00:02It goes a long way or it goes a longer way in football than it does in basketball.
00:07You think?
00:08That's a week's pay.
00:10$3.3 million or $3.5 million somewhere in there is how much the one year of Chris Paul's contract was as a vet minimum as he had signed with the Los Angeles Whippers.
00:22Pennies right there, man.
00:24Yes.
00:24Pennies.
00:24Right.
00:25Y'all pay me whenever.
00:26Jump change.
00:26Y'all pay me whenever.
00:27What you looked at and you were like.
00:29Like coupons.
00:29Yes.
00:30What you looked at with Laker Thomas is like, man.
00:31I'm doing it for free at this point.
00:32You gave up $3.5 million for Laker Thomas and the Clippers were like, we'll bring Chris Paul back for $3.5.
00:37Why not?
00:38Why not?
00:39Kick the tires.
00:40Yeah.
00:40And then Chris Paul announces, what, a couple weeks ago, last week almost, that, hey, man, this 21st season, going to be my last one.
00:48You know, finishing with a team that I spent a lot of my career with, you know, a storied career.
00:53He'll be a Hall of Famer without any doubt.
00:55And the Clippers, who remind you.
00:57You want to start that early?
00:59Terrible.
01:00Terrible.
01:00Terrible.
01:00We're like, hey, we're on a road trip.
01:03Go home.
01:04Yeah.
01:04We don't need it.
01:05It was very nasty work.
01:07It really was the way they did it.
01:08Yeah.
01:08He has earned better than that.
01:10Also, like, what's, like, what did getting rid of him and releasing him at this point matter?
01:17I think it just, it's a distraction, a deflection, you know, like, how bad they are.
01:22I mean, they're, they're god awful.
01:24To the point where conversations are happening.
01:26Are you familiar with, it's a man named James Harden.
01:28Have you heard of this gentleman?
01:29Oh, yeah.
01:30I remember that guy.
01:30Yeah.
01:31They're talking about possibly trading him because he's one of the few good things that are happening over there right now.
01:35That's where they are.
01:36But they cut, they cut Chris Paul in the midst of what he is, very soon after he announces that this is going to be his farewell tour.
01:44And so, Chris Paul will be out on the block, and I made the thought.
01:49I had the thought.
01:49Pop it.
01:50Could the Rockets get any benefit?
01:52Why are you doing this?
01:53From a point guard, as some people have pointed to, Chris Paul.
01:56Like, legitimate question.
01:57Why are you doing this?
01:58Like, what would prompt you to believe that Chris Paul could come out?
02:02Because the Rockets have had a point guard issue, John Lopez.
02:05And that is a point guard.
02:06Figure, you in on this?
02:09It depends, man.
02:10It depends.
02:11I do think they need a point guard.
02:13Or, to be honest, I haven't been keeping up with Chris Paul this year.
02:17I don't know how good he is.
02:19Well, like, I think they're fine without Chris Paul, but they do need a point guard.
02:28Okay, so you just mentioned you don't know how good he is.
02:31And I say this with as much respect as you can possibly muster because he is legendary.
02:37He's a Hall of Famer.
02:39He has been good to this franchise, this organization.
02:44He has fallen off a cliff.
02:46Like, he has completely...
02:49Fallen off a cliff, Paul?
02:50Look at that.
02:51Look at that.
02:51Give yourself a ding.
02:53Aha.
02:54That's a...
02:54We need some applause on that.
02:56That's good.
02:57Cliff Paul.
02:58Cliff Paul.
02:59He didn't even play in five games a couple of weeks ago.
03:03As of right now, which is his age 40 season, he's averaging 14 minutes a game, 2.9 points.
03:10Let me see.
03:11That is 3.3 assists.
03:13Last year in San Antonio, where he was still getting maybe what you could consider rotational minutes.
03:18He played all game, every game.
03:19He did.
03:1982 games on 28 minutes, 8.8 points, 7.4 assists.
03:26And the fact that I see from the 713, hell no, hell no, hell to no, holy hell no.
03:33Very good.
03:34From the 713, though, yes, Chris Paul, CP3, back to the age.
03:39Clearly, because I want to stop with...
03:42I'm going to start with the reason, right?
03:43Yeah.
03:44I'm not asking for Chris Paul to be a starting point guard.
03:47Because when we talk about point guard, that is actually the situation that we've been talking about,
03:50is you need somebody who is that starting point guard to be the facilitator of what you're doing
03:54in the absence of Fred VanVleet.
