Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam is a pacer. We examine both sides of
Speaker 1: this week's mega trade, both for Indiana and Toronto, and
Speaker 1: a very detailed pulse take on two of the Western
Speaker 1: Conference's top teams. We go inside on both the Thunder
Speaker 1: and the Clippers. All that next on the latest edition
Speaker 1: of This League Uncut.
Speaker 2: Welcome to This League Uncut. In the rule of twenty
Speaker 2: four hour NBA News this you'll Chris Haynes, it's go time,
Speaker 2: work's time. It's so time. This League Uncut is underway
Speaker 2: and on fire. This should be a good one.
Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Welcome in to another edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes and me Mark sty recording on a Thursday night.
Speaker 1: A Thursday night that brings us just inside three weeks
Speaker 1: until the NBA trade deadline February eighth at three pm Eastern,
Speaker 1: So less than three weeks now until the trade buzzer sounds,
Speaker 1: and two of the foremost talents that were expected to
Speaker 1: be in play during this trade season have now both
Speaker 1: been moved, both by the Toronto Raptors. Ogn Andobi of
Speaker 1: course dispatched to the Knicks on December thirtieth and Wednesday,
Speaker 1: mid January Pascal Siakam. His lengthy and successful tenure as
Speaker 1: a Toronto Raptor is over. I think Siakam's first choice,
Speaker 1: deep down was that that long term arrangement could have
Speaker 1: been hashed out with the Raptors, where he developed from
Speaker 1: the number twenty seven pick into a two time All
Speaker 1: NBA selection. But if it wasn't going to be Toronto,
Speaker 1: I think it's become clear in the last forty eight hours,
Speaker 1: given all the signals we've been getting about how happy
Speaker 1: Siakam is to land with the Pacers, how teams around
Speaker 1: the league are already considering Siakam's re signing with the
Speaker 1: Pacers to be a formality. I think it is fair
Speaker 1: to say that Indiana is where he wanted to end
Speaker 1: up if it couldn't be a further extended stay in Toronto.
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes, I know you've been on the run this week,
Speaker 1: on the road Siakam to Indiana. Give me your first reactions.
Speaker 3: I said it. I did a br Live session last Friday,
Speaker 3: and that's where I said that Siakam will be moved.
Speaker 3: They are parting ways. Siakam and the Raptors are parting ways.
Speaker 3: And I can't remember if I said it on this pod.
Speaker 3: I don't think we did a pod after that, but
Speaker 3: it became inevitable that his last days were. We were
Speaker 3: in the in the presence of his last days. So
Speaker 3: you know, when the trade went down, Indiana Pacers obviously,
Speaker 3: I think and I think I said on my Live
Speaker 3: at that time, you know, the Pacers were in prime
Speaker 3: positions don because they felt like, well if if nothing
Speaker 3: could be done as far as the trade by the
Speaker 3: February eighth deadline, they felt very comfortable by being able
Speaker 3: to sign them as a free agent over in the summer.
Speaker 3: You know, they had the cap space to do that. So,
Speaker 3: you know, I think it's clear to say that Pascal
Speaker 3: wanted to end up in Indiana and he was going
Speaker 3: to get there either way, whether that was going to
Speaker 3: be now or what it is going to be months
Speaker 3: from now in the summer. But Toronto, I think they figured,
Speaker 3: you know, they didn't want to lose Pascal for nothing,
Speaker 3: and I think they were able to come out with
Speaker 3: a fine haul three first round picks in return. So
Speaker 3: I think it ended up working out for both parties.
Speaker 3: But Indiana was in prime position. They felt like they
Speaker 3: were going to get Pascal one way or the other.
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think is this process rumbled on.
Speaker 1: Certainly there were a handful of teams that inquired about
Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam, but nobody was going to be offering as
Speaker 1: much as the Pacers were. And even though yes, the
Speaker 1: Pacers theoretically could have created the salary cap room to
Speaker 1: do this in the summertime, I think they're very relieved
Speaker 1: to get it done now. To get the deal done,
Speaker 1: get Siakam in in season. They inherit his bird rights,
Speaker 1: of course, so they don't have to worry about creating
Speaker 1: salary cap space. They can now sign him comfortably. And look,
Speaker 1: Indiana was able to do this. The Raptors really wanted
Speaker 1: Benedict Maturin or Jerris Walker or even Andrew Nebhard or
Speaker 1: even Jalen Smith, and the Pacers were able to get
Speaker 1: this deal done without including any of those prized for young, rising,
Speaker 1: developing players. So I think the Raptors ultimately looked around.
Speaker 1: You know, Sacramento was not going to trade Keegan Murray
Speaker 1: in a Siakam deal. You know, Golden State, yes they
Speaker 1: did inquire, but you know they certainly don't have I
Speaker 1: think the easy to move trade assets like Indiana. Indiana
Speaker 1: just had more trade assets than really any other team
Speaker 1: in this chase. And that's why I think it just
Speaker 1: became apparent to Toronto that yeah, they could if they
Speaker 1: wanted to, they could play this thing out all the
Speaker 1: way to the deadline. But was the offer really going
Speaker 1: to get better than what Indiana put on the table now?
Speaker 1: And I think they came to the conclusion that the
Speaker 1: realistic answer was no, And by doing the trade now
Speaker 1: when they did, they still have almost three weeks to
Speaker 1: see what else they can do. And when Messiyu Jerry
Speaker 1: held a very lengthy and emotional press conference earlier Thursday,
Speaker 1: he went for a full hour talking about both the
Speaker 1: Ananobi and Siakham trades. He was asked if more moves
Speaker 1: are coming, and he said definitely. He didn't even try
Speaker 1: to deny it. And so Bruce Brown, Bruce Brown's contract
Speaker 1: cannot be aggregated with any other players. But it's twenty
Speaker 1: two million this season. It's a team.
