Biggest Things Holding The LA Clippers Back From Winning A Title

Biggest Things Holding The LA Clippers Back From Winning A Title

On today’s show, what are the biggest things that are going to hold the Clippers back from winning the championship? I’m going to be telling you on today’s Locked On Clippers. You are Locked On Clippers, your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. 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. Been a Clipper fan for 20 years. Been covering the team on my own YouTube channel, Dime Dropper for five, and right here on the Locked On Podcast Network for three. Your team every day. Make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell so you know every single time we post a video. And of course, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. On today’s show, we’re going to be talking about the biggest reasons why we won’t win the championship. And I know what everyone’s going to be saying, “How could you be making an episode like this? That’s so negative.” But no, nobody’s actually picking the Clippers to win the championship. I don’t even think Clipper fans are picking us to win the championship. But I’d say we still have a chance. We still have a better chance than most teams in the NBA. So, I’m going to be talking about what reasons prevent people from picking us as like one of the top three, top four favorites. And I think the first one is our age and how that relates to our health and of course the doubt people have about our stars James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and of course, as some fans have about Tailoo. Before we get started, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel, America’s number one sports book. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your future bets now. And funny enough, I think it’s a good place to start to talk about FanDuel because as far as the champion, we’re not even top six in the odds. We’re actually ninth in terms of odds. So, we’re top third of the league, which is great. You know, we are still being picked higher than 21 other teams to win the championship at plus,900 odds. But I don’t think anyone, if you put a gun to their head and said, “Pick the NBA champion right now for 2026.” I don’t think people would really say the Clippers. Unless you’re just like a, you know, optimistic Clipper fan that probably picks us every year. The fact of the matter is this, we are an old team. We were just reported to be the oldest team in NBA history going into this season with I believe an average age of about 32 or 33 years old. And the reason why I think that’s an issue potentially is because the NBA’s only gotten younger. You know, the teams that were just in the finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, they were two of the youngest teams in the championship that we’ve ever seen against each other. The Thunder were the second youngest championship team in the history of the league after the 77 Blazers with an average age of average age of 25.6 years, and the Indiana Pacers were not that far behind at 26 years old on average. We are on the older side. So that matters and it matters because legs, you know, this is a fastpaced league. By the way, the average age of the Clippers right now is 33.2 years old. This makes them the oldest team in NBA history, surpassing the previous record held by the 2001 Utah Jazz. So yeah, we are the oldest team in the history of the league. And I don’t think in a young man’s league right now that’s a very good thing. That’s just the truth. Now what Lawrence Frank will tell you and I think it’s it’s valuable and it’s relevant is it’s not it’s better to be good than old. I’m sorry. Good and old than young and bad. I should say it’s about quality. And we went out and strengthened our quality our roster this off seasonason with the addition of John Collins, the addition of Bradley Beal and CP3 and Brook Lopez. But what makes me concerned is just the simple fact that it’s a young players league. It’s the youngest league we’ve ever had in the NBA. You have more oneanddons than ever before. You know, the pace is back to being, you know, as high as the 80s. And so, you need a lot of endurance. You need a lot of stamina for what’s a long grind. And we’ve never had more injuries in the NBA than now. So, you know, the younger you are, the better chance you probably have of staying healthy, you know, of lasting four rounds. Cuz here’s the thing about the Clippers, right? Besides OKC, I think we have a chance to beat anyone in the West in a series truly. But, do we have the legs to survive four rounds of intense playoff basketball? That’s where I question things a lot after an 82game season. So, it all begins with Kawhi Leonard. Can he get through four series in a row? We’ve seen him finally get through one series this past