The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Foxworth Friday: Lakers Eliminated, LeBron's Future, More Bill Belichick Drama | 5.2

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Bomani Jones is joined by Domonique Foxworth for another edition of Foxworth Friday. On today’s episode, the guys start off by talking about the Los Angeles Lakers being eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves and if Nico Harrison looks a little better now that Luka Doncic is sent home (3:12). They move onto the Miami Heat and if they're capable of rebuilding with 80 year old Pat Riley (11:32). Bo questions if JJ Redick is built to be the coach of the Lakers (17:10) and what would happen if LeBron James opts out of his contract (26:29)? After some talk about the harsh conditions of mining (42:16), the show rounds out with Bo and Domonique recapping the latest drama with Bill Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson (49:32).  . . . Subscribe to The Right Time with Bomani Jones on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Download Full Podcast Here: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6N7fDvgNz2EPDIOm49aj7M?si=FCb5EzTyTYuIy9-fWs4rQA&nd=1&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-right-time-with-bomani-jones/id982639043?utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social Follow The Right Time with Bomani Jones on Social Media: http://lnk.to/therighttime Subscribe to Supercast for Ad-Free Episodes: https://righttime.supercast.com/ Support the Show: Discover faster, more reliable search with Perplexity today. Download the app or ask Perplexity anything at perplexity.com! https://pplx.ai/bomani-jones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time. A Wave Original presented by perplexity. My name is Bobani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater.

It is, in fact, Foxworth Friday. Dominie Foxworth was going on, man. Chilling, man. Feeling good. I stayed up and watched that Lakers game. Yeah. A little bit disappointed. But it happened.

I told you, boy, I loved, loved that Sunday. With the two games worth watching, would a 1 o'clock end to 3.30, baby. They was looking out for us. I think I'm detecting something. I didn't realize. You were a Lakers fan? Oh, no, that's not why I was disappointed.

I was disappointed because it was close. It was close. It was close. And then it wasn't. And then it was one in the morning and I was still awake. I was like, I really had to do this. Like, I mean, y'all should have. And like, the whole time I'm watching the game,

I'm like, the wolves are better. But the Lakers keeping it close, they're going to fight. And LeBron kept teasing me. Let me tell you something. In the first quarter, it was feeling like a one, two, three, Cancun classic. And the Lakers managed to keep it close. There was not a single moment at all in that game that I thought that the Lakers were going to win it. So I don't really, I don't think I gave it to fourth quarter.

I just like, this is at some point in the third quarter, and the Lakers kind of brought it back in the third. But it was at some point in the third quarter that I was just like, look, this is over. This is not continuing. I cannot keep watching this game in this wonderfully comfortable bed. I hollet y'all. Was it when when Luca grabbed his back? I mean, that might have been the second. I do remember him grabbing his back and being like, yeah, why are we here?

We went straight to the locker room on that ass. Yes, but I will tell you this, though, it is Minnesota won a game where they shot, what was it, seven for 47 from three and it never felt like they were going to lose? Because every time they shot at three that they missed, they got the rebound, the leg guy was out there with a bunch of forwards. I was about saying, why did that happen? Why did that happen? You know why that happened?

Because y'all think y'all can just do any old damn thing to Rudy Gobert. That is why that happened. Like the entire approach from JJ Redding of, okay, all they got is Jackson Hayes. It interferes with their offense, everything else. I get that. Rudy Gobert is still 7-3. The outright disrespect to be like we don't even have to account for this cat. he was like, or Damien Woody said he was out there looking like Godzilla.

He put up wilt numbers. He had 27 and 24. He was like, he was holding up. Like the point, the Rudy point is, I mean, we've been talking about this since Utah is forever. It's like, all right, he's a liability on offense. And on defense, if you can pull him away from the basket and mix him up, you're in trouble. But they wasn't really giving him the blues when they pulled him away from the basket. And the Lakers' offense wasn't really.

