2024 Preseason Preview

[esqtvd]

New Era starting tonight! Let's Go!

LOL. True fact. Zu, Mann and Amir. The longest-tenured Clippers. Everyone else has been a rental.

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[Clemenza]

Okay, WTF are we seeing here fellas? And yes he has a jump shot that's uploading. And for those wondering, Mo Bamba can't do this.

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[Clemenza]

Ballmer has built the crown Jewel of the NBA folks. They're saying The Wall is genius and will be a problem for opposing teams. I'm going to Thursday's game against the Kings to see it in person. Can't wait. Clippers with their very own f*cking arena. Who would have thought *sheds tears*

KPJ is going to be the real deal. I guess Norm starts for now, but in the end it should be KPJ. DJJ is continuing where he left if last year. Kai is the future. Get him on the roster right now, however possible, and have his therapist on deck so there's no hickups. Coffey looks better than Mann. Miller needs the real NBA contract while Kobe should be on the two-way deal. Harden & Zu will either be on or off just like last season. I like Dunn off the bench.

This team is basically going to swarm and harass the sh*t out of teams defensively for 48 minutes which is going to be awesome to watch. Pushing the pace on offense, athletes flying around, dunks & lobs galore.. Are we back?? Is this the new Clipper basketball

[og15]

Okay, WTF are we seeing here fellas? And yes he has a jump shot that's uploading. And for those wondering, Mo Bamba can't do this.

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Bamba doesn't have that kind of motor

Kai's weakness is that he's not much of a defensive rebounder, but he gives a young DJ kind of feel.

[og15]

Ballmer has built the crown Jewel of the NBA folks. They're saying The Wall is genius and will be a problem for opposing teams. I'm going to Thursday's game against the Kings to see it in person. Can't wait. Clippers with their very own f*cking arena. Who would have thought *sheds tears*

KPJ is going to be the real deal. I guess Norm starts for now, but in the end it should be KPJ. DJJ is continuing where he left if last year. Kai is the future. Get him on the roster right now, however possible, and have his therapist on deck so there's no hickups. Coffey looks better than Mann. Miller needs the real NBA contract while Kobe should be on the two-way deal. Harden & Zu will either be on or off just like last season. I like Dunn off the bench.

This team is basically going to swarm and harass the sh*t out of teams defensively for 48 minutes which is going to be awesome to watch. Pushing the pace on offense, athletes flying around, dunks & lobs galore.. Are we back?? Is this the new Clipper basketball

KPJ was a 19/5/6 player on 44/37/78 last time he was in the NBA, and he wasn't out due to any significant injury or anything like that, so yes, the talent is definitely undeniable.

Powell is not as skilled overall as a player, where he does have him is in scoring, shooting and efficiency, but KPJ is better on the glass, better passer, etc.

[madmaxmedia]

Okay, WTF are we seeing here fellas? And yes he has a jump shot that's uploading. And for those wondering, Mo Bamba can't do this.

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Bamba doesn't have that kind of motor

Kai's weakness is that he's not much of a defensive rebounder, but he gives a young DJ kind of feel.

I like that comp! But lighter and springier than DJ. He is more physically gifted than I thought. You can tell when Kai gets an opportunity in the paint, no one wants any of his smoke.

[madmaxmedia]

Very smooth runner and moves around the court amazing for a big. Quick first explosive step with great hops and great at finishing the lob. He is everything i hoped diabate would be.

He absolutely is, and that's the thing- you put Diabate on a regular basketball court and he is gonna seem like an out of this world athlete. But on the NBA stage, he's pretty ordinary. Watch him and Kai for about 15 minutes and the difference is clear, Kai is almost unnaturally springy. Hopefully Kai can learn some decent fundamentals to go with that athleticism, and he for sure can stick around in the NBA for awhile. A big part will just be learning to know where to be in different situations on both sides of the floor, so he can exercise that athleticism as much as possible.

I know personal issues (not of the KPJ kind) have hindered his career, so hopefully he is in the process of turning that around too and his prospects will be very good.

