KLAWING BACK TO A TITLE?

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[00:00:58] Yes! Welcome y'all Sports Reports As Ordered, 2-5 is here, 2-5 Daily Coming at you tonight, we're gonna talk about the Clippers And their trade of Kawhi Leonard What it means for them and the Toronto Raptors Let's get right to it Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things Do all the good things Hopefully you got a Liquid Death in your hand Check out Say Less, Say More We are everywhere that you get your podcasts

[00:01:26] Say Less, Say More Thursday nights at 8.30 Sports Reports is ordered Tuesdays and Fridays at 8.45 Those are eastern times Alright, let's get to it So, the Toronto Raptors Make a move to get Kawhi Leonard You know, to pull this off They trade Brandon Ingram Grady Dick Two unprotected first round picks in 2031 and 33

[00:01:54] Two second round picks in 2030 and 2033 And a first round swap in the upcoming draft Alright So, of course the Clippers have been punished by the NBA for their wrongdoing And I know a lot of people have strong opinions on that You know, Mr. Logical and I, my partner, we argued about this a few weeks ago And my whole takeaway from it was Steve Ballmer's the owner

[00:02:22] He's the one that stands to benefit Like, Kawhi's gonna make some money But Ballmer potentially was going to win the championship You know, get them, be able to sell the franchise one day And we saw how much the Lakers just went for So, my whole thought about it was Why punish the dude that's receiving the money more Than you punish the guy that made the money happen Right? That's just how my brain works Okay

[00:02:50] So, now Kawhi Leonard did skate, though You know, $700,000 fine Dropping a bucket Didn't get his contract voided Which I thought should have been an option And I also thought that Ballmer should have potentially had to sell the team But, neither here nor there That's where we are So, of course this trade was made Before The investigation concluded Now, the investigation concluded And now it can finally go through

[00:03:20] So, here we are What does it all mean? So, Kawhi Leonard Chasing the limelight big dreams Got a little homesick He's the first dude that I remember Winning an NBA title And just bouncing Just like that You know, just leaving Just like that on that note I'm sure you could tell me one or two other times it happened But that's, you know That's the first time I could really think of it Just off the top of my head But anyway

[00:03:49] So, he wins this championship in Toronto He becomes a legend You know, his prior title was with San Antonio Where he won the finals MVP But he was still more so a role player Not the leader of the team You know, Toronto He put his stamp Where he said I am Of this ilk You know I am of this LeBron KD Steph I'm in that class

[00:04:44] Okay You know, he's still going to clinch The berth to the Western Conference Finals So, not only did you leave a championship team To go to a lesser team You know, you brought Paul George in with you And you made him look like playoff P Because he finished off a series without you To get to the Western Conference Finals Okay Okay What else did you do in LA? You blew a 3-1 lead in the bubble You know We make fun of the bubble But it happened

[00:05:14] You know, I'm not one of these people That's going to take the bubble championship away Right? Okay That happened So It made me think What would Toronto have been If Kawhi would have stayed? Would they have still been a championship contender? Would they have still won another title? I say yes You know We saw Toronto match up You know For example You know With Milwaukee

[00:05:43] You know what I mean Outside of Giannis Milwaukee had nothing for them The Knicks weren't there yet And Bede was getting hurt still You know what I mean So Toronto had the East gift wrapped Almost in a way that LeBron did Now They weren't going to make it 8 straight years Because You can't get Kawhi to play that long Right? You know Without missing games and all that But they were on the brink of At least going back to the finals The next year And you went to LA

[00:06:14] For what? 6 years? 7 years? And didn't make a finals Didn't even make one Let alone win Okay So We look at the Toronto Raptors We look at them last season They were an upstart That came out of nowhere Ended up With the 5 seed They played the Cleveland Cavaliers In the first round And all they did was trade Home wins with the Cavs Everybody won on their home court They went 7 The only problem is

[00:06:43] Brandon Ingram Who's in this trade of course You know Got injured So he missed game 6-7 Of that series You know I think Toronto could have won that series If he had played But Whatever But that just shows you Right there Because the reason that that's important Is not because the Cavs are this great team Not because it's this great accomplishment To beat the Cavs But the Cavs made the Eastern Conference Finals This year So Legitimately

