Purgatory

Lucas Hann and Robert Flom discuss the Clippers remaining in Kawhi Leonard purgatory, as well as some minor roster additions.

Speaker 1: What's up? Everyone?

Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode the Lob Jam the Podcast.

I'm luc San joined today as always big Shot Bob himself,

Robert Flahm.

Speaker 1: How's it going, Rob?

Speaker 3: You know, Lucas, things are actually good. We're recording on

a Saturday afternoon instead of our Sunday afternoon, and because

of that, my mood is much better, because Saturdays are great,

and usually Sunday by this time, as everybody knows, I

head towards the Sunday scaries.

Speaker 4: But right now life is chill so nice.

Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you wore that.

Speaker 2: Yeah, Saturday August first here on the lobby GM of

the podcast, and just here we will wrap up some

stuff that has been going on around the Clippers in

recent days and weeks. Of course, I don't know how

much new there is to cover on the Quid Leonard front,

but we'll spend a little time there. We'll talk about

a small trade the Clippers made and look ahead at

what could be left on the margins for them this offseason. Rob,

you want to kick us off with some Kawhi Leonard

talk and to let us know, you know, are the

Clippers gonna get in trouble?

Speaker 1: What do you think.

Speaker 4: Yeah, so we haven't.

Speaker 3: We've kind of danced around this because none of us

really wants to talk about it for a variety of reasons.

As we've mentioned throughout this entire Sokka it's not really

basketball related and that's what we actually care about, and

that's what's interesting for us to talk about. And also

like the investigation is just gonna happen, and so there's

really not a ton of point in speculating on stuff

when like we just don't know.

Speaker 2: That.

Speaker 3: Being said, I will speculate for a little bit. There's

been like a very very slight drip in content about

the Kawhi Leonard thing for the past couple of weeks.

And I'm sure most people who are listening to this podcast,

who are very big Clippers fans, pay attention to that

sort of stuff and are pretty up to date. But

Baxter Holmes of ESPN, who's one of the few I

would say, like investigative sports journalists we have left outside

of the notorious pablotry, of course, did publish an article,

I believe this past week where he mentioned the investigation

or the results or the follow up from the investigation

could carry into twenty seven, if the Clippers and or

the Players Association decide to fight any of the punishments

that are levied against them by the NBA and whatever

arbiter they go to, and then there's been some other stuff.

Some raptors, people who are somewhat connected, have noted that

they think the trade will go through, but that they

their hunt or what they want, and it's they're coming

obviously from a raptor's perspective, is that if the Clippers

would take back a little bit less assets, you know,

maybe one fewer swamp and one fewer second or whatever,

maybe at first, whatever it is, the raptors would just

go ahead and pull the trigger on the trade, and

at least from a Clippers perspective, a lot of the

kind of be over with Becausekawhi would efficially be off

the team, et cetera. I think there are really a

few different options as to what happens. The most raadforward

is that the trade goes through exactly as is, because

the charges like there are not many punishments levied against

the Clippers or such as they are, that they're not

directly related to Qui's contract and therefore have nothing to

do with the trade, there is a possibility that there

might be some sort of suspension, and therefore the Clippers

have to you know, lighten the you know, whatever offer

they the trade, they agreed upon trade. So maybe it's

like one fewer first or a swap or seconds, depending

on how big the suspension is. Three Kauhi's contract gets

voided or he has a season long suspension or something

like that, and the whole trade is is probably called off.

And four the Raptors get cold feet, and this this

drags on. I guess this would be the prerequisite. Is

this drags on and on and on, and it'smer and

we don't know yet and they're still mulling things over

whatever on earth they're doing with this, and the Raptors

get cold feet and decide, you know what, we're not

going to do. This training camp is coming up. We're

gonna prep with the guys we have on the roster.

Brandon ingram Grady Dick, Welcome back, Kawhi, Leonard, you're back

in LA. I did think it was also notable Ramona

Shelbourne went on TV at some point this week. Who's

pretty plugged into the Clippers. I would say Lucas I

mean maybe not like the most plugged in, but pretty

plugged in, and said that if the trade was canceled

or like the Raptors called it off, whatever, the Clippers

would welcome back why and kind of left open that

unsaid that Kawhi would probably be okay with coming back

for a year, which I also thought was notable because

that was kind of an indication that maybe that might

be on the table one way or another. And that's

kind of where we stand. I can speculate a little

bit on like what I think is most likely and

just give some overall thoughts on this complete disaster and

farce that this has been. But I didn't know if

you wanted to chime in, because I've been talking for

five minutes.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I don't know.

Speaker 2: I the thing that I just come back to with this,

and it's not necessarily like super productive, but it just

is so embarrassing for the NBA two like to launch

this huge investigation into one of its teams because of

allegations that are made on a podcast.

Speaker 1: And I'm not.

Speaker 2: Saying that like because something happens on a podcast that

it's not legitimate or whatever, right, but fine, they're gonna

they're gonna investigate this thing. It's embarrassing. First of all,

if there is something here, it's embarrassing to the NBA

in the first place that they had to find out

about it from Pablo Torre. And that's not a slight

against Pablo and his you know, investigation, but the NBA

should have a handle on their own business, and so

it is I think inherently and uncontroversially embarrassing when your

organization or your league is scandalized and you don't know

what's going going on in your own league, I think.

Speaker 1: That's a bad sign.

Speaker 2: Uh.

Speaker 1: I also think it's a bad sign.

Speaker 2: I think it's embarrassing for the NBA that they've been

doing this for a year now and they still can't

figure out if something happened or not, or what punishment

there should or shouldn't be.

