Farewell Nico, and the State of the Peculiar Clippers

Rob and Shap say goodbye to Nicolas Batum, before talking about the current state of the Clippers. Now that the offseason is essentially over, what to expect from this interesting bunch of players? How will they approach the season fresh off the cap circumvention scandal?

Speaker 1: Hi, this is Ralph Lawler. Welcome to The Lob, The

Jam Podcast.

Speaker 2: What's up, everyone? It's The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast.

I come to you as always with Rob. How's it going, Rob?

Speaker 1: Well, you know, Shep, today was Yom Kippur, which means

I was fasting. And fasting, not the most fun thing ever.

It is kind of rewarding spiritually. But without fail, it

always does give me a nasty headache by the end

of the day due to, you know, dehydration, not drinking

water for I usually don't make the full 24 hours.

Usually I can only do no water for about 20

before I start feeling like I'm going to pass out. Still,

it's not usually not don't end up feeling great. So

that's where I'm at. But yeah, that's that's that's me.

I am going on a vacation in two days, though,

or three days. And I'm excited for that.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Where are you going, Rob?

Speaker 1: I am going to Greece.

Speaker 2: Ooh, like Mykonos and stuff?

Speaker 1: Not Mykonos. Too clubby and too hip for me. But

we will be doing Santorini.

Speaker 2: Oh, I love that. That's so much fun. I'm excited

for you, Rob. You know, I do. I can't recall

of something that gives me headaches. And it's your Los

Angeles Clippers. By the way, I heard Lucas talking down

on my segues a few episodes ago. How dare you, sir?

I don't even know what to say. My segues are pristine.

And even when they're like over the top bad, it's

for a purpose. And it's to make It's to make

my friends laugh, Rob and Lucas or whoever is on

with me.

Speaker 1: They're aspirational.

Speaker 2: And the audience, they are aspirational. Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 1: That's the only reference to that. We'll have this entire podcast.

Speaker 2: I'm not here to talk about aspiration anymore.

Speaker 1: Yeah, we're done.

Speaker 2: We're done. I didn't want to talk about it in

the first place until the Clippers got stripped so badly

of their draft equity that we had no choice but

to incorporate the basketball conversation in it. It's going to

influence the Clippers for years to come. If you are

excited for a contending Clipper team in any of these

years to come, I would greatly appreciate it.

Speaker 1: Pump the brakes.

Speaker 2: Pump the brakes and just be happy with the roster

that's out there. I'm not expecting any superstar to come

to this team with the Clippers having this little of

draft equity to kind of give out here. And if

the Clippers are a plucky team that kind of challenge

for a low playoff seed in any of these next

few years, honestly, I'll tell you right now, that would

be a delight. If we can get any of the

two years ago vibe, the The first Shea year vibe,

any of that stuff, I think that that's a positive.

The Clippers have a lot to do. And there's been

a couple Clipper-related news today. I think it's most fitting

to start with the Nico Batum news. Nico Batum is

retiring from basketball. One of my favorite Clippers, incredibly. One

of the last jerseys I actually got for this team.

was Nico Batum before the first time he left. Um, Rob,

as the most skeptical of the three of us, when

the Clippers got Nico Batum, how will you remember his

Clipper tenure?

Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting. I, I'm usually not the best

at remembering like specific games. There are rare exceptions, but like,

I usually don't remember like, Oh yeah, that one game

or that. So that's not really how I will remember

Nico Batum. He had some big games, of course. Um,

But I will just remember the consummate role player vibe.

That's not even vibe. The consummate role player play that

he brought to the team. Just the ability to fit

into any lineup. You knew he was going to make

40-45% of his catch and shoot open 3's. You knew

the defense would be solid to very good at points.

Some of his years on the Clippers, he was really

pretty close to an all-defense level guy, I would say. And,

you know, not a good rebounder, especially as the years

went along. Really no shot creation, no ability to do

anything off the dribble. But the shooting, the defense, making

the open pass, filling space appropriately on the court. Beloved teammate.

And quite honestly, Shapp, I'm curious how you think about this.

The guy who, as the 2-on-3 hoops era, not our era,

but the 2-on-3 era in Clipperdom officially ended this summer.

I think the single player with the highest approval rating

among Clippers fans is Nico Batum. They're probably more like

bigger fans of like Evita Zubat's. if you go to

like the earlier days, you know, like there are probably

some people who are still pretty big, like Pat Beverly

or Lou Williams or whoever. But I feel like in

terms of just across all Clippers fans, the guy, the

player from this era that will leave with kind of

the best reputation and the most beloved from this fandom

is probably Nicholas Batum, which says a lot about Nico.

It also says, unfortunately, a lot about the rest of

this team and about the shortcomings and ultimate failures of

the players who are supposed to be the superstars that

a role player is kind of the most loved player

from this era but yeah i mean it's he was

an amazing role player the clippers did not reach the

mountaintop with him but he was critical to their run

in 2021 um and he really just helped fill gaps

the remainder of his time here even though the team

wasn't as good and didn't end up making it far

in the playoffs but um yeah just a one of

one of the best role players the Clippers have had. Um, and, uh,

you know, you could see the end starting to come

last year. He was really kind of faced out of

the rotation towards the end, but, um, I'm glad he

kind of left on his terms. The video was, uh,

that he released was, uh, was really touching and, uh, yeah,

we'll be, uh, we'll be rooting for Nico, whatever he

does going forward.

Speaker 2: I love Nico Batum. Um, I probably have more to

say about Nico than I'll be able to get out

in this segment. I don't think people realize, like, before

there was Chris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr., like, Nico

Batum took a lot of very difficult assignments during the

time where people might have figured Paul George or Kawhi

Leonard were... would be like the lockdown defender. Like there

was a lot of point of attack assignments for Nico Batum.

Even just years into his Clipper career, even, you know,

the Jamal Murray assignment when Nico Batum got minutes over

Chris Dunn. just last playoffs, like Nico Batum picked up

Jamal Murray and was able to kind of switch defensively

and be able to bother Jamal Murray, particularly in that

game six, where he got a lot of minutes. And

Nikola Jokic straight up just said, post-game, said Nikola Batum

is a better shooter than Chris Dunn when a reporter

asked him the difference. You know, Nico, what is important

to the Clippers, you know, even just last year, not

this past year, but the year before last, when the

Clippers made that unexpected run and gave the Nuggets fits

going in seven games with them. Of course, he was

so big in the small ball lineups. He guarded anybody.