this past season, which was great to see. Just that he ended the series healthy, right? I think that can give us some optimism going forward. But do we see Kawhi Leonard playing four series in a row at a championship level? You know what I’m saying? Championship. It’s so hard to win a championship as we know better than anyone as a franchise who’s never even gotten to a game seven of the conference finals. and has only made it to the conference finals one time. It’s really hard. And if you look at the 2019 Raptors run, Kawhi Leonard was breaking down. He was still amazing, but any Kawawaii fan will tell you that he was breaking down. So the age and the health, it’s not just Kawhai as well cuz that matters. Like our star is the biggest injury risk of like maybe any superstar in the NBA. So that is what scares me. It makes it hard for me to say, “Yeah, we’re going to win a ring.” Of course, I’m going to say, you know, we got a chance, right? Because we have a really good team. But our two best players are Kawhi Leonard, who’s 34 years old, and then James Harden, who is 30 going to be 36 years old in 13 days. So, 36y old James Harden, 34y old Kawawaii Leonard. I mean, if your two best players are that age, you know, we’re talking about a guy in Shay Gilders Alexander who’s like my age. So, Kawhai just turned 34. It’s just very hard for me to bet on a team with their best players being that old winning all. And then we have Chris Paul, Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, all these guys over 30. You know, will be will we be able to hang with the young teams with athleticism? They’re going to push the pace. You know, we are not going to be a fast-paced team this season. You know, we weren’t a fast-paced team last season, and I don’t think adding Chris Paul and Bradley Beal to that is going to make us any faster. You know what I’m saying? Chris Paul has always been a slow it down, halfcourt, methodical offense, halfcourt maestro kind of guy. Last year, we were 22n in the league in pace. I don’t expect us to be any faster this year. So, will we be able to hang with those young teams? That’s going to be a question mark. You know, like the team like the Houston Rockets last year, we didn’t have Kawhi in those games, but it was very hard for us to keep up with them. So, the number one thing that’s going to prevent us, I think, from winning the championship is our age and how that’s going to relate to our health. Will we be able to stay healthy? And of course, the number one person when you look at that is Kawhi Leonard. And that’s why people are not going to pick us to win a ring. Besides the fact that we’re the Clippers and people want to make jokes that, oh, the Clippers and championship in the same sentence like, you know, I’m not going to go that route cuz I’m a Clipper fan. You know what I’m saying? So, we’re going to win one day before I’m dead. Hopefully, and that will be one of the greatest days of my life as will as hopefully will be one of the greatest days of your life listening because you’re a Clipper fan hope most of you. But that’s the main thing, our age, our health. I think everyone’s making jokes, the uncction, all that stuff about how old we are and it’s relevant, especially right now in the youngest league ever. You know, we got a team that just won the championship in the Thunder that are young, very young, and only getting more experienced. You know, you can say they’re only getting older, but like are they are they old? Chad Homegrren is going into year three. Jaylen Williams is going into year four. SCA is going into year eight. You know what I’m saying? And they won a ring. So, that’s the biggest thing for me that’s gonna be the question mark for us. Are we too old to win a ring? Maybe. But coming up, going to be talking about the player that most outsiders would say is the biggest reason we’re not going to win a ring. Going to be talking about him. Coming up, I got to tell you a little something about FanDuel. August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and pre-season hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a longot division winner, or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. And right now, let’s take a look at some of the NFL odds for this upcoming Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens are tied for the highest odds with a plus and the Eagles, the defending champion Eagles with plus 700 odds. My Rams, let’s see where my Rams are at. Not too far below in the eighth spot for the highest odds to win the championship. And if you’re a Chargers fan, they’re not too far behind as far as season leader. Let’s go. awards. The MVP favorite is Lamar Jackson, followed by Josh Allen. So, a lot of fun stuff to bet on with the NFL season right around the corner. Just visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets