Kawhi Trade Held, Rui Signed, Summer League Begins

Lucas Hann and Robert Flom discuss the Kawhi Leonard trade being put on hold by the NBA, the Clippers signing Rui Hachimura, potential remaining moves for LAC, and first impressions from Summer League.

Speaker 1: What's up everyone? Welcome back for another episode of the podcast.

I'm upstand, joined as always by Rob Flam. How are

you doing, Rob?

Speaker 2: You know Lucas, I am doing okay. The clippers second

Summer League game is tonight. It's hard to say I'm

looking forward to Summer League, but I hope the Clippers

play better tonight than they did on Thursday, because boy

was that tough to watch.

Speaker 1: It was a tough summer League game. We're going to

get to that in the back half of the pod today,

but first let's start with I think something that was

even more frustrating for Clippers fans on Friday, the news

coming from both the Clippers and the Raptors and the

NBA that the Kawhi Leonard trade to the Toronto Raptors

that had been previously agreed to and announced would not

be going through, at least at the moment, because of

the still pending investigation into the Aspiration endorsement deal that

Kawhi Leonard had when he resigned with the Clippers last time.

I'm gonna assume that anyone who's listening to the pod

is familiar with that saga. But Rob, where to begin

on this? On the build up of this Kawhi trade.

Speaker 2: I mean, I think the first thing that has to

be said and probably the most I don't know about

most notable for Clippers fans, but the overarching theme of

this entire thing is the NBA has handled this as

poorly as possible in every respect. It's unclear why the

investigation is taking so long. It's a big deal. There

were a lot of people to talk through, there were

a lot of documents, but it sure seems like it

could have been done in less than ten months. And

it seems like the fact that it has taken so

long is in part because the NBA has not applied

the pressure requisite to make this law firm complete this

thing in a timely manner. That's one thing. To the

lack of transparency around like any updates or probably or

you know anything about this, And three you know, it

sounds like it was communicated to these teams that the

investigation was still pending, that the raptors would have to

assume any risk on Kuhi's if anything happens to Kuhi

once the trade is made, they would assume responsibility if

he suspended or contract is or whatever. Why was it

just the NBA is like, you cannot trade Kawhi Leonard,

and like you can discuss trades, you can maybe even

you know, agree to terms, but like nothing official can

happen until this is done. Would have been the easiest

way and made the most sense. People assumed that was

kind of just the case. The NBA has just handled

this so poorly, and it's really it's embarrassing. It's there

are many things about Adam Silver's tenure over the last

you know, five six years or so that I think

are troubling or or signs of bad leadership, but this

is really a highlight for many reasons, and it's it's

just it's kind of a low point for the NBA.

They've had many worse slow points, but this is definitely

of the modern era. Just kind of an embarrassment to

the league.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really it's really unprofessional, I think in a

sign of dysfunction. And to be clear, I think folks

right who have listened to this show for the last year. No,

you know, Rob and I, neither of us are really

interested in saying that the Clippers did nothing wrong. Neither

of us know if the Clippers broke rules or not. No,

you don't know. We're not up privy to that type

of access. And if the Clippers did break rules and

there's an investigation and there's a finding whatever, I'm not

going to come out and defend them and try to

come find technicalities in the report or whatever like it.

Just it is what it is. I'm pretty we're detached

from the situation. We're not you know, the people involved.

But what I will say is the Clippers are in

a situation where they have a thirty five year old

star coming off of his first healthy season in forever,

with one year left on his contract, for a team

that did not make the playoffs last year and certainly

is not looking like they are going to be making

the playoffs next year. They need to be able to

trade him. They need to be able to get a

return on this guy. And I mean, or what's the alternative.

You could let your most valuable asset play the last

year of his contract and leave in free agency, which

would be devastating to any franchise, or you could sign

him to an extension, which first of all, doesn't make

sense for the Clippers' plans, and second of all, I'm

not sure how the NBA would react to the Clippers

and Kawhi Leonard agreeing on an extension right now. So

you've been put in this situation, right. They've been investigating

these claims for eleven months so far there has not

been a finding against them. That doesn't mean that there

will not be a finding against them, but I don't know.

I think if the law firm had found concrete evidence

that this occurred, wouldn't they have rung the bell and go, hey,

we found it, and then the punishment would have come down.

So the fact that it's eleven months makes me think

even if there is something that they're still really digging for,

like that smoking gun or that big proof that this

massive conspiracy happened, right and again, maybe it did, maybe

it didn't. Maybe they will find it, Maybe they'll find

it three months from now. I don't know, but it

does just feel like at this point the Clippers are

being punished even though there's been no finding of wrongdoing

against them, because to be unable to trade a thirty

five year old star heading into the last year of

his deal when you're a bad team is punishment. That

is like what bad teams in the NBA need to

do at the end of sort of a life cycle

of an era, which is where the Clippers are now

with this Kawhi Leonard era. So yeah, I mean the

whole thing just stinks. It stinks up and down. And

you know, the Clippers and Raptors both seem to be

pretty unhappy with the way the NBA communicated with them

during this. I could I hear rob this thing right, Like, oh,

the NBA should have said, Kawhi Leonard is you know,

the day of the investigation opened. They should have said

he's not allowed to be traded during the investigation. The

problem is, it's been eleven months.

Speaker 2: How could you like, yes, it's you know, we all

thought it would be done by free agency. We all

thought like, surely it will be done by the startup

free agency in the offseason.

Speaker 1: Nope. And I've seen some Raptors people be like, oh, well,

and you know, people are saying that the NBA delayed

the investigation because they didn't want it to like clash

with the fact that the Clippers were hosting the All

Star Game this year. So I saw one Raptors person

be like, oh, well, you know, if the NBA hadn't

held up the investigation to protect the All Star Game,

this wouldn't be happening. I'm like, that was five months ago,

Like they've had so much time between then and now

to do literally anything. So again, I don't know. I

don't know if the Clippers circumvented the cap or or

I think it's probably less interesting to ask if the

Clippers circumvented the cap and more interesting to ask if

the NBA can prove that the Clippers circumvented the cap

intentionally with the Qui endorsement. I don't know if that's

going to be the case or not, But if it

is the case, they should have been able to figure

it out by now. And if it's not the case,

and it comes out at whatever point in time that

they actually can't find that smoking gun, then it's going

to look absurd that the NBA let this be a

media spectacle, let it impact decision making and the free

agency period for two of their franchises. You know, these

teams had this deal agreed to three weeks ago. They've

been making deals, they've been operating under the assumption for

the last three weeks that this deal was happening. So

I think, yeah, like you said, Robert, I think it

is embarrassing. It is absolute amateur hour in the NBA

League office. And none of that means that the Clippers

are innocent, that wrongdoing did not occur, that punishments aren't coming,

But whether the Clippers are innocent or guilty, whether punishments

are coming or not, this is embarrassing for the NBA

because they they should have had this shit figured out

months ago.

