like Chris Dunn. I've been hearing
Chris Dunn's name every single day that Toronto Lou's been
asked to do anything. I think that Chris Dunn was
brought here as a priority guy, Like they traded Russell

(55:22):
Westbrook for the right to give Chris Dunn a multi
year deal. Like you know what I'm saying, Like Chris
Dun's want to play. And I think that the most
interesting thing that was said by both Lawrence and t
Lou is that Chris doesn't need the ball. Chris himself
say he doesn't need the basketball, so that means he
can be the one, he can be the two. He

(55:44):
can defend, which means that he cannot only defend the
point of attack, but he can defend in the backcourt
ninety four feet that best stop. That is something the
Clippers have been searching for literally since Patrick left. They
thought they had it in Eric Bledsoe, And to be
honest with you, I thought Eric letso was fair, you know,

(56:04):
at least defensively. And I think that, like I go
back to the lineup that Tilu used to begin the
twenty twenty one season. It was Reggie Jackson, Bledsoe, Paul George,
Marcus Morris and the Visus Ubays. When Marcus's knee acted
up and he couldn't go after the first week of

(56:26):
the season, they just slid Nicholas Patoom in that spot.
So I think Chris Dunn is someone to take to
keep an eye on. I think Norm is someone to
keep an eye on. I think Nico Beatuma is someone
to keep an eye on. And that is it. Everyone
else is immaterial to me as it relates to possible starters.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
What's this business regarding Chris Dunne. I know he talked
about a full circle moment being with the Clippers in
the G League, reviving his career. Now he's back, He's
in Hawaii once again, now playing on the Clippers side,
but he was picking up guys ninety four feet. He
was picking up James Harden and putting some pressure on
him so they can figure out how to break the
press and practice.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
I mean that, and because I mean, look, let's let's
just be real, like they all need to be prepared
for teams to pressure the hell out of James, especially
if Kawhi is not there, Like James is the guy
that I mean. I saw it as soon as the
first game after All Star Break. I remember if I

(57:27):
think it was Lou Dort picked up James Harden and
James got his handle taken from him to begin that game.
I knew what that game was going to be like
from then on, Like, the Clippers have to understand that
teams are going to prioritize getting the ball out of
James hands.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
And so.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Chris Dunn is valuable to the Clippers because of his
defensive activity and because of his versatility offensively, and because
that dude had to be humbled, Like there are a
lot of dudes in the NBA. Their moment of humility
it might never come or they might never get it.
In other words, they should have been humbled. Theydn't realize it,

(58:07):
and teams just decided they're not you know, they're not
messing with them no more. Chris was a top five
pick in the last decade. Let me say it again,
Chris Dunn is one of the highest drafted Clippers to
be on this team in this recent era of Clipper basketball,

(58:29):
an era that I'm gonna try my best to kind
of eliminate from my brain when I think about how
this team will play this season and going forward. But like,
Chris Dunn has some pedigree and dude that signed a
lot of contracts he was out of the league. He
was looked at as a guy who just simply put,

(58:50):
was not valuable of teams anymore, and he had to
regain that. I got a first row seat to the
redemption ladder, you know, Like I remember when Chris got
to the Ago. Come, oh, that's an interesting name. That
dude was totally signed the same off season by the
same team that Rajihon Rondo was on too, the Atlanta
Hawks in twenty twenty, you know what I mean, Like,
that's where it all went downhill for Chris. He wasn't healthy,

(59:12):
his shot was a hot mess. He's had to rebuild
his game and that humility is attractive to a Clippers
team that needs dudes to play like there's no damn tomorrow.
The level of urgency has to pick up for this
team to be relevant and competitive. And so you know,
Chris can still do a lot of the things that
got him drafted. His handle is really good, like Chris

(59:34):
Donne is very confident with the ball in his hands.
He's always been a steals artist. Like the more that
guy plays like I bet his steels for minutes is
we should talk about that the way some people are
going to talk about Tyas Jones and Monte Morris. It's
a sister turnover isshow with Phoenix, Like that dude forced
the turnovers when he's on the floor. But it's the

(59:56):
things that he's developed, you know, over the last few
years that is going to be relevant for the Clippers.
He's got no ego defensively, and he has no ego offensively.
He's going to play with point guards this year while
being a point guard himself, and that is going to
be a key to where That's why I say, like,

(01:00:17):
I don't think he should start, but I will be
very interested to see his usage just preseason.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Yeah, and to your point regarding turnovers and generating steals.
His per thirty six numbers have him met two point
two steals per game for his career. He holds guys,
I love him honestly. I loved him at Providence, and
I think it's remarkable the turnaround he's had with the
type of player he's turned into in this league. Now,

