Why The LA Clippers Stayed Quiet At The Trade Deadline

Why The LA Clippers Stayed Quiet At The Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is officially over and the Clippers have stayed Pat no moves no nothing they will be going into the postseason with this current roster was it the right decision to stand Pat could they have done something how are we going to move on from it going to be

Talking about it all on today’s lock down post deadline Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Applause] Day yes sir you are locking in with with the clips thank you for making locked on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day I’m your host Darian vizeri born and raised in LA and in my 19th season as a Clipper fan you can

Also follow me on Twitter and Instagram at dim dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper content take a look at a video I just released about my experience at the game on Wednesday and locked on Clippers is free and available

Wherever you get your podcasts including YouTube I want you to let me know your opinion of what you think the Clippers stayed Pat no moves none now the main reason for this is they feel good they feel good and we haven’t been able to say the same thing the last couple of

Years remember we traded for Norman Powell and Robert Covington in 2022 last year bones Highland Mason plumy Eric Gordon even got Russ after the deadline off the buyout Market by the way the Clippers are not eligible to get anyone off the buyout Market because we’re over

The second tax apron so we can’t get anybody off the buyout market like that but can we might be able to get somebody like you know a free agent that’s just you know on the market on the free agency market right and I’ll talk about some potential candidates they’re not

Very strong and I think that’s the whole point that’s part of the reason why the Clippers stayed solid who was there really out there to get and what could we have gotten without giving up ation pieces there were rumors that bones Highland the asking price for him was two second

Round picks but like why would we even do that why do we want I mean we could get second round picks to leverage for other things and whatnot because picks are very valuable and second round picks may not have the value of first round picks but they still are being moved and

Used in trades but why not just keep bones Highland re-evaluate his position in the team next year based on what happens in this offseason and have him as Insurance just you just never know what could happen to russer uh Harden so just having him there I mean trading him and

Not getting anybody that can help us right now who cares you know what I’m saying I I’m happy that we kept him but they feel good and I want to let you know that that’s huge because in the last couple of years we’ve had to make a

Move we had to now it was remember what I said and you might disagree with me that’s okay I said if they get a power forward if they get another big forward that would be great but I don’t think we need it and the reason why I say that is

Because even though we do have a struggle with some bigger teams with bigger front lines the main reason we’ve lost to Minnesota to the Lakers twice to Cleveland is because and I said and this happened in the last game against New Orleans too if two of our big three

Three of our big four which seems to happen when two of them play Bad three of them play bad if two of them and when I say the if two of the starting three Harden Paul kawhai have a bad game we are likely to lose and you can make all

The X’s and0 talk with this you want well they struggle because they go up against bigger guys and this and that listen kawhai Leonard should be unguardable right when we got Kawhi Leonard we got him because there was no one that could guard him one-on-one he

Was a 30o scorer in his sleep when it came to the playoffs in the regular season he doesn’t shot hunt he doesn’t play for stats he doesn’t look to go off and go crazy on teams like the likes of embiid and LCA donic he’s satisfied with

His 30 to 40 points and playing hard defense and the win that’s it but in the playoffs if you’ve noticed kawh Leonard always takes it to another level so we need kawhai to be unguardable it’s really that simple and if he is unguardable he will get double teamed he

Will get loaded up off of or loaded up on and we will get open shots for other guys they got to knock those shots down now Paul George he’s a big thing a big problem right when he’s struggling he just does it to himself he continues to

Take tough shots he always wants to dribble at the three-point line and you know further than the foul line catching the ball and wasting a lot of energy and motion to get off a contested shot now he needs to be smarter this would have been the case whether we got Harden or

We didn’t get Harden he needs to be smarter in the playoffs he needs to take the right shots he needs to still be aggressive without just chucking and here’s my thing with Paul when he’s missing jumpers why don’t you get something easy why don’t you try to go

To the rim why don’t you go to Elbow P I love elbow P he doesn’t do it enough and I don’t know if that’s a tyo thing he’s not calling out a play or whatnot but you’re an NBA player call your own number like there are there are transition opportunities and I don’t