Speaker 3: I mean that it's been eleven months. We're at eleven

months now.

Speaker 2: They have unfettered access to everything that they want. The

Clippers are a franchise of the NBA. They have to

participate in interviews. They can be punished for not participating

in the investigation. So there's no there's none of the

like pulling teeth here. That should be happening. And the

Clippers have said all along that they're cooperating fully, and

we haven't heard any report or allegation or sanctions taken

against them for not cooperating fully.

Speaker 1: So what has taken eleven months to find out?

Speaker 2: Right? And you know, you see some of these reports

about you know, staff and other teams are confused because

the investigation has been going on for months and some

Clippers staff still haven't been interviewed, and blah blah blah. Right,

and like all these reports coming in these different times,

we don't know what's going on. And then Adam Silver

has absolutely no accountability for any of it. He just

abdicates the whole process and says, we hired it out.

Speaker 1: It's not my problem. So you have a commissioner who's.

Speaker 2: Like a sleep at the wheel in so far as

misconduct could be occurring that he's not aware of and

is finding out.

Speaker 1: Through the news.

Speaker 2: He's asleep at the wheel in so far as the

league isn't going to do its own disciplinary process for

one of its teams. He's a sleep at the wheel

in so far as he has no or claims ignorance

and no oversight to the external process that is dragged

on for over a year now, and I just want

to say, you know, this is what I talked about

the last time we talked about quiring the pod too.

Maybe the Clippers cheated. Maybe they did something they shouldn't

have done. They funneled money in a direction that was

wrong to funnel. Maybe it's not against the rules, but

they probably shouldn't have done it. Maybe it is against

the rules and they're going to get punished. Maybe they

broke laws. I don't know the answer to these questions.

But what I will say is, at this point, right now,

August first, twenty twenty six, the Clippers are being punished

for something that they have not been found to have done,

because not allowing them to complete this Kawhi Leonard trade

is a punishment. He's a thirty five year old All

NBA player All NBA last season, not like All NBA

six years ago. He was an All NBA player last season.

He's thirty five. The Clippers are a lottery team. He

has one year left on his contract. Any logic dictates

that the Clippers need to trade him for whatever return

they can get so that they can turn the page.

Any team that is in the lottery with an all

NBA guy in their mid thirties on an expiring deal

is going to be looking to do this. The Clippers

are doing the most rational self preservation move.

Speaker 1: That an organization in their situation can do.

Speaker 2: They're not allowed to do it despite the NBA not

having found that they did anything wrong yet. And if

the NBA comes.

Speaker 1: Out tomorrow or tomorrow's a Sunday, so it won't be tomorrow.

Speaker 2: But if the NBA comes out next week or at

some point in August, even with this huge portfolio of

findings against the Clippers, and they're like, yeah, we've known

for months that we were going to drop the hammer

on them, but we needed to dot our eyes and

cross our te's.

Speaker 1: Okay, fine, but why all this?

Speaker 2: Why no transparency, why no accountability, why all the secrecy whatever?

But if they come out with something that is a

little half asked or circumstantial and try to do some

halfway punishments, I mean, let me ask you, like, do

you think the Clippers would let do you think the

NBA would let the Clippers sign Kwhin Leonard to an extension?

Speaker 1: Right now? Probably not couldagine how that would look.

Speaker 4: Yeah, it would be bad.

Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's where we're at, right I

think you described at the very end, so this is

a good segue into me talking about this and then

hopefully we can move on to other things. But like again,

based on like what you alluded to, if there was

really a obvious evidence about this, this thing would be

over right. Like you can say all you want, like

the league needs to write up an official dossier and

as you said, like to square things way before levying

all these punishments. If they had hard proof of the

Clippers doing this stuff, this investigation would not be taking

this long ipso facto.

Speaker 4: They don't.

Speaker 3: And maybe they found a little bit more than publatory.

Maybe they found some stuff that answers all of the

things publatory brought up. So I think we're at right

now is that the NBA. There have been some reports

that the investigation, such it is as it is by

the law firm, has concluded, or it is basically concluded,

And it's like in the discussion phase, which might have

to do with the law firm, might be entirely internal

to the NBA.

Speaker 4: Who knows.

Speaker 3: And I think where we're at is that the Court

of Public opinion, which does matter to the league in

terms of reputation and just pr however you want to

phrase it, has decided against the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard

because of pabulatory and for whatever other reason. Like by

and large, when you talk with non Clippers fans, they

think the Clippers did this and that, you know, some

punishment should be levied against them, and arguing with them

is just that you just cannot convince them that the

court of public opinion has been pretty firmly decided.

Speaker 4: And I think the.

Speaker 3: NBA, you know, does not think that they can just

let the Clippers off without any punishment, even if there's

no hard evidence. And I'm not even sure that that's

a bad thing, Like I think they could be like,

we don't have any hard evidence, but there's a lot

of circumstantial stuff, and you know, we think something fishy

went on here, and therefore we're going to try to

make some sort of punishments. And I think where they're

at is trying to figure out what those punishments are

and what happens if the Clippers, who as you said,

have maintained innocence this entire time, are like, even if

we're getting out of this with only like a fine

and maybe you know, Balmer can't appear at games for

half a year or whatever. It ends up being kind

of a stop on the wrist. Maybe the Clippers are like,

we are completely innocent. You guys didn't find anything. This

is not acceptable. We're fighting this, and then it becomes

a further embarrassment. So I think right now, and again

this purely speculation, with zero inside sources of this at all,

is that we're somewhere in that ballpark where the investigation

has not found anything concrete. The NBA, because of public

pressure and maybe because of some internal pressure from other

teams and owners or whatever, wants to levy some kind

of punishment, but they are worried about how it will

play with the Clippers and Steve Baumer, who's the most powerful,

single or richest owner in the league, and what he

might do to fight this, and kind of the spiraling

effect of that. And I think that's where we're at

right now. Again, I don't know, and it's just a

mess like the NBA, Like ultimately Adam Silver, as you said,

has been ineffectual, Like he can make a decision regardless,

and that's what people have said all along. It's like

when I've argued with them about like Pubulatory's thing is

just not conclusive, Like you might be decided by it,

but it is simply not conclusive. Of aps are convention.

