Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: Is time to check in on the LA Clippers, one
Speaker 2: of the surprise teams in the NBA this season. We
Speaker 2: are joined by friend of shoe Lamarie of the Athletic,
Speaker 2: who also covers the NBA at large, so he's gonna
Speaker 2: give us all the tea on the clips, Kawhi, there
Speaker 2: are season to date and some other storylines from other
Speaker 2: teams that he's.
Speaker 3: Been covering along the way. Great way to start the year, Anthony.
Speaker 2: One of the last times you're gonna be producing my show,
Speaker 2: my man, because you're going off doing bigger and better things.
Speaker 2: Drop that motherfucking beat. That should be Rihanna happy to
Speaker 2: everybody who listens to the Heat Check. I am super
Speaker 2: excited for all the cool days they were going to
Speaker 2: do in the twenty twenty five year. When I can
Speaker 2: share them with you, I will. But I cannot personally
Speaker 2: think of a way to start the year better off
Speaker 2: than having one of my dear friends that covers the league.
Speaker 2: Law murray On. He is a Philly guy by birth.
Speaker 2: Before doing the whole academic thing at cal and then
Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania and at USC, he was a researcher for
Speaker 2: NFL Media an NBA editor at ESPN for many years.
Speaker 2: He was a Clippers blogger before signing on with The Athletic,
Speaker 2: where he now covers the Clippers in the NBA at Large. So, Law,
Speaker 2: you're at the game, at the game cover and for
Speaker 2: the great almost called why not almost call it? Yovan
Speaker 2: Buja in the Lake Great, he's the sick and grade
Speaker 2: the sick grade.
Speaker 3: Yovon Bouja. You're at Lakers calves and you hadn't seen
Speaker 3: the caves yet, like you said just a bit ago.
Speaker 3: What's stuck out in that game? That's not obviously your
Speaker 3: beat normally to cover Lakers.
Speaker 1: Yes, and might beat the cover. You know. It was
Speaker 1: just my third Lakers game in like two weeks, which
Speaker 1: is kind of wild. I hadn't seen the Clippers and
Speaker 1: Lakers haven't seen each other, so I've gotten a good
Speaker 1: look at how the Lakers have been. But I can
Speaker 1: tell you I was I don't want to say I
Speaker 1: was surprised, but I was interested to see how the
Speaker 1: Cavs energy was after beating Golden State the night before
Speaker 1: and the Lakers were off for two days. I was
Speaker 1: at the game Saturday night where the Lakers beat the
Speaker 1: Kings and that was Doug Christie's debut as a head coach,
Speaker 1: and Lebron didn't play that. I mean, it was a
Speaker 1: lot of points in that one too, though, So like,
Speaker 1: you know, the Lebron had five days off, he just
Speaker 1: turned forty, and we all had you know, the whole
Speaker 1: Lebron hasn't played thing. You know, I was at the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies game where what twenty four hours before, JJ Redick
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know where is I don't know
Speaker 1: if he'll be back. And then it's like, of course
Speaker 1: he's going to show up and play like Lebron with
Speaker 1: rest is obviously different than Lebron at on E and so.
Speaker 1: And the Lakers went to Cleveland in October, and that's
Speaker 1: when I think people first started to realize, oh, this
Speaker 1: Cavaliers team is not messing around, like they smacked the
Speaker 1: Lakers at night, even though the Lakers made twenty three
Speaker 1: more free throws and the Cavs did right. So for me,
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, you have that kind of game circled.
Speaker 1: Cleveland's playing incredibly well. It's a statement game just on principle,
Speaker 1: a huge rest disadvantage. And yet Trisa, these Cavaliers players
Speaker 1: were still running up and down the floor because that
Speaker 1: is what they are ingrain to do. They are pushing
Speaker 1: the pace under Kenny Atkinson, they are getting good shots.
Speaker 1: I feel like when I watched the Cavaliers and the
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell Cavaliers under JB. Bickerstaff, I got used to
Speaker 1: them draining the shot clock in half court possessions and
Speaker 1: they would get good shots like they were a good team.
Speaker 1: But that was their offense. They weren't, you know, they
Speaker 1: were not a team in a rush to get a
Speaker 1: shot up. Not that this team is in a rush
Speaker 1: to get bad shots up. I'm pretty sure that if
Speaker 1: they're not leading the league and field goal percentage, they're
Speaker 1: damn close to it. But they they're not waiting for
Speaker 1: you make or miss. They're getting the ball up the floor.
Speaker 1: There are I played basketball. You played basketball. Even though
Speaker 1: I need proof of yours, you know, I was an
Speaker 1: off guard, and the shooting guard position to me means
Speaker 1: when that ball goes through the net or it's a
Speaker 1: rebound or a change possession, you are up the wing.
Speaker 1: You are up and out right. Point guards are like,
Speaker 1: get me the ball, were starting this, but shooting guards
Speaker 1: are You're going up yeah, and the cas just all
Speaker 1: their you know, whoever is off the ball, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's one of DG or Donovan, but especially guys
Speaker 1: like Max Thrus, Carriselvert, they are up the floor waiting
Speaker 1: and they get good shots just off of that, and
Speaker 1: that was the game. Pretty much like the Lakers. They
Speaker 1: want to run, but Manning is good at running as
Speaker 1: the killer the cap layers. And that was with the
Speaker 1: Cavs on a West coast back back. I thought that
Speaker 1: was incredibly impressive. And you know what helps to have
Speaker 1: that kind of energy when you beat the hell out
Speaker 1: of the Warriors on that front end. None of those
Speaker 1: dudes had to play thirty minutes in Golden State, so
Speaker 1: it was like that was the one thing I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: these guys are outside of Isaaca Carrow fully healthy and
Speaker 1: they did the best job possible taking care of themselves
Speaker 1: on the front end, and that was that made a
Speaker 1: huge difference in the Tuesday night game against the Lakers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned JB bigger staff. I don't like it
Speaker 3: felt like the Calves last year were very predictable and
Speaker 3: that a lot of ISO, a lot of dribble handoff,
Speaker 3: and it just kind of felt like if the fans
Speaker 3: know what's going on, you know, it's it's Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 3: it's Darius Garland. Like they're just there wasn't much creativity
Speaker 3: and now and you never really know what's going to happen.