Mean fast break I mean off a Miss we’re coming down the court we slowed it down and it might not be look over at Tai and ask for a set it’s go get something get into our offense Paul George can get to the Elbow then James Harden it really

Comes down to him creating advantages one-on-one and in the pick and roll if you’re not switching the pick and roll I think James Harden will create advantages now what I’ve noticed the one thing that can deter him is a great point of attack Defender with a good

Drop big and that would be Rudy goar in Minnesota or the Cavs or ad with the Lakers you have a good point of attack Defender and drop big now if you look at Anthony Davis I didn’t listen to his podcast with d Russell yet but by the

Way how many of these players have podcast now I can’t even keep track Theo Pinson Andre guadala uh and uh Evan Turner podcast p uh Michael Porter Jr I mean it’s insane even Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony have shows now so and D’Angelo Russell like Tyrese Maxie Paul

Reed Pat Bev like this is crazy I’m trying I’m having a hard time keeping up but Anthony Davis said I feel as though I don’t need help on the pick and roll I I think every pick and roll when I’m guarding it should be two on two meaning

That he can guard the ball and the roller at once and I think Anthony Davis is the best in the league at this if it’s a zubats now he’s not bad at it either he’s obviously not the level of those guys I named Jared Allen Evan

Mobley ad goar but he’s very good right but often times we need a backside rim protector or backside help from Kawai from Paul George right in Anthony Davis’s case he’s saying don’t help don’t help so that is the scenario I’ve noticed that James Harden can struggle a little

Bit with this this James Harden though the James Harden is prime no no guy in the point of attack is sticking with him off a screen like that he would he was blown by guys left and right but this James Harden what they do is they try to

Take away that pick and roll and they don’t leave anybody open they don’t sag off anyone so it comes down to James Harden knocking down a mid-range or getting to the basket and turning that corner fast hitting a floater and just you know playing basically a two on two

Game in in the middle of the floor so that’s something to look at going forward but I want to emphasize that the fact that the Clippers didn’t do anything it’s not like we needed something we are 34 and 16 we have one of the best chances of winning a

Championship as any team and we have an insane roster we have a super team starting lineup with three stars we have fantastic complimentary role players in brew master teren man and zubot and then we have Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell coming off our bench I mean and here’s another thing most playoff

Rotations are eight to nine guys 10 if you want you know it’s a specific match up you throw in a guy for some spot minutes which is what I think we’re going to do with Ty plumbley the combination of those two against the Denver against a bigger team but in the

Playoffs we don’t want to go super deep in the rotation eight to nine guys and we got a great ninan rotation with our starting lineup and then Norm Russ ty/ plumbley and then Amir and I don’t want to change that up and I think that’s

Part of the reason why they didn’t do a move they don’t want to change that up they don’t want to give up a rotation guy when things are going so well and you’ve won 26 out of the last 32 uh 32 games and I agree with them I agree with

Him it’s not a big deal of course we would have liked to get someone but PJ Washington for 1415 million a year for the next three years like we would have had to give up something and I don’t think they were that interested in PJ

So it is what it is in my opinion we are in a better spot than a lot of teams you got to remember if it’s a zubas is not even 100% right now if you’re worried about Kawhi Leonard and matching up against bigger forwards I think we take

Each match up as it comes not every team in the league is that big I know people are concerned about the Lakers and New Orleans but look if we need to and I said this last episode we can try Tyson plumbley cuz if we’re playing against a Bruiser Team without a stretch forward

With a Bruiser for we can try it we can try it cuz Ty I mean let’s see he’s shooting well from three so far this season I know the volume isn’t very high but he is shooting well so it’s worth the try but the moral of story is guys the Clippers

Felt good Paul George said it right the day before we feel like we have enough and to be honest they do have enough no team is perfect I want to emphasize that to everyone no team is perfect every team has a hole Den Denver lost some depth Off the Bench the Minnesota

