On today's episode, Jason and Producer Rob G do a deep dive into the state of the Los Angeles Clippers on the heels of their loss to the New York Knicks. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis banged up, many pundits have pegged the Clippers as the favorites to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. However, after what we saw from Paul George and Kawhi Leonard on Sunday, do you really think you can trust them on the big stage? Both players have a history of folding in clutch situations. 'Playoff P' hasn't been great in the playoffs in years, and Kawhi's postseason reputation has been fluffed up thanks in large part to him beating an injury-ravaged Golden State Warriors squad in the 2019 NBA Finals. Jason even went so far as to say that he's rooting for the Clippers to lose, which sounds bad on its face until Rob G notes that the Clips aren't historically relevant enough for anyone to actually root against. Damn. Later, the guys discuss a hypothetical Paul George-for-Damian Lillard trade that could take place this summer. Both expect the Clippers and Trail Blazers to flame out of the playoffs rather early, so it could make sense for Portland and Los Angeles to try and shake things up in the offseason. The Blazers could look to appease Lillard and send him somewhere with a better chance at winning a championship, and with Kawhi's free agency looming the Clippers could look to pair him with a more explosive player who has better leadership skills than PG. Not saying this All-Star swap is definitely going to happen, but it does, remember where you heard it first.
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(02:04):
This is straight fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up, everybody?
It is straight fire with Jason McIntyre Monday May tent
Hope everybody had a phenomenal Mother's Day weekend. I'm sure
Rob treated his wife and hit up his mom, and
you guys did some fun stuff. I assume, right, Rob
(02:26):
a thousand percent. And before we get into the sports,
let me just say that I went to a very
high end Mexican establishment here in southern California's also one
in Vegas called Javier's. If you know about it, you know.
If you don't know, you need to find out. Let
me just say that I got drinks for to celebrate
Mother's Day and I wanted to margarita and they said, okay, well,
which kind of tequila would you like? Staring me right
(02:46):
in the face was the Rocks Terre Montic tequila. And
I was like, I haven't tried that yet. I may
have to do it, but you know, I'm a loyal guy,
and my loyalty is with the cloone dog, George Clooney.
So I went cost Amigos instead. And I said, if
George Clooney had in Instagram, I would at him right now.
Let him know that this this these still waters run
deep with you. George. I had no idea you were
a George Clooney tequila guy. Is that really a thing?
(03:08):
I'm I'm floored right now, absolutely shocked one percent to
get some Costs Amigos in your life. They should be
a sponsor of this program because of how much I
love George Kay and his work. But I just want
you to know that I do like the Rock. I'm
not gonna say I don't like the Rock, but if
I got to choose one Mother's Day weekend with the
Clooney tequila, I like it. Um, that's awesome. I don't know, Haaviars.
(03:33):
My mom was in town for the week. Hadn't seen
her in Baeral for fifteen months due to COVID. Was great,
had a great week, had a you know, like nice
little babysitter action. Uh so me and the wife could
hang out. Um, went out to dinner and then Sunday
we hit up a you know breakfast, played some new
board games that I had never played before. I played
(03:53):
some FIFA. Lost to my son in two K, just
a devastating loss. Portland. I was Portland's all time. They
collapsed at the end. Damian Lillard over six in the
fourth quarter. Yes, I do check the status. He was.
He was the nineties All Stars. Um. And the problem is, listen,
I'm great if I'm the Lakers all time and he
can't beat me, Um, But every other team he can
(04:15):
beat me with basically, and it's always close. And I
just fade in the fourth quarter, but nevertheless, it was
a great Mother's Day weekend. It was kind of a
quiet sports weekend, rob Um. This is how quiet it was.
I'm like, you know, I do the radio show Saturday,
Got the Kids sports Um. Son's undefeated soccer team played
another team that was like number two in their conference
(04:36):
and they beat him. My son scored and had an assist.
So I'm like locked in on that. We do the
basketball game, and then you know, I hear, oh, this
Kentucky Derby winner was allegedly cheating because he didn't he
failed a drug test, and I'm like, wait a sec
horse drug tests? Is that really, rob Was that the
biggest sports story this weekend, because like, nothing happened with
(04:58):
Aaron Rodgers and I guess of the Kentucky Derby winner?
Is that really it? Do we do we have to
talk about that? No, we don't have to talk about it.
Let me just say this quickly though, is everybody was
shocked that that horse tested positive for I think it
was an anti inflammatory. If you know anything about his
trainer baffort, you should not be shocked. And I don't
know why this wasn't even news anywhere. I think this
(05:19):
is the thirtieth time that he's been popped for performance
enhancing drugs and a horse relax. Yeah, so I honestly,
I I just saw the headline. I did not read anything.
I don't know Baffort's history, nor do I care to
know it. But I do know about the NBA, and
that's where I think the most interesting thing happened this weekend.
Of course, you guys, remember the Clippers beat the Lakers
(05:41):
last week, and everybody's like, okay, Clippers don Clippers year,
kauaise healthy, Paul George is cooking in April and playing
well in May, and then lo and behold Sunday, the
Clippers have to play the Knicks national TV audience, big game, right,
nixt I mean, listen, you know we really haven't given
(06:04):
them the flowers they deserve on this podcast. The Knicks
are playing out of their minds. Clippers jumped to a
big lead early and then they start locking down. And
what happens to the Clippers at home national audience late
in the season, choke City, an absolute embarrassment from the Clippers. Yes,
(06:25):
Paul George eight for twenty, shooting two of nine from three,
Kauai nine of twenty six from the field Kauai, who
we were talking about all NBA last week. And if
you hear Kauai's quotes after the loss to the Knicks, Oh, well,
he missed nine of ten games because of his foot.
How's the foot, Kauai? Oh, foot's good. But the hand,
(06:46):
you know, fell on my hand against the Lake. I mean,
it's like injury after injury with this guy. And I
get it. You know, the Clippers really haven't had their
full squad together. You know, they did have Morris, Reggie Jackson,
pet Bev returned um, but tomb played surgery. Baca still
not back, so they're not whole. But this is not
(07:07):
a game the Clippers should be losing. The Knicks are
a second tier team in the East. There's a clear
line of demarcation in the East. After in whatever order
you want, Bucks net sixers, and yeah, I may have
put that in in order I'm thinking, but after that,
it's like, Okay, Nick's heat, Celtics, whoever else? Probably not
the Celtics. Gosh, they're playing poorly. That being said, how
(07:31):
do you lose this game to the Knicks? And the
first thing, you know, I wanted to do this Rob,
But I did a thing this weekend where I'm like
not doing social media. I'm trying to not pick up
my phone seventy five times a day. And yes I
checked the stats. It's ugly. I don't like it. It
is what it is. But like I wanted to go
tell people, Hey, remember last month when I said the
(07:53):
paper clips were frauds and everybody got angry and Clipper
Darrell wanted to fight me and was calling me out
on Insta, Graham and all this nonsense. What happened in
a big spot against the Knicks. Oh, the Clippers gagged
Choke City the paper clips. This is who they are.
And we talked about the West wide open. I wrote
a piece for Fox Sports last week about the West
(08:16):
being wide open. I said, I can't believe in the Clippers.
I don't know about this Utah team. I really kind
of sort of like Phoenix, but as we saw, they
don't match up well with Anthony Davis. Um is Lebron
coming back? Horton Tucker's back for the Lakers, When is
Shrewder coming back? And like, the West really is wide open?
(08:36):
But Rob, I can say confidently when I look at
this Clippers team and yes, I have seen the numbers.
They lead the league in three point shooting. Well, it's
one thing to shoot threes in the regular season, it's
another in a close game against a good team. The
Knicks an elite defensive team, top five in the league.
Thibodeau knows defense Clippers twelve of thirty five from deep Sunday.
(08:59):
There's gonna be more that in the playoffs. But I'm
just getting you guys ready. From deep. In the regular season,
it's phenomenal. It's outstanding, no doubt about it. You look
at the efficiency numbers, Clippers have kind of turned it around.
I mean, Rob, they are second in the league in
offensive efficiency. Blow in my mind. The Nets, who we
probably will get to later, still don't have hardened, are
(09:20):
starting to fade a little bit. Still the most efficient
offensive team in the league. Clippers are too. But then
you look defensively, Clippers are tent. The Clippers are worst
defensive team than the Memphis Grizzlies, than the Phoenix Suns.
Then the are you ready for this? The Golden State Warriors. Wow,
(09:41):
you weren't ready for that, Rob. I hell, I wasn't
ready for it. I mean, I just don't know if
I can trust this Clippers team. We've we've questioned the
rim protection. I don't need to go in on Paul
George again unless you really want me to. And and
I full disclosure. I've been a Paul George fan. When
he was with the Pacers and went toe to toe
with Lebron on the heat. It was a thing of beauty.
(10:03):
Go watch. I think it was Game six Pacers heat.
And and I'm not a Reggie Miller fan. You guys
who have know I've talked about him a bunch of
He not a good announcer. He blocked me on Twitter.
He's upset about stuff I said about him compared to
Red Steph Curry whatever. It is the greatest call Reggie
Miller has ever had was on Paul George's dunk on
(10:26):
the Birdman in that series, Rob Do you remember the dunk? No, okay,
Paul George just goes down the lane, rises up and
Birdman Chris Birdman Anderson goes to challenge Paul George and
George flushes it in his grill. I mean it was
nasty and the crowd was just stunned, like there was
(10:47):
like one of those who what just happened? And Reggie
Miller goes click click the Birdman on a poster or
something along those lines, and I was like, that was
a good call, Reggie Miller. He just went straight to
click click because that's all it was. It was like,
and that was the quarter. Rob were at the end
of it. Paul George and Lebron were like going at it,
(11:07):
like just scoring on each other's ends, and Lebron reached
out to give him a high five. Do you remember that?