Speaker 3: I don't know. It feels like they didn't really love
Speaker 3: the way JB. Bickerstaff coached either. Detroit's playing pretty well.
Speaker 3: But sometimes certain coaches are good for like teams in
Speaker 3: certain parts of their life cycle, right, and like maybe
Speaker 3: Kenny is a better coach for this part of the
Speaker 3: life cycle of his team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we see that a lot. I thought JB did
Speaker 1: an outstanding job building up that team because when JV
Speaker 1: took that job, I think he was what the fourth
Speaker 1: head coach in two three years something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, they let torond Lu go early in the
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen nineteen season, Larry Drew had to take on
Speaker 1: the rest of that year. He didn't even want the
Speaker 1: job up front, and yeah, and slug life, you know,
Speaker 1: and JV kind of had to like stabilize a team
Speaker 1: that was incredibly lost, and he did that, like they
Speaker 1: got to the play in tournament and then they got
Speaker 1: to the first round, and then last year they got
Speaker 1: to the second round. Trista, you I was thinking about
Speaker 1: this last night, like you need three things because again
Speaker 1: I just told you. I just saw Doug Christy, you know,
Speaker 1: coach his first game as the Sacramento King's head coach
Speaker 1: after Mike Brown got let go. And we know that
Speaker 1: franchise in Sacramento. I mean, Cleveland is not that far
Speaker 1: behind us sar as habitual chronic instability and dysfunction. You
Speaker 1: need as a head coach to have two of the
Speaker 1: three relationships in this list ownership, front office, and your stars.
Speaker 1: And the extensions are the stars will dictate whether you're
Speaker 1: winning or losing a lot of these games. Okay, Like
Speaker 1: if you don't have a star, that's probably going to
Speaker 1: be a real issue for you. The front office, the
Speaker 1: thing that the front office is beholden to the most
Speaker 1: is the players that maybe won't play depending on who
Speaker 1: the coach is, right, So you got to have the
Speaker 1: relationship with that management. But you also like the vets,
Speaker 1: the free agent who just steign the young guys that
Speaker 1: haven't or are showing that they could play, but they
Speaker 1: need some rope. That is a front office consint And
Speaker 1: then the ownership extension is the fans and the media,
Speaker 1: all the chatter, because that stuff just is a perception thing.
Speaker 1: When you're a head coach, you are basically the face
Speaker 1: of a whole lot of bs. You got to answer
Speaker 1: for stuff from media day until the you know night
Speaker 1: you're eliminated. And so, you know, I thought JV just
Speaker 1: lost too many of the key relationships there. Obviously him
Speaker 1: in the front office had their had their challenges, and
Speaker 1: a lot of those challenges had to do with the
Speaker 1: touch point between what's gonna happen with Donovan Mitchell. Well,
Speaker 1: they decided that JAB was at the end of the line,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned. And the great thing about Kenny Atkinson
Speaker 1: is Kenny's been a head coach and an assistant coach
Speaker 1: with so many different situations, rebuilds, revitalizations and everything in between.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a big fan of Kenny accent. I
Speaker 1: got to cover him when he was with the Clippers
Speaker 1: to Ron Lou's first year, and we didn't see each
Speaker 1: other in person that whole year. The whole year is
Speaker 1: on zoom, so it's been cool seeing him in person,
Speaker 1: you know, the last couple of years with the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and now last night I got to catch up with him,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned predictability. So JV is a guy who defensively,
Speaker 1: he knows what he wants to do. I actually think JB.
Speaker 1: The coolest thing with what JB did the you know,
Speaker 1: get the calves kind of to break through, was they
Speaker 1: lined up differently. They had Larry markin in at the three,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley at the four of his rookie year right,
Speaker 1: and Jared at the five. It's like teams weren't lining
Speaker 1: up like that, right, And there is some predictability with
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson's Calves. You know that they're going to run
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of pick and roll. You know that
Speaker 1: if they get threes up, you're in trouble. They don't
Speaker 1: take the same volume of threes as some of these
Speaker 1: teams in the league do, but their accuracy is what
Speaker 1: kills you. And that is what I think is the
Speaker 1: conversation here. I think you do need some predictability, Trista.
Speaker 1: Predictability is an advantage to the teams that have it.
Speaker 1: Like if you're you know, if you're you know what
Speaker 1: Boston's going to do, and so it's very predicted what
Speaker 1: Boston's gonna do. That doesn't mean you're gonna stop it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, you're still praying as a
Speaker 1: certain point that it came that they missshots, But you
Speaker 1: know what shots are coming from. You know who's gonna
Speaker 1: have the ball in their hands. And that's the thing
Speaker 1: with Cleveland Kenny. What he's done is he knows his
Speaker 1: personnel and he's maximizing it creatively but predictably in a
Speaker 1: way that JB probably did not show he was going to,
Speaker 1: especially once those relationships got strained with some of the
Speaker 1: key guys on that team.
Speaker 3: Heading over to the Lakers really fast. Because I was
Speaker 3: reading your article this morning, and uh, like, it feels
Speaker 3: like this sentence you could say this year, you could
Speaker 3: say it, last year, you could say it the year
Speaker 3: before that. The Lakers insist they're in a good place.
Speaker 3: What what are we making of that? Because you look
Speaker 3: at the Lakers and I feel like they're the only
Speaker 3: ones that don't really want to admit that the house
Speaker 3: has a bit on fire. I don't.
Speaker 1: So here's my thing. I don't think the house is
Speaker 1: on fire with them. They've been way worse this season
Speaker 1: than they are now. Where they are now to your point, though,
Speaker 1: is seventh in the Western Conference.
Speaker 3: That's that's the love. That's the house on fire. That's
Speaker 3: that's what we're when is the goal.
Speaker 1: Here's my thing with the Lakers. If the Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: hired JJ Reddick and the Brooklyn that's not the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks because again, the Knicks are loud, right, any
Speaker 1: little progress the New York Knicks make, then you're going
Speaker 1: to just act like you know, you're gonna have fifty
Speaker 1: cameras in that. Like, but I want to use the
Speaker 1: Nets as an example. I would even use Charlotte. So
Speaker 1: let's say Charlotte. If the Charlotte Hornets hired JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: and then't they hire they interviewed them. I think they
Speaker 1: did in the past. Let's say the Charlotte Hornets hire
Speaker 1: JIK and the Charlotte Hornets had Lebron James back in
Speaker 1: the Southeastern Division, right, and you're saying they need to contend,
Speaker 1: it would hit different.
