LA Clippers Sideline Reporter Lauren Rosen Joins Show!

LA Clippers Sideline Reporter Lauren Rosen Joins Show!

on today’s show going to be bringing on a very special guest to talk about the Clippers season their experience with the Clippers this season and of course what is next going to be talking about it all on today’s Locked On [Music] Clippers you are Locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the Locked Onet your team every day yes sir you were locking in 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 just finished my 20th season as a Clipper fan been covering the team for 5 years on my own YouTube channel Dimeropper and three years right here on the Locked On Podcast Network your team every day make sure you subscribe on YouTube and hit the notification bell so you know every single time we post a video and of course listen wherever you get your podcast for today’s episode I promised a very special guest and I don’t bluff when it comes to that whenever we get a member of the actual Clippers broadcast that is a very special occasion so joining me is one of the best or part of the best sideline reporter local tandem in the league alongside Christina Pink just finishing her first year as Clippers sideline reporter from FanDuel Sports Network it’s our very own Lauren Rosen for the first time on Locked on Clips lauren thanks so much for making the time darian it is an honor and it was an honor to be introduced in that way shout out second shout out of the show 30 seconds into Miss Christina Pink she is fantastic she has been just the most welcoming kind like I could not have gotten luckier and while we’re at it we’ll shout out Brian Seaman Jim Jackson Coach Patello like I got so lucky and that’s before we even talk about the team the dome and everything that of course we don’t we didn’t love the ending but the way that the team rallied and exceeded expectations overall this season it was the best first season ever right so you mentioned the team we’re going to talk about what’s next but I also first want to talk to you about you you know I want the fans to get to know you a little bit so give us your background before this season what was your experience in I guess reporting NBA basketball and just your journey to this point sure so I’ll take you I’ll take you back um I went to Duke for my undergrad and while I was there College Game Day came to town a ton and they always hired students to be production runners which is just a fancy way of saying get coffee drive talent from point A to point B stock the snack table and I was fortunate enough to be one of those students towards the end of my college career that got to do that so I was working up close and personal with ESPN talent in my early 20s and they hired me to do some remote events so I did final fours I did the NBA draft and that was when I decided oh this is what I want to do and unfortunately I was a little late to the game because a lot of folks that are broadcasters kind of knew from a much younger age that this is what they wanted to do i sort of said okay listen I’m about to graduate from college and I don’t have this training so let me figure out how to get it done and I was so lucky to be in that environment because I was able to build relationships and mentors with folks that were already doing what I now do at the highest level some that I’m still in touch with today um and so I ended up going and getting a second degree in journalism a lot of people ask me if they should get the second degree education in this country is far too expensive Darian for me to recommend that formally but it ended up being really great for me because I didn’t have the training yet so I went and got my second degree at Northwestern um I worked for the Chicago Bulls during that time i’m trying to go quickly for you i don’t want to bore your audience because I love your audience whoa wait wait before you keep going though where are you originally from i had something I always wanted to Oh my goodness you wanted me to go all the way back so I was born in the Bay Area i was born in the Bay Area i won’t tell you what year but I was born in the Bay Area i lived for a little bit of my childhood in New York City but I really grew up in Houston Texas so my whole childhood growing up I was a I was a Texas girl moved out when I could i was ready to I was ready to sort of fly the nest North Carolina then we went to Chicago after my year in Chicago at Northwestern and with the Bulls that was when I started working for the Sixers so prior to this season I spent six seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers that’s where I got sort of my full-time start really cut my teeth got to know the industry got to understand the NBA went on the road for the first time uh understood what an 82 game cycle plus playoffs looks like for the first time went through the pandemic there uh my frontal lobe developed there so I credit Philly to a lot of who I am now because those were such formative years and of course I wouldn’t have been able to to get this role with the Clippers and graduate out of my my role with the Sixers without my experience there um but I was ready and I was so excited like this is the dream job what I’m getting to do currently and I try to remind myself every time I get to do it so six seasons in Philly and then moved over to the Clips last season and it was without a doubt the greatest season of my career just so special in so many ways so we can get into that if you’re interested but that was the that’s the trajectory no Steve I had questions listed but now I have like the follow-up questions go ahead listen I got time today so we can we can go so f first off um when you went to Duke well actually no first I want to go back even further were you a Houston sports fan growing up like the Houston Rockets and stuff no shame if you were of course i asked if I watched James Harden play in the Toyota Center in high school the answer is yes which dates me a little but not too much because he was there for a while right yeah I was i was Houston sports fan i rooted for the Texans the Astros the Rockets the whole thing i went to Rockets games with my dad uh so I remember a few Clipper favorites in their Rockets days um