It was in that quarter and you can find her
on YouTube. I still believe it is the greatest moment
of Paul George's career. Obviously that would change if he
wins the title, but that dunk was like, this guy's
incredible and I was a big Paul George fan and
since then it's kind of been downhill. Listen, he was
(11:28):
an m VP candidate with okay s Yes he was. Folks,
you probably forgot that. That was the series where uh
they played Portlands in the first round and Dame Lillard
knocked them out and waved by by and just probably
a top ten NBA finish since I've been watching the league.
That was an incredible like thirty ft side step three
(11:48):
from Dame Lillard and Paul George's eye. Um, and you
know Paul George, I don't know that he's recovered from that.
Has he like goes to the Clippers and we know
what happened in the bubble last year. I personally can't
trust the Clippers. Rob. I'm sure there are people out
there who just say, oh, listen, it was just a
game against the Knicks, no big deal. But they had
everybody but Sergeonbaka. They folded down the stretch, they couldn't
(12:10):
make jumpers, Paul George and Quai missed a ton of shots.
And what do we have here? The Clippers huge question
marks Again, I called him frauds last month that I'm sorry,
I'm sticking with it. I don't trust this Clippers team
at all. It's so weird to hear you talk and
I one percent agree with everything that you say. It's
it's almost uncomfortable, you know, because I'd like to think
(12:32):
that you and I when we're disagreeing is usually when
we have the best content. But in this case, I
think you're spot on. It's it's crazy to me. And
he brought up that Paul George was a m v
P candidate in Oklahoma City had a great season. Um,
but if I were to tell you you brought up
the handshake with Lebron in the playoffs. When you think
(12:52):
of Paul George, now, what is the one play that
comes to your mind first? Oh, yeah, that was too easy,
come on off the side of the backboard, exactly exactly.
And it's crazy to me because Paul George is a
very good player. I think he's going to be an
all NBA player. Hold on, let's very good. Um, it
is Paul George on the track to be a Hall
(13:12):
of Famer. I would say yes, because everybody gets into
the Hall of Fame, right, Okay, that that's exact problem
we are in lockstep today. Yeah, people would say, like
Chris Webber is not in. Well, I mean, Paul George
has been the number one on teams before, like he's
really really good. But like you said, everybody gets into
the Hall of Fame exactly, and so with Paul George.
(13:34):
Until I see him do it in a big moment,
it's hard for me to get excited because, like you know,
earlier last week he had a couple of good games,
he also had some clunkers, but for whatever reason and
I don't have any statistics behind this. I don't haven't
bothered to look it up, but it just feels to
me when there is a prime time game or a
(13:55):
big matchup head to head with another star or something
that's on national team v Paul George comes up very,
very small. And it's for that reason why I've been
saying all along you've been saying you called him frauds.
I said it before. They are closer to blowing it
up in Clipperland than they start winning a championship. I
(14:18):
just looked this up. You you are right. Paul George
hit the side of the backboard against Denver. In the
previous series against the MAVs. Remember where Luca was like, basically,
I will fight all of you guys like Mantras Harrow,
the Morris guy. Paul George averaged averaged eighteen a game
on thirty five percent shooting from three. Now, Rob he
(14:42):
can hide behind this hole. Oh man, I wasn't myself
in the bubble, you know, I needed my stripper girlfriends
to be around whatever. Whatever. His argument is that the
bubble was tough. It was tough for everybody. Everybody was
dealing with it. That is clearly the worst playoff series
he has had in his career. I mean since he
was like a pope year old guy like I don't know,
(15:04):
and against Denver he averaged one five and three shot
thirty eight from three. But all anybody remembers, like you said,
is that shot off the side of the backboard. Yeah,
and it's and it's unfortunately, it's not unfortunately. I think
it's kind of funny, um because he brought all of
this on himself. He's the one who decided to call
(15:24):
himself playoff p knowing damn well that you fade in
the playoffs more than you've ever come up. It's like
even the Denver series, if you take out the part
where he missed the hit side of the backboard. You
brought up round one against Dallas and how poorly he
played Round two against Denver. He only shot forty, So
(15:47):
it's not like he was playing that good in that
round either. It's like, I can't think of a good
series that he's had since what two thousand sixteen, And
even then they lost with Indiana, well, when he was
on okay to Toronto, hold against when he was on
okay see against Portland, they lost the series in five,
but in five he did average twenty eight and eight,
(16:10):
didn't shoot particularly well, uh from deep. As a matter
of fact, he has not shut well in the playoffs
in the West, especially from three. But maybe you're right
that that if you look on you know, basketball reference,
you got to go back to like pre injury, remember
the pretty graphic injury that he or maybe it was
post injury. Actually I think the injury was when he
(16:32):
when he broke his leg, and then he came back.
He played fine in round one. I think they lost
in seven, and then after that it's been a dumpster fire.
And it's like you can say, hey, eight and three
is not bad, you know, but hey we lost in five.
So how impressive is it really if you're putting up
those kind of numbers and your team is getting smacked
(16:53):
Max Player? Yeah. So, I mean, if you're a Clipper fan,
and I know there's plenty of clip fans who listens
to this podcast, and you think to yourself, hey, we
still got Kauai, we still got Paul George, and your
confident about that, then go ahead if you think that
somehow Paul George is going to turn it around and
make playoff p a positive thing instead of a negative thing.
(17:15):
If you believe that Reggie Jackson is suddenly going to
be big in a crunch time moment, go ahead. And
if you somehow I have convinced yourself based on one
playoff run in Toronto where he beat a Warriors team
that was without two of their top three players, that
Kawhi Leonard is suddenly you know, God's gift to basketball
(17:36):
and he's a closer, when statistically, ever since he's been
in Los Angeles that is could be further from the truth.
He is one of the least clutch players in the NBA.
So I'm not too concerned about the Clippers. On a
phone clue fan, I'm not too excited about him. Like,
even though I think that they match up better with
the Lakers than probably rouse in the West, it doesn't
(17:57):
mean I think they're an actual threat to the Lakers. Well,
I don't do. I don't know about that. If they
match up what was a D, they don't. But as
far as who else is in the West to match
up with Lebron and a D, I think they're the
ones who are Preston quipped. So interesting you just brought
something up about Kauai, and I wonder if people will
start to and I don't. You can't question a title
(18:18):
because they did win the title. But basically all I've
been doing is questioning that Raptors title. The producer from
my uh from my radio show at the time, Gavin
had bet the Raptors, and I of course was taken
dumps on the Raptors left and right, like just take
just taking shots at them, like come on, these guys
are jokers that if you remember, they were down two
out of the bucks and in game three it end
(18:40):
up going over time. Janis had a questionable foul out
and Raptors win the game and then they storm back
and win the rest don't lose again. And yeah, what
is the narrative on Kauai if he doesn't a hit
a prayer Game seven series clinching buzzer shot that probably
goes in what one out of all times? If he
(19:01):
doesn't hit that and the entire Warriors team isn't hurt, Like,
does the narrative changeing about him because he was with
San Antonio and was I mean, it's easy to roll
with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and man who isn't
not like, and he was a role player on those teams.
There's no pressure, there's no pressure, he's just playing with
Hall of famers, And yeah, he won an m v P.
(19:22):
And then everybody, oh, well, remember he broke up the heatles.
That is like so far from the truth. It's not
even comical. Like Miami was on its last legs and
all the stories, the post mortems have proven that that
team was cooked. Okay, and they got run out. I
think it was in five, right, they lost that. Yeah,
it was pretty pretty quick that that team was spent.
(19:45):
I don't think people realize how tough it is to
go to the finals four straight years. You remember Michael
Jordan quit, I say quit. People get angry. You want
to say retired. Fine, he quit, he said in the
last dance, Like it was mentally and physically and emotionally exhausting.
I couldn't do it anymore. And that was after three,
ok Lebron was on four with Miami. Okay. Then what's
(20:07):
even more crazy is he goes to Cleveland. He gets
back to four straight finals, which is just absolutely absurd.
At any rate, this first, we're never losing that series.
It was like, I think that was a series where
Danny Green went bananas and was making a bunch of threes.
Um the bottom line, like the Heat never had a
chance in that one. And then you start to almost
(20:27):
focus on Kauai and you're like, well, we know he's talented,
but Rob, is he a leader? No, I just there's
people like him a lot, and I guess because he
doesn't say a lot. And he's like, I'm gonna I'm
gonna let my game speak. I'm not gonna say anything. Well,
(20:47):
that's fine with the media, but when your team's need
you don't. You have to speak up. If you're a
Max guy who Uncle Dennis was allegedly trying to get
like a private jet and uh stake of the team,
and he was like trying to get everything out of
the Lakers to go to l A and and Rob.
You know the weird thing about sports predictions. If you remember,
(21:10):
I had said, I can see Kauai leaving the Clippers
if this doesn't work out, and I think I fingered
the Suns as the team. Look, we're all adults here,
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April Dinnuity, host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption presented
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(22:33):
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(23:19):
to listen live. Part of me, and I'm being full disclosure,
part of me is rooting for them to not win.
