PJ Tucker Wants OUT

Clippers Talk with Adam Auslund after the Clippers and PJ Tucker have agreed to part ways and PJ Tucker will not be around the team. For more checkout @ clipperstalk on YouTube

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, come into a Clippers Talk Live after we had
two kind of two different postgame shows last night after
the Clippers lost by one to the Golden State Warriors,
and I thought I would just be resting my voice today,
but we had a little bit of news here. You
see it in the title. I'll get to it here

(00:20):
in a second, which you want to get out the particulars.
I'm Oudame Osland. This is your Clippers Talk YouTube side
channel where when there's breaking news, even if you don't
think it amounts to much, I will be here to
talk about it as I am right now. Because there
was something regarding PJ. Tucker that just came out a

(00:42):
little bit ago, and I thought even on an NFL Sunday,
we could talk about it a little bit here on
a Clippers Talk Live for you again. Two postgame shows
that you can watch on the video section from last
night on YouTube, and if you guys are in here
on the chat, let me know that you can hear

(01:03):
me or not. I would appreciate that. But I saw
this just a bit ag from Justin Rousseau and it
said this, The LA Clippers released a statement regarding PJ.
Tucker quote. We've had ongoing conversations with PJ throughout the

(01:24):
off season, and have both decided that he won't be
with the team for the time being. PJ is a pro,
has achieved a lot in his career, and there's more
he wants to accomplish. We will continue working with PJ
and his representatives to find the best situation for him
moving forward. Sal says, Audio's PJ. I'm guessing he can

(01:50):
hear me. Now. If you've been listening to me throughout
this entire summer here on Clippers Talk, you will know
that probably in half the shows I did with reporters
for the Clippers, Law Murray, Justin Russo. As I mentioned earlier, Rousseau,

(02:12):
the guys from the lob of the Jam the podcast,
I would ask them, what do you think happens with
PJ and Bones? Are they going to be at training camp?
Are they going to show up to training camp? Well,
I've seen Bones Highland there. I've seen Bones in some

(02:35):
of the clips playing scrimmaging. I know he's there at
training camp. I haven't seen PJ Tucker there yet, and
that's interesting to me. I haven't seen a clip of him.
I didn't see him at Media day and I asked

(02:56):
Carlo Jimenez about this, who was in Hawaii now on
his way back as the Clippers have a game in
San Diego that will be on Tuesday night in their
new G League facility in Ocean Side. As Jordan Zumwalt says, wait,
why wait, why why are we doing this Clippers talk? Well,

(03:18):
just a little bit of a reset for the people
getting in here. I know this was spur of the moment.
Didn't know I'd be talking about this either, But PJ.
Tucker is currently not with the team for the time
being because he and the Clippers have mutually agreed that
the thirteen year NBA veteran will be away from the

(03:41):
team as both sides work towards a resolution for his future.
It's interesting. I appreciate you guys getting in here on
Clippers Talk, if you've got questions, if you've got trade
ideas currently, because it looks like that's where things are heading.

(04:02):
The Clippers have said we will continue working with PJ
and and his representative to find the best situation for
him moving forward. I wondered if this was going to
be an issue, if this was going to be a problem.
I've talked about it all off season. It was a problem.
After he didn't get traded the All Star break, he

(04:24):
was sent home, as was Bones Highland. Both those guys
basically for I don't know, insubordination, conduct, detrimental to the team,
I forget, whatever they call it. They were disgruntled, they
were unhappy that they weren't traded and moved at the deadline,
and so the Clippers sent him home. They couldn't find

(04:45):
trade partners for them. They tried, they couldn't. They couldn't
find anything that would be in the best interest of
the Clippers, so they sent them home. That was at
the All Star break. Now, as we are just a
couple weeks away from the season starting October twenty third,
add into it, Dome PJ. Tucker is not going to

(05:09):
be around the ball club. And again I didn't see
him at training camp in Hawaii in any of the pictures.
Doesn't mean he wasn't there. I thought he was. That
they had twenty one guys there and he was a
part of that. So if anyone has confirmation on that,
you can let me know. But it's really of no

(05:30):
consequence now because he's going to be away from the team.
If you're just coming in. The statement from the Clippers
is quote, We've had ongoing conversations with PJ throughout the
offseason and have both decided that he won't be with
the team for the time being. PJ is a pro
who has achieved a lot in his career, and there's
more he wants to accomplish. We will continue working with

(05:53):
PJ and his representative to find the best situation for
him moving forward. This is why I'm here. Amina Sean
has said, wait, PJ wants out. PJ has wanted out,
He wanted out the All Star break. I find this
very disappointing, only because they gave him multiple chances last year.

(06:15):
Now he's thirty nine and he still apparently wants to
be on a contender, thinks he can contribute, even though
we saw from him last year it really wasn't working.
He wasn't taking threes anymore. His patented corner three wasn't there,

(06:36):
wasn't taking it, had very low confidence, and the Clippers
still gave him all the opportunities in the world. When
he first got here. I remember he played that first
game against Los Angeles Lakers. Didn't look good, but they
gave him a fair shot. They really did. They went

(06:59):
above and beyond on to see what PJ Tucker had left.
He started. I don't know if you guys remember this
the final game of the season, Game six, in that
playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks in a must win situation.
PJ got to start that didn't look good. It was
like a minus ten in the first half. Clippers overall

(07:23):
weren't very good. It wasn't just him, but he wasn't
exactly helping. And if you know me, you know that
I've actually been a big fan of PJ. I thought
he had utility when he came to this team. I
felt like PJ. Tucker in very specific situations against the

(07:46):
right opponent, the right big for a few minutes here
and there, a few minutes, he could help this team
against Jokics for a second that first contest, I think
in Denver they threw him out there and he played
okay against him. I had seen it before with him
in Philly play. Jokics pretty well was physical with him

(08:08):
in just a few minutes. He did that with the
Clippers against Zion. Same thing. But that is very much
a specialist type of player. That is a guy who
could see minutes once a week during their long regular season. PJ.
Tucker still believes he's much more than that in this league.

(08:30):
And to be fair, the seventy six Ers were starting him.
The Philadelphia seventy six Ers were giving him twenty two
minutes a night in those first three games last season
before he was traded to the Clippers. When he was traded,
he let it be known that he didn't sign up

(08:52):
for this, that he was going to every news in
media outlet to let them know that he didn't want
to be with the Clippers. I'm not so sure the
Clippers were trading for him. I think it was about
getting James Harden. I think that was pretty clear. And PJ.

(09:15):
Tucker was fined seventy five grand last season by the
NBA for expressing the desire to be traded before the
trade deadline. Remember, he was sent home. He wasn't exactly

(09:36):
being a good vet to the squad because it seemed
like Bones Highland also started to pick up on the
bad vibes with him, and he was sent home too.
He wanted to be traded. He won more playing time.
He thought he was gonna be the backup point guard.
I get it, but then they brought in James Harden.
It changed rotations, and now the Clippers PJ. Tucker are

(10:00):
still trying to figure out a deal something that works
for both sides. Is that possible? Can the Clippers get
something for him? They don't want to have to use
the stretch provision I'm guessing, which means you wave a
guy and divide up his salary over three years, so

(10:23):
it'd be a little bit over three million per year
that the Clippers would be paying out and would count
against their cap. People are speculating if Kelly Olinok could
be a guy they could get for him. Kaleolinox probably
too good of a player. He got twelve points per

(10:48):
game when he was traded to Toronto last season. I
know that was somebody on the wish list for Clipper Nation.
Would have been nice, didn't end up happening. Kelly Olinok
is known for being a bit of a stretch big,
a solid passer can pass out of the high post.