Speaker 3: You'd be like a forty year old Lebron James and
Speaker 3: Charlotte yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like what do you mean content? And so what?
Speaker 1: Like the Lakers because they want a championship in the
Speaker 1: post pandemic reality of our of our existence, like people
Speaker 1: still look at them as a team that should theoretically
Speaker 1: be just able to win a championship because they made
Speaker 1: that fake one.
Speaker 3: Or get out of a plane at least.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like they made the Western Conference finals in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, and they ran back that team, thinking that
Speaker 1: they were running back a conference finalist. They ran back
Speaker 1: a seventh seed Tristan. That is and that and that's
Speaker 1: the thing. Like the Lakers are fine, They're in a
Speaker 1: good They're in an okay place. If okay is the
Speaker 1: status quo where they've been at. You know, there are
Speaker 1: some teams that will be thrilled to be the seventh
Speaker 1: in their conference this year. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Okay, we can't do that. We can't.
Speaker 1: We realized that the Lakers and Lebron's twilight is not
Speaker 1: that place.
Speaker 3: Just like it's that same way with Golden State though too,
Speaker 3: like it's Steph Curry's.
Speaker 1: Like the Golden State Warriors are hell amid And finally
Speaker 1: Stephen Curry said it himself, like that's since Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: left that franchise. They the Warriors have had, including this season,
Speaker 1: they've had one year where they can feel like they
Speaker 1: were proud of it, and they won the championship. And
Speaker 1: the thing is, because of the success they did have
Speaker 1: when they were making the finals five years in a row,
Speaker 1: people attached that twenty two team to everything else that
Speaker 1: they've done over the last decade. And there's and and
Speaker 1: I feel like that's wrong, and that's just NBA fans
Speaker 1: have gotten to the point where it's like the Warriors
Speaker 1: our name brand. Look, we grew up when the Warriors
Speaker 1: were ashy s L and made the playoffs once in
Speaker 1: seventeen years, right, And it's like that's no offense to
Speaker 1: the war The Warriors have an awesome rooted fan base,
Speaker 1: you know, shout out to the arena in Oakland days.
Speaker 1: You know. What I'm saying like that is that's their
Speaker 1: fan base. But nationally and how they're covered, you know,
Speaker 1: as far as the whole scope of the league, everyone
Speaker 1: looks at the Warriors as a team that should be contender.
Speaker 1: Run it.
Speaker 3: What you're saying is, really we should. They're getting covered
Speaker 3: like their contenders, but really they're closer to like if
Speaker 3: it was Charlotte or a non name brand or a
Speaker 3: team that hasn't done as much, then it would be
Speaker 3: really not Nobody would be talking about it.
Speaker 1: Nah, we'd be like, oh my god, why is stuff here?
Speaker 1: Why is Lebron with the Lakers. No, Instead, it's make
Speaker 1: the Warriors great again, make the Lakers great again. You
Speaker 1: know every time, you know, you got to put every
Speaker 1: Warriors Lakers game on national TV, because one, you know,
Speaker 1: it's easy money. It's shooting fish in a barrow. You know,
Speaker 1: two of them are going to do some stuff to
Speaker 1: act like you know, they're cool, and they are cool now,
Speaker 1: but like we know that that's not how this started.
Speaker 1: And like they're both in their twilights, they're both showing
Speaker 1: real signs of the climb. It's not to say they're
Speaker 1: not good players now, it's not to say that they
Speaker 1: aren't great or aren't you know, deserving of all of
Speaker 1: our excitement when they do any of the stuff that
Speaker 1: reminds us of their of their peaks. But those players
Speaker 1: are not peaking right now. Kevin Durant and Phoenix is
Speaker 1: not peaking right now. But notice that we ain't talking
Speaker 1: about the Suns and trying to make them great again
Speaker 1: like the Warriors and the Lakers, because the Sons ain't
Speaker 1: never done anything like they made the finals. That saying
Speaker 1: it's like you can't even make the finals and be
Speaker 1: says that you gotta win a championship or whatever. The
Speaker 1: Suns haven't done that, so they don't get the same
Speaker 1: level of Hey, can y'all move heaven and Earth to
Speaker 1: save the end of this guy's you know whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call this stage of guys like Katie or
Speaker 1: bron or steps career. You know, it's a branding thing.
Speaker 1: Like the Lakers, they're supposed to be. They're supposed to
Speaker 1: be where they are right now. Now, if you look
Speaker 1: at it from that perspective, yeah, they can be satisfied
Speaker 1: going into the first week of January. But if you're
Speaker 1: thinking that they're a contender, no, the only people who
Speaker 1: think their contenders are the people who are in that
Speaker 1: building with the Lakers and obviously have a reason to
Speaker 1: not be real with themselves, and the people who want
Speaker 1: you to watch the Lakers. And there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people who no matter again, no matter what is going
Speaker 1: on with that team, they want you to focus on
Speaker 1: the Lakers more than a team like the Cavaliers. I
Speaker 1: wrote a damn story last night, and if I wasn't,
Speaker 1: you know, on the.
Speaker 3: Beat, if you weren't on the Lakers, you wouldn't have
Speaker 3: been writing about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like if my assignment wasn't was open ended, I
Speaker 1: would have been like, hey, like, look at this Cavaliers team.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping there would be better chances to do that.
Speaker 1: The Cavaliers have much bigger games than last night. Like
Speaker 1: last night was a big game for the Lakers. For
Speaker 1: the Cavaliers, it was let's just get through this back
Speaker 1: to back on the West Coast, the Cavaliers and Thunder
Speaker 1: are gonna be on national TV twice this month. Those
Speaker 1: two teams are absolutely running the league in their respective
Speaker 1: conferences and overall. Because you know how many games the
Speaker 1: Cavs have lost against Western Conference teams this year, just.
Speaker 3: One zero, which wonder because I thought zero.
Speaker 1: Loss, they're more fine than the Western John Morant was.
Speaker 3: I know, I know they are very fine in the way.
Speaker 3: What about the Clippers we talked about in the summer.