Speaker 2: And I will say list thing before he transitioned into

more interesting and happier time topics. It is more than

just these two teams. Like I think Zach Low on

one of the episodes of The Low Post, I think

it was the most recent one with Howard Beck where

they talked about this, said that other teams were interested

in Kawhi, but we're not. We're hesitant to like actually

go further down the road on trade talks because of

this thing looming. This impacted other teams, Like, yeah, it's.

Speaker 1: And potentially right based, like we will never know, but

maybe the Clippers could have gotten a better return in

a more robust trade market for Kawhi if this isn't

hanging over them and there I'm a little skeptical of

that because I think Kawhi kind of forced his way

back to Toronto with sort of the extension willingness piece,

and that's very routine for these types of star moves.

But nonetheless, like maybe the Clippers can at least leverage

an extra draft pick out of Toronto because of Atlanta

or whoever else Miami calling them making these offers. So no,

it's yeah, it's it's an embarrassment. So we're recording this

on Sunday twelve. The NBA has a Board of Governors

meeting this Tuesday. There's some sort of murmuring that the

Raptors are going to try to push at the NBA

Board of Governors meeting for some type of thing to

get this deal approved. I think, you know it, All

indications seem to be that both teams are planning for

the deal to move forward as previously announced. Now, if

there's some language in the announcement about you know, the penalties,

any penalties with the investigation, would the Raptors would be

liable for, And people said, how does that make sense?

The Clippers are you know, if the Clippers achieved wid

the Raptors get punished. Well, I think if like if

Steve Balmer is going to get banned from attending games

for a year because of something that he did. In

this situation, it's not like they're going to go all

of a sudden go, Okay, no balmer, you don't have

you can go to the games, but random Raptors owner,

you can't go to games now, right, That's not what

they're doing. But I think there's a real chance that

there could be penalties applied to Kawhi Leonard's contract, like

maybe his cap hit could be increased to what his

true maximum is. If there was a finding that the

Clippers negotiate a lower salary with him because they got

him this third party endorsement money. There's some you know,

I guess it's potentially possible that Kawhi Leonard's contract could

be voided, although I think that that would be I'm

not sure how that would serve as appropriate punishment for

the team and the player, So that's I don't think

that's the way that the NBA will go. I'd be

pretty surprised by that. But I also think that depending

on Kawhi Leonard's direct role in this, he may face

a significant suspension, and that is probably the worst case

scenario for everyone involved. Is if the NBA finds that

Kawhi Leonard as an individual player acted improperly in this

whole situation, and they say we're going to suspend you

for fifty games, Well, that is going to, you know,

drastically reshape what that potential trade conversation looks like between

the Clippers and the Raptors. Are the Raptors even still interested.

If they are, they probably are not willing to give

you the same amount of draft capital. Does that send

the Clippers back to the drawing board where maybe you

want to extend Kawhi Leonards here, Let him serve his extension,

try to trade him next summer. There's a lot of

different things that you, you know, that you need to

begin juggling if a significant suspension for Kawhi Leonard comes

down the pipeline. And probably the worst case scenario for

a Clippers fan would be if it's like a twenty

five game suspension and the Raptors go, well, let's just

do the deal, but we're going to keep one of

those picks. Yeah, And that's like kind of the nightmare scenario.

I think here, I don't really care if the NBA

makes the Clippers like fire front office executives or Steve

Baumer can't go to games for a year, or they

have to pay some big fine. I mean, if they

take draft picks from the Clippers, that would suck because

it's a you know, it's punishing the fans, right, But

they could take future draft picks. But yeah, I think

right now kind of the biggest thing that's looming is like, man,

if there's a big suspension coming for Kawhi because any again,

if they're going to take draft picks from the Clippers,

they're not going to take those draft picks from the

Raptors just because we traded, yeah, Kawhi to the Raptors.

They would still take draft picks from the Clippers. But

if Kawhi is going to be punished, if his contract

is going to be changed, or if he's going to

be suspended for a number of games, that reduces his

trade value and sends the Clippers and the Raptors back

to the negotiating table for a lesser package. That would suck.

Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think last thing on this, I do

think that you mentioned the Board of Governors meetings and

the Raptors my guess is they can't push for the

investigation to be completed. But what they might push for

is can you tell us whether Kawhi himself is going

to be impacted? Is there like any real chance of

that happening, or is it all on the Clippers side?

And if so, they'll push the deal forward, and if not,

then it might be on hold. But yeah, well then

knows when on earth this is done?

Speaker 1: You know, Adam Silver keeps saying it's an independent outside investigation.

I don't know what's going on, and at you know,

to a certainly be true to a certain point. If

that was true, it would be good. Right. You want this,

You want an independent investigation done without the influence of

the league or its owners. Eleven months without a peep.

I think it's time for the dude in charge to

be in charge and know what's going on and make

some make a decision. I think it's a week cop out,

and you're right. I don't believe him that he has

no idea what's going on with that investigation. So we

will find out more. You all listening at home. We'll

find out more when we do. It's not like Rob

Robert and I don't have a lot of expert inside

knowledge to give you on this one, but it is

an immensely frustrating situation. Let's go away for a quick

break and come back and talk about some Clipper news

that is official, the signing of Ruy Hatchimura right after this.

All right, Rob, we're back here on the lob of

gym of the podcast. The Clippers obviously let John Collins

walk in free agency, or more accurately, they signed and

traded him to the Detroit Pistons, and then they turned

around and signed Rui Hachimura to a two year, twenty

eight million dollar contract. That's for million dollars a year.

There's a team option for the second year. I know,

Ruy not a piece that you were super excited about,

Rob when we talked about some power forward options on

the last pod. But I do think considering the way

that some of the market has played out and the

deal that they got him on, I think this is

good business for the Clippers. Yeah.

Speaker 2: I mean, we can will go a little bit more

in depth in that, but I think at the end

of the day, that's basically it.

Speaker 1: Right.