This not win obviously that would that would I would
look extremely prescient and rob I hear you take a big,
big side. I'm also not a Clippers fan. I'm not
and the reality is I don't believe in this team. Yes,
I of course I'm a Laker fan. I've told the story.
(23:40):
The first game I ever went to Nick's Lakers in
New York, we visited family in New York. My dad
got tickets Jabbar Verus Ewing. I fell in love with
Boat teams at a very young age. The next game
I saw in person Lakers Knicks. My dad's only trip
to California in like fifteen years, and we went with
the family and he was able to get tickets at
(24:01):
the Forum um, and it was like, oh my gosh.
I love the Lakers. And obviously I was born in
New York, so I like the Knicks. Like, yeah, I'm
rooting for the Lakers, and I want the I like
the NBA. You guys know this. I played basketball multiple
times a week. I coach my kids in basketball. I
do fantasy basketball. I like the NBA. There's some people
out there who hate it. That's fine. The NBA needs
(24:23):
the Lakers to thrive, right Rob, Let's be real. How
many days is uh Utah Jazz Milwaukee Bucks leading this
podcast in July? I don't know. I mean, if there's
any NBA news, it's probably any NFL news. Sorry, it's
probably gonna top that. I mean, that's just the reality
(24:44):
of it. There aren't that many Nuggets and Bucks fans,
and you know, there's not a lot of Clipper fans.
I like the Lakers. People respond to them. They have
great players, great history, great lineage. Robert my out of
pocket for saying that. No, I mean, well, let me
just say this. You want to get an idea is
to how um the basketball world feels about the you know,
(25:06):
the Jazz. So the Nuggets and Jazz were the ESPN
game as of last week, the one on Friday that
you turned up winning because Bogdanovich had like fifty points.
Nuggets Jazz right right. It got bumped for Lakers Blazers
I think two hours after it was announced that Lebron
was going to be active against Sacramento. So the number
(25:26):
one team in the league got bumped off of prime
time for the sixth and seventh seeded Lakers and Blazers
and the hope that Lebron would play in exactly. So
that just gives you a clue into how you know,
this business works, and a lot of people don't get
I don't think people understand that, Rob They like expect
us to come out and do a deep dive on
(25:49):
the Washington Wizards resurgence, and like, could I do that?
Of course? I mean, listen, i grew up in Northern Virginia,
so I've always had a place in my heart for
the Washington and Bullets. Yes, the Bullets, rob G, were
you even alive when they were called the Bullets? Sorry? Okay,
they had you know, Jeff ruland Jeff Malone, Terry Catledge,
(26:12):
Like I could name a bunch of irrelevant nineteen eighties
Washington Bullets and so yeah, I always am doing a
little reading on the whiz. And yeah, part of me
I do like Bradley Beale what I like to see
him out here in l a Hell's. Yeah, have I
been watching Russell Westbrook kick? But Russell Westbrook He's getting
(26:33):
to the point, rob where I almost wonder if we
need to adjust the all NBA teams, that's how strong
he's been playing. He's single handedly got them back. I
mean again, we're talking about a Washington Wizards team that's
playing with like Ruey Hachimura, and I always say his
name just because like that's a phenomenal name. And I mean,
(26:55):
you know, they played Saturday night, Bradley Beale had fifty
I only know this because a I'm a partial Wizards fan,
but also because my buddy is in our fantasy Basketball
Championship League and he's playing against Bradley Beale, and so
I'm checking the box score, and of course I have
Sabonis who's on the Pacers, and my buddy had Caress Lavert.
I'm like, Carris leverts back. He's like, he's got thirty
(27:16):
five and fourteen, and like, these are the texts I'm
getting on Saturday night as a dad of two kids
who plays fantasy basketball. But I digress. I'm sorry. We
can't build an entire podcast around the Washington Wizards recapturing
glory by going, you know, fourteen and six over a
twenty games fan. Rob, if I pitched him, that would
probably nix it, now, you know, Rob, you can go
(27:39):
ahead and push back on that if you want, But um,
I don't. I just I don't think that's something we
could dive into. No, probably not unless we are gonna
have a scintillating hot take on Russell Westbrook, or as
you should call him from now on by his government name,
future Laker Russell Westbrook. Stop it. There is no way
he's playing that. That is really the only way, that's
(28:00):
the only way we can bring up that kind of
level of Washington talk is if you get on somebody
who is so polarizing, and in your case, Russell Westbrook
is a polarizing figure. But um, I just want to
say really quickly, going back to the Clippers, and I
know you said that you're rooting against them, I think
what I'm about to say might even be a bigger insult.
(28:24):
I don't think that they are relevant enough for me
to root against them or god like, it's it's it's
and and maybe it might go back to last season,
you know, when they were chirping about how they run
all run l A and they couldn't get out of
the second round and all that stuff. But even if
you live here in l A and and you do too,
(28:44):
so you can assest to this. Have you ever met
a Clipper fan like a couple? But and there's what
ten million people in Los Angeles and you probably can
count the number of Clipper fans. You know, on one hand,
it's like you're there's an indifferent towards them. It's not
that you actively root against them. It's not like I
hate them the way I hate the Boston Celtics, you know,
(29:06):
but with the Clippers, and and and part of it
has to do, I'm sure with Kauai Leonard. And Kauai
doesn't do or say anything that's gonna make you notice him.
You know, Paul George is more known for his failures
than his successes. So the baby mamas and all that
fun stuff for anybody who cares about that kind of
(29:27):
thing exactly. So it's like, how could I really root
against the team when they've never done anything to really
make me feel threatened. It's not the Portland Trailblazers of
the early two thousands. It's not the Sacramento Kings with
Chris Webber and bloody divots. It's not even you know,
the San Antonio Spurs with Tim Duncan. Even if you
didn't hate them, you knew that they were so good.
(29:47):
You were always aware of what they were doing. You
always had to pay attention to what they had done that. Now, oh,
they had just beat you know, Orlando on the second
out of the back to back, and Tim Duncan had
twenty and fifteen or something like that. Kawhi Leonard, I'd
even even know that until he played the Lakers, um,
late last week. I think what may have been on
a Thursday, and I didn't even know that he had
(30:07):
been out for nine of ten games, Like I knew
that he had been banged up, but I know he
had missed that many games. So I don't know. I
can't really be on board with you rooting against the Clippers.
I guess, Um, I guess. But I'm sure there are
people who are saying, well, fine, you want to bash
the Clippers, that's fine, that's a topic. You don't want
(30:27):
to talk about the Wizards, you only want to talk
about Lebron. It's gonna get stale if you only talk
about the same teams. And I would say that's not true.
And there is a knock on that about a lot
of the sports TV shows that if you turn it on,
it's only Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Cowboys, Lakers, and like
five teams or players. And I would say, I disagree, Rob.
(30:49):
I don't think we are that narrow minded, are we here?
Because you know me, I will talk about Zion any
day of the week. I like talking about the Celtics.
Brad Stevens there. Yeah, I might have been wrong about
them this season. Mike, I don't know what's going on.
Something is a miss. I gotta check in with my
guy who um knows a player on the team. But
(31:09):
they're not responding well to Brad Stevens. So. But bottom line,
I don't think we're like, hey, there's only six teams
we can talk about. That's not I I don't think
that applies to us. I'm sure it does other people.
But we also can bring in guests, right, Rob will
bring in guests, like maybe we'll reach out to a
wizard reporter who's covering the team. Uh, and I could
make fun of Russell Westbrooken see with the responder I'm kidding.
(31:30):
But going back to your Clippers thing, the few fans
that I've met, my real question is were you a
fan when they had Danny Manning? Because Danny Manning, of
course was a legendary college basketball player in Kansas and
went to the Clippers. And I actually thought they might
have had something with Danny Manning and of course that
never came close to materializing. Um. But like they also
(31:53):
had the Darius Miles team with Q Rich and UM,
who didn't they have another young guy? Was Corey mcgetty
on that team? Corey mcgette was on the team, They
had a young lamar Odom, They had players. I tried
to look, what year was that, do you remember, Oh
the Knuckleheads years might have been laid around two thousand, No,
(32:15):
I had I was in high school when lamar Odom
was on. It might have been like, oh, four oh five.
So yeah, they I mean, so there are a handful
of fans out there who like the Clippers, but I
don't know, Oh yeah, here we go. They had Glenn Rice,
Chris Wilcox key on dueling. Yet like Elton Brand was
Remember they wasn't that their big get Elton Brand and
(32:36):
he was pretty good. He was a really solid player, duke,
and then he had the achilles and he never really
was the same. But you know, if you want to
spin it forward, Rob, if it doesn't work out for
the Clippers this year, and you know it's looking like
their first round opponent will be the um Portland Trailblazers,
they should handle Portlands. That being said Damian Lillard versus
(32:59):
the Clippers was a thing in the bubble, And I mean,
I don't know the status of uh, the injuries for
Portland's Like, I mean, is nerk ever gonna be healthy,
you know. Uh Carmelo Anthony channels something here late. Uh
McCollum missed a lot of time this year. I like
Dorman Powell, Um what the big white guy Zach Collins, Like,
(33:22):
what's his what's his deal? Has he played it all
this year? Like, I just I don't get the Blazers,
but I'm never going to count them out. With Dame
and Um, that would be an interesting first round matchup.
But if the Clippers don't get out of the second
round this year, don't at least get to the conference
finals or even the NBA finals. I think the big
takeaway will be does co I want to stay here?
