The Ringer NBA Show - Inside the Cavs’ Trade Deadline, Drama in D.C., and More NBA Gossip | Sources Say (Ep. 211)

Episode Date: February 14, 2018

The Ringer's Chris Ryan and Juliet Litman sit down to discuss current NBA story lines, including Adrian Wojnarowski's inside story of the Cavs' drastic roster change (2:35), Steve Kerr letting his players coach (15:15), the Wizards' locker room problems (19:45), Blake Griffin's palimony lawsuit (28:00), Lonzo Ball expecting a child (34:10), and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Juliet. I think you know this about me, but I like to drink vodka. I do. My go-to-drink is a vodka soda splash of pineapple. You can call it the Juliette. You do. I do.

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always drink responsibly. Always drink your Julietts responsibly. Always. Particularly over All-Star Weekend.

Before we get into this episode of Sources Day with me, Chris Ryan and Juliet Littman, let me just tell you about

a couple of things going on the ringer that you may be interested in. First of all, college basketball, it's

almost March, man. So you want to become an expert in college basketball. Do yourself a favor,

listen to One Shining Podcast with Tate Frasier and Mark Titus. With the upcoming NBA draft talk on the rise, you can brush up on your NCAA knowledge with Titus and Tate every Tuesday and Friday with one shining podcast on Apple Podcast SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaking of the NBA draft,

you might want to check out the great 2015 NBA redraft on Theringer.com. Our basketball staff, John Charks, Kevin O'Connor, Danny Chow, Justin Verrier, John Gonzalez. they went through the crazy draft of 2015, which has given us many a unicorn and many an interesting player and redrafted it to see where those guys would go.

Carl Town's still going number one, but some really controversial picks there. Kevin O'Connor taking Devin Booker number two. Whoa. I won't tease it anymore. You just got to go check it out. And before we go, let me just actually encourage you, please, to read Kay Austin Collins's piece on Black Panther today.

It is one of my favorite pieces Cam has ever written, and that's saying a lot. It is an awesome review of the new Marvel movie, Black Panther. Time for a pre-all-star edition of Sources Say, the NBA Gossip Podcast. I'm Julietette Littman. I'm Chris Ryan. We got a lot to go over. A lot of slights, a lot of stories, and a lot of drama.

Maggie Haberman of the NBA is here. Just call me at Maggie the ringer at Maggie, NYT, but at Maggie TR. Okay. Thanks. Should we begin with the Cleveland Cavaliers? Yeah, let's talk about Woj's very political. esk story. Interesting that you painted that way.

Yeah, because I think that we were talking about this this morning. So Woj has a huge story in ESPN today that's basically a TikTok of the 24 hours leading up to the massive overhaul of the Cleveland Cavaliers roster. And you were talking about the influence of like Lee Jenkins style, you're in the room pieces. Yes. But this actually to me feels a way more like a Politico or MIT inside the White House story, even down to Wage saying, like this, you know, ESPN spoke with X amount of people involved in this deal to do this. That is like a preamble that accompanies many of these stories. Like ESPN or Politico spoke with 20 people. Yeah, 50 people who are currently working or have worked or are friends with people

who work in the White House. And so the story is, I don't know if there's nothing too scandalous in it. There's a couple of interesting sliding doors moments in the story. But the thing that you and I were really reacting to is, A, Kobe Altman should get a byline. Because a lot of this story could only come from Kobe. Yeah. It's not like the guy from the Kings is calling a boge and it's like, and then I pulled this clown show moves. Can you believe I dropped Papianus into this trade deal?

And then there's also just like the intimacy with like what time this phone call was made or this text message was made in the specific reaction of somebody who was on a phone call and it was either Dennis Lindsay of the Jazz or Kobe Altman. and you can just read the story. And it just is very clear that Kobe is orchestrating this. And I have to say there is a winner of the trade deadline so far. It's Kobe Altman. Yeah.

Absolutely. He's controlling his narrative. Another part about this is because it came from Kobe Altman, it is in some way, we believe it did. It is in some ways generous to LeBron. Like it makes, like LeBron. A lot of checking with LeBron. Yes. A lot of, I need to sit down with LeBron.

But not a lot of people could know. and would be willing to say that LeBron and Dan Gilbert have only spoken like two or three times in the last year. Yeah, this seems to push back slightly on the athletic piece that was out about a week before the tread deadline. That was essentially like, it essentially said there is a perception that Kobe Altman is in over his head a little bit here. And that he, one of the problems is that like there's just bad communication between Camp LeBron, Camp Gilbert, Camp Cavs front office, whatever. Yes. This paints Kobe Alman. was essentially running the team still.