And this is, I'm sure you're tired. to talk about Nico Harrison. I am a little bit too. But watching this game, man. Watching this game. But, but. I mean, watching this game, man, it's like, I still don't agree with you. But, but I'm, right. That's what he said. You was wrong, but you had a point. Right? Like, how far you took that point, that is where there's room for us to disagree. But look, look, do we understand? His back wasn't feeling good. His tubby hurt the other game. All of this. that's all he was food he was food the entire time and he was out of shape food right like it was very clear what the issues were and i can see look he just got to l a l a look at it and turn those things

around it is going to be very interesting to see what the level of patience is for it because say what you want about nico but nico brought these things to the forefront in a way that changed the conversation about them now you can make the argument that yeah he's out of shame but you went to the finals you don't trade him But he's out of shape. It's now stuck to him in a different way, right? And so in a place where there's more eyeballs on him and the city cares more about their actual winning,

if he does not turn that around, like everybody got to realize that part. J.J. Reddy got to realize that part, too. You got J.J. Reddick has never done anything basketball related with this many local eyeballs on him before. Forget about the national part, just the local eyeballs on him, and he handled it poorly. He handled it very, very poorly.

Luca, we're going to have to see because everybody sees you now. And I feel bad for Nico, man, because, like, there's somebody that's so tired. And I've been in this place before where something go on that involve you and you feel like the people around you, they say they understand what you're talking about, but they don't really understand what you're talking about, right? They say they hear you when you, but when the thing happens that you was talking about, everybody's still okay with the thing. Right? And you'd be hitting your pottin us up. This the thing. And then they'd stop replied after a certain point. Right? They're like, yeah, we know. But dot, dot, dot. They've made a decision to act like what this is is okay. Niko got somebody that he was blowing up last night. Oh, look, look, blow it. Look who just got blown by again. Whoa, is that another point at the

rim? Just eyes emojis. He just, just, just text the eyes emojis to this special person who's like, oh, yeah, I know. I see it. Yeah, he got to find somebody new. Like, I wonder what it's going to be, though, before we start texting up somebody that's not his people. The scary part, I mean, not the scary part, the tough part for Nico, though, is like, even if there really is no winning

because people determine that what he got back was not enough. So even if Luca fails in L.A. And they hate him there or whatever, he never gets in shape and it doesn't work out. And he's like, see, I told y'all that he wasn't the right guy. as unlikely as that may be, if that happens, we're still going to look at him and be like, but you gave up a guy coming off to finals and ain't get much.

That is true, but I will say this for him. He has been accused by the most ardent of lucophiles of slandering Luca's name and that there's been this massive smear campaign against Luca, which I wholeheartedly disagree about. I feel very confident saying, if it was a smear campaign, it would have involved something else.

that people have not really talked about that much. There was much more room to talk bad about him. But it's very clear. He's out of shape. He's been out of shape at various points for his entire career. He's not guarding anybody and was got to stink about it. Even, look, he lost Zach Lowe. Zach Lowe was hot about that on the podcast the other day.

It's starting to look to people like he had trying. And that is what nobody can abide by. Yeah. I mean, I think we all assumed that this would light a fire under him. in some way. And it may be too late for it to light a fire under him this season. Like, it's too late to get in shape. It's too late to work on your game right now. But I do think that next year is going to, like, it's going to say a lot about, and forget the Nico part of it. This is going to say a lot about Lucas. It's going to say a lot about the Lakers because I assume

this offseason, they're going to address the big roster holes that they had, well, the one big roster hole. They may have to do something about LeBron's contract because he could opt in or drop out. And I assume next year is going to be a championship, a conference championship or bus, right? At least. So, yeah.

And Luke is going to have the offseason to lock in and be like, oh, you thought I couldn't do this, like, whatever. Well, if he's going to do it. Right. I don't know why we assume that he is motivated like that. Right. he may be motivated in that way. I've seen no reason to actually think that,

especially not after so many people jumped to his defense and says, so what if he's out of shape? I would argue that this is not, the only evidence that we have that he is motivated like that is that he'd be dog cussing people on the court all the time. And it feels like his motivation is external. But he also dog cusses people

in the name of avoiding accountability. Right. He dog cusses his referees for files that he has actually committed, right? He may just be a person, um, got him a bad mood about himself, right? Like maybe that's what it is. And yes, you're right.