(33:43):
Because they're really kept out. They can't do much. Their
moves were Serge Ibaka for Montrez Harrold and Luke Kennard
for Lou Williams. And Luke Kennard is barely playing quality minutes.
They gave him sixty four mill or four or sixty
four something like that. And I just I don't know
why Kauai would return. But if you look around the league,
(34:05):
like does he have many options? Like would he go
to New York? I don't think so. He's personality doesn't
really fit. Does it? Oh? I think he'd be a
terrible fit in New York. I think his person he
even handle the media. There, no, no he he. I
think is in a perfect place where he is with
the Clippers because they can fly under the radar. No
(34:29):
problem with the Lakers in town. Did you know? Amazon
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(35:12):
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(35:33):
glad that you have brought up the possible first round
matchup between Portland and the Clippers, which I think the
Clippers should win because I don't think Portland is very good.
But once the Clippers lose in the second round, or
let's say they end up facing Luca in the first
round and he goes off again like you did last
year and he put the scarantum or whatever. I've been
(35:57):
marinating on this trade idea for a minute. I want
to get your thoughts on it. Wait, wait, time out,
time out. Let me just one quick thing. I just
noticed Portland's is twenty ninth and defensive efficiency. The Clippers
are second in offense. There's no way the Clippers lose
that series, right there. I mean they can't loose. They
cannot lose that series. Okay, so let's, for argument's sake,
(36:17):
say that the Clippers face Portlands around one and Dame
does what Dame does it we expect to do. We
think he might average thirty five in that series and
still lose, like in five games. But the Clippers flame
out in the playoffs like we both expect them to.
What do you think about a Paul George for Dame
Lillard trade. This offseason already put the word out as
(36:44):
much as he's denying that he didn't with the Chris
Haynes report where they suggested that they're not doing enough
to build around him, and he's been very loyal and
hasn't really worked out for him. The Clippers, as you've
mentioned several times in this podcast and before, are beholden
to Kawhi Leonard. They offered him a private jet to
stake in the company. You know, money taped to the
(37:06):
back of a toilet seat inside a stable center just
to sign with the Clippers. I don't know where you
got that, but that's funny. Kauai, you're a free agent.
We're not gonna stand pat. You're our guy. We're gonna
make a move to make sure that you're in a
better position next season. Paul George just signed his deal.
The Clippers already said a precedent about signing guys to
(37:27):
big contracts and trading them immediately. Shout out to Blake Griffin.
Portlands knows that they're not They're not going anywhere. So
if we're gonna do right by Dame Lillard, that's send
him somewhere he wants to go and somewhere he can
win and we can get Paul George in the process.
All Right, I just tried this on the NBA trade
(37:47):
machine and it is is it go? It works salary wise.
That being said, Portland's is way over the cap and
they're gonna have to do some major surgery to come
unto the camp now. Their owner of the late Paul
(38:08):
allen Um had not cared previously about going over the cap. Um.
I don't know that whoever is running the show in
Portland is going to feel the same way because they're
gonna have a massive luxury tax bill. Because remember they
went all in two years ago after getting to the
Western Conference finals and it was like, okay, we'll give
(38:28):
it a shot, we'll make that push, and you know
they didn't quite get there. And I don't you never
want to say they have to it's time to blow
it up in Portland. Getting Paul George will be I
mean that would be really, really good obviously, because you know,
their big weakness has been small forward. They they've tried
many a draft pick um, it never pans out. Carmelo
(38:52):
Anthony has been you know, fun but I would assume, man,
that is spicy rob. That may be the hottest best
take you've add in the history of this podcast. Oh
that's an insult. No, No, I'm serious now united as
a compliment. That hurt my feeling. No, no, dude, what
are you talking about? So Damon might be the best
take I've ever had. I've had plenty of great takes.
(39:12):
Dame is a better leader than Kauai and Paul George. Okay,
that's exactly what the Clippers need. They're supposed to be
bad news for the Lakers. Um does Portland do that? Uh?
You pair CJ with Paul George? You? Oh, they might
have to lose Norman Powell. No, they could resign Norman Powell.
They they're gonna I'm telling you they're in cap hell
with Covington and nerk Um. And here's the nothing I'll
(39:35):
say from Portland's side. Do I think Paul George is
better than Dame Lillard? No? I don't. But do I think,
based on the way their roster is constructed, would he
be a better fit? I would say yes. You could
always run an frety Simon's out, who's cheap? At point
with c J and c is going to dominate the
ball a lot anyways. George h Paul George at the
three UM, I think Cantor's probably done there. He doesn't
(39:59):
play a lick of defense. Zach Collins if he can
ever stay healthy and Nerk coming off the bench. You
got Covington's Powell did. There's something here. I just if
you're Portland's like, why are you doing that deal? You're
getting the inferior player, Why are you doing that deal?
You're doing it because Dame Lillard has done more for
(40:23):
that franchise than anybody this side of what Clyde Drexler,
this side of Bill Walton, and if he's really unhappy
or if he really wants to win and they he
I think he knows that they're not gonna win in
Portland with the roster and they said that they have there,
like you said, they're capped out. They have no assets
really to make a move and to get over the hump,
(40:46):
especially in the Western Conference, and maybe you just do
right by him. They're about the same age. Paul George
just turned thirty one. Dame turns thirty one in July,
so they're like three or four months apart. UM. Wow,
That is fascinating because you know, Dame's an awesome player,
(41:06):
has done great things in Portland. But I mean, is
he single handedly gonna get a team to the finals.
Probably not Paul George, same deal. Um, although one could
argue day Dame is still ascending and this will be
by far the best player he's ever played with. Um.
I don't think has he played with another All NBA
(41:26):
player Maybe Brandon Roy, I think right around all NBA
when they were together. Yeah, this that could be a
home run trade. But the only problem is I think
that makes the Clippers really good. Yeah. I don't know
how they pull it off. I mean, maybe they have
to talk us a couple some picks, But do they
have any left since they traded them all for Paul George.
(41:47):
I don't know if they have any picks left. They
may have the trade one of their guys to get
picks to do it. Yeah, maybe some Maybe there'll be
an idiot who will take Luke Kennard. Um, No, you
can't get Luke Nard. Nobody wants him. But that is
that would probably be dang rub that. I'm I'm I
feel like I just got hit by like the hardest
(42:09):
punch Floyd Mayweather ever since, because that is really good, Rob.
I'm impressed Paul George for damianlt That needs to be
the headline of the pod tomorrow. Do you do that trade?
I mean, I'm sure it will be Clippers fans say
hell to the yes, and like four percent of fans
in Portland's say yes. Maybe zero percent of fans in Portland.
(42:30):
That's the only problem if you do that deal. Are
you telling your your fans in Portland we've given up?
Or are you just saying Dame has taken us as
far as he can go. I think if the only
way you can get away with that deal, if you're
Portland's is if it's like a Minnesota with Kevin Garnett
kind of deal where you're like, hey, we we both
(42:51):
know that you're not going to win here. What's gonna
make you happy? Where would you like to go? We're
gonna we want to see you succeed. We love you,
we think nothing but the best of you. And and
this is bigger than just on the court basketball. So
I got to look up to Kevin Garnett trade from
Minnesota to Boston. It was like pre social media, So
(43:11):
I don't have it off the top of my head,
it was Al Jefferson was the headline of the deal.
Ale Jefferson was a good player. Um, but if you
recall look thinking batter around it, KG didn't want to leave,
like he had to be coaxed into it because he
was that loyal to the soil in Minnesota. Yeah, I
think I remember that. Initially He's like, no, I want
(43:33):
to stay in Minnesota and win. And then once they said,
wait a minute, the Celtics are going to get you,
and then I guess they said, hey, we're also going
to get Ray Allen. He was like, oh yo, what's up.
Before that deal, he wanted to go. Once he came
around the idea of getting traded, he wanted to go
to the Lakers, and they thought they had a deal
in place and it fell through and that's when he's Okay,
(43:55):
I'll just stay in Minnesota. And then the Boston deal
came around. So this this was the deal. It was
Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliffe, Sebastian Telfer,
and a two thousand nine first round draft pick that
was top three protected. Um. Wow, that is a big
poop poo platter. No disrespect to those guys. For Kevin
(44:18):
Garnett that I mean, how many All Stars between Gomes, Green, Jefferson,
Rat Livin Telfair Zero, I'll get zero. But um, and
you basically handed the Celtics the title. Collard. I mean,
I don't know if the Clippers would instantly become the favorites.
(44:39):
They probably be co favorites with the Lakers. Um, oh,
I don't. Let's see what happened. Let's see what happens
with Lebron's and the injury. Well, and I I also think
that either way, I think both of those teams next
season would be behind Brooklyn in the in the well.
By the way, I don't think yeah, I don't think
this makes Portland terrible. Um, they're still very good. Paul
George is a d ffensive player who's a plus. Uh,
(45:01):
Damian Lillard and c J one of the weaker defensive
backcourts in the league. Um, you get rid of Cantor
and you can bring in Zach Collins, Suddenly you're playing
us maybe a top fifteen defense, top twenty at least. Um,
but that's spicy. So if it sounds like we're both
rooting against the Clippers, were consider it. We're rooting for
fun in the NBA off season because, as we touched
(45:22):
on last week, there ain't nothing happening this offseason. This
NBA off season is gonna be dry. Short of Kawhi, Leonard, uh,
Damian Lillard, somebody fascinating demands out. It doesn't sound like
cat or be a will. Um. Yeah, I mean listen,
all of a sudden, Rob, I'm rooting. I'm rooting for you,
(45:43):
got me, I'm all in. I love it all right,
So that'll do it for today's podcast. Um. I hope
you guys had a great again Mother's Day weekend. Remember, subscribe,
rate and review and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Did
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(46:28):
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(02:04):
This is straight fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up, everybody?
