IT IS WHAT IT IS - SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT TEAM USA HEADING INTO THE OLYMPICS IN PARIS?! | S4 EP58

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

It's a reunion, hello y'all Uh I was selling crack on a private jet, I've been to hell and back But no confusion, it's a reunion Hello y'all, welcome back Get murdered here, he counting money He said, can't man, the hell we're at I'm only here to shit on niggas and piss on bitches

Welcome ass, I bought jewelry and bikes, nigga Black Benz's and white Vigas Now I'm out here and I'm looking for more chandeliers and light fixtures Nah, I don't like niggas, what's wrong with me? Welcome back to It Is What It Is. This episode is sponsored by Underdog Fantasy. The app is an easy way to make some cash just by making picks on your favorite players. Underdog is available in more than 30 states,

including California, Texas, and New York, just to name a few. Make sure to support the show by hitting the link in the bio and downloading the underdog fantasy app use code mace cam or stat to get up to 250 in bonus cash with your first deposit and a special pick it's the easiest way to win on underdog i'm treasure wilson aka stat baby along with your hosts mace and cam Kent. Killer, what's good, man? Murder, what's up? How are you today? I'm good, man. What's up?

Still Robert Horry? Huh? Still Robert Horry? I'm sure you thought about it. That was just for the show. I know. They told me. I was looking.

They said, you might really need to check on Murder, like you just said. You might need to check on him, man. We said it for the show's sake, you know? I just check in the day just checking in that's it it's good you all right stat uses something on the NBA game on yes i got to see team usa play team canada was an interesting game i think it was a very slow start i think it got a lot of people worried for Team USA because I feel like their chemistry isn't there all the way yet. They're still trying to figure it out. But I will say I know how we were laughing before about Ant-Man,

not laughing because that's not the right term, but about Ant-Man saying that he's the first option. No, it's a bold take, but to me he was looking like it out there. You can ask Church and Larry. I said the same thing. I said Ant-Man looking like he really looking like it out there. You can ask Church and Larry. Walking here, I said that. I said the same thing. I said, Amsterdam looking like he really is the number one option. I absolutely said that walking into work this morning.

I just said that probably 10 minutes ago. He came in. That's the news. Something we didn't know. He's probably been saying, I've been seeing it the last two seasons. Because at the end of the day, they were actually losing until he got in the game and uh him and Tatum uh brought the team back but uh we'll discuss it okay so before we discuss the actual game let's talk about Kawhi Leonard so he's withdrawing from Team USA right before the Olympics the official statement says Kawhi has been ramping up for the

Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas. He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA basketball and the Clippers determined it's in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris. What is you guys' thoughts on that quote, that statement, and Kawhi no longer being part of the team? Well, actually, I think it's a brilliant idea for Kawhi to sit out. I mean, he's always been a player that needed rest. He's always a player that has required more time off the field for the same particular thing that's going on with his niece.

And when you think about just like they just paid him all this money, this would be the wrong time for him to get hurt or have any kind of setbacks. And I want you to think about this. If you're watching this at home or anyplace else, if you finally pay a person and then this person is ready to go all across the world and play basketball, and then when they come back to the person who paid them, they say they need rest. Because you've been resting this whole time,

this definitely doesn't make sense for anything that the Clippers want to do, especially with them losing Paul George. They need him to be 100%. They don't have another option. And they just couldn't risk it. I wouldn't have risked it at all. This is a two-time defensive player of the year. And he's coming off one of his best seasons in a while

because he was able to finish with 68 games or so. I said this. I said this I said this I ain't say this that I was like niggas need to sit niggas down because I've been saying it for three days the NBA season is more important to the

Olympics when it comes to NBA coaches GMs and owners we don't talk about Carmelo's three rings I just said this shit yesterday motherfucking sit your ass down. It is no load management pause in the Olympics. You can't load manage in the Olympics, nigga. So

it's not going to work. Secondly, you know who's the assistant coach? One of them? T. Lou. You think he don't see what's going on? T. Lou is sitting there like, oh, hell no. This nigga limping? Nah, B.

Nah, nah, nah, nah. He put the call out. Yeah, Paul George. He was there. He had to make the call. Yo, let me talk to you. You mean I'm having fun? Yeah. Pack it up. Pack it up. We need you next season. Paul George is going like Mace just said. T. Lou is sitting there monitoring this situation. Not saying he

wouldn't have been a coach anyway, but he's sitting there monitoring his number one option when basketball season starts. Not performing to the level that Kawhi Leonard is capable of performing to. And to me, Kawhi looked, and pause, no disrespect, he looked at chubby. He didn't look like a lean Kawhi Leonard in shape. Like, when I was watching it from a distance, and I'm doing warm-ups, I'm like, who is that? I don't even know, because his hair was different and shit.

I'm like, oh, that's Kawhi Leonard? That nigga look kind of fat. He look like when James Harden didn't want to play for certain niggas and was coming to the Houston Rockets and all that out of shape. That's how he look. And it just goes to show, and they said basically that it was Team USA and the Clippers' decision.

Nigga, the Clippers made this decision, absolutely, and especially with T. Lou there watching it. Then you have to think about this. Mace alluded to it a little bit before George is gone. And you think that Paul George don't know that Kawhi Leonard is always hurt? And he may have a better insight, not even maybe, he definitely has a better insight than the average analyst like Mace, myself, or anybody else because he's sitting there watching them be hurt

probably more times than we see on television. So when he acts for a fourth year with the Clippers, and the Clippers tell him, nah, and gamble on that, that's stupid of the Clippers knowing that Kawhi's always hurt. Paul George sits here and says, all right, cool. I'll come back and fuck with y'all. I don't know if this team will win a championship, but I want another year.