You might think that, but it's not. And therefore, like

the NBA, just levying this huge punishment would set a

precedent and could look really bad if there's no hard evidence.

But like they it's just it's it's a rock and

a hard place, I think. But like Adam Silver could

make a decision. He could be you know what, we

think the Clippers did it. There's no hard evidence, it

doesn't matter. We're going to do it and risk an

awe war with Steve Walmer.

Speaker 4: Or he could go complete the other.

Speaker 3: Way and say, like there was a lot of circumstantial stuff,

we did not find any hard evidence. We're letting this

go without anything. But they're afraate of afraid of the

blowback there and as you said, are settling for kind

of like a half assed thing. And I think that's

why this is taking so long, because that's even though

it's the less the worst, it's the best for them

in terms of pr but it's the one that's kind

of the hardest you know, needle to thread and the

one with kind of the most logical room.

Speaker 4: And I think that's where we're at.

Speaker 3: And I would expect some kind of punishment, but I

would not expect avoided contractor the hammer to fall again.

If they had hard evidence, this would be over.

Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think Rob but even what you're describing

as another embarrassment, right, like, yeah, we like I understand

the NBA's beholden to public opinion to an extent. But

part of the reason why this is the thing that

it is is because the NBA, this has been asleep

at the wheel for the last eleven months and so

this narrative has has run wild in the media without

any type of counter or without any official word. It's

all of this speculation and all of these allegations, and

the NBA goes in external firms investigating.

Speaker 1: We don't know. So they've made their own bed a

little bit.

Speaker 2: And you know, I'm not a I'm not gonna cry

for justice for Steve Balmer, Like Steve Balmer will be fine.

But when we talk about the way that this trade

will be affected by this, Right, on the one hand,

if Kawhi Leonard as an individual player is punished, like

something is done to his contract, or he is suspended

for a certain amount of games, like if Kwhi Leonard

is suspended for twenty five games to start next season,

Toronto may want to revisit the compensation in that deal, right,

But also what you talked about is when the NBA

makes a decision on a punishment here, they can't just

unilaterally implement that punishment. The way that the collective bargaining

agreement works, it has to go through arbitration, and so

that process is going to take a while, Like going

through arbitration is going to be another lengthy legal step

of this process. You alluded to this idea of a settlement,

like they could avoid arbitration if they settle. Well, if

the NBA finds no wrongdoing, there's no need for a settlement,

there's no need for arbitration.

Speaker 1: But if the NBA comes with some type of.

Speaker 2: Half measure, not a hammer, but some type of punishment,

do the Clippers accept that punishment in exchange for being

able to get this trade done? And my stance is,

and I said this in the discord this week, if

it doesn't affect basketball, the Clippers should take the settlement.

Speaker 4: Yes, I fully agree.

Speaker 2: If it's like Steve Ballmer can't sit and in his

seats this year, and Lawrence Frank is suspended from basketball

operations for a year and there's a five hundred thousand

dollars fine or whatever, they should just take the settlement

because the opportunity cost of going to arbitration and not

getting this package back for Kawhi Leonard is more harmful

to the long term future of the franchise than these

types of short term non basketball sanctions.

Speaker 1: Again, though it.

Speaker 2: Puts I think it's I think anyone who's concerned, like

anyone who cares about things like do process right, should

be really concerned that the league is in a position

where they can put a team through a year long investigation,

not come out and say that they found anything, and

then say, well, you have to accept this punishment even

though we didn't find anything, because fighting it is going

to cost you too much. I mean, this is how

the legal system works for normal people all the time, right,

and it's a problem. So it's again, I'm not here

to like to cry for justice for Steve Balmer, but

I think you really, like anyone who understands how these

types of processes work. Anyone who has experience with due process,

with disciplinary and legal proceedings can tell you that this

has been a disaster. It's just been so poorly managed

by Adam Silver. From the frankly, like the Clippers could

have broken all the rules, they could be found to

have broken all the rules and the hammer could be

dropped on them.

Speaker 1: And if it took Adam Silver this.

Speaker 2: Long through this process to drop that hammer and find

out that those rule violations had occurred, that like the

NBA should look for a new commissioner, because there's no

way that it should take this long to do that

if that is indeed what occurred. So, you know, whatever happens,

I just think it's this whole thing has been a

huge black mark on the NBA. I think that Adam Silver,

especially in the last two years or so, has really

lost the plot. You know, you see these lines about

first of all, all the tanking stuff that I know.

Speaker 1: We've talked about on a pod before, rob but also.

Speaker 2: Like fans access games through highlights on social media, and

we don't need to make full games accessible to watch

live for fans and all these things right, like just

completely anti basketball and anti sport, the gambling stuff that's

happening in the game right now. I mean the NBA

is you know, the NBA is not financially unhealthy. The

NBA is financially extremely healthy. But it is so that

the financial health of the league is so unchecked that

the corruption and integrity of the league are in you know,

pretty bad places right now. Like NBA players, you know,

we don't talk about it. It's crazy how little we

talk about that. The head coach of the Portland Trailblazers

was arrested for throwing games because of gambling debts.