[00:07:13] If you're Toronto I like my chances against the Pistons You know Like Outside of Cade Cunningham Where was the offense Going to come from Jalen Duren Still trying to get paid After his abysmal Playoff performance So you can legitimately Make an argument That if Toronto Wins that series They probably play the Knicks In the Eastern Conference Finals Scotty Barnes Had a breakout last year I mean He was already good But now he's Making all defensive teams You know

[00:07:43] He came He came up huge In the playoff series Against Cleveland He announced himself To the world Okay Emmanuel Quickly Also missed that series So He missed the whole series Your starting point guard You know They got Jacoby Walter Off the bench You know This is just Now RJ Barrett I'm not the biggest RJ Barrett guy But it's not a bad piece To have on a team Like that Right And that was my problem With Toronto Was

[00:08:12] RJ Barrett And Brandon Ingram That That just sounds nasty But anyway You add Kawhi Leonard Into that now You know Kawhi Leonard Coming off the best year Of his career 28 points a game 51% from the floor Rounding up He actually played 65 games last year He only played 37 the year prior But played 68 The year prior to that So Two of the last three years He's played at least 60 games

[00:08:43] That's more than What the Clippers Had been getting From Kawhi That's more than Any of us fans And people that Talk about this stuff Thought we would see From Kawhi Within a season So Toronto Is On the right path Here Because when you Look at the East The East is wide open Like you got the Knicks Who are the champs But the Knicks Also Did something historic The way that they Won this championship You know The three point shooting And how hot that was

[00:09:12] The win differential That's not something That you generally see In the playoffs It only comes around Once a decade Maybe You know We saw the Spurs Do the same thing To the Heat Back in 2014 You know Mario Baron Melanelli And Manu And the gang Just shooting The lights out That's what the Knicks Did this year Came back from 29 Down in the game In the finals So You can't expect That the Knicks Are gonna You expect them To be good But I don't know If you can expect Another playoff run Like that

[00:09:41] You know What I mean Especially They had health On their side Too You never know How that's gonna go You know Cleveland You know Still has a team That can't Get past themselves You know They made the Eastern Conference Finals But You know They You know Donovan Mitchell And Mobley I don't know What you're gonna Do with that James Harden Is another year Older So like You have talent You have names But I don't Think you're Better than Nick Still You know I don't think That you're

[00:10:11] Better than Philadelphia Now With the Avengers You know Jalen Brown LeBron James Maxie Embiid So on and so Forth You know You have Maxie possibly Playing that Kyrie role LeBron goes Back into Playmaker mode Jalen Brown As long as He's not Just reduced To being a Spot up Shooter And I didn't Even mention B.J. Edgecom Right You know What I'm saying Like Giannis Isn't in Milwaukee Anymore He's in Miami With Bam Out of Bayou

[00:10:41] Not much Else So if You're The Toronto Raptors Bringing in Kawhi Leonard You say Check ball I ain't scared Of none of Y'all And besides The fact that Boston lost Jalen Brown Or they traded Jalen Brown away So you know What I mean Ironically enough Brought in Paul George So now With that being Said Which one of Those teams Do you Look at Definitively And say

[00:11:10] The Raptors Can't beat Them I'll say The Knicks Just because They're the Defended Champ And I Want to Show a Little Respect Outside Of that No And if Toronto Matches up With the Knicks Very well Now You know What I Mean Like Kawhi is A souped Up Mikael Bridges McKay Bridges Right You know What I Mean You got Quickly Can hit Shots You know I don't Know what They're Going to Do With RJ Barrett We'll Have to See how That Works out But Scotty Barnes

[00:11:40] Is Probably Better Than Or at Least He can Match up With Kat You know So From That Stand Point You're Not Worried About The Hawks You're Not Worried About The Wizards All Of A Sudden Rising Up So If I'm Toronto I'm Going For It Now You know What I Mean That's Why You Give Up Those First Round Picks Because This Is Our Window It Might Be A Two Year Window You Hope Kawhi Can Play Those 65 Games

[00:12:10] This Year Play Another 65 Next But If You Can Get You A Championship Or Maybe Just To The Finals That's Worth It Right My Question Is Why Didn't Orlando Do This Now Granted You