from my time as a fan that’s awesome okay so when you went to Duke what was your um because I did journalism for my undergrad what What was your original major so I majored in English political science and theater studies i always thought I wanted to work in politics and as that became realer and realer closer to my graduation I decided for a plethora of reasons that that wasn’t for me and I enjoyed the ESPN experience so much that so many of the skills I was learning in political science I tell this I tell people this all the time are super transferable to sports like it’s kind of the closest thing you can get politics and sports there’s usually two teams there’s tons of work and power and lots at stake facing off against one another there are usually winners and losers the way that you tell a political story isn’t that different from how you tell a story in sports and so I was able to luckily take some transferable skills out of that degree that I worked really hard to get and you’d think maybe I don’t use all that much in my day-to-day now what what made you want to go back to school and do journaling uh yeah so it was literally that ESPN experience i had never had an experience where I saw someone working and I said “Oh bingo i want to do that.” And it was when I was working with Jay Bilis Jay Williams Reese Davis Seth Greenberg and Maria Taylor that I sort of watched the show they were putting together for Basketball College Game Day and I said “That’s what I want to do and I think I could but there’s a lot of distance between me and them what do I need to do to sort of cover that distance and that’s why I realized I needed a little bit more formal education okay let me ask you this when you saw them doing College Game Day and you said “I can see myself doing that.” What role did you see did you see maybe I want to be a a host at the table do I want to be a sideline reporter yes yes and yes um I was really I I was really drawn to what Reese was doing because Reese is sort of one of the all-time greats as far as navigating a conversation with multiple personalities personalities coming in and out he also is incredibly kind so I’ll always just remember the way that he treated people i think that I was super attracted to maybe having his exact role and treating people the way that he did at some point in my career and then obviously watching Maria at that time who was like this really upand cominging wonderful reporter um I knew that that was something that I was attracted to as well obviously there’s a big component to what women were doing at the time and I’m lucky that since then there are a lot of women working as analysts working as play-by-play but it wasn’t really on my radar at the time that I decided to go for it and I think that’s probably why I was most attracted to sort of that host or reporter role um that I saw them doing nice okay that makes a lot of sense um so when you started working for the Sixers that was did you get that through like because I’m always wondering you know because there’s people out there so many so many people out there that are looking to to make something of themselves in the field and journalism is super competitive like for me I graduated during COVID and I didn’t have too much experience under my belt so I was envisioning potentially going back to school for more formal education as well but um I ended up getting you know I started my own thing and then locked on came around i kind of got it from there so I’ve just been steady going with it but um my question was going to be so yeah how did the Sixers job come around and getting into the NBA world was it just through the connections from Duke and whatnot i’m sorry from Northwestern no so what it really was I will be super honest it was a lot of Twitter DMs it was a lot of cold emailing it was a lot of applying to stuff online and never hearing back uh I sort of decided I was going to reach out to folks and and I knew the NBA best at that point because I had been so closely tied to college basketball and then I had done a year as I was on the PR side but with the Bulls I really loved the environment i loved the game and at that point I knew the game really well so I sort of looked around the NBA and I said “Okay here’s a list of people whose job I would love to have someday.” And I just got writing i I found a platform to reach out to each of them uh there’s a man by the name of Brian Seltzer who was the internal reporter for the 76ers prior to me going over there i reached out to him he was one of very few people i mean Darian I think I would say like three of every 50 people that you reach out to blind actually respond and are willing to have a conversation and he was one of them um so I had friends living in Philly at the time i said “Hey I’m I’m probably going to be in Philly sometime this summer any chance we could grab a coffee?” And he said “Why don’t you come to the facility?” like he was just so nice so friendly and I said “Of course tell me when and where and I’ll be there.” And as it turned out they were hiring someone at the time to write for the website so previews recaps um just like sort of snackable content for sixers.com they needed an internal voice to take all of that on i had been trained at that point in broadcast i knew I wanted to be a broadcaster but I also knew I really wanted to be in the NBA so when an NBA content job came open I was like I need to try this and see if I can parlay it into something else so sure enough took that role was really writing for the site for my first year started doing some podcasting then started doing some on camera stuff so I had to like you said there’s no linear path right you graduated in the pandemic you start your own thing now you’re podcasting you’re I I see your content you’re doing a ton right it’s no one has the same story that you have and no one has the same story that I have as far as all the people that I’ve met in and around the industry um and that happened to be my path but again it’s not one that I would necessarily recommend to folks that reach out what I recommend is that you’re really tenacious and you figure out what you want to do and then figure out what your steps are going to be to get there remind me how