Speaker 1: Like, this is where the league is right now.

Speaker 2: NBA players arrested for not for the pension health insurance scheme,

right That's that's one thing that's its own tragedy. NBA

players arrested for betting on their own games. I mean,

this is where we are as a as a sport

and a league right now, and as a sort of

broader sporting culture because it's not just a pro basketball thing.

Speaker 1: But yeah, I just I.

Speaker 2: Really I've been I think about as I found the

NBA about as distasteful in the last month or so,

as like as I can think of in a month

in in my time doing this.

Speaker 1: And again, I mean, like I said, I don't know

that the Clippers are innocent. I have no idea.

Speaker 2: They could have broken the rules, they could get in trouble,

they could deserve to Maybe I'll read of the report

when it comes out and go, yeah, I'm as they're

idiots who have done this and they deserve the punishment.

But this process for it, this side show that has

been running for the last year, is just really embarrassing

for everyone involved. And you know, it caps off for me,

Rob what has been, like I said, the last month

in the NBA has really been, you know, disinteresting to me.

And maybe this is a moment to switch gears a

little bit and talk about that, because the Clippers got

involved in some of the recent news in a very

minor way, with Lebron James finally after a month of suspense,

choosing to join the Philadelphia seventy six ers in free agency,

and then the Clippers stepping in and doing their part

to take on Jeni Broom's contract from the Sixers, as

well as a second round draft pick from the Sixers.

So let's go away for a prickwick. When we come back,

we can talk about some of the small moves.

Speaker 1: Around the edge the Clippers have made recently.

Speaker 2: All right back here on the lob of the jam

the podcast. So Rob, Yeah, Jenni Broom. Yeah, Like most

most players who are young and come to the Clippers

without much experience, you are convinced that he has no

hope of an NBA future.

Speaker 4: Tell us why that's correct.

Speaker 3: So, Jane I Broom was the thirty fifth pick in

last year's draft. He was the National Player of the

Year in college that season and at Auburn he led

Auburn to a top seed and nca tournament. He led

the team in points, rebounds, and assists. Pretty impressive. He

was also old. He was twenty three when he was drafted.

He's twenty four now. He's not a young player. He

was spent five years in college, and he's a power forward.

And he's played eleven games in the NBA. He played

a good amount in the G League, not like a ton,

but a good amount some some form of a sample size.

And his played in summer league. And you know, training camp, preseason,

all that, and every Sixers fan I know, and I

know I know more Sixers fans than probably any other

fan based outside of the Clippers, every Sixers fan thinks

he's hopeless and terrible. And again you can point to

the eleven NBA games, not very much. I don't know

how many of them Mutch and the G League maybe

a little bit, but I guess between Summer league and

preseason and just the few times they maybe have seen him,

he has not appeared remotely like an NBA player. And

I think, really, the reason why, the reason why a

player of his like you know, pedigree in college right

like national player of the Year at like a school

like Auburn, top seeing the NCAA tournament, like real results,

why he fell so far? You need to look no

further than the NBA combine stats from that year. There's

five different stats here. There's seventy nine players in listed

who went through the draft combine. He is second worst

max vertical leap. The rest of the bottom guys are

all centers.

Speaker 1: He was.

Speaker 3: Seventh, yeah, seventh worst standing vertical leap. He was fifth

worst shuttle run and like ninth or tenth worst in

terms of three quarter sprint. Basically everything I think lay

in agility. He was like in the bottom third, but

not like one of the very bottom and everything else.

He's one of the very worst athletes in the draft.

And sometimes you see guys who are bad athletes who

it's like, oh, they're able to make stuff happen, But

apparently he just looks incredibly slow, incredibly unathletic, and he's

a power forward who, like, because of those limitations, is

not really a rim protector. He can't really break people

down off the dribble. He was a high usage guy

in college, so he's not great at like role player stuff. Really,

he's like a score who doesn't really do very much else,

And that's like the worst position to have, that archetype,

because the modern power forwards are kind of the most stereotypical.

Speaker 4: Usually role player types.

Speaker 3: You think of Aaron Gordon, you think of og Anna Nobi,

you know all these other you know, Jalen Williams on

the Thunder, Like these guys who kind of do a

little bit of everything are usually not like superstars, kind

of play defense, can shoot, can handle all that sort

of stuff. To my really offers very little that he

can score, but he did not score very efficiently in

the G League, and he's only like an okay rebounder

and everything else. That's kind of bad, so like he's

not old right like, and he's barely played in the NBA.

The NBA sample size is basically non existent. Like it's

not impossible he's an NBA player, but it's it's pretty

unlikely at his age, and like only OKG League performance

and his really truly pretty abysmal draft combine measurements. It's

it's really hard to see much of an NBA future.

But the Clippers did this for the pick, Like they

got a decent second round pick out of this. And

you know, at the very least, Broom, who guaranteed contract

for this year, is a power forward and the Clippers

need a depth of power forward. They only had one

true power forward on the roster in Riach Mura. I

guess Baba Miller is kind of going to be a

power forward. We have yet to see really what position

he's going to be. I think he kind of slots

in it power forward.

Speaker 1: Kobe Sanders is kind of the backup power forward.

Speaker 2: I think, yeah, which he's like he's not a power forward,

but he kind of does do the Niko Batouma thing.