Speaker 3: Option for next season correct.
Speaker 1: Twenty three million. So it doesn't get more trade friendly
Speaker 1: than that. We're going to see now, will Toronto end
Speaker 1: up moving on Bruce Brown as well?
Speaker 3: Uh? Back to Siakam for a little bit stime. You know,
Speaker 3: you talked about the Kings were not willing to include
Speaker 3: Keegan Murray into a deal, which is what I heard
Speaker 3: as well. But Siakam didn't want to go there to Sacramento.
Speaker 3: And there's something that went down there that Sourdika on Sacramento.
Speaker 3: I'm not prepared to say that now, but there's something
Speaker 3: that happened, something that was said, something that happened, something
Speaker 3: that occurred. Oh hey, I don't know if I you know,
Speaker 3: I think we had to wait on that, but there's
Speaker 3: something that happened.
Speaker 1: That long as you eventually tell us that's something.
Speaker 3: There's something that soward of Siakam on Sacramento. I think
Speaker 3: he would have been had things been handled differently. I
Speaker 3: think he would have been open to doing something long
Speaker 3: term in Sacramento. But that's not a hero there. Now
Speaker 3: what's done is done. He's in Indiana. They were a
Speaker 3: pretty good team before Adam Siakam. Now he only makes
Speaker 3: them even more potent. So they're going to be a
Speaker 3: really scary team. Offensively, they're going to have another edge.
Speaker 3: Now they got somebody you can you can get a
Speaker 3: ball to and get a bucket, so you know the
Speaker 3: East has got a little bit more interesting for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, look the reality is, and you could say this
Speaker 1: about Sacramento, you could say it about Philly, you could
Speaker 1: say it about Dallas when you already and look, Philly
Speaker 1: doesn't officially have two max guys yet, but we know
Speaker 1: that the Philadelphia seventy six ers ultimately will Max Tyrese MAXI,
Speaker 1: And so Sacramento has Fox and Sabona. Dallas you've got
Speaker 1: Luca and Kyrie. Philadelphia will ultimately have EMBIID and MAXI
Speaker 1: on max deals. And so the kind of contract that
Speaker 1: Siakam is going to be expecting in free agency, I
Speaker 1: think it's a difficult fit for all those teams. There
Speaker 1: are not many teams in today's NBA that really want
Speaker 1: to have three maxed out guys because you're guaranteed to
Speaker 1: wind up in the second apron and then you lose
Speaker 1: so much roster building flexibility. And look what's going on
Speaker 1: in Phoenix right now. Yes, when Durant and Booker and
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal are all on the floor and all healthy,
Speaker 1: they're dangerous. They can pose a lot of problems for
Speaker 1: your defense. But they haven't been very healthy as a
Speaker 1: trio in their first half season together. They're surrounded by
Speaker 1: players on minimum and smallish type contracts and they just
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of flexibility to go out and
Speaker 1: get more. So I can understand the King's hesitancy there
Speaker 1: when they have so much invested already in Fox and Sabonis.
Speaker 1: I mean, it makes more sense to you know, let
Speaker 1: Keegan Murray develop, let him play out his rookie scale
Speaker 1: contract and you'll see if he can be your third guy,
Speaker 1: because he's definitely shown the flashes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Kings, but they're gonna the Kings are
Speaker 3: a team that's looking for hilp you know. There they've
Speaker 3: hit a rough rough patch here. Classic Mike Brown, Classic
Speaker 3: Mike Brown bringing that laptop to the podium. Oh love
Speaker 3: Mike Brown, Love Mike Brown. But yeah, I was thinking, if.
Speaker 1: We have him back on the pod, is he going
Speaker 1: to bring a laptop to the part.
Speaker 3: Well, I think he has to. I think you have
Speaker 3: to do this pot on the laptop. But yeah, he
Speaker 3: has to bring another one to show us to break
Speaker 3: down the play. Sure, but yeah, I mean the trade
Speaker 3: deadline February eighth, it's not done Toronto. As you mentioned
Speaker 3: with Bruce Brown, that's a very attractive not only his
Speaker 3: salary and the way his contracted structure is attractive, but
Speaker 3: he's an attractive player for teams that are looking for
Speaker 3: perimeter defensive help. You have teams like hey, Phoenix, Milwaukee,
Speaker 3: who else can I throw out there? Who are looking
Speaker 3: for a player of that Well.
Speaker 1: It's funny. The Knicks have been mentioned with Bruce Brown,
Speaker 1: and I do think the Knicks have some interest there.
Speaker 1: But I've also been hearing with the Knicks. I think
Speaker 1: they're kind of top choice is a scoring guard, someone
Speaker 1: who can more fit in the mold of what they
Speaker 1: lost when they traded Emmanuel Quickly is part of the
Speaker 1: Ananobe deal. And Bruce Brown great cutter, great off the ball,
Speaker 1: but like he's not really what you would classify as
Speaker 1: a scoring guard. I think more along the lines of
Speaker 1: that kind of player is a Jordan Clarkson. Now I
Speaker 1: don't know if the Knicks can actually get Jordan Clarkson,
Speaker 1: but no, the Knicks are undeniably in that Bruce Brown mix.