(01:00:45):
I never would have seen this coming like this, especially
because you mentioned everything he's been through. And I do
like the fact that a guy has been humbled, he's
had to rebuild his game, and that screams redemption story
with the Clippers, like Kobatom, like Reggie Jackson, like some
of these guys that have been revitalized with this team,
even though he already has showed it. I think the

(01:01:07):
last year in twenty so games with Utah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
Yeah, I'm gonna let y'all do that one. I'm after
what happened with John wall I'm I'm done, like I'm well,
not even I don't say that because it didn't hit.
I just say it because I just feel like other
people can do, you know, write their stories about that.
I'm just off of it, like I don't I'm not interested.

(01:01:31):
I just want I want these guys to just playball
and and be normal going to work. You know, I don't.
I ain't really much for the trauma porn, you know.
And with Chris, it's like at the end of the day,
dude so gets a hoop, you know, he's still he's
he's thirty years old. Like I'm just the redemption arc

(01:01:52):
I know is a lot, but it's like you're gonna
keep that same energy if it don't work out or
you know, when shit hits the again or some something
like that. I don't really want to do that. And
that's the other thing. These dudes not to be a
wet blanket or anything. There's a reason. These dudes have
something to prove, you know, the talent or the fits

(01:02:17):
might not fucking work. Like I'm just I'm just being real,
Like you know, that's true. Like these dudes, there is
a vision and I see the vision and there's reasons
to be optimistic. But we gotta be real about this
is a thirty team league and these guys have to

(01:02:39):
play well. They have to play well, and there's a
way where they can play well, and there's a way
where they don't. And you get new questions that you
ask hopefully not in October. I think October is a
little too much for that. But November isn't. We saw
November went last year. So you know these guys have

(01:03:03):
to play. Well, that's let's just keep it a bean.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
Yeah, I know. I just I find it interesting the
way he's accepted. Oh, this is how I stay in
the league. I have to guard, I have to be
a great defender on the perimeter, and I just have
an affinity for those guys. You know what I'm saying.
I just I don't know. That's that's kind of how
I used to play it in our murals.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
I just love Chris Dunn it that way.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
But here's something I was talking about a little bit earlier. Long.
I want to get your opinion on it because it's
kind of inflammatory, I think to some people when they
first hear it. But this is James Harden's team now, right,
It's it's his team, like everything's centered around him. And
I kind of look at it like when Cowhi is available,

(01:03:49):
while I still expect him to take more shots in
those games than James Harden, I still think it's James
Harden's team because the position he plays, and I look
at it almost like OKAC in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen,
where Paul George is getting twenty eight per game next
to Russ who was getting twenty two, but it was
still Russell Westbrook's team. Now, those guys in their style
play is very different than James Hard and Kawhi Leonard.
But I just be in terms of rules, I could

(01:04:11):
see it kind of like that with this Clippers team.
Am I onto anything there?

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Nah? I think that's you know, a good way to
look at Like kaw Kawai's there, He's I'm sure he's
making his presence felt and the best way that he can.
You know. It's not like Kawhi is gonna be yelling
and screaming and the carrying on like that. But you know,

(01:04:37):
I think for any basketball team, any sports team, the
guys who are most influential are the guys who are
playing on the floor with guys. And James is playing
right now. He's leading right now, He's been leading before
camp started this week in Hawaii, like he took guys
on his own initiative, because that dude is a veteran.

(01:04:59):
You know. I know a lot of the narrative with
James has been centered on his own situations. A year ago,
it was centered on his own situation, like he was
in camp with the Sixers and not really involved. He
was trying to get out and he was trying to
do the best he can in the slim chance that

(01:05:19):
you know, the team refused to trade him. I think
people lose track of the fact that that dude loves basketball,
like James Arden, really enjoys the game of basketball and
wants to be great at it and and studies it
to the point where he manipulated the game to a

(01:05:39):
point where the league, as he mentioned today, had to
adjust to him both in the defenses and as and
the rules set. There are plenty of dudes in this
league right now who do there take their influence from James,
whether it's footwork, whether it's the you know, shot selection,

(01:06:02):
the ability to draw fouls at a high rate like
the dark arts, if you will, like that dude is
one of the most influential basketball players ever without getting
the credit for being one of the most influential basketball
players ever, and we haven't been able to see that
because of the guys he's played with, the teams he's
played on, in the situations that he's been in and

(01:06:23):
or put himself through. So a lot of that is
just eliminated, like it's pure hoop. You not, This ain't
a ring chasing team, you know what I'm saying, Like,
that's not the expectations here. You're not on a super team.
Ain't nobody confusing this roster for a quote unquote super team.