Speaker 3: So yes, but like he's not a power forward in

today's NBA, and so Jenni Burn provides like some depth

at a position of need. He is a flyer who

the Clippers got an asset and like a decent second

round pick to take on. And his contract is only

guaranteed this year and then it's non guaranteed next year

and team option the year after, which is basically non guaranteed,

so if he's really bad or doesn't play, the Clippers

can either easily trade him or cut him or whatever

later on in the season. So it was it was

a totally fine trade. They got an asset for basically nothing,

just a roster spot. And the other piece of news

we hadn't really mentioned but kind of discussed in our

Summer league wrap up last week me and Shop was

that Cam Christy was really bad in summer League. They

pushed its guaranteed it day back to after training camp,

and this just makes it even more likely it was

already pretty likely, even more likely that the Clippers just

wave Cam Christi and jan I Broom kind of takes

the spot as the last player on the roster just

because he's even though he's older, he's at more of

a position of need.

Speaker 4: And I think that's really all this trade was.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, just to be clear, Rob, when we

talked about the last spot on the roster, I think

that the Clippers have I think that right now I

would say that Broom is like in spot fourteen and

Christy is in spot fifteen.

Speaker 1: So if they do wave Christy, they will have an

open spot.

Speaker 2: Of course, there's there's a couple loose ends out there

right as far as I mean the Peyton Watson thing,

I don't really know what to say about it at

this point, but technically the quiet Leonard trade isn't done

so that something could still be folded into it.

Speaker 1: But also, like Benedict.

Speaker 2: Mathrin's restrict free agency is what comes to my most

immediately as kind of like, well, maybe if the Clippers

don't keep Mathine, then they do keep Christy for the

year as an extra guard on a cheap deal. But

if Mathurin resigns, he takes Christie's spot. I think the

Clippers actually are probably likely to waive Christy and try

to resign him to a two way contract. That kind

of seems like par for the course for me, with

the way that that his career is gone and how

they tend to manage those sort of edge guys. I

don't see him getting a contract with another team, so

it probably makes the most sense for him to just

resign on a two way and play for San Diego

for the year. But yeah, this Jenni Broom deal, I mean,

I don't I guess I don't care to just absolutely

trash young you know, I know you say twenty four

isn't young, But I don't care to just to absolutely

trash guys, maybe as much as you do. But but

I think that, Yeah, you missed the part where you

said you're sure he's a very nice guy and a

good teammate.

Speaker 4: I didn't even say that because I don't know that yet.

But he needs to work his way up to that.

Speaker 2: No, the most important thing is that someone you follow

on Twitter watched him play garbage time in January last.

Speaker 3: Year and summer LYE can't forget something most important thing.

Speaker 2: But but yeah, I mean, I think, look if if

the sixer spot that Jani Broom was going to be

a good NBA player on the contract that he is

on right, which is a cheap deal next year guaranteed,

a cheap deal the year after not guaranteed, and then

I believe a team option for the year after that,

So potentially three cheap.

Speaker 1: Years of Jani Broom if the Sixers thought he was good.

Speaker 2: As they're navigating the like we brought in the massive

Jalen Brown contract and we're still trying to see if

Joel Embiad's ere gonna get healthy, and we have to

pay Tyree s Maxy and we have to pay Vjang

right Like, if they thought that he was going to

be like a useful player at two million dollars a

year for the next few years, they absolutely would have

kept him.

Speaker 1: So this was a cut. Basically, the Sixers needed to

cut Jennie Broom. They did not think he was.

Speaker 2: Worth rostering at two million dollars. But they also couldn't

just cut him because they didn't want the money to

be dead on their salary books. So instead they traded

that money to the Clippers, and they compensate the Clippers

with the second round pick. I will very briefly tell

you all what that second round pick is. The Sixers

have or prior to this trade, the Sixers had three

second round picks for twenty twenty seven. The first is

their own pick. The second is the better of either

Golden State or Phoenix's and the third is the best

of oklah Sahoma City, Houston, Indiana, and Miami.

Speaker 1: So these are the three picks.

Speaker 2: Pick number one is Philly, pick number two is better

of Golden State and Phoenix. Pick number three is best

out of Oklahoma City, Houston, in Dana, Miami. Whichever those

three picks end up being next year, the Clippers will

get the middle of the three. So Philadelphia's pick presumably

is going to be very late in the draft because

Tyre Spacks, Jlen Brown, Lebron James Joel Embiid, Golden State,

Phoenix pick should be a decent Whichever is the better

of Golden State or Phoenix should be a decent pick.

I would imagine that one of those teams gives the

Sixers a pick in the.

Speaker 1: Top ten of the second round next year.

Speaker 2: So then I think from the Clippers perspective, you're really

looking at that third pick.

Speaker 1: Is it going to where's that going to land?

Speaker 2: Oklahoma City is obviously going to be good, Houston we

expect to be good, Indiana we expect to be good,

Miami we expect to be good. So but how good

are each of these teams going to be? They're not

all going to be some of the top five teams

in the NBA may that maybe if one of them

has a probably best case scenario is one of those

teams has a disappointing year, right, and the Clippers put

themselves in a position where they can get a pick,

you know, maybe in the late thirties or early forties.

The Clippers don't have their own second round pick next year,

so you know, nice to get a pick in the

middle of the second round. It's not a big deal

asset wise for the team, but it's not nothing. And

I think you look at like, what are what are

they going to do with that last respart? Honestly, Rob,

even if they cut Broom in training camp, this trade

was worth it because the Clippers have so much space

right now between where they are and where the luxury

tax threshold is that really they could cut Jeni Broom

in training camp and what they would have done is

bought you know, let's say the forty second pick in

next year's draft or the forty sixth pick in next

year's draft.