now because Futures Day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. All right. So, the LA Clippers, I’d say I wouldn’t call us one of the favorites to win a ring, but we have a chance. We have a roster where you look at it and you’re like, there’s not really any holes. We’re just old and certain players have major question marks. and the one of the main guys or the main guy that outsiders and if I weren’t a Clipper fan actually you know what my opinion of my team doesn’t change whether I’m a Clipper fan or not you know I keep it out you know I keep it 100 and I try to tell it how it is I don’t care who it pisses off because at the end of the day this is my team I can say whatever the f I want about this team because it’s all like at the end of the day I’m going to be in this swell rooting for us every single night yelling from tip off so like I don’t care what anyone says about what I think about the team Remember, I’m a guy who, you know, played basketball my whole life and still is around the game and coaches and stuff like that. So, my lens is not like I’ll give you an example. So, for people that maybe basketball is more like a hobby for them, they just love the Clippers. It’s fun for them. Like, that’s how I feel about the Dodgers, right? So, like the Dodgers are struggling right now. Like, we just losing to the Angels recently, right? I know we got a lot of Angel fans that are Clipper fans, too. But we just won the World Series. I don’t know the ins and outs of baseball. like I never played at a high level. So, I’m just going to say like, you know what? I’m confident we’re going to get our act together. I’m confident because we won the World Series last year that our bullpen’s going to get it together. I have no logic behind that take. It’s just blind faith cuz I don’t know how to analyze the game that same way. I can tell you that our bullpen struggling. I can tell you that, you know, we’ve been a little underwhelming this season, but I still have faith in the team. We also are the defending champs. But like for the Rams, like, why don’t I believe we’re going to win the Super Bowl? Like, I just we’ve we’ve I’ve seen us win. like why not? So, it’s different. But for basketball, like this means everything to me. And like I’ve been around the game, so I think about the game a little bit more technically. So, I’m like very harsh. You know what I mean? Not really though. I’m just honest in in my opinion. So, my biggest thing with the Clippers, the the player that gives me the most question marks, even though Kawhai has some because of his health, I don’t really doubt Kawhi Leonard’s play too much. I’ll talk about that in the last segment that what doubts I have about him as a player right now leading us to a ring. But the number one guy that I question is James Harden just at the highest level. Now the the Harden fans always get in their feelings and get sensitive about this because they always think that I don’t want to speak for other people but there’s a lot of people out there that run with the narrative that James Harden’s a playoff choker and that he’s not good in the playoffs and all these kinds of things. So, let me just educate people real quick before I give my honest take. The take that James Harden isn’t good in the playoffs and has like never been great in the playoffs is a complete lie and it’s not an accurate statement. Has he led his team to a ring? No. Has he fallen short with some games where he’s underperformed in crucial moments? Absolutely. But to say that he’s a playoff underachchiever, underperformer is kind of holding him to a very high standard, that tells you that he’s not that. Because when he was an OKC, right? I don’t think those three years that James Harden played for the Thunder, anybody would say that the Thunder underachieved. In 2010, they took a championship Lakers team to six games and had the series tied at at two games a piece. James Harden was a part of that. In 2011, they went to the conference finals with a very young team and beat a solid Nuggets team and a very good Grizzlies team. They lost to a more experienced Mavs team. And some of those games were very close. By the way, nobody would say they underachieved. In 2012, it was James Harden in game five that hit the dagger three in San Antonio over our man Kawhi Leonard to give them a 3-2 lead. Now, we’re going to Yes. Yes. Harden did not have a good finals. We know this. But at the same time, I didn’t expect the Thunder to beat the Heat. That was the Heat’s time to win in my opinion. It had all been set up for them to get over the hump after they lost to Dallas the previous year and really LeBron James’ moment to shine. And I don’t think anyone thought when you saw the Thunder lose that series in five games that we’d never see them again. And we it wasn’t the case. We