Speaker 1: We'll see ultimately what direction the Knicks go. I do
Speaker 1: think this, you know, I can't tell you who it
Speaker 1: will be. I do think the Knicks have at least
Speaker 1: one more move in them, because like the Raptors with
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown, the Knicks have a very trade friendly contract
Speaker 1: with Evan Fournier making what eighteen ninety million this season
Speaker 1: and then on a big team option next season. So
Speaker 1: the Knicks can make a move with Fournier's deal and
Speaker 1: draft compensation and make at least one more upgrade before
Speaker 1: the deadline. And I think you're absolutely right. I'm not
Speaker 1: sitting here saying that the Kings are fine and don't
Speaker 1: need any upgrades. I mean, as of Thursday's play, they
Speaker 1: were seventeenth in defense, which we know is something that
Speaker 1: Mike Brown does not want to see. But more concerning
Speaker 1: their fourteenth in offense, they were number one in offense
Speaker 1: last season. So the Kings are definitely going to try
Speaker 1: to get something done using Harrison Barnes, Kevin Herder, Davion Mitchell.
Speaker 1: All three of those guys are in play to varying degrees.
Speaker 1: But I just wonder if the Kings, you know, they do,
Speaker 1: they just need a solid addition as opposed to another
Speaker 1: star presence. The Siakam trade is obviously the headline of
Speaker 1: the week, and I have to say I spent a
Speaker 1: good amount of my Thursday watching the Messaiau Jerry press
Speaker 1: conference very interesting because you know, he made his two
Speaker 1: trades and then did come to the podium earlier today
Speaker 1: and fielded every question that the Toronto media threw at him, which,
Speaker 1: whatever you think of the strategies the trade approach that
Speaker 1: the Raptors have taken last season in this season, it
Speaker 1: was refreshing to see that and hear that, because there's
Speaker 1: no question that the Raptors have faced a ton of
Speaker 1: criticism for their inaction at last season's trade deadline, and
Speaker 1: I wrote about this Thursday on my sub stack. I
Speaker 1: have not sensed a huge amount of regret over the
Speaker 1: past year from the Raptors in terms of how they
Speaker 1: handled Fred van Vliet's final season as a Raptor. The
Speaker 1: Raptors certainly could have traded Van v season, but based
Speaker 1: on everything I've been told, they felt the offers were
Speaker 1: pretty underwhelming in nature. One that I've heard about is,
Speaker 1: you know, they could have sent him to the Clippers
Speaker 1: for Luke Kennard and what I would say a modest
Speaker 1: amount of draft compensation, and the Raptors felt like Fred's
Speaker 1: a former All Star, a fan favorite, a member of
Speaker 1: that unforgettable championship team in Toronto. A key member of
Speaker 1: that team, they didn't want to just send him away
Speaker 1: for such a modest return, and so they decided to
Speaker 1: trade for Yaka Pertle and give Scottie Barnes, Siakam and
Speaker 1: Anobi and Van Vliet, give that quartet one last chance,
Speaker 1: one last ride. And you got to throw Nick Nurse
Speaker 1: in there, because it was one last ride with Nurse
Speaker 1: as the Raptors coach. And it obviously didn't work out.
Speaker 1: The Raptors did not exactly finish last season with a
Speaker 1: flourish and so that actually a lot of the questions
Speaker 1: today were focused on should they have acted sooner? Do
Speaker 1: they have regrets in not trading Ananobe or Siakam sooner?
Speaker 1: Only time will tell and allow us to give the
Speaker 1: proper judgment on it. But look, I think you could say,
Speaker 1: I mean the Raptors are optimistic about the hall they
Speaker 1: got back for Anonobe. No, you know last season, of
Speaker 1: course you heard they want three first, they want four first.
Speaker 1: But you know they're counting on Emmanuel Quickly and RJ.
Speaker 1: Barrett as young players who have a lot of upside.
Speaker 1: They think that's going to work as a more productive
Speaker 1: return for Ananobe. Again, only time will tell there when
Speaker 1: it comes to Siakam, you know, and we still this
Speaker 1: is you know, you mentioned some stuff about Siakam and
Speaker 1: Sacramento that hasn't emerged yet, and I'm sure I'm just
Speaker 1: giving you a hard time. I'm sure when the right
Speaker 1: time arrived and when you can fully report it, I
Speaker 1: know you will. But you know something else that we
Speaker 1: need to kind of get to the bottom of what
Speaker 1: was the best Toronto really could have done had they
Speaker 1: traded Siakam last summer, And more reporting has to be
Speaker 1: done on this. I went on the Raptors Show in
Speaker 1: Toronto this week and said the same thing. I don't
Speaker 1: have all the answers. I've got to dig in a
Speaker 1: little bit more on this, but based on where we
Speaker 1: are now reporting wise, the best indication is that, you know,
Speaker 1: Atlanta's best offer for Siakam in the summer is believed
Speaker 1: underline believed believed to have topped out at DeAndre Hunter,
Speaker 1: AJ Griffin and a future First. I don't know how
Speaker 1: stringently that future first would be protected, but if that
Speaker 1: was really the best offer that Toronto had, I think
Speaker 1: they can make the case they're going to have to
Speaker 1: ultimately prove it with what they do with the picks
Speaker 1: and how they move from here. But they can make
Speaker 1: the case that trading Siakam for Bruce Brown's deal and
Speaker 1: three first, that they can do more with that than
Speaker 1: what they could have done had they taken Atlanta's offer.
Speaker 1: But again we have to confirm and make sure that
Speaker 1: that was indeed the best thing on the table for
Speaker 1: the Raptors. All Right, We've gone on about the Siakam
Speaker 1: trade enough. Again, that obviously is the major major headline
Speaker 1: in the league this week. But you know, I always
Speaker 1: want to hear about your tails from the road, and
Speaker 1: you were on the sidelines for thunder Clippers the other night,
Speaker 1: So the floor is yours. I've rambled on enough, give
Speaker 1: us give us some la stories about what you heard
Speaker 1: and saw in Clipperland the other night.