Speaker 1: For two point two million dollars.

Speaker 2: So if you start looking at it like that, right,

and they didn't even have to pay you know, teams

have a limited amount of cash they can use each.

Speaker 1: Year in trades.

Speaker 2: The Clippers didn't even need to touch their like designated

trade cash because they didn't actually trade the Sixers money.

They just took on a debt from the Sixers in

exchange for getting that draft pick from them, and they

just can cut him a check for the two point

two million and send him home and take the pick.

So yeah, I mean, it's it's a very small little

piece of business for the Clippers, but it's not a

bad little piece of business.

Speaker 1: It's a it's a it.

Speaker 2: Is a very small but unambiguously positive is how I would.

Just like. It's a good move, but it's very minuscule.

It's not necessarily a needle mover in any way. But hey,

if that draft pick becomes sweetener that you attach to

contract to get something done mid season, or if that

draft pick becomes you know, you package that with the

late first that the Clippers will have next year to

move up into the early twenties, or whatever combination of.

Speaker 1: Things you can do.

Speaker 2: Right, It's a little margin victory, and the Clippers need

these little margin victories.

Speaker 1: They also.

Speaker 2: Signed a another big man to a two way contract

Jamari and Sharp. Now, Rob, I know I was giving

you a little bit, a little bit of trash talk

for how eager you are to rip these prospects apart

with your teeth when the Clippers acquire them.

Speaker 1: But Jamari and Sharp might be you.

Speaker 4: Know, he's a nice guy.

Speaker 1: I might not have to I might not be able

to defend him as much. What do you want to

tell Clippers fans about Jamari and Sharp?

Speaker 3: Yeah, shape, and I very very briefly mentioned him last week.

He's huge, He's like seven foot five. I think he

can kind of move, Okay, I just I don't think

there's really much of any basketball skill there. He really

can't score, he's not a great rebounder. Those are two

things you'd hope for for a guy who's seven foot five. Really,

it's just kind of like Janni Broom. It's just emergency

front court depth. Jannakoenniederhauser apparently is like doing well in

his rehab in his recovery, he's still probably not gonna

be ready at the start of the season. Even if

he is, the Clippers will almost certainly want to bring

him along slowly. Outside of that, they're big men are

an ancient Brook Lopez and Isaiah Jackson, who's a backup,

and you know, if one of them is in foul

trouble or one of them gets injured and Yanick is

still out, Like having a guy who you can throw

out there for eight to ten minutes of center play

is helpful, especially on a team that now like does

not have small ball center options right Like Nick Patoum

is gone, Kawhi Leonard presumably is gone, John Collins is gone.

The power forward they have on the roster is Rui Hachimura,

and he's not nearly a good enough defender to go

small ball five with. So I think it was you know,

I don't think Sharp is good. He won the G

League Defensive Player of the Year last year, but that's

basically just for his room protection. I don't think it

will have that impact in the NBA, and like he

just does not do basically anything else on the court.

But yeah, I mean, you know, you could probably throw

him out there for six eight minutes and he'd be

so huge and provide like a little bit of defense

at the rim that he you escape his minutes unscathed

just because of that those factors. So yeah, like again,

it's a two way deal. It's like basically a risk

freet move. And again it was at a position kind

of need, like once Gionic is healthy, it won't be

And honestly, my guess would be they probably cut him

and sign someone else, but just as emergency depth, without

having to sign a guy to an actual roster spot,

it's totally fine. So, yeah, like him and Broom shore

up the front court, which is pretty thin. And you know,

if either of them actually turns into anything big win,

I would find either of them doing that unlikely, but

like it's not impossible, and if they contribute even like

a single good game or two, then it's just a

win because the Clippers basically gave them nothing to get

either of them.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think the like the odds of either

of these guys being you know, I mean, maybe one

of them has at some point, like a game where

they come in in the third quarter because someone is

in foul trouble and someone.

Speaker 1: Else is hurt and they have a good little shift

or whatever.

Speaker 2: But you know, the Clippers, I think, from the perspective

of not having not knowing what's going on at center

post Zubats, right, I think they are kind of doing

what you would want them to do, which is they're

just taking some flyers on. You know, I know that

these guys aren't nineteen, right, but like they're both twenty four,

they are earlier in their careers, right, they there may

be some type of growth or fit or trajectory for them,

and neither of them are really exciting as individual prospects.

But when you look at like, hey, Brook Lopez is

your starting center, Jannik Coneniederhauser is the guy who you're

probably most invested in in the position, but he had

a major injury in the spring and won't be ready

for the start of the year. I thought the Clippers

were really in a position this summer where investing resources

into getting a center was not wise, both because I

think the Clippers are going to be you know, bad

next year anyway, frankly, I mean mediocre at best year anyway.

Speaker 1: So you don't invest long.

Speaker 2: Term resources into short term improvements when you're not going

to be competitive anyway. And by competitive I mean competitive,

you know, like in a postseason meaning not like I

hope the Clippers are competitive, you know, night tonight. But

I also think that you know, so you don't want

to make this big investment. You don't want to make

a big investment to go get someone because you don't

want to stunt Yanick. But also Yanick isn't a sure

thing and he's hurt right now.

Speaker 1: So you go and you get some guys, right and

who knows, probably both of them are going to end

up stinking.

Speaker 2: I think Boba Miller is another guy who you kind

of go and get, And I don't know if Boba

Miller is like maybe the Clipper's best small ball five

option at this point, although again he's a second round rookie.