(11:12):
Why would they give him up for PJ. Tucker to
bring him back to Toronto? How is that an upgrade
for them? I think the salary would work, but there's
no reason for the Raptors to do that. Unfortunately, what's
the logic? Give me the rationale. Yeah, he's making twelve

(11:35):
million this season. The only thing I could see is,
and I'll use this to make a point about another
player too, is that Olynic is paid through not just
this year but next year twelve million, about almost thirteen
million this year Toronto Raptor Zoham at the age of
thirty three, and then about thirteen and a half next year,

(11:55):
a twenty five to twenty sixth season, So they could
see it as getting out from that contract next season. Maybe.
I don't know. They're in kind of a weird stage
where they're rebuilding but trying to stay competitive. The Raptors.

(12:17):
You know, they brought Inn RJ. Barrett himid that trade
with the Knicks last season, Massiu Jerry really good GM.
But I don't know if they have a clear cut direction,
and I don't know if Kelly Olenok giving him up
for PJ. Tucker would make a lot of sense. I

(12:37):
just think even if they wanted to give him up
and get out of that second year of the contract,
they could probably get more for him. One guy would
bring up, and I don't know how realistic this is,
but we've talked about it this offseason. Is Grant Williams.
He's currently with the Charlotte Hornets now. He has three

(13:00):
years left on his deal at around thirteen million dollars.
Grant Williams similar in his attitude and toughness to a
guy like PJ. Tucker, but he's much younger. He's not
even thirty yet. He's going to be twenty six this season.

(13:24):
I really liked him with Boston. I don't know how
you guys felt about Grant Williams, but I was a
fan in Boston. Now they played a lot of positionless basketball,
and then he ended up signing that deal with the
Dallas Mavericks that he's on right now. I'm guessing they
signed him to the non taxpayer mid level exception. Things

(13:45):
didn't work out, they moved him. They made a great trade.
They brought in PJ. Washington and Grant Williams is now
a member of the Charlotte Hornets. Who don't know are
they going anywhere? Can they be a playing team this season?
If they have LaMelo, if they have a little bit

(14:07):
of hope, and I think they need a season where
they just show something. They have Miles Bridges, they have
some talent there, if LaMelo can stay healthy, Brandon Miller
high draft pick, we have Josh Green now. I think
he was included in that trade, But I like Grant Williams.

(14:33):
I don't know how you guys view him if he
could play power forward for the Clippers. Since that's another
conversation here with what we heard from Kawhi Leonard last
night talking about how many miles he ran and was
probably top five or top ten, and miles ran last
season playing the power forward position, couldn't really tell if

(14:53):
he was trying to angle for the Clippers bringing in
a power forward or if he he was just saying,
it is what it is, type of thing I'm going
to be playing the power forward. I didn't take it
as him complaining about it. I didn't because he was
pretty upfront when Law asked him about that question. Kin
just said, yeah, who was the power forward last year?

(15:16):
It was me. He did mention, though, is it beneficial
because of all the wear and tear. If he's saying
it's more physical to be playing the power forward position,
is that something the Clippers are looking at right now?
You have to ask yourself that people in here are
saying Jordan Zumwalt saying he's not good enough of a

(15:38):
player to request a trade. Honestly, that's fair. He's not.
He didn't prove that at all last season with the Clippers,
and I find the whole situation disappointing him not being
with the team moving forward. I thought at this point
in his career he'd be a good vet and even

(16:02):
though his skills had diminished, he would be Donna's hasl
maybe and you know, be a cheerleader on the bench
and helps your on guys and support guys and still
be a source of toughness like Eudonnas Haslm was with
Miami Heat for so long because of his reputation, the

(16:23):
way guys take to his teaching, and you know, he
would even get into it with guys. I think he
and Jimmy Butler had a conversation before that got really heated.
But they respect him, and I think PJ. Tucker would
have that respect if he wanted that role. But apparently
he thinks he can still play. Okay, great. My point
would have been this, PJ. Tucker could have not opted

(16:50):
into this last year of his contract. He didn't have to.
You can say, but Adam is that realistic. You didn't
think he was going to opt into eleven and a
half million dollars or no. I thought he would of course,
But it's kind of having your cake and want to

(17:11):
eat it too. You want the eleven point five million
dollars that you opt into, but now you want to
dictate where you want to play for that contract as well.
That's what got me a little bit confused with PJ. Tucker, Like,

(17:32):
if you opt in, you don't have a say and
where you're going to play. You could have not opted
in and had been a free agent. It had gone
wherever you wanted. Now you want the Clippers to have
to send you somewhere that that can be a little
bit frustrating. That can be a little bit disappointing. Big

(17:53):
r R sixty four sos. The Clippers would probably love
to trade PG. Problem is he's just a negative asset.
You're going to have to include something to get rid
of him. It's not a bad point. So if you're
saying that guy the most obvious player is bones, does
that sweeten the deal for anyone? Does that make someone go? Okay, well,

(18:17):
it'll take PJ. On it's an expiring contract to get
bones Highland. We're into that. Who's that team? And do
you still have to include a second round pick? Do
you have to try to include a first round pick?
I mean, that's something I don't think the Clippers would do.
It's a non starter. Obviously, it would depend on who
they're getting back, but you'd expect something really good in

(18:39):
that scenario. But they have one they can trade. They're
twenty thirty. I believe it's gonna be difficult to get
this trade done. I think it'll happen at some point,
but I don't know how long this is gonna take.
Mark Jaggs says PJ is not good enough to be
making all these demands. Amina Sean says PJ should be

(19:02):
grateful that he's on a team. Miss says Haslam is
still at training camp practicing this year. He plays in practice.
I know he's kind of a player's coach. Now. He
had tenure with the Miami Heat, and that's where he
played I think his entire career and was a legacy

(19:22):
guy there, and it would be different for PJ. Tucker.
But the point still remains. It would have been nice
to see him adopt that veteran role and cheer on
guys and point out things from the bench that they
could do better, and it's still his toughness from the
bench mark. Jack says, might as well wave him because
he's a bad juju is affecting the team. Yeah, I

(19:46):
don't know how that would work with the salary CAF
if they could just wave him and pay the entire thing,
if anybody has an understanding on that, because they don't
want to do the stretch provision. They do not want
to do the stretch provision because even though it's just
three million dollars over this year, next year, in the
year after, that's still three million more dollars on the

(20:08):
cap for a guy that's not even on your team.
It hurts Big R R sixty four says, exactly, A
meed he's lucky he's even in the league. He should
be grateful and be a team leader. That's not the
case apparently, I mean, and Shaan says, I'm tired of
this guy wanting. Chris Gomez says, yeah, I got you

(20:30):
about Olennok was thinking him or Larry Nance, both those
guys I think are unrealistic. Nobody's trading those guys for PJ. Tucker.
I like them both. Don't get me wrong. When we
look at Larry Dance Junior's contract, it's in the ballpark
money wise. It works. He's making eleven million two, but

(20:52):
he's in the last year of it that he's an
unrestricted free agent Atlanta. The fact is they can just
get more for him than that they can. Larni Jr.
Is a nice player. That's a really good asset for them.
Tim Kirk said, love your interview with the great Ralph Lawler.
Do you think Ralph and Mike Smith will ever reconcile
the relationship. I'm not speaking about anybody else's relationship here.

(21:16):
Tim Kirk also says PJ is not an NBA player anymore.
If he has utility, it's in very very specific parameters,
very specific. We're talking about a couple minutes here and
there against the right opponent like Jokic. Believe it or not,

(21:36):
he's been pretty good against him or Zion because of
his big body physicality out there. Yeah, he picks up vowels,
So some of it is just, you know, hack a
shaft type stuff. But I think that change of pace
could be valuable maybe for a team I'd I don't know.