I want a four-year deal. And they said, no, we're giving you the same deal Kawhi got. Oh, I'm going to be here. I don't know if Kawhi's going to be here. Eva, give me the fourth year you don't. Clippers gambled on it, thinking that probably he from LA, he don't want to leave home. And they betted on that and lost the bet. And now Paul George, his exact words was, when they asked why you didn't stay with the Clippers, he said, I felt they disrespected me. That was his exact words.

So when he says he feels disrespected, I didn't see anything outright to where they were talking to him crazy or said something slick about him. He was talking about the contract, knowing what's wrong with Kawhi Leonard, knowing that you're not going to get it done just with James Hart and Russell Westbrook and myself, if you're going to do that, knowing what's going on in the Western Conference, pay me.

And they didn't pay him. But I knew this was probably going to happen. I knew it. I didn't know. Put it like this. I didn't know it was going to happen, but I felt this was the best decision for the Clippers to have any chance in the Western

Conference next season. To do what exactly? To have any type of chance to get to the playoffs. That's what I'm saying. By arresting him? By not playing him in the Olympics, because we have to think about it. You just said that he had his best season, 68 games, but he couldn't even finish the playoffs.

Yeah. So you had a great regular season and 68 games but he couldn't even finish the playoffs yeah so you got a great regular season and 68 games now you know now we're saluting 68 games not true i'm just saying in general that's the type of shit you're like no he did play 68 like that's a stat he's really 82 yeah you know so that's a stat but for the previous two years before that he didn't play at all not that much he's always hurt and then he couldn't finish this season. I'm the Clippers organization. We just gave that man that money.

Please sit down. Please sit down. So when I say the best chance, I'm talking about the best chance of even getting to the playoffs, let alone trying to get to a Western Conference finals or a championship. That's what I meant by that. Yeah. Okay, so let's discuss Kawhi's replacement, Derek White.

Do you guys feel like this is the right choice for Team USA? Me personally, I salute to Derek White for getting the nod to play on this team pause. But clearly, there's an elephant in the room. When you talk about Boston, it's amazing how they just skipped over Jalen Brown. This makes absolutely no sense. I could think of probably like four other players that should have gotten that call. If they were looking, let's say they were just looking for a smaller guard.

What about Jalen Brunson? The season that Jalen Brunson just had is almost like we was just talking about disrespectful when Cam brought up about Paul George. This is super disrespectful for New York to not have him on this team. Not New York team USA. I mean, yeah. I'm saying, but it's disrespectful for the whole New York. You know the fans in New York is like, we don't got it.

Everything is disrespectful when it comes to them niggas, man. Everything, we can't even be up here. Everything we do is disrespectful to New York and to the Knicks. So I was trying to put them in the show, you know. When it comes to New York Knicks, they definitely feel like Jalen Brunson

belong on this team. I also believe Jalen Brunson belong on this team. I also believe Jalen Brunson belong on this team, even when you think of somebody like Tyrese Maxey, if you're looking for a smaller guard. So I don't know what USA was looking for, but actually Jalen Brown definitely belong on this team. Like how do you get MVP in the finals and you don't even get the rope you're not the first person that people call even if you're not in the 12 you should definitely be

the person that could replace the 12th man on the roster uh is no excuse for that and i know there's rumors floating around that you know, Nike may be behind it, allegedly, because Grant Hill went on the thing and said some things about when he was playing on USA, but he was wearing Fila. You know, he got some trouble behind that or some kickback, however you want to say it. So there's a lot of discrepancies and controversies out there. There's a lot of discrepancies and controversies out there. I don't think there's nobody on that team that believed Jalen Brown shouldn't have gotten a nod before Derek White.

No disrespect to Derek White. We appreciate what he's done in the league. But you already got Drew Holiday. So you're going to bring the backcourt back for Boston. How do you skip over Jalen Brown? Unless Jalen Brown is hurt somewhere and we don't know about it. Yeah, I'm going to agree with Jalen Brown, not Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunson is undersized.

He's super good, don't get me wrong, but when you're talking about the Olympics, when you get to Europe, them guys are tall. Derek White is 6'4", good defensive player. One of these high-class role players that we speak of. But to have three players from the Boston Celtics on Team USA and not one of them is Jalen Brown is just ridiculous. And you can sit there and allude to Derek White's defense if you want to, which we know, of course, that Jalen Brown is a better offensive player.

And if you want to say that Derek White may be better defensively, I'd have to beg to differ after the defense I've seen him play in the championship against Luka, against Kyrie, against basically everybody on the Mavericks. You know, he's 6'6", 6'7", so he can basically guard a one through three. And he did an outstanding job. And then when we think about Luka and talking about him being one of the best players in the world,

I didn't never see Luka have so much trouble bringing the ball up the court in my life. The five, six seasons that he's been in the NBA, Jalen Brunson was giving him problems defensively. So if you want to say Derek White is a defense or whatever, I've seen Jalen Brown play outstanding defense. He got his left hand together. He's the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, the Finals MVP. I think all of that may put the battery in his back. Not saying he wasn't good already, but he's like, yeah, niggas finally recognizing.

And then you do this and don't put him in this. First of all, you don't put him on any NBA team. I'm talking about first, second, and third. He gets MVP, Eastern Conference, and the finals, like I just said. Then you snub him on the USA team for a replacement. If a nigga would have told us a month ago, it's three Celtics on the Team USA. Guess who they are?

We would not guess that this is the three players from the Boston Celtics on the Team USA. I can't sit here and, you know, act like I'm a professional when it comes to scouting and putting teams together, as far as professional teams, that is, so on and so forth. I've seen Grant Hill, you know, slight to it, like Mace said,

that he thinks Nike's behind it because he wore Fila's his whole career, et cetera, et cetera. But it's just crazy that you don't put this man on the team. And if you think Jalen Brown doesn't care why did he tweet what he tweeted you know he had the rock emoji the one eyebrow up shit with the one glasses like word fuck this what niggas is doing and I'm trying to think how to word this correctly because I don't want to sit here and put that out there because I've seen people putting it out there that Steve Kerr and Ty Lue and them is trying to break Boston up. I've seen that out there.