Timberwolves second score is Carl Anthony towns and their third one is Mike Conley like they’re half court offense outside of the Ant-Man there’s some there are some question marks to be asked the Thunder are extremely young as great as Jaylen Williams and chadol granar one of those guys is their second

Best player are you going to win a championship with that right now I think that’s a little bit premature the Lakers are in the playin you want to talk about oh we struggle with the Lakers they’re in the playin right now you know so and the Cavs playing the East I wouldn’t

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These guys don’t grow on trees you know Aaron Gordon people were saying Royce O’Neal he’s not necessarily a big forward the Suns got him which I don’t necessarily like that they added Rody from M Grizzlies and uh what was the name I just said oh and Royce

O’Neal yeah does that concern me though that Phoenix did that I mean no it got them a little bit better but I’m not concerned about Royce O’Neal and David Rody I think that they needed some Wing depth though and they got some defensively but it would have been nice

To get some power forward depth now a name that was waved by the Grizzlies that might be interesting to look at is former USC Trojan chimi metu and the reason he got waved is because well he is shooting 51% from the field this year for the Suns in 37 games he was only

Shooting 29% from three and this is a 610 on the skinnier side stretch four and this season he shot 29% from last season 24% from three now he can shoot the he can shoot the ball but he was really comfortable more with that college three the NBA 3 he struggled a

Lot so far but ideally he is a 610 guy if you really just want size and somebody that can shoot open threes and keep the defense honest chimi metu also from USC it might not be a bad you know get but we have 15 guys so you’re going

To have to cut someone and that’s a tough conversation are we going to cut Xavier Moon I mean he’s not really playing for us Primo so I think the Clippers aren’t going to do anything I think they’re going to go into the roster or the playoffs with these nine guys or 10 guys

You had Kobe Brown of the mix that’s 11 Bowen Highland that’s 12 Kobe Brown that’s 13 and then you have the guys in the two-way contracts uh Musa diabate Jordan Miller Josh Primo so there you have it what I’m saying Brandon Boston as well we’ll see I don’t think we’re going

To get chimzi or anybody but it’s an option now a name that’s being floated around and I don’t think it’s very serious especially I mean I floated around on Twitter yesterday but I’m not being that serious however I’m never going to say no if we need a big an

Extra four that can come in for spot minutes take some hits and stretch the floor why not the ultimate home coming for a guy without a job right now the at forward 610 from Oklahoma number 32 B Griffin yeah I’m telling you man it’s obviously illogical not illogical just unlikely but Blake last

Year for this for the uh Celtics he shot 35% from three we know his size if we want an extra body that can stretch the floor a little bit and play some minutes at a time why not Blake now the complicated thing with that is him and balmer’s

Relationship and by the way if you’re saying we don’t want Blake Griffin in 2024 then you’re you’re a what you were asking for of having like a serviceable like actual rotation piece that’s like as good as a mere coffee or someone that’s not logical for what we unless we

Want to give up one of our rotation players and that’s just not the move that’s just not really in my opinion at least you don’t want to you don’t want to mess up a good thing so I would Absol absolutely lose my mind if we got Blake

Griffin but I just think it’s completely unlikely however Steve anybody in the Clippers organization if you’re listening to this we’d love it we’d love nothing more but that’s what I think I don’t think we’re going to pick up anybody um so yeah as I said the Clippers cannot go for the buyout Market

There are a couple teams the following teams can’t sign players off the buyout Market oh who were making at least 12 million this is the rule that we’re making at least 12 million bucks Celtics Clippers Heat nuggets Suns and warriors so there you go we’re not going to be getting anybody

Serious somebody said Danilo galinari but he’s not like he’s a big forward that can stretch the floor but he’s not a guy that we want him against big teams right Gallow is not that type of guy so I think we’re set where we’re at but go

Uh going forward how do we move on we are we have a weakness it’s a hole we’re small in the front line what do we do to counter that for the rest of the season going into the playoffs going to be talking about that coming