(22:00):
It's hard for guys to come to grips with their
sports mortality and when their career is ending, it's really difficult.
Maybe Pj's having trouble with that, or maybe he does
have a role somewhere and he can be a productive
player still at the age of thirty nine in ten

(22:22):
minutes a night. I don't know. The Clippers, though, more
than gave him a shot last season, and he wasn't
taking shots for the most part, was turning down threes,
was scared to take those corner threes. It looked like
just didn't have the confidence there. And for a player
I really liked it. I think could be a championship

(22:42):
level role player in his prime and did win with
the Milwaukee Bucks. Like I was happy to see the
Clippers get him in the trade deal, but then seeing
him out there, it just you could see the skills
have diminished. He's much older. It can go quickly sometimes

(23:03):
that ring in Milwaukee was just a few years ago,
but it can go quick. Gicon says, hopefully Lawrence can
get something done. We'll see big r R sixty four
and PJ is definitely hurting his value by complaining all
the time. Other teams see they don't want that on
their roster either. Maybe like if you trade for him,

(23:27):
you better have a role or else he's going to
one out, I guess, because that's what we've seen with
the Clippers, and he will make it known to those
who register and whoever is listening different publications. He complained
to right away. With the Clippers, it was strange to

(23:47):
see you just got here. And I'll bring up some
of the quotes if I can. This was when they
first got him. Ah, pay Wall's killing me. I can't
get behind it right now. But he was disgrestled over

(24:10):
his lack of playing time, and even though he was
given an opportunity, he didn't look good. The minutes with
him next to a viat Zubas playing power forward were
unbelievably bad. The net rating was horrific. Amina Sean says,
Houston Tucker was different too, but PJ is washed now.
Houston Tucker was really good, Guys, really really good. That

(24:34):
was a player. That was a guy, a modern NBA
player that I would love. Luis Lemmas says, get rid
of him and sign Tres. They can't trade him to
an international team that Tres is on. Unfortunately, it's not
how it works. They gotta trade him to an NBA team.
Tim Kirk says, who will get most minutes at backup

(24:54):
center this year? I think it is Mobomba right now, guys.
I did a Clippers after Dark last night. I'm trying
to say my voice by the way, I didn't think
I'd be doing this today, but I did a Clippers
after Dark where after we went off the air on
the radio side, and maybe I'll do this throughout the season.
We were on the Patriot AM eleven fifty programming note

(25:15):
when the Dodgers are on A five seventy, LA Sports
will be on the Patriot AM eleven fifty. But the
show was over on the radio side that I kept
it going called it Clippers after Dark. I talked a
lot about kai Jones. I thought he struggled last night.
I didn't want to be overly harsh with it, but
some of the comments were, so I tried to cut
some of those out. It just was, I don't know,

(25:39):
uh mean spirited some of it. But I want to
be positive about a young player. Well, I know a
lot of people were really high on and the expectations
are unrealistic to some degree. Some of the Kai Jones people,
and look, I'm rooting for him. I want him to

(26:00):
get that two way contract, but I think he's got
to play in the G League right now. He needs
to develop. He just didn't look comfortable out there. Maybe
it's just not playing at this level in a while,
even though it's just preseason. Could say the same about KPJ.

(26:20):
But Kayle Jones. You know, the first time he tested
the basketball, he had his foot out of bounds. Just
the spacing wasn't there. Just everything was moving too fast
for him. So I think Mobamba is the guy right now,
and hopefully he's available on Tuesday. He's been nursing a
knee injury. I don't think it's major. I saw him
do walk through stuff in training camp, so I'm not

(26:43):
overly concerned yet. Tim Kirks says, are we giving backup
on bones yet? That Bones looked okay last night, got
put in some tough positions. But you know, I'm a
huge Bones Highland fan. I just believe that when he
brought in Chris Dunn, when you brought in KPJ, that
kind of telegraphed part of what they thought about Bones,

(27:06):
and they said it sounded like Lawrence Frank this summer
was also trying to move him. It's not like they
haven't tried to move these guys and give them an
opportunity and help them out get to whatever team could
give them more minutes. It just doesn't seem like it's
going to be the Clippers. Tim kirksa's love your work.
I'm an old time Clipper fan since the Great League

(27:27):
Clin days on the radio in the late nineties and
early two thousands. Lee Klin Prince of Darkness. Tim kirk
thanks for the compliment there. I'm trying to figure out
a realistic landing spot for PJ Tucker where the Clippers
can make this move as fast as possible and there
wouldn't be too much of an entanglement with Picks and

(27:51):
having to include a bunch of other guys. What would
be the easiest, cleanest way to move on from PJ Tucker?
I mentioned Grant Williams earlier. Other people mentioned Kelly Olennok.
I think he's just too valuable of a piece for
the Toronto Raptors. The only thing argument he could make
is he has two years left on his deal. PJ
is an expiring eleven million dollar contract. Someone else said

(28:14):
Larry ns Jr. Like him, but I don't think Atlanta's
doing that. He's expiring and he's a good trade piece
for them. If they could get him, great, But I
don't know. They'd have to include a lot more, maybe
if they really value Bold Hyland's and a second round pick.
I don't know, Mark Jackson PJ. Tucker to the Knicks
for Precious to chew you. I don't Maybe I gotta

(28:41):
see what his contract is New York Knickerbockers. It's just
he's thirty nine. PJ. Tucker is at that place. And
if you thinking about Tibbs and him using someone like that,
I don't find that to be a bad idea. Precious

(29:03):
is making. It looks like six million dollars. He's on
a one year so yeah, they have to include more.
Maybe they have to include bones than two. It's not
totally out of the ballpark. I could see the logic
there of Tibbs wanting to use someone like BJ Zucker.

(29:26):
That's not a bad call. Prescious last year averaged seven
points and seven boards in twenty four minutes a night
in forty nine games. That's interesting. That is I don't know.
I want to see how much he played in the playoffs.
What type of minutes he was getting there. Let's see,
first round he only played thirty minutes. Was he banged up?

(29:50):
Was that matchup de Pennant against Philly? Second round against
Indiana he played one hundred and fifty four minutes. Okay,
there's another guy, old dirty dashers is get him the
f out of here. I knew some of that stuff
was coming. Also, we and sniff of the playoffs. Old

(30:11):
dirty Dasher will not relax. He's been really tough on
the Clippers with his predictions. Uh him Atheus said, not
gonna happen because they won't be a second Apron team
for PJ. Tucker. Yeah, they'd have to move something else
with precious. I suppose I didn't know who the knickt

(30:33):
salary cap was at. I kind of figured they were
a second Apron team already with some of the signings
they made. They they spent money og and Nanobi, Jalen Brunson,
They bring in kat Mark. Chad says. They said Tibbs
wants Marcus Smart. I heard that rumor too. TIBs is
in win now mode. Yeah, that's true. Tim Kirk said,

(30:55):
who will start when kawiet sits out. We've talked about
this a ton. I think Norman Powe will be in
the starting lineup and it could really upend things we
saw last night. Mina Sean said that too. I guess
as Norman stars. So last night's starting lineup was James Harden,

(31:17):
Chris Dunn, Norman Powell, DJJ and Avitza Zubats. It's just
a starting lineup for preseason game one. I don't think
coach lou or anyone wants you to read too much
into it. But it's not nothing to me either. I
just see it as if Kawhi is out, can you
lean so far to defense where it's just James Harden

(31:41):
and Aviatza Zubots and then kind of three and D
players out there next to him in the starting lineup,
But guys that can't really create for themselves that much.
Terrence Man not really that guy, Chris Dunn, not really
that guy. Derek Jones Jr. Not really that guy. Nicholas
Patoomb not that guy. I think you need a little
bit more juice on the offensive end. I do Himothy

(32:04):
said they're actually under the second apron. They found a
way to manipulate the new CBA oh I saw that
they paid like a dollar more on some of the
minimums with the Knicks. Smart front office. Weird to say
that about the Knicks, but they've done some really good
things past couple of years. They're doing much better there
and they're a legit contender. I like the move for cat.