I don't want to say that because I'm not going to go that far. But I don't know how that is when you go back to the locker room when the season starts and, like, we brought home the goal. If they bring home the goal, that's not a foregone conclusion in my eyes. But if they do it, like, yo, I'm looking at Derek White if I'm Jalen Brown. It's like, and no disrespect to what I'm about to say, but if we're on Manhattan Center and y'all pick Tim Gittins' headache over me to go to the All-Star game, I got a problem with that.

No disrespect to him. You my man. I know you had a career later on, and one, and training with the Liberty and all that. We talking about my ass, sonny. If they pick Tim Gittins to go to the All-Star or whatever, and I'm not going, Rich Parker, Tim Gittins, and Joel, or Dwayne Jordan, and I don't go, I got a problem with that.

I got a problem with that. I know you had a better basketball career afterwards and all that. But at the end of the day, I'm sincerely upset with that. So we'll see what happens. I don't know. I can't say. But if you had to ask my opinion, Jalen Brown should definitely be in the Olympics before Derek White. Okay.

So you guys kind of mentioned Jalen Brown's tweets, obviously the emojis that he posted. And then he said, at Nike, this is what we're doing. So Stephen A. took this opportunity to kind of clear the air on what he was saying previously when he was saying an NBA source had told him that Jalen Brown wasn't as likable, that was the word choice he used. So in a tweet, he said, do y'all believe me now? Yo, Jalen Brown, do I need to reveal my sources now? Is it not obvious now?

How in the hell is a $300 million man now a champion in the NBA Finals MVP, who's clearly a top two player on the Celtics and a top 15 player in the world, not chosen for Team USA because his teammate not named Jason Tatum is selected before him. Come on, y'all. What y'all thinking about what Stephen A said? Yeah, so I have a serious problem with what Stephen A just said because when you talk about being likable, right, this goes down a lot of roads

because this speaks to, like, the underlying problems with people when it comes to any business. Yes, when you're likable, that's with coaching, but likability shouldn't play into if I'm a better player than somebody, I don't even make the team. You can put that in some places on a team, but that shouldn't be the reason you don even make the team. You can put that in some places on the team, but that shouldn't be the reason you don't make the team. And I know the first thing people hint to and put their finger on,

Paul, is Isaiah Thomas. When he didn't make the Olympic team with Jordan and Stockton, there's people like, man, there's no way Isaiah Thomas is not on this team. Everybody you got on there is cool, but Zeke belong on this team. And maybe that's what he's alluding to, but even that, I thought that was foul unless somebody on the team. Because it's been rumored that Jordan was the one that said he didn't want to play with him.

You know what I'm saying? And I'm not saying it was Jordan, but I'm saying that was the rumor growing up when I was growing up watching the game that Jordan said if he plays or not play. Rob Markman That's still the rumor. And there ain't no rumor. Jordan be denying that shit. But we all know that Isaiah and Dumars and Lambert. Now, I didn't mean to interrupt what you're saying.

Y'all niggas, the Detroit Pistons, beat the Bulls two years in a row. They shook y'all hand when they lost. When they beat you that year, when y'all were the defending champions, y'all walked off before the game was over. It was still time on the clock. Walked right past them and they shake their hands.

And Jordan ended up being Jordan, and he started calling shots, kind of how LeBron is calling shots now. So as much as people be like room with. My bad, I didn't interrupt. So it's the same. The same thing is going on when it comes to Jalen Brown. If you're going to reveal your sources, Stephen A, let us know the source.

Hey, killer. Hey, one of us. And let us know the source. Because realistically killer, hit one of us and let us know the source. Because realistically, somebody, I had that epiphany today. Somebody on that team said, nah, don't bring Jalen Brown. And I had, you know, I had my sources. Stephen A., you ain't the only one got sources. I got sources. They can say, yo, the list came out. They say, yo, boy ain't the only one got sources. I got sources.

Nigga said, yo, the list came out. They said, yo, boy ain't gonna play. Killer, and it went like this. We thinking about Derek White or Jalen Brown. Who do you think? And nigga said... Nigga ain't even look he went like this. And if you need me to show you the video, I bring the video because I got the video.

Nigga went like this. He didn't even want to look. You a sucker for that. And it'd be crazy because it'd be your own mans in them. You know what I'm saying? It'd be niggas you think you cool with. But you know, get this on you. I might bring the video to mall.

Look, I'm not, I have no way, I have no way of telling anybody who's been doing this longer than us how to do, especially somebody as successful as Stephen A. Smith, how to do what they're doing, how to be a journalist, how to be a sports anchor, and how to be the top personality in sports. You know, debatable between him and Shannon Sharp, whoever you want to pick, because not only they're on the internet, they're on linear television every day. So more eyeballs are on them. And this is what Steve and A's been doing

maybe before longer than me and Mase has been in the entertainment business, if not just as long when we was 18, 19 years old. So I'm going to step out of my analyst chair for a minute and say this as a nigga on the street or whatever. Yo, stop talking about sources if you're not going to tell us the source, nigga. This is not analyst care.

This is on the street scam. Yo, my nigga, you said you had a source before. Now the shit might be turned out to be right what you say. Now you teasing niggas again. Talk about, don't make me reveal my source. Reveal them. If not, don't even say source. Just say I told you so.

Because now niggas want to know who the source is. Like, my nigga, he can't sit there and be like, yo, do I need to reveal my source? Yes, you do. Yeah. Yeah. And now we're fishing to buy the source. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Reveal the source for a minute, nigga, so we know who the source is. Because right now you have an I told you so moment where you didn't have to say the source again. You could have just been like, I told you. But you keep having this mysterious source source and nobody knows who it is so i just want to say that as a nigga on the street let me get back to my analyst chair you know what i'm saying no disrespect to the big bro appreciate you nigga now back to what i was um back to um the original question. Look, man, as far as having a source or somebody say, I told you so, or Jalen Brown not being good, I had this conversation. Jingles was in my crib earlier.