So to your point about not having an option, that

if your only option for something is a second round rookie,

then you don't have it. It's the way that I

think about it in the In the NBA, anything you

get from a second round rookie should should be gravy.

It should never be expected as a feature of the

team going into the year. So yeah, I mean, I

think I'm just reminded of Moses Brown and going to

watch the Clippers play a preseason game in Seattle and

take driving my dad up there and watching He's like, WHOA,

who is that guy?

Speaker 1: And I'm like he's very tall, but he's very bad.

Speaker 2: And then throughout the game he just you know, Moses

Brown was so active as a player. He's like always

always the center, like everything was revolving around him, and

he was like, Wow, he's like the most influential player

on the court right now, and.

Speaker 1: He's the worst player on the court right now. It

was kind of like.

Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook so often the most like he had the

most influence on the game that was unfolding around him,

and he was the worst of the ten players on

the court Clippers Russell Westbrook, of course not thunder Russell Westbrook,

but yeah, that's kind of what I'm expecting from the

Sharp experience as well.

Speaker 1: It's like, man, that guy's tall. Man, that guy's bad.

Jan I Broom, Jani Broom.

Speaker 2: You know, if he's taking over as the Kobe Brown,

you know, power forward who can't shoot at you know,

at least he's actually tall, which Kobe Brown was like

probably six or five.

Speaker 3: So Kobe Brown getting a two ideal look at Kobe Brown.

Speaker 2: Yeah, Kobe Brown, you know, another guy like yeah, getting

a two radial is exactly the encapsulation of that pick

for the Clippers as well.

Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2: You Let's let's go for one. Let's let's go for

one more quick break, Rob, we'll come back. We'll talk

about if we think there's anything coming up for the

Clippers in August. All right, back here for the lot

of the gym in the podcast. I don't know if

we have a full segment here for you folks, but Rob,

let's talk. Let's talk about what's next, what's coming for

the Clippers. What are you it's August first, what are

you looking out for in the next week or two?

Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's really just Benedict Mathrin. I

the Clippers have not been linked strongly to Peyton Watson

in a couple of weeks, and I just I they

could get him, but I think it would be pretty difficult.

They'd have to make at least one, if honestly, maybe

multiple other trades just to get in a position to

I think sign and trade for him properly.

Speaker 4: But I just don't think they're gonna do it.

Speaker 3: Denver is asking for one rotation player and a first

round pick, and I just I personally do not think

Peyton Watson is worth that, plus giving him the actual

contract that he and his agent want, because that's a

risk in and of itself, and then giving up like

an actual rotation player. Presumably it would be Derek Jones

Junior and a pick, a first round pick. I know, thanks,

and I like Peyton Watson. Like if it was strictly

just like a sign and trade just for the salary,

I would even be a little wary of that. I

think it's a track record of being like a truly

impactful player is pretty small, but like the age, his

archetype is a rare one in the NBA, there's some

track record, you know, of productivity, but like if you

add in like what the Nuggets are asking for in

a sign and trade, I just don't think it's feasible

for the clib and I think other teams make more

sense for him. So I am kind of ruling out

the Peyton Watson thing I've been ruling out as strong.

I would find it pretty unlikely. I have zero idea

what they do with Matherin. I just if they really

liked him, I think they would have resigned him already.

So I think the fact that it's dragging this late

tells you that he's not really a priority for them.

Speaker 4: There have been rumors.

Speaker 3: It's funny because when Chap and I did the podcast

last week, I was like, there's been no teams connected

with Mathurin and literally, I think, like thirty minutes later,

mark Stein mentioned the Pelicans and a mystery team which

was later revealed to be a Bulls I think one

other team and maybe the Nets that might have been

another team.

Speaker 2: Yes, I think there was a Bulls reporter who said

that their interest was overstated.

Speaker 3: Correct, it's probably agent propaganda.

Speaker 4: I have no idea.

Speaker 3: I have no idea. I would expect it to get

resolved before training camp one way or another, whether it's

him take the qualifying offer, whether it's him coming back

on some sort of like a two or three year

deal to the Clippers, whether it's a sign and trade.

Like I expect it will happen in the next like

two months, whether it happens in the next two weeks,

could not possibly tell you. It's it's possible. It's not

like I don't think it'll happen.

Speaker 4: As to what.

Speaker 3: Actually happens, no clue, but I would be pretty surprised

if he came back to the Clippers on like a

real sizeable deal, because I if that was available to him,

it would have happened already.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, the qualifying offer can uh like,

if he was going to take the qualifying offer, he

would take like a two year deal or something like.

Speaker 1: It's it's not going to play that way. I don't

think so.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think I don't know what's gonna

happen with Matherin. I do agree with you if the Clippers,

I'll put it this way there because I know there

are fans out there who think that, like Matherin is

a starting shooting guard. He's gonna, you know, can score

thirty points, right, we know the talent. If the Clippers

thought that he was like a guy for them, they

would have given him like a four year, sixty million

dollar deal. He would have taken it because he doesn't

have a market in that range. It would be a

bargain for a starter. But the Clippers don't think of

him that way, and other NBA teams don't think of

him that way either. I mean, he's not efficient, he's

not He doesn't read the game at a high level

in terms of his decision making with the basketball. He

does have a lot of talent. He has some tools

he's a guy who I think, really, you know, we're

talking about, like, you know, twenty four year olds and

if they can ever learn anything new at.

Speaker 1: That point or if their life is over right.

Speaker 2: And I think that Matherin is a guy who I

look at at twenty four and think, yeah, two years

from now, I think he could be a good starter

in the NBA.

Speaker 1: I think he has the talent and the tools.