Right. Kobe Alman is painted as both like master dealmaker. He's perfected the art of the deal, but also like the peace broker between LeBron and the Cavs. Which, you know, I mean, Kobe Alman might have learned really at the feet of David Griffin. That the best way to sort of paint yourself. Look, David Griffin did a really good job getting the Cavs to multiple NBA finals

and like keeping a talented team around LeBron James and pulling off the Wiggins for Love Trade and everything. But he was also on Scott Van Pampi. Pelt and Ryan Russoa show with some frequency. Like you can hear there's certain GMs that are really good at getting out there and like controlling how people think of them. And now you can't help but come out after two wins over the Celtics and the thunder, even though it's really early.

And I think it's easy to get kind of carried away. He's done a really good job at saying like there was a vision for this team. We put it together. And this is all an effort to keep LeBron. The big thing that I want to talk about is this revelation that they are very much aware that they could have just cleared the path for LeBron to. join the Lakers. Yes. That's like, I think we should like kind of go over like the five biggest revelations. That's probably number one. Could that be a revisionist history? Is it possible

that that's being like slipped into the narrative now? Yes. That was literally what Wendorst tweeted the second the trade happened is that the Cavs just made it easier for the Lakers to get Paul George and LeBron James. Absolutely. So I don't know. Like if you're like, why would you talk about that while you're making a deal? Like I don't know. I sort of I have a hard time believing it was like, let's discuss the way that it's written about in this article. With free agency, it's kind of weird,

right? Because I think there are a couple of teams that if you really just wanted to go there, like that team can make it happen. Sure. If you just, if LeBron wanted to go back to Miami, if LeBron wants to go to the Lakers, if LeBron wants to go to whoever,

they're just going to be able to do it. Sure. Yeah, I think that we learned that from Houston last year. If he wants to go to Houston, they'll figure out. Yeah, like the Rockets and Darrow-Mori found a way to clear all the space for Chris Paul.

And the other teams helped. Like there's just sort of, when a player decides, it's up to him. And the teams make it happen, basically. Like, no one was blocking the Chris Paul stuff. And so, I'm going to block what what LeBron James wants? And one of the things that we were talking about today with this article is this idea that the only people who come off poorly in this piece of the Kings. Sure. And that I don't know whether or not that is a calculated risk by, say, Colby Altman, if he is, in fact, the person.

who was like, and then the Kings basically at the last second tried to insert Papyanaus into this deal so that they didn't have to have the embarrassment of buying him out. Basically, the Kings drafted Papianus in the first round a couple years ago. He sucks. They want to get rid of him. They know he's going to be bought out, but they essentially wanted to trade him so that they didn't have to do the buying out. So it didn't look like they were giving up on him. Right. And there had been an initial deal agreement or some sort of agreement on a trade, the one that eventually wound up. including Amman Shumpert and George Hill and all these people. And then at the last second, the Kings tried to insert Papyanaus and the jazz almost walked away from the whole thing. And that was the Rodney Hood part of it. So the only people who look bad in this whole thing are the guys from the Kings.

Yes. Especially Vladi, who apparently does not get on trade calls, even though he's the GM of the Kings. And has veto power. Yeah, but has veto power. So maybe you do this story and you're like, the chances are is that this will not be

the front office of the Kings next summer. Or I'm never going to have to do a deal with them again. Or all other 28 teams consider them to be such a clown show anyway that it doesn't matter. Or Vladi Devak doesn't read the internet. Yeah. Or like they're just like they're never going to find out.

It definitely was weird. I also thought it kind of made Channing Frye and Shumpert look bad as well. Why? Because of the way that the clippers wouldn't take them on and that's why they switched because like the first deal they were working on

was for DeAndre Jordan and sending a bunch of players to the Clippers, but the Clippers were so resistant to Shumpert and Channing Fry that they wouldn't do it. I kind of think Shumpert's the biggest loser of the trade deadline in some ways. He was a key part. He was on the Knicks, so he was famous. Then he was part of a championship team and like dating Tiana Taylor. And now he is like an asset they were desperately trying to move and no one to take on so that had to do whatever they could. So and the other big thing that comes out of this and it's come out of a few other pieces, but it's becoming more and more explicit as the days go on. And it shouldn't come as

no surprise, but that beyond improving the team, the number one thing that Kobe Altman was trying to get accomplished over the trade deadline was getting rid of Isaiah Thomas. Yes, they're just like, no matter what, that was the most dramatic line in Woj's piece. Isaiah Thomas had to go. Yeah. Now, it's interesting to me because we have also heard in bits and bobs that D. Wade was obviously friends with LeBron, but was not always like the best person to have in the locker room. Yes. But Dwayne Wade's move out of Cleveland has been pitched as this like everybody's happy.