I said, this is the Olympics. And I wasn't just even talking about Jalen Brown or Derek White or whatever. I said, this is not the time to be teaching nobody a lesson. Where's John Moran at? Fuck them pistols. This is not the time to be teaching

nobody a lesson. The country's reputation is on the line, nigga. Niggas lost to Canada last time they played. Like, this game last night was a big deal because last time, America lost. This is not time to be teaching niggas a lesson. Is Zion healthy? I know he always is.

We need the best young, and not saying these niggas still ain't good. We need the best of the best. Not teaching niggas a lesson. This is no time to be like, well, he had to piss. He paid the dues. The time is up. Yeah, the suspension is over. Yeah, we need the best of the best, nigga.

I need all the experienced older players and the top youngest players. I like Tyrese Halliburton. I don't like him like I like John Moran. I don't like him like that. I'm just being honest with you. I'll fuck with you and all that. But because John Moran got hurt in the middle of last season, then he got suspended, all that shit,

we seem to forget when he played the whole season, he was second team All-NBA or third team All-NBA, one or the other. Pardon me if I can't remember which one it is. But that's how long niggas' memory is. They can't remember 25 minutes ago. This man is a problem and if you think he don't come back next year healthy and he mad at all this ant-man shit all this jalen brunson shit

and all these younger players that's around his age getting this chicken and when i say chicken i don't mean money right now i'm talking about spotlight scoring killing niggas he was on pace to be kind of where ant-Man is right now. And I'm not saying that Ant-Man isn't bigger or has a better skill set or whatever, but this is not a time to be teaching nobody a lesson. Jason Brown, likable or not likable, needs to be on the team.

I don't want to hear about if niggas don't like niggas. I don't want to hear about the nigga had a pistol he served his time and now we can't trust him. I don't want to hear about if niggas don't like niggas. I don't want to hear about the nigga had a pistol he served his time, and now we can't trust him. I don't care. Go ahead and bring the girl home. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead and play games out there with these niggas and see that we lost control of basketball around the world. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, there was a lot of niggas in the NBA that niggas didn't like that was different. Dennis Rodman, Barkley. You know what I'm saying? There was a lot of niggas niggas in the NBA that niggas didn't like, that was different. Dennis Rodman, Barkley, you know what I'm saying? It was a lot of niggas

niggas had problems with, but you know, they got it done on the court. Bro, this is not, listen, we have one player from the United States on the first team or NBA. This is very important to see if we

lost control or not. Listen, I don't know if we lost control in that. Listen, I don't know if the World Cup or whatever it was, pardon me, World Cup is soccer. It was World some shit last summer, I believe,

or the summer before last. I can't remember. And Derek Schroeder and them niggas won. He got MVP. And I know LeBron and Curry and Durant all don't play him,

but niggas, yo, you think niggas don't get a joy out of kicking New York, pardon, New York, United States ass in basketball? Because that's our claim to fame when it comes to basketball. We supposed to be them niggas. Yeah, because at the end of the day, listen,

as much as basketball has caught up with the rest of the world outside the United States, we still pay the most money. We still have the biggest entertainment value. Us dumb niggas would stay home and play. This is why these niggas come to America and play, because more eyeballs are going to beat on them. But at the end of the day, nigga, yo, this is not, listen, this is not time to be teaching nobody a damn lesson. And Mace made a great point about the Isaiah shit.

That was a little different because, and Isaiah should have been on that team over John Stockton. But they had too many monsters. It was just, everywhere you look, it was just a damn problem on that team. And I'm not saying on this team it's okay, but you go through, outside of Christian Laettner, you're looking at everybody on that 92 team like oh nah this is a problem problem you look at tyree tyler burton and derrick white you're like what you think when shay gildress alexander see them niggas he like He like, word. Word. Word. I get it.

I get it, yeah. Matter of fact, he licking his chops, he burn man rubbing his hands, nigga. He's excited. This is what y'all got. Beck, here, wait. Okay, don't bring the goal home. Okay.

Not talking to the players, neither. Talking about to the committee who put the team together. Okay, because I'm sitting there looking at the coaches. I don't know where the fuck P.J. Carlissimo been. P.J. Carlissimo on the sidelines. Mike Krzyzewski, ain't you retired, nigga?

What is Mike Krzyzewski doing? I'm going to pick who I want to pick. Yeah, like these, like, where the fuck y'all been at? Mike, okay, you just retired. P.J. Carlissimo? I'm not saying you ain't been doing shit behind the scenes and all that. Listen, I don't know if you was there that year, Mace, the year that,

and I don't think you was there, the year that we was going to Manhattan Center. We went to Seton Hall camp, the whole Manhattan Center. And P.J. Carlissimo was coaching Seton Hall at the time. Yeah, I didn't go. Yeah, it was me,issimo was coaching seeing her at the time yeah it was me Joyce Sam Sherman you know that was supposed to get us ready or whatever that nigga's an asshole poor when I seen Latrell Sprewell choke him out I was like I remember that nigga the nigga was in the middle of the camp we all you know you sitting on the floor and niggas talking he said none of y'all are going to the NBA there's a thousand kids sitting you say, none of y'all are going to the NBA? There's a thousand kids sitting in there.

Yeah, none of y'all, I don't even believe none of y'all are good enough. Shut up! Niggas say, yo, that nigga was rude, very rude. Wow. And then when I seen Latrell Sprewell took him out,

I said, yeah, I remember that nigga when I went to see him in the hall of fame. That nigga was mad rude. And I'm not saying he doesn't know basketball. He's been a basketball mom for a while, head coach. Like I said,

I have no idea what he's been doing behind the scenes. But this seemed like when you be like the forefathers or whatever, and I know they're not that old, but you know who running this. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. Carlissimo, Coach K. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And then you try to throw a little Grant Hill and Ty Lue in there to mix it up. I seen Jim Boeheim there.