It is straight fire with Jason McIntyre Monday May tent
Hope everybody had a phenomenal Mother's Day weekend. I'm sure
Rob treated his wife and hit up his mom, and
you guys did some fun stuff. I assume, right, Rob
(02:26):
a thousand percent. And before we get into the sports,
let me just say that I went to a very
high end Mexican establishment here in southern California's also one
in Vegas called Javier's. If you know about it, you know.
If you don't know, you need to find out. Let
me just say that I got drinks for to celebrate
Mother's Day and I wanted to margarita and they said, okay, well,
which kind of tequila would you like? Staring me right
(02:46):
in the face was the Rocks Terre Montic tequila. And
I was like, I haven't tried that yet. I may
have to do it, but you know, I'm a loyal guy,
and my loyalty is with the cloone dog, George Clooney.
So I went cost Amigos instead. And I said, if
George Clooney had in Instagram, I would at him right now.
Let him know that this this these still waters run
deep with you. George. I had no idea you were
a George Clooney tequila guy. Is that really a thing?
(03:08):
I'm I'm floored right now, absolutely shocked one percent to
get some Costs Amigos in your life. They should be
a sponsor of this program because of how much I
love George Kay and his work. But I just want
you to know that I do like the Rock. I'm
not gonna say I don't like the Rock, but if
I got to choose one Mother's Day weekend with the
Clooney tequila, I like it. Um, that's awesome. I don't know, Haaviars.
(03:33):
My mom was in town for the week. Hadn't seen
her in Baeral for fifteen months due to COVID. Was great,
had a great week, had a you know, like nice
little babysitter action. Uh so me and the wife could
hang out. Um, went out to dinner and then Sunday
we hit up a you know breakfast, played some new
board games that I had never played before. I played
(03:53):
some FIFA. Lost to my son in two K, just
a devastating loss. Portland. I was Portland's all time. They
collapsed at the end. Damian Lillard over six in the
fourth quarter. Yes, I do check the status. He was.
He was the nineties All Stars. Um. And the problem is, listen,
I'm great if I'm the Lakers all time and he
can't beat me, Um, But every other team he can
(04:15):
beat me with basically, and it's always close. And I
just fade in the fourth quarter, but nevertheless, it was
a great Mother's Day weekend. It was kind of a
quiet sports weekend, rob Um. This is how quiet it was.
I'm like, you know, I do the radio show Saturday,
Got the Kids sports Um. Son's undefeated soccer team played
another team that was like number two in their conference
(04:36):
and they beat him. My son scored and had an assist.
So I'm like locked in on that. We do the
basketball game, and then you know, I hear, oh, this
Kentucky Derby winner was allegedly cheating because he didn't he
failed a drug test, and I'm like, wait a sec
horse drug tests? Is that really, rob Was that the
biggest sports story this weekend, because like, nothing happened with
(04:58):
Aaron Rodgers and I guess of the Kentucky Derby winner?
Is that really it? Do we do we have to
talk about that? No, we don't have to talk about it.
Let me just say this quickly though, is everybody was
shocked that that horse tested positive for I think it
was an anti inflammatory. If you know anything about his
trainer baffort, you should not be shocked. And I don't
know why this wasn't even news anywhere. I think this
(05:19):
is the thirtieth time that he's been popped for performance
enhancing drugs and a horse relax. Yeah, so I honestly,
I I just saw the headline. I did not read anything.
I don't know Baffort's history, nor do I care to
know it. But I do know about the NBA, and
that's where I think the most interesting thing happened this weekend.
Of course, you guys, remember the Clippers beat the Lakers
(05:41):
last week, and everybody's like, okay, Clippers don Clippers year,
kauaise healthy, Paul George is cooking in April and playing
well in May, and then lo and behold Sunday, the
Clippers have to play the Knicks national TV audience, big game, right,
nixt I mean, listen, you know we really haven't given
(06:04):
them the flowers they deserve on this podcast. The Knicks
are playing out of their minds. Clippers jumped to a
big lead early and then they start locking down. And
what happens to the Clippers at home national audience late
in the season, choke City, an absolute embarrassment from the Clippers. Yes,
(06:25):
Paul George eight for twenty, shooting two of nine from three,
Kauai nine of twenty six from the field Kauai, who
we were talking about all NBA last week. And if
you hear Kauai's quotes after the loss to the Knicks, Oh, well,
he missed nine of ten games because of his foot.
How's the foot, Kauai? Oh, foot's good. But the hand,
(06:46):
you know, fell on my hand against the Lake. I mean,
it's like injury after injury with this guy. And I
get it. You know, the Clippers really haven't had their
full squad together. You know, they did have Morris, Reggie Jackson,
pet Bev returned um, but tomb played surgery. Baca still
not back, so they're not whole. But this is not
(07:07):
a game the Clippers should be losing. The Knicks are
a second tier team in the East. There's a clear
line of demarcation in the East. After in whatever order
you want, Bucks net sixers, and yeah, I may have
put that in in order I'm thinking, but after that,
it's like, Okay, Nick's heat, Celtics, whoever else? Probably not
the Celtics. Gosh, they're playing poorly. That being said, how
(07:31):
do you lose this game to the Knicks? And the
first thing, you know, I wanted to do this Rob,
But I did a thing this weekend where I'm like
not doing social media. I'm trying to not pick up
my phone seventy five times a day. And yes I
checked the stats. It's ugly. I don't like it. It
is what it is. But like I wanted to go
tell people, Hey, remember last month when I said the
(07:53):
paper clips were frauds and everybody got angry and Clipper
Darrell wanted to fight me and was calling me out
on Insta, Graham and all this nonsense. What happened in
a big spot against the Knicks. Oh, the Clippers gagged
Choke City the paper clips. This is who they are.
And we talked about the West wide open. I wrote
a piece for Fox Sports last week about the West
(08:16):
being wide open. I said, I can't believe in the Clippers.
I don't know about this Utah team. I really kind
of sort of like Phoenix, but as we saw, they
don't match up well with Anthony Davis. Um is Lebron
coming back? Horton Tucker's back for the Lakers, When is
Shrewder coming back? And like, the West really is wide open?
(08:36):
But Rob, I can say confidently when I look at
this Clippers team and yes, I have seen the numbers.
They lead the league in three point shooting. Well, it's
one thing to shoot threes in the regular season, it's
another in a close game against a good team. The
Knicks an elite defensive team, top five in the league.
Thibodeau knows defense Clippers twelve of thirty five from deep Sunday.
(08:59):
There's gonna be more that in the playoffs. But I'm
just getting you guys ready. From deep. In the regular season,
it's phenomenal. It's outstanding, no doubt about it. You look
at the efficiency numbers, Clippers have kind of turned it around.
I mean, Rob, they are second in the league in
offensive efficiency. Blow in my mind. The Nets, who we
probably will get to later, still don't have hardened, are
(09:20):
starting to fade a little bit. Still the most efficient
offensive team in the league. Clippers are too. But then
you look defensively, Clippers are tent. The Clippers are worst
defensive team than the Memphis Grizzlies, than the Phoenix Suns.
Then the are you ready for this? The Golden State Warriors. Wow,
(09:41):
you weren't ready for that, Rob. I hell, I wasn't
ready for it. I mean, I just don't know if
I can trust this Clippers team. We've we've questioned the
rim protection. I don't need to go in on Paul
George again unless you really want me to. And and
I full disclosure. I've been a Paul George fan. When
he was with the Pacers and went toe to toe
with Lebron on the heat. It was a thing of beauty.
(10:03):
Go watch. I think it was Game six Pacers heat.
And and I'm not a Reggie Miller fan. You guys
who have know I've talked about him a bunch of
He not a good announcer. He blocked me on Twitter.
He's upset about stuff I said about him compared to
Red Steph Curry whatever. It is the greatest call Reggie
Miller has ever had was on Paul George's dunk on
(10:26):
the Birdman in that series, Rob Do you remember the dunk? No, okay,
Paul George just goes down the lane, rises up and
Birdman Chris Birdman Anderson goes to challenge Paul George and
George flushes it in his grill. I mean it was
nasty and the crowd was just stunned, like there was
(10:47):
like one of those who what just happened? And Reggie
Miller goes click click the Birdman on a poster or
something along those lines, and I was like, that was
a good call, Reggie Miller. He just went straight to
click click because that's all it was. It was like,
and that was the quarter. Rob were at the end
of it. Paul George and Lebron were like going at it,
(11:07):
like just scoring on each other's ends, and Lebron reached
out to give him a high five. Do you remember that?
It was in that quarter and you can find her
on YouTube. I still believe it is the greatest moment
of Paul George's career. Obviously that would change if he
wins the title, but that dunk was like, this guy's
incredible and I was a big Paul George fan and
since then it's kind of been downhill. Listen, he was
(11:28):
an m VP candidate with okay s Yes he was. Folks,
you probably forgot that. That was the series where uh
they played Portlands in the first round and Dame Lillard
knocked them out and waved by by and just probably
a top ten NBA finish since I've been watching the league.