Speaker 3: This was my first time seeing the Okac Thunder up
Speaker 3: and close this season, so I was really looking forward
Speaker 3: to catching up with SGA and that young group chat
Speaker 3: and those guys. And I'm gonna tell you right now,
Speaker 3: the Thunder they are. They are ecstatic just about the
Speaker 3: the core guys that they have, and not just on
Speaker 3: the court, just just good guys that they are good
Speaker 3: locker room, really good locker room. I spoke with Jalon
Speaker 3: Williams a little bit, chopped up with SGA for a
Speaker 3: little bit as well. One thing is that that kind
Speaker 3: of caught me, not by surprise, but I was a
Speaker 3: little I'm like, you know, it was something it was,
Speaker 3: it was something I didn't consider before. So I spoke
Speaker 3: with Jalen Williams, and you know, the second year guard
Speaker 3: who's doing tremendous over there, and OKAYC starts, they start
Speaker 3: a positionless starting five. You know they really have they're
Speaker 3: really starting. You can make a case they're probably starting
Speaker 3: four point guards then check. If not point guards, then
Speaker 3: just you know, just guards who who need the ball
Speaker 3: in their hands. You know, I was talking with Jalen
Speaker 3: about that, he's he's listed technically, I guess you could
Speaker 3: say he's the power forward. You know, you got Josh
Speaker 3: Giddy and Shaye in the back backcourt, then you have
Speaker 3: lou Dort and you got Jalen Williams and check. And
Speaker 3: so I asked Jalen about just, you know, what are
Speaker 3: the benefits of a pros and cons of you know,
Speaker 3: starting a lineup like that, because you guys look like
Speaker 3: you are. You know, everybody look like everybody knows where
Speaker 3: they're supposed to be, and they understand each other's game.
Speaker 3: He said, I'm gonna be honest with you. He said,
Speaker 3: at times is tough. It's a struggle because we're all guards,
Speaker 3: and a lot of us are lead guards, and we
Speaker 3: need the ball in our hands. So he said, so
Speaker 3: while it may look pretty and seamless to you and
Speaker 3: everybody else, he said, a lot of times, it's hard,
Speaker 3: you know, because we we we need the ball our hands.
Speaker 3: I need the ball on my hands, and you know,
Speaker 3: I like the handle the ball, bring the ball up
Speaker 3: initiaate the offense, he said, So does Josh Giddy? He said,
Speaker 3: so this s g A and so he said, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's problematic sometimes, he said, but we do a good
Speaker 3: job of trying to play the right way. And he
Speaker 3: said in it's work and that. But that caught me
Speaker 3: by surprise. I didn't I didn't expect him to have
Speaker 3: such a candid answer, a candid response to that. And
Speaker 3: if you look at you know, you look at the
Speaker 3: dynamic of that team. A lot of young guys, a
Speaker 3: lot of young guys, a lot of shooters, a lot
Speaker 3: of guards, Uh, they're they're you know, that is a
Speaker 3: well packaged team that you know, and they definitely have
Speaker 3: the assets to do something big eventually.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you know what everyone says. Everyone everyone thinks
Speaker 1: that they're gonna do something at this deadline, and I
Speaker 1: really don't. And again, it's not based on reporting. Just
Speaker 1: it's based on years and years and years of watching
Speaker 1: Sam Presty and I just know he's always going to
Speaker 1: be patient when he can, and just my instinct, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you got some of this vibe when you were
Speaker 1: with those guys. I do wonder to really evaluate that
Speaker 1: team and decide what they need next. Do they need
Speaker 1: to see them in a playoff series first before they
Speaker 1: can really evaluate exactly what they have. Does this lineup
Speaker 1: approach you're talking about really work in the postseason? Like,
Speaker 1: just something tells me that letting this team make a
Speaker 1: playoff run and then making decisions about trades that just
Speaker 1: seems the safer forecast. When we're talking about the.
Speaker 3: Thunder, Yeah, and talking to the Thunder, the people over there,
Speaker 3: they're very happy with this roster I have. I'd have no.
Speaker 3: I haven't heard anything any scutter buzzs or anything that
Speaker 3: suggests that they will make a move at the deadline.
Speaker 3: I think to what you say, Stein, I think they
Speaker 3: at least want to see this thing through in the
Speaker 3: playoffs to see if this has the potential to be effective,
Speaker 3: the potential to work. It's one thing in the regular season,
Speaker 3: but you know, to see if this is you know,
Speaker 3: see if this is sustainable in the postseason. So I
Speaker 3: would agree with your with your sentiment on that. It's
Speaker 3: so Stein. Another thing, so, you know, one thing about
Speaker 3: being asilumn reporter, you get to go and kind of
Speaker 3: check out the timeout huddles and listen in and you know,
Speaker 3: it's cool. It depends on depends on what team you're
Speaker 3: you're around. You know, some teams have players that don't
Speaker 3: talk much Kuhi. If you've got a younger if you
Speaker 3: have a younger group, it's probably not that not that
Speaker 3: much talking. But if you got an older, experienced group,
Speaker 3: a lot of talking, a lot of talking, a lot
Speaker 3: of a lot of ship talking, by the way, you know,
Speaker 3: that's that's that's why I like to hear. I like
Speaker 3: to get all you know, see you know, see how
Speaker 3: they talk to one another, see how they talk about
Speaker 3: the opposing teams. So Stein, I I at a certain
Speaker 3: point during the game. I'm at the Clippers time out huddle,
Speaker 3: and the Clippers Westbrook is the most vocal player on
Speaker 3: that team. He is the vocal leader since day one,
Speaker 3: he's took that mantle. That's that's him. So it's always
Speaker 3: cool hearing what he has to say. So, uh so
Speaker 3: they call the time out and I go stand behind
Speaker 3: a timeout huddle, and at this point, Russ is subbed out.