Ain't you retired too? I fuck with Jim Boeheim there. Ain't you retired too? I fuck with Jim Boeheim, but ain't you retired? It is what it is. No pun intended. Okay, so we're going to go to break. And when we return, we'll discuss how you guys feel about Joel Embiid being on Team USA. Don't go anywhere. I'm going to get mine regardless. I'm going to get mine regardless. Welcome back.

Now let's get into our underdog fantasy picks of the day. So tonight, the Liberty will play the Sky. Underdog fantasy has Breonna Stewart at nine and a half rebounds. Do you have her high or lower, Mace? I'm going higher. Ten. Lower. Okay.

Sabrina Ionescu is at six assists. Do you have her higher or lower, Cam? Higher. Higher. Okay. And Angel Reese is at 26 and a half points and rebounds combined. Do you have her higher or lower, Mace? Higher.

How much? 26 and a half points and rebounds combined well okay download the underdog fantasy app and you can make your picks too so this is hold on real quick while we're on the wmba asia wilson i don't know if you see what i said you've been going crazy she's been wilding since she had that little terry press conference i think whoever's coaching her she was trying to play with her team and be a team player, and that shit wasn't working. And she's been killing. She had a 2020 game the other night.

I forget what she had tonight. I just remember the 2020. But I was looking night after night. She's been looking ridiculous. And she got the Aces back in third place, if I believe. They was, like was in seventh place. She said, fuck it. I tried to be a team player.

That shit ain't working. Let me get back to doing what I'm doing. So salute to Asia Wilson for recognizing that as much as I want to be a team player, to get us to where we need to be, got to be wanting the ball I have to be saying I need this for us to win just want to point that out while he's on the WNBA because everything is Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese lately and we're not going to sit here and ignore what Asia Wilson's been doing the last couple weeks okay so this has been kind of like pretty big debate on social media as of lately so a lot of people are unhappy with mb being on team usa mainly a lot of people from his

country they're feeling like he's being disloyal but just in your opinion and from what you've seen even just from his gameplay do you guys think that joeliid should be on Team USA's Olympic team? Me personally, I don't believe Joel Embiid should be on Team USA. I mean, preferably, number one, because he's not from the USA. That would be a good reason to not be on Team USA. Whenever niggas got to make waivers and do all kind of things to get you on a team, that lets you know that your pa's kind of been in the rules. It's almost like when we was growing up,

if nigga got to get a new passport or a new birth certificate, a doctor's note, you know you're doing something you shouldn't be doing just to play this sport. And I think the biggest letdown there could possibly be is for a person to make it at anything and never come back to the people that he made it from. You know what I'm saying? Just so no matter what the U.S. is offering,

as much as I want the U.S.A. to win, I think it's a travesty to even see him in a U.S.A. uniform, even though he played at Kentucky and all of that. But remember, he came from somewhere to play at Kentucky. You were once a part of a whole other culture, a whole other country. And them people have every right to be livid. They have every right to be like, now, come on.

Because if you take everything that that country has contributed towards you, and now you blow up and now you just make all of your resources go to the United States, then you've crippled the country that you come from. So no shot at Joel Embiid. I'm just saying my observation of this take, what we're looking at now, because the only reason why the USA wants you on their team is because you give them their best chance at winning. And if there wasn't a guy out there by the name of Joker,

they probably wouldn't even need you on the team. But because there's a Joker out there, they're asking for you to be on Team USA. Because with all of those wing players, LeBron, KD, Ant-Man, Drew Holiday, the newer choir of Derek White, none of that would mean anything if there's a guy by the name of Joker on that other team. That is the only reason they have you there, because they know that Anthony Davis will not be enough for Joker.

And not only will you be helping the U.S., you're going to be selling your country out. So if you want to go back home and people be yelling, sell out, sell out, when you come off the plane, that's all that's going to be. And I wouldn't do that. Well, let me ask you this, Murda. Yeah.

There's an international tournament within the United States. Mm-hmm. And Jacksonville wanted you to play for them and Harlem wanted you to play for them. That's a great question. Yeah. Yeah, killer. We're friends like these

who need enemies who need enemies I'm just asking the question if they both wanted you to play for the domestic national tournament Jacksonville needed you and Harlem needed you

who are you playing with there's no wrong answer. There's no wrong, I'm just wondering who you gonna play with. Who needs enemies? Who needs enemies? I can't move on until you answer the question. Oh God. That was good, I actually can't.

Wait, before I answer it, because I'm going to answer it. All right. Where was Joel born? Cameroon. He was born in Cameroon. How old was he when he left Cameroon? 15. That's different.

That's different. But he's 30, so he's been here half his life. Yeah. But I was only three or four years old. But you went back. You went back when you was about 12, 13. You went back for a couple years. No, I would be clearly playing for Harlem

because that's where I spent all of my life. He had his psychological development paused in Cameroon, so that's different. So if something was to happen to him, his psychology would go back to Cameroon because that is his original upbringing. My original upbringing wasn't Jacksonville, even though I was born there. But good try, Killer. That was a good one.

There's no wrong answer. Yeah, that was a good one. That was a good one. It's not a wrong answer. I was just wondering. With friends like these. But I was just wondering because, to me, I kind of disagree with you when it comes to that

because you know why? Yeah. And I'm not saying your point of view is wrong. I'm just saying why I disagree. Yeah. And you, white being here, could attest to it, and myself. Because when you live in Harlem, you tend to be an adult at nine. Yeah, nine months.