many years you said you worked for the Bulls i didn’t even know that part of your career just one i was a I was a PR intern so back then there was no automatic transcription like the there transcribing apps that a lot of reporters I still do it all by hand i I don’t know why but I should probably at some point yield to the technology um but that wasn’t a thing at the time so my role with them was going to every presser coaches players pregame postgame recording and then heading back to the media room and typing everything up blasting it out to the reporters and that was a role at the time because there was no automatic transcription i think I would be willing to guess that most teams use the automatic stuff now but because it didn’t exist I got to have my start around an NBA team for a season which sort of confirmed what I already knew which is that that was where I wanted to go right and coming up we’re going to talk more about life as an NBA sideline reporter with the Sixers and of course your LA Clippers all right back here with Clippers sideline reporter Lauren Rosen and I wanted to ask about so what year was it when you first got on camera in the broadcast with the Sixers as a sideline reporter um never to answer your question formally yeah yeah so I did pretty much everything but um I was I was hosting pre and post during the pandemic that was sort of I think when I started being a a face that that fans saw on camera during the pandemic there were very few reporters that were allowed in being a team employee i got to be part of towards the end of the season at least the red zone it’s there all the there’s all this language that we used during the pandemic that so doesn’t exist anymore but I think based on my access and my availability they s sort of started putting me in more of the positions that I already wanted to be in right so I would do and I’m I’m not joking I was by myself at a table in the arena doing a 30 minute pregame show um it was co-hosted with someone who was remote so that was sort of when fans got accustomed to seeing me um I did a lot of podcasting i did a lot of radio but the fun fact is no I never did sideline for the Sixers wow okay so I didn’t know that my apologies for that because I No it’s okay listen honestly I like that you think I did because that makes me feel better well because because I saw when we were talking in that playback with uh Sean shout out to Sean he uh seemed familiar with you so I figured that all these Sixers fans knew you but I didn’t realize it wasn’t silent but you were still on camera i was I was doing a lot of digital stuff i was I was doing uh walk-off interviews postgame interviews halftime stuff depending on the season depending on what content was sold and so that’s why I’ve had reps doing everything that I now do for the Clippers but not all in one game not all season long uh and that’s exactly what I wanted was to have that consistency that sort of formal structure that people are used to seeing the person in my role doing and the Clippers offered me that and so that was you were doing all that for the Sixers all the way up until the 2023 24 season right yeah all the way up until training camp last season i went to training camp with the Philadelphia 76ers last year wow mamas when I found out about this job and before we segue to the Clippers I know the Clipper fans might get annoyed that I’m asking so much about all this other stuff but uh what about we can fast forward a couple minutes if they need to it’s okay actually no they won’t we got to get to know our our people on screen but how how was it working with um Mark Zumov he’s a pretty big name in the I mean for the Sixers I mean it could hear yeah legend so my first couple years I was with Mark and then my last couple years I was with Kate Scott and they are both spectacular in different ways mark was obviously a voice that was there for decades people associate his voice with the Iverson era they associate his voice with the process he he was a true like local legend so good at what he did so beloved and then watching Kate Scott come in and have to take over and I I’ll remind you that Kate and Lisa Bington were the two first Yep nba female playby-play announcers they started in the same season lisa of course is in Milwaukee kate is in Philadelphia and so for Kate to have to take over in a market that was as intense as Philadelphia and be the first she had a tall tall order to complete and watching her body it over time was really special she and I also are close friends so I’ll add that but watching her move through that space for the first time taking over filling these huge shoes with her small feet was really really special and so yeah I’ve been really lucky throughout now Sixers two Clippers to work with amazing play-by-play folks i hope you’re gonna ask me about Brian so let’s make sure let’s make sure we get back to Brian of course we coming over here now was it just like “Oh the Clippers need another sideline reporter uh and you were and they came to you.” Like how did that happen yeah I mean I listen I don’t know luckily I have an agent and she is incredible um I don’t Yeah I don’t know they needed someone to do the B-side of of Christina’s games i was asked if I was interested it was an enthusiastic yes um spoke to some folks one thing led to another and I get a phone call at training camp asking if I wanted to come out to LA and I said yes um so it was really cool it was it was the sideline opportunity and then Christina and I on the road do the pre and postgame show as well so getting to sort of let’s tie it back to my ESPN experience when I was just holding Starbucks trays getting to do Reese’s job and Maria’s job right in the same game i mean that was literally the dream um and so it was a pretty it was a pretty quick and easy yes for me yeah and I mean especially with all the stuff that Christina does with the NFL on Fox you definitely get a lot of you know opportunities and a lot of Oh they me right in they threw me right in the beginning of the season um I got to go on the road a ton i My first two games were the second two games of the season so games two and three we were at Denver and at Golden State it was a backtoback so we won them and we won