Speaker 3: He got subbed out rotation. Uh, it was just it
Speaker 3: was just his time to come out. And as people know,
Speaker 3: there are two rows to a bench, and so I'm
Speaker 3: actually standing behind the second row. So Russ comes over
Speaker 3: where I'm at during the time out and he picks
Speaker 3: up a stat sheet, looking at his stats, and he says,
Speaker 3: he looks at me and says, Chris, nobody scores on me. Nobody.
Speaker 3: Ain't nobody fucking scoring on me? You say that first
Speaker 3: team all d right here. I'm like, okay, So I
Speaker 3: guess Stein, you know, I guess Russ would like us
Speaker 3: to pay a little bit more attention to his defense
Speaker 3: because he believes he's playing at a very high level.
Speaker 3: I wasn't expecting that he came over and let me. Know,
Speaker 3: ain't nobody scoring on him? Now? Before you know, I
Speaker 3: don't want people the aggregators just chop this up and
Speaker 3: and go crazy. Obviously, this is the NBA, and players
Speaker 3: are going to get scored on it. That happens. But
Speaker 3: I think I think Russ was kind of, uh, just
Speaker 3: throwing it out there a little bit that he wants
Speaker 3: people to take note of what he's doing on that
Speaker 3: end of the basketball. So that was that was that
Speaker 3: was a first for me, for for a player to
Speaker 3: come and say something like that, to be while I'm
Speaker 3: just chilling in the background.
Speaker 1: As you know, I didn't do as much sideline as
Speaker 1: you I really only did it for radio, and I
Speaker 1: only did it at the All Star Game and the Finals.
Speaker 1: I never I mean, I'm trying to think if I've
Speaker 1: ever even done a regular season game. I'm not. Maybe
Speaker 1: I have done one or two. Yeah, I've probably done
Speaker 1: one or two for radio, but not many. But it's
Speaker 1: so funny. I know we've talked about this before. I
Speaker 1: remember when I started doing sideline, I was taught the
Speaker 1: main thing was do not make eye contact with the coach.
Speaker 1: Listen in on the huddle, but do not make eye
Speaker 1: contact with the coach. I think it was Rick Buker
Speaker 1: who gave me that pearl of wisdom. And here you are,
Speaker 1: screw that. You're just like talking to Russ during the
Speaker 1: time out?
Speaker 3: Am I talking to Russe? Is Russ talking to meet
Speaker 3: depend well? That you know again, that doesn't happen often.
Speaker 3: You know, of course, there is little you know, there
Speaker 3: are coaches that see you, and you know, the the
Speaker 3: secondary coaches, the coaches that sit on that second row,
Speaker 3: they you know, they see they give you some dapt
Speaker 3: say what's up. And then there are some players that
Speaker 3: give you the head nod what's up when they see you.
Speaker 3: But there's not too much interaction that I that I get.
Speaker 3: You know, you may have Lebron may cuss me out
Speaker 3: of something or uh, you know, a playful cuss out
Speaker 3: when he sees me. You know, things like that, but no,
Speaker 3: no conversations. And I wouldn't even consider that a conversation.
Speaker 3: But Russ was just letting me know. I was in
Speaker 3: the vicinity and I think he was playing. I would
Speaker 3: have to go back and look at the tape, but
Speaker 3: he might have in his assignment, might have been SGA
Speaker 3: right before he got subbed out, and so I think
Speaker 3: he was feeling good, you know, it's feeling good about himself.
Speaker 3: But look, I think again, I think he's in a
Speaker 3: in a subtle way. It wants people to, you know,
Speaker 3: acknowledge his defensive prowess. And that's that's one thing Tyler
Speaker 3: talks about that Russ brings the intensity on both ends,
Speaker 3: and he talked about him particularly on that end, on
Speaker 3: defensive end. So I think people need to start checking
Speaker 3: him out. Russ. You know, Russ is putting it out there.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you have. You had that vantage point that
Speaker 1: most of us don't have to actually watch how these
Speaker 1: guys all interact during a timeout and a stoppage. So
Speaker 1: I guess the interesting thing is, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook deserves tons of credit. He has embraced this
Speaker 1: six man role. He's the one who sent himself to
Speaker 1: the bench basically when the James harden arraw got off
Speaker 1: to such a bad start. And but I mean, you
Speaker 1: you've now seen it. You're you know, you have a
Speaker 1: first hand, up close account. I mean, if he's the
Speaker 1: vocal leader, they must be listening and open to that
Speaker 1: for him to be so vocal, which is interesting, he's
Speaker 1: only playing twenty three minutes a game.
Speaker 2: There are.
Speaker 1: Man four or five Clippers playing more minutes per game
Speaker 1: than Russ. So how effective do you think it is
Speaker 1: when he's being so vocal. I mean again, I imagine
Speaker 1: if his teammates didn't want him to take that role,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have it.
Speaker 3: One thing about Russ throughout the league, he has tremendous
Speaker 3: respect among his peers. That's that's one thing that's never left,
Speaker 3: even when he was struggling with the Lakers, you know,
Speaker 3: even you know the few times he struggled with a
Speaker 3: few periods he struggled with the Clippers, the respect is
Speaker 3: always there. People love Russ and I'm talking about it
Speaker 3: in the NBA is peers and so he's always they're
Speaker 3: always open to listening to him speaking because he's going
Speaker 3: to go out there and give me. It's all like,
Speaker 3: is he going to make the right play all the time?