Speaker 2: Like, I've never been a Rouie fan. It's not even

a Lakers thing. It's just like a going back to

his time on the Wizards and even his time and

as a prospect of Gonzaga, I never felt like he's

a particularly impactful player. He is a reasonably good scorer,

he's become a good three point shooter. He's not a

very good rebounder or defender. He's a non existent passer

and playmaker. He's just hey, And I've said this on

I don't know if I said on the Pomp, but

I definitely said it on Twitter and in the article

about it. He reminds me a lot of Marcus Morris.

Probably a worse defender, honestly better three point shooter, but

on lower volume. But he's very Marcus Morris got to

where one of his most useful skills is being able

to take and make mid range jumpers at like a

reasonably high efficiency, and that has real value even with

you know, Marcus. I never said it didn't have value,

just that the value is kind of overstated and is

most useful on second units where they can kind of

buoy the offense a little bit, as like a go

to option. The Clippers never used Marcus Morrison that way.

He was always too important to their team and kind

of played too much and relied upon too heavily. Ruja

Chamara on this deal at his age, I think, you know,

maybe the Clippers signed him not intending to start him.

I think they as the roster currently is constructed, as

we'll talk about in the coming minutes, he probably will

start at power forward. But like he is a perfectly

fine option. He's not great. There's no real upside there.

He's in his late twenties. He's not really improved too

much in years. He kind of is what he But

like again, in terms of the actual business side, getting

him for like under the full on EML and having

a team option on the second year is like it's

hard to really complain, Like this could literally just be

a one year deal and if he's not good, the

team can decline his option. If he is good, they

can pick him up and then trade him or pick

him up and then keep him the next year, like

he's still in his prime. I think the Clippers, as

we again we'll discuss in a few minutes, are probably

gonna be pretty bad this upcoming season. But like they

had a gigantic cap on the roster power forward, they

needed a like credible minutes eating you know guy there,

ANDREWI is that if nothing else so yeah, it's a

good piece of business. I'm not particularly infused to watch him.

I don't think he will really help them win that

many games, but he is a good scorer and shooter

who can credibly play power forward, and at this point

in free agency, that's really the best they could hope for.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think fourteen million is actually I think

below market value for ruy Hatchembura. Like I don't want

to say below market value. We don't know what his

market was, but I think I think there's some of

the modeling actually shows him as worth more than fourteen million.

So to get him on fourteen million and then a

team option for fourteen million on a second year, I

viewed this as a very tradable contract for the Clippers. Like,

I think the Clippers will not have trouble flipping this

deal for a positive return, you know, whether it's at

this deadline or next summer or the deadline after. Maybe

they don't flip it at all. But it's not a

deal that I think you're gonna end up feeling stuck

with and if you can't get Like I think Peyton

Watson is a guy, and we'll talk about him in

a minute, Peyton Watson is a guy that you could

end up stuck with his deal if he you know,

if you pay him a lot to get him out

of Denver, if he doesn't maintain that high level play

that he was at for like a month and a

half last season, he ends up overpaid on a multi

year deal. It's a little harder to move, you know,

it becomes a block that you're stuck with. This is

not gonna happen with this really deal. It's small enough,

it's short enough, the team friendly option really helps. And

you know, I was saying about this, Robin, I want

to throw this back to you next. I was trying

to think. I think my first reaction is why let

John Collins walk to sign Ruby Hachi Mura. I think

John Collins, probably on aggregate, is a better player than

Ruby Hachimura. But where John Collins added value most for

the Clippers last season was in a stretch of games

where he was unsustainably hot from three and a lot

of the peripheral stuff, the athleticism and the hustle and

that type of thing is questionable. How much that, ever,

actually really impacted games versus just kind of looking like hustle.

I mean, he rebounded really poorly for the Clippers last season.

So you go and you look at a guy like

ruby ha Chimura who does not offer that type of

athleticism and dynamism that John Collins gives you, but it

is just genuinely like that level of shooter and is

just going to be that level of shooter and make

over forty per of his threes and was the best

three point shooter in the playoffs last year. I think

he's the NBA's all time leader in career playoff three

point percentage among qualified players, right, So, and that's like,

that's kind of a silly statistic because of sample sizes

and whatever, whatever whatever, And the Clippers an't going to

make the playoffs anyway. But this is a guy who's

a bona fide shooter. John Collins is a guy who

like he's a player who has shooting is one of

his skills. And it went waxes and it WANs and

Ruey is a shooter's shooter. And that's where the Clippers

got the most value out of John last year. So

I get that to an extent. Uh, but do you

think rob moving from John Collins to Ruy Hachimura a

power forward. Is it an upgrade, is it a downgrade?

Is it a side grade? How do you view that

transition for the Clippers.

Speaker 2: I think it is a downgrade. I think even though

Collins is not a great defender, I think he is

a better defender than Rui and is just like a

more dynamic offensive player. Again, a lot of that dynamism

was not super impactful, but like just having the option

is nice. I will stay on Collins, and for listeners

who are still tuned in this late, I will say

I actually not to do a sources thing, but I do.

Speaker 1: It's a second segment Robert. Yeah, it's a four segment show.

Early in the second segment. Yeah, stay tuned, listeners.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: I have heard that.

Speaker 2: John Collins did not like living in Los Angeles. Nothing

against like the Clippers organization, just like not an LA guy.

And I think he just wanted to leave, like I

think the Clippers wanted to keep him. I think by

all counts he's like a great guy in a great

locker room presence. I think he did not want to

stay in Los Angeles, and I don't think it was

like eight Clippers organization thing.

Speaker 1: But I've heard that from multiple people.

Speaker 2: But yeah, in terms of the he also got more

like three million more from the Pistons than the Clippers gave.

Really maybe that was a factor, but.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it's yeah, he got the last two years of

that Colin Steele in Detroit aren't guaranteed though, so it's

it's actually like it's a double team option at seventeen million. Yeah,

I think I would probably rather have John Collins on

that contract than Ruy on this contract. But it's close,

and I really don't mind Ruey on this contract at all.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it is a slight downgrade, but I

don't think it's a big one. I mean, I think

it's just hard to deny. Like we all like John Collins.

I think we were all rooting for John Collins again.

He seems like a great guy. He definitely plays hard.

He was just a disappointment last year, and I think

we talked about it on the pod, Like he had

that one stretch mid season where he played great. A

lot of that was just three point shooting, though I

will also note like the defense and just some of

the other parts of his game rounded into shape. Then

he got injured again and just on both back on

the front end, and back end of the season he

just was not He wasn't awful, he wasn't like terrible,

but certainly the first half he was very disappointing, and

then down the stretch he was like, you know, just okay.

I think there will be quite a lot of that

with Ruey as well. Like, even though he's a really

good three point shooter, his volume is just never high enough.

