Podcast P With Paul George: “Clippers Season, Wemby Highlights, & ESPN’s NBA Player Rankings”

Paul George returns for Season 2 of “Podcast P” to preview the upcoming NBA season, Clippers championship hopes, Victor Wembanyama, and more.

We share the Season 2 premiere of “Podcast P With Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.

In the episode, PG is joined by his co-hosts, Dallas Rutherford and Jackie Long to preview the upcoming season, and dive into how his Clippers stack up against a loaded Western Conference.

During the episode, PG shares what he learned from the team’s preseason finale vs. the reigning NBA Champion, the Denver Nuggets, including Reggie Jackson trash-talking Ivica Zubac during their game.

Later in the episode, the guys discuss Terance Mann joining the Clippers opening day starting lineup, what that look brings to the team followed by a deeper look at the league, including Victor Wembanyama’s upcoming debut and the larger rookie class brings to the table.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [13:40] ON HAVING LESS PRE-SEASON GAMES NOW AND HOW VETS CALMED PG DOWN HIS ROOKIE YEAR

“Yeah, it’s different now. When I first came into the league my rookie year, there was eight pre-season games. Now it’s four, five maybe. You legit played at least five preseason games fully…For the young guys it’s just being prepared. The big thing is being in the best condition, that goes a long ways. My rookie years in Indiana the vets had to calm us down. We was going so hard they was like yo chill….Me and Lance we was like dogs with pepper in our food, we was just riled up, ready to go.”

• [19:26] ON WHO RUNS HARD IN THE PRE-SEASON PRACTICES

“It’s funny the first one we did, we looking around like who really about to run this shit hard. So we looking around, me, next to me Russ, next to Russ, Kawhi, we all in a row. And everybody else is just hauling ass. So we run the first 10, after that I think Marcus say you see the pace they running at, fall in line. After that everyone was [keeping pace]. We were still running them hard but you know it’s not like…”

• [22:31] REGGIE JACKSON TELLING IVICA ZUBAC OFF WHILE PLAYING

“So Reg, during the game, Reg’s coming off the pick and roll, Kawhi’s guarding him. Zu’s in the drop guarding Reg, he comes off to the left, talking to Zu while he’s about to pull up. ‘Zu, you too fucking far back. You too far back in that drop you better step up. Cashed it. Immediately. I snapped out like oh okay I need that. Let’s go.’”

• [24:17] PG ON HOW THE CLIPPERS LOOK AFTER PLAYING DEFENDING CHAMPS, DENVER NUGGETS, IN THE PRESEASON

“You know, I thought we looked good. Still a sign, the tell tale of it all is we got to get better. We gotta figure out our lineups. We gotta figure out defensively what we’re going to do. Offensively our spacing and all of that stuff. Through the whole pre-season we were coming off getting easy looks against Utah. We had some great opportunities, the floor was open with how we’re trying to attack the defense this year. I mean no bulletin material but I definitely took things away watching that Denver game when we was out and they had their starters in of how we can make it a little more difficult when we play them.”

• [27:38] ON TERANCE MANN JOINING THE CLIPPERS STARTING LINEUP

“I think it’s time. I think it’s a blueprint. Just from an organization standpoint. T-Mann has been the guy that they young guys should look up to. From putting that work in, you know, staying ready, being reliable. Regardless what position we put him in in a game, he produces for us and you reward him for that. For always being ready, for being a pro, he gets his work in, his work ethic is amazing. Each year he’s getting better and better, he’s getting more confident and confident, you reward that within the infrastructure. The young guys look at that… it’s possible.”

• [42:35] IF VETERAN PLAYERS COULD MAKE A TOP 100, IT WOULD BE MORE ACCURATE

“It would be more accurate. We’re judging based off, we know what it takes. I’m putting everything in perspective too. Like their value to the team, their production, their expectations, their roles. You know, I’m putting all of that into it. I’m not just going off of names or, nah. I know what players can do and how good they are and how they rank.”