He would guard Nikola Jokic to Jamal Murray at times

in the same game. You know, he was a great

small ball center. He was a dead eye. He shot

about 40%, I think, at least almost every year as

a Clipper player. Even in his bad seasons, he shot

pretty well. There was a small faction of fans that

got kind of upset with Nico Batum after that Sun

series because he just didn't put up numbers, but that's

not the kind of player he is. And they quickly

shut up the following season because Nico has always been

a great barometer for how things are zipping on the

Clippers roster. And if you take away the superstars, His

effectiveness went down a bit because he always made the

right next pass, and you need the next pass in

order to kind of be that role player. Would defend anybody,

did anything you wanted, was super heady. Yeah, he didn't

have much, you know, gravity going towards the rim, but he's,

you know, that's not the kind of player he is. Defensively,

I really don't know if people outside of Clipper fans

could really appreciate early Nico Batum on the Clippers. and

how good he was, and how versatile he was, and how,

you know, even compared to most players in the league,

how extremely one through five versatile he was as a defender,

and just how really smart and heady he was. He

used his length really well. You know, I remember there

was a big stop in international play he had against

Luka Doncic. He guarded Steph Curry in that game against

Team USA. Like, he also guarded... A lot of Tyrese

Maxey when he was in Maxey. Who were the Sixers playing? Brunson, Brunson.

Speaker 1: Brunson. Yeah, they were playing the next game.

Speaker 2: He was guarding Brunson a lot in that series. Nico

Batum has not only been very good as a clipper

during these years, but even his little stints internationally or

with Philly, he was just such a you know, Swiss

army knife. He was such a great defender.

Speaker 1: French army knife. I don't compare him to the Swiss.

Speaker 2: I apologize. I am literally in the wrong. I, I

really appreciate Nico. Shout out Lily Batum. Really fine Twitter person.

And definitely, I mean, Comparatively, as far as a low

expectation to a meteoric rise, I would say the only

comparative person is Reggie Jackson, who definitely sputtered out in

the fan base.

Speaker 1: Unfortunately so.

Speaker 2: And I vehemently disagreed with that. I really didn't like

what the fan base was doing with Reggie. But at

his peak, Reggie was like.

Speaker 1: Yeah, Reggie had higher highs, but also lower lows and

was a much shorter tenure than Nico.

Speaker 2: And Lou Williams and Trez, you know, those guys were

big fan favorites, but I think they were also a

big fan favorite from the era right before 2 and 3.

Pat Beverly, of course, is a very.

Speaker 1: Yeah, the three of them, it's interesting because they are...

You know, they played with Kawhi and Paul George, but

they are most remembered for the year before. And it

honestly makes them look better because they're not as associated

as much with the dumpster fire that ended up being

the Kawhi Leonard, Paul George era. So, yeah, it's I

think that's partially why, like, again, you know, Nico Batum

really of this era. I think the only guy with

comparable kind of fan adoration is Zoo. But Zoo is

also always a much more controversial player, I think, than Nico.

Speaker 2: Oh, Zoo for sure, I think, should be mentioned as

far as beloved Clippers. And not just beloved, but the

fact that he went out and brought in equity. And

people will remember Wagler with Zoo. And if Wagler does

turn out to be a star, like we're all hoping for, Please,

basketball gods.

Speaker 1: Please. Please.

Speaker 2: If you answer any of my questions, just this guy

and maybe Yannick.

Speaker 1: It would literally be good just for our sake.

Speaker 2: Please.

Speaker 1: Yeah, just for entertainment.

Speaker 2: We'll stop podcasting if you're not good. I hope not.

Speaker 1: That is a threat.

Speaker 2: That's a threat if you're listening, Keaton. I know you're

on social media, which none of us are on anymore. But...

Join the Discord. But anyways.

Speaker 1: That would be funny.

Speaker 2: Zoo. I think Zoo has a very high fan rating

right now. But, you know, I do think Nico Batum

just having his career in the dumps and really building

himself back up and all the Batum battalion stuff. And, yeah,

you know, the game tying three against the Knicks, remember,

and it's lots of big plays and. I will always

remember Nico quite well. I'll always root for him. And

like a really soft-spoken, nice guy too. Really consummate pro

and was, you know, a substantial clipper until virtually the end.

You know, he sputtered a little bit like you mentioned, Rob.

Speaker 1: This past year.

Speaker 2: I think even the year before this past year, he

was an underrated clipper. And people will remember the change

in that lineup that, You know, some people still argue,

you know, some of us will argue it wasn't needed

for a variety of reasons. But, you know, it was

still the roster. It was the roster change that a

lot of people had wanted. And that goes to show

just what an effective player Nico Batum still was, you know.

Speaker 1: And it's another close on this, the Kawhi Leonard era.

You know, now the second, the longest tenured player on

the Clippers right now is Jordan Miller. And the second most,

I believe, is Chris Dunn. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Wow. That's incredible.

Speaker 1: Actually, it might be Kim Christie, but Kim Christie is

not long.

Speaker 2: For the Clippers, I don't think. Let's talk about that.

Let's take a quick break. I'm right back. Talk about

the roster. And the last thing that happened today, too,

after this. All right, we're back. I might as well

mention the John Gibson thing being named interim governor for

the Clippers, a season ticket holder, apparently a lawyer. I

don't have much.

Speaker 1: Could actually be a pod listener.

Speaker 2: Could be a pod listener.

Speaker 1: You know, if you want to come on the pod, John,

just just email us.

Speaker 2: Genuinely come on the pod. Tell us what you're going

to do, because I really don't know what anybody in

the corporate front office.

Speaker 1: Pay us lots of money. Pay me to be better

at drafting. I'll take a very small fee and just

tell you to not draft certain players.

Speaker 2: The Clippers should be doing everything they can to get

any sort of PR and goodwill from the fan base. Genuinely,

come on the pod. Be a Patreon. But yeah, I

really don't have much to say about this. It is

nice that he sounds like he's a Clipper fan. But

I do think it bears mentioning that Man, this is

Clipper front office have a lot of goodwill to make

up to the fan base like I I really don't

know where they need to start. This is the last

aspiration adjacent thing I'll mention, but I will say like

they have a lot to do to make the fans

forgive this like I think a lot of Some fans

maybe saw the bomber apology and they're like, okay, now

we can get, you know, put this behind us. I don't.

Speaker 1: I mean, I think, I mean, again, not to go

too far down the specific aspiration thing, but I mean,

I think there's also been at least like rumors of

people who are seasoned ticket holders wanting out of their

contracts because the Clippers made them sign contracts.