That was an incredible like thirty ft side step three
(11:48):
from Dame Lillard and Paul George's eye. Um, and you
know Paul George, I don't know that he's recovered from that.
Has he like goes to the Clippers and we know
what happened in the bubble last year. I personally can't
trust the Clippers. Rob. I'm sure there are people out
there who just say, oh, listen, it was just a
game against the Knicks, no big deal. But they had
everybody but Sergeonbaka. They folded down the stretch, they couldn't
(12:10):
make jumpers, Paul George and Quai missed a ton of shots.
And what do we have here? The Clippers huge question
marks Again, I called him frauds last month that I'm sorry,
I'm sticking with it. I don't trust this Clippers team
at all. It's so weird to hear you talk and
I one percent agree with everything that you say. It's
it's almost uncomfortable, you know, because I'd like to think
(12:32):
that you and I when we're disagreeing is usually when
we have the best content. But in this case, I
think you're spot on. It's it's crazy to me. And
he brought up that Paul George was a m v
P candidate in Oklahoma City had a great season. Um,
but if I were to tell you you brought up
the handshake with Lebron in the playoffs. When you think
(12:52):
of Paul George, now, what is the one play that
comes to your mind first? Oh, yeah, that was too easy,
come on off the side of the backboard, exactly exactly.
And it's crazy to me because Paul George is a
very good player. I think he's going to be an
all NBA player. Hold on, let's very good. Um, it
is Paul George on the track to be a Hall
(13:12):
of Famer. I would say yes, because everybody gets into
the Hall of Fame, right, Okay, that that's exact problem
we are in lockstep today. Yeah, people would say, like
Chris Webber is not in. Well, I mean, Paul George
has been the number one on teams before, like he's
really really good. But like you said, everybody gets into
the Hall of Fame exactly, and so with Paul George.
(13:34):
Until I see him do it in a big moment,
it's hard for me to get excited because, like you know,
earlier last week he had a couple of good games,
he also had some clunkers, but for whatever reason and
I don't have any statistics behind this. I don't haven't
bothered to look it up, but it just feels to
me when there is a prime time game or a
(13:55):
big matchup head to head with another star or something
that's on national team v Paul George comes up very,
very small. And it's for that reason why I've been
saying all along you've been saying you called him frauds.
I said it before. They are closer to blowing it
up in Clipperland than they start winning a championship. I
(14:18):
just looked this up. You you are right. Paul George
hit the side of the backboard against Denver. In the
previous series against the MAVs. Remember where Luca was like, basically,
I will fight all of you guys like Mantras Harrow,
the Morris guy. Paul George averaged averaged eighteen a game
on thirty five percent shooting from three. Now, Rob he
(14:42):
can hide behind this hole. Oh man, I wasn't myself
in the bubble, you know, I needed my stripper girlfriends
to be around whatever. Whatever. His argument is that the
bubble was tough. It was tough for everybody. Everybody was
dealing with it. That is clearly the worst playoff series
he has had in his career. I mean since he
was like a pope year old guy like I don't know,
(15:04):
and against Denver he averaged one five and three shot
thirty eight from three. But all anybody remembers, like you said,
is that shot off the side of the backboard. Yeah,
and it's and it's unfortunately, it's not unfortunately. I think
it's kind of funny, um because he brought all of
this on himself. He's the one who decided to call
(15:24):
himself playoff p knowing damn well that you fade in
the playoffs more than you've ever come up. It's like
even the Denver series, if you take out the part
where he missed the hit side of the backboard. You
brought up round one against Dallas and how poorly he
played Round two against Denver. He only shot forty, So
(15:47):
it's not like he was playing that good in that
round either. It's like, I can't think of a good
series that he's had since what two thousand sixteen, And
even then they lost with Indiana, well, when he was
on okay to Toronto, hold against when he was on
okay see against Portland, they lost the series in five,
but in five he did average twenty eight and eight,
(16:10):
didn't shoot particularly well, uh from deep. As a matter
of fact, he has not shut well in the playoffs
in the West, especially from three. But maybe you're right
that that if you look on you know, basketball reference,
you got to go back to like pre injury, remember
the pretty graphic injury that he or maybe it was
post injury. Actually I think the injury was when he
(16:32):
when he broke his leg, and then he came back.
He played fine in round one. I think they lost
in seven, and then after that it's been a dumpster fire.
And it's like you can say, hey, eight and three
is not bad, you know, but hey we lost in five.
So how impressive is it really if you're putting up
those kind of numbers and your team is getting smacked
(16:53):
Max Player? Yeah. So, I mean, if you're a Clipper fan,
and I know there's plenty of clip fans who listens
to this podcast, and you think to yourself, hey, we
still got Kauai, we still got Paul George, and your
confident about that, then go ahead if you think that
somehow Paul George is going to turn it around and
make playoff p a positive thing instead of a negative thing.
(17:15):
If you believe that Reggie Jackson is suddenly going to
be big in a crunch time moment, go ahead. And
if you somehow I have convinced yourself based on one
playoff run in Toronto where he beat a Warriors team
that was without two of their top three players, that
Kawhi Leonard is suddenly you know, God's gift to basketball
(17:36):
and he's a closer, when statistically, ever since he's been
in Los Angeles that is could be further from the truth.
He is one of the least clutch players in the NBA.
So I'm not too concerned about the Clippers. On a
phone clue fan, I'm not too excited about him. Like,
even though I think that they match up better with
the Lakers than probably rouse in the West, it doesn't
(17:57):
mean I think they're an actual threat to the Lakers. Well,
I don't do. I don't know about that. If they
match up what was a D, they don't. But as
far as who else is in the West to match
up with Lebron and a D, I think they're the
ones who are Preston quipped. So interesting you just brought
something up about Kauai, and I wonder if people will
start to and I don't. You can't question a title
(18:18):
because they did win the title. But basically all I've
been doing is questioning that Raptors title. The producer from
my uh from my radio show at the time, Gavin
had bet the Raptors, and I of course was taken
dumps on the Raptors left and right, like just take
just taking shots at them, like come on, these guys
are jokers that if you remember, they were down two
out of the bucks and in game three it end
(18:40):
up going over time. Janis had a questionable foul out
and Raptors win the game and then they storm back
and win the rest don't lose again. And yeah, what
is the narrative on Kauai if he doesn't a hit
a prayer Game seven series clinching buzzer shot that probably
goes in what one out of all times? If he
(19:01):
doesn't hit that and the entire Warriors team isn't hurt, Like,
does the narrative changeing about him because he was with
San Antonio and was I mean, it's easy to roll
with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and man who isn't
not like, and he was a role player on those teams.
There's no pressure, there's no pressure, he's just playing with
Hall of famers, And yeah, he won an m v P.
(19:22):
And then everybody, oh, well, remember he broke up the heatles.
That is like so far from the truth. It's not
even comical. Like Miami was on its last legs and
all the stories, the post mortems have proven that that
team was cooked. Okay, and they got run out. I
think it was in five, right, they lost that. Yeah,
it was pretty pretty quick that that team was spent.
(19:45):
I don't think people realize how tough it is to
go to the finals four straight years. You remember Michael
Jordan quit, I say quit. People get angry. You want
to say retired. Fine, he quit, he said in the
last dance, Like it was mentally and physically and emotionally exhausting.
I couldn't do it anymore. And that was after three,
ok Lebron was on four with Miami. Okay. Then what's
(20:07):
even more crazy is he goes to Cleveland. He gets
back to four straight finals, which is just absolutely absurd.
At any rate, this first, we're never losing that series.
It was like, I think that was a series where
Danny Green went bananas and was making a bunch of threes.
Um the bottom line, like the Heat never had a
chance in that one. And then you start to almost
(20:27):
focus on Kauai and you're like, well, we know he's talented,
but Rob, is he a leader? No, I just there's
people like him a lot, and I guess because he
doesn't say a lot. And he's like, I'm gonna I'm
gonna let my game speak. I'm not gonna say anything. Well,
(20:47):
that's fine with the media, but when your team's need
you don't. You have to speak up. If you're a
Max guy who Uncle Dennis was allegedly trying to get
like a private jet and uh stake of the team,
and he was like trying to get everything out of
the Lakers to go to l A and and Rob.
You know the weird thing about sports predictions. If you remember,
(21:10):
I had said, I can see Kauai leaving the Clippers
if this doesn't work out, and I think I fingered
the Suns as the team. Look, we're all adults here,
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(23:19):
to listen live. Part of me, and I'm being full disclosure,
part of me is rooting for them to not win.
This not win obviously that would that would I would
look extremely prescient and rob I hear you take a big,
big side. I'm also not a Clippers fan. I'm not
and the reality is I don't believe in this team. Yes,
I of course I'm a Laker fan. I've told the story.
(23:40):
The first game I ever went to Nick's Lakers in
New York, we visited family in New York. My dad
got tickets Jabbar Verus Ewing. I fell in love with
Boat teams at a very young age. The next game
I saw in person Lakers Knicks. My dad's only trip
to California in like fifteen years, and we went with
the family and he was able to get tickets at
(24:01):
the Forum um, and it was like, oh my gosh.