His highest ever attempts was four point two per game

in twenty five season, which in the modern is not

a ton Like you will take a few more of

them than John Collins and hit them at a higher

percentage and more consistently, but he is not like a

high volume three point guy. So yeah, like, I think

it's a slight downgrade, but I don't think it's a

huge one. They're getting him at a better deal, I think.

And yeah, like I it's it's totally fine piece of business.

I don't love it, but it's like a solid b

And like, again, they needed a power forward, and outside

of Ruy, the only guys left on the market who

even somewhat qualify as a starting power forward are Peyton Watson,

who will discuss in a minute, who is not really

a power forward at all, and Lebron James who is

not going to the Clippers, or Draymond Green who's also

not going to the Clippers.

Speaker 1: So I just Jonathan Kaminga deserve a shout on that list, Rubber.

I mean, we're just like it's where right if we're

talking about starting Ruey Hotchimura at power forward, I think

ye talk about starting Jonathan kminga power forward.

Speaker 2: Yes, I mean he is worse than Ruy hotchtimar.

Speaker 1: He is twenty he's twenty three, right, Yes.

Speaker 2: He would have even though I think he's worse than Rui.

I would rather the Clippers have made the swing for

him because even if it's there's there's a five percent

chance that he becomes a true like maybe not star,

but like a really high caliber starting player, Like you

take that even if it's literally just to flip him

later and not even to keep him long term, but

like he is more actual upside than Rui, who has none,

even if he's a worst player. So yeah, I you know,

I would probably rather have signed Kaminga. But his market

is also very murky right now. He seems to be

waiting for the Lebron Dombino to fall.

Speaker 1: Yeah, Kaminga is a you know, I that situation still

hasn't resolved, and we're yet to see what he's going

to end up getting and what he will end up

having prioritized in this free agency, So it's unclear if

that really is even an option for the Clippers. And

another guy that we'll talk about the next time, Benedict

Mathern probably weighs pretty heavily on that decision as well,

because Kaminga and Mathrin are not guys that can really

co exist on a team. So let's go away for

another quick break. We'll come back. We'll talk about what

could remain out there for the Clippers this summer, including Matherin, Kaminga,

and that guy Peyton Watson right after this. Okay, back

here on the lob of the gym on the podcast,

So Rob, there's been some reporting about Peyton Watson, about

you know, the Clippers being in, about the Clippers being

out about Denver wants to keep him, about Denver is

willing to sign and trade him but wants a Walker

Kessler type return where the Lakers gave the two unprotected

picks to the Jazz to get Kessler out of restricted

free agency. I don't think the Nuggets are getting a

Walker Kessler type return, and so that's why it certainly

starts to feel like the Clippers have pulled out a

little bit. The John Collins trade being made official certainly

takes an option off the table. At this point, the

Clippers can only acquire Peyton Watson via sign and trade.

So using John Collins outgoing salary in his own sign

and t to Detroit was, you know, probably the best

way to get Peyton Watson, Peyton Watson's new incoming salary

back to the Clippers. The fact that that trade became

official without being expanded to include Denver and Watson took

that off the table. The Clippers, to be clear to

everyone listening at home, cannot sign Peyton Watson to an

offer sheet because they do not have cap space. They

signed Ruby Hachi Mura already, They've signed Jordan Miller two's

new contract already, They've signed Boba Miller two's new contract already.

All of those, the cap space picture is gone, and

at this point it has to be assigned in trade,

so that leverage angle has been completely erased for the

Clippers of potentially being able to sign Watson to an

offer sheet outright? What do you think, Rob, do you

think this situation is alive or dead for the Clippers

potentially getting Peyton Watson this summer.

Speaker 2: I think it's still alive. I mean, I think the

key seems to be that Denver can say as much

as they want that they will pay to keep him.

There's really no evidence of that because if they were,

he would be a nugget their tax bill. If they

pay him anything close to his market value would be astronomical.

The cronkeys who are the Denver owners or notorious for

not doing that, and they would put them in the

second apron I believe, which teams have been treating as

a hard cap. So like I don't. I just don't

think they're going to resign him on a real deal.

He could take the qualifying offer, and we've seen restrictive

free agents do that in recent years. Is just take

the qualifying offer and get the free agency after one

more year. It's not ideal, like if Watson could get

a three year, seventy five million dollar deal from the

Clippers instead of taking a one year his qualifying offer,

who's the thirtieth pick his qualifying offer is probably like

I don't know, a seven million or something, I mean

even six and a half, Like that's a massive loss

in one year as well as long term earning. So

I think that his representation knows that the nugget they're

not going to give him like a real contract, and

that's why they're pushing for other teams. But the nuggets,

you know, I don't wouldn't say as is the right,

but can be like you guys don't have the space

to sign him. You don't have to be assigned in trade,

and if we do that, we want a lot of

stuff coming back. So I think the Clippers are alive

because if this is a stalemate, like if he doesn't

sign the qualifying offer, if there's no trade, like this

could linger like we saw last year. It was like

Cam Thomas, Josh Getty kaminga somebody else. I'm forgetting, Like

these situations lingered into like late.

Speaker 1: This happened with the Clippers in Mantres Harrald's restricted free

agent yes back in the day.

Speaker 2: Yeah, like this is restricted freeedency is just awful. If

you're talking about changes to the CBA, like eliminating restrictive

free agency or changing it drastically to account for like

the modern NBA is one of the things that needs

to be adjusted. It's like an actual issue in the

NBA because it really is just brutally unfair to players.

But yeah, like I just think the longer this lingers,

the more chance the Nuggets are like you know what

will take you know, three second round picks or like

one protected pick swap or something back because it's better

than nothing. And I think Watson will hold off on

signing the qualifying offer because we'd just be like, what

if he gets injured? Like what if he takes the

qualifying offer and then tears is I mean, knock on wood.

I don't want this to happen and then tears is

ACL or something like I well, yeah, I.

Speaker 1: Think taking the qualifying offer it's not really a tenable

locker room situation either as we saw it COMINGA and

Golden State, because just think about it. If you know,

we're I know, we're talking huge amounts of money, but

think about if you like, let's say you at your job,

you make sixty thousand dollars a year, right, and you

got a job offer somewhere else Like that was like, hey,

actually we want to make you this executive director of whatever,

and you're going to make two hundred and fifty thousand

dollars a year, but we need you to start, you know,

August first, and you went to your job and your

job was like, sorry, we have you under contract until

September first, and we're not going to let you out

a month early to go take this job that pays

five times as much as we're paying you. Yeah, would

you feel good? And when you're sitting at that desk

for that month in August not able to go take

this job that's going to pay you five times as much?