didn’t see Harden with them again, which I think was shocking. But are you really going to say that year three Harden can’t have a bad series in the finals against Miami? No. I think it’s harsh to say that. you know, he still had a very good playoff run. And then Houston, right, the narrative of James Harden being a playoff underperformer wasn’t started in 2013. It wasn’t a thing in 2014. It wasn’t a thing in 2015 where he led his team to the conference finals and beat us. And I don’t want to talk about that because we blew it. We should have won that series, man. Houston was not better than us. I still hate Cory Brewer anyway, but we, you know, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, DeAndre, we JJ, Jamal, they all got to take some accountability for that. Glenn, but 2017, that’s where it kind of began. Game six, no Kawhai. James Harden comes off that game where he got blocked by Manu Ginobi in the last shot, game five, and there’s no Kawhai Leonard. They got to force a game seven. And James Harden had a game that even his own fans can’t defend. A 11475 loss at the Toyota Center. And he had 10 points, six turnovers, and fouled out on two for 11 shooting. Trevor Arza and Clint Capella scored more points than him. So that was the first time where people kind of questioned him. Then the following year he has an incredible season, MVP of the league and Chris Paul got hurt. So like, yeah, you can argue maybe in game seven, you know, he was part of that 27 miss threes thing, but are you really going to say after 2018 that James Harden didn’t just have an amazing season? He had bad luck with Chris Paul getting hurt. And then 2019 again taking the KD Warriors to the brink 22 series. James Harden was going off in games three and four in Houston. And then he still didn’t play badly in that game six, but he just in the fourth quarter had some bad turnovers and missed a layup. and pretty sure he missed some free throws too in that game that were, you know, pretty hard to see if you’re, you know, a Rockets fan or a Harden fan. But I still think if you’re saying at that point in 2019 that James Harden is some playoff choker or some playoff underperformer, I think you’re being very harsh, you know? I think you’re just being very harsh. He wasn’t supposed to beat that Warriors team. He just wasn’t. 2020 bubble, you know, Westbrook was a shell of himself. Harden wasn’t bad. 2021 he got injured. Now after 2021 we can get a little more critical. You know in 2022 he got traded to the Sixers mid-season. He didn’t really play that well against the Heat. He kind of went out sorry in that game six but Embiid wasn’t fully healthy either. It’s not like Embiid was flawless. And then 2023 literally had two game winners in the Celtics series and then yes game six and seven he wasn’t very good. So, I say all this to say that a lot of the playoff woes are overblown. But here’s what I’ll say from my perspective. James makes me nervous because the thing about James is whatever team he’s on, you play through James. He’s the system, right? He’s not an offball guy. He occasionally will shoot catch and shoot threes, but he’s not a very willing catch and shoot three-point shooter. So, you have to play through him. and he’s not very good defensively, you know, to to be nice. So, if James doesn’t have it going offensively, you’re not really getting much from him. And he’ll always be able to create good shots for you, but sometimes you need your star getting shots up. And James Harden, because of his nondiverse scoring profile, meaning that a lot of his shots are just, you know, the step back three or the floater/ layup, the in between game is not really there for him in the playoffs. Teams know that. They press up on him, try to run him off the line, and then they know he’s going to make the right pass, but they can funnel the ball to who they want. And when he’s not doing a great job defensively, that can kind of hurt his impact in ways. But more than anything, sometimes it’s just that it feels like James Harden doesn’t go out with kind of like go down swinging. You know, these last couple of years, it feels like he goes out a little sorry. So, I think people question him for that. And I I am one of those people that that questions him for that as well. You know, like in game seven, he just didn’t look like he had anything left in the tank. Is that fatigue? Is that him just not performing, not being able to get his shot off? You know, that type of stuff makes me question if he’s going to actually win a championship because it’s one thing to miss shots. It’s one thing to just not win, but it’s the way Harden goes out which in my opinion makes him questionable in the playoffs. And if we’re being quite critical and honest, to me hasn’t beat a good team in the playoffs since 2015. Like a very good team since 201 