[00:13:16] But Is Turn 30 I Would Have Liked To Have Kept Benedict Matherin If I Was The Clippers You Know The Clippers Lucked Out With The Draft This Year Because They Had The Unprotected Pick With Indiana In The Zubach Trade That Fell Into The Top Five And Therefore The Pacers Got Screwed Out Of It Because It Wasn't Top Four So You Know From That Stand Point

[00:13:46] You Might Something For Now But I Don't Know How Good This Team Really Is You Know They Brought In Rui Achimura You Know Who Has Gotten Better At Defense But He's Still Too Reliant Can't Get His Own Shot In A Significant Way So You Put Those Two On The Court At The Same Time Liability We Thought That Brandon Ingram Was Going To Be The Next Kevin Durant Or At Least In That Same Vain A Lesser Degree But He's More

[00:14:16] Like Rudy Gay He Just Takes A Lot Of Shots Now Granted He Was Efficient This Year 48% From The Floor You Know What I Mean So You Know Boom Then You Got Darius Garland You Know Who I Was A Little Down On And He Really Is A Good Player But What's That Timeline Right Because The Clippers Picks That They Lost Is 20 29 Through 20 33 So By Then You Know Ingram If He's Still On The Team He's

[00:14:45] 33 34 Years Old That First Year Of That You Know Garland Is Going To Be 29 Or So Brooke Lopez Is 38 As It Is So You're Looking At A Whole New Team A Whole New Era That I Just Wonder If It Was Worth It So You Get Those Three Picks That You Can Use Thank Goodness Because You Weren't Going To Use Your Own Picks You Know From 20 29 On But You Know Brandon

[00:15:15] Ingram When You Know Know You Know You Who's Been There At Least Can Somewhat Match Kawhi Skill Set In What You're Losing You Don't Get That Grady Dick Was Supposed To Be

[00:16:20] Down You Know Darren Peterson Ace Bailey Laurie Markkinen Keontae George You Know So They're Coming The Blazers Got Into The Playoffs Last Year And They're Going To Get A Little Bit Better Because They're Getting Dame Lillard Back And I Know He's Old But He Could Still Hit A Shot Or Two That Matters So You Know Then When You're Looking At The Timeline You Know OKC And The Spurs Are Young So By The

[00:16:50] Time 2029 Comes They're Still Going To Be Around A Couple Of Players Will Be Gone Just Because Of Luxury Tax And Aprons And Everything But Wimby And SGA Still Going To Be There Minnesota Still Going To Have Ant So Now If You're The Clippers You're Stuck Playing The Trade Game You're Stuck In You Gotta Hit It In Free Agency You Gotta Hope That Somebody Wants To Come To The Lesser L.A. Team How's That Going To Work Out

[00:17:21] Unless Keaton Wagler Takes A Step He's A Rookie So I Think It's Going To Take Him A Minute I Think He'll Be Period Is Up That You Can't Trade Him

[00:17:51] I Might Ship Him Out To Depending On What Our Record Is Because What You're Not Going To Do Is Win A Championship Or Compete For One So Now What You know Ballmer Is Out For The Year As Far As Being Banned From The Team Which That's Probably The Biggest Punishment Of All For Him Because He Has That Mark Cuban Type Love Clippers Won The Trade

[00:18:21] As Far As The Assets Because They Do Get Those Three First Round Picks Which Are Critical Especially Considering The Punishment That They're Facing But Toronto Has To Pay This Off With A Championship Or Else You Just Made A Move Just To Make A Move You Know What Mean And You Know But They Had To Something Because They Were On The Brink Of Last Year If They Had Their Full Compliment Of Players You Know Now Detroit On The Other Hand Like I Said They're Still Trying To

[00:18:51] Figure Out This Duren Thing So I Think That Toronto Is Going To Finish As A Top Three Seed In The East If Kawhi Can Give Them 60 Games I'll Put Them A Top Three Seed You Know The Clippers On The Other Hand Are Going To Be Battling For That Play In You Know Maybe If Everything Goes Well They Could Get The Six Seed But Probably Going To Be

[00:19:33] Thoughts As We Prepare For Another Week Of Football You Know I'll Be Back To Five Daily Of Course It's Called So That Means Daily I'll Be

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