(32:24):
I think it gives them a different dimension, especially going
upgainst team like Boston where you can play five out.
Now he's kind of their version of Porzingis. But the
Clippers in that starting lineup, if Kawha is not available
and we don't know yet, he wants to play, and

(32:46):
if people are asking me to guess on whether or
not he'll be available opening night right now, I'd like
to be positive and guess he will be, but nobody
can know because all that matters is how his knee
responds to the strength and conditioning program they're doing right
now with it. He's not participating in the drills of
training camp. He's strengthening the knee. But he also mentioned
last night I found this interesting. They said, would you

(33:08):
like to play in a preseason game before just all
of a sudden being out there in game one of
an eighty two game regular season, and Kawhi said there's
always a ramp up process something to that degree. That's interesting.
So does that mean we would see him in a
preseason game first, if we're going to see him in

(33:30):
game one October twenty third, I don't know. I think
it's a possibility, at least by how he said that,
by how he put that. Tim Kirk says, I think
Harden will be an All Star in average twenty five
points per game at the age of thirty five. I
think it's asking a lot, but I think it needs
to average twenty or more. I don't know about twenty five.

(33:54):
I mean agrees with that, he said. My guest is
twenty points per game. Now. If Kawhi is out, I
expect him maybe to be twenty twenty two somewhere there.
But it depends on where he's at physically and how
much he can get by guys and bend the defense.
That's what you're looking at with James Harden, and to

(34:15):
his credit, he looks to be in great shape. Some
gets to the lefty scoop, layup and blow by a
guy last night for a bucket. That was good to
see old dirty Dasher said, yeah, I was so gun
ho with two one three five years ago. This last
news from two weeks ago broke me. I'll support the team,
but I'm like rowdy Roddy Piper and they live and

(34:38):
I'm wearing glasses. Came to kick ass and shoe bubble
gum and I'm all out of gum. Dude, Nukem stole
it from that, Mark Jagg. Chris Dunn can create shots
for himself and others done. Drive and kick game is phenomenal.
There's a reason TYLERU has been very impressed with him

(35:00):
in training camp. Chris Dunn is not creating much for himself.
I don't know what you've seen from him, but he's
not somebody that's going to create a ton for himself.
That's that's cap. I love Chris Dunn, but that's not
his game. He has a he has a bit of
a floater. But we're talking about a guy who averaged

(35:20):
five points per game last season, five points per game
in sixty six games. I think he can create for
himself as kind of wild. He can play off the ball,
he can be a catcher shoot guy. And you know,
over the span of about if you could bind the

(35:42):
last two seasons with Utah where he played just twenty
two games, and then last year sixty six games. So
reported him. In eighty eight games, he shot about forty
from three. That's good to see because he hadn't been
a great three point shooter before that. That's still not
a big enough sample sized to say he's a forty
percent three point shooter. But he just needs to be

(36:03):
above league average, above thirty six percent. That would be
big for him. Tim Kirk says, what is Jeff and
Gundy's role going forward? Can you get him on your show?
Hope we can get Mark Jackson and join the franchise too.
I don't know. I'm glad they got jayb g his role,
he's the defensive coordinator. He never in his head coaching

(36:25):
career had a team finish worse than sixth defensively. That's
damn impressive. That's his forte. He's a defensive savant. That's
how his teams got by, that's how they overcame injuries,
got to the finals. With the New York Knicks, Jeff
Van Gundhy is great for this team. He's a big,

(36:46):
loud voice and presence. Brian Seeman has talked about that.
Guys listened to him. He's never truly left the game.
He's been there as a broadcaster and he's been working
with Team USA forever. He loves to coach. It's so
it's such a windfall for the Clippers to have Jeff
Van Gundy in the fold. Guys, it's really really big.

(37:08):
Mark Jagg Providence was years ago. I know I loved
him at Providence. My guy, he's been in the NBA
and almost out of it now for ten years. Saying
because he could cook guys back when he was a
Providence doesn't mean anything. Do you understand he's in the
NBA now and that has never materialized. His Providence game,

(37:30):
an offensive game with Chris Dunn, is never materialized at
this level. I give him all the credit in the world,
and he became one of my favorite players because he
adjusted his game and his hung his hat on, hung
his hat on his defense, and found and carved out
a nice role in the league because of that. How
do you get through to some people, Amina Sean said.

(37:52):
Kawhi roasted all his new teammates. When asked who's who
stood out, Kawi said, no one. I don't think he
mentioned like that. I think Kawhi is a little list.
He just he's not going to make something up. It's
not a slight. It could just mean everybody's been playing well,
that's kind of what he was alluding to. It's not
putting one guy above everybody else. Kauai is very brief

(38:22):
to the point sometimes terse. Laconic is a word you
could use for him, like that's who Kauai is. He's
not just going to, you know, elaborate too much on
something if there's not a lot there to go off of.
I also just found the interview last night fascinating. I

(38:44):
didn't know it was going to happen until it happened.
It seemed a little bit impromptu, but it was good
to hear from him a little bit and interesting to
hear his comment about and we can talk a little
bit more about this, but the power forward position. I
think that was one of the big takeaways there from
Kawhi Leonard last night. And it all depends on how

(39:07):
you want to interpret this, but he talked about that
he covered a lot of mileage last season. Spectrum had
him at two point five to three miles per game.
That led the Clippers so He's right, Kawhi was moving.

(39:27):
Kawhi was at two and a half miles per game
leading the Clippers. That's from Law Murray. He had that
stat so that may lend credence to the fact that
maybe they do need an a power forward so he
doesn't have to do as much and move around as much.

(39:49):
I just have never been sure. I didn't know the
mileage and the difference between playing power forward and small forward.
I kind of assumed small forward meant he was playing
more on the way on the perimeter and he'd have
to move more there than power forward. But maybe that's
not the case in today's NBA, and if it's not,
it probably would be best to have Kauwhi not playing

(40:10):
the power forward position. Tim Kirk says, why aren't there
any plays for Zuo to shoot mid range? His skills
aren't full of utilized on offense enough because mid range
shots don't make a lot of sense when Zoo can
shoot sixty four percent from five to nine feet out.
Last year he led I think the league in all

(40:31):
bigs from five to nine feet out at sixty four percent.
He was better than Jokic in that area. It was
push shots, runners, hook shots. Why does he need him
jumper when he just led the league from five to
nine feet out. Guys, if he shoots forty five percent

(40:54):
in the mid range with a jumper, which is a
really good percentage, that still doesn't justify him to it.
It really doesn't, not when you're as effective as he
is closer to the basket. Mark Jacks says Kawhi played
every game until he gots knew contract. That's not true
at all. He got his contract, continued to play, and

(41:16):
then with about two weeks left in the regular season,
he wasn't able to go. Can we just be accurate once?
Amina Sean says, we got to stick with quiet power
forward until we get a real power forward. Well, Kawhi
last season basically said that. He said, I'll do it
till we get a real one, something to that effect.