Speaker 2: Right, right.

Speaker 1: The opening of Intuit and now the team is going

to be bad for a few years.

Speaker 2: Simmons had a big spiel on his pod about like...

about trying to get his money back because of the

whole being part of.

Speaker 1: That whole thing. He's obviously not a Clippers fan, but

there have been rumors, or at least it seems like

we've heard from actual Clippers fans that that is not

a him-in-a-vacuum thing, that there are other people who are

trying to do that or complaining about that. So anyway, yes,

there's a lot of work that needs to be done.

And I will segue here and say one of the

things that needs to be done is the Clippers need

to get the roster to size. Right now, they have

17 players on their roster with NBA contracts. They also

have three two-way deals, which is the maximum. They also

have Yuki Kawamura on a Exhibit 10 training camp deal.

You are allowed to bring that many players into training camp,

but you can only have 15, of course, plus the

three two-ways once the regular season starts, which means they

will need to move on from two of the players

currently on their roster. And we all thought two months

ago before the aspiration stuff that there would be a

trade and maybe even a somewhat sizable trade, you know, in,

in relative terms, you know, Derek Jones jr. Chris Dunn

or whoever. And now with training camp just over a

week away, I, that seems a little unlikely. Um, you know, I,

I don't think we need to go too in depth

on how they'll get there because I think quite frankly,

it's going to be cutting cam Christie who's on a

non-guaranteed deal and then probably just dumping or cutting Janai

broom who, you know, has not played on the team

and has a very cheap deal and is kind of

at a position of use, but also just doesn't really,

seems to be like the next fringiest guy on the roster,

but they could do a bigger move. They could trade

one of their actual players for, you know, draft picks

or whatever the case may be. But like, it seems

like it'll just be pretty simple, but there's actual roster

stuff that needs to be done. Like actual players will

need to be moved before the regular season starts in

almost exactly a month.

Speaker 2: Yeah, Rob. I mean, I remember maybe a month ago

having the three of us on. By the way, Lucas,

Lucas will be back on the pod in a bit.

I will say Lucas just did a spot with Adam Oslin.

If you guys are curious on some of his general takes,

he did do Adam's show yesterday. So give him a listen.

Give Adam a listen. Shout out to Adam, who's just

working his ass off and just doing pods every day.

And of course, Lucas was on. Rob was on not

too long ago either. uh as well and i'll be

on there soon um but i will say like when

we all were talking about the roster there was like

a quick moment where we're like well this is not

going to be the final roster so let's take a

moment before we put anything in stone or have any

takes out there and now.

Speaker 1: It probably is going to be the final.

Speaker 2: Yeah and all this has happened i i don't know

how much that's affecting like trades or anything like that

like maybe the Clippers were looking to do things and

then this all happened and now it's just like what

do we do and the Kawhi Leonard thing only just

became official and yeah so it's just it's it is

probably kind of weird to make another deal with players

who have any sort of want to win with this

clipper team you know i don't i don't think this

roster is like particularly bad but i don't think it's

particularly good uh you know it seems like a 30

win roster 30 30 like 35 or so win roster

as of now and um weird team i just don't

really know.

Speaker 1: It's an ill-balanced team.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: It has many, many players who should be shooting guards

or small forwards.

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker 1: And two point guards and four centers, none of whom

are starting caliber.

Speaker 2: No.

Speaker 1: The center rotation is the biggest. For all the people

who are optimistic about the Clippers this year, I just,

unless Yannick comes back soon and is immediately good. Both

of those things are not impossible, but they both need

to be true. Um, if he is out a lot

of the season and, or he comes back and is

rusty and is about last year's level or needs work

or whatever. I mean, this team is just not going

to be great because the center rotation is so bad.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, Yeah, we've mentioned before, a lot of the

season really rides on Yannick and it's unfortunate for a

guy coming off of this Frank to have so much

of not just this season, but multiple seasons in the

future to be kind of dependent on him being a

startable player. You know, probably a bit unfair for somebody

who you know, picked up basketball late in his life. But,

you know, I am very high on Yannick. I do

get concerned that he might just have an injury recovery year,

but I'm glad that he'll at least probably get a

real shot to start and see what he's got. And

hopefully it won't be very pressure filled. It'll just be

hopeful that eventually he gets into enough of a flow

that he can start. I really want to see what

he looks like next to Garland and Wagler. if he

has chemistry with those two. But yeah, Rob, what are

your expectations for this season now that everything has happened?

You know, I don't think we had high expectations before

all of this.

Speaker 1: No.

Speaker 2: Has this kind of reshaped your expectation for the year?

And has it knocked it down a peg or kind

of remained the same?

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, the roster, as we've discussed, and I

do think the aspiration stuff was a factor because, The

Clippers kind of shut down for two weeks as they

were trying to figure out next steps. In between when

the punishment was levied and when Ballmer released his statement,

from what it sounds like, they were just kind of

in behind the scenes crisis mode, which totally makes sense.

And they were probably just doing stuff internally. There were

no press releases. There was no social media stuff. They

weren't talking to reporters, which also means all trade stuff

was on standby. And then, you know, they had to

get their house in order. They just appointed this assistant

governor who had obviously probably need to clear any real

roster moves. Like, I think that, you know, Trent Redden

probably would not need a stamp of approval to wave

Cam Christie, but, like, trading Derek Jones Jr. for, you know, something,

I imagine there would need to be some ownership sign-off,

I would guess, for something like that. So, yeah, I mean,

I imagine that's part of the holdup. And, yeah, like,

I mean, they could still make a real trade in

the coming weeks before the regular season, but it seems

more likely this is the actual roster. And to me,

this still seems like a low 30s win team, which

is not awful, right? That's not an embarrassing team to

go 32 and 50 or whatever. I actually think, I

think the over-under is like 29 and a half, and

I would probably take the over, you know, hesitantly. So

like the roster, the projected roster has not changed much

since the last time we really talked about it like

a month or two ago. But the aspiration stuff, I mean,

I think it's undeniable that there will be a cloud

over the team. And the question is, how badly does

that impact the team? I think last year, we still

haven't really had hard confirmation, but it sure seems like

the news breaking right before camp was a big part

of why the season got off to such a horrible note.