[esqtvd]

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[Clemenza]

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[esqtvd]

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Thanks for the correction, Mr. C. I thought Kai had options, but in accepting the Exhibit 10, Grok AI notes that

In summary, while under any form of contract with the Clippers (Exhibit 10 or two-way), Kai Jones cannot directly accept a full NBA contract offer from another team. He would first need to be waived or have his contract situation resolved in a manner that frees him from the Clippers' contractual obligations. If another team wants to secure Jones with a full NBA contract while he's still under the Clippers, they'd likely need to wait for his waiver or negotiate with the Clippers for his rights.

Conversion to Two-Way or Standard NBA Contract: Teams have until the start of the regular season to convert an Exhibit 10 contract into either a two-way contract or a standard NBA contract. This deadline essentially marks the end of the period where an NBA team has exclusive rights to convert the contract without exposing the player to waivers.

[Clemenza]

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Thanks for the correction, Mr. C. I thought Kai had options, but in accepting the Exhibit 10, Grok AI notes that

In summary, while under any form of contract with the Clippers (Exhibit 10 or two-way), Kai Jones cannot directly accept a full NBA contract offer from another team. He would first need to be waived or have his contract situation resolved in a manner that frees him from the Clippers' contractual obligations. If another team wants to secure Jones with a full NBA contract while he's still under the Clippers, they'd likely need to wait for his waiver or negotiate with the Clippers for his rights.

Conversion to Two-Way or Standard NBA Contract: Teams have until the start of the regular season to convert an Exhibit 10 contract into either a two-way contract or a standard NBA contract. This deadline essentially marks the end of the period where an NBA team has exclusive rights to convert the contract without exposing the player to waivers.

There's no way Lawrence and company screws this up right? Or maybe they want to waive Kai and resign Marcus Morris all over again knowing how these guys operate.

I'm also enjoying the narrative switch. Everyone seems to be enjoying this updated squad while Kawhi and his camp still think it's all about him and us hanging on to the bait n switch reports on when he'll be back or not. Of course we need Kawhi, but it's refreshing to have a different discourse about the team that doesn't have anything to do with 213 or the remaining bits of it.

[madmaxmedia]

There's no way Lawrence and company screws this up right? Or maybe they want to waive Kai and resign Marcus Morris all over again knowing how these guys operate.

I'm also enjoying the narrative switch. Everyone seems to be enjoying this updated squad while Kawhi and his camp still think it's all about him and us hanging on to the bait n switch reports on when he'll be back or not. Of course we need Kawhi, but it's refreshing to have a different discourse about the team that doesn't have anything to do with 213 or the remaining bits of it.

It's not 100% for sure , but there's no way the FO can let Kai get away. Full spot, 2-way, whatever it takes. But I want to see Kai get real minutes sooner than later too. It needs to be in the right lineups, but still I think everyone wants to see him get a shot.

This preseason has been exactly why I've been looking forward to the post-PG era. I don't think any team is going to go into the second apron, unless they were just a conference finalist or better. We were obviously not that.

[Clipp312s]

Man, what a way to open up the new arena. Albeit it was a pre-season game, it was still fun nonetheless. This team is night and day on the defensive side vs last years squad. We've got a scrappy bunch. Love Kris Dunn's defensive mindset, Pat Bev level of peskiness w/out the headcase moments.

Kai Jones slowly swaying me. He's still very raw and doesn't have any post moves, and a little loss with the ball, but he's got athleticism we haven't seen since DJ. The lob threat and shot blocking is going to be huge! 2-Way contract is pretty much locked up for Kai, but can we get him a real contract?

KPJ is going to be a nice bucket getter when we're in a rout. He has some frustrating, bonehead moments, but is one of the few players on our team that can create for himself right now. We need that!

DJJ showing us a little bit of everything. Him as a full-season starting 4 is still a little worrisome given his frame, but he's allover the court, and will out run/hustle most 4's.

Next pre-season should be a 2nd unit starting line-up. Let's get the season going already

[madmaxmedia]

So this was an interesting read about KPJ. Just a Reddit post but a lot details and effort by poster, in any case the details can probably be corroborated (or not) from court records. I don't think one should jump to conclusions just because a guy is on your (or an opposing) team, but if everything here is essentially accurate then it would make it a lot easier to root for him. I think he is going to end up playing major minutes for us.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LAClippers/comments/1g4i08v/comment/ls49846/
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38683020/former-rockets-guard-kevin-porter-ex-girlfriend-says-hit-me

I think it’s important not to jump to conclusions in either direction. This was a very unusual case. There were claims made by the DA, as discovered by the paramedics who initially who examined her, that turned out to be patently false.