them both and yes we did and I that first game listen I got some positive feedback god bless anyone that said nice things to me after the first game but I was so nervous and I was so self-critical and the best thing that could have happened players talk about this is to have to go do it again the next day that’s the beauty of the NBA season right is you don’t have a lot of time to dwell on whatever performance happened in Denver because by the time you you’re done processing it you’re in a new city and you’ve got to be prepared for the next day you got to know the scout for the next day so um just a really cool whirlwind getting through those first two games i’ll never forget either of them shout out to everybody on that broadcast crew that that trip would have been me Brian and Jim and they’re just oh my god they’re the best steven Rose our producer like it it’s it’s a family affair they welcomed me in so quickly and if they hadn’t I might have been even more of a ball of nerves than I was yeah tell me about that uh adjustment to LA living in LA being part of the Clippers organization and seeing you know the difference the Sixers are a pretty storied franchise the Clippers are obviously you know we’re trying to make something of ourselves in recent years with Balmer and all that and you’ve obviously mentioned Brian and Jim and all those guys if you want to mention more go ahead but yeah that adjustment to the Clippers organization and the city of LA yeah more parallels than you would think between Philly and LA and that’s not just because so many players have played in both on both teams during my tenure but it it was familiar because I had already I wasn’t in any rooms that I hadn’t been in i had been on the road with Philly right so obviously Intuit Dome was new to everybody but I had been to LA once a year we had played the Clippers once a year i had plenty of familiarity with Tailoo i had plenty of familiarity with the players that I was going to work with the ones that I had worked with as Sixers and the others right so luckily I had that comfort level i knew what it was like to go on the road with an NBA team i knew what the schedule would look like i had friends of friends that knew different people in the front office so I I can’t even tell you the transition was so so smooth and that really is a credit to the Clippers and to FanDuel the the folks that I had to deal with every day could not have been more welcoming and they didn’t have to be right we’re all professionals everybody’s there to do a job you don’t have to really help the person that’s sitting next to you that has nothing to do with what you’re doing and everybody did like I was I cannot say enough good things about that group especially in those first few weeks because it’s it’s a lot it’s a lot anytime anyone gets a new job Darian it’s a It’s anytime you move across the country like come on that’s a lot for everybody so the fact that so many people went out of their way to make me feel really comfortable and really welcome i will never forget those first few weeks and and really the first season amazing amazing and coming up we’re going to talk a little bit more about some of the players on the Clippers how they are to cover and of course what’s next i got to tell you a little something about FanDuel America’s number one sports book the NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlightw worthy performances major momentum shifts and can’t miss moments whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player there’s never been a better time to get in on the action fanduel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props performance trends and same game parlays fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big if you’ve got a read on who’s heating up why not back it up with a same game parlay the Indiana Pacers are still plus 265 to win the NBA championship so if you want to bet on them and you’re feeling good about it after game one go ahead the odds are still good new to FanDuel it’s the perfect time to sign up head to fanduel.com and place your first $5 bet if it wins you’ll get $200 in bonus bets make every moment more with FanDuel official sports betting partner of the NBA all right so back talking here about not your rookie season in the NBA but rookie season as a member of the Clippers um we always consider everybody that comes to the broadcast or the family a member of Clipper Nation now let me ask you about Clipper Nation themselves you know we are a fan base that a lot of people on the outside say “Oh Clipper fans really exist.” I mean when I think about LA I always think Laker Nation all the way through but we have such a passionate fan base how was your interaction with them and what did you I know I asked you this I think on my vlog but what did you learn about us that I maybe you didn’t realize until coming over here well listen I think a lot of people learned a lot about Clipper Nation this season i think back most poignantly to game three of round one the first playoff game at Into It Dome the first playoff game and first playoff win in into Into a Dome history and the way that folks even online I’m very online I see everything i read everything i probably shouldn’t but the way that folks online around the league reacted to the videos that folks were putting out about what the wall looked like what the swell was like how loud it was in that building how full that building was prior to tip off because I’ve been in a lot of playoff environments and I can tell you that there are playoff arenas around the league not not Philly but but some of the teams that Philly went out and played where the building’s like half empty at tip off for a playoff game like come on now we got to we got to lock in and Clippers fans are super duper locked in i will add that going on the swell plane to game seven I met and got to talk to so many people that were part of this image that I had digested at that point 82 times and everybody not only are they so passionate but they’re positive which I think is really refreshing and listen I know that there’s plenty to gripe about as part of a fandom of any team but the positivity on that plane bus to bus even flying home everybody was just so thrilled