I think there's a measure of external motivation. Uh-huh. But we don't know if it's that one. Right? They said, I'm out of shape. I'll show them I'm not out of shape. Or, yeah, maybe I am. I still be killing them.

Oh, yep. Or they said I was out of shape, I can't get it done. I believe I can get it done at this point. And the thing about that external motivation, and this might feel a little hokey, but like external motivation only take you so far when you by yourself in the gym for the 25th day in a row and you exhaust it. Like it's different when you're on the court and somebody say, oh, it's very easy to be like, all right, I'm going to show this motherfucker. I'm going to give you max effort for the next four minutes. Watch it.

Watch. Watch me lock in. It's real hard when it's all summer. Look, let me tell you the thing that I do give Pat Riley some credit for. And my buddy Shannon was on on Wednesday. And we were talking about heat culture. And he's saying heat culture is a myth. And there's something to be fair. You know, all those. There's something to be said for that, like all those things. Right. But I have to give Pat Rowley credit for this. the heat is the only thing in Miami that anybody knows for working hard.

There's not one other person in the entire city of Miami that came there to work hard who does not play for the Miami Heat. Not a mumbling one of them. You may say the dolphins, if I'm not mistaken, the dolphins are out in Davy. They're not even actually in Miami.

They ain't working too hard up north either. But I'm just telling you, nobody else came to Miami to work hard. I say that to say, what we're expecting is Luka Dajic to show up in Los Angeles as the prince of the city. And then just like, no, I'm going to dedicate myself to getting in shape. We actually don't give Magic Johnson nearly enough credit. Now, don't get me wrong, we know what his vice was. But he was still out there hooping. He was out there working hard on his game.

I cannot assure you that I would have been. Well, I mean, his vice could have improved his conditioning. That's fair. That's fair. It's a little extra cardio, man. I like to ride my bike. I forgot about that. It was a little extra cardio.

It was a little bit of cardio. Get your heart rate up. Yeah. Pat Riley in Miami is a whole other interesting conversation because we feel like we've I want to say quickly jump to a lot of people wanting to get rid of Pat Riley. And your point about them having some level of culture down there. Like, it's a real thing. How far it's going to get you to NBA where talent is the in that league more than any other.

Like, you got the guys, you got the guys. So it's going to get you to a certain point. And they've done as much they can with that. But people are fast to want to move on from them. I think it's hard to, I was feeling like that seems like a silly idea just because you ain't won a championship in a while. However, he is 80, man. And I think there's some wisdom out there. But also 80, bro.

he is 80. I will just point out, though, they went to the NBA finals. Was it two years ago? Agreed. Like, it wasn't that long ago. The thing about Pat, now granted, it was an 8C, right? So maybe, you know, Jimmy was glossing over some of the other problems that they had. The thing that I love about Pat, and maybe this will ultimately be the reason you got to move on for Pat,

and we'll see what the key culture really is after he's gone in this regard. Pat ain't here for that tank. Pat can't take that losing. Pat is like, we're going to figure out how to build this, but what we're not going to do is go out here and be no losers. I love that, right? I'm glad that somebody that still lives like that, but can you live like that and get ultimately to where they want to go, right?

He has created a standard there that now is working against him. For the first time, people don't feel like he can just pull a rabbit out of hat. I mean, that's fair. Maybe he can't. And I am my only- I'm not disagreeing with you. Yeah. I'm saying that that's that.

I see the place that they're in, but like, you're right. He is 80. Why would you think this is going to get better? That's my, my thing is, it may not be fair, but 80 is old, man,

and I know we all playing longer and doing things better later in life and all that stuff. I don't have a real critique of the job that he's done up until this point. Like, I think developing the players,

and they got hot from three that year and all those, guys got paid off of it and we recognize that I guess Max Struce has been all right in Cleveland, but none of those guys really was as good as they were on that run. And that's fine. And I think you attribute a lot of the way that they've rebuilt this. Even getting Jimmy was almost impossible. Like the things that they've pulled off since they've been down there, winning championships multiple times and having real contenders multiple times suggesting me that Pat Riley and Mickey Erickson, whoever down there, they know what they're doing.