Clippers. Like the Jazz were not that good. Like they’re not anything special. The Minnesota Timberwolves, they were okay. They were pretty good. But Jimmy Butler had gotten hurt. You know, he came back later in the season. They got the eight seed. That Thunder team with SGA in the bubble with Chris Paul. Like, you know what I mean? It only went seven because Westbrook was a shell of himself. cuz he had that quad injury. The Toronto Raptors in 2022, the Nets in 2023. Like, you know, this was a great chance for him in this past series to get over the hump of not get over a hump, but to beat a good team, and we failed. And and James Harden was part of that with a poor game seven performance and a not a very good game five performance. So, with James, I think when you have him on your team, you kind of live and die by James. And that can be a scary sight when you know he’s not a guy that’s you know, he’s a guy that’s left stuff on the table, you can say, in playoff series over the last couple of years, and he goes out without many shot attempts. And again, he’s an onball specialist. So, when he doesn’t have the ball, and we’re talking defense, we’re talking the intangible things, the little things, the extra effort things, that’s not really him. So, Harden’s wos are definitely something that scare me when it comes to the Clippers winning a championship. You just feel as though if you rely on him so much, and we’re going to rely on him, he’s going to be the leading ball handler. He’s going to be probably the second leading scorer and he’s the second best player on this team, right? I think the best role for Harden for a championship team is a third best player or second best player, third best scoreer. Will be ready to score more than Harden? I don’t know. But the hard James Harden, I’d say he’s the one that people are like, “Ah, there’s no team Harden’s going to win a championship.” And I’d be saying the same thing if he was if he wasn’t on the Clippers. And honestly, like it’s hard for me to imagine him winning. I’m not going to lie. That’s just my honest take, but doesn’t mean he can’t. Doesn’t mean that I know everything and I can predict the future because I can’t. And I still want him to do well cuz he’s on my team. So, age and health, the James Harden playoff conundrum. So, my point was this. It’s overblown his playoff struggles, but they still are there. You know what I’m saying? That’s all I got to say. But coming up, gonna be talking about the doubts about this Kawhi Leonard. Is this the same Kawhi Leonard from 2019, from 2021 that could lead a team to a ring? And what about Tyoo? Is he super trustworthy when it comes to winning a championship? Going to be talking about both of those guys coming up. All right, so I know what some people are thinking. Dime, what about the role players? You’re really going to call out our best players? What about the role guys? I truly have no doubts about them. Honestly, I know Dererick Jones Jr. and Chris Dunn. You know, they didn’t perform very well in terms of like shooting the ball last year in the playoffs, but they’re not going to have as big a role this time around. You know, our shooting wasn’t good enough in the playoffs. It’s very simple. Like our role players shooting was not good enough in the playoffs, but we went out and got some shooting. Brook Lopez, John Collins, Bradley Beal, those guys can shoot. So, we have more options now offensively. So, we’re not going to be as reliant on Chris Dunn and Derek. And I I still think Chris Dunn can be a rotation player on a championship team. I just don’t know if he I don’t think he’d be a starter because his offense isn’t good enough. Derrick Jones Jr., can he be a starter on a championship team? I honestly don’t know. His shooting is a little suspect, but I really don’t think like when you look at the Maverick series, for example, against the Boston Celtics in the finals, was Dererick Jones Jr. a bigger problem in that series or was Kyrie a bigger problem in that series? You got to look at the stars first. Kyrie Irving to shoot that poorly. Then Luca’s defense was trash. I think that’s where you start before you go to Derek. So, I don’t think that Derek Jones Jr. and Chris Dunn are going to be the reason why the Clippers don’t win a ring. Now, last year, Bogey and Norm were a huge reason we didn’t beat Denver, right? But again, we don’t need Bogey as much. We have Beal now. We have Chris Paul now. So, I think our supporting Cass is honestly good enough. You can argue they’re too old, but I think when it comes to the age conversation, a lot of it starts with our best players. Now, Bradley Beal, you know, he made made a comment recently on an interview and said, “Why’d I come to the Clippers? I want to win a ring.” And people laughed at him because he’s like, “Does he know he’s playing for the franchise