(01:06:43):
That's immediately what people thought when he got here. Four
I few draw the famers from the same area. Again,
just like the trauma porn, everyone wanted to write the
same damn story, you know what I'm saying. So you know,
ownership of a team comes down to, you know, who's
done the most in their career, who has the voice

(01:07:03):
when they speak, people listen, who has the ball in
their hands, Who's going to make the decisions, Who has
the ability to tell everybody on the floor, regardless of position,
what they're supposed to do. And James checks all of
those boxes, especially with Kawhi limited to begin the preseason.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
I know you've talked with coach lou and he has
emphasized how it's an open competition. Do you believe this
is just a dangle being carrot being dangled to motivate guys?
During a training camp where you're doing a lot of
running and you need to feel like there's a lie
at the end of the tunnel, or do you believe

(01:07:46):
it truly is an open competition. Some of these young
guys can rise up and steal spots.

Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
I'm hesitating because on one hand, the competitiveness is real
and the makeup at the roster foster's that kind of environment.
I think that Russell Westbrook had a huge influence on
last year's training camp and that was positive for the team.
The difference between last year's training camp and training camp

(01:08:15):
two years ago in Vegas, I think I've mentioned this
before was night and day. I think they wasted a
lot of people's time two years ago. No disrespect like
that's coming from the late Jerry west So, like you know,
you want you want my source on that. It's a
pretty uh it's one that I miss, I'll tell you
that much. So you know, I remember being with Jerry

(01:08:40):
in Hawaii last year and Jerry don't got no reason,
the sugar coat or nothing, and that's what we talked about.
Like Russ and the camp that was there with him
was a big deal. The camp that they had when
all those dudes came back, it looked like a camp
of dudes that weren't ready to fucking hoop. So, like,

(01:09:01):
on one hand, all those bodies in the gym are
there for a reason, you got twenty one professionals there.
On the flip side, you have non rotatious spots like
they there's no reasonable amount of Like when everybody's available,
there's going to be a grip of good players that
won't be playing. And God and y'all better just understand,

(01:09:23):
like that's how it's going to be. And so it's
just going to be kind of a mix. Guys are
going to be competing, and guys need to be ready
for opportunities, and you never know when those opportunities can
come up for a variety of reasons. But like when
it comes, when it comes down to it, though, like

(01:09:45):
you have to foster an environment of competitiveness and it
just can't be taught. You gotta put good players in
a camp together. You gotta put guys who are going
to push those dudes. I remember last year, even with
it being quote unquote Cane Russ like xaviery Moon and
third stringers would run circles around the starters them dudes

(01:10:07):
wasn't ready to hoop and the third stringers were ready
to hoop. You know what I'm saying. That's not a
new thing. Back in Minnesota when Jimmy Butler won it out,
you know, and he was actively sparring with Andrew Wiggins
and Karl Anthony Towns and holding out of camp or
whatever the he Jimmy was doing. We all know the story.
He came in there, he was with the third stingers,

(01:10:29):
and he whipped that as like.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
Hey, the dream team took a loss one time to
some college players, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
So Yes, on one hand, I think that competitive environment
is real, and it's more relevant now because of the
type of team they have to be. They gotta beat
dogs this year and not They can't just put a
name up on the scoreboard and win games that way.
They did that last year a lot of the times.
They can't afford to do that this year. So on

(01:10:58):
the other hand, the rotation is the rotation. So just
be prepared for certain guys that y'all are excited about
to not be getting as much time as you might
want them to get a month from now.

Speaker 1 (01:11:14):
Just a couple more for you here, a law I
know you were there with Niko. Buttoom, I think this
was earlier today? Was it today or yesterday that he spoke?

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
He spoke, he spoke today. I can't believe it's almost
eleven o'clock on the East coast, so to be clear,
he spoke Thursday.

Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
Well, he mentioned changes.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
The sun is still up here as you can see.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, it looks beautiful. Hey, hey, don't
get it wrong. It's still ninety right now here in
Burdbank because the heat wave has returned here in Los Angeles,
but the sun is down. He talked about changes defensively
with principles and learning a new defense and talking about
being more aggressive. How do you interpret that? What are
the new defensive tenants? What are they doing that's different? Season?

