Law Murray | Los Angeles Clippers Insider, The Athletic

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Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts. We're excited to welcome an insider from Los Angeles, Tyloo, though, first on a team that has a bunch of veteran pieces and can win a variety of different ways, even when Kawhi Leonard doesn't have a great game. We have a type of team, it could be PG's night, Kawhi's night, it could be Russell's night, and just playing the game. Kawhi doesn't care about numbers.

He wants to win. It happened to be Russell Westbrook that found the gas pedal in the third quarter and is able to power the team to a healthy lead over Orlando. So for Russell Westbrook, it's kind of interesting because you and I had talked about this after he ended up with the Clippers and why this was the right place for him, because he felt like it was a fresh start and a chance for redemption. We know that Kawhi Leonard has a ring, but Paul George does not. And so he's still chasing that as a veteran who's been in this league for a long time. Same thing now with James Harden. And so you make a good point about a bunch of guys who are motivated not by individual accolades, because these guys have had plenty of individual awards and all-star teams and all of the attention as individuals, but not necessarily as a champion or as champions together. But why make the move for James Harden? Why this guy? Why does he fit with the Clippers?

I think it comes down to three things. Number one, James is an offense unto himself. This is the Lead of the League and assists last year, but we talked about James as far as what he can do as a scorer. And this team, as talented as Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Russell Westbrook are, James offers you something different. And so when it comes to what the team needs to do to complement each other, James, as a pick and roll ball handler and decision maker, I believe he comes to this team and is already the best combination of scoring and passing.

So that's number one. Number two, James is a bigger body. There are a lot of point guards, Amy, that changed hands, right? And James was a point guard for the Sixers last year. He doesn't need to be a point guard for the Clippers this year, but he has that skill set offensively. But defensively is where people are going to dismiss James because he does have low lights when it comes to that in the floor. But he has his highlights, too, that don't always show up. You don't see James Harden getting out-muscled by dudes. You do see James Harden forcing turnovers.

He's always averaged more than a steal a game when he plays. He gets on the glass. If they're going to be smaller, you want to have a nose for the ball. So there's boxing out and there's getting the rebound. And then there's ending possessions before teams even get shots up.

James is capable of fitting in in a team defensive setting. And then number three, these guys are all from the L.A. area or Southern California. Like, that is a cool thing. It's rare to have that where you come into the league and you play a decade and then you all get to be on the same team. It's fascinating. I kind of feel like it's like the Las Vegas Aces team, except if all of those ladies were from the same area. That's what we have here. And so that plays a role. You know, when you think about consulting your stars, consulting players, leaders in your locker room about who to bring in. You can you know, there's respect for a lot of guys. But to say that someone that it's like, oh, yeah, like I was following him when I was in school.

That's what these guys have for this season, starting a week in a week or so. Law, we saw from photos and videos that James Harden was already in the building. What did you see and what did you hear, whether it's guys talking about it or himself?

I'm not really sure how much access there was. So what happened? It's funny. I hate having my phone out in the locker room. So I saw I see all those clips and I'm and I'm like, I'm so glad I don't need to go viral tonight.

Like, I don't need it. Y'all, y'all, you know, I'm glad that they had their moment. The trade's not even official. Some dudes couldn't talk about it. Well, it's funny because, like you, you ask all of them still and, you know, Kawhi deadpans.

I'm told not to talk about it. And that was it. And then there's Russ who comes in and again, Russ is the mentor is so much different.

Right. So Russ comes in and is like. I had nothing for y'all, nothing for James, nothing for P.J.

I got nothing for y'all. And then we start talking about the game and then. But we still were like, Russ, you seem happy. It's like, yeah, he's happy. I think that's the thing.

It's like you think about it, Amy. James had a rough twenty, twenty three. You know, from the jump by end of January, he learned he wasn't going to be an all star.

And for some players, it's like, whatever. James, I think that really hurt him because he's used to at least being named and going to that game. I think that hurt him. And then you go through the season, you go into the playoffs and he had big playoff games, but we ain't talking about that. We talking about how they blew game six and how they went up to game seven in Boston and didn't get it done.

And, you know, not only is your season over, but your head coach is fired. There's blame going around. That's difficult when you're at the stage of James career.

And then you have the situation and we all seem aware. He thinks he's getting his money and that doesn't happen. He thinks he's getting traded. It takes until last night for that to happen. I think this might have been the first time James could really look and say, he's he's happy and looking forward to something.

So and again, the truth is not even official yet. So we talked about vibes. I felt like the vibes that was around the Clippers was to suggest that they wouldn't need or weren't interested in doing a move like this. I've never kind of got myself to a point where I was like, oh, they're not going to do this period. Well, they wound up doing it. Maybe they wound up making this train.