(41:39):
So does he want them to get a power forward?
Does he not want to put that pressure on the
front office. I'm not sure. I think Kawhi knows he's
paid like a superstar. So sometimes you gotta do the
dirty work, you gotta do the little things. That's something
we heard Paul George complain about at times that Kawhi
never really has. I just don't know, and we did

(42:03):
hear this from Quas and he's feeling good last night.
Should probably tell you guys that that's important. It's one
thing to say they need a power forward and they
need to move Kawhi back to the three. It's another
to find a power forward that fits good or fits
well enough next to it. Each zubots meaning he has
to shoot a little bit because Zoo's not shooting. Yeah,

(42:29):
there's a reason, Tim Kirk, that they look for stretched bigs. Also,
how many stretched bigs are there really, especially that could
also guard the basket? You know how much of those
guys get paid. You know how unique those guys are,
Ad Jokic embiid not many more than that guys who
are stretched bigs that could also guard the basket. Yeah,

(42:53):
that'd be great. You have no idea based upon how
few shots is taken away from the basket in the
mid range. If he can do it, it's just difficult. Sometimes.
I think a power forward like Bobby Portis could be good.
Cool they giving them away the bucks. I'm gonna check

(43:19):
Bobby Portis's contract right here. I know his annuals within range,
so he's making twelve million this year and thirteen million
next year. But that's a player option next year. Do
they want PJ. Tucker back for that in some cap
releaf next year? Because they assume that Bobby Portis is
going to opt in, even though he might not because

(43:41):
he's thirty. He's still young enough where he might not.
But he's kind of a legacy guy there and one
of their leaders with Milwaukee, helped them win a championship
and is a good player who shoots forty from three
last season. PJ. Tucker is not doing that. He's a
thirty eight percent three point shooter for his career. Really

(44:03):
thirty nine percent Bobby Portis? Are they really giving him
up for PJ Tucker? I think they know who PJ.
Tucker is versus Bobby Portis. Not realistic. Mark Jack can
even point that one out. Now. They love Portis in Milwaukee.
We know Luis. They're not giving up Kelly Olynyk for PJ. Tucker.

(44:25):
Why would they do that? It takes two to tango. Yeah,
Portis is a fan favorite there. Belgrade zero one one
says hello from Europe. Hello, it's good to hear from
our international Clippers fans here. It'd be great to hear

(44:47):
some realistic trades for a power forward. If you guys
want to say John Collins, I'll listen, But what is
the trade package? Who are the Clippers giving up? John
Collins did end up shooting thirty seven percent from three
last season. That's a good year. Only took three a game,

(45:10):
but made one per game fifteen to eight in his
twenty eight minutes per game. He's still young. Let's see
what John Collins contract is at. You tell me how
they can realistically get John Collins. Give me a trade
for him. This is interesting because Collins is making twenty

(45:34):
six million this year, so obviously it's gonna take more
than PJ. Tucker. They're gonna have to trade PJ Tucker
bones would they want him? John Collins has a player
option for twenty six million next season. I could see
him opting out of that because he'll still be at
the age of twenty eight, entering his prime. He get
a longer one hundred million dollar deal, even though even

(45:56):
if it's less annually, he get a longer deal, So
at worst you would have him off the books for
the summer of twenty twenty six. Even if John Collins
did opt in that twenty six million dollar deal during
the twenty five to twenty sixth season. You guys tell
me how they could do it. Tim Kirk says, Zoo,

(46:18):
he's still hung up on this. He still hung up
on this. Zoo is an eight percent free throw shooter.
Earlier his career. He showed great touch on a shot
he had potential to developing new a stretch big when
he is seventeen away from the basket. Except he just
except for one thing. Tim, shooting at the free throw
line and shooting in the mid range are two different things.

(46:40):
You know, guys aren't guarded at the free throw line.
Tim Kirk says, he doesn't even look at the basket,
which hurts the full of the offense. He's good in
the short role. He's become a much better passer there.
Stop get Zoo on the block and let him go
to work there. That's where he's most valuable. Kalaid Jojo says,

(47:02):
what you think is happening with Kawhi, he seems to
be over with the Clippers following his comment, I didn't
see it that way at all. I don't know what
you're talking about him and he said we need to
trade bones first, because Tyler is going to waste twenty
games on bones and KPg lineups. I don't think he's
gonna do that. We'll see if KPg is available to
start the season. Man for Collins, it's gonna take more

(47:27):
than Man. Collins makes ten million more per season. Actually
he makes fifteen million more per season. Who else? Luis
if you even want to do that? They just paid
Terrence Man. Kevin Richards said, you can wave pg PJ,
but then you can't trade him. They will want to
keep that money to be able to aggregate in the trade.

(47:48):
Waving him would only give you an open roster spot,
no other advantage. Yeah, that is a good point. Mark
Jack said Man would have to be included to make
salaries match. You're saying Man in PJ for John Collins
would be your move. Would you guys want to do that?

(48:09):
Tim just can't let it go. Like he can't, He says,
Young Zoo had potential to be Marcus Sohl like Unfortunately
the materialize seventeen foot shots not hard to make. You
need to look watch them. Table Marcus sol I'm glad
you've never listened to me before, because I've actually called
that beats a zuboss a long lost Gasol brother for years. Tim,

(48:32):
thanks for participating. Really appreciate the productive conversation about things
that could have been. I'm just gonna start ignoring somebody
who has a one track mind and isn't participating in
moving the conversation forward. Khalaide says he said he's not
impressed with any new addition as his body language says
he's not used to a non competitive team. That's not
what he said at all. I'm glad you are the

(48:55):
body language interpreter. Oh my goodness, guys. Him saying nobody
stood out above the rest of the guys is not
a slight. I think that's also just wasn't a question
he thought he was going to be getting. He thought
they were going to be talking about the knee and
things pertaining to that. It was not a dig at

(49:16):
his teammates at all. That is a wild way to
interpret it him at he said, we can't trade for
Collins without trading Man or Done or Norm. True? Would
Norm and PJ be the move Norm makes then utwo
Wo'd probably have to give something else back to make
that work. Talking about twenty six million dollars from John Collins,

(49:38):
Norm makes eighteen million or nineteen million, and PJ makes
eleven million. I love Norm. I think he's extremely valuable
to this team. I also could see at some point
down the road. I've listened to it. I have listened
to it, Khalaid, I've listened to it multiple times. I

(49:58):
didn't read into it like that. I didn't see many
of the Beat reporters do that either. He's Kawhi. He's
extremely blunt and honest. If he thought someone or he
was going to elaborate about one particular player, he would
have That's not his thing. Have you heard Kawhi in
interviews before, I mean said personally, I think we should

(50:20):
keep Norm because he's a good shooter. He's a really
good shooter, shot forty four percent from three last season. Oh,
you guys are killing me right now. I appreciate all
the questions and stuff, but I don't like the uh
inferring and trying to play body language expert with Kawhi
Leonard when like it matches up with how Kawai always is.

(50:43):
He's almost deadpan with his delivery. Sometimes it doesn't mean anything.
You can't read much into that. Kawhi is a good teammate.
He's not throwing anyone under the bus like that. He's
not trying to give anyone a story. Oh it's cofficult
to me. I love y'all. Still, Uh yeah, I Norman

(51:09):
Powell to me is too important to the start of
this season, especially if Kevin Porter Junior is gonna get suspended.
I think at some point, guys, I brought this up
last night, but and maybe this was wild on my
part and I was out to lunch on this and
I was being far too impulsive. But I did tweet
out that I believe at some point Kevin Porter Junior

(51:33):
is going to end up the starting two guard. At
some point that could mean much later in the season,
it could be next season. I didn't put a timeline
on it, so I'm giving myself some wiggle room. You
could say, I just see coach lou Is someone that
wants someone who's more versatile offensively and then has potential defensively.