to be part of something special and I think that meant a lot to me so that’s probably the lasting image that I’m going to have of Clipper Nation at least to get me through the summer but it’s one that I’m never going to forget the way that everybody showed up that morning hopped on the plane flew back and was able to stay positive despite a loss like it was just such a cool thing to see up close and personal we had seen the wall and the swell but to meet the people that sit in in row seven seat 14 like to put a face to the seat was really special i had a great time and I’m just I’m sad that that was our last game of the season but I’m so happy that I I was able to have that experience because it was so unique and I know you know that now other teams are kind of taking notice and trying to emulate what Mr bomber was able to do for game seven it was so special yeah that Indiana video was exactly like the one that we filmed um I should have been on that plane but I got to fix my sleeping habits i missed the I literally was too late for the email it was Well and you were grinding you were at the plaza doing content we all saw your content don’t worry you still made the most of the experience and I How about those Plaza watch parties too i got to be those were really special like the the the community that is being built in just the first year i think everybody around the league is looking over there and being like okay Nation is really serious and I love that this group of fans was able to project that so early uh in the existence of their new home yeah and of course I mean I mentioned rookie season for you as being part of this but to do this the first year of Into a Dome i mean that is something special the Into a Dome era the Lauren Rosen era maybe we do a little bit of that but um I don’t know about all that but yeah it was very special really really cool i mean even just like just to just to take you on a quick little tangent there um watching opposing teams come into the building and see it for the first time the best watching Kevin Durant seek out Steve Balmer to go where I need to find him and tell him how amazing this is having uh Sixers come in they were one of the first teams to play on the road at into a Dome sixers come in and find me and say “Are you kidding this is where you get to come to work.” And I said “I know it’s pretty nice right?” Like the way that folks reacted around the league was really special and I can only imagine I felt it as a firsttime Clipper right yeah how it must have felt to the folks that have really been on the ground since day one in the trenches part of this project fans of this project it was so special for me and I had so few touch points up until the beginning of the season so I can only imagine what it was like for everybody else yeah i mean completely surreal we we we were able to you know periodically go check out the progress of the stadium when it was being built and I remember standing there when it was just dirt and like to see it all come together and be in like these different lounges and clubs and by courtside i mean it is it still is surreal so that was I think the biggest win of the season besides the fact that we made the playoffs was this first year at Intuit the celebration with all the fans that was something that I cherished very much now let me ask you about some of the players i mean so someone like James Harden who you worked with uh with Philly and here with LA he’s somebody that the media has so many differing opinions on i wanted to ask you since you worked a little bit closer with him as you know a local uh media member what is What was it like what is it like covering someone like James Harden for two different stops you know what I mean what do people not know about him that maybe the media doesn’t say to the fans yeah well it’s surreal we already talked about my Houston roots right understanding sort of not just what he meant to the Rockets but what he means to the city of Houston james is James and his foundation his Impact 13 foundation is one of the most intentionally philanthropic players in the NBA and he doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it especially for someone who does garner so much attention for his off-c court persona the way that he pours into these communities by the way the things that are broadcasted are one thing but he does a ton in silence that folks don’t know about and and seeing the way that when he was in Philly he was pouring in in Philly now he’s in LA and obviously LA is really special to him he’s pouring in there but when we go back to Houston he’s hosting events through his foundation in Houston he did a Christmas event through his foundation in Dallas he is one of the most intentional when it comes to giving back it means a lot to him and to his family so I’ll start there and I know that that’s that’s boring and that’s sort of what what folks expect to hear you say but not everybody does it that way and so James deserves a ton of credit for for how much he’s doing out there he is also just a legend right like when we look back during 2000s tens what are we going to call this 20s tens and 20s basketball right not only was he one of the faces of this era he’s one of the greatest scorers to ever play the game and I think that was lost as well let’s now add a level the longevity the longest active streak of he’s made the playoffs 16 consecutive seasons he’s added something to his game he was an all-star for many years and now he’s an all-star again he’s so committed to evolving right he’s a scoring champ and then he’s an assist champ and now he’s he’s whatever the team needs he’s he’s sort of the ultimate chameleon and I don’t know if there’s been a an offensive player as prolific but as malleable and as much of a chameleon as James Harden has been throughout his career so I think on and off the court hopefully the picture that I’m painting for you and your audience Darian is this is someone that does not get nearly enough positive attention and make no mistake these players understand why they get criticized this is the era where everyone is allowed to have a voice everyone is allowed to have something to say but when it comes to James I do wish that there was more