And like, as time went on and the guys kind

of rallied together and it was kind of put in

the rear view mirror, I think that was a big

reason why they were able to turn things around. that

might happen again this year like as the season really

gets underway and like the the grind of the regular

season comes in um and the news from all this

stuff and the questions from reporters kind of dies down

and maybe it'll it'll go to the back burner but

um it's i think it really increases the disaster potential

like if this team gets off to another horrible start

like they do not have James Harden to keep them

somewhat afloat. They do not have Kawhi Leonard to turn

into a mega star and, you know, push this team

to 500. Like if this team starts out in another

like six and 20 hole, like they are probably going

to win like 24 games. Um, and that would be

a disaster for this team. Um, so I do think

like the, the disaster potential has gone up because of

aspiration scandal. I think the vibes could be really bad. Um,

I think there's also a chance, and I think Lucas

kind of alluded to this, and we're not reporting anything,

but it just kind of makes sense. Some of the

veterans on this team might want to go somewhere else. Like,

they probably thought this team would be competitive to, you know, good. And,

you know, somebody like Brooke Lopez, who's at the very

end of his career, maybe the Clippers just buy him

out and let him go wherever he wants to contend.

But like, Rui Hachimura, you know, signed to this team

and was like, probably thought they'd be make moves to

get better at the trade deadline with their assets, or

at least retool next summer and be, you know, more

of a contender. Not happening. And, like, I do think

that they could try to do right by some of

these guys and ship them off at the deadline, but

it really just depends on how the season is going. Like,

if this team is hovering around 500 at the trade deadline,

they're probably going to want to keep competitive, and, you know,

maybe if they have a deal they can't turn down,

like the Zoo deal last year, they do it, but, like,

I think a lot really rides on the start of

the season because again, if the cloud is over the

team and like they're in a funk and they start

off really badly, I don't see a way for them

to turn around like they did last year. But again,

like I, I would still project this team, you know,

to be somewhere in like the kind of competent range

with a pretty good offense and probably a very bad defense.

Speaker 2: Yeah, let's take another break. I want to talk about

the roster and kind of maybe expectations even going to

the trade deadline after this. All right, we're back. Rob,

who are you starting? Just so we can kind of

prime ourselves talking about this roster a little bit. Who

kind of starts in this game? I think we talked

about it.

Speaker 1: Who would I start or who do I think actually starts?

Speaker 2: Who would you start? Who would I start? Both questions.

Speaker 1: I mean, I would banish Brooke Lopez to the very,

very darkest end of the bench.

Speaker 2: That's not happening, my buddy.

Speaker 1: I'm sorry, big guy. Yeah, that would be my major

change from what will actually happen.

Speaker 2: Who would you start? Would you just start Baba Miller

or something?

Speaker 1: I would start Isaiah Jackson.

Speaker 2: I guess. I suppose so. Yeah.

Speaker 1: I mean, I think they're probably equivalent-ish players. And Isaiah

Jackson is technically young. Like, he's only 24 and a half. Like.

There's at least theoretically a chance that he could be

like a backup center on this team for another few years.

Brooke Lopez is going to be retired by the time,

long retired by the time this team is trying to

do anything. I mean, quite frankly, it would depend on

what he's willing to take in a buyout. I would

consider making him the next cut in, you know, outside

of Camp Christie. Honestly, as a favor to him and

just be like, hey, man, we're not going to be

good this year. You signed on last summer to play

for a contending team. I mean, if he doesn't want to,

if he wants to stick around, I've heard nothing about

his locker. He is, I think, as good as advertised

as a locker room presence and leader. I would not

cut him just to cut him. But if he's open

to it, I think a mutual parting of the ways

makes some sense. If he wants to stick around, play

in LA, be a mentor, whatever, great. If he is

on the roster... you know, going into the season, which

he 99% will be, he is going to start. And

then the two other spots are locked down, which is

Darius Garland at point guard, and then Brandon Ingram somewhere.

Who I think will start? I think it is going

to be Derek Jones Jr. and Max Struess as the

final spots.

Speaker 2: Interesting.

Speaker 1: I think I think it's going to be small. I

think it's probably the most talented five-man group, but you

could argue for Rui over DJ or Max Struess. But

I think it's probably like the best balance. You know,

Max Struess adds a lot as a shooter. He's like

a fine defender. Darius Jones Jr. is not as good

a defender as Chris Dunn, but is still a good defender.

Adds more on offense than Chris does. And then Brandon

Ingram is kind of the second guy. The rebounding is

going to be really bad. The interior defense is going

to be horrific. But like, I don't, Rui is bigger

than Derek Jones Jr. or Max Struess, but like, he's

not really a better rebounder or interior defender. He has

more size, so like that matters somewhat. I think it's

going to be any five of those six guys. I

would predict Struess and DJ over Rui right now. But

if Rui starts and it's one of those guys coming

off the bench, it would not surprise me. I think

one of Chris Dunn or Derek Jones has to start,

or this team's defense is just going to be irreparably bad.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I think I'm probably leaning towards Garland, Ingram, Lopez,

and my last two, I think will be Dunn and Rui.

Speaker 1: Um, sure.

Speaker 2: I think, I think, and early, early on, um, the

Derek Jones Jr., I think Dunn and Lopez have some

chemistry together defensively. And I think that'll be important for

them to have any sort of semblance of chemistry to

hold up this team defensively. on that end. I think

Dunn will also provide a little bit of a release

valve for Darius Garland if teams get physical with him

and just being another guy that can dribble a basketball.

You know, I'm not as familiar with Shrews as being

a ball handler. If he was a substantial ball handler enough,

I could see him starting... He's also a guy that

is just a starting capable forward. So I could see

him starting regardless. I think Ty probably is just used

to Dunn starting at this point too. Though, you know,

he did start Derek Jones Jr. alongside Garland briefly at

the end of last year before injuries kind of hampered

that a little bit. So maybe he would be willing

to do that. I do not want to see Derek

Jones Jr. bring the ball up ever. Yeah, that was bad. Yeah,

I mean.

Speaker 1: Chris Dunn, the story of his Clippers tenure has been

they don't really want to start him, but he ends

up having to start because of the various things that

he does. And if that happens again, I mean, I

really like Chris Dunn. He's probably my favorite player on

the team as of right now. I would be totally

fine with him starting.

Speaker 2: We've come a long way, Chris Dunn Hive. Rob is....

Speaker 1: On board. Driving the locomotive. Yeah, I mean, I think

Dunn and Rui make some sense as well. I... It's hard.