Everybody was. Pat Riley wanted him back. Eric Spolster wanted him back. D. Wade and Gabby Union wanted to go back to Miami. LeBron gave it his blessing. They found the best place possible for Dwayne. And there's nothing about this, you know, was Dwayne Wade good or bad for the locker room? Absolutely. Also, there's actually kind of like two slightly competing narratives, one that LeBron and Dwayne Wade were telling where LeBron told the story of how Wade showed up at the practice facility. And he was like, did you hear what happened? And it was like a surprise to them that Duane Wade got traded. But then Woj wrote like that the Cavs decided that Wade deserved to make a decision on his own. So that makes it seem like Wade asked to be traded back to Miami.

Right. Or to leave. Well, they probably told them like, we're going to go with Jetty Osmond and we're also going to bring in a couple of other wings and you're probably going to play. You're going to basically get Channing Fry minutes. If somebody's hurt, you'll play. But for the most part don't even bother taking off your, your, like, warm-ups. Right. But it's, it's been rumored that Wade was a real locker room problem for them. Yeah, Bill talked about it. Other people have talked about it. It's not necessarily

that he's, like, divisive. I think it's like wartime president, peacetime president. Sure. And I think when your team is doing well, doing Wade's a great guy to have around and if it seems of doing badly, like the Bulls were, you know, he can be a little bit. It's also just, it's just harder for LeBron, the self-proclaimed

camaraderie guy to, like, foster that camaraderie when his best friend is around. Because there's like an obvious like friend balance like imbalance. Yeah, sure. So I'm sure for the calves that were there last season, it was just like a different, it was a different vibe. Yeah. And then for the new player, they just had so many disgruntled new players anyway.

Yeah. So two games. Two games in. They look spry. There's a lot of. A lot of Jordan Clarkson. A lot of Jordan Clarkson. What's this thing that he's doing?

The thing with his arms? I don't know. Like his three point gun or whatever. Yeah, but like LeBron's super into that already. Sure. They do have, okay, do you think it's forced or not the way that everybody is already on the same page in terms of like celebrating, being into each other, everybody loves Jetty? I think it's not forced, but I also don't think it will completely last. Okay.

I think it's not forced because Clarkson and Nance have been on losing teams for a long time and now they're content for their whole careers. Now they're contending for the playoffs. George Hill was miserable in Sacramento. Now he's contending for the playoffs and like a meaningful player. Rodney Hood has like no responsibilities whatsoever. except to hit wide open three. Yeah, the expectations are super low. LeBron has like a younger team around him.

And they like, there's reason for them all to be happy. But they also like have only been together for less than a week. Yeah. Like get back. Like LeBron, check in with me about Jordan Clarkson in three weeks, four weeks. And let's see how you're feeling. I would say flat out. This is, they are already faster than any Cavs team I've seen in like two years.

Oh yeah. Maybe the whole time. Like just running the break. The ball's zipping around. J.R. is obviously. He's just like, can't believe his luck. He's still in Cleveland. He's so psyched.

He's back. I don't know. I don't know. I think the NBA is pretty cool when LeBron is thriving like this. It's tough. It's just unbelievable how much of the last four years, really, he has, the ups and downs of the calves have been the dominant NBA story. Absolutely. Even in the face of something like Golden State where I guess it's just like excellence is sort of hard to write about on a daily basis and the drama is better.

But you almost wonder whether or not, like, does LeBron know that? You know, it's like, does LeBron, if LeBron just went out every night and did his thing and scored 25 and 7 and 7, and everybody was like, he's probably the second best player of all time. But would we get bored talking about it if there wasn't this extracurricular activity? That's a good question. I think that the way that he talks to the media so much and is so vocal also really contributes to it because there's always something to parse. Whereas, like, staff and KD just give much more boring quotes. So there's just like not a lot to dig into.

Yeah. But LeBron also has learned, you can't tell me that LeBron doesn't know that there is an element of suspense to his entire career. Where ever since 2011, he's able to keep people guessing about how he actually feels where he's going to go. Like, what does he think of the coach? What does he think of his teammates? And he's just, I don't think that that's an accident that we're always on pins and needles waiting to hear what he's going to say or how he's going to react to something. thing because he's realized that that's the best way to keep himself in the public eye. Totally.

And also to control the league. Like, no one can make moves until he makes his decision. Yeah, absolutely. So. So. And that's the other thing about this Cavs team. Like, do you believe in them? Ultimately, he still has to do all the work.