(51:55):
Kevin Porter Junior really does on that end. There's a
tape up on YouTube of his defense, and I think
he can be a bridge between them going so far
one direction or the other in their starting lineup. Because

(52:16):
right now with the Clippers, I talked about this a
little bit last night too, that Kevin Porter Junior can
help out their offense, because it's like the Clippers have
to go all in with their offense or all in
with their defense, and they're going to have a deficiency
somewhere in the starting lineup. And I'm not sure which

(52:40):
way they should go right now, because if you don't
have Kawhi Leonard in there, you're missing a lot of offense.
So should you start nor On Powell, Well that gives
you a problem in your starting backcourt if he and
James Harden are your point of attack defenders. But then
you say, well we should go more sports defense, then
well that means you don't have a lot of shot creation.
And it's all on James Harden to get them into
the our offense to find open shooters, to find it

(53:02):
beat a Zubos. That's a lot on his plate. If
you're just saying it's him next to Terrence Man, next
to DJJ, next to Chris Dunn or batoom, and then
it eats a Zubos. That's just so much to ask
of James Harden at thirty five. Hey, I'm sorry, Tim,
I'm trying to be honest with you and give you

(53:22):
the facts on the situation. And I would say your
attitude towards me hasn't been great in here as well.
Let's get along him. Athy said, the problem with KPJ
is that he has a low basketball IQ. He's a
young player still, he's twenty two. We got to give
him an opportunity to see more about that. I totally

(53:46):
understand what you're saying. He was averaging nineteen points per
game on a team that was really bad in Houston,
and you can't put everything into those numbers because of
how bad they were. A lot of guys, a lot
of players can put up numbers on a bad team
because somebody has to score. Somebody's going to get an opportunity.

(54:10):
But they were so bad that there's so many variables
going on with KPg that we can't say exactly this
type of player he is yet. I don't think we
know that. I know he's a lefty who has a
lot of create isoball in him that can pass and
playmate a little bit, and has shown that with his
size he could project to be a good defender on

(54:30):
the perimeter. It hasn't developed that way because he's still
too young, and he's been in a bad situation and
obviously put himself in some really bad situations where he's
missed a lot of time now because of his off
the court issues. We'll see. Johnny Blatie has confirmed PJ
Tucker is in Hawaii with the team. PJ went on

(54:52):
the court during warmups. Okay, that's good to know. Johnny
Blatie says, I live in Hawaii and went to yesterday's
game versus Golden State. So a little boots on the ground,
A little bit of an update there on the main
thing we were talking about. Let's keep the main thing
the main thing with PJ Tucker. Sean Shawne has said this,
the Clippers and forward PJ Tucker, I've mutually agreed for

(55:13):
the thirteen year NBA VET to be away from the
team as the sides work towards a resolution for his future.
I don't know what that means. I interpret that is
he's going to be traded. Maybe I do know what
that means. They're trying and have been trying to find

(55:37):
a landing spot for him, and it's not beneficial for
him to be around the team right now because he's
a disgruntled player. Still, that's how I'm reading into it.
I don't think I'm bringing into it too much. I'm
going off of a lot of information and evidence since
he's been a Clipper. Talked about it at the beginning
of this show. So well, the riding has been on

(56:00):
the wall. Himothy says, I just saw on a trade
on Twitter PJ Tucker in the second round pick for
Jock Landale. You're saying that trade is done. I don't
think you're saying that right. Jock Landale is a big
with the Houston Rockets. I'm trying to look at his
contract in AUSSI uh, sit, would the trade work? He's

(56:28):
making eight million, Pj's making eleven million dollars. Jock is
on the books though the next three seasons. I'd be
a little bit surprised if the Clippers wanted that to
eat into their twenty twenty six possibilities. A Mean says,
I don't know who would want Tucker though, I'm not

(56:48):
so sure either, because if you don't play him, apparently
you're getting a player who's unhappy. Because that's what we've
seen with the Clippers is sending him back to a
former franchise that knows him and might have a spot
for him, or might have minutes for him a better solution.
Maybe Houston's one of those places. Miami, Milwaukee, Toronto, Phoenix.

(57:14):
He's been around a little bit. And don't get me wrong,
I really liked when they got PJ. Tucker. I was
hoping he could contribute in little ways here and there,
but it just didn't happen. And he's thirty nine now.
Timothy confirms it's just a suggestion for Josh Londale. I
don't mind that. Keep them coming, Keep the suggestions coming,

(57:37):
tim even if you have more suggestions about Beata Zubats
turning into Marcasol in a mid range game while taking
him away from the basket where he's very efficient and
is just coming into his own at the age of
twenty seven, even if you have other suggestions, We'll take
anything here. I don't know if they'll always be realistic.
I don't know if I can get behind all of

(57:59):
that and concur or being become an advocate for some
of the suggestions. But I'm doing my best here. My
throat is a little bit wrecked from just talking so
much over the last couple of weeks and doing the
broadcast last night, but I'm looking forward to Tuesday in
San Diego. I think that might be a radio exclusive
on the Patriot ambuleven fifty and k eib. I'm trying

(58:25):
to see and Aman says this feed the ball to
zoom wore in the post. Yeah, it's like if it
ain't broke, don't fix it. Wanting Zubas to turn into
a mid grade shooter when guys aren't stopping him in
the post and he's never got a real opportunity to
just be featured more in the offense. There seems like
you jump with the gun a little bit. Zubos doesn't

(58:45):
need to expand his game at this point. What he
needs is to get more touches, like I've been saying
for years him if he said, Talma said, Clippers have
tried to trade PJ. Tucker, but it has been difficult.
Makes sense. If it could have been done by now,

(59:06):
it would have been done by now. I'll read the
tweet from Tom Marrizzari of Clutch Points. He said Clippers
have tried to find a trade partner for him dating
back to last season, but that's proved to be difficult.
Ricky Cheu said, underneath it, I wonder why. Yeah, and
I'm trying to see if there's any more good suggestions.

(59:27):
People are talking about his age. People were saying buy
them out, take the hit. Mark Jacks says, I can
see Milwaukee, Phoenix or Miami wooing him if he would
play a hasm role, but he doesn't seem to want to.
That's that's why I brought up earlier. That's what I said.
I was hoping would become his role with the Clippers.

(59:49):
He'd be like he Dones has them old. Dirry Dasher said,
Kawhi not being impressed in camp. That's that's not what
kaw I said, Guys, he just was Kawhi. He's kind
of a literalist. Just take him for what he literally said.
You don't have to read too much into it. My
guy Jamal Christopher kind of pointed this out and I

(01:00:14):
thought this was interesting, he said. Jamal Christopher said at
jam Christopher on exit, Kawhi when it comes to the media,
is one of the most blunt but literal guys I've
seen in sports. Dudes like od literal to expound, he said,
just in my opinion, when he says nobody stood out
in training camp, that ain't him saying the players are

(01:00:36):
weak or anything like that. Kawhi took the question literally
as in, nothing remarkable has happened. Lol, I don't know.
That's my interpretation of that. That's how I see it too.
Nothing crazy has happened, So Kawhi is not gonna say anything.
And I think it was also a presser where he

(01:00:57):
was thinking more questions were coming about the knee and
the focus was on that, and they did in waves.
And of course that's going to be the conversation right now.
And going back to PJ. If there's any more suggestions
of what he could be traded for, how you could

(01:01:18):
somebody's saying, trade him to the Shanghai Sharks. Guys, not realistic,
not helpful. Someone's pointing out that, yes, but he would
not make the same money on the open market. I
understand this. I understand PJ opting into eleven million dollars
because he wasn't getting that anywhere else. What I don't