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Leonard um kawh Leonard playing at a high level right and guarding so well let’s let’s just you know what I’m gonna just like go in right into the matchups okay the Denver Nuggets right they have Aaron Gordon I’ve said this time and time again Kawhi Leonard can’t handle Aaron

Gordon like I you really think so I don’t I disagree with anyone that thinks that I he’s too athletic he’s this and that really I personally don’t think any forward in the league maybe Giannis because of his sheer size is going to overpower Kawhi Leonard have you seen

Him in person he’s an actual brick house and also I I really believe this there’s a psychological factor with Kawai like people are not going to so people are not going to go at him like that but here’s what I will say against the Nuggets any other person besides Kawai

That we put on him like Paul or Amir or Terren they’re too small so one thing I have to say we might have to match kawai’s minutes with Aaron Gordon we seriously might because I’m afraid of him you know in that high low action with yic he’s so good at throwing those

Law passes and I remember I think it was one of the games earlier this season Aaron Gordon scored like six points on Paul George in one half so Paul George is skinny remember he did slim down he said a couple of uh and I think it was

This past summer in podcast P he was saying that he wasn’t really focused on bulking anymore he was just trying to be slender to still be able to move well and that’s totally fine but I don’t think that Kawai is the like we need Kawai to guard him

Straight up outside of that though like the Denver Nugget they don’t play with two bigs they only had one big last year in the playoffs Jeff Green was playing at the backup five so like the Nuggets it’s about yic but I think we have three centers and that’s great that’s what we

Need like I don’t think I think that the having Tyson plumbley is a blessing in disguise that that plumbley got I should say this I think plumbley getting hurt was a blessing in disguise because we got Ty he played so well that we don’t want to do anything about taking him off

The team or anything like that so now we have three centers remember the the formula to beat the the nuggets with yic and Murray the last time that they were defeated with yic and Murray was the bubble against the Lakers and they had three centers Davis McGee and Dwight so

We need somebody like Dwight obviously we don’t have somebody as physical and good R protecting wise in the off coming off the bench but we just need somebody that can absorb fouls Mason Plumley played with yic for several years so and I think Ty might be able to irritate him

A little bit because if you watch the playoffs last here and I’m not saying these people can guard joic I don’t think anybody in the NBA can guard yic 101 I don’t think NBA anyone in NBA history may be able to guard yic 101 even Bill Russell and aiman who I think

Are like the two best defenders at the center position Nate Thurman I’d probably put in there as well I’m putting on my historic cap it’s hard to guard him one-on-one he has real postgame and turnarounds over both shoulders like what are you supposed to do and he has great pump

Fakes like he doesn’t even get th he doesn’t get this high off the ground and he still finds a way I mean just such a spectacular player so what I noticed though when the Lakers almost beat them in game two last year of the Western Conference Finals or

Was it game it was game one and I remember they were going so crazy like we found something ruy hachimura being like a 6869 big body was able to kind of get underneath joic get physical with him LeBron kind of similarly and they’d have another Defender roaming so I think one a

Strategy that might not be the worst thing in the world is having Ty or Kawai guard joic sometimes just try this and then Zoo roaming off of Aron Gordon um or Off the Bench if Zeke Nagi if Zeke nagi’s playing someone like him um I want to check the Denver

Nuggets role players three-point percentage this year like guys like Payton Watson these guys have kind of this is their first year where they’re really in the rotation you know they do have Reggie this year I love Reggie I think he’s having a really good season but in the playoffs I think that he

Could come back he could hurt them at at times potentially but so let’s see the Denver Nuggets right threo percentage Zeke Nagi is shooting 31% pyton Watson 34 so there you go Christian Brown 37 I mean these are the kind of guys you want to Sag off of now Minnesota they

Are a little bit of a problem kawhai Leonard I have confidence that he can guard Carl Anthony towns I have confidence that Paul George guard Carl Anthony towns because I don’t think C wants to play that physical I think he’s been really good this year and it’s mostly because of his shooting splits