Like, their fortune still relies on like how. And are incredibly reliant on his health. Yeah. Because I'm still sort of, he's tweaked his ankle. He's playing a ton of minutes. I don't know when his two week vacation is coming if he's going to take one. No vacation this year. That's, that's going to be interesting to see.

him in the playoffs. I know. I know. Like, how long can he last? Also, like, Larry Nance is injury prone. Like, well, how long will he last? Yeah. Or whatever. I don't know. It's, like, it's definitely fun having them, uh, have a new look, though. Like, we were, like, ready to ride out, like, another, like, two months of, like, the Cavs disaster of Isaiah Thomas. This is, this is more fun. Oh, for sure. I'm, I'm excited about it. Um, speaking of all their excellence, let's talk about the Cavs for, I mean, the Warriors for a second. Uh, two nights ago, Monday night. Yeah. Steve Kerr allowed his players to coach. Uh-huh. And, and This is a Steve Kerr bit.

It came out via Ramona on Twitter that a lot of coaches allow their players to call plays or take over the huddle. But it's less obvious. Steve Kerr has really leaned into the bit this season. And to that extent, he very dramatically and obviously turned his clipboard over at various times to Draymond Green, David West, and Andre Aguadola. And then told reporters after the game that Omar Caspi and Javale McGee were running Shooter Hound. Javel McGee was on a computer running the film session. Yes, right. And so he allowed them to take over and he said the team was sick of hearing his voice. And first reaction from you was...

This is bullshit. And very rude to the Phoenix Suns who they were playing. Which apparently the Phoenix Suns didn't care. This is one of the fastest news... This is one of the fastest inciting incident backlash, backlash to the backlash. I don't care. It had a 35-minute lifespan. where I was like

This is ridiculous I was just like I what do you guys want to do here Like you like you can't you're gonna beat the suns anyway So that it's sort of I didn't I thought Did I think it was rude? I guess like I don't know I mean I guess nobody gives a shit anymore about any of that stuff Which is so fine like that's cool

But I don't really The idea that Steve Purcher is like Empow like as soon as everybody got in with like self-help management techniques and stuff I was like I'm out on the story I don't want to hear about like your pyramid of success or like Tony Robbins. Yeah, just like I guess it worked. Let's see how they play again.

Yeah. One thing I noticed about this Warriors team through all of their like, they just sort of like everyone that they look bored, they're not having fun. There's no real insight into like what's going on with them. No, I think they're tired. I think they're, I think they can beat any team on any night and they know it. I think some of the guys are getting a little older. I think that there's a couple of guys on the team like Javella and Nick

who are not necessarily, like, I don't, they're fine. They're great. The Warriors are great. I just, I guess if I'm bored with them, I can understand why Steve Kerr would be bored with it and we want to set new challenges for everybody. Suppose it was a good idea. Yeah.

I just like when champion, there was so much about like the, what was going on with the heat when they lost in 14. Yes. And we're still talking about what was going on with the Bulls after 98, like all this stuff. Yeah. And I just feel like there's none of that with the Warriors. I'm just like, where's the drama?

I think the drama will come if they don't win this finals. For some reason, they don't win the finals. Do I think they're going to win the finals? Yes, quite easily. Interesting. I'm going to go with the Rockets. Okay. We've already got a fathead bet on this.

Yeah, we do. Chris and I put fat heads up in our office. We've got Clay Thompson and Ben Simmons loading over us. What did I say? I'd put up on my of Kyrie Irving? If the Warriors don't win, we'll be putting Kyrie Irving over your desk because you don't like him. And I do. So whatever.

Also noticed, we're also almost at the one-year anniversary of Kyrie Irving proclaiming the world's flat on the road trip and podcast. Yeah. I think it might be the one-year anniversary tomorrow. Really? Yes. He came out during All-Star weekend. Kari's been notably silent.

His uncle drew a trailer came out today. And we've heard like nothing from him. Yeah, he really didn't want anything to do with conversation about what was happening in Cleveland. He's like, I'm in Boston. It's true. In the spirit of Kari's saying dumb things, we're going to get into some. hot or gossip. First, I want to talk about our sponsor.

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or wherever else you get your podcasts. Okay, let's get to the hotter topics. I know that people care about the Cavs and the Warriors, but the second half of the show is really my time to shine. And also the time... Is that a thing? No, just with these topics. I'm excited.

Number one, we got to make a pit stop in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., where there still is discord in the wizard's locker room. The funny thing about this Washington Wizard story this year is these guys can't even do chemistry problems, right? Like they've screwed up chemistry problems. Seriously. Which Bradley Beale said was, I don't want to say it was pointless, but it was pointless. It's a paraphrase.