I love the Lakers. And obviously I was born in
New York, so I like the Knicks. Like, yeah, I'm
rooting for the Lakers, and I want the I like
the NBA. You guys know this. I played basketball multiple
times a week. I coach my kids in basketball. I
do fantasy basketball. I like the NBA. There's some people
out there who hate it. That's fine. The NBA needs
(24:23):
the Lakers to thrive, right Rob, Let's be real. How
many days is uh Utah Jazz Milwaukee Bucks leading this
podcast in July? I don't know. I mean, if there's
any NBA news, it's probably any NFL news. Sorry, it's
probably gonna top that. I mean, that's just the reality
(24:44):
of it. There aren't that many Nuggets and Bucks fans,
and you know, there's not a lot of Clipper fans.
I like the Lakers. People respond to them. They have
great players, great history, great lineage. Robert my out of
pocket for saying that. No, I mean, well, let me
just say this. You want to get an idea is
to how um the basketball world feels about the you know,
(25:06):
the Jazz. So the Nuggets and Jazz were the ESPN
game as of last week, the one on Friday that
you turned up winning because Bogdanovich had like fifty points.
Nuggets Jazz right right. It got bumped for Lakers Blazers
I think two hours after it was announced that Lebron
was going to be active against Sacramento. So the number
(25:26):
one team in the league got bumped off of prime
time for the sixth and seventh seeded Lakers and Blazers
and the hope that Lebron would play in exactly. So
that just gives you a clue into how you know,
this business works, and a lot of people don't get
I don't think people understand that, Rob They like expect
us to come out and do a deep dive on
(25:49):
the Washington Wizards resurgence, and like, could I do that?
Of course? I mean, listen, i grew up in Northern Virginia,
so I've always had a place in my heart for
the Washington and Bullets. Yes, the Bullets, rob G, were
you even alive when they were called the Bullets? Sorry? Okay,
they had you know, Jeff ruland Jeff Malone, Terry Catledge,
(26:12):
Like I could name a bunch of irrelevant nineteen eighties
Washington Bullets and so yeah, I always am doing a
little reading on the whiz. And yeah, part of me
I do like Bradley Beale what I like to see
him out here in l a Hell's. Yeah, have I
been watching Russell Westbrook kick? But Russell Westbrook He's getting
(26:33):
to the point, rob where I almost wonder if we
need to adjust the all NBA teams, that's how strong
he's been playing. He's single handedly got them back. I
mean again, we're talking about a Washington Wizards team that's
playing with like Ruey Hachimura, and I always say his
name just because like that's a phenomenal name. And I mean,
(26:55):
you know, they played Saturday night, Bradley Beale had fifty
I only know this because a I'm a partial Wizards fan,
but also because my buddy is in our fantasy Basketball
Championship League and he's playing against Bradley Beale, and so
I'm checking the box score, and of course I have
Sabonis who's on the Pacers, and my buddy had Caress Lavert.
I'm like, Carris leverts back. He's like, he's got thirty
(27:16):
five and fourteen, and like, these are the texts I'm
getting on Saturday night as a dad of two kids
who plays fantasy basketball. But I digress. I'm sorry. We
can't build an entire podcast around the Washington Wizards recapturing
glory by going, you know, fourteen and six over a
twenty games fan. Rob, if I pitched him, that would
probably nix it, now, you know, Rob, you can go
(27:39):
ahead and push back on that if you want, But um,
I don't. I just I don't think that's something we
could dive into. No, probably not unless we are gonna
have a scintillating hot take on Russell Westbrook, or as
you should call him from now on by his government name,
future Laker Russell Westbrook. Stop it. There is no way
he's playing that. That is really the only way, that's
(28:00):
the only way we can bring up that kind of
level of Washington talk is if you get on somebody
who is so polarizing, and in your case, Russell Westbrook
is a polarizing figure. But um, I just want to
say really quickly, going back to the Clippers, and I
know you said that you're rooting against them, I think
what I'm about to say might even be a bigger insult.
(28:24):
I don't think that they are relevant enough for me
to root against them or god like, it's it's it's
and and maybe it might go back to last season,
you know, when they were chirping about how they run
all run l A and they couldn't get out of
the second round and all that stuff. But even if
you live here in l A and and you do too,
(28:44):
so you can assest to this. Have you ever met
a Clipper fan like a couple? But and there's what
ten million people in Los Angeles and you probably can
count the number of Clipper fans. You know, on one hand,
it's like you're there's an indifferent towards them. It's not
that you actively root against them. It's not like I
hate them the way I hate the Boston Celtics, you know,
(29:06):
but with the Clippers, and and and part of it
has to do, I'm sure with Kauai Leonard. And Kauai
doesn't do or say anything that's gonna make you notice him.
You know, Paul George is more known for his failures
than his successes. So the baby mamas and all that
fun stuff for anybody who cares about that kind of
(29:27):
thing exactly. So it's like, how could I really root
against the team when they've never done anything to really
make me feel threatened. It's not the Portland Trailblazers of
the early two thousands. It's not the Sacramento Kings with
Chris Webber and bloody divots. It's not even you know,
the San Antonio Spurs with Tim Duncan. Even if you
didn't hate them, you knew that they were so good.
(29:47):
You were always aware of what they were doing. You
always had to pay attention to what they had done that. Now, oh,
they had just beat you know, Orlando on the second
out of the back to back, and Tim Duncan had
twenty and fifteen or something like that. Kawhi Leonard, I'd
even even know that until he played the Lakers, um,
late last week. I think what may have been on
a Thursday, and I didn't even know that he had
(30:07):
been out for nine of ten games, Like I knew
that he had been banged up, but I know he
had missed that many games. So I don't know. I
can't really be on board with you rooting against the Clippers.
I guess, Um, I guess. But I'm sure there are
people who are saying, well, fine, you want to bash
the Clippers, that's fine, that's a topic. You don't want
(30:27):
to talk about the Wizards, you only want to talk
about Lebron. It's gonna get stale if you only talk
about the same teams. And I would say that's not true.
And there is a knock on that about a lot
of the sports TV shows that if you turn it on,
it's only Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Cowboys, Lakers, and like
five teams or players. And I would say, I disagree, Rob.
(30:49):
I don't think we are that narrow minded, are we here?
Because you know me, I will talk about Zion any
day of the week. I like talking about the Celtics.
Brad Stevens there. Yeah, I might have been wrong about
them this season. Mike, I don't know what's going on.
Something is a miss. I gotta check in with my
guy who um knows a player on the team. But
(31:09):
they're not responding well to Brad Stevens. So. But bottom line,
I don't think we're like, hey, there's only six teams
we can talk about. That's not I I don't think
that applies to us. I'm sure it does other people.
But we also can bring in guests, right, Rob will
bring in guests, like maybe we'll reach out to a
wizard reporter who's covering the team. Uh, and I could
make fun of Russell Westbrooken see with the responder I'm kidding.
(31:30):
But going back to your Clippers thing, the few fans
that I've met, my real question is were you a
fan when they had Danny Manning? Because Danny Manning, of
course was a legendary college basketball player in Kansas and
went to the Clippers. And I actually thought they might
have had something with Danny Manning and of course that
never came close to materializing. Um. But like they also
(31:53):
had the Darius Miles team with Q Rich and UM,
who didn't they have another young guy? Was Corey mcgetty
on that team? Corey mcgette was on the team, They
had a young lamar Odom, They had players. I tried
to look, what year was that, do you remember, Oh
the Knuckleheads years might have been laid around two thousand, No,
(32:15):
I had I was in high school when lamar Odom
was on. It might have been like, oh, four oh five.
So yeah, they I mean, so there are a handful
of fans out there who like the Clippers, but I
don't know, Oh yeah, here we go. They had Glenn Rice,
Chris Wilcox key on dueling. Yet like Elton Brand was
Remember they wasn't that their big get Elton Brand and
(32:36):
he was pretty good. He was a really solid player, duke,
and then he had the achilles and he never really
was the same. But you know, if you want to
spin it forward, Rob, if it doesn't work out for
the Clippers this year, and you know it's looking like
their first round opponent will be the um Portland Trailblazers,
they should handle Portlands. That being said Damian Lillard versus
(32:59):
the Clippers was a thing in the bubble, And I mean,
I don't know the status of uh, the injuries for
Portland's Like, I mean, is nerk ever gonna be healthy,
you know. Uh Carmelo Anthony channels something here late. Uh
McCollum missed a lot of time this year. I like
Dorman Powell, Um what the big white guy Zach Collins, Like,
(33:22):
what's his what's his deal? Has he played it all
this year? Like, I just I don't get the Blazers,
but I'm never going to count them out. With Dame
and Um, that would be an interesting first round matchup.
But if the Clippers don't get out of the second
round this year, don't at least get to the conference
finals or even the NBA finals. I think the big
takeaway will be does co I want to stay here?
(33:43):
Because they're really kept out. They can't do much. Their
moves were Serge Ibaka for Montrez Harrold and Luke Kennard
for Lou Williams. And Luke Kennard is barely playing quality minutes.
They gave him sixty four mill or four or sixty
four something like that. And I just I don't know
why Kauai would return. But if you look around the league,
(34:05):
like does he have many options? Like would he go
to New York? I don't think so. He's personality doesn't
really fit. Does it? Oh? I think he'd be a
terrible fit in New York. I think his person he
even handle the media. There, no, no he he. I
think is in a perfect place where he is with
the Clippers because they can fly under the radar. No
(34:29):
problem with the Lakers in town. Did you know? Amazon
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(34:49):
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(35:33):
glad that you have brought up the possible first round
matchup between Portland and the Clippers, which I think the
Clippers should win because I don't think Portland is very good.