From three a shooting splits and mainly from three but I want to make cat play physical you want him to force him to be a post-up guy force him to get out of his comfort zone which is wild because at Kentucky he was a demon in the post but I don’t

Like remember when we played him in the playin Nico Batum completely shut him down like completely it was insane so I think we can do this a similar kind of thing and look like if we lose to the Timberwolves you you want to blame it on not having another forward we should

Have the star power to defeat them like straight up so how we move on is just playing our Brandon basketball every team as a whole but we need to just be sharp on defense and sharp on offense the main thing is the point of attack we

Got to stay in front of the point of attack stay locked in defensively like I know we can like we did against Boston this team there’s been two different versions of them defensively over the last like I want to say month or two our offense has been lights out which is

What I expected when we got Harden but our defense which was the initial concern when we let go of Nico and roko needs to be sharper and it really comes down to effort because you know guys like Kawai guys like Zoo Terren and Amir and Russ they’ll play defense pretty

Much every single night it’s the other guys you know even Paul George wavering motor James Harden we knew that and it’s been slowing down a little bit defensively James hard starting for him his effort Norman pal I think he’s been really satisfactory throughout the season but Mason Plumley is straight up

Just like not a good Defender so that’s that’s the why I’m Pro Ty and if we need to go big we could even try Ty at the four I know everyone suggested this because Ty is the size of a four but in the modern NBA you know they like big

Four threes playing the four that’s what it’s evolved into Jason Tatum was a three when he first came in the league kawii Leonard was a three they would have never in that early 2010s Tim Duncan era they would have never put kawi at the four unless they were

Blatantly going small ball for a stretch it just was a different game so I want people to realize it is a small ball league we are slowly though starting to see more size in the front Court be a thing for teams and now with joic having won a championship as the best player

Being a center first time since Shaq you’re going to have teams that are going to need multiple bodies to throw at him and thankfully we do and I think a lot of our struggles in like the recent stretch have been because we didn’t have zubot and he’s so important

For the rebounding and our like interior defense and that kind of stuff so like losing to the Lakers let’s see I mean we lost to the I’m going to look at our last couple of losses real quick Cleveland right we missed zubot so much in that game

Majorly I don’t think we lost that game because we didn’t have a second big man I think we lost that game because Paul George was three for 11 and James Harden could only get eight shots off the whole game that’s why we lost so remember what

I said two of the three not playing well that’s the recipe for the clips to lose then we lost the Timberwolves you know who else didn’t play in that game zoo we were starting Daniel Ty I don’t think that’s ideal to start Daniel tyon against the Timberwolves and also Harden

Four for 14 Paul George 5 for9 that’s because you know Zu and zubot is going to help with the screening with those guys especially with Harden so there you go Lakers we lost 106 103 remember that game we did have zubats though so that was the one but again you

Look at that game Kawai 6 for 17 Harden four for 13 so there you go how we go forward is keep playing our Brandon basketball and that simple as that Kawai Leonard though against Aaron Gordon when we play them he might have to be in at all times when he’s in anyway we’ll

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there we got Detroit on Saturday I think it’s uh going to be a win I won’t be there though and that means we’re going to win because I’m undefeated when I’m not at the games we’re undefeated when I’m not at the games this season so 7

To0 on the way you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper content fans be thankful that we didn’t have to do anything at the deadline other teams had to be thankful that we

Didn’t have to and it helps with continuity no big shakeup no integrating New pieces and that can be useful the ageold pr continues go Clippers let me know what you thought of us not making a move in the deadline in the YouTube comments peace and have a great weekend

The LA Clippers made no moves at the trade deadline on Thursday, indicating that they felt good about their team as is. Should they have made a move? Who could they have gotten? Are they going to be okay not making a move?

In this episode, die hard Los Angeles Clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri talks about why the Clippers stayed pat, who they could pick up, and how they can combat their biggest hole going forward.

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