credit given where I believe it is well and truly due especially considering how hard people are willing to be on him for by my estimation no reason yeah that’s I mean that’s those are some great points i’m happy to hear that especially the philanthropic work i feel like that’s something he doesn’t get enough credit for let me ask you this who were some interesting players to cover or talk to or interview that you were like “Oh I didn’t know that this person had maybe this personality.” who gives who gives like the good answers whereas as a reporter like I like talking to this person because I know they’re going to give me thorough answers i mean I love talking to Kawhai kawawaii is hilarious yes and and here’s something that I’ll say i think that he not unlike James but in a different way might not get enough credit for how much he how much he does and how challenging it is by the way for every player I I make this comparison a lot Darian when I’m done with a broadcast when Brian and Jim are done with the broadcast no one asks us to spend 60 seconds playing the way that a player is forced in a full sweat to come over and not only be interviewed but be charming and be funny and be you know what I mean like be be something completely different from what you were just dialed in doing by the way you’re one of the best in the world doing what you were just doing for the last two and a half hours now come do something completely different this is not what they are trained to do this is not what they are paid to do obviously there are certain things that are contractual obligations when it comes to working with media but just because Kawaii isn’t necessarily the most naturally um vivacious in media doesn’t mean that he is not hilarious and smart and thoughtful so I loved working with him for the first time because that was sort of a personality that I I didn’t know exactly what I was going to get but he could not have been lovelier um on the opposite side of the coin when you look at sort of like an introvert extrovert spectrum Chris Dunn I knew you were going to say that just a ball of personality oh my goodness we did this uh Lexus series where we were able to sort of go out in the community and and visit different establishments nico Batum participated Evita Zubas participated and Chris Don participated and with Chris he didn’t even need me there because he’s so naturally charming and chatty and has stories to tell and he’s so animated it’s like he can go and he is just he’s so energetic he’s thoughtful he’s kind um so I would say in terms of of players that I was working with for the first time those two I don’t know though but now now I want to talk about Ivita Zubots who is everything everything that everyone advertises yeah yeah just lovely thoughtful interesting introspective really hard on himself and just a great interview overall like he really thinks he answers thoughtfully he’s happy to do it even though it’s his second language too i always try to think about that like not only are they asking you to come do something that has nothing to do with your job now you have to do it in a different language like they the guys don’t get enough credit for those moments that we put them in um and so I would say that that who am I missing i mean Norm is a delight they’re all I had a really good I’m not blowing smoke i had a really good experience with everybody this year no that’s amazing and I I mean it’s great to hear the different sides of you know Kawawaii’s personality and how you like working with him and especially Chris Dunn we saw so many of those you know like uh extrovert kind of moments from Chris Dunn throughout the season now let me ask you the last question as far as the team you know obviously you mentioned slightly disappointing inning but we still had a very good season what’s the next step for the Clippers what do you think we can do i’m not asking for players specifically because I know you said that but what you know areas of the team what what do we have to look forward to next season because we do have a little bit of an older roster you know with Kawan Harden being our best players um but there was a lot of good stuff to take like if it’s Zubots’s development and all that so what do you think the Clippers what are the positives to look forward to next year besides just year two of the into it dome i mean that’s a big one so I’m glad you got that one out of the way i I I urge people to sort of reconsider the season at a glance when I came in and by the way I wanted to give you this shout out much earlier in our conversation but I got this job like I said training camp had begun preseason had begun teams were fully formed already i didn’t know the Clippers roster i didn’t know what was going on dayto day with the Clips i was at the last day of Sixers training camp and I went on my phone and I went into the podcast app and I said “I got to start listening to some Clippers pods.” and you were the first one that popped up i listened I listened to Locked On on the Beach in the Bahamas as I was sort of starting to spin my gears about this real possibility that I was going to make this cross country move in the next two weeks so thank you well done thank you they always You never know who’s listening yeah exactly you do you never know who’s listening so um to answer the question though what’s next let’s so season at a glance at that point the conversation surrounding the Clippers was gosh this team’s probably not going to make the playin and that of course was more of an external expectation and and my understanding is that the team always knew that it could do more than what the national media was saying but I was a consumer of that national media at the time so to come in to an environment where okay maybe you’re going to make the playoffs maybe Kawaii is going to come back maybe this team is going to be fully healthy and instead to skip the playin make the playoffs be fully healthy and by the way the being fully healthy thing was extremely strategic that was a year-long plan that they were able to implement for Kawaii shout out major shout out to the Clippers medical staff that worked right so if we talk about silver linings they found something there this season health