Each option has a downside. Dunn offers by far the

most ball handling. And as you said, you know, if

Garland is pressed, that release valve has been really helpful

for the Clippers. On the other hand, he's the shakiest

shooter of all those guys and by far the kind

of least athletic and the least versatile offensively. He is

the best defender by a mile. Um, Yeah, I could

see Dunn starting and or Rui starting. Again, it's all

up in the air. I would be pretty surprised if

it was somebody who is not one of those four

filling out the last two spots. I would lean DJ

and Struis, but Rui and Dunn make total sense. It

could be a complete wild card. It could be Toby Sanders,

and maybe they just throw Keaton Wagler in there and

sink or swim him, but I don't think that will happen.

Speaker 2: I will say, I do think it really does, um,

behoove the Clippers to eventually have some sort of roller

with Darius Garland and Wagler. I just, it's really, it

really is stagnant watching Brooke Lopez pick and pop or

the few times he just kind of slowly meanders into

the paint, um, in a way that is not very

benefiting for my eyes.

Speaker 1: Uh, Yeah, I mean, that's my main beef. And it

really colors my analysis is my eyes.

Speaker 2: Shadow your eyes, Rob.

Speaker 1: I will say that like Brooke, at least having like

the tiny semblance still of a post game can help

with shot creation and veering up shot diet a little bit.

Like you obviously don't want to lean on it, but

it is an option. Whether you think that's better in

the starting lineup or on the second unit. all the

evidence last year and based on like all the reporting

we got is like, it was, he much preferred starting

and the Clippers much preferred having him start.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: Maybe that's the case again this year, maybe like a

full off season and training camp with like Isaiah Jackson

and Brooke with like a more, you know, like a

heads up before the season, you know, but he was

supposed to come off the bench last year behind zoo obviously.

And it just was, was clunky. So, but it's like,

you know, half a new roster this year.

Speaker 2: So yeah.

Speaker 1: Um, I would be pretty surprised if Brooke did not

end up starting.

Speaker 2: I will say I'm very okay, just because Brandon Ingram

is the alternative, I'm very okay mixing it up by

giving Brooke some touches in the post. Nobody will double him.

They'll totally invite it and see what he can do.

But I think he can cook a little still. He

can cook a little bit. He's shown the ability. He

had many, many years of just being an offensive hub

and a guy in the post, and I think he's

still capable of doing it. Um, you know, I would,

I've been saying it for ages. I would love to

see if Chris Dunn does start, I would love to

see volume finally go up with his shooting because he's

had enough years of being a semi-okay percentage wise shooter,

but teams just are not willing to give him, you know,

any sort of gravity because he's just not willing to

take shots. Uh, I will ask you, Rob, you know,

of the players we haven't mentioned, uh, and I won't

include Wagler because I know we're all obviously, uh, going

to be watching Wagler quite closely. Is there a Clipper

outside of the names we've mentioned already that you're particularly

watching as far as maybe having a little bit of

a surprising season?

Speaker 1: It really depends on surprising. I mean, Jordan Miller being

out for most of the season is such a bummer.

Both from like a... He's not even that young. I mean,

he turns 27 in January. But on this team... He's

kind of young, and he was really good last year.

Speaker 2: He's a new Terrence Mann.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. He was really good last year. I mean,

the obvious answer is Kobe Sanders. He is a guy

who should be in the rotation. There is a world

where he's not because of Beal and Struce and some

of these other guys. Yeah. There's a world where he's

not in the rotation, but he really, really, really should be.

He's also not that young, but he's still only 24.

He's only played one season. There is still a world

where he untaps more upside. The guy I want to

say is Baba Miller. I just don't know if he'll

actually play this year. But the flashes in Summer League were...

And not taking anything from Summer League, but just the sheer...

size athleticism some skill combo is is why he was

an intriguing prospect and we saw some of that in

summer league we also saw him being like out of

position a lot and you know not really having the

the super requisite level of skill to really do much

offensively probably but like he is a guy who again

you know for a rookie is not that young but

is like just 22 and like i at some point

this season i hope we see baba miller play like

actual rotation minutes I don't think it will be right away.

I think there are too many veterans. But, like, he

is at a position, like, his kind of most natural

position is power forward or maybe small ball center. And

the Clippers do not have many power forwards. It's Rui

Hachimura and Janai Broom. And, again, Janai Broom is probably

one of the most likely cuts on the roster. So, yeah,

I mean, if you're asking me who, like, at the

end of the year, it's like, wow, this Clipper guy

came out of nowhere and really surprised us, I would

probably say Baba Miller. Kobe Sanders, I like Kobe, and

I do think he could obviously still improve. He's young

enough and is fresh enough in NBA to still get better,

but he has pretty severe athleticism limitations, and he kind

of seems what he is. I think he can become

a pretty well-rounded bench wing. Baba Miller is kind of

much more untapped, but also could just not be good.

But yeah, a very long answer to the question would

be Baba Miller, I guess. This team is still just

too old. It's unfortunate. It's still kind of like a

lot of the detritus of the Kawhi era is still around.

I really like a lot of these guys, like Chris Dunn,

Derek Jones Jr. If they stuck around this team, they'd

be more than happy. They seem like great locker room guys.

They're fun. They're good players. But a lot of this

team is still over 30, and this is not a

team built remotely to contend or probably even make the

playoffs proper.

Speaker 2: Yeah, let's take one more break, and I'm going to

talk about Baba and those nice players that we both like.

All right, we're back. You know, Rob, I really enjoy

Baba Miller in Summer League. I went into Summer League

not knowing much about him. You can see the real

starter potential in him, hopefully being maybe a power forward.

or such. He had some nice makes from deep. His

form looked confident. He looked confident taking shots. That's a

huge deal for him. But even if he's not a

lights-out shooter or anything, his ability to put the ball

on the floor, I think he's going to be able

to see the next pass up. He's pretty athletic. He

had some real rebounding chops. A lot of the commentators

were comparing him to like, defensive... I think there was

a Jaden McDaniels comp quite early on in Summer League,

and I never really saw that from just watching him.

I like the activity. I get it from maybe the activity,

but he feels like a real clear-cut, you know, power forward.

Jalen Johnson was a guy that kind of... He made

me feel like a couple of times. Obviously, Jalen Johnson's really, really,

really good.

Speaker 1: Well, if you want to get wildly optimistic, how about

Andre Kirilenko?

Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, Rob. How about that? I mean... I

don't know. That's... Good for you.

Speaker 1: It's unlikely that happens.

Speaker 2: I'm kind of proud of you, Rob, right now. This

is like one of the prouder moments. Talking about AK-47

for this random throw. He was so good, man. Yeah,

he was amazing. One of my favorites. Also a fantasy monster.