And now you have different vibes and a different character or not character, but a different chemistry that you need to develop as well. Law Murray is with us from Los Angeles where the Clippers did have a game tonight. And according to photos, videos, reports, James Harden there in the building, though his new teammates not really allowed to acknowledge it just yet.

Law covers the Clippers for the athletic and we're glad to have him with us here on After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Why did it take so long? Because these negotiations, they stopped and started over the course of four months. Yeah, that's there.

I'm worried about that one. I think the Clippers were pretty honestly, I feel like the Clippers were constant here. I don't think the Clippers when the season ended in the Phoenix were thinking we're going to get James Harden like that. I don't know if that was a part of their all-season planning, but for the Clippers every they really kind of kept the powder dry. And he like they the only veteran acquisition they had on a standard contract with KJ Martin, who turns out was included in this trade. And then everything was about what James was doing and what Daryl Morey was going to demand when he was going to get to the point where he could comfortably trade them. And I honestly give the Philadelphia 76ers coach, Nick Nurse, new head coach, and the guys on that team a lot of the credit for actually making this go through. Joel is the reigning MVP.

And it was funny. People were like, is he even going to play in the home opener after they beat the Toronto Raptors, which had it in an emotional game for Nick Nurse, you know, being that he wanted to be there and was there for five years, was a coach of the year, all that jazz. Joel plays so well that, you know, he gets fined because you had Generation X on the people. And then you also have to look at the story that is developing with Tyrese Maxey, a guy who when he came into the league, you know, he wasn't in the rotation right away. He was playing under Ben Simmons and then Ben Simmons was not playing and he emerged in and then they get James. And then Tyrese was coming off the bench last year from most last year. And then till he got back into the starting lineup. Now that dude is the clear-cut guy next to Joel. He was the player of the week in the Eastern Conference.

That's an award James Harden never won as a Philadelphia 76er. I think all of those things make it easier to kind of get to the point where, okay, we can move on from James and we can compete and also still figure out what we need to do to maximize where Joel Embiid is at in his career, which is at the very top, very peak coming off of an MVP season. Any pause from you considering what we've seen from James in the last three places that he has landed and even going back to Houston where he acted very unprofessionally to say the least in forcing his way out of town with Daryl Morey. He ends up in Brooklyn that blows up after what a year. It was as unsuccessful as you could possibly be in an in one of these big three quote-unquote combos.

And then in Philadelphia, it didn't last longer than a year and a half. Any pause at all about adding him to the mix where you're talking about some veterans who themselves are established? There's always going to be pause because like you talked about sacrifice and the sacrifice that James is going to have to make. James can't be extended. James isn't going to lead the league in scoring. He probably won't lead the league in assists. But he's going to have to defend hard. He's going to have to be a great teammate. He's going to have to be off the ball. He's going to have to move every now and again.

He can't have possessions where he dribbles 30 times in a 24 second shot. But things are going to be different. And of course, you're like when a guy especially that deep into his career is being asked to do different things. You can't assume that it's going to go great at the beginning. You can't assume that it's going to go great after you lose some games. You can't assume that it's going to be great when the playoffs start and you're playing the best teams and at the highest urgency.

So those are all going to be concerned. Why I think some of those concerns will be out late is because he is playing with his guys. He is playing in his city and he's playing with some serious talent like Russell Westbrook is on damn near minimum contract.

Paul Jordan Kawhi Leonard are two stars that are very different than some of the stars that James has played with in his career. Those dudes actually are comfortable being off the ball Kawhi Leonard had a really rough night tonight. He missed. I don't think he didn't make a single shot. I can tell you he did not make a single shot before the before halftime and Kawhi's at the game.

We like he's cool with a game like that. As long as his team is winning and he's cool doing the little things keeping the ball moving rebounding boxing out defending taking his assignment away. That's Kawhi like that's why Kawhi leaves by example Paul George. He could be this team's point guard if he really wanted to but he advocated for someone else to play that will so that the things that you do have from Paul George as far as his other responsibilities again defending rebounding hitting shots being one of your top scores.

He can do that more efficiently and more effectively at the end of the game. And so with James, I think James has I think James has already tried to sacrifice before he signed a contract in Philadelphia that paid him less money than he probably could have been paid because he wanted to get a guy like PJ Tucker on the team. PJ Tucker is about to be a la quipper along with James here. So the pause is going to be you got to see it through but I have probably more optimism that it will work than me being me sitting here thinking. This is a terrible idea.

They're going to regret it. I'm glad you brought up Tucker. I was going to ask you how he fits into the equation as a former champion as a guy who you know, it brings a ton of wisdom and experience himself.

Yeah, I got a chance to you know, just after the game, you know, make sure to introduce myself to him. And and I think the best thing for PJ is he's not coming to the Clippers to start. It's crazy that he's been starting as many games. He has a testament to him, you know guy who for most of his 20s was either playing in college or playing overseas. And so when you have a player like PJ Tucker on your team intangibles is a big part of it like that do probably ain't going to take a shot in the game like he's had a lot of games like that. But instead of him playing 30 plus minutes and doing that instead of him being in the starting line have been doing that.