Speaker 3: Is he going to make some mistakes?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think that that comes with the way that he
Speaker 3: plays basketball. It's like a reckless style of play. But
Speaker 3: they know his heart is always in the right place.
Speaker 3: And you know, again with him going to coach lou
Speaker 3: and telling them, hey, I think it's best for me
Speaker 3: to come off the bench, allow James Harden to go
Speaker 3: out there and flourish, and you know that that's what
Speaker 3: has happened. And so you know with Russ, man like
Speaker 3: he's in a he's in a good place. He's a
Speaker 3: really good place.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: I think I remember we were doing our Podstarn and
Speaker 3: it was when James Harden came over, and that was
Speaker 3: before we didn't know how things were going to play out.
Speaker 3: We knew something had to change, and I was, you know,
Speaker 3: I didn't know how it was going to play out.
Speaker 3: I didn't know how well, listen, I knew how it
Speaker 3: was going to play. I knew eventually Russ would have
Speaker 3: to go to a reserve role, but I didn't know
Speaker 3: how he was going to take it. And he not
Speaker 3: only has he taken it well, he's he's he's playing
Speaker 3: really good. He's playing really good in that role, and
Speaker 3: he's still being impactful with his voice and his leadership.
Speaker 3: And so that's cool, that's kind of cool to see
Speaker 3: up front. Start of another another note on SGA right,
Speaker 3: and so I didn't get to use this as well,
Speaker 3: but I spoke with Chris Paul, who is recovering from
Speaker 3: his hand surgery. I had a conversation with him phone
Speaker 3: conversation with him to day of the game, and you know,
Speaker 3: I was just basically asking him like, like, how was
Speaker 3: it playing with him that year and when you knew
Speaker 3: that he was going to be the future. But you
Speaker 3: guys are both point guards, Like how did you try
Speaker 3: to still play your game but make sure you didn't
Speaker 3: step on his toes? He said. Free said, first of all,
Speaker 3: when I when I went over there, OKC we started
Speaker 3: working out, I wanted to get inside of his head.
Speaker 3: And he said, Sga loves basketball. And he said, if
Speaker 3: you love basketball, I love being around you. That's what
Speaker 3: Chris Paul told me, he said, So that made it easy,
Speaker 3: he said. But he said he did feel like he
Speaker 3: had an obligation to not only teach him what he knew,
Speaker 3: but also allow him the freedom to play that position
Speaker 3: as much as he could when they both shared the
Speaker 3: court and play it, you know, with some freedom, allow
Speaker 3: him to do make mistakes, not get on them. And
Speaker 3: you know, that was the first time in a while
Speaker 3: where Chris Paul and his other stops it was championship
Speaker 3: expectations and now you know and okay, see that was
Speaker 3: a time where they they surprised people. They surprised people
Speaker 3: with the season that they had, and so he said
Speaker 3: it was a delicate balance of trying to mentor trying
Speaker 3: to get them freedom, trying to help enhance his game,
Speaker 3: he said. But one thing he said offensively, he said,
Speaker 3: I didn't have to do much, he said, defensively. That's
Speaker 3: where he had to get on SGA's ass, he said.
Speaker 3: He he said he used to, like he said, if
Speaker 3: he talked to SGA, which I didn't at that point,
Speaker 3: he said, talk to SGA. Ask him about how much
Speaker 3: I got him throughout the season on the defensive end.
Speaker 3: He said, I felt like he was not putting forth
Speaker 3: the effort or didn't know how to put forth the
Speaker 3: effort on that end when they when they were around.
Speaker 3: And now you look at SGA leader in steels, leader
Speaker 3: in deflections, and you know that's something that he said
Speaker 3: he saw in him back then. And so he said
Speaker 3: it was a privilege to watch him and and that
Speaker 3: to have a to have a part in his development.
Speaker 3: But he said SGA made it even more easier for
Speaker 3: him when he came along, because that was you know,
Speaker 3: just where Chris Paul is at his age and his
Speaker 3: stature and where Shay and the rest of that group was.
Speaker 3: He said, it was kind of a tricky situation with
Speaker 3: both sides, but they they made it work.
Speaker 1: In your time with the Clippers, did you register any
Speaker 1: did you see any tangible joy from Kawhi Leonard one
Speaker 1: week after him signing his big contract extension.
Speaker 3: I don't think we will see any tangible joy if
Speaker 3: he won the billion dollar lottery, you know, I don't
Speaker 3: think you'll see that from Kawhi. I thought you were
Speaker 3: going in a different direction. I thought you were going
Speaker 3: to say, did I see any joy in PJ? Tucker?
Speaker 1: Well, I have a suspicion I know how that story
Speaker 1: would turn out. But since you brought it up, please
Speaker 1: tell us what you read on the latest with PJ.
Speaker 1: Tucker is. Because he definitely is a name that people
Speaker 1: have their eye on. Will the Clippers try to trade him? Obviously,
Speaker 1: he has one more year on his contract after this season,
Speaker 1: which complicates their ability to trade him. But all right,
Speaker 1: you tell us what's going on with PJ.
Speaker 3: Nothing has changed. He wants to play. He wants to
Speaker 3: play for a contending team, whether that is the Clippers
Speaker 3: or somewhere else. And you know being around him, you
Speaker 3: see you seeing him on the bench, and he's a
Speaker 3: little bit more quiet, a little bit more quieter than
Speaker 3: I've ever really seen him, But that's because he's not playing.
Speaker 3: But he still has a he's still vocal when he
Speaker 3: felt when he sees something. I see points throughout the
Speaker 3: game where he may he may suggest something to a player.