Speaker 3: I was skeptical. I was even more skeptical by Norm
Speaker 3: powace comments about addition by subtraction. They are currently in
Speaker 3: the sixth place, only three and a half games back
Speaker 3: of second in the West. You sort of predicted this
Speaker 3: being okay, But I don't know if you predicted it
Speaker 3: being this okay outside of the Spurs loss, which was
Speaker 3: built to ask just the other night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the big part of that was not to
Speaker 1: make excuses her. The Clippers, I mean, they've been awful
Speaker 1: in the second night of back to backs for several weeks,
Speaker 1: but logistics were terrible there. If that game was a
Speaker 1: normal game, it would have started an hour later, coming
Speaker 1: from you know where they played the night before. This
Speaker 1: is why you don't mess around in New Orleans. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't fall behind fourteen and you don't have to
Speaker 1: run Norman Palace minutes to forty and Visus Zubots, who's
Speaker 1: a big, big person, you know, having to play the
Speaker 1: minutes that he had to play James Harden at the
Speaker 1: stage of his career. But the great thing about the
Speaker 1: Clippers is, you know, when it's not a second night
Speaker 1: of back to back, you know what you're getting out
Speaker 1: of them. They're gonna play hard, and they have the
Speaker 1: players to play hard and the play without agendas. Last year,
Speaker 1: the Clippers were great for a significant portion of the season.
Speaker 1: I need great. They were, like we were talking thirty
Speaker 1: three and eight from you know, I believe the end
Speaker 1: of the losing streak in November where at by the
Speaker 1: end of it they had to sit Russell Westbrook or
Speaker 1: not sit him but make him a second unit player.
Speaker 1: You know, from that point until the end of the
Speaker 1: Grammy shirt thirty three and eights for the damn good right, Trista,
Speaker 1: that team didn't believe. That team didn't believe that they
Speaker 1: were going to do anything. There was just too many agendas,
Speaker 1: too many guys split and when kawhi'snee gave out, that
Speaker 1: was it.
Speaker 3: And people agendas like getting paid, agendas.
Speaker 1: Getting paid, playing time, touches rolls, you know, guys like
Speaker 1: when you have a guy like PJ. Tucker on your
Speaker 1: team who is traded as a part of the James
Speaker 1: Harden deal, and the front office has an idea of
Speaker 1: how they want to use him, but the coaching staff
Speaker 1: is like, he's not helping, and he wasn't like you know,
Speaker 1: they tried him. He was getting cooked. And he obviously
Speaker 1: doesn't do anything offensively, like nothing at all. He doesn't
Speaker 1: even and shoot the corner three like he used to.
Speaker 1: And that's okay. PJ. Tucker is pushing forty, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like he's at the stage of his
Speaker 1: career where it's you know, a credit to him that
Speaker 1: he got the contract that he got, but he's not
Speaker 1: helping the team. And last year I saw like when
Speaker 1: you gotta keep PJ. Tucker Bone Thiland from your last
Speaker 1: game before the All Star break because they didn't get
Speaker 1: traded to a team that was playing as well as
Speaker 1: the Clippers were. The Clippers were in first place in
Speaker 1: the West for about twenty four hours right before the
Speaker 1: trade dead nine. That's a red flag obviously. It's like
Speaker 1: what is going on where guys this team could do
Speaker 1: something special and guys who are on that team are
Speaker 1: acting like this just because they're not playing. So not
Speaker 1: to say that that's completely gone away. Like PJ. Tucker's
Speaker 1: still in the roster. The difference is he's not traveling
Speaker 1: and around the team this year. Bone Island's still in
Speaker 1: the roster. It's just that Bones has never been in
Speaker 1: the rotation this year and the few chances that he's
Speaker 1: gotten he had and you know, the coaches have not
Speaker 1: been convinced that he should stay in the rotation, so
Speaker 1: he doesn't play. So you still have, you know, a
Speaker 1: lot going on. Kawhi isn't playing right now. That said,
Speaker 1: have they re ranted their team. They didn't sign Paul George,
Speaker 1: which we have an old way of thinking. Pay a
Speaker 1: guy as much as possible to keep him or at
Speaker 1: least train him and get something for him. People killed
Speaker 1: the Clippers over the summer because they have not made
Speaker 1: the transition from the way the CBA is now compared
Speaker 1: to the way the CBA was when the Clippers stole
Speaker 1: Norman Powell from the Portland Trailblazers. We are in different
Speaker 1: phases of team management and roster building, and the Clippers
Speaker 1: understood that even before last year. They're like, hey, Kawhi
Speaker 1: and Paul are partners, their extension eligible. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: Kawhi saw the reading on the wall and sign his
Speaker 1: thing before anything could happen, including his own body breaking
Speaker 1: down out and Paul knew that he could probably get
Speaker 1: the more money than what the Clippers are offering him
Speaker 1: and shout out to Paul. He got his bag. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine if the Clippers were playing Paul George anywhere
Speaker 1: close to what Paul wanted on this year's team, with
Speaker 1: Kawhi not playing, and with you know, just the fact that, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Clippers would be the team that everyone thought the
Speaker 1: Clippers would be when the Vegas odds came out for
Speaker 1: the preseason, which the Clippers players were very cognizant about.
Speaker 1: It's not that they hate Paul, It's that they felt
Speaker 1: like they were good players and that people were missing
Speaker 1: that because they were so used to Paul George being
Speaker 1: a part of the La Clippers, and they were so
Speaker 1: used to Kawhi Leonard. If Kawhi is not going to
Speaker 1: play and Paul's not there, what do you have? That's
Speaker 1: how you know a lot of these people don't pay
Speaker 1: attention to who like the Clippers. When you look at
Speaker 1: roster Trista, you see a bunch of players who were
Speaker 1: pretty good at playing basketball. You see a coaching staff
Speaker 1: who at the very least was going to get players
Speaker 1: not only prepared to play, but like they're going to
Speaker 1: adjust and they're going to put them in position to
Speaker 1: stay motivated to play hard. Jeff and Gundy being an
Speaker 1: addition to coaching staff, he's never satisfied. I've never seen
Speaker 1: Jeff like actually chill, you know, and I've been around
Speaker 1: him for months now. It's like they play with an
Speaker 1: edge and it's hard to maintain that edge. And that's
Speaker 1: what January is about now you've seen some success. Now
Speaker 1: Norman Powell, you know, is putting addition by subtraction hoodies
Speaker 1: out under the Understand the Ground brand, you know.