(01:01:40):
understand is then dictating where you want to go. You
opted in to money that the Clippers are paying you,
so you don't get to have your cake and eat
it too. That's disappointing. That's frustrating about this. PJ. Tucker
is a veteran, he knows this, but it's just it's

(01:02:05):
really difficult, and it's put the Clippers in a tough
spot where other teams know he's disgruntled, so they're not
going to offer much even if they were interested. They
know the Clippers pretty much have to get rid of
him because he can't be around the team right now.
Apparently the front office is doing the best they can.
It's a really difficult situation. If PJ wanted to go

(01:02:27):
to another team, all he had to do was not
opt in to the eleven million dollars. I understand that
was unlikely, but that was his opportunity to become a
free agent and go wherever he wanted. Back to Kauai
from Himothy, he said, some of the Clippers fan base
are just fed up, I guess with Kawhi. So they're
going to just complain every time Kawhi gets injured or

(01:02:48):
say something. I understand. It's discouraging. It's been tough. It's
frustrating for Kawhi. Guys. This is an all time NBA player,
a top seventy player, Hall of Famer like for this
to be happening continual, continuously. It's just it's tough. Mark

(01:03:09):
Jaggs says, Jeremy Grant is a name, but he makes
a lot. Yeah, Jeremy Grant makes a lot. Some say
it's an overpay. The contract is I want to get
it exact, but I think he got one hundred and
fifty million, one hundred and sixty million from Portland and
he's just in the second year of it. He has

(01:03:30):
four more years in the last year is a player
option for thirty six million at the age of thirty three.
I like Jeremy Grant a lot, but for that money
you'd have to be giving up a lot too to
make that work. Tim's going back to Zubos said you
said it yourself. Zee is twenty seven. Look at when
brook Lopez started to shoot threes. It's about offensive versatility.

(01:03:53):
There are many open twelve to fourteen, twelve to fifteen
footers for Zoo to make one available. Here's my points him.
I understand where you're coming from. My point would be this,
we haven't even explored what he can do on the block.
With how efficient he has been there, let me explain something.
Last season. Nobody was better from five to nine feet

(01:04:18):
out than of eats Zubots. He shot sixty four percent there.
Nobody was better there, not even Jokic. So why are
we saying, you know what, let's figure out the mid range. Now?
How about we just feature him more with the things
he's already good at until teams can stop it. With

(01:04:38):
Zubots getting many more touches now because Paul George is gone,
why don't we look at that first baby steps to
just jump out and say let's have zoos shoot three
pointers like brook Lopez. That doesn't make a lot of
sense to me. He's great on the block, he just
hasn't had high volume there. They haven't given him that opportunity.

(01:05:00):
Hopefully it's coming this season. That's what I want to
see first before we talk about him expanding his game.
It's all these different roles. Have him mastered the short
role and pass more. Amina Sean said, I feel like
Tucker's just digging himself in a deeper hole. He had
an opportunity to go to another team, but he decided
to stay with us. Facts he could have gone anywhere

(01:05:21):
he wanted, He could have been a free agent. He
decided to opt into the eleven million dollars. I don't
blame him for that, but if you're going to say
that now he also gets to choose what team he
wants to go to when he opted into a contract
with the Clippers, that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Tim Kirk goes back to, you're missing my point. He

(01:05:43):
can do both touches in the and min range. No,
he can't do both. We haven't seen the midrange. We
don't know he can do both. We know what he
can do touches in the paint, we don't know that
he can do mid range. So I think, actually, Tim,
to be fair, you're kind of missing the point. I've
been trying. Man, I've been doing my best here, but
I can't keep going in circles with you about this.

(01:06:05):
We don't know that he can do mid range. We
do know what he can do. Let's lean into what
he can do more. That's all I'm gonna say about this.
It's just I can't keep going on this forever. My
guy to him, I appreciate the conversation, but you're kind
of just talking right past me. You're not listening to
anything that's coming back your way. With PJ Tucker here,

(01:06:31):
it's just if you opt into a contract with the Clippers,
some will say you should honor that contract. Now, the
other side of that is a team can always trade
you at any time, so it can go both ways.
But in this case, that eleven million dollar contract is
not easy to trade for the Clippers. Teams are not

(01:06:53):
lining up for PJ. Tucker. If they weren't, would have
been done by now. It would have been done at
the trade deadline. It's just it's really difficult to move PJ.
Tucker without moving other pieces, and then it gets more

(01:07:13):
convoluted and it's not easy. It's not easy. I think
the Clippers are going to try to make it happen,
and that's really accommodating on their part to make sure PJ.
Tucker goes to a place that he wants to go to.
I don't know how he has this much pool, but

(01:07:35):
they're trying to do the best on Pj's part. But
they have to have a team willing to trade with
them too. So it's just a complicated situation. It really is.
It's like talking with Tim Kirk who just doesn't want
to listen. It's really complicated. He wants to talk about, oh,

(01:07:57):
because of what Zuba's did in the summer league. I
don't know if you do this, but summer league, summer league,
preseason's preseason slight difference between that and the NBA level,
slight slight difference. That's okay. Some people just want to
argue on here. I can get with that. Some of
the time. People like the debate stuff. If that's good content,

(01:08:22):
I can I can certainly do it. I just think
we've exhausted this subject and somebody's not listening at all.
I appreciate those who are in the chat, and I
appreciate Tim Kirk as well. And it's going to be
I don't know how prolonged this standoff is going to

(01:08:44):
be with PJ. Tucker and trying to move him, but man,
maybe it will happen much quicker than we realize. I
don't know. I just know eleven million dollars for a
guy who's almost forty and doesn't have a ton of
game left in him, at least from what we saw
with the Clippers. Not a good position to be in
from the Clippers side of things, to make a trade

(01:09:06):
done or to get a trade done like that. But
never know, I believe in this front office. Mark Jack said,
Harden seemed excited with this team. He's been with the
team for a month. I think I trust his basketball knowledge.
That's a good point. James Harden seems really really excited.
James Harden seems excited to lead, excited for the team
to play through him. He made that known. And look

(01:09:32):
it bothers me. How the national narrative about James Harden
when he said I'm a system, the full quote was,
he didn't say the system. The full quote was, I'm
not a system player. I'm a system. No lies, no

(01:09:53):
lies spoken, just facts, no lies detected, just facts. That
is a fact statement. James Harden absolutely has proven over
a decade that he is a system, that he is
an offense to him unto himself, that he raises your
floor definitely in the regular season to being a top

(01:10:17):
ten offense on average since he has taken the range.
Since he became a number one option with the Houston Rockets,
teams with James Harden running the show on average are
fifth offensively. Do the Clippers have enough around him to
do that when Kawhi is not available, even when Kawhi
is there, I don't know. Harden's thirty five now but

(01:10:40):
I do think Harden gets a bad rap and it's
a little bit unfair, and he's been a little bit
defined about the perception of him in the league for
good reason. He's not getting enough credit. He hasn't with
how good he has been in his career and with him,

(01:11:02):
even at the age of thirty five, being the Clippers
floor general. It gives you a chance to have a
real identity on offense when he's out there. You saw
it in preseason last night with him in Aviatza Zubas
and him feeding him in the basketball and getting him involved.

(01:11:23):
And even though they had turnovers and they were sloppy
basketball and it was inconsistent out there with you guys
getting familiar with one another, it's preseason game one. It's
all understandable. You could still see James Harden's ready. You
could he looked good overall, encouraging signs from James and
Big Zoo and Powell and Emir Coffee and Kobe Brown.