Like one of the best fantasy basketball players.

Speaker 1: Of his time. He was so good. Yeah.

Speaker 2: You heard it here first, man. Robert Fogg thinks Baba

Miller is going to be the next AK-47.

Speaker 1: Yeah, put that on his Clippers PR, you know, paragraph.

Speaker 2: I love it.

Speaker 1: The next Andre Kirilenko.

Speaker 2: Join the Discord, Baba Miller. But yeah, I would say

I do see a world. I could... maybe not completely

like I don't expect it, but I could see a

world that if the Clippers are like a feisty mid 30s,

late 30 win team that Baba Miller like. really made

a run and became a rotation player.

Speaker 1: I mean, if this team is a top 30s team, yeah,

it's like one of him or Yannick or Keaton is actually,

and we should probably actually talk about Keaton Wogler, but

like one or multiple of those guys is like actually good,

you know, this year. Because some of the veterans on

this roster, as we said time and time again, are good.

They're good players. They're quality NBA veterans. But like the

NBA players, you know, in 2027 is a loaded league

and there's just not enough veteran talent on this roster

to be like a 40 win team. It would have

to come from the young guys.

Speaker 2: So Rob, um, I do want to very quickly mention

with Wagler, because I'm going to be talking about him

a lot this season.

Speaker 1: We hope.

Speaker 2: He's going to be the beginning segment for many, many pods.

As long as we're talking. Be good, Keaton. I have

lots of hope for him, but I do think in Wagler,

and it's been mentioned before, I do think he has

a fairly good floor where I think that he's going

to be a competent player regardless by the end of

the year. I hope he eventually becomes a starter where

He kind of has his eyes to be an on-ball

guy that's able to not have plays disrupted because of physicality.

And he seems to be gaining muscle, gaining weight, doing

all the right things. You know, a lot has been

mentioned is about his ability to kind of figure out games.

That first game of Summer League was, to me, concerning

because I do, you know, maybe because I was used

to James Harden doing a lot of this, but having

like a team double hard on your early screens, on-ball screens,

And you just passing out and living with like letting

the rest of the guys make it work. You know,

it's something we saw Harden do in bad playoff games. And,

you know, Keaton Wagler is the Clippers future. And I

hope that there are games where you see teams guarding

him up because he has a good first half or

something and him taking the physicality on and being able

to be that guy. I'm excited about his relocation stuff.

I think he's, a smart passer. I think his shot

looks beautiful. Like I think he has a really great touch. Yeah.

The ball. Like I think all that stuff is there.

It's mostly there's ability to handle the physicality of the

league and how he will, his curve will go. If

it's going to go, you know, at a good, how

his degree of growth there, if it's kind of going

straight up or just kind of leveling out is going

to be my big thing with him. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 1: I mean, I, I've cost, I've, been promoting caution with

him I just think one rookie guards in the modern

NBA are nearly always terrible like Darius Garland who's a

very good player was horrific his rookie season De'Aaron Fox

really good player horrific his rookie season um you know

there are exceptions Shea as we all know was was

pretty good as a rookie was like a pretty good

starting level player for a team that won 48 games

uh he is also a two-time MVP um You know,

there are other guys who've been pretty good. But, like,

even somebody like John Morant, who was, like, good as

a rookie, was not, like... His real breakout was his

second year. Garland made the leap. Fox made the leap

his second year. And, like, I hope Keaton is not

as bad as, like, Garland and Fox were and some

of these other guys were their rookie seasons. But, like,

to me, it would have to be a truly disastrous

rookie season for me to lose hope. Because I do

think you're right, which is... one he is good size

and two the shot just seems super legit like the

touch seems really good he seems like he will be

a good three-point shooter to me be like an excellent

three-point shooter and if he's like a really good three-point

shooter at his size with his passing ability like the

floor is going to be at the very least like

pretty good backup um across both guard positions um And

the ability to handle physicality, like, I just don't think

we're going to find that out his rookie season. Like,

maybe we will. Maybe he shows, like, some of the

craft and finesse that we saw from, like, Shea his

rookie season when Shea was still, like, you know, not

nearly the kind of physical, like, player that he is now. But, again,

don't want to measure him up to a guy who is,

you know, going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: So, yeah, like, I mean, I think Keaton Wagler is

like ultimately like I don't think he is going to

be a super impact driver of winning this year. But

I just hope that we see a lot of flashes.

I hope there are some games where he has like,

you know, 20, 20 and eight or whatever. Him closing

by the end of the season, I think he would

either need to be really good or the Clippers would

need to be really bad or have made lots of

trades for that to happen. But just like a solid

rookie season, maybe he makes second team all rookie. He

has some really nice stretches. The shot is legit. And

he looks like future NBA starter would be more than

enough for me. But yeah, I mean, we haven't really

talked about him that much since the draft into the

summer league. And I think it's kind of just because

there isn't hasn't been that much to talk about. It's

not like we've seen him play. There's, you know, every

once in a while the Clippers will post a video

of him shooting around that doesn't really offer very much.

We'll see how things shake out. I mean, I don't

think he will start right away, but I mean, obviously

the Clippers will be playing him off the bench and

we'll just see like how many minutes they give him even.

Like we might see that as like, that could be

like a very early season. Like, whoa, the Clippers are

playing wogler like 28 minutes a game and he's playing

a lot alongside darius garland and he's even closing coming

games or it could be a very bring him along

slowly like you know he plays two eight nine minute

shifts off the bench when garland is is not playing

and their minutes together are kind of limited due to

like the defensive liability situation and even then i i

think that's totally fine as long as he looks okay

and you're seeing progress but um i'm excited like i

I think his summer league was kind of weirdly overhated

just because of how bad that first game was. You know,

a lot of the rest of it was, you know,

it wasn't like he was dazzling, but he was mostly

pretty good. I thought the rest of summer league and

it was really the summer league that I expected to

see from him. And again, some of the shot making

was really promising. So I'm excited for him. I'm excited

for Yannick whenever he comes back. And I do think

just because of how the Clippers roster is structured, I

do think Bob Miller will get a shot. And I'm

excited for it, even though, again, he will probably not

be good right away. But the Clippers don't really have

another player on the roster like him. And I think

there's some interesting gaps he could fill on defense as

an energy guy, a transition guy, etc. So the Clippers

have some exciting pieces. I hope they're kind of fun

to watch this year, even if they're not very good.

As we've discussed, I'm dreading the Brandon Ingram experience, but

maybe they flipped him at the deadline. And I don't

want to have to talk about it much, though. Whenever

the Clippers do win, he will probably get some medals.