There's no reason to blow it up. And just because they had a rough year and they had a falling out with Jimmy. I don't think you need to blow it up because they've proven time and time again that they know what they're doing. However, he 80, man. Yeah. Like 80 is old, bro. I didn't name somebody you know that's 80. That's working. 80? That's tough, man. Outside of Congress. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said that's working. Fair. There. Like, GM's not an easy job. And it's also, the other thing I will point out about the age thing is it's about, and the Nico Harrison trade is a perfect example of it is being a GM is about relationships. And it's about, and oftentimes you're going to have relationships with the people that you came up with.

And having somebody like you and knowing where the trade's coming from and knowing who's trying to do what. Like, I'm not saying pass not in on that, but they feel generally more isolated. it. And you ain't really hanging out, drinking with the GMs in the offseason when you 80. Getting these deals done is about relationships and connections and knowing all the agents and knowing all the players like that. That's part of the job, too. Yeah, I think you're right. So would Spogo to the front office? Yeah, probably. Because here's the thing about this, man.

Maybe I want to keep this together. Right? Like what Riley's not about to do a step aside if you think you're about to tear it down. Yeah, I mean, he could do the Brad Stevens move, but I mean, suppose. I don't get the sense that he wants to do that yet, right? Like, he feels like he's still in his coaching prime. I mean, he can do both. Yeah. Kenny. I mean, Greg Papovic did for a long time.

Yeah. I mean, I guess it's how it actually operates behind the scenes because it's like we call Jerry Jones, the GM of the Cowboys. And I'm sure he's heavily involved. But, yeah, like, we all recognize that there are some other people doing some of the legwork. Yeah, but it's different now than it was. He was. the GM. But I'm just making

a point that there's different, like you can have the title without doing the job all by yourself. Like there's different ways to do the job. Right. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. But I'm going to ask you this. What do you think about JJ? I mean, I don't feel completely comfortable evaluating like the schematics

of the situation. But the results ain't been great. I think we were quick and I trust the people who say it. Like we were quick to say that like he understood the game. I think Parachuting in and managing a roster like that is probably pretty hard. It's probably made easier by the fact that LeBron James is there and seem to clearly be a supporter.

So, like, getting that instant credibility is not as difficult. And he played for a long time. And he's smart basketball-wise. The end-game decisions were unique, like leaving them guys out there, which seem to backfire. It's funny because, like, for basketball, much more than football, I rely on other people's whom I trust opinion and a lot of them were defending JJ because the bench was not deep and defending them because they made this crazy trade midseason and didn't have time to fill in the other holes in their roster.

So like I think he overachieved as far as expectations are concerned, but we don't care about expectations. You got at a certain point, it's about what you produce. He is not built to be a coach. in a sport that plays 82 regular season games and then has playoff series. He's simply wound too tight. He stormed out of the press conference before the game. Right?

And if you've seen the clip, to be fair to JJ, I recognize what happened here. Little buddy wanted to add, I don't even know how young to do this. Let me not call him a little buddy. but buddy wanted to ask JJ a question about game four and JJ playing those guys all the way through the fourth quarter and whether he was leaning on his assistance for about whether to take guys in it out of the game and what the dude needed to say to ask the question was JJ when you make decisions about substitutions how much do you lean on your assistance in those times but instead he was like Hey, so you know you got the assistants there and he stammered through it right

and it's taken so long to get to the question that it's given JJ enough time to ask a reasonable question Is this motherfucker trying to play me? Like why is it taking so long? Right? Like you know, why are you so nervous?

Right? I know how this goes. He's been here in different places and he gives JJ all the time in the world to be defensive. And then JJ comes with, are he asking that because I'm inexperienced? Is that what it is? Maybe. I don't know why that would like make it bad or whatever.

But I don't even think JJ knew why he was mad other than why is this taking so long. You must be trying to play me. But at the same time, JJ was on ESPN for that year or two, right? And what really got people charged up about him is that he was getting up there and he was sass and Stephen A. Smith. He would get up there and he was. Sass Kendrick Perkins, people that many viewers would love to see get sassed by somebody, let alone this particular guy, right?