Then there was basically a period where they won a few games without John Wall. I think they went 5 and 0 without John Walf initially. And there was, I don't know whether the players were getting trolled into saying this kind of stuff by the media. But they were basically like the ball's moving. It's a team win. Everybody eats. That was their motto.

Everybody eats. And then Marcyne Gortott had tweeted out something about, like, great team win. And then John Wall, LOL did him. Yeah. And has basically been, like, pretty public about saying, like, all of Marcyne Gortott's buckets. And by proxy, like, the money he has made since he joined the Wizards are courtesy of him, like, or because of John Wall. So for him to be talking about everybody eats and everybody gets to touch the ball is ridiculous. So they've had a back and forth.

Gortat said he tried to like he wasn't really talking about John Wall. And then yesterday it was reporter. Today it was reported that the Wizards had that Gortat and Wall had met and that it was a quick meeting and there are still issues to work out. Stop having meetings, Wizards. It's not working out. You guys don't know how to do conflict resolution. They really don't. Really need a mediator in there.

They really do. Who should we bring in for them? They got to get some HR. I guess. Whose side are you on? Here, let me make this. explicitly clear. Okay.

I'm on John fucking Wall side. I don't give a shit about the Wizards. So if anything, I could care less if they win no games or all the games for the rest of the season. I like John Wall. I don't care about the Wizards. And this whole thing is so hilarious to me. But let's take Gortat out of it. Like if you're building your team or do you want John Wall or Bradley Beale?

Yeah. I mean, I get. Why do you have to choose? Because that's the obvious fight. It's very clear that the fight here is between John Wall and Bradley Beale. It's not actually about Gortat. Gortat is choosing a side and it's not John Wall. So you think that Brad and John are having a proxy war.

Yes, absolutely. Gortat is just like, he's Yemen in this whole situation. Wow. Political. We started with Politico, you know. Gosh, I'm team John Wall. You're the original pay John Wall guy. Yeah.

I can't back off of that platform. I mean... I'm going down with the shit. It's pretty unreal, though. I mean, this doesn't... You know what I want to do is I want to start a go fund me to buy my own MBA team and I'll take all your I'll take all your distressed ex-Kentucky assets let me get boogie recovering from an Achilles recovering did you see the picture of him stretching yesterday no how's he's a picture

he's apparently rehabbing in L.A and he's filming the whole thing like he was doing stretches with like a guy boogie versus time basically boogie versus time but I'm really excited for that content I'm curious where it's going to land and like how many like how much yeah what platform you think that'll wind up on like probably Verizon's go 90 or something yeah something like that. Okay, so your team John Wall 100% away. Yes. The thing that I find funny about this is like there was never a question about like if the

Wizards could win the East, like obviously no. So I'm just sort of like, yeah, this is a hilarious fight because this is a team. Team building is so existential right now. It's so hard. It really is. Because everybody is like, oh, you need two or three superstars to win. Then all those guys need to get paid. Then the four and five players also eventually need to get played when they are good.

This is going to happen to the, I was just listening. Priscilla was talking about this with the thunder. This is going to happen. The thunder almost are going to be screwed if Paul George stays. Right, because they have to pay him. Because Mello will opt in and then Stephen Adams is up. And then they can keep putting Ferguson's and Eustases around them. But it's almost bad to have these like really superstar heavy teams.

Well, you kind of want the two-year contracts, right? Like the way KD did basically. Yeah, but that's why I think that what Toronto, I mean, Toronto should probably be the model for Washington. But that would require them having a good general manager. shots. Does Maasai have the most universal approval rating of any GM in the league? Except for, I think a couple of other GMs are like, that guy screwed me.

And I guess Bob Myers is the other one that everyone loves. Yeah, but I wonder if a bunch of people are kind of like, I could do what Bob Myers did if I had Steph and Kevin Durant. Or if I had Steph, Clay, and Draymond, I could have done that. This is something that we talk about internally that I think, like, with this whole handing the coaching over to the players we need to discuss. Okay. Is coaching overrated?

If Andre Aguadalov... Somebody had a stat on Reddit that the... Warriors are 54 and 4 without Steve Kerr. Yeah. So like, cool guy, love his politics, good speaker, good podcast, gas. You know what? I have to do you overrate coaching. I want to add a quick footnote to my Steve Kerr thing.

Okay. I think what it is is just that like we're a little easily impressed in the NBA. So every night, every time Kerr and pop say anything, we're just like, dad, 2020, Pop Kerr. And they often say things that I completely agree with. But just as somebody who's in taking in NBA content on a nightly basis. Every once in a while, I'm just like, what's Joe Prunty got to say? You know what I mean?