Speaker 3 (01:12:00):
Yeah, I can't wait to get into it. Spoiler slash
accountability alert. That's what I want to write about, you know,
so hopefully.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Give me the tease that you don't gotta give it
all away.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
I can't give it all the way because I haven't
written the damn thing. I don't know where it's going
to go. Like when I write I dig into I don't.
I don't just rely on what people said. I gotta
like go and do some research, not the conspiracy theory
research as some of y'all beyond actual like watching ball

(01:12:34):
and like looking up legitimate sources and whatnot, you know,
and I gotta, you know, come to some conclusions. I
might go in there with a hypothesis and what I
come back with doesn't match up with what I thought
I was going to get going in.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
So you're going to follow the evidence that they see where.

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
At least yeah, Like, and I think you gotta be
real with yourself. I can be like, yeah, like that's
what That's what I'm talking about, And then I might
come back and be like, you know, Jeff Van Gundey
defenses will give up all the jump shots, Like if
and if that's what I find, I'm not gonna withhold
that because I need a Jeff van Gundy narrative to
run with. I'm gonna tell it like it is, you

(01:13:16):
know what I'm saying, Like, I can't be like, hey,
Jeff Van Gundy was with the Celtics last year, so
the Clippers defense gonna look like the Celtics. I can
tell you that's definitely not going to be the case,
because the Celtics were one of the very worst teams
in the NBA at forcing turnovers, and all I've been
hearing this week is about the emphasis when the Clippers
needing the force turnovers, So that right there you can

(01:13:37):
kind of, you know, whatever theory you had about Jeff
doing the same thing that the NBA champions did just
because he was a consultant with them, that's not going
to be the case. The Clippers are going to be
a different kind of defense. So I've just been watching
I've just been watching Jeff kind of work the young guys,
the kiddie pull, if you want to call it that,

(01:14:00):
with what his defensive principles are. Those guys have to
come in early and get it early because they're not
going to get the same opportunities when the actual real
practices are are going to be on the floor. Like
when they're to real practice, those dudes are like, no,
we'll get you when we need you. You know, we
got to work with the first and second units, and
they got to be the ones they're going to get

(01:14:22):
the attention during the real practice. But we're seeing the
young guys, and you know, the guys who aren't super
healthy and the exhibitings we're seeing them get that, you know,
tutelage from Jeff before practice. So we're seeing that. I'm
hearing things like being up to touch. I'm hearing things like, hey,
just because they want to make that innocuous pass to

(01:14:43):
the wing or to the corner, it doesn't mean we
have to allow it, you know. And we've heard rebounding
over and over and over. I don't think the Clippers
are going to be a good rebounding team this year. Defensively,
I don't think they're going to be a good defensive
rebounding team. But that means they're talking about it, they're
emphasizing it, they're saying that's what needs to happen. It

(01:15:04):
sounds like the level of accountability is going to be
such where guys will not play if they don't box
out and gang rebound if they ball watch stuff like that.
And this is Jeff Van Gundy. This is a guy
who you know like it sounds like there are differences.
There are differences in tone, there are differences in how
he's working with the other coaches. There are differences with

(01:15:27):
the veterans that they're noticing the stars the young guys,
and I just expect there to be a real emphasis
on that style of play. And I also caution I
don't care, I do care, but how a team starts
out a season defensively is not indicative of them doing

(01:15:48):
that all year long. The Clippers were a top ten
defense for the first quarter of last season as well,
because we heard the same things for the longest time.
We got to defend, we got to play hard. The
Clippers defense was actually top ten, top eight for the
first quarter when they were like nine and eleven or
whatever they were through twenty games. They were ten and

(01:16:09):
ten through twenty games last year. As their offense dominated
the NBA and got comfortable, they got worse and worse
on a court to the quarter basis. But you do
have to start somewhere, and I do think that the
defense is ahead of the offense right now because the
Clippers are drilling it to be that way.

Speaker 1 (01:16:29):
Have you seen Kevin Porter Junior out there at all?
I haven't seen him in ay of the footage.

Speaker 3 (01:16:34):
I mean, he's certainly been and he's c only been
on the court. He's certainly been with one of those
first second units. Let's just put it this way. He
ain't working with Jeff And then before these these these practices,
so he is, I put it out and again like
I don't have an aggregator on staff, so like I

(01:16:57):
know some of y' I'll be missing what I'd be saying,
but I'll put out at the end of Wednesday's practice
that t Lou dragged ten group of guys with him
to work through some specific things. Those ten guys look
like the ten guys who reasonably could be first and
second unit guys James Harden, Terrence Man, Derek Jones Junior,