But once the Clippers lose in the second round, or
let's say they end up facing Luca in the first
round and he goes off again like you did last
year and he put the scarantum or whatever. I've been
(35:57):
marinating on this trade idea for a minute. I want
to get your thoughts on it. Wait, wait, time out,
time out. Let me just one quick thing. I just
noticed Portland's is twenty ninth and defensive efficiency. The Clippers
are second in offense. There's no way the Clippers lose
that series, right there. I mean they can't loose. They
cannot lose that series. Okay, so let's, for argument's sake,
(36:17):
say that the Clippers face Portlands around one and Dame
does what Dame does it we expect to do. We
think he might average thirty five in that series and
still lose, like in five games. But the Clippers flame
out in the playoffs like we both expect them to.
What do you think about a Paul George for Dame
Lillard trade. This offseason already put the word out as
(36:44):
much as he's denying that he didn't with the Chris
Haynes report where they suggested that they're not doing enough
to build around him, and he's been very loyal and
hasn't really worked out for him. The Clippers, as you've
mentioned several times in this podcast and before, are beholden
to Kawhi Leonard. They offered him a private jet to
stake in the company. You know, money taped to the
(37:06):
back of a toilet seat inside a stable center just
to sign with the Clippers. I don't know where you
got that, but that's funny. Kauai, you're a free agent.
We're not gonna stand pat. You're our guy. We're gonna
make a move to make sure that you're in a
better position next season. Paul George just signed his deal.
The Clippers already said a precedent about signing guys to
(37:27):
big contracts and trading them immediately. Shout out to Blake Griffin.
Portlands knows that they're not They're not going anywhere. So
if we're gonna do right by Dame Lillard, that's send
him somewhere he wants to go and somewhere he can
win and we can get Paul George in the process.
All Right, I just tried this on the NBA trade
(37:47):
machine and it is is it go? It works salary wise.
That being said, Portland's is way over the cap and
they're gonna have to do some major surgery to come
unto the camp now. Their owner of the late Paul
(38:08):
allen Um had not cared previously about going over the cap. Um.
I don't know that whoever is running the show in
Portland is going to feel the same way because they're
gonna have a massive luxury tax bill. Because remember they
went all in two years ago after getting to the
Western Conference finals and it was like, okay, we'll give
(38:28):
it a shot, we'll make that push, and you know
they didn't quite get there. And I don't you never
want to say they have to it's time to blow
it up in Portland. Getting Paul George will be I
mean that would be really, really good obviously, because you know,
their big weakness has been small forward. They they've tried
many a draft pick um, it never pans out. Carmelo
(38:52):
Anthony has been you know, fun but I would assume, man,
that is spicy rob. That may be the hottest best
take you've add in the history of this podcast. Oh
that's an insult. No, No, I'm serious now united as
a compliment. That hurt my feeling. No, no, dude, what
are you talking about? So Damon might be the best
take I've ever had. I've had plenty of great takes.
(39:12):
Dame is a better leader than Kauai and Paul George. Okay,
that's exactly what the Clippers need. They're supposed to be
bad news for the Lakers. Um does Portland do that? Uh?
You pair CJ with Paul George? You? Oh, they might
have to lose Norman Powell. No, they could resign Norman Powell.
They they're gonna I'm telling you they're in cap hell
with Covington and nerk Um. And here's the nothing I'll
(39:35):
say from Portland's side. Do I think Paul George is
better than Dame Lillard? No? I don't. But do I think,
based on the way their roster is constructed, would he
be a better fit? I would say yes. You could
always run an frety Simon's out, who's cheap? At point
with c J and c is going to dominate the
ball a lot anyways. George h Paul George at the
three UM, I think Cantor's probably done there. He doesn't
(39:59):
play a lick of defense. Zach Collins if he can
ever stay healthy and Nerk coming off the bench. You
got Covington's Powell did. There's something here. I just if
you're Portland's like, why are you doing that deal? You're
getting the inferior player, Why are you doing that deal?
You're doing it because Dame Lillard has done more for
(40:23):
that franchise than anybody this side of what Clyde Drexler,
this side of Bill Walton, and if he's really unhappy
or if he really wants to win and they he
I think he knows that they're not gonna win in
Portland with the roster and they said that they have there,
like you said, they're capped out. They have no assets
really to make a move and to get over the hump,
(40:46):
especially in the Western Conference, and maybe you just do
right by him. They're about the same age. Paul George
just turned thirty one. Dame turns thirty one in July,
so they're like three or four months apart. UM. Wow,
That is fascinating because you know, Dame's an awesome player,
(41:06):
has done great things in Portland. But I mean, is
he single handedly gonna get a team to the finals.
Probably not Paul George, same deal. Um, although one could
argue day Dame is still ascending and this will be
by far the best player he's ever played with. Um.
I don't think has he played with another All NBA
(41:26):
player Maybe Brandon Roy, I think right around all NBA
when they were together. Yeah, this that could be a
home run trade. But the only problem is I think
that makes the Clippers really good. Yeah. I don't know
how they pull it off. I mean, maybe they have
to talk us a couple some picks, But do they
have any left since they traded them all for Paul George.
(41:47):
I don't know if they have any picks left. They
may have the trade one of their guys to get
picks to do it. Yeah, maybe some Maybe there'll be
an idiot who will take Luke Kennard. Um, No, you
can't get Luke Nard. Nobody wants him. But that is
that would probably be dang rub that. I'm I'm I
feel like I just got hit by like the hardest
(42:09):
punch Floyd Mayweather ever since, because that is really good, Rob.
I'm impressed Paul George for damianlt That needs to be
the headline of the pod tomorrow. Do you do that trade?
I mean, I'm sure it will be Clippers fans say
hell to the yes, and like four percent of fans
in Portland's say yes. Maybe zero percent of fans in Portland.
(42:30):
That's the only problem if you do that deal. Are
you telling your your fans in Portland we've given up?
Or are you just saying Dame has taken us as
far as he can go. I think if the only
way you can get away with that deal, if you're
Portland's is if it's like a Minnesota with Kevin Garnett
kind of deal where you're like, hey, we we both
(42:51):
know that you're not going to win here. What's gonna
make you happy? Where would you like to go? We're
gonna we want to see you succeed. We love you,
we think nothing but the best of you. And and
this is bigger than just on the court basketball. So
I got to look up to Kevin Garnett trade from
Minnesota to Boston. It was like pre social media, So
(43:11):
I don't have it off the top of my head,
it was Al Jefferson was the headline of the deal.
Ale Jefferson was a good player. Um, but if you
recall look thinking batter around it, KG didn't want to leave,
like he had to be coaxed into it because he
was that loyal to the soil in Minnesota. Yeah, I
think I remember that. Initially He's like, no, I want
(43:33):
to stay in Minnesota and win. And then once they said,
wait a minute, the Celtics are going to get you,
and then I guess they said, hey, we're also going
to get Ray Allen. He was like, oh yo, what's up.
Before that deal, he wanted to go. Once he came
around the idea of getting traded, he wanted to go
to the Lakers, and they thought they had a deal
in place and it fell through and that's when he's Okay,
(43:55):
I'll just stay in Minnesota. And then the Boston deal
came around. So this this was the deal. It was
Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliffe, Sebastian Telfer,
and a two thousand nine first round draft pick that
was top three protected. Um. Wow, that is a big
poop poo platter. No disrespect to those guys. For Kevin
(44:18):
Garnett that I mean, how many All Stars between Gomes, Green, Jefferson,
Rat Livin Telfair Zero, I'll get zero. But um, and
you basically handed the Celtics the title. Collard. I mean,
I don't know if the Clippers would instantly become the favorites.
(44:39):
They probably be co favorites with the Lakers. Um, oh,
I don't. Let's see what happened. Let's see what happens
with Lebron's and the injury. Well, and I I also think
that either way, I think both of those teams next
season would be behind Brooklyn in the in the well.
By the way, I don't think yeah, I don't think
this makes Portland terrible. Um, they're still very good. Paul
George is a d ffensive player who's a plus. Uh,
(45:01):
Damian Lillard and c J one of the weaker defensive
backcourts in the league. Um, you get rid of Cantor
and you can bring in Zach Collins, Suddenly you're playing
us maybe a top fifteen defense, top twenty at least. Um,
but that's spicy. So if it sounds like we're both
rooting against the Clippers, were consider it. We're rooting for
fun in the NBA off season because, as we touched
(45:22):
on last week, there ain't nothing happening this offseason. This
NBA off season is gonna be dry. Short of Kawhi, Leonard, uh,
Damian Lillard, somebody fascinating demands out. It doesn't sound like
cat or be a will. Um. Yeah, I mean listen,
all of a sudden, Rob, I'm rooting. I'm rooting for you,
(45:43):
got me, I'm all in. I love it all right,
So that'll do it for today's podcast. Um. I hope
you guys had a great again Mother's Day weekend. Remember, subscribe,
rate and review and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Did
you know Amazon provides ways of working that fit your lifestyle.
They know you value your time outside of work, juggling family, school, friends,
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shifts that work for you. There are full time, part time,
and even temporary opportunities that can work with your schedule
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proud equal opportunity employer What girls in the forest? Our
(46:28):
imagination and our family bonds. The forest is closer than
you think. Find a forest near you and discover the
forest dot org. Brought to you by the United States
for Service and the AD Council. What girls in the forest,
our imagination, and our family bonds. The forest is closer
than you think. Find a forest near you and discover
(46:51):
the force. Dot org. Brought to you by the United
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