Yeah. Nine months, right? you tend to be an adult literally maybe 6 or 7 you know what I'm saying come on man come on man this nigga here seeing this nigga at the game

this nigga trying to run down us matter of fact you tend to be an adult at literally, and I'm being nice saying that, some niggas seven, eight years old. So you're outside by yourself, you're going to the store by yourself, you're hanging out in the corner by yourself. Yeah. Who that nigga? Let that nigga in.

Let that nigga in, man. Come on. Rich, Rich. Play sports mafia now. Thanks, son. Hey, they calling you the mafia, Rich. They calling you the mafia. I give you the credit.

Hold on now. I gave you the credit. They calling you the mafia out here. Yo, they can't hear you. You did your job. Nephew got to do his job. No, we ain't talking about that. We talking about, can we ask you two minutes of your time?

Two minutes. Let me play it back. Yo, two minutes. Team USA. We not talking about LeBron. We not talking about Nephew Nutt. You talking about Joel Embiid being on Team USA. Can we have two minutes of your opinion on it?

I don't wanna touch it. All right, all right. All right. Yeah, I'll tell you. I saw it, y'all gave him 25 racks. And I just fell, numbers go up. That's crazy. I'm like, damn it, y'all gave me 10 games. I gave him the game.

I see you in the crowd. I'm like, I told you, check in when you get here, my nigga. You don't call at night. All right. You got here yesterday. You got here yesterday. I got in. Listen, when I got in, I already got the load.

They said, man, M&M's, they just got the load. They said, man, damn amazing. Just got out of here. They was on scooters riding. Scooters. Oh, man. This nigga's stupid. Yo, this nigga might as well do stand-up, yo. Yo, I'm going to call you when I get out of here.

Yeah. I'm coming out. We'll be done in about 20 minutes. Pause. Rich Paul. Friend of the show. He's coming to the window and start pointing fingers at us. I love that nigga, yo.

What the fuck I was talking about? It be. Oh, yeah. In Harlem. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's what I was talking about. Growing up, and that's what I was talking about.

When you're in Harlem, you're nine years old, and I'm being nice saying nine. You're outside by yourself. You go in the store by yourself. You're doing everything at literally seven, eight, nine years old. Stat, could you go to the store by yourself when you was nine? I'm just asking. Maybe you could.

No. This is what I'm saying. It's like, not the store, let alone the store, because you go to another side of town and just hang out with other niggas. I couldn't until I was way older. Yeah. So when we sit there and say, and that's why I was talking about difference, Mason. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong.

I'm just saying because we were raised like that, 15 is not really out there like that. Now, I don't know what Cameroon is like, and different parts of Africa, there's different things going on. So I'm not saying Joel Embiid ain't jump off the porch, so to speak, off the stoop, or off the grass, or whatever's out there,

or off an elephant. No disrespect. But, no disrespect for they take that the wrong way. Just kidding. But at the end of the day, he may not have a psychological adult mind to where we, I think, literally, I be telling niggas,

because a lot of times people say, I'm talking about Cam's situation. They'll be like, Cam, man, we seen your whole adulthood, basically. You've been signed since you was 21, 22. We seen everything. Tell them all. I say, to be honest with you, I had a crazier life before that.

From 8 to 20 was wild. Like, yo, don't think what you're seeing. From 8 to 20 was wild. You know what I'm saying? And there's another female, and I'm going to get on my story and get back to what we need to get to. And, you know, I don't frown upon anybody's habits when you're around me. Like, as long as you control yourself, I don't frown upon anybody's habits when you're around me like as

long as you control yourself i don't frown upon your habits so if you want to sniff cocaine good just don't be acting wide-eyed and crazy or whatever so a female that was a thing you know i'm saying i'm like can't do your thing just don't embarrass me in my in my house with my other friends around or whatever cool so she's like's like, Cam, you never tried cocaine? I said, no, I've never tried it. You're lying. You can't be serious. I said, no, literally, I've never done any other drug outside of weed.

I've never had ecstasy. I've never done Amali. I've never done anything outside of weed. I don't believe you. Listen, I had to tell her, I said, what you got to realize, I seen crack in real time. It wasn't a documentary. It wasn't a movie. It wasn't believe you. Listen, I had to tell, I said, what you got to realize, I seen crack in real time. It wasn't a documentary. It wasn't a movie.

It wasn't Snowfall. It wasn't the wildest. Yeah, you know better than to do that. I seen it in real time. I'm not trying nothing. You don't know what that's going to lead to. So you don't have to, I don't have to lie about that. If I did it, I would tell you, but what I seen with these eyes it wasn't

a movie it wasn't a documentary the shit was happening in real time so I know I got into a little bit of the personal shit but I was just saying that I think that we grew up a lot faster as New Yorkers because I want to just say Harlem Brooklyn Bronx Queens etc during them early 80s mid 80s to the 90s a lot faster than than other people. But as far as Team USA is concerned, they promised him a lot of shit, told him they're going to do a lot of favors, et cetera. He became a citizen of France a few years ago. Shout out to Boris Diaw. He's running Team France out there.

And to be honest, when I was doing my due diligence about this topic, he's never lived in France. And last time, and I don't know about this Olympics, when he was going to play for Cameroon possibly, they didn't qualify to go to the Olympics. So I'm not sure if they qualified this go-around. But last year, they didn't even qualify. So he never lived in France.

Cameroon didn't qualify. And what he said what ultimately made his decision is that his son is American. And he said that I have an American son and he probably wouldn't understand why I'm not playing for America because all he knows is really America. Now I'm not saying don't take him back to know your roots, so on and so forth, but at the end of the day he feels, Joel Embiid, when I was reading, that he's more American than anything else. He went to school in Florida, the Floridians in high school, then he went to Kentucky,

then he's in the NBA. So that may be part of his decision. That was just my take on it. So as far as what you said about him coming off the plane and people saying, sell out, and all the boos and stuff. So he did respond to that. He said, I don't think it should be anything, but if it's more than that, I embrace it.