According to the victim, this is how things went down: she was asleep in their hotel room. KPJ forgets his key and asks the front desk to let him into the room. Security walks him up to the room to let him in. According to the victim, he wakes her up in a frantic state, shakes her saying he wants to ask her about something, smells like alcohol and is clearly drunk. She gets scared and jumps out of bed, trips and falls and hits her head against the wall in the hotel room. Bleeding, she leaves the room and the security guard who let KPJ into the room sees her.

All of this happened in a minute according to the victim. It happened so quickly in fact that the hotel security that opened the door for KPJ was still waiting at the elevator to return to the lobby area. Seeing a scared woman bleeding from the head, the security does his job and calls 911 to report a domestic dispute.

The police arrives and refuses to believe the victim when she tells them that the injury to her head occurred from the slip and fall, and that she was not hit or choked by KJP. The paramedic discovers an issue with the victim’s neck, which they attribute on the police report to choking, despite the victim’s denial. It later turned out this was false; the victim has a congenital neck condition from birth and this injury was not the result of choking.

Before the victim produced her past medical records proving her neck condition was congenital and was not the result of having been choked, the DA leaked that KPJ allegedly fractured the victim’s neck by choking her. This was a demonstrably false accusation, as proven by the victim’s medical records.

The victim never received any money from KPJ. Had she decided to fabricate claims against him, she would probably received a large statement due to the unusual circumstances of the case. Instead, she decided to tell the truth. She doesn’t even know what he wanted to ask her about that night when he shook her to wake her up. She has no interest in continuing a relationship with him either, and seemingly has no incentive to lie for him. In fact, she is dating another more successful NBA player now.

The misdemeanor plea deal that was offered by the DA was the absolute lowest deal they could have gotten to save face in this situation. The misdemeanor will be totally expunged from KPJ’s record after completing a treatment program. When this is over, he will have no criminal record.

Why would someone who is innocent take a plea? It happens all the time. People don’t want to go to trial, especially high profile people and especially Black defendants who are more likely to be judged guilty even when the facts say otherwise. And the facts in this case were highly unusual: you have a victim with a congenital neck condition and a cut on her head because she says she was scared when awoken and hit her head. When the prosecution offers a deal that amounts to no criminal record, that is something most defense attorneys will recommend under the circumstances.

The plea is very different from, for example, the felony domestic violence and child abuse in the Miles Bridges case that led to a 30-game suspension from the NBA. KPJ will have no record. The victim in this case has said from the beginning and continues to say that KPJ did not hit or choke her, and the physical evidence we have pretty much verifies that.

Did he mess up by waking her up while drunk and scaring her? Of course, and there’s no denying this has been a much more traumatic situation for the victim than it has been for KPJ. But does he deserve a second chance to work in the NBA? Maybe, and I think that’s on the Clippers front office, the NBA league office, and the fan base to do their own due diligence.

[Ballings7]

If Kai Jones doesn't stick around, its a travesty.

Like I said, dude should be in the rotation at some level.

More good things to come from KPJ.. the guy is a baller.

[esqtvd]

I like the floater in traffic
sort of makes time stand still
it's Shai's best weapon

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[esqtvd]

True. Beard's plus/minus was ass after the ASB and in the playoffs. 34.3 [Kawhi had the same ppg] is too many damn minutes. We need a real backup point guard.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?PerMode=Per100Possessions&Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612746&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS

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[GoSixersBro]

Sixers fan coming over for some fantasy advice. What's the outlook on Powell this season? With PG gone and Kawhi sidelined, will he eat up a lot of usage and shot attempts? Or could a younger guard take over by new year?

[esqtvd]

Sixers fan coming over for some fantasy advice. What's the outlook on Powell this season? With PG gone and Kawhi sidelined, will he eat up a lot of usage and shot attempts? Or could a younger guard take over by new year?

Powell makes $20M a year with 2 years to run. He will play or be dealt. At the moment he's a starter.

Last year he took a fewer shots than usual but with Paul George and Russell Westbrook gone, I look for him to ramp up his production. We need points.

[esqtvd]

If Kai Jones doesn't stick around, its a travesty.

Like I said, dude should be in the rotation at some level.

Awarded a two-way contract. Bamba is still out so Kai is THE backup center.

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