in this league is the number one thing people say the best ability is availability but I think it’s more specific than that it’s health right so as far as things to look forward to this is a team that was going to be maybe the 12 13 14 seed if you ask someone in Philly that made the playoffs and really made noise i look at the teams that played in the Western Conference Finals and I do think that the Clippers matched up pretty well with both of them we of course didn’t get to see a fully healthy Clippers Timberwolves real matchup in the season but based on what I saw in the playoffs and what we saw from the Clippers in the last few weeks of the regular season I would have loved to see that series i would have loved to see the Clippers try to take it to OKC because I’ll remind you that the first healthy appearance between those two teams was by my estimation probably with the exception of that Golden State game at the end of the season where there were high stakes i would say the Clippers OKC add into a dome at the end of the season was probably the best regular season game of the year and the Clippers almost had them like it was one of those ones where you went home being like oo seven games of this would be a lot of fun so I think to go from a team where the expectations were pretty low that ended up making some really legitimate noise in the playoffs this season and understanding that we could have a pretty similar compliment of players back next season that are only more comfortable with one another that are comfortable in their new home that have garnered a little more respect probably from their peers around the league there’s a lot of good there and I don’t think that it was fully realized this team did not reach its full potential and of course only one team gets to win every year so I we always have to remind folks that it’s hard right it’s really hard to win look at the the favorite at the time of this recording the favorite might not even be the favorite in the finals coming out of game one probably still the favorite but you you you hear what I’m saying it’s only one team gets to win and the presumptive favorite in these finals is the team that was the best all season long it’s really hard to take team by team down overtime so to wrap that up I just think that there was a lot of unrealized goodness on top of the goodness that we got this season and so if I’m a Clipper fan I’m excited about what next season could bring yeah i mean Kawhai going into the offseason healthy is something he hasn’t been healthy going into an offseason since the 2020 2021 season where we made it to the conference finals that was obviously our best finish ever and then if it’s a Zubots’s development that is something that everyone’s gonna look forward to another year of that and I feel like the second half of the season is when we started looking at him as more of like a goto guy fans have been asking for more Zoo touches for a long time and I hope that going into the start of next season we’ll look at him as that and and kind of make it so that like hey let’s get to Zubots into the All-Star game because he was creeping around in that conversation obviously got defense all defensive team nod an alldefensive team nod but we want to see him get into that all-star game especially given that it’s going to be right here in our backyard at our house into a dome this upcoming year so yeah you have something to say about that well just the amount of respect that he earned for himself by the end of that playoff run too understanding that Joic had one of his toughest playoff series perhaps at least in the prime of his career yeah because of Ivita Zubots like the credit that that he didn’t have at the beginning of the season when folks were calling him a top five center in the NBA and being sort of laughed out the building to the end of the season where he might have been a top three center and of course some folks were injured some guys had off seasons whatever he did it and I am so impressed by him I am so excited that he’s still a Clipper I’m so excited that well I mean listen this is a such a homegrown success story too when you consider what he came down the all at crypto for right and the way that he was sort of counted out throughout his career to what he has become clipper Nation is lucky wi with that guy and and as great as he was on the court he is just so lovely off the court he’s so easy to root for so yes had to give had to give Big Zoo his flowers before we moved on yeah it seems like everybody that I’ve talked to about the people that have actually come into contact with Zoo and know him have only said good things since I’ve since he’s been at Clippers yeah so that’s amazing to hear so here’s my final questions for you what are some personal goals for you for year two you know in your own work you know i know you probably have some oh my god i mean listen um we said we were going to circle back to Brian so let’s do it so Brian and I share in common that we like to go back through the film just like just like players do i I try to watch right after the game i’ll at least watch I’ll make sure I watch my hits i’ll make sure I watch the the postgame show or or whatever I can whatever’s available right after but now we’re sort of going through the process and I know he does this as well of watching every game again and just sort of figuring out where you can improve on the margins i watched myself from season one and there’s a ton that I could improve on especially in those early games where I was treading water i was the duck that was sort of like smooth on the surface but underneath I was really really paddling i’m excited about season two because I’m more comfortable so given the opportunity to go back into similar situations with comfort and confidence I hope that I can give an even better story to to fans every night and it it was just it was great it was such a good experience but I’m very hard on myself and I have a lot to say about how I performed in season 1 so I’m very excited to take a year two leap as they say you know what’s funny to talk about and this is just because I’m like a Clipper super fan and I’m like very into the intricacies of the broadcast because I obviously like I remember