Now, it's funny because this is a guy that we all, not all, but most of us got introduced to in a context that led to hating him. I actually liked him when he was in college, but most people, I mean, a plurality of the population, I would say, hated JJ Redding. But once he was up there sassing people like the ones I told you about, hey, hey, hey, It wasn't so bad. And then he goes on TV and he's talking to Chris Rousseau and he's breaking bad with him, which is another person, especially younger folks on the internet, have their issues with.

And so JJ became their hero. And I remember somebody was writing a story about him. Maybe it was from the New Yorker and the woman who was writing it. It sounded like a younger woman. And she called me to talk to Jay, talk about JJ. And I was just kind of like, I don't think we spelled out here. I don't really know if he's smashing Adams like you think he is, ma'am. Like I don't think he's doing anything that.

And I say this is somebody who likes him as a TV personality. but his game is not being warm and cuddly and likable. His game is being a jerk. It's just a matter of whether or not it's the jerk that you like. That is not a persona that works well as the public face of an NBA franchise. That doesn't work. And so now you get up there and you get defensive and you storming out of stuff before games. And it's clear during the games, you're getting all wound up and you a little bit too tight.

And then you start breaking bad with the media. And media got that's elephants, boy. their memories is long and they don't ever have to let up on you, especially not after you lose in the first round. What in this cycle changes? Nothing in this cycle changes, right? So either he is going to figure out how to deal with people better or he will not be long for this job, no matter how good he is at it. Because a big part of this job is not just about winning games. It's how you hold it down when you don't.

That's absolutely true. Particularly, I mean, in any sports with long seats, I think the job of a head coach becomes a little bit more of psychologists and team leader. Like, it's different than the X&O's schematics. I have no reason to believe that he's not capable of understanding what changes need to be made on the court. Implementing those changes requires some level of buy-in from the constituents that are on your side. And when those changes fail, it requires some level of support from the people who are reviewing this. And I think understanding that it's a hard thing, I think, for some athletes to come around to appreciate is other things matter other than the scoreboard.

And they may not matter until they matter. And then when they matter, it's up. And look, it was roster problems. Like this was, we knew this when they made the trade, though. I think they exceeded most of our expectations after they got Lucas, especially if they started playing really good defense. But we knew that this roster was going to have those issues. But if you, JJ, hey, man, when you decide that you're not going to sub nobody in the whole fourth quarter, for example,

you got to know that people are going to wonder about that. And you got to be, and by the way, reasonably, nobody's ever done this, but you big brain, right? People are going to be like, hey, big brain. Could you explain to me why it is that you? didn't think that that old man would get tired because they looked tired in game five. They did. Like they,

they, those guys, when I saw he put them same dudes out there to start the game, I was just like, damn, JJ is not backing down on any of this. And Jackson Hayes is over there probably wearing church socks. He know he ain't getting in the game.

And then you broke out, and he broke out Maxie Kleber. Yeah. Right? He brought, he, I forgot he was on the team. I only broke him out for five minutes.

But it was still just kind of like, hey man, you got to know when you're doing things that people don't quite understand. You've got to be cool about talking about it. But I don't think he's, I just think he's wound real tight. It's not that he's a bad dude.

You watch the podcast and hear him talk to people. Like, he knows how to be relatable and warm in those things with, like, with people that he feels deserve his respect. But you got to learn how to talk to the people that don't think deserve your respect. Well, you really, I mean, those people deserve respect. Yeah. Like whether you think they do or not, you need to get to a point to where you think they do. It's not you pretending.

Yeah. It's tough. I mean, next year's a big year for him in Luca, I would assume, how this pans out. And LeBron, whatever leverage he has there, it feels like it's dwindling some. Maybe, maybe not. But it certainly feels like the decision maker, the power that he had before is not the power that he has going forward. And maybe getting JJ in there was one of his last. influential decisions. All right, hold on. I got a LeBron question to ask, and we'll get on that

right after this. This episode is presented by Perplexity. Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that searches the internet in real time to deliver fast, clear, high-quality answers. Unlike legacy search engines that respond with the list of links, Perplexity skips straight to the answers you need, explained in everyday language that's easy to understand with sources and citations. Now, Ryan, how do you use perplexity, especially when it comes to the right time? You know, if you're a loyal listener or viewer of the show, you're already aware that we use perplexity throughout the show on Mondays, especially when you need questions answered or stats confirmed. But perplexity is great because you say you're curious about a specific topic from