Like, what podcast is that guy listening to? And I think it's just like, we're too focused on Pop and Kerr. And they're like, you know, I'm going to tie one hand behind my back to make this job more interesting. So I'm going to sit half my team or let them coach or whatever. That reminds me. Pop a couple nights ago, maybe it was last week. Patty Mills had two fouls and it was the first half and they didn't want him to get him third. So Pop was miced up.

I guess it was a TNT game. Sure. And it was pop and three assistant coaches and Patty Mills and they were like in a huddle. And he was like, okay, we all have a vote. Do we trust Patty Mills to not get his third foul? And like they were all voted yes. We trust him to not get his third foul. And it was like just, it was theater for for the sake of theater.

It's why the NBA is actually awesome is because we can have like an entire podcast about like not basketball. Yeah, that's what I do. Yeah. And so anyway, Patty Mills did get his third foul. And it was interesting because I was like Would Pop do this if he wasn't miced up? Would Pop do it in the playoffs? Would pop do it in the playoffs?

Is it would pop do it like with Lamarcus Aldrich? Like does he always be that sarcastic dude Or is it only with someone like Patty Mills who knows can handle it? But like that is the kind of thing where I'm like, how much does coaching matter? Like is it about more of the managing of egos or like actually about drawing up place?

Yeah, I was thinking about that with the Cavs too because I think I thought that I wasn't sure that Ty Lou was going to make it. One of two people was going to go. go, Ty Loo or half the Cavs. Yeah. Right? And I wasn't sure if he was going to make it.

And I was like kind of like thinking like if they bring in Fisdale or if they bring him Mark Jackson or if they bring like whoever they could bring in, would there be a dead cat bounce where there would be inevitable like the cabs would do better with a new coach. And you do wonder it's like Ty Loo's probably like the guys who are in Cleveland right now probably don't know any plays. No, they don't. Like Crowder in Utah, they were saying like he's really intuitive. but in Utah notoriously has a pretty hefty playbook,

and they're like, Jay Crowder knows like two plays. It's true. Utah has won 10 games in a row. And he like looks better. Yeah, and the same thing for Cleveland. Like there's, if you pass the ball a lot and run hard, usually good things happen. Right.

And that's essentially the formula for the Warriors, right? Like that and have three of the best shooters of all time. Yeah. When you were talking about team building, it's sort of like you need two stars and then you need a lot of people who can score. Yeah. And then I think defense is the most teachable. But this happens in almost every.

part, like job in, like, in a lot of different offices, a lot of different, like, professional environments, there are people who are super detail-oriented and there are people who are probably a little bit more responsible for, like, overall culture. Sure. And I think Kerr and POP, their X's and O's are probably out of this world 99th percentile, but the thing that makes them really special is the little things that they do to keep people engaged with playing the right way. And that's what everyone says about someone like Coach Kay as well, that like he, and that's

why he got to run USA basketball and now why pop is. And why they all love him. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's about culture. Because like they've grown up playing basketball. I know what to do. They're like all they, you know,

you have to have a high basketball IQ to be in the NBA. I don't want to talk about that though. I want to move on to another topic. Are you ready? It's your podcast. It's our podcast, Chris. Come on. TMZ has already posted two things about this story,

which is an LA story with Michigan thrown in. And it is about Blake Griffin, who is being sued for palomony by his, former girlfriend. Bryn Cameron. So there's two stories. There's two posts here that I want to talk about. The first one is,

oh my God, it's actually, they did three stories on this already. I can't believe it. So she's father's suit and they're basically deriving piece. In real time, they are like going through the suit

and doing stories about it. Can I ask you a quick behind the scenes question? Yeah, sure. What's the deal of that? So LA courthouse gets a lawsuit. Yeah. Does someone in like the LA courthouse system alert TMZ that this has happened?

Do they have a database that they're just looking at names of people who are filing lawsuits? I believe, so Harvey Levin's a lawyer originally, so he's really good at like mining the legal system for their stories and that's how they get a lot of exclusives. I believe that they, it goes, both they have sources but they also like do their own research.

So I believe. Okay. So she filed us a lawsuit. The first like kind of big headline was that she claims that Blake Griffin abandoned the family for like the celebrity of dating Kendall. Jenner. Does Kendall Jenner and Blake Griffin still date?

I believe so, yes. Even though he's now on the Detroit Pistons. And she said that it was cruelly embarrassing, so they didn't have a place to live in that she had to rely on her brother for money, basically. Matt Leiner. Yeah. Yeah. Or no, her brother.

Jordan Cameron. Jordan Cameron. That's right. Matt Leinert is the father of her first son. So that was the first story. Then the next one that came out is that they said the reason they broke up is because she wouldn't sign the pre-up. And that was a week before their wedding. And then this is kind of the most interesting story for our purposes, which is that Blake was having such a hard time dealing with Chris Paul being the face and the voice of the clippers when they were on the team together, that she had to like step in and coach him on like conflict resolution and like help him feel better about like not doing this.