He's in a pretty much knee-based role. And I think his willingness to talk to anybody, you know, doesn't matter how many MVPs they want doesn't matter how many triple doubles. They had doesn't matter how many scoring titles trophies even championships. PJ Tucker is willing to talk to anybody in a any tone and a language that guys won't take personal, but will take serious and you need guys like that. There might have been a dirt of that because the Clippers had a great glue guy and Nicholas Patu. I know Marcus Morris here might not have been popular with the fans, but those guys in the locker room respected Marcus and Marcus had a respected voice and Robert Covington solid do the do who has gotten out of the mud and undrafted guy who became a all defensive team member. There's a leadership Boyd when you trade away all of those guys and then call me up the PJ for as long as he's with the team and help fill that. Love that answer.

Thank you law for all that Intel. How quickly will we see James Harden and PJ Tucker on the court? Well, like I said, this trade isn't even official yet.

I would be shocked. If even if they announce the first thing in the morning and you're talking by coastal here, like la is la Philadelphia is three time zones away. Philadelphia is in the middle of a three-day stretch where they don't play and they are not traveling. The Clippers actually have a road game Wednesday night on national TV. I don't think it's the best spot to throw a player like James who didn't play a single preseason game on the floor PJ.

Maybe I give him a slight chance to maybe debut but same thing. I really don't see a scenario. I think those guys I think they just want to have those guys sit watch the game and you know get those guys into practice. The Clippers have four days off in between the Lakers game Wednesday night and when they play again Monday in New York of all places. So I think the plan has always been and I wrote this two weeks ago.

I was eyeing this week as a potential trigger for transaction. Given the days off at the Clippers head. I think those guys are going to practice in LA. They're going to travel to New York practice in New York and get ready to play a very interesting for game week 3 against New York. Brooklyn Dallas and the matinee game home against the Grizzlies Brooklyn. Yes, he needs to be on the court in the game against Brooklyn law.

Look at you you nailed it the timing and everything. So as these is this group comes together so much of it will have to do with health, right because they are veterans. We're talking about guys who have a lot of wear and tear on their bodies PG and Kawhi have dealt with injuries recently even just since they've gotten to LA. So how healthy is the group the core right now? They look great.

And I think tomorrow will answer a lot of questions. People keep trying to get the availability report out of the head coach and the players and I I just read between the lines like little management is not something that the Clippers were really doing as far as resting guys when they're healthy quality tours ACL for crying out loud, you know, like you miss an entire season rehabbing that knee and we saw Kawhi Leonard in the first two three months of last season. Wasn't the choir that we saw pretty much from MLK day on to the playoffs like he needed to build that knee back up his game back up after not playing NBA basketball for so long and it's unfortunate that Kawhi season ended with a meniscus tear in the playoffs that robbed him of being able to complete another postseason Paul sprain his knee like that these spring was contact we saw what happened in the Oklahoma City game. And so it's unfair that those guys have been labeled as guys who don't want to play. They they are very competitive.

They want to play they take care of their bodies to a point where you know, you feel bad when they break down. There are other guys in the league who they haven't always taken care of themselves for one reason or another and so these guys are dedicated and Paul looks great Kawhi. I don't want to say Kawhi looks great, but he certainly looks good and I expect those guys to play tomorrow unless something comes up where they didn't feel great coming out of this game tonight against the Magic and that tells it all that is going to be why the Clippers are a better basketball team, but you add a guy like James as insurance because injuries happen and this team is really at the end of the line here as far as trying to win a championship. They're taking their best and biggest swing at it and you get a guy like James. It's so funny in me, but I'm going to use terminal and keep using it James Harden is insurance. He's a hell of a luxury, but he's a he is a shiny insurance policy for Russell Westbrook at the ball handling position and for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as far as being able to have enough offense when those guys are not available to play. They definitely are employing the strategy of go big or go home.

As you point out. These guys are coming to the end of a window where they could win a championship. And so I like the move for the Clippers. Don't don't necessarily love the way that James forced his way out of another franchise in another city.

However, he is reportedly ecstatic about being in LA now. So you want to make sure you follow law on Twitter at law Murray the NU he covers the Clippers in the NBA for the athletic great Intel good reaction law. It's great to catch up with you. I know it's been a really long day, but thank you so much for a few minutes.

Thank you so much. Amy appreciate you and enjoy enjoy the rest of your week basketball season is finally back and bet QL is ready to help you win more consistently this year bet QL is an absolute game-changer if you're looking to find trends to help you win make smarter bets on spreads totals player props and more that QL has already helped over 300,000 people with powerful analytics and community insights. Don't airball your opportunity this basketball season visit bet ql.com for their free daily analysis today.

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