Speaker 3: But for the most part, you know, he's just in
Speaker 3: the background, just waiting on waiting, on the move. And
Speaker 3: the Clippers know how PJ feels, They understand, they they
Speaker 3: are still as of right now, they are still hoping
Speaker 3: that PJ would just understand that they're gonna need him
Speaker 3: down the road. Teams have called. The teams have called
Speaker 3: the Clippers, checking in to see what it would take
Speaker 3: those type of scenarios. I don't know concrete that there
Speaker 3: have been offers, but teams are called, have called in
Speaker 3: on PJ. The Clippers right as of right now are
Speaker 3: not interested in doing anything. But there's still time left
Speaker 3: for those calls to become increasingly more serious, where serious
Speaker 3: offers will be presented. But uh, I can tell you
Speaker 3: right now, as things stand, PJ believes that he has
Speaker 3: a lot of game left. He can help a contented team,
Speaker 3: and that's what he wants to do. He doesn't want
Speaker 3: to sit on the bench.
Speaker 1: So during this game, you confess to us, Now, were
Speaker 1: you just constantly by the Clipper huddle or did you
Speaker 1: sneak in on some Thunder huddles too?
Speaker 3: I stuck on Thunder holes. But you know a lot
Speaker 3: of you know again, you know the younger teams they are,
Speaker 3: they're pretty quiet. For sure.
Speaker 1: They do not want you over there. The Thunder like, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: ty lu doesn't care. But I promise you without even asking,
Speaker 1: I'm sure the Thunder do not want your want you
Speaker 1: in their huddle.
Speaker 3: They did not remove me, they did not know. They
Speaker 3: can't you want you.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have the license to be there. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying they don't like it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it might be the case. My guy, Matt Tumblinson,
Speaker 3: you know what, you know, that's my dude over there
Speaker 3: at Okay, See he was. He was right there in
Speaker 3: the vicinity of where I was at when I would
Speaker 3: go over there and check in on the Oka see huddles.
Speaker 3: But no, I didn't have any I didn't have any problems.
Speaker 3: It was it's a really good group of guys. Again,
Speaker 3: it's a young guys. You know a lot of times,
Speaker 3: like I said, like when you have an old, veteran,
Speaker 3: experienced group, those are probably your more vocal guys. You
Speaker 3: want to get more substance out of those type of
Speaker 3: huddles opposed to a young, quiet team. Trying to think
Speaker 3: who's probably a vocal Yeah, not even I mean you
Speaker 3: probably would think dork is probably vocal, but nah, not really. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's pretty much the coaches. The coaches are you know,
Speaker 3: are the vocal presence in those huddles for ok see.
Speaker 1: And so I was running around Tuesday night. I didn't
Speaker 1: see any of the game. What was your James Harden
Speaker 1: report during the game?
Speaker 3: James Harden? So I spoke with James Harden before the
Speaker 3: game because I had heard I heard heard a tipbit.
Speaker 3: So I was like, let me go talk to James
Speaker 3: before and before the game. And the tipbit I heard
Speaker 3: is that he wants to sign a long term deal
Speaker 3: in the summer with the Clippers. I'm like, huh, okay,
Speaker 3: let me go check. So I went to him before
Speaker 3: the game and he was shown enough. He was like, yes,
Speaker 3: I wanted this is where I want to end my career.
Speaker 3: He said, Kawhi got his extension done. He said, I
Speaker 3: know Paul is working on his and once they get
Speaker 3: that solidified, he said, I'm hoping I'm next in line
Speaker 3: over the summer. You know, he can't James Harden can't
Speaker 3: do an extension. Is you know the way his contract
Speaker 3: was structured, the last deal with Philly that didn't allow
Speaker 3: for such an extension to be implemented. So he'll be
Speaker 3: a free agent to summer. So you know, he's hoping
Speaker 3: that he can get something long term done with the Clippers.
Speaker 3: He said that, he told me that him, Paul, George Kauai,
Speaker 3: they've they've talked about like playing multiple years together and
Speaker 3: doing something special with that new arena that's uh into
Speaker 3: it Dome that's going to be in play next season.
Speaker 3: You know, they they've already talked about that. You know,
Speaker 3: they they they're invested, you know, they're really invested in
Speaker 3: trying to see this thing through. And so he said, yeah,
Speaker 3: I know I might have. He said, how do you
Speaker 3: try to ort to try to quote him correctly? But
Speaker 3: he said something along the lines to me about I
Speaker 3: know I probably said that at my last stop. He said,
Speaker 3: but y'all, y'all know, you know, he said, y'all know
Speaker 3: the shit that happened, you know, you know along the
Speaker 3: way over there, which got me to go in a
Speaker 3: different path. But he's he talked about how tay Lude
Speaker 3: to him was one of the best coaches in the NBA.
Speaker 3: He said, it has the best best, one of the
Speaker 3: best medical staffs that he's been a part of here
Speaker 3: at the Clippers and you know, have you know, his
Speaker 3: his la guys here. He said, that makes all the
Speaker 3: sense of the word. He said, I'm happy they let
Speaker 3: me do my thing, and you know, he just loves
Speaker 3: being home. So you know, that was the first of
Speaker 3: him saying anything like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's gonna happen to I think he's
Speaker 1: exactly right. Kawhi did his extension. Around the league, everyone
Speaker 1: expects Paul George to do a deal sooner rather than later,
Speaker 1: and James Harden, as you noted, he cannot do an
Speaker 1: nd season extension. But when he's a free agent, the
Speaker 1: widely held assumption already is that that will be a
Speaker 1: one team pursuit and that James Harden will re sign
Speaker 1: with the Clippers. I think that's a pretty safe prognostication
Speaker 1: at this point. And next man, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see the Intoit Dome. You know I was when I
Speaker 1: covered the Lakers they played in Inglewood. It's been a
Speaker 1: long time since I've covered an NBA game in Inglewood.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see. And I've seen some of
Speaker 1: the clips of the Into It Dome, but I have
Speaker 1: not been there and cannot wait to see how this
Speaker 1: thing turns out.