Bring Cameron, call the wizards. I mean, send her to Washington. This is like pretty explosive. This is like a very damning lawsuit. I think in a lot of celebrity cases when there's a high profile breakup like this, you got a pretty damning lawsuit. But this is definitely not the PR. It seems calibrated to make Blake look weak.

Of course. Yeah. Of course. And she has a, she hired like a famous divorce lawyer as so often happens in LA. The divorce stories. But this is pretty tough. So Blake and Blame were they married or is it,

this is for child support? This is for child support because she claims that they are homeless and she doesn't have money to deal with the kids. So this is pretty tough and I actually had heard this before that the reason they didn't get married in July was over their pre-up

and then this is that has now made it into the lawsuit so it doesn't necessarily mean it's true but that's the version of events that she is telling and yeah it's like it's pretty intense and sad. The level of detail about Clippers internal politics that's in this palomony suit makes it feel like it's calibrated to bring the most amount of embarrassment to Blake Griffin as possible.

Absolutely. It undermines him not only as like a father and a family man, but this is a quote from her lawsuit. She wrote, or she continued, Griffin struggled to be viewed as a leader for the clippers while Chris Paul was such a vocal presence in the locker room and the media, and this is when it gets really bad, and was better known for his drive to win and dedication to both team building and family values. That is like very, very damning of Blake Griffin. and under super undermining. Obviously, this is just her, her lawsuit that she's filed. So this is her version of events.

But it's really like going for the jugular, basically. Yeah. And also kind of like playing into the perception of Chris Paul that already exists, whether that's true or not, who knows. But that's like what he's known for, right? Like his drive to win and like his family. So it's really playing upon a lot of both subverting and capitalizing. Does it change the way you look at any people involved in this drama?

As you know, I've been so appalled by the Blake and Kendall relationships. since it broke, so no. Yes. I just find the whole thing sad and, like, kind of shitty. And, I mean, everyone who knows Blake, like, really likes him. So, you know, I don't necessarily seem this is, like, the final word on Blake Griffin, but I find the Kendall relationship very tough, tough to address. Bad beat all around.

Bad beat all around for everyone. Yeah. The other thought I had based on this is, like, for a team that never reached the conference finals and never really won anything, like, we just can't stop talking about the clippers. Like, the old clippers. They will, like, in some ways, like, define an era of basketball as much as the Warriors well. You know, it was as an addendum to the CAF stuff that we were talking about. One of the other things in that Walsh piece is they basically have a deal set up for D'Andre.

And Kobe Altman has to decide, you know, if I make this deal, the only reason to do it is if we're going to resign D'Andre. And he's just like, like, he's essentially like, and they didn't want to do that. Right. And so that's like, it's always fascinating to me to see the way player value fluctuates based on age where you are on your contract and how the league is changing in terms of like, do they value somebody like D'Andre. And to watch D'Andre Jordan go from in November, everybody's like, D'Andre will probably get traded and it's going to be the hottest topic of the trade deadline

is where D'Andre goes and it was going to be the bucks or it was going to be the Cavs or whoever, even Miami was in the mix for a minute. and now he is essentially the last guy standing on a Clippers team. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't resign him. He's definitely not a Clipper next year. No way. I just think that they are clearly going to revamp that team. And maxing out DeAndre Jordan at 30 years old doesn't seem like a Jerry West move to me or a Michael Winger move. No, definitely. Definitely not.

Particularly since he needs, he's most effective when he has like a great point guard around him. Yeah. And who knows who their next great point guard is. Well, if they don't have one. Melosch and Austin. A couple final notes before we wrap this up. Lonzo Ball, expecting a child with his girlfriend. Yeah.

Very undercovered to me. Like, we get a lot of Ball family drama. This is not really out there. I have a question for you about Lonzo Ball, aside from his child. Do you think he's a Laker at the start of next season? Yes. Okay.

What do you think? I think it's in the mix that he's not. Interesting. I think that they like him, and I think he's good. But I do wonder how many more times, there's no point in begging Lovar not to talk. Like even he disappears his children in Lithuania and he still pipes up with

if the Lakers don't bring on all of my children, Lonzo will not resign with the Lakers. Right. That's not something you want to hear. No, and I mean, that's true. It's also like, you're in a fantasy land. Like, that's not how like the NBA works.