He's a good player, but boy. Boy, there are not

many good players in the NBA who I like watching

less than Brandon Miller. Brandon Ingram.

Speaker 2: That brings up a good question for me for you, Rob. Also,

by the way... I'm really bummed about Jordan Miller. It sucks.

This is such a perfect opportunity for him to really

show if he has another leap to make at an

age where.

Speaker 1: He would have been the sixth man this year. The

true sixth man. No Matherin. He would have been playing

20 minutes a game. He could have started, yeah.

Speaker 2: He could have started, exactly. This would have been a

great opportunity for him after a leap last year to

make another leap as maybe a starting caliber player at

a great year. I think that separates a guy like

Miller and Wagler from a guy like Shea. Shea so

early on had an ambidexterity, like an audaciousness with his

offhand that I haven't seen from a guy like Miller.

I would love to see from Wagler because that sort

of craft with these guys who are all really good

at the stop-start stuff that people are getting increasingly good at.

The next step to me is how good are you

on the wrong foot, wrong hand, wrong this, wrong that?

And Shea right away would take some shots with his

left that I'd be like, you didn't have to take that.

But when you see people do that with their offhand,

it shows you how much practice they put into that.

And a guy like Jordan Miller still very willingly goes

away from that stuff, whereas Shea right away embraced it.

And even Shea was a second-team rookie guy after his

rookie year with the Clippers. Nobody thought he was going

to be a perennial all-star, let alone an MVP. I mean,

I thought he was going to be an all-star player.

but we were Clipper fans, so we were all kind

of high on him. Yeah. But I want to see

like Wagler's craft because some of it will come with

his ability to kind of finish at the rim, kind

of find ability to go through people. Again, I think

you're right, Rob. We very likely won't see that this year.

I think he's going to be a multi-year kind of

a guy. And that's fine. And that's totally fine. Yeah.

But if we see him jump that curve at all,

I'll get excited and I'll feel it. And that'll be

an exciting thing to me. My next question for you, Rob.

Speaker 1: And maybe we'll finally stop talking about Shay on the podcast.

Speaker 2: I will never stop talking. I talked about Shay when

we got Kawhi, that pun. I even mentioned him very briefly.

I was sad. I was sad. Turns out I had

reasons to be. Yeah.

Speaker 1: Sometimes I watch clips from that 2019 Warriors series just

to feel something.

Speaker 2: Yeah, but he wasn't afraid of Steph, man. I mean, I.

Speaker 1: What a team that was.

Speaker 2: Let's stop.

Speaker 1: Bring back Jermichael Green, man. What's he up to?

Speaker 2: Jermichael Green, the real small ball setter. But, Rob, I

do think one more kind of, you know, aspiration adjacent

thing that makes this season a little bit tricky is...

I think my big conundrum with this year will be,

even if the Clippers do start off well, I want

them to get draft equity. I want them to be

able to trade a guy like Chris Dunn or Derrick

Jones Jr. Not only just for the Clippers to get

draft equity back, even if it's multiple seconds for Dunn,

maybe a low first for Derrick Jones Jr. I also

want those guys to be on a title contender. Part

of me, I'm a big fan of both those guys.

I'm a fan. I think Matt Strews can help a

title contender. You could flip him for maybe a low-level

first-round pick. I would love to flip Bradley Beal. I

would love to flip Brandon Ingram. I would love to

flip all of them because I feel like the Clippers

are in such a draft equity hole. Even if you

can collect seconds at this point, I think the Clippers

should do it. But then where does that put the team?

Where do you live on that spectrum, Rob, for like, oh,

the Clippers should be good. What if this is a

spunky team? What if they have some, like, kind of

cool things versus sell it as much as you can

and get everything back that you lost.

Speaker 1: I think there are two, I mean, there are many,

many factors, but I think there are two primary ones.

One is how are the young guys looking? Like if

Yannick is still out, if Bob isn't playing, if Keaton

looks like an underweight rookie, you know, it might be

a little harder to trade some of the veterans because

it's like, this is keeping the team competent and like fun.

And like, we talked about the fans, like, do we

really want like as, as nice as like, you know,

as fun as seeing the young guys can be like,

sometimes it can also be pretty miserable basketball product if

they're not good and there aren't the right veterans in place.

So some of it is like, are the young guys ready?

On the other hand, like maybe Yannick is back by like,

you know, mid-December and immediately looks pretty pretty much like

last year and Baba Miller is showing flashes and Keaton

Wagler looks like a legit like backup guard immediately off

the jump like maybe then it's like yeah we can

just flip some of these guys um and we won't

even necessarily be that much worse and we'll also get

assets back that's one the the second thing also just

and I think this is the zoo thing is just

what is the offer I don't think the Clippers were

shopping zoo like I That's been kind of a point

of contention, but like it seems like they weren't really

shopping him, but the Pacers were just battering down their

door to get him. And eventually I think we would

all agree the offer was way too good to pass up.

And like if you can get like a first round

pick for Derek Jones, even if it's going to be

like the 24th pick on the draft, I kind of

think you have to do it. Like he's going to

turn 30 this year. He is a player who's like

pretty athleticism dependent. Like I don't think he's somebody who's

still going to be pretty good like four years from now,

but like is going to be good this year and

maybe the next year or two. Like I, if you

can get a first round pick for him again, even,

even if it's like the 30th pick on the draft,

I would probably still do that. Like Chris Dunn, I,

you're just not going to get a first for Dunn,

but like if you can get like three seconds and

a couple of them are pretty decent, like, like you

might have to do that. Any positive value for Brandon Ingram. Um,

The tricky one is the guy who's the best player

on the team who we've not talked about really, which

is Darius Garland. And, I mean, the team's short-term success,

I think, rides a lot on Darius Garland. But also, like,

the pivot point of the team is, like, if Garland

is really good the first 50 games, like, he could

fetch an actual haul at the trade deadline probably.

Speaker 2: And you think so rob do you do you really

think this guy's so fresh of what his trade value

was in the deadline could by hall i mean like

a federal hall of like three months.

Speaker 1: I think by hall i mean like you could get

a first round pick and maybe like an interesting ish

young guy sure to me that would be a hall

um maybe some people would not consider that but i

mean i You know, if a team is like.

Speaker 2: Because, like, Darius Garland is not getting you multiple firsts, like,

no time soon.

Speaker 1: Probably not, but, like, if a team were to offer it, again,

that would be like a, wow, do we actually have

to do this, even if we really like Darius?