03:56Clearly, that's not the case.
03:57And me, as a recently admitted Reed Shepard hater, even though I love him as a dude and a player,
04:02I've had hater-rific tendencies, and I'm willing to acknowledge that.
04:07He seems like, as of right now, he's actually occupying that circumstance pretty well.
04:11But some of the youth that he has, I think, could benefit from the mentor that is Chris Paul.
04:22That might be the only thing.
04:24He's taken up a roster spot, for one.
04:26And that would be a tough thing, because the vet minimum of 3.7 million would not be easy to get in.
04:32That would actually be a very good reason to just be like, Reggie, don't even think about it.
04:37Because now you're talking about, we're playing with aprons and salary cap machinations,
04:44where you have to try and find a way to fit 3.5 in there.
04:46Even though 3.5 million dollars is not a larger scale of things,
04:49when you're talking about the narrow margin,
04:51I think the Rockets might be like a million dollars under the nearest threshold that they're at.
04:56So it would be rough to make happen.
04:59But could you find any value in the idea of Chris Paul as veteran?
05:04Because I was talking to B. Scott, I mentioned, on Monday.
05:06And one of the things that he said is he could see some Chris Paul things and read.
05:09And I was like, why not then give him that mentor to help bring some of those things out of them?
05:14That would be the only checkmark on the positive side for me.
05:19But there are so far too many negatives.
05:21Number one, it's sad, actually.
05:24I mean, he's fallen off a cliff.
05:26He's just really bad this year.
05:28On a really bad team, mind you.
05:30Which says something as well.
05:33It's going to be hard to get that salary in, as we just talked about.
05:38And defensively, you're the stats whiz.
05:43But he's not.
05:44If you're worried about Reed Shepard in defense, worry about Chris Paul in defense.
05:49Yeah.
05:49Because it's just not there.
05:50You know, so I, yeah, I reluctantly say no way.
05:55What did that guy say?
05:56Holy hell no.
05:57Yeah, that was the last.
05:58It was hell no, hell no, hell to the no.
06:01Holy hell no.
06:02Yeah.
06:03I don't know if it feels in fact enough.
06:05I see somebody said bring back Harden.
06:07That one you're not going to.
06:08I don't think anybody's going to make that shake, especially because of the salary.
06:12I'm kind of curious where he's going to go.
06:14I'm really interested in that because he's still playing at a particularly high level.
06:18But yeah, I wonder where he would land.
06:22832 makes a valid point.
06:23What's going on here?
06:24Chris Paul to the Rockets.
06:25Verlander to the Astros.
06:26Honey Badger to the Texans.
06:26What are we doing?
06:27We're being nostalgic apparently.
06:29It is 2018 again.
06:31And you know what?
06:32One of the other things that you could easily make the case of is Fred Van Vliet, while he
06:36was battling back from injury, can still be some level of like, still some level of mentor.
06:40And if you're talking about consummate point guard, Aaron Holiday has been a good job at being that.
06:45And he's a pro.
06:46He is a pro.
06:47But it just, the fascination popped up.
06:49And I wanted to ask if there was any value to be had there.
06:51It's a fascinating thing to think about if you're thinking about, hell, even last year's
06:57Chris Paul.
06:58You know, 8.8 and 7.4, I'll take that.
07:01Yeah, last year's Chris Paul.
07:02And I think you can see some of the benefits with that Spurs team right now.
07:05Oh, they're winning without Wimby like crazy.
07:07And you can see some of the things with like Safon Castle and with some of these guys that have
07:13had the opportunity to garner some of that.
07:15Chris Paul, to me, is the perfect example of when it goes, it goes fast.
07:20Yeah.
07:21And it's gone.
07:21Yeah.
07:22Yeah.
07:22And that's fair.
07:23So, salute to Chris Paul.
07:24Obviously, a lot of appreciation for what he did.
07:26And if his hamstring could have held up for just a little bit longer, the Rockets would
07:29have, I think, a little bit more hardware here in the city of Houston.
07:33But yeah, we can all say bump you to the Clippers for treating him the way it is.
07:36He should just go to the Lakers at this point.
07:38Just go across the street.
07:39And just see if he can, if he can, uh, Gary Payton is, yeah, just ride.
07:43He probably ain't going to play a lot, but just, just go across the street.
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