Speaker 3: Owner Steve Balmer says is going to have the most
Speaker 3: urinals of any arena in the country. I'm looking forward
Speaker 3: to checking those urinals. STA. You know what, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: tell you this. It is gonna be weird. I hate
Speaker 3: to even admit this, but.
Speaker 1: It was already weird when you said you can't wait
Speaker 1: to check out those urinals.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, I'm going somewhere with that.
Speaker 1: Keep it weird, I guess I'll keep with this.
Speaker 3: Is this league uncut? You know, this is family. Everybody's listening.
Speaker 3: When I was younger, my mom used to think I
Speaker 3: was strange for doing this, and you know, I probably was.
Speaker 3: But when I was young, I would say six seven eight.
Speaker 3: Every time we went out to a rest the first
Speaker 3: thing I would do was go check the restroom out.
Speaker 3: I don't know why I just go check the restroom out.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to see how clean the restroom was.
Speaker 3: So I think this is probably six seven, eight, nine
Speaker 3: years old. That was my go to, like, I wanted
Speaker 3: to go see how clean the restroom, I guess, and
Speaker 3: it was really restaurants, So I guess that was my
Speaker 3: way of kind of trying to decide before I ate
Speaker 3: the food, if the food was going to be any
Speaker 3: good or that. I think the restroom, how clean the
Speaker 3: restroom was was kind of an indicator of how well
Speaker 3: the food was going to how good the food was
Speaker 3: going to be. And I think, oftentimes from my own
Speaker 3: analytic process your database, yeah, my database, I think most
Speaker 3: of the time, when it was a clean restroom, the
Speaker 3: food was amazing, but when the restroom was, you know, shitty,
Speaker 3: the food was shitty. So that's what I'm looking forward
Speaker 3: to seeing how these urinals well, I think the urinals
Speaker 3: gonna be nice, at least at least early on into
Speaker 3: a du that's gonna be nice. But I'm looking forward
Speaker 3: to the process of what months and months go by.
Speaker 3: Are these eurinals still going to be plush? Are you
Speaker 3: with me? Star?
Speaker 1: I'm in shock right now, I cannot believe, as we're
Speaker 1: nearing the one year anniversary of this show, that we
Speaker 1: just ended a show with a solid three minutes on
Speaker 1: stadium urinals. I'm really glad that you forced producer Ryan
Speaker 1: to turn his camera on now during these segments so
Speaker 1: we can see his absolutely shocked reaction to this ending
Speaker 1: that was definitely unscripted and uncut. This was not in
Speaker 1: the pre show notes that this is how we were
Speaker 1: going to end this show.
Speaker 3: Well, Stein, Producer Ryan was actually not in his head,
Speaker 3: and it looked like he was. He understood my premise.
Speaker 3: He understood my process as a kid of looking, you know,
Speaker 3: going into the restrooms and checking out the facility before
Speaker 3: I ate the food. So it looks like he under
Speaker 3: producer Ryan, if you could shine man.
Speaker 1: We're gonna let you guys have that out off air.
Speaker 1: I think we've subjected the audience to enough because I
Speaker 1: was really I kind of what I was expecting is
Speaker 1: that you were going to say, yeah, you know I,
Speaker 1: I really can't wait to get my tour of the
Speaker 1: indt too. It dome like we saw a bunch of
Speaker 1: media that was invited there the other day for All
Speaker 1: Stars and everything.
Speaker 3: No, No, Stein, Steyle. Listen, that's what I have Stein.
Speaker 3: I can't be the only one who thinks that way,
Speaker 3: because Steve Balmer himself, he's the one that made it public.
Speaker 3: That is going to be the all time most urinals
Speaker 3: in the country.
Speaker 1: Well, now I know when we if we ever get
Speaker 1: Steve Balmer to join us on this pod.
Speaker 3: Now I know what he said it by the way,
Speaker 3: he said he'll do it. I talked to him a
Speaker 3: couple days ago. He said he'll do it. Did you
Speaker 3: did he really got it? Yeah, yep, he said do it.
Speaker 3: So I gotta work that out with the Clippers pr all.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, I would love to have him on. So
Speaker 1: I guess I will put up with the urinal.
Speaker 4: Discussion and we will. We will talk about that. We're
Speaker 4: gonna We're gonna do a deep die with Steve barbaro
Speaker 4: urinals on this show.
Speaker 3: This is uncut, This.
Speaker 1: League uncut, this League off the rails. All right, that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for this edition of This League Uncut,
Speaker 1: Mark Stein with Chris Haynes. Thanks as always for tuning in.
Speaker 1: Please remember, if you haven't already, follow the show, rate
Speaker 1: the show, review the show. We'd love A five star
Speaker 1: rating from you anywhere you get your pods where that's Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 1: you know where to register all that stuff. And Chris
Speaker 1: and I we will be back with you again very
Speaker 1: very soon as trade season continues to deliver deal after
Speaker 1: deal after deal, and we've got just under three weeks
Speaker 1: to go. Stay tuned, talk soon everyone.
Speaker 2: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 2: This League on CUTA is an iHeartRadio production Chris Haines
Speaker 2: and Mark Stein