Speaker 3: So I mean anytime merch comes out, law I start
Speaker 3: to get worried, you know what I mean, Like things
Speaker 3: that's a big It's one thing to say in the media,
Speaker 3: it's another thing to put that on wax and the screenprint.
Speaker 1: But he's been he's been good, but he's been about
Speaker 1: He's been about his business though. And that's the thing
Speaker 1: with the Clippers, where it's like they are confident in themselves.
Speaker 1: They've won games, They've gotten the ass kicked in a
Speaker 1: lot of games too. You know. They's a healthy balance
Speaker 1: of confidence, achievement and at the same time understanding that
Speaker 1: there's so much more work to be done, especially in
Speaker 1: this conference. They're going to have to acclimate with Kawhi.
Speaker 1: I think Kawhi is going to be fine, but bringing
Speaker 1: Kawhi back is a disruption, right and then you're going
Speaker 1: to be disrupted again because right when Kawhi is going
Speaker 1: to get in the rhythm, the trade deadline is going
Speaker 1: to hit. And Lawrence Frank always makes a move and
Speaker 1: that team has at least two guys who you got
Speaker 1: to really take a long look at seeing if you
Speaker 1: can remix your roster and enhance it. They have holes
Speaker 1: on their roster. They have guys who are playing that
Speaker 1: probably need to be in reduced roles. They have like
Speaker 1: a gaping sore at a couple of spots. They need
Speaker 1: to play better basketball. And part of that is getting
Speaker 1: Kawhi back, but part of it is seeing how Kawhi
Speaker 1: makes everyone else look and seeing if there's a way
Speaker 1: to enhance the roster. So we're we are in the
Speaker 1: middle of of the of of things. Just it's it's
Speaker 1: very exciting.
Speaker 3: Nothing is ever solid with the Clippers. Nothing is ever
Speaker 3: like in a state of like continuity. You mentioned Ki returns,
Speaker 3: like we've been saying imminent for a while now, I
Speaker 3: think you said and when you're recent recent articles. The
Speaker 3: target day is the fifth, right, So that's imminent.
Speaker 1: The fifth is my birthday. They will not be playing
Speaker 1: on the fifth. They're playing on the fourth. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I gotta say target date because and I even you know,
Speaker 1: I hesitate even with that because the Clippers, and I
Speaker 1: wrote in my story, the Clippers are not trying to
Speaker 1: talk about target dates.
Speaker 3: You know, No, they're not trying to talk about anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like the Clippers are are trying to like you
Speaker 1: can't even Let's just say things are very much under
Speaker 1: wraps when it comes to what their timeline is with Kawhi.
Speaker 1: And it's completely understandable they've rushed Kawhi back before, or
Speaker 1: at least to say Kawhi has come back and clearly
Speaker 1: has had setbacks multiple times and over multiple seasons. If
Speaker 1: it's up to Kawhi completely, Kawhi arguably would have been
Speaker 1: back by now or already. They the Clippers are exercising
Speaker 1: patients in a way that they haven't before. They want
Speaker 1: Kawhi to not just come back, but stay back. We
Speaker 1: saw in the playoffs how excited were people when he
Speaker 1: got to finally play a home playoff game in front
Speaker 1: of a capacity crowd for the first time as a Clipper.
Speaker 1: And by the end of the weekend he was cooked.
Speaker 1: Like we saw he went to the Olympics and he
Speaker 1: had to sleeve on and he was trying to mouth
Speaker 1: breathe his way to Paris, and you know what, he
Speaker 1: probably could have made it, you know, like he probably
Speaker 1: could have been on that team, participated got a gold
Speaker 1: medal just for playing ten minutes a game at most.
Speaker 1: But that Olympic team was like, we already got injured guys.
Speaker 1: You saw how Joel Embiid looked. Kevin Durant didn't play
Speaker 1: until the end of July. They couldn't afford to have
Speaker 1: Kawhi on the roster when Derek White fresh body and
Speaker 1: everything was chilling and waiting to go. So they're like,
Speaker 1: we're letting you go, Kawhi, and then Kawhi, you know,
Speaker 1: couldn't be ready for training camp.
Speaker 3: So how do you think him coming back impacts how
Speaker 3: the Clippers play.
Speaker 1: It's going to have a complete domino effect, but in
Speaker 1: a good way, I think when you see the Clippers play.
Speaker 1: So I put a stat out after the New Orleans
Speaker 1: game Monday night about how Aviitsa Zuba, James Harden, Norman
Speaker 1: Pale they each hit twenty, norm hit thirty five. They
Speaker 1: each hit twenty for the sixth time this season. That
Speaker 1: is crazy. That's as many times as Paul George, Kawhi
Speaker 1: and James hit twenty in the same game all of
Speaker 1: last season. Wow, you're talking about again, James at this
Speaker 1: stage of his career. Norm a guy who's over thirty
Speaker 1: and has you know a guy that people have just
Speaker 1: gotten comfortable thinking he's a bench player. And if it's
Speaker 1: zubot's a guy that you know, uh, people who again
Speaker 1: don't watch or only play two k and it's like, man,
Speaker 1: this is zoo. Don't shoot threes and don't make anything happen.
Speaker 1: You know, they're not aware of the fact that he's
Speaker 1: one of the most effective post players over the last
Speaker 1: several seasons. That's a balance. Though you have a post player,
Speaker 1: you have a on off ball player in norm a
Speaker 1: guy who is excelling in the handoffs or coming off
Speaker 1: a screens or curls. And then James who is your
Speaker 1: primary playmaker. He's running your picking roles and he's in ISO,
Speaker 1: but he's also focused on getting the ball to others.
Speaker 1: Kawhi is a better ISO player than almost any player
Speaker 1: in the league. And Kawhi loves the mid range, which
Speaker 1: is something the Clippers completely lack. Right now, Kevin Porter
Speaker 1: Junior leads the team in mid range filgal clips right now,
Speaker 1: I don't think I need to say anything more than that,
Speaker 1: Like it's about and we should look at this or
Speaker 1: every basketball team, like in football, we always discuss where
Speaker 1: guys are running routes you never see or you ideally
Speaker 1: don't see two guys in the same area in a
Speaker 1: football game or football play. It's the same thing with basketball.