So it's like you're almost making these, it gets you publicity, but at the same time, if I'm Polinka or Magic, even though I'm Rob Polinko or Magic, Johnson so my life is pretty good. I'm still like, this is annoying. Yeah. But also like Magic and Rob got to where they are because they'd like to win, you know? But they also like to like work people and make deals and be in control.

Yeah. And this is like this feels like something they can't control. If I'm the NBA, I also like if I'm the league, I hate Lovar Ball. I'm just like come on dude. Yeah. We don't want a Chris Jenner around here. Like we just don't. It's like no the, like they don't also like for the same reason. I'm sure the NBA is not happy with this Blake Griffin story having generating five TMZ sports stories today. Like just like not what you want. Right before All-Star.

Yeah, exactly. Like it's just like, let's focus on the good stuff. Let's focus on like Janus, like his beautiful journey from Greek man who never had a smoothie to like future of the NBA. Right. And on a final note, let's just talk about a great dunk. Shout out a great dunk. Rudy O'Barre dunked all over and his Cantor on Twitter yesterday. Yeah.

Loved it. There's a picture of Cantor surrounded by five Sixers trying to score. And he couldn't. Yes. And he like turned this picture into like a very self-aggrandizing. Like, wow, look how hard I fight. Uh-huh. And Gobert quote tweeted him and said, pass the ball.

So are those guys friends? Because I think we've gone through this with Cantor a couple of times where he gets roasted. But then it turns out people actually like him. Like KD doesn't like him. No. KD does not. Yeah. But he didn't he get like a New York run, like a summer New York pickup run?

And it was like Chris Paul. He's part of the Brinkley crew. Brickley, Chris Berkeley crew. So yeah, he was like in the Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, like, pick up game. And like Trevor Booker destroyed him on Twitter or after a game once where he was like, he got his 15 and 10 and then took the L as usual or something. Yeah. I just like.

But I couldn't tell if they all actually liked him. I don't, I would guess. I don't know with him and Gobert, but I just, I like that that Gobert is kind of like, he's back. He's spicy. He's spicy. He like it. That's what I'm looking for. Oh, another, another like, ooh, we're being very avant-garde with our decisions was Quinn Snyder asking Gobert if it was basically okay to leave Derek Favors in the game to win that tight one lay on the night.

Where he was like, do you want to go back in? And Gober was like, no, Derek Favors was doing a great job, believe him in. There's a, there's a Quinn Snyder moment coming. First of all, having seen him in person, seems like an extremely confident happy man. And I just feel like for all of the, like, stories in his past about, you know, when he was in Missouri. I just feel like there's a real Quinn Snyder hive.

Quinn Snyder is the LA Lakers prince who was promised. Yeah. Let me just tell you that. Quinn Snyder. There's no information, but like when they're like, okay, now we need a real coach.

Yeah. Quinn Snyder's on deck. There's a Quinn Snyder moment. It's going to come and I look forward to it. Okay. I look forward to all-star weekend. I look forward to it as well. Plenty of drama.

Can I ask you? Let me get one prediction from you. Okay. Monday morning I come in. I'm like, what's up, Julietette? Mm-hmm. Who did you, who won an all-star weekend? Great question.

As a personality. Yeah, sure. As a person who just like made it all happen. In the past, when the All-Star game is in places like Toronto or New Orleans, like, we've joked before about there's like a mayor. Yeah. So Drake was the mayor of Toronto All-Star, but DeMarre and Kyle did a good job too. A.D. was the mayor of New Orleans All-Star.

Who is going to be the mayor? Because we don't have an L.A. talent deficit. Yeah. I think that who's All-Star weekend is it going to, who's it going to belong to? Joelle unbeat. I'm worried that he is, I think he is on the verge of being too banged up to play. Oh, exposed? No, he's because he's got an ankle and a back.

I've been worried about this all season. Well, I just, I think that if he tweaks anything in the next, well, I guess it will only be the next two days. He's scheduled to do a lot of stuff. He is. That's why I think he has a chance to win, big personality and involved in a lot of events. Okay. I also think we'll be getting a lot of Tamara Rosen, hometown kid. Mm-hmm.

He's kind of like the L.A. proxy, I think. Mm-hmm. and I think that we'll also be getting a lot of Anthony Davis. Oh, okay. I'm concerned about Paul George. I just want to end with one piece of advice. Paul George, stop talking to the media. Hard stop.

You're going to get in trouble this weekend when you're back in L.A. I know it's going to happen. But he's just like listing all the teams that he also likes. He's like the number one. He is like, I just am concerned for his future. I wanted to stop talking to the media. He gives the worst quotes. He doesn't do himself any favors.

and it's not helping his leverage. So my wish for All Star Weekends for Joel and B to stay healthy and for Paul George to stay silent. This has been sources to say. Thanks for listening.