Are you going to feel good and do your best

work for them and be friendly towards your coworkers and

your boss. That's the situation that Peyton Watson would be

in if he went back to Denver on this qualifying offer. So,

you know, it feels like kind of something has to give.

I think that the Clippers have no leverage, which is

why I'm not willing to say that. I'm like optimistic

that they can get him. I think if they had

not signed Ruie, you know, you let John Collins leave,

you don't resign benedicta mater and you leave yourself in

a place where you have over twenty million dollars in

cap room to go make a offer sheet to Peyton

Watson that the Nuggets maybe can't afford to match. That

would have left me a little more optimistic. I'm always

pessimistic about restricted free agents when you don't have the

space yourself to call a bluff and make an offer

sheet to them. That being said, I think Denver also

has no leverage, and that's kind of why nothing has

happened yet, because both sides are like, well, what are

you going to do if you don't trade him to us?

Denver's like, well, what are you going to do if

we don't trade him to you? And not nobody's doing anything.

It'll probably end up being a deal rob that I

don't think you'll like very much, which is like one

first round pick and overpay on Watson's salary.

Speaker 2: I just wouldn't do that. I mean, we can talk

about Watson the player. He's only been in the NBA

four years. He's still young. Really his what you're paying

for is like a stretch of like twenty games last

year when he played really well without Jokich. In general,

like since he's been a rotation player three seasons advanced metrics,

which I know are a big topic of conversation nowadays

in the NBA. Think he's like, okay, you know, I

think in particular, he's like one of those guys who like,

because he's a big wing, he looks like he should

be really good on defense and metrics. Don't think he's

get much better than like decent. You know, the offense

has undeniably taken huge strides, but like, the sample size

of him being a good shooter is really small, and

if he regresses on the three point shot next year,

you know, all of a sudden you're looking at a

deal that could be really bad.

Speaker 1: Like I three.

Speaker 2: Ninety plus giving up a draft capital to him is

just not worth it. Like, I get why the Clippers

want to take a swing, and I think in a vacuum,

I'd be fine with that if it was three for

ninety and no draft capital. You know, sure, I still

think that would probably be an overpay. If it was

three for sixty and some draft capital, again not ideal,

but like, but give doing both of those things I

think would be really bad. The opposite of the thing,

I think that's just really bad business. Like I don't

unless you have real, real, real faith in Watson being

not just like a good rotation player, but like a

really good starter, and just the sample size of that

is very small. And like he is, he can still improve.

Maybe last year was totally legit. Maybe he can get

much better than last year. But like again, you pay

for you do pay for potential and the NBA, but

you also pay based on track record and establish success.

And there's just not a ton of that with Peyton Watson.

So yeah, I to me, it's either an overpaid contract

or draft picks. It can't be both, and I really

wouldn't even want to. Like a full first round pick

to me is basically a no go. I just wouldn't

do that. Plus a large contract for Peyton Watson.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I don't want to. Like, Like, if

the Clippers got I think Peyton Watson would make this

team better. I think him starting at the four and

you let Ruy go and play sixth man. You know,

it makes a team better, It puts you, I think,

closer to the play in conversation for next year, which

I think right now, the Clippers roster as it stands today,

I think, assuming that the Quiet trade goes through, I

think they're probably going to be actually even a little

too bad to push for the play in, even with

you know, other teams maybe preferring to finish eleventh and

tenth because of the flattened lottery odds. If the Clippers

can get Watson, I think you have a lot better

chance to get yourself into the mid thirties win wise,

and then you know that opens a door to get

to five hundred to other teams back off at the

end of the season, you push down the stretch, you

make it to the play in. Does that really matter

in the grand scheme of things. Probably not what I

like for the Clippers to have another five hundred season

to make the play in tournament again, especially sending that

picked Oklahoma City. Yes, I would, let's do thirty seconds

on Benedict Mather and rob Any thoughts any insights at

all there?

Speaker 2: I don't play any insights. It's very interesting there's been

no rumblings at all. I don't think I've seen a

single rumor connecting him to any team. Again, as we've

discussed with Watson, like, no teams really have space. I

think there's some teams with the mid level exception. I

don't think we thought he would get much more than

the midlevel exception, if anything more. So, like I think

there are still plenty of teams who could give him that,

whereas Watson is like a firmly above mL guy. But

like there have been no rumors about him, and like,

I don't know if people just think him back to

the Clippers is a done deal and they're just he

and the Clippers have something kind of in place, but

are just waiting for whatever other domino to drop. I

don't know if like he's another potential even though he's

a very different position, is like a potential domino from Lebron,

Like if the Warriors don't get Lebron, do they sign

Benedict Mathern or the Calves or whoever, Like maybe it's

a potential domino for one of those teams. But it's

it's very interesting because I'm not a huge fan. But

he again has a lot of production. He's had a

lot more production quite frankly than Peyton Watson and is

kind of like a more star type player and the

lack of talk around him is really interesting. But no,

I don't I don't have any other thoughts, you know, I've.

Speaker 1: I've thought since the trade that the Clippers would probably

bring up bring Benedict Matherin back on a team friendly deal.

I think there's questions to what that deal like. Maybe

what Benedict Mathering wants is like a bet on yourself,

you know, eight million with an eight million dollar player option.

I'm you know, or ten whatever that number is going

to be. But I'm going to get a player option

for a second year in case I get hurt, and

then I'm going to go earn my big next unrestricted

ra agent contract this year, which would probably make for

a pretty miserable viewing experience for all of us. Or

I think that maybe there's a more medium value, like

in the twelve to fifteen million range on a three

or four year deal that probably gives him more money

than he is worth right now, but at a manageable

enough price point that if he develops in the next

year or two, the Clippers could end up having a

really valuable deal on like a top eight rotation guy

in the back years of that when they are hopefully

pushing for the playoffs again. So I still think that's

probably the most likely outcome. I don't necessarily see a

huge market materializing for him, and like the aftermath of

this lebron thing, maybe I'm wrong, maybe they're maybe they're

you know, uh, that's where Kminga is as well. But

I don't know that a team would make him a

mid level exception offer sheet because I think that's a

match for the Clippers. Like I think if he got

anything that could be fit within the boundaries of the

mid level exception, I think if I were the Clippers,

I would match in this situation because I just don't

think it's going to be that hard to move that

money with the level of talent that he's demonstrated so

far in his career.