(01:17:22):
Vincea Subots, Nick Lobatoum, Chris Dunn, Norman Powell, Mirra Coffee,
and then the guys who it's like, well there are
spots open, Kevin Porter Junior and Kai Jones y Kai
Jones because Mobamb is dealing with Niee soreness. He's been
working with Jeff before practice, but they haven't had Mo

(01:17:46):
participating in scrimmages up to this point. I won't be
surprised if they hold Mo out Saturday, and then obviously
Kawhi so out. Kevin Porter has been in that group.
So that's not to say, oh, those are definitely starters,
or those are definitely the second or you know, not
saying all that. But what I'm saying is Kevin Porter,

(01:18:08):
as of right now is in the mix for a
spot and if not, the rotation to the edge of it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
Last one, how bad would Kai Jones have to play
not to get the final two way spot, Like who's
the next closest guy to get it? And if he
doesn't get.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
It, well you don't have to fill it so well.
Do you think there's that they want him to be
a guy? Yeah? Absolutely, Like he's one of four guys
on exhibit tends. He is not in the same situation
as Nate Darling, Lantis Williams and ray J. Dennis. You know,

(01:18:49):
Nate is a well now they're the San Diego Clippers.
They've changed the name so many damn times. But Nate
has been with the G League program for a few
years now, Like he's a known commodity alandis is a guy.
He was he was his conference player of the year,
you know, major conference player of.

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
The year.

Speaker 3 (01:19:12):
And like that. Dude was on my radar coming out
of draft. He went undrafted. He's been with a couple
of teams on two way contracts and everything, but he's
an NBA. He's a young veteran right like he's a
known commodity. Ray J. Dennis is a rookie, but we
saw him, you know, play in Summer League. We know
what he's about. Those guys are more likely to be

(01:19:33):
on the G League squad than they are to be
on the active roster. I still think Elijah Harkless at
some point, you know, gets a chance to compete in
camp when they cycle through these e tens. Kai is
not going to be in the cycle, if you will.
Kai Jones has everything has been put in motion for

(01:19:55):
this team to have Kai as a part of the program.
And because Moo is banged up right now, Kai could
be the backup centers as as as as early as
this weekend. That's I'm trying to tell y'all, Like, that's
what it is. Kai will be on this team as
long as he doesn't wet the bed. That's as simple

(01:20:16):
as that. And you know Kai has worked hard. He's
worked hard on the floor and off the floor. Uh.
And and you know he was not healthy. He's not
healthy in the spring when the Clippers got him. He
hurt himself in the summer, so we didn't get to
see him this summer. He's healthy now, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:20:36):
And so.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
Dudes was a first round pick. I know people want
to see him play. He's going to get his opportunity
and they don't want to cut him. They don't want
to you know, even him being on two a contractor
just taking advantage of it. Uh, he's he's in position
to matter and T. Lou has put him and noticed
positive things. So he's on the right track for right now.

Speaker 1 (01:21:00):
He is the great Law of Murray from the Athletic
Follow him at La Murray the n You, no trauma, porn,
just good old fashioned sports journalism. That's what La Murray
brings you, cold hard facts, whether you like him or not. Ala,
my friend, thanks for doing this to night.

Speaker 2 (01:21:17):
Here are Clippers Talk.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
Hey appreciate you man be good law for Law Murray.

Speaker 1 (01:21:23):
I'm out of Muslin. I'm out of here until Saturday.
I don't think I'm doing a show tomorrow. My voice hurts,
it's getting like Doc Rivers. It's getting a little bit raspy.
And we got a preseason game where I'll have to
be streaming the our pregame show, Clippers Countdown, and the
postgame show Clippers Talk on Clippers Talk the YouTube channel

(01:21:44):
on Saturday for Clippers Warriors pregame show starts at three
pm Pacific. What is that noon Hawaii time? But I
want you guys to tune in. We'll be on a
five seventy LA Sports and it's a new feature now
where you can watch me. You can see the visual,
you can see the behind the scenes in the Burbanks

(01:22:04):
studios where I'm doing the pre and postgame show from.
I'll have it right back here on that stream. Until then,
enjoy all the content we gave you this week. I
feel like we've done five or six episodes a couple
for Media Day. We had the Murray today, we had
the Ralph Lawler yesterday. We also had Carlo Jimenez yesterday.

(01:22:25):
It's been a lot, but you guys deserve it. Love y'all.
I will talk to you at Saturday at three pm
Pacific with your pregame show right back here on Clippers
Talk Live, unless, of course, there's breaking news tomorrow, then
I'll come back here right away. Of course, until then,
I'm out of MASLA And this has been another edition of.

Speaker 2 (01:22:45):
Clippers Talk Live. Thanks a lot, Murray,