Speaker 2: I don't know that I think he will be because

I think that there are decision making and mentality pieces

that aren't there for that, which is why I think

the Pacers were ready to move on from him when

they did, and why I think the Clippers if the

Pelicans want to give him an offer sheet that the

Clippers are unwilling to match. I don't know that there's

a lot of space there in terms of like what

the Pelicans can give him with the mid level exception

that the Clippers would be categorically unwilling to match to

keep him and then try to trade him later. So

the Pelicans probably would, you know, could be motivated to

pursue a sign and trade, and I don't know that

the Clippers would be particularly demanding in a sign and

trade for Matherine because I don't think they really want

him or his contract on their books going forward. But also,

if all you're going to get is like a second

round pick and a trade exception, maybe you do just

keep the guy who you know can score to thirty points.

I mean this team, frankly, this is a Clippers team

that has more offensive talent than defensive talent. Yes, but

it's also a Clippers team that is low enough on talent.

Speaker 1: It's low enough on.

Speaker 2: Talent generally that I don't think they're in a position

to just say no to Benedict Matherne. Because Benedict Mathrine

can score the ball and win you basketball games as

much as he can you know, hurt you at other

times with some of the decision making. So yeah, I

don't know. I'm not super eager to see mathin back.

I didn't love the Benedict Mathrine experience as a Clipper.

I think for me, the best case scenario would be

if the Clippers sign and trade him out and get

some type of actual positive return for him. I don't

know that it won't be whatever it is, it won't

be a substantial one, but could they get, like, you know,

I don't I would have to look at at the

Pelicans draft see in the situation, but you know, or like,

can they get like the you know, the worst of

whatever pick in whatever year, or the you know, the

right to swap but not into the lottery one year

or something, you know, some type of thing that's like, hey,

maybe the Clippers, you know, maybe in the twenty thirty

two NBA Draft, the Clippers have a chance to move

up from pick twenty three to pick sixteen because they

got a future swap as part of this math and

sign and trade like some some type of capital like

that would I think be enough for me to sort

of be like, well, you know, it was thanks for

thanks for those few good games that.

Speaker 1: You're out of March, and you know, good luck in

New Orleans.

Speaker 2: But if they if it's just gonna be like a

second round pick and a trade exception or something, then

I think I would roll with bringing Benedict Mathern back,

you know, let him, let him have the floor to

audition a little bit for the coming year. The Clippers

are going to need, you know, some games where he

can score in bunches. It's not going to hurt their

prospect of being competitive on a night tonight basis, and.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll see how that plays.

Speaker 2: I think the ideal, like the real perfect version of

this would be if they can get whatever they get

from the Pelicans and reroute it into somehow satisfying Denver

for Peyton Watson. I think I will also say Denver

talked about they want two first round picks for Peyton Watson.

Now they're saying they want a first round pick and

a quality player. If they were getting these offers, there

would be deals. So you know, I don't think we

need to say, oh, the Clippers need to find a

way to get Denver Derek Jones Junior and a first

round pick if they want Peyton Watson. Well, if the

Clippers were willing to do that, they would have Peyton Watson.

So whatever price Peyton Watson, if he is traded, whatever

the trade package is, and whichever team that goes to,

will be less than Derek Jones Junior in a first

round pick, because I'm pretty sure if the Nuggets could

get Derek Jones Junior a first round pick, they would

now taking in Jones's contract with their second a print situation.

I don't need to get into all of that for

everyone right now to explain why it's not just that simple.

But all of that is to say, when you see

stuff about Denver's asking price, just remind yourself, no one

has met that asking price yet, including the Clippers, and

they will end up trading him for less than that

asking price, because that's just kind of the nature of negotiations.

Any closing thoughts there, Rob.

Speaker 3: No, I think we kind of covered everything, and yeah,

I mean I we might take a little bit off.

August is the single quietest month of the NBA calendar.

I would say September is also pretty quiet, but you

start getting close to the season, you know, players start

to organize many camps and all that sort of stuff.

August is usually completely dead unless there's some sort of

international tournament.

Speaker 4: So we will.

Speaker 3: We will be If there's any news, we'll be back.

If not, it might be it might be a couple

of weeks, and then we'll probably slowly start uh to

work together previews of the coming season.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we will.

Speaker 2: We will be keeping our eyes on, first of all,

any actual Kawai news and not like Pablo Torre is

plugging a new episode where he's going to drop some

bombshell two days from now, and then doesn't actually say

anything new or interesting, right, Like, we're actual Kawhi Leonard news.

Maybe schedule news, Rob, I know that you love schedule

release in the NBA that should be coming sometime in August.

Speaker 1: Although I heard, I can't remember.

Speaker 2: I want to give credit to whichever national reporter it was,

and I can't remember who it was.

Speaker 1: With confidence, I.

Speaker 2: Think in the Athletic said that the NBA's schedule might

be delayed this year because of how long Lebron James

took to choose a team, and they like don't know,

you know, they want to put him primetime on Christmas,

but they don't know which team he's going to be

playing for, so they had to wait. But we'll see

that sometime in August, you know, So anything with Kawhi,

anything with Peyton Watson and.

Speaker 1: Some schedule stuff maybe. But yeah, we are we are

into the.

Speaker 2: Dead zone of the NBA calendar and time to get

ready for some college football.

Speaker 4: I think, yeah, go Blue Gorge.

Speaker 2: All right, that'll do it for this episode of the

Lob Jam the podcast. Thank you all for listening to us.

We're you listen to us from if you like the

show please leave us a five star review on whatever

platform you're listening to, it really helps, and as always,

of course go Clippers.