that’s never going to win.” Like, I’ll make an episode on Beal this week, but I mean, we have a better chance of winning the championship than the Suns did last year. I’ll say that. This is the best chance Bradley Beals ever had of winning a ring. I don’t care what anyone says. But I don’t think Beiel’s like I will say he did show some, you know, like he’s a big reason why the Suns failed the last couple years, but a lot of that’s because he was getting paid $50 million. I don’t think Bradley Beal making $5 million a year is going to be the reason we don’t win a championship. Just that’s my opinion. Now, he could underperform and he could be one of the reasons we don’t make it to where we want to get to, but I think if Kawhi Leonard and James Harden perform, I really don’t think we’re going to be talking about that. I truly don’t. Zubots, nah, I have no doubts about him. And do I have any doubts about Brook Lopez as a backup center? Not really either. Now, CB3 is another guy who’s had his playoff woes, too, as we know. I wouldn’t call him a playoff underachiever by any stretch, but he has had his moments where people are like, ah, he’s never going to win, but he’s just not in a role that’s relevant enough for me to even critique him that way. When it comes to Kawhai, I did mention the health, but I also think, and a lot of Kawawaii fans won’t agree, I just feel like he struggles to get easy buckets nowadays. And I don’t mean easy buckets for him. I mean like universally easy buckets, meaning like two feet in the paint, get to the free throw line, you know, get layups, get by your defender. He does not get by his defender like that anymore. He can get them on their on his hips sometimes, but he’s not fully blowing by guys to the level that James Harden is, right? And I mean, last year, for example, in the playoffs, 25 points a game. We needed closer to 30. You know, he averaged five free throw attempts a game. He averaged seven in 2021 in the playoffs, nine in 2019, eight and a half in 2017. Do you see a pattern? He’s not getting to the line the same way. He’s not getting to the rim the same way. And easy buckets, you need those. So, I’m a little concerned, you know, and plus his passing, you know, he needs to be getting those buckets and getting by guys cuz he’s not a great passer. He never has been. So, and plus Kawhi Leonard won a championship as the best player one time. It’s not like he did it a bunch where we’re like, “Oh, it’s like not even a debate. He can lead a team to a championship.” He’s also been through so many injuries. So, even when healthy because look, I said for years, if we have a healthy Kawawaii, sky’s the limit. We had a healthy Kawawaii this year. We didn’t win. And I’m not fully putting that on him. He was our best player in the series. But did he do enough? Was he good enough? I don’t think so. I think people might disagree. A lot of them might, but I hold him to a standard of a top 10 small forward of all time and a top 10 player in the NBA today. And that was not what we needed. And even some of his biggest fans that are Clipper fans will admit what I just said is true. And a lot of it’s cuz, you know, he’s waiting too long to make his move when he catches the ball. You know, he’s letting the double come. People like he’s the most double team player in the playoffs. Dude, when you’re not moving off the ball like that and then you’re catching the ball and then the double’s coming, what do you expect? You got to work quickly before the double comes. You got to keep moving so you can catch the ball before the double can come and work. And he doesn’t work very quickly. He’s more methodical. And you know, when you have a James Harden that’s methodical and Kawhai, it’s a stagnant offense and it can put a lot of pressure on shooters because they’re just standing around a lot. Which brings me to Ty Louu, right? People are like, “Well, that isn’t that on the coach?” Again, we’re not going to be a movement team with the players that we have, with the age that we have. But Ty Louu wasn’t perfect either. You know that lineup that he chose to put out there in the last possession of game four that was very questionable. We need one stop to go up 3-1 or no to go to overtime with all the momentum in the world. We have Norman Pal James Harden out there and bogey. You know that’s questionable. Game one, how long did he leave Kawaiian Zubat out of the game in that second half? Where was the urgency there? So, he’s not perfect either. But again, I’m always going to blame the players first because it’s a players league, the NBA, and I don’t feel as though Tyoo is the reason we lost that series. But I don’t think he’s exempt of blame. That’s where a lot of people get it twisted. He’s not exempt of blame. Do I fully believe Tailoo can lead us to a championship as the head coach? Not