Speaker 1: You need to space the floor. You have the guy
Speaker 1: who has the ball. There's only one ball last time
Speaker 1: I checked in basketball, right, and then you have to
Speaker 1: find ways to create space and exploit space. And you
Speaker 1: don't want guys stepping on each other's toes. And over
Speaker 1: the course of forty eight minutes, you have to fill
Speaker 1: those minutes with lineups that can continue to generate good offense.
Speaker 1: Kawhi is not just a ceiling raizer. He's a floor raizer.
Speaker 1: And that last part is important because he's not gonna
Speaker 1: come debuting and dropping thirty. That's not what Kawhi is
Speaker 1: gonna do because he's missed too much time. That's why
Speaker 1: it's taking him a lot of time now to get
Speaker 1: ready to play, because they want him to, you know,
Speaker 1: knock that rust off and be able to participate fully
Speaker 1: with the team. They're gonna have the actions for Kawhi.
Speaker 1: But being a floor raizer means he's gonna take good shots.
Speaker 1: He's gonna make open shots and he's gonna take care
Speaker 1: of basketball, and that is key because you can let
Speaker 1: James continue to run pick and rolls, Norman Powell can again.
Speaker 1: He's such a good catch and shoot player, a good
Speaker 1: movement shooter that you're not worried about him being in
Speaker 1: the way. You know he's gonna enhance players because he's
Speaker 1: so good that even if he doesn't touch the ball, well,
Speaker 1: he's creating offense for your team. And then if it's
Speaker 1: a zoobots, he's going to be in the paint. He's
Speaker 1: in the middle of the floor, he's setting screens, or
Speaker 1: he's posting up, or he's in the dunker spot cutting.
Speaker 1: He has gotten really good at understanding where he's going
Speaker 1: to get the ball and where he can make an impact.
Speaker 1: And also Zue is up there in the league leaders
Speaker 1: in offensive rebounds, so when you do misshots, he's a
Speaker 1: presence there. So it's a complimentary team. That's how they
Speaker 1: built this team, and it will be great to see
Speaker 1: how he affects the Stars. But we really got to
Speaker 1: see who winds up losing the most playing time. That's
Speaker 1: going to be the real key.
Speaker 3: Just a small coffee, a mere coffee.
Speaker 1: Well, he's not going to a mir playing too well
Speaker 1: a mirror. Amir's only missed one game since last December.
Speaker 3: You know that that's wild? Yeah, no, I did not
Speaker 3: know that.
Speaker 1: You're shooting the hell out of the basketball. He runs
Speaker 1: the floor, he plays is hard. I mean, he's not
Speaker 1: the most physically imposing wing, but he's been their most
Speaker 1: consistent bench player, I would say, especially from a statistical
Speaker 1: production standpoint, all season, so I think his role should
Speaker 1: be considered safe.
Speaker 3: He's been incredible. He has been incredible. Let's go into
Speaker 3: some real general NBA stuff before I get to rapid
Speaker 3: fire with you. I have so many questions, but we
Speaker 3: have like almost no time left. Looking around the NBA
Speaker 3: as a whole, What team with the winning record do
Speaker 3: you think is going to struggle the most in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five? And what team with the losing record do
Speaker 3: you think catches fire?
Speaker 1: The team with a winning record that I would not
Speaker 1: trust right now, I would probably have to go with
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat, just because things are just so flighty
Speaker 1: with with Jimmy and I don't want to doubt Spoe.
Speaker 1: But again, kind of like what we're talking about with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, the Heat have a brand of doing being
Speaker 1: a scary team because of what they've done in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: specifically to the Milwaukee Bucks over the Jimmy Butler era,
Speaker 1: but the Celtics, the Celtics too. I mean, but I
Speaker 1: gotta I gotta say, like, if Jimmy is not a
Speaker 1: part of that, what do you have if you trade
Speaker 1: Jimmy and that we are we're headed for some kind
Speaker 1: of collision course, what does that look like? And they're
Speaker 1: already you know, barely over five hundred now, So I
Speaker 1: don't doubt Spoe or that organization, but that is a
Speaker 1: big change to make if they make it. And but
Speaker 1: it's also the same to me.
Speaker 3: They can be though one of those teams like the
Speaker 3: Clippers that allows the start to go for free.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I I complete, like that's the thing. Myami hasn't
Speaker 1: missed back to back playoffs over the last twenty years
Speaker 1: for a reason, Like they are good, and so I'm
Speaker 1: copping out basically because I don't I think the teams
Speaker 1: that have winning records right now are they've earned those
Speaker 1: records in there, and I think they're gonna be solid,
Speaker 1: you know, for for quite a bit. Like I don't
Speaker 1: want to say a team like San Antonio for instance,
Speaker 1: like you know, yeah, I'm not going to try to
Speaker 1: San Antonio, you know, falls off a bit, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, Chris Paul is having an incredible season considering
Speaker 1: how old he is. He's turning forty in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five is and he's I don't think he I don't
Speaker 1: know how many games he's missed. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's missed a game, you know whatnot. And he's been
Speaker 1: instrumental to what they're doing if they were to lose
Speaker 1: him or or Wimby or somebody to, you know, for
Speaker 1: an extening period of time. The Spurs are the healthiest
Speaker 1: team in basketball. And yes they are only one game
Speaker 1: over five hundred. But I think the teams that are
Speaker 1: good right now, they're probably going to be good now
Speaker 1: that the teams.
Speaker 3: With the losing record that's going to catch fire.
Speaker 1: Uh, I mean, shoot, you you gotta go at Philly,
Speaker 1: you have to. And they're already catching some fire. They
Speaker 1: won ten of thirteen now. So much of it has
Speaker 1: to do with the There are some teams, the Clippers
Speaker 1: being one of them. Right if they're not fully healthy,
Speaker 1: can they still punch above their weight class? Can they
Speaker 1: still get wins? Clearly people didn't think the Clippers could
Speaker 1: do that, and they've done that. The Sixers has shown
Speaker 1: that they absolutely are not that team. Like, if one
Speaker 1: of those dudes, Joel Maxy PG. One of those dudes
Speaker 1: is not playing, they are not a good basketball team.