I don't think you can get worse than playing in New York in the playoffs. How do y'all feel about his logic? I think he's right about that. That's why they say if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere because the scrutiny you have to be numb to, pause, is insurmountable is the word. Like your skin have to be tougher than tough, pause, to make it out of New York because you have to meet struggle. You have to meet challenges on every road.

So I think every person, not just myself, any person that has ever made it from New York is extremely, extremely special because, like Killer said, and these are just the stories we know about. We don't even know the stories about Killer or myself or anybody else that we haven't even gotten to those stories you know so when you make it you really made it because you you really can make it anywhere else because nobody's gonna hate on you like New York nobody's gonna make your road

tough like New York and nobody's gonna forget your success imagine you were successful yesterday and tonight you know a person act like you did nothing you know I'm saying you got to be ready for that you got to always be ready to reproduce it always be willing to um show people that I really belong and I think that's what he meant when he said he can handle everything in New York because one day they'll be like, Joel and B, we want you in New York. Then the next one they'll be like, I hope you die, Joel. It happens that fast. They call it the New York minute.

Yeah. Look, man, one thing about me, me personally, when I play basketball at a high level, I liked the away games better than home games. Just me. I liked the away games way better than home. And I'm not saying I didn't appreciate the home crowd. Of course you do.

But it was nothing more exciting to me than shutting down a gymnasium or arena, wherever you're playing, with your play, when they all hating on you, and then you hit the shot and just look at them niggas. I love that. That was my favorite because one thing you could do is, even like with Joel Embiid in the playoffs against the Knicks, like you said, Mace, they be like, yo, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo, and you hit the shot in the whole arena, be like, oh, man.

I love that. Kobe. And think about this. Just thinking on New York and the Madison Square Garden, not necessarily the Barclays. That's fairly new. It used to be a time where, and it's not as much as it is before, I think, the nostalgia of it, even like the All-Star game, anywhere they

used to be, but it was a time where opposing players used to get hyped to come to the Garden just to embarrass niggas. Michael Jordan with the 45 on. Michael Jordan any time, matter of fact. 50 points, 63. Yeah, Kobe Bryant come and score 50, then LeBron come the next few games later and score 60. Steph Curry comes in there and scores 55 points.

These time niggas used to mark down Madison Square Garden and say, I'm coming to the Mecca and say, I need to embarrass Nick. So, yeah, we have a crazy fair base when it comes to basketball. And the thing about it is just given out people outside of New York, just some of the landscaping around New York, the Mets are in Queens. The Yankees are in the Bronx, the Giants and Jets are in Jersey.

This is the middle of Manhattan. This is down the block from Times Square. So when niggas say the Mecca, you really in the heart of Manhattan, which for people who don't know New York, they won't know all them lights you be seeing in Times Square. That's where the Garden is, a few blocks from there. So when you come there and play, it was a big deal. So, yeah, I think Joel Embiid liked that.

And he said he'll embrace it. But as far as him saying people hating on him, as far as Cameroonians or people from France or whatever, what you gonna do, man? You can't do nothing about that. You know, people are gonna talk. They gonna say what they gonna say. What are you supposed to say? I'm sorry. All know, all he could do is say he's sorry to his

original country, but he playing basketball at this time, or even imagine 10 years ago when he got in the league, it wasn't where the NBA is at. This is why we have so many foreign players in the NBA is because it's the number one basketball league in the world. You think a lot of these players would not stay home if they could make the money that they make in America, in their country? I'm not saying you don't want to play against the top players in the world, but we watched the Joker last year win the championship and didn't want to stay for the parades.

He said, I got to get back. What you mean parade in three days? He was like, oh, fuck all that shit. You know what I'm saying? Niggas want to get back home. I don't know this for a fact, but I bet you I'll be willing to ask my nigga Sham and I bet you the amount of money when Dallas lost that Luka was on a flight 16 to 18 hours later back to his home country.

Niggas miss home. People always love where they come from but you got to go to work okay and then we got to talk about this usa basketball showcase versus canada that happened last night usa won 86 to 72 but from what we've seen are you guys feeling confident in team usa's roster um looking Looking at the outcome of this game, I would say this. Though they beat Canada, right, they didn't beat Canada with Edie. I think we really are not going to see what the U.S. has until they're playing against somebody with bigs with with bigs talented big sports you know somebody

that can impose their will on this usa team because it's it's very talented around the wings is very talented around the perimeter but when you and and it's talented when you think about bam and them but i want i'm thinking about somebody seven feet seven two um seven three when you start getting into that range of height then it's going to impose a whole different dynamic and now i can't really count this one because um canada didn't have everybody they supposed to have so i think even with them being this close it was a problem for. I think it should have been a super blowout pause because they didn't have the bigs that were really talented. If you put Edie in the middle of that team

and then you show up again with Murray and SGA and all of them, that could have been a much closer game. So I can't really look at that as a success just yet. close a game. So I can't really look at that as a success just yet. Look, we started to show it. Ant-Man was looking like the number one option. Like I said, I never said he wasn't.

I just said he shouldn't have said it with the team. Jason Tatum looked really good. I missed the fourth quarter, so I can't see who finished off the game strong but USA was there in the first quarter and then when they put Anthony Edwards and Jason Tatum in it's really those two brought it back

LeBron had a key block when I seen it Kevin Durant didn't play either chemistry we gotta see now Kawhi's not playing Kevin Durant didn't play either. Chemistry, we got to see. Now Kawhi's not playing. They're bringing in Derek Wright. This thing is coming up quick. Pause.

It should start the 26th, the Olympics. They got to get it together or forget it forever. That's just that. That's what I have to say about that man uh we don't have a lot of time to figure this things out ladies and gentlemen and even though they won which they needed to win being that they lost last time this was a very important game to make a statement to win uh i don't think everybody was in sync, including Canada. Canada, they have an NBA team. They're starting fathers in the NBA.