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Must be 18 plus age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick six not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Voidware prohibited. One per new customer, bonus awarded as non-drawable pick-six credits to expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. All right. We are back with Dominique Foxworth. Dominique, LeBron can opt out of his contract and become a free agent. Usually someone like him

will do that. He has done some opt in before, but you opt out so you can go get some more bread, right? Totally understand it. But let's look at the Lakers for a second. Let's say LeBron opts out. And I know that the LeBron stands are on their way for what I'm saying. But I'm really asking this as a question because I think it's a bind the Lakers are in and a bind that just about every other team is in, which is you got two max guys. Now what? Right? How exactly do you go about putting the team together? You've made the decision that you're going to build around Luca Donchage. Is LeBron at that age the right guy to be the one that you give all the money to to build around? So I'm not saying the Lakers should or should not bring LeBron back, but let's say he opted out and they said, thanks for the memories. Do you go home? Do you let the Lakers in your

career? Probably not. What do you do then? And how comfortable are you getting in the business of 40, soon to be 41 year old, LeBron James? So, no more max deal, man. That's all it comes down to for me is I guess that is an option. That's, I mean, no matter where you go, I feel like for what LeBron is going to provide, presumably he wants to win championships. Well, maybe, maybe he doesn't. Maybe that's in his strategy anymore. Maybe he recognizes that trying to catch Jordan or catch Kobe or whoever doesn't matter to his legacy or maybe it doesn't matter to him. And he wants to cash out and go have fun or whatever somewhere else. That's possible. If LeBron wants to win a championship, he's not a max guy, not in his current like second apron world, right? That's what it comes down to,

Right. We watched these games. Second team all NBA this year. He's great. He's incredibly talented, but you watched the games, right? I mean, did you see somebody who's the number two on a championship team? I did not, but is that the standard for a max salary in the NBA? And I guess maybe this becomes the question of what does the max salary in the NBA become? Who becomes the worthy recipient because of how the handcuffing that comes from having that big salary. Because I will say, this about the Lakers. It is hard for me to see a world where LeBron opts out and they don't try to bring them back. Like I think that there's an importance to them of LeBron retiring as a Laker. And if it does not end well with LeBron and the Lakers, he will just go be a Cleveland Cavalier for the rest of his life. Right. Like I think the Lakers like the idea of great, you know, all these all-time great players they've had seeing themselves as Lakers. And I think LeBron in the end would like to be. He wanted to play for it. a legacy franchise, right? He wants that, but don't think for a second, he won't chuck a

deuce on you. Ask the Miami Heat. It didn't end the way he wanted, and it's like it never happened. However, that is a building and a city full of Kobe stands, and they don't ever actually stop being Kobe stands, right? This is the thing that Luca needs to watch out for, too, because, I mean, the defining characteristic of Nico Harrison is being a Kobe stand, and his belief in mama mentality and all that stuff. Luca offended that. So, he's a big, the defining characteristic of Nico could offended that. So you got Kobe's old agent, you got Jeannie Bus and all these Lakers people who look at Kobe is literally their son. And you got this dude as I hear not in not in the right shape being lazy. Like how much you think they're going to be cool with that? And with LeBron,

they Kobe stands. And so how this goes from here, I think is going to be really interesting because I don't know, I don't know what's best for them. And I can't say what's best for LeBron. I've been on record saying I wish LeBron would retire like three or four years ago. And it's not because he can't play. I just don't need to watch it no more, right? Like there's people, you know how it goes sometimes. You got to rap or something. You just stop listening to their albums one day, right?

You don't like them no more. You just don't want to hear no more of their tapes. Yeah. Right? I don't know. I guess this whole, and maybe this is the modern apron situation making it so you can't hold on to guys for as long. But I was trying to think of a time where it worked for a guy.