Speaker 1: Nick has not gotten that team to play well shorthanded
Speaker 1: at all. That being said, they are a powerful team
Speaker 1: if those three players are playing. Joel is playing at
Speaker 1: the level that he was a year ago. That is Honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm a little unpleasantly pleased to see that, just I
Speaker 1: just didn't think that would happen with how much he
Speaker 1: was struggling with that leg. So it's great to see
Speaker 1: a player like Joelle get healthy. Keep that in mind
Speaker 1: for Kawhi. It's gonna take a while for these guys
Speaker 1: to get back, but if they get back, they're elite
Speaker 1: for a reason. These guys that are getting paid by
Speaker 1: these teams, they see them day in and day out.
Speaker 1: They know what they're dealing with. I think we got
Speaker 1: to give these medical staffs, these training stats more credit
Speaker 1: than what some of these people give. Paul is not
Speaker 1: putting good numbers up. But the thing with Paul that
Speaker 1: he doesn't get credit for is he's gonna find a
Speaker 1: way to make some kind of impact positively on the games. Now,
Speaker 1: you didn't pay for that, but at the same time
Speaker 1: you kind of did, like you had to realize that
Speaker 1: Paul was probably, you know, hanging onto his star statisfy
Speaker 1: a thread in some regards, but right now he is
Speaker 1: he is. And that's the thing though, I think that
Speaker 1: Paul is a higher floor player than Tobiases. Whereas you
Speaker 1: would hoped that Paul would be more of a ceiling raizer,
Speaker 1: Paul is probably not a ceiling razor. Right now he's
Speaker 1: going to say that he can get to that level.
Speaker 1: I think people should be skeptical because even the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, his paint touches, his drives, his ability
Speaker 1: to his ability definish his fine, but his ability to
Speaker 1: actually create advantages is not good. He just doesn't have
Speaker 1: the bursts or the lift or the explosion. And that's fine.
Speaker 1: He's a year fifteen player at and we've seen all
Speaker 1: he's been through physically. You know, the dude broke his
Speaker 1: leg on National TV ten summers ago. You know, Phillip
Speaker 1: overpaid for him. He's a high floor player, and a
Speaker 1: high floor player helps when you have the ceiling raizers
Speaker 1: in Joel and if Tyrese is going to recover from
Speaker 1: the bad start that he had. Tyrese was having a
Speaker 1: tar terrible start the year having to carry the load
Speaker 1: without Joel and Paul. Again, he's not that guy if
Speaker 1: he's got to play that way. Like we saw it
Speaker 1: last year, Tary's put up numbers when Joel was out,
Speaker 1: but the Sixers were not good Like Nick's just not
Speaker 1: the kind of coach who's going to do his best
Speaker 1: work with shorthanded rosters. But he is going to if
Speaker 1: he has those stars, they're going to win a lot
Speaker 1: of games. And you see where they are and I
Speaker 1: think they are one game behind in the lost column
Speaker 1: behind the Pacers, Bulls and Pistons. They all have eighteen losses.
Speaker 1: The Sixers are seventeen. The Pacers are in eighth. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're not the They're not the five. What did
Speaker 1: they start like five and fifteen? Right, Yeah, they're obviously.
Speaker 3: They're not that. Yeah, so we know Boston, we know Cleveland,
Speaker 3: we know Okay, see those are the contender contenders. It
Speaker 3: feels like that are like solidly there that we can
Speaker 3: all bonho, who do you think can get to contention
Speaker 3: level if they make the right move in the deadline.
Speaker 1: Oh, they're tying this to the deadline. I really want
Speaker 1: to see what Houston does. I'm not kidding. Houston is
Speaker 1: in an interesting spot because they can't put the ball
Speaker 1: in the basket for anything. But they know this, so
Speaker 1: they do everything in their power to get more shots
Speaker 1: than you. This is the Houston is the is the
Speaker 1: most anti maker miss League team in the NBA because
Speaker 1: they can't make shots. But here they are, you know,
Speaker 1: ten games over five hundred, and they're thin. They're thin
Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. You know they're healthy.
Speaker 3: But well, Em doesn't like that his bench obviously, Like
Speaker 3: he doesn't clearly doesn't like Cam whit More much like
Speaker 3: there's guys that we thought would be contributed just are
Speaker 3: not contributing.
Speaker 1: Right. Reed Shepherd was the first guard drafted, the first
Speaker 1: American draft.
Speaker 3: He may swore to me he was gonna get minutes,
Speaker 3: told me to my face in the win, He's gonna
Speaker 3: get minutes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wouldn't believe he made with that, Like I'm not. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I think he may looks at Reed Shepherd like
Speaker 1: he looked at Peyton Pritchard. You know, you see the
Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard that you see in Mazzola. He wasn't that
Speaker 1: player in Boston, right, And that's the thing. It's like
Speaker 1: e May's wants to defend at a high level now.
Speaker 1: Reed Shepherd is the kind of player where if this
Speaker 1: team was, you know, in a different phase of their development,
Speaker 1: Reed would be playing through whatever challenges that he has.
Speaker 3: Known the biggest Are they the biggest team to start
Speaker 3: to cut you off? Are then the biggest team to
Speaker 3: try and go get dearon Fox?
Speaker 1: I don't think dearon Fox helps that team that much.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, what are you doing with
Speaker 1: if if you trade Fred van Vliet for instance, like
Speaker 1: you're trading van Vliet, You're probably gonna have to put
Speaker 1: some depth on it. You're not that team needs more
Speaker 1: good players, I think you know, And if you're going
Speaker 1: to trade for a star, I think Jimmy is the
Speaker 1: guy you get because Jimmy is a is a is
Speaker 1: a wing, a small forward, a guy who can you know,
Speaker 1: be a culture guy. You know, a guy who can
Speaker 1: be again a ceiling razor and a floor razer. The
Speaker 1: issue with Jimmy is his availability and his approach, like
Speaker 1: Jimmy is going to coast and get himself to the
Speaker 1: playoffs so that he can max out in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's a dangerous line in the Western Conference. Like Jimmy is,
Speaker 1: Jimmy is absolutely a sixteen game player, but he's not
Speaker 1: necessarily an eighty two game player. We've seen that for years.