fully. His one, just like I said about Kawaii, his one ring came like, you know, he had one ring under certain circumstances where some guys got hurt. Tyoo’s ringing was a 3-1 comeback when Draymond Green got suspended and the starting center for the Warriors got hurt. You know, a Kawhi a Kyrie Irving three being missed might change NBA history. So, I have my doubts about Kawhai. I have my doubts about James Harden. I have my doubts about Tyoo, but I honestly don’t have many doubts about our supporting cast. I think we’re older, but I think it all begins with our star players and their age and health. Why we are not being picked to win a ring and why people are skeptical, including me, of us winning a ring. The reason why I don’t see us winning is because James Harden’s on our team and I have my doubts about him at the highest level and because what comes with him, you know, you you play through him and if he’s not doing great, then you’re usually not doing great, you know. But again, I don’t want to conflate that with if James Harden’s not scoring, he’s not doing well. Cuz there are games where James Harden won’t score, but he’s still creating tons of good shots. But in the playoffs, you need your best players to get off shots sometimes, and that’s where he can struggle cuz all his moves are behind a three-point line. So if teams press up, you know, he’s not there’s no in between for him. There’s no stop on a dime pull up. Sometimes he’ll hit that, you know, stiff arm push off for the step back mid-range, but that’s usually against drop coverage defense where he’s got a defender on his hip getting over screens. He’s not going full speed. So, it’s going to be interesting. So, I wanted to make a, you know, episode on this just to talk about the reasons why we’ll we’re, you know, the the question marks around our team essentially because I always talk about the good stuff, why we’re going to be this good and this and that, cuz we’re going to be good. We have an improved team. But, Tailoo, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, our age and our health, those are the biggest reasons why people are probably not picking us cuz, you know, I had one of my friends tell me the other day, don’t say if you’re healthy, you know, that’s part of the pro with the reason with the Clippers, they’re not, you know, favored to do anything. And I’m like, yeah, I do know that. And that’s the the really tough part about last year is we were healthy. Are we going to be healthy again? I hope so. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dimeropper Pod. Subscribe to my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper, for even more LA Clipper and LA sports content and NBA content. And Locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast. On Dimeropper, I’m still releasing playoff recaps from the postseason that I didn’t release for other teams. So, go check those out if you want. But yeah, hope you’re enjoying the show. It’s the dog days of the offseason right now. You know what I’m saying? So, I’m trying to produce as much content as I can. And people are like, “Why would you talk about this, dude? Give me some topic suggestions then. I’m just trying to talk about whatever comes to my mind.” So, I know people are going to hate and say, “Why would you make this episode? We need somebody more positive.” You know, shut up, dude. Like, come to as many games as me and then talk. Like, at the end of the day, we’re at you’re 21 going up to this season. I sit in a standing only section with die hards. I interview fans after the game and then come home in the morning and edit this video for you guys. No one cares about the Clippers like I do. I don’t care what anyone says. And if you do, I probably know who you are. You know, I’m not saying nobody, but it’s a very select few number of people that care about the Clippers as much as me. I had to literally make a lifestyle change because I cared about the Clippers too much because it was hurting my mental health. So, anybody that questions that, you’re insane. But I know I have a lot of listeners that don’t even say these nonsense things on YouTube. And I feel bad for even saying what I just said because you guys are the best. So, love you all. Clipper Nation, you already know. It’s just it’s just analysis, you know. It’s just my honest thoughts of the team. Of course, I want us to win. I want us to, you know, prove me wrong. Of course, I don’t care about being right so much. I just want us to win. But we’ll see. We haven’t won a championship yet. I think one day we will. I just don’t know if it’s going to be with this iteration of the team. But I dare guarantee you one thing. We’re better this year than we were last year. That’s for sure. The age-old proverb continues. Go Clippers.

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