But I guess we've never had anyone this late in their career as LeBron. where it worked that they went and played a role on a championship team and ate up a huge portion of the salary. Like, that's, just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it can happen. But, and if anyone could do it, LeBron, he seems to be defying time. But it seems like he can give you flashes. He can't give it consistency. And that's one thing about NBA playoffs is it's a whole other season. And so I just don't have, I'm having a real hard time imagine in a scenario where I guess maybe

it all looks different if they get a rim running center that can protect the basket. Maybe we get a different level of effort from LeBron because we're not tax him on defense as much. I just have a hard time imagining a situation where the second best player is LeBron and the first best player is Luca. I agree. I agree with you also on that. Like I don't know what anybody's supposed to do. You know, like I don't have a great answer for where this team or any team, but like if they can go get a rim run and center, like you just can't go on. Amazon. Yeah.

You know, those are that easy to find. It seems easy. But Jackson Hayes, big, athletic, can't do it. Can't do it. It's obviously not as easy as it seems because I have a hard time when I'm watching these big guys. Like, all you got to do is set a screen and run to the hoop. The hard part was being seven feet. You did that. You know who they need to ask. You know, you know who got a rim running center or two, actually, that maybe they should inquire about. The Dallas Mavericks.

Hey, if you spot, if you spot Nico as the mark at this point, right? You might as well see what else you can do. So Derek lively. What do you think? Rui Atchamora.

Seems like you're kind of player. They were so heavily relying on Rui last night too. They were. They were. I like Rui. I do too. The interesting thing about Rui, I know Rui's ethnic background, right?

But I don't know what parent. I don't know how he grew up. I don't know if Pops was right. You know, I don't know any of those things, right? But I do look at Rui, and I look at Rui's hair, and he looked like he could have been in one of the gangs and the last dragon. And it's not because he's doing anything outlandish to his hair. That's just his grave, right?

Like the last dragon cats was aspiring to be, like Rui. got you more in terms of their hair. But when I see it, it made me think you ever see these pictures of these young ladies when they in elementary school and their hair look like real,

real crazy because their mama does not have hair like their hair. And so they just be out here, try to make it work, figure it out however they can is before the internet so they couldn't go learn how to do that little black girl's hair. And so they just

you know, they just doing the best they can. That's how Rui look as a dude. Like he still ain't figured out what he's supposed to do, right? Like he left Japan, and I don't know if he, I don't think he came straight to Gonzaga, but Gonzaga wanted him where I get my haircut kind of places. You see that boy Jaylon Suggs for the Orlando Magic? You know what I'm saying?

Like, you know, that seemed like the kind of situation that that boy Rui has been in for a long time. And even in L.A., ain't nobody tell him. Because in LA, they might just tell them, hey, man, why don't you just put a little something in there to give it some shine? Maybe curl up a little bit more. Like it's back in the day. I saw some video or some guys who played at Boise State,

black guys who played at Boise State. And it's something that I never considered. And they were like, yeah. Like, no, really? We land in Boise and everybody know what we're here to do. Ain't nobody else. Like, no one else is here. They aren't just regular black students at Boise State.

there are just regular black people in local Idaho towns. I don't know what the population is, but a single digit percentage-wise, probably low single-digits. And I imagine for the time that Ruri spent in Japan, like, man, he was big and different. Yes, yes. Like, that had to be. That's some character building right there. So if nothing else, maybe he ain't figured out exactly where he belongs on the floor, which could have something to do with the construction of his roster.

But, man, never we got some character. I'm sure that. I know for sure he's had to develop some, given that experience. When they call him Godzilla, you got to check him, right? Like, they used to call Hideki Matsui. Like, anytime there's a different, like, Japanese dude, they call him Godzilla. But if they call you Godzilla and you are already over there, you're like, what that person means? I assume he was on a military base.

So maybe he had some partners. I have made that assumption, too. Let me. Yeah, we should Google that. Let me ask our, let me, yeah, that's how's exactly. See, let's get this money. Let's get this money. Tell me about Rui Achaumura's parents.

Let's see what the Plex got to say about that. Okay. Oh, you were good? All right, so Makiko Aachimura is his mother. She is Japanese, born and raised in Japan. As is similar to the case, it was named Emil Osaka. They took on her surname rather than her father's. because it makes it easier to navigate through Japanese society,

comma, however, when your black ass