For your holiday listening pleasure ...

How about two basketball podcasts to share with you on this Labor Day?

Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue is convinced that the United States was "not shaken" by its Sunday loss to Lithuania in the FIBA World Cup and believes that the Americans, despite their rebounding issues and size limitations, are "going to be great" for the rest of the tournament after being knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten.

While spending his summer with USA Basketball as a member of Steve Kerr’s coaching staff, Lue also insists that he’s "ready to go now" with the Clippers and jump straight into his fourth season coaching Kawhi Leonard and Paul George thanks to “having these four weeks, five weeks together" with the national team. Lue says coaching alongside Golden State’s Kerr, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and Gonzaga’s Mark Few has "really activated my mind and got my mind in shape and ready to go."

On Monday in Manila, on the morning after the United States’ 110-104 defeat to Lithuania, Lue joined Turner Sports’ Chris Haynes and me to discuss these things as well as Team USA’s plans to rebound from Sunday’s setback when it returns to the court for Tuesday’s quarterfinal matchup against Italy in knockout play.

(Graphic via USA Basketball.)

We naturally spoke at length about Lue’s upcoming fourth season as head coach of the Clippers and the unavoidable reality of his tenure so far — what Lue described as the "unfortunate situation where our two best players haven't finished a season together the last three years."

We squeezed lots into the conversation on Team USA and the Clippers and coaching in general before Lue had to depart for a staff meeting. Check it out here or wherever you get your podcasts:

Also …

If you need more NBA talk to start your week, here’s the podcast from my latest edition of The Saturday Stein Line on 97.1 The Freak in Dallas. There’s lots more here on the FIBA World Cup away from the United States, an interview with Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jared Dudley and a look at Mark Cuban’s recent comments about Kyrie Irving on Patrick Beverley’s podcast.