Speaker 2: So I would resign him on the MLLY. Like, I'm

not thrilled about it, but it's fine.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think probably the fair value is a little

lower than that, and I think there's a chance the

Clippers get him much lower than that if no other

offers emerge. But if a mid level offer sheet came

for Benedict mater and I would match it, especially at

this point with how talent starved this roster is looking.

And then you know, there's just not a lot left

out there for the Clippers. Other than that, it looks

like Nico Batoum looks like his returning to France to

play professionally next season. Just a huge shoutout to nicolong

Clipper fan favorite. Great sort of talis man for the

team going back for years, multiple stints with the Clippers

in the last few years. But that probably is, you know,

an appropriate, appropriately timed move for both him and the team.

You know, the picking up of brook Lopez's option. Yeah,

and even the Watson thing. I just want to say

before we switch gears in and close out in the pod

by talking about summer League with with Peyton Watson, the

Clippers need It's not just about Watson agreeing to a

deal and Denver agreeing to a deal. The Clippers also

need to legally be able to take back that much

money in a trade. And we're talking about Denver can't

afford to pay Peyton Watson because of their second Apron situation.

Denver also can afford to take twenty million dollars back

from the Clippers. Just give the Clippers Peyton Watson. That's

the same as paying him the twenty million that they

can't afford. So the Clippers have a couple options, you know,

as long as the Kawhi Leonard trade is not official,

and hey, maybe this is one of the holdups with

the Peyton Watson situation, is that the Kawhi Leonard trade

isn't actually moving forward yet. But you know, the Clippers

could using the salary matching from sending Kawhi Leonard out.

It's convoluted. They have the trade exception from signing trading

John Collins for nothing. If they took Grady Dick from

the Raptor's trade back into that trade exception instead of

matching him and Ingram with Kawhi, it would create some

wiggle room where they could give Peyton Watson a deal

over twenty million dollars. If you throw like cam Christie's

two million dollar deal in there, you know, you start

getting into the range that you've seen reported for Peyton

Watson in the mid twenty millions. And you know, I

think there's also maybe Benedict Matherin gets signed and traded

out to some team that wants him. I don't get

the feeling the Clippers are particularly high on Matherin, so

if they could, yeah, I think if the Clippers could

find a resolution that involves getting mather into another team,

but them getting some type of value. I think they

would probably be happier with that than having to give

him the contract themselves. So maybe they sign and trade

out Mathrin and you find a contender who has a

trade exception to absorb Derek Jones Junior. That gives you

enough outgoing salary to bring Watson back. But it's gonna

be a it's gonna be a tough jruggle, especially if

this Kawhi Leonard trade goes through. That is when I

would probably say that I think the Watson thing is

looking close to dead because I think making a deal

work without the Kawhi salary match for Watson probably is

not viable. So that's just some of the stuff that

I am am keeping my eye on as we move

through the week. Let's take one quick break, Robert. When

we come back, we'll talk about that first Clippers Summer

League game and what we're looking for as the team

continues playing. All right back here on the lot of

the Younger postcast to close things out talking about NBA

Summer League, Robert, Yeah, that Summer League is bad, you know,

but that King's Clippers game genuinely might be one of

the worst. It was making me think about back when

Doc Rivers used to have the Clippers doing the Orlando

Summer League, and they we had the Summer Clippers squad

that like couldn't get the ball passed half court because

they drafted Brandon Dawson from Michigan State and thought he

was going to be like six or five point forward

Raymond and they, like genuinely other teams just pressed them

full court and they couldn't get the ball pass half court.

This game was like only a mother could love this game.

Speaker 2: Yeah, Summer League is always one of those funny things

where you get really excited for it. It's a chance

to look at all these rookies and play, and then

it's just hideous. I think there are some exceptions. Some

of the rookies, the top rookies this year have been

so genuinely good that their games have probably been interesting

for their team, Like the fans to watch this game

was not. I hope they play better. I hope their

games are more watchable going forward. In terms of the

guys that people really care about, you know, there was

a lot of discussion about Keaton Wogler. I think multiple

things can be true. One, he was really bad in

that game. It was. It was a really bad performance.

Like he was really passive, he was super bothered by pressure.

He could not really get any space or get his

shot off. He didn't really do much of anything outside

of miss some shots. That is all true. It's also

like it's one, it's game one of Summer League. Two,

he was always a guy that we knew needed to

add strength and add muscle and add weight to really

be a truly effective NBA player. He's not had a

chance to do that. And three, even look at his

teammates and like again, Kobe Sanders we know as an

NBA player, Cam Christy is you know fine, Boba Miller

showed some interesting clashes. Nick Martinelli had a couple interesting clashes.

But like by and large, these rosters are bad. And

I think, particularly when you look at the Clippers big

men in Summer League, the two worst players on their

team by far in Game one were they're too quote

unquote centers, which were Nord Chad Omeir and they had

on two a last year, Zach Fremantle. They were both abysmal.

And it's really hard for point cards to look good

when you have a bismal center play like they're very

necessary for a variety of reasons, and so maybe they

switched to Baba Miller Center, maybe they put more shooting

on the floor. Maybe those guys just play a little

bit better. They really can't play much worse than they

did in the first game. So yeah, I think Woggler

will look better. I think this Summer League was always

not going to be like, Wow, he looks like a superstar.

He's just I don't think he's that type of player.

But I think he will look better and I hope

to continue seeing flashes for Miller and Martinelli Sanders. I

wrote in my Summer League preview, I just don't know

why he's there. He's he was only he's a second

year guy. He wasn't like a stud his rookie year,

but he's like older. We know he's an NBA player.

I don't I really don't know why he's there. But yeah,

we'll see how they do. And I just hope this

game is more watchable.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think Keaton Woggler is going to but

with the physicality in the NBA, Keaton Woggler needs to

get stronger over the course of the next few years

to be the best version of himself in the NBA,

and I think also it was Law Murray of the

Athletic who put it this way that the Kings played

in this game with an unrealistic level of physicality. I

actually think that this was more physical than the average

NBA game, or at least more foully than the average

NBA game. Is probably better at being physical than this

game was. But like you know, Dylan Cardwell for the

Kings had nine fouls in this game. He would have

fouled out so early if this was a real game.

Nieck Clifford, playing guard for the Kings would have fouled

out if this was a real game. They had a

guy off the bench who had four fouls and two

turnovers in five minutes, like thirty two fouls for the

Kings in forty minutes. Both teams shot under forty percent

from the field. This was an ugly game and a

lot of what Woggler did. You're right, he was really passive,

but he would He was making good passes out of

double teams often. He only had one turnover and it

was kind of on a chaotic play under the basket.