Speaker 2: The answer is yes. Like, yes.

Speaker 1: Probably, yeah.

Speaker 2: And I like Darius Garland, but if somebody offered multiple

firsts for him, you wouldn't even be able to finish

the sentence, as far as, like, me thinking about.

Speaker 1: I was driving him to the airport.

Speaker 2: I was... You know how many times I talked about

packing Kawhi Leonard's bags? yeah the last couple years anyways.

Speaker 1: Um yeah i mean he's he's another i mean it's

an interesting roster because again it's kind of a mishmash

um there's a lot of positional overlap it's like a

weird mix of young guys and veterans like players who

came here to like win now versus guys who've just

been drafted the past year or two um but yeah

i mean i I think it just all comes down to, like,

what the price is in trades and, like, how ready

the young guys are. Because, again, I don't think the

Clippers are willing to be... I think if they're, like,

a miserable 23-win team after this Kawhi thing, I mean,

that could kill the fandom for the next 10 years

if it isn't all dead.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: So, like, I think, like, they really would like to

be decent and fun this year.

Speaker 2: I think it would be really good for the health

of the fan base. You know, a big reason why, actually,

not to bring things back to Chris Dunn... that I

thought that the Jazz should keep Chris Dunn was because

I thought that he was a really good player for

Keontae George, who just got a huge payday maybe yesterday

or just recently. Keontae George, who said nothing but really

great things about Chris Dunn because they were kind of

competing for a starting spot when Dunn was a Utah

member of the Jazz. And, you know, while I definitely

want a guy like that to be flipped for equity...

There is something to be said if a guy like

Darius Garland loves playing with Chris Dunn or Wagler, they

stagger him in a way that a guy like that

can defend and provide a little bit of ball handling

for the development of Wagler or Yannick or anything like that.

Same thing with Derrick Jones Jr. What's going on in

the locker room? Who really keeps the culture high even

outside of what's happening on the floor? And man, once

you get there, it's like, how much is that draft

pick really worth if it's going to kill the spirits

of the team? It's such an interesting discussion because as

far as I'm concerned, I think a lot of Clipper

fans thinking objectively, it was like a really, I think

Justin even mentioned it on Twitter, like Justin Wilson. It's

a real, like, get them to look good and flip them.

That's what this season felt even before all the aspiration stuff,

but you really do want to keep a healthy ecosystem

for the young guys. And it's really going to be

just a matter of watching the team and feeling that vibe.

And then, like you mentioned, like if there's offers that

are too good to be true, the Clippers do manage

to have a little bit of depth that if they

lose one of Dunn or one of Derek Jones Jr.

or a Bradley Beal or Strupes, or maybe even two

of them that you can find enough between the rest

of them. But, you're hoping that the vibe is good

enough across the roster to absorb that, you know? Because

we've seen what happens when one of these guys are

removed when the vibes are not great and how much

that really carries. Especially guys like Derrick Jones Jr. and

Chris Dunn have been huge parts of either being getting

hurt or being inserted into starting lineup and changing the vibe.

I mean, Derrick Jones Jr., I mean, if Derrick Jones Jr.

doesn't get hurt multiple times, like, is James Harden still

a Clipper right now? It's just... It's like hard to

even really completely put in your hands. But I am

very interested in that and like how Clipper fans will

feel because I can see both sides. But really what

will depend is how good like Wagler feels, how good

Baba feels, like how good Yannick eventually feels on the

court with this team and how good the vibes are. Because,

you know, the Clippers could have flipped all the assets

in the Shea year too. But things were just going

too good to do that, you know, to the point

that Kawhi Leonard wanted to be a Clipper. So.

Speaker 1: Well, I mean, they did flip Tobias, but that's... Right, right.

Speaker 2: Well, shout out Tobias. Yeah.

Speaker 1: Still chugging along incredibly.

Speaker 2: Still about to win his own championships, man.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited for the season. I'm

excited to actually watch basketball and know what preseason does

not really count for me. I guess I'm curious to

see who the starters are. I'm curious to see, like,

is Papa Miller in the rotation right off the bat?

Is Isaiah Jackson the main backup? Are they trying to

go small ball with like Baba or Rui or like,

you know, I'm curious about some of the rotation stuff,

but like the actual games don't matter. You know, the

outcomes don't matter. And there are only like three preseason

games this year. So there's even less than usual. I'm

actually not even going to be here. I'm still going

to be international for the first one. So yeah. This

will be my last time on the pod for a

few weeks. But, you know, I'm excited for the season.

I think this team will be fun. And yeah, I mean,

just as we've said over and over again, a lot

is riding on Keaton Wogler and to a lesser extent,

Yannick Niederhauser. And it's not fair to those guys, but

I hope they're up for the challenge.

Speaker 2: I am sadly somehow going to be completely locked in

for the preseason. I think it's a psychiatric disorder. I'll

have to check the DSM-5. It's really bad. Like I'm

going to be, I'll be back in. Like all this

stuff happened and left a terrible taste in my mouth,

but We did this pod, and I'm excited for some

of the young guys.

Speaker 1: I mean, Wagler will play right away.

Speaker 2: Wagler will play. I'm excited for Wagler.

Speaker 1: Yeah, like, Baba might not play right away. He'll only

get garbage time in preseason, and Yannick will almost certainly

still be up. But, like, Wagler's going to play a

lot of minutes right away, and, like, that is worth

something to Clippers fans.

Speaker 2: Can you imagine if the Clippers didn't do the Zoo trade? Like,

the state of the team right now? Bad.

Speaker 1: So bad.

Speaker 2: My gosh. And Zoo would be gone, right? Like, It

would be really unfair to Zoo to keep him on

this team.

Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, they would have traded him this summer, probably.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so thank goodness.

Speaker 1: For a much lesser return.

Speaker 2: So as bad as it is Clippers fans, it could

have been so much worse. That'll be the tag for

this year's Clipper team. And that'll do it for this

episode of the Podcast. I'm excited still. Somehow Rob is

also excited. Talking about Keaton Wagler. comparing Baba Miller to

Andre Karalenko. Just an incredible, incredible turn of events for

Robert Flom.

Speaker 1: It's the vacation mindset coming in.

Speaker 2: He's going to be eating tweets before you realize it, folks.

That'll do it. Leave us a nice five-star review, whatever

platform this is on. Five stars, five stars really helps

with nice words, too. We'll read them on the air.

And as always, incredibly, go Clippers!

Speaker 1: Thank you.