it doesn’t have to be the last question by the way i got like I said I have time yeah we’re already over the locked on threshold but whatever i’ll talk more and see what I can do about it okay no no no just bring me back come around we’ll do part two we got to get you on my own show as well i haven’t done a episode on Dime Dropper in a while okay um but um No but I could still ask this uh but this is what I was going to say make a comment about that first game against Denver on the road i remember it and this was I didn’t know you yet right so I remember I think they asked you to basically like carry the halftime show but your face wasn’t on screen but like narrating right like about what was going on like reading the box going on that’s the halftime road format yep and I was like wow because I didn’t know whether you had been like a silent reporter in the past i was like this is a new face to me so I’m like they’re making her do all this her first game like that’s kind of a lot like that would be nervous if I was doing that i mean on the upside on the upside I was busy the whole time right so like there was not a lot of time to reflect on whatever little mistake I thought I had made because we were on to the next thing and I did a lot of things for the first time that night and we talk about first times as as I me and my friends and and folks that are into the like wellness space we talk about how tough the first time you do anything is and it’s tough but it gets so much easier so the fact that I got to knock out all those things for the first time on night one and then improve on night two definitely helpful thank you for noticing um and and I hope I hope I did you guys proud even on night one no you seemed I mean especially after though you seemed so much so very comfortable after that where I was like okay really a natural especially when I interviewed you in my vlog i was like yeah this you can clearly tell this person’s like made to talk in front of the camera thank you i wasn’t maybe I don’t know if I was made for it but I worked to get to this point forever yeah well you see me for it now I should say um now this is my last question for any and I asked this to Brian too for anybody that’s working in you know being part of an NBA broadcast or an NBA team there’s so much traveling how much of like a social life do you guys get to have i mean I know they have kids and all that i’m assuming you don’t have kids yet or anything like that no not yet like how much of that do you get to have you know what I mean it’s such a good question and I’ll give you two answers the off seasonason I I have time right so in the offseason I can really I can see my people i can sort of travel around the country from city to city seeing my people i’m going to go see my parents in Houston next week um during the season it’s a grind but the special part about it the longer you spend in the league every city I travel to I know somebody right whether it’s my counterpart on the sidelines or somebody in the booth or a former player on the opposing team so the social life maybe is generated by the environment a little bit getting to see old friends everywhere you go uh spending time I get to sit next to Carlo Jimenez on the plane getting to yuck it up with him every day getting to pick Brian’s brain or or ask Coach Fello about his experiences or talk to Christina like I I’ve gotten really lucky in all of my stops that I’ve been able to make close friends among the folks that I’m with on a day-to-day because as you alluded to it is a little tough with all the travel to build a thriving social life um outside of of our community that’s sort of the traveling circus that that moves through the season that’s so cool though that you I mean there’s no city you wouldn’t know anyone bes Well you travel with your your people so you probably have someone right well I mean we travel all together as a team too right so even if I even if I’m not excited to see somebody when we land there’s someone I’m excited to grab dinner with on the plane right uh it’s it’s a great it’s a really I’m so lucky i’ve been telling people anyone that’ll listen it’s a great group um top to bottom and there are so many people that I didn’t really get to know last season that I hope I can get to know better this season and and we’re really lucky they do a lot they do a lot for us to make sure everybody’s comfortable to make sure everybody’s having a positive experience so I was definitely the benefactor of of all those things this season amazing amazing well Lauren thank you so much for joining me this has been awesome thank you for having me this has been great let people know where they can find you oh perfect lauren M as in Moose Lauren M rosen on all platforms i’m I’m developing i’m trying to be better about social this summer as well so if anybody has feedback you can find me there as well like I said I do read everything i don’t respond to everything but I do read everything do you want to plug the playback i know you’re trying to get that going a little bit yeah sure um my room is Lauren Rosen on playback nba YAP is what we’re calling it um I’m looking to do a lot more maybe some WNBA as the summer goes along and then next season u perhaps some non- Clippers NBA games on there playback’s a cool app i’m enjoying it over there so come on over and join my room as we call it there there we go yep join the room follow along on everything and of course stay tuned with next season and we’re going to see her next season of course on c on our screens you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at dimedropper pod and subscribe to my own YouTube channel Dimeropper and of course Locked on Clippers for all things LA Clippers lauren we’ll talk soon hopefully sounds good we definitely will thanks for having me thank you go Clippers

LA Clippers sideline reporter Lauren Rosen joins die hard Los Angeles Clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri to discuss her career, joining the Clippers this season, working with Brian Sieman and the crew, and more.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOClippers?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#Clippers #LosAngelesClippers #NBA #KawhiLeonard #PaulGeorge