So in terms of like leading the offense, he didn't

turn the ball over he also only had one assist.

He also only shot one to seven from the field,

so there's not really a lot of silver lining here.

But a big part of what was happening was the

Kings were just blitzing him and he would make the

pass out of it and you throw out You go, Okay,

we need another playmaker on the court because they're blitzing Woggler.

So you throw Sean Padula out there, who was the

NBA G League Rookie of the Year last season. One

of eight with six turnovers. Padula in that game was

just miserable individual performance for him, and you know, there's

just nothing, nothing can happen. The Clippers ended up eighteen

to fifty four from the field with seventeen turnovers. You know,

it's almost it's too bad to be one guy being bad,

if that makes sense. And then you look at like

Kobe Sanders. I agree, Rob I said in the discord

during the game, I'm not really sure what the point

of Kobe Sanders at Summer League is. Zero five from

three For Kobe Sanders, I think he probably you know,

he's a guy that we know can shoot, because he's

shot well on a decent sample in the NBA. So

I'm not worried about one Summer League game. Don't really

need to see a ton from him in this environment.

I don't even think he's the type of player that

is like super fun to watch in this environment. Jordan Miller.

You know, if they put Jordan Miller back out there

and he scored forty points, it would at least be

a highlight gredy, but.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it'd be fun.

Speaker 1: So you know, yeah, I hope they get they get

Kobe shut down, and I think you're looking then down

the benchhit like he's you know, Matt and Nellie and Padula,

Like Padula is a player. He missed a lot of

shots in this game, and he turned the ball over badly.

I don't know. I don't think he's gonna be NBA

prospect really, but like he's a guy in theory who

should be good at Summer League, and he that was

a really stinky performance by him. Let's focus on Baba

Miller for a moment, because he's, you know, next to

I think Sanders is a guy that we almost don't

really need to talk about because we know who he

is as an NBA player already. Woggler definitely is someone

who we're watching closely and are going to continue watching closely.

And I think third on you know, third on the

list there. Boba Miller is the guy who he's signed

a four year standard contract with the Clippers. The first

two years are going to be guaranteed. He'll have non

guarantees in the last two years, so it's kind of like

a real rookie contract for their second round pick. Ye

had twelve points, five rebounds and assists, two turnovers, three

blocks he made. He took and made a corner three

that was really confident and looked really smooth. What's your

takeaway on this debut for Bobby Miller.

Speaker 2: Rubb, Yeah, I mean the three point shot. Again, that's

the smallest sample size you can have. I mean, it

was great that it looked so good and smooth and confident.

You know, we'll see what his shot looks like in

real NBA games or guys are playing you know, NBA

caliber defense, and like he's I don't know if he'll

even get rotation minutes, but like it was encouraging. I

mean with him is just he's huge, and he's really athletic,

and like I was hoping that that would translate to

summer league because sometimes guys who look big or look

really athletic in college, you put them up against better

athletes and bigger players in some league and it doesn't

stand out as much because summer league is a mess.

But like, if nothing else, just the sheer caliber of

athleticism is much higher than it is in college. Like,

these are all guys who are going to be playing

professionally to some extent or another, even if a lot

of them are in the G league or in some

like beer ce tiers overseass Like, these are all guys

who would be who were at least decent or above

college players. So like the fact that he's still like

at his size, looks really athletic and made some impact

on the glass, had those blocks, like I think was

really encouraging. Like he's raw, there were sometimes where he

looked completely lost on both ends of the court, didn't

really know where to go. Those are things that like

hopefully can be taught. But yeah, like again for a

guy who when we talked about him, was like there's

a pretty good chance he's not gonna be then be

a but like there's a sliver of a chance he

could be like an actual like real NBA impact player.

I think you saw like how that could work. Like

he could be a guy who like does like a

lot of rebounding as a defensive monster maybe and can

contribute a little bit on offense. Again, it's tough to

extrapolate too much, you know, not to go overboard in

that direction. But again, like just you're looking for like

little things to pop. And again for his size, he

was really athletic, Like he covers a lot of ground.

He can make up for his own mistakes easily. And yeah,

like I'm I'm excited to watch him again. He's not

a player who I think will have like a ton

of true highlight highlights in Summer league, Like there's certainly

something to work with there.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I enjoyed seeing him in Summer League. I think

that he's a project. You know, he's definitely not in

the ten man rotation this year, but I I'm liking

him as as the one summer league game experience of

Boba Miller is making me like, Okay, I see where

they could be a player here. I think the big

problem is that, you know, I don't think he's going

to be a five in the NBA. And if he's

not gonna be a five in the NBA. That means

he has to be a four. And if he's gonna

be a four, he has to be able to shoot

at least decently, and then all the other stuff can

be great even if he's a mediocre shooter, even if

it's thirty three percent, and he's the guy teams leave

open and he's coming off of the bench, but he's

really versatile and helps you out defensively. Like that guy

can have a career. He can be a great value

for a second round pick, but something is going to

have to be there from the shooting perspective. But yeah,

I see a little bit of the vision for him.

I worry that he's a little bit of a tweener,

that he doesn't really have a position in the current NBA.

But the NBA is getting a little bigger again, and

so maybe a position will emerge for him in the

coming years, and maybe he'll develop into that. But I

see a little bit of a vision, and I also

see how he doesn't necessarily map neatly into either of

those roles with his skill set right now. One foot

at power forward, one foot at center. Yeah, and I'll

just offer for anyone who's like just totally in meltdown

mode over how terrible the Clippers Summer League offense looked,

and over how bad Keaton Logwood played in his debut

and all these things. First of all, the next game

is in a few hours. It'll be out, you know,

probably about the same time as this podcast, so there

will be other games to watch and to worry about.

Also say that, you know, the Kings brought a significantly

higher amount of NBA experience than the Clippers did into

this game. I mean, you have, of course Acuff, who's

their own top ten draft pick, but who's he playing

next to you? Well, next to him is Nick Clifford,

who played in you know, King's first round pick from

last year, played seventy five games, started twenty eight of

them eighteen hundred NBA minutes. They've got Jonathan Magbo has

two seasons of NBA experience under his belt with over

fifteen hundred NBA minutes, Dylan Cardwell, who played for the

Kings last year, but over nine hundred minutes. Like the

the King's brought a little more muscle with them to

Summer League than the Clippers did. And this was the

Clippers' first game together after these guys only knowing each

other for a week. The Kings already played three warm

up games against other teams in Sacramento before coming to Vegas.