(01:11:47):
Those were my top five players last night in that
preseason game. All those guys had their moments where they shined,
but the offense flowing through James Harden, that's what you
want to see and he's gonna be ready. He's in
great shape, and he had thirteen and he assists in
just seventeen minutes. I don't know if some of you

(01:12:10):
thought he was going to average twenty ten this season,
now believe it could be higher. It could be because
of how good he looked in just preseason game number
one and how seamless the transition I think is going
to be for him to play even when Kawhi is
not there and be the focal point on offense. And

(01:12:31):
also the reps he's gotten in with Big Zoo and
training camp, all the practice work where they had to
figure things out on the fly when they brought him
in during the regular season last year. Now it's him
in Big Zoo working together in the preseason and training camp,
ironing out the kinks. That's really meaningful for this Clippers team.
I'm really excited for James Harden, and I think it's

(01:12:55):
a really cool experiment almost to see what an all
time great player can do now at the age of
thirty five, was so much still demanded of him. I
think he can have a great season. I think he's
gonna play at an All Star level, whether or not he
is an All Star. It's tough in the West, It's
always difficult, but I think he's going to play at

(01:13:18):
an All Star level. I think Amina Sean agrees with that.
Harden is ready to go. Kawhi, we don't know his status,
but Harden. This is as I've been saying for a while,
it looks like James Harden's team because the position he plays,
how unique and how great he has been thriving in
that position running an offense. And then's just the availability

(01:13:41):
expect Harden to be out there. He's been a tank
in the regular season for teams. It's been just a workhorse,
somebody that has been very reliable overall. Knock on wood,
as my guy Dime Dropper would say, although it didn't
work last year with Kawhi, but James Harden they need him.
He is so vital to everything this Clippers team does

(01:14:03):
because while they're building to have a defensive identity, you
already have a built in offensive identity whenever James Harden
is out there on the floor like they could be,
I don't know what their offensive rating is going to
be on the whole because that includes minutes without James Harden.
But when James is out there. I expect him to
be more than just serviceable. I expect him to have

(01:14:25):
a good offensive rating. With James Harden on the floor now,
still decisions to be made of Kawi's unavailable which way
they go. I think KPJ eventually Coach Leu would like
him to be the guy that gives you a little
bit of offense and a little bit of defense. But
he's still unproven. He could be suspended, and we've had
that conversation. But the unknowns with this Clippers team and

(01:14:50):
where they could end up finishing in the West really
intrigue me. Nobody has a beat on exactly where they
could end up. A lot of it's yes, injury dependent,
but even health how good could they be? Because I
said this during the season or during the series, and
then after they lost to the Dallas Mavericks, you take
them to six with Kawhi only playing two games and

(01:15:12):
not looking close to himself. What happens if they had
had a healthy Kawhi Leonard in that series and Paul
George wasn't on the team, A healthy Kawhi next to
James in that series, I think takes out Dallas. I
think they would have so that tells you just get
into the playoffs with a healthy Kawhi and James Harden

(01:15:35):
and let the Chips fall where they be, because those
guys are good enough as a one to two punch.
I think to take out the team that got to
the finals last year in the Western Conference, I think
it would have happened. I'm damn sure a healthy Kawhi
it would have happened. Honestly, I truly believe that, even

(01:15:56):
take Paul George out of the equation, just Kawhi healthy
next to James Harden, and I think they beat Dallas
last year, so they're dangerous. You gotta have some belief
in this team. Still. I know a lot of factors
and things have to go right, a lot of conditions
being healthy, I know, I know. But there's a lot

(01:16:18):
of teams where it doesn't matter if they are healthy,
they still aren't winning that series or aren't going far.
The Clippers, you give me healthy, quiet James Harden in
a series. I like my chances. I do, especially with
what I think we're gonna see from Big Zoo this season.
So we'll continue to monitor the situation with PJ. Tucker.

(01:16:42):
Clippers are doing their best to appease and make it
happen for he and his agent, and that's good business,
like to do right by guys. It's just he opted
in to the eleven million. He could have been a
free agent gone wherever he wanted, would have been done.
So it put the Clippers in a difficult spot. Melvin

(01:17:07):
Powell Junior says, James Harden forced a few unnecessary passes
to Zoo, but those two are certainly going to be
rolling all season. DJJ, Chris Dunn and t Man just
need to be ready to shoot from Trey with no hesitation.
Completely agree. Great comment, Melvin Powell Jr. Great comment. Those
are the type of guys who have played off of

(01:17:27):
James Harden over the years. PJ. Tucker was one of
them in Houston. Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon, guys like that.
This team is built in a similar fashion. But those
three cannot hesitate whatsoever. That will kill their spacing if

(01:17:49):
they do, because teams won't respect their shot and they'll
clog the paint. It will jump up and mess up
and muddy up the pick and roll that James Harden's
trying to run with a Vita Zubots have to take
them and they do have to make them at a
respectable enough rate to get the defense to lean their
way and close out. Then when they close out, all
those guys you mentioned Chris Dunn, Derek Jones Junior, and

(01:18:11):
Terrence Man can attack closeouts, wreek more havoc, get two
on the ball, then find the open man or get
to the basket for an easy one. That's how you
get your offense unglued. That's it with lesser shot creation
talent overall, that's how it is done. That three ball

(01:18:32):
from those three needs to happen. It's just it's non negotiable.
It has to for this Clippers team to be successful.
We'll see. I'm really interested for Tuesday night, excited for
that game. Hope you guys join us. Carlo Jimenez is
in his bag now in his second year as your

(01:18:54):
play by play broadcaster for the Los Angeles Clippers, and
we had fun last night. Felt like we were right
back into our old ways and our flow. Me bringing
it in and out, Carlo throwing to me for some
analysts work here and there, which I really appreciate. That's
like my favorite thing ever to get to talk about

(01:19:14):
this team during a game and We're gonna have fun
starting at six point thirty with the pregame show Clippers
from Brooklyn, Nets from Otionside in San Diego at the
Clippers new G League facility until then, and maybe we'll
have another Clippers talk here on the YouTube side tomorrow
if you need more content. I had two postgame shows

(01:19:35):
last night. Went in depth on Kai Jones, what Kawhi
Leonard said, talked more about KPJ. Also talked with Carlo
who was in Hawaii. We had him on the video
side too. Also chalk with Chuck Mackler. We had him
on video. That was a lot of fun from clips
and DIP. I appreciate all you guys in here, Old
Dirty Dasher says, I'll watch listening cheer for you and

(01:19:58):
the team. But man, this season will be rough, Old
Dirty Dasher, I'm hoping you're wrong. I'm hoping you're wrong.
I believe every game is going to be very meaningful
because the Clippers need as many wins as they can
get to stay afloat. It's gonna be like the twenty
one twenty two season to me, where they were there.

(01:20:18):
They ended up in the playing, but they were just
scratching and clawing and fighting and battling each and every
night to stay above five hundred. Every game meant so much.
Every game was so critical, no games off. That Clippers
team battled man and they played above their heads at times,
and I think we're gonna see the same. Appreciate all

(01:20:40):
you guys checking me out here on Clippers Talk on
the YouTube side. Subscribe if you like this episode. And
I mean, I appreciate everyone, including Tim Kirk here as
we were battling a war words about it. Eatsa zubats
in his role. But it's all good, it's all fun,
and I appreciate Clipper Nation your interest in this team.
I just love talking Clippers basketball all the time. It
is my passion. I hope it's my calling. I don't know.

(01:21:04):
I hope I'm doing an okay job for you guys.
But we'll be talking to you again soon here, if
not definitely, six point thirty Tuesday night, Clippers taking on
the Brooklyn Nets in preseason game number two. I'm Adam Oslin.
We will talk to you then,