So you got an NBA team playing against an NBA team. I can't judge the USA off of this particular game. It didn't look that good to me. Like I said, I missed the fourth quarter, so it looked like they may have pulled away. When I was watching it before I stopped watching it last night because I had some things to do, they were up six in the third. Six, seven didn't look that impressive to me.

But at the end of the day, we'll see because as much as I like Canada, Mace made a great point. You ain't playing against Wimby. You ain't playing against motherfucking Rudy Gobert. You're not going to play against the 6'10", 6'11", Russians and everybody else that's coming out this tall. That was Team USA problem last time. They didn't have height.

They only had bare men. And there wasn't no Joe Embiid. There wasn't no Anthony Davis. Well, they survived the test of time because at the end of the day, Joker, we see what he's been doing to everybody on Team USA. That's a big. Joel Embiid, he plays good against the Joker in Philly. But what do you do?

He don't go to Denver. When it's time to go to Denver, he's hurt. He doesn't play. He'll play a good game in Philly because you know they ain't played twice a year. I ain't going to play in Denver. I got mines already. Anthony Davis, Rich Paul just ran out of here. He won't talk about that.

No disrespect to Anthony Davis. We'd be fucking with you on the show. But it is what it is, nigga. It's Joker. What, he's like 11-1 in the last 12 games, something like that? Nigga be smiling while Joker hitting three. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? That nigga nice.

Bam out of Bayou. Then we beat them in the championship, right? The bigs. And we're not talking about any other country we're just talking about if you're running to the joker and we're talking about the three bigs pause that the team usa have joel and bead is good i think joe i think that joe i think the joker is not paying anthony davis no mind i think he's not paying Bam out of buying no mind. I think he'd be like, yeah, now, nigga, you can't run, Joe LMB. I've been waiting to get at you for a minute.

Anyway, you can't duck this smoke. And I'm not saying Joe LMB won't get off, but we have to think about his debut last night. He fouled out with 12 minutes. His debut stunk. Now, I don't know if it's lingering over from the injuries that he just got over. Yeah, he does. But that was a terrible Ute Club Team USA debut. You played 12 minutes and fouled out?

That's not going to cut it. That's definitely not going to cut it. And for what Mace is saying, they didn't even have their big man. So, I don't know. So, on that note, you guys feel confident or no that's the final take as far as Team USA I told

I told niggas I wasn't confident I told niggas just two days ago I said it is not a foregone conclusion that Team USA will win this do I want them to win absolutely I'm a fucking American Do I want them to win? Absolutely. I'm a fucking American. Yes, I want them to win.

But Kawhi going out. Derek White subbing in. Jalen Brown doing the rock emoji. One eyebrow up with the glasses and shit. Grant Hill already talking about Nike. His man, he wore Fila's. Niggas is talking about Steve Curry's trying to break Boston up. You got three Boston players that's not Jalen Brown.

I don't know. I'm not going to say it. Say it's a foregone conclusion. Because you got to realize it's teams outside of Canada I'm talking about that's been playing together with their national team for years. They played together for years. So like for instance, you got players, let's just use Luka country for example, that may not make the NBA but they done nice.

They like, you ready nigga? This your time to shine. This your time. This your time because now what they going to do is, Luka over there killing them and I kill Luka. Nah, I'm going to NBA this year. It was, Luke over there killing them and I kill Luka. Nah, I'm going to NBA this year. Oz is on us, you know what I'm saying?

You got niggas. That's exactly what they, this is where they make their name. Right, so you got players that's now saying the world is watching, this is my opportunity to think, to bust whoever ass they think is the best. And it's almost like Rocky III. Now, I know Stat didn't see Rocky III. You said that.

You seen Rocky III? No. I know you did. You got to get your movies up, Stat. I know. I ain't even going to lie. Rocky III was in the 80s. I was six when Rocky III came out of seven.

But the moral of the story is, I'll give you a quick synopsis of Rocky III. Rocky was the champion. He was that nigga. And he had a tough fight against some nigga who used to train in the basement. When you see this nigga, Mr. T, he's in the basement sweating with basically two weights lifting him up. Rocky training in a mall. Literally, they had a boxing ring in the basement sweating with basically two weights lifting him up. Rocky training in the mall. Literally, they had a boxing ring in the mall. He giving girls kisses, hugs.

And he got the dog shit beat out of him for being all nice and humble. And niggas is in the basement trying to take your spot. And I think LeBron James is aware of that and probably a few other players. But you can't get caught up in the moment of just being happy to be there if you're the younger players. I'm nervous. You said they were going to go though, Potato. I'm saying, but this, I think they might've jinxed themselves

not putting Jalen Brown on a team. And then not, this is just not a Jalen Brown thing for me. Pause. When you think about it, even KD is looking injured. So if KD doesn't play, this is a different team. This team is not as scary as it looked on paper before. Because you take KD out, and now you take Kawhi out. You still got what you got, but if something happened to one of those pieces,

any little thing, you don't really have enough to bring back the gold. I can 100% say that. Something happened, LeBron need to rest. They don't bring back the gold. Ant-Man, Fana Hadi, and France. They don't bring back the Paris. Shout out to Ant-Man.

I'm just playing with you. They need KD though. Yeah, they definitely need KD. You ain't lying. Yeah, they need KD. This is probably why Jalen Brown is sitting there sick because he has every reason to feel some type of way when everything else is going on around him. And take that headband off of Book.

I forgot Book was on his team, yo. I said, is this Klay Thompson? Klay Thompson is on the USA team? They're like, nah, that's Book. Book, take that headband off, man. Go crazy, man. Okay, well, in the comments below, let that headband off, man. Go crazy, man. Okay, well, in the comments below,

let us know how you guys feel about Team USA. But that is all the time that we have for today. Thanks for watching. And as always, it is what it is.