So that, to me is always like a little bit

of a trap game when you start Summer League in

Vegas against one of the teams that played a warm

up tournament, because it's all just thrown together pick up basketball.

But these guys have been playing together for you know,

at least a week and three games compared to a

few practices. That does give a pretty big cohesion advantage

when it comes to like do I know when you're

going to cut? And are we sticking to the defensive

principles the coaching staff is trying to install. It also

really helps Sacramento, I think, to have so many guys

on their team that are in system in that regard.

So you know, anyone who's like worried about that game,

you shouldn't be worried about that game. It's just one

game in the Summer League. Uh. Some encouraging stuff from

Baba Miller Definitely, I would say if we see five

of these Keaton Woggler games, then we'll be worried. Would

you think that's safe to say, Rob.

Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if i'd be worried like

long term, but I think in terms of him being

like a meaningful NBA player this year, yes, yeah, I

like that.

Speaker 1: I'd be like, oh shit, okay, they need to like

bring Mathurin back so they have a guard off the bench,

you know.

Speaker 2: Yeah, And I do think like all like I saw

when like I think it was Lomery or somebody had

out like a depth chart that had Chris Dunn starting

at shooting guard and Woggler off the bench. People were

throwing like hissy fits in the comments, and it's like, yeah,

I'm sorry, man, Like Chris Dunn is a better NBA

player than Keaton Woggler right now. It's not remotely closed.

It's fine. It doesn't It's not a knock on Woggler

as a prospect or a long term fit. Maybe by

the end of his rookie season he's better than like

Chris Dunn or whoever.

Speaker 1: Maybe by the end of camp.

Speaker 2: Yeah, like it could happen, but like right now, like

in off season, as you're mapping training depth charts or

you know, roster depth starts, like he's just not as good.

It's fine. Yeah, I mean, if he looks this bad

and this passive and this unable to create like anything

the rest of summer league, again, I wouldn't like write

him off long term. That would be pretty crazy, But

like I think it would be like a he needs

a full year of like conditioning in training and practices

and honestly maybe just reps in the G League before

he's like really kind of takes a red shirt and

is ready for the NBA year too.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know, if for folks, if you're familiar

with this trajectory at Illinois, he goes to the University

of Illinois as a three star prospect, expected to red

shirt as a freshman by the end of summer, they

know that he's not red shirting. By the end of

training camp, he's a starter, and by midway through the season,

they've put the ball in his hands and given him

the keys to the offense and he's the team's best player.

And that was what the trajectory was like in Illinois.

He didn't come in as like a one and done

guy who everybody knew was going to be one of

the top players in college basketball this year. He came

in as a guy who's expected to red shirt, and

that is how quick the trajectory was for him acclimating

to that system, acclimating to that team, acclimating to that

level of play. So, you know, I think there's a

like I said, he may be starting by the end

of like genuinely by opening night. I wouldn't be shocked

if he started on Opening night. But I always am

of the of the mindset with young players, new draft

picks and especially nineteen year olds. Right, don't put yourself

in a position where they have to. I think it's

smart for the Clippers to put themselves in a position

where Keithon Woggler doesn't have to start if he's not

ready or if it's a disaster, because you don't want to.

What you don't want to do is put him in

the starting lineup by default and then have to bench

him after ten games because he clearly isn't at the

caliber that he needs to be for your team to

be functional with him on the court. So you have

Chris Dunn. You know what Chris Dunn can do. You

also know Chris Dunn is a good defender. Keaton Woggler,

even at his peak NBA version isn't going to be

as good of a defender as Chris Dunn is, and

this team's defense is going to be miserable, and they

need Chris Dunn on the court anyway. So you bring

him along slowly and you let him reach a point

where he's just kind of like too good to not

be starting, and that's when he starts, right And like

the Clippers, I think we're in a situation with Shake

Gilders Alexander. Shake gil Alexander didn't need to start in

his rookie year with the Clippers. They had personnel. He

didn't start at the beginning. You know, when Shake gals

As Alexander started his first game for the Clippers, it

was the tenth game of the season, and then he

started every single game after that, and then he went

to Oklahoma City and has started every single game since then.

So it only took nine games for them to realize, oh,

this guy is the guy if he can start and

he's a starter. And that might be sort of what

the trajectory looks like for Woggler too, or it could

be slower, or it could be different, right, but I

think it's really good with young players to put yourself

in a position where you don't have to play them,

but where there is a spot that they can win.

And Chris Dunn is a guy. As much as he's

contributed to Clippers, we've talked about how maybe he's a

weak point as a starter. He's in his thirties, he

has one year left on his contract. Woggler's the potential

future face of the franchise. If Woggler is ready for

that spot, it will be his to take. I think

it's good for the team and good for the player

to not need him to be the starter on day one.

And Boba Miller is a similar situation at power forward. Right,

you don't want to need Boba Miller to be playing

eighteen minutes a night at the beginning of his career

because he's probably not ready for that. But you look

at a guy like probably his primary competition for minutes

is going to be Kobe Sanders, right, as a Kobe

Sanders just coming in in the forward spot and stretching

the floor and shooting threes, Well, there's an opportunity for

if Boba Miller really is like playing at a level

when he gets opportunities that is impacting games. He'll be

able to get back up power forward minutes on this team,

And the same is true for Yank Conan Niederhauser and

Brook Lopez and Isaiah Jackson in front of him its center.

You got two NBA centers who can play. But once

Yanick is healthy, if his athleticism is restored after his injury,

if he's getting into the rhythm of the season, those

minutes are his to take again. So that I think

as far as you can go to set up your

young guys for success without throwing them into the fire

and you know, hoping they don't burn. This gives you

the opportunity to let them grow into those roles.

Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm totally fine with not Russian wagler. And yeah,

I mean, I hope he plays better. I think you

will play better than the first game. I hope it's

assumed as tonight. And but yeah, if he doesn't, it's

not the.

Speaker 1: End of the world.

Speaker 2: It would be a little concerning. It would be, you know,

maybe a sign he'll need a little bit more time.

But like, I think you will play better as summerly

goes along, and I think the Clippers in general will

play better as the team as you said, becomes more

acclimated with one another, has more practices in games and whatnot.

So hopefully tonight is a good step in that direction.

Speaker 1: Yep, okay, I think that'll do it for this episode

of The Lob Jam the podcast. We will keep you

all posted on updates regarding Kawhi, Leonard, Peyton Watson, how

the Clippers are doing a summer league, and all that

good stuff. If you like the show, please leave us

a five star review wherever you listen to it, and

as always, Go Clippers.