Tag: Rodney McGruder

Last Friday night, Los Angeles residents, among people in others places such as Las Vegas, felt a 7.1-magnitude earthquake. Within nearly two and a half hours, the Clippers had pulled off an earth-shattering pair of moves that would bring both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to Los Angeles, not too far from where either superstar was born and raised. For the occasion, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha appears On the NBA Beat to discuss how the long-suffering franchise positioned itself for such a major offseason coup, how dominant these Clippers can truly be after the earth-Kawhiuake, the question marks surrounding Paul George’s shoulders and much, much more.

8:23-10:52: “I think for the Clippers to be able to get Doc [Rivers] to basically take a demotion and not have to fire him, not have him quit, I think that was huge, because Doc still has a lot of cachet around the league, he’s still regarded as a players’ coach, he’s still someone that people want to play for. … [They] completely revamped this front office, and that really changed things for the Clippers, because every single move they’ve made over these last two years has been so calculated and has really put them in this position to do what they just did.”

13:04-14:22: “The Clippers have just continued to flip players for more assets and more players, and then they just cashed in on this Paul George-Kawhi Leonard situation. It was a historic price, what they paid for Paul George…but I think the context you’ve gotta look at it in is it’s not like they traded for Paul George only; they traded for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Had they not gotten Paul George, they would not have gotten Kawhi Leonard. … Yes, there is risk into the mid-2020s, but if the Clippers win a championship or make the Finals over the next two, three years, I think that’s clearly worth it.” Continue reading