Speaker 1: Jimmy is so much older than people think he is.
Speaker 1: Jimmy's got a young character to him. When you just
Speaker 1: look at if you're not the type that looks up
Speaker 1: birth certificates and birthdays and whatnot, and you just you know,
Speaker 1: Jimmy came to consciousness late. And Jimmy, it's not like
Speaker 1: Jimmy was a star in high school or scar in college.
Speaker 1: He was a late literally the last first round pick
Speaker 1: of his draft. You know, Jimmy has gotten it out
Speaker 1: the mud. But Jimmy is thirty five, and Jimmy's knees
Speaker 1: are in a state where you know you can't run
Speaker 1: him out there. You know, a whole lot. But I
Speaker 1: think they need another bucket. They need a guy who
Speaker 1: can confidently score like Jalen Green is getting an incredible
Speaker 1: amount of rope for how inefficient he can be. Next
Speaker 1: to Fred van Bleet, but I don't think a small
Speaker 1: guard like they have enough small guards. They're not playing
Speaker 1: Aaron Hollidays on his team. Reacheverer's on the team Fred
Speaker 1: van Bleep. For all the good of Fred van Vliet,
Speaker 1: the worst thing about Fred van Bleet is that he
Speaker 1: is thoroughly inefficient as a shot maker. You know. The
Speaker 1: good thing about van Bleet is he's gonna defend, He's
Speaker 1: gonna give you an edge, he's gonna take care of basketball,
Speaker 1: and he has deep three point range, so at least
Speaker 1: you have a semblance of spacing out there. I don't
Speaker 1: think the Aaron's the kind of player that's going to
Speaker 1: help them because the Arran strengths are his strengths. But
Speaker 1: they don't make Houston a remarkably different team than they
Speaker 1: already are now. So I'm keeping an eye on if
Speaker 1: they choose to stand pat or if they choose to,
Speaker 1: you know, try and turn their some of those assets
Speaker 1: into an upgrade from a scoring perspective. They're too easy
Speaker 1: to stop if you're locked into rebounding and if you can,
Speaker 1: you know, win the possession.
Speaker 3: Battle, especially considering I think the west outside of Oklahoma
Speaker 3: City is pretty open, pretty wide open, wide open. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna put you on the shot clock. We've got a
Speaker 3: series of questions. You are going to answer them as
Speaker 3: quickly as possible, only your snap decisions, no thinking. Are
Speaker 3: you ready?
Speaker 1: Yep? I'm ready.
Speaker 3: Best point guard in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Shake gilgo, Alexander.
Speaker 3: How many rounds does Tyler Hero survive against Aman Thompson
Speaker 3: in a twelve round boxing match?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give him two?
Speaker 2: Two?
Speaker 3: All right, Aliens have landed. They love basketball. What current
Speaker 3: player do you pick to hit a contestant shot to
Speaker 3: save our humanity law?
Speaker 1: Who's a tough shot maker? You know it's Aliens. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with Wemby, just in casey missus, damn it.
Speaker 3: That's so popular. Favorite player as.
Speaker 1: A kid, Allen Iverson?
Speaker 3: Oh me too? Favorite player to watch right now?
Speaker 1: Oh, favorite player to watch right now? That's tough. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna just say, Shay.
Speaker 3: Is Tyrese Halliburton in a slump? Has he reverted to
Speaker 3: the mean? Or is he still injured.
Speaker 1: A thing? He's reverted to the mean?
Speaker 3: Who will be the highest paid player in twenty thirty?
Speaker 1: Victor with Miyama?
Speaker 3: What would you rather have? Fifty percent? Of Brownie James's
Speaker 3: jersey sales from this point on, or the entirety of
Speaker 3: Zion's next contract.
Speaker 1: Give me the jersey sales.
Speaker 3: Best player to build a new team around, SGA or Luca.
Speaker 1: A new team? SGA?
Speaker 3: Who wins the championship sooner? The Lakers are the Clippers?
Speaker 1: The Clippers person in.
Speaker 3: The NBA media, you'd want to have a podcast that
Speaker 3: doesn't currently have a podcast?
Speaker 1: That doesn't currently have a podcast? Shoot me, I don't
Speaker 1: have a podcast.
Speaker 3: Who's the rookie of the year this season for you?
Speaker 1: Ooh, the rookie of the year for me?
Speaker 3: Snap?
Speaker 1: Lost? Snap? I know, I know.
Speaker 3: That's the whole point is snap?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Zach d d player with the best name in the NBA,
Speaker 3: not nickname, the.
Speaker 1: Best the best name. Uh, this is you're killing me?
Speaker 1: Shake Yell is out centor that.
Speaker 3: Can't be it your The answer can't be Shay every time.
Speaker 3: I love a mirror coffee. What would you rather have
Speaker 3: Lebron's next contract or Cooper Flag's rookie.
Speaker 1: Deal Lebron's next contract?
Speaker 3: What would you rather win? Ten NBA Cups or one
Speaker 3: NBA title from the bubble?
Speaker 1: One NBA title from the bubble.
Speaker 3: And finally, pick the one NBA player past or present
Speaker 3: you would want to have dinner with. And why.
Speaker 1: Uh huh keem Olajuwan. I feel like he is He's fascinating,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I want to I want to know what
Speaker 1: he thinks about the evolution of the game and and
Speaker 1: where and and his position especially, So.
Speaker 3: Would you ask him a lot of questions about current
Speaker 3: rocket centers, how they've evolved or won.
Speaker 1: That could be a part of it, but I don't
Speaker 1: want that to be a big part of it.
Speaker 3: All right, that's all. That's all. Yeah, you I think
Speaker 3: I gave you like a maybe, like a B minus.
Speaker 3: There was a couple in there, not snap decisions.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm cool with that. I was up till
Speaker 1: three o'clock in the morning, so I think that. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll be way better next time. I hope there's the
Speaker 1: next time, Tristan.
Speaker 3: There's the next time. We're gonna check in around the
Speaker 3: trade deadline. How's that?
Speaker 1: That sounds good? All right? Talk so brother, Thank you, Tristan.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we have for the episode
Speaker 2: of Heat Check check back in on Monday and check
Speaker 2: out the feed for past episodes and many episodes which
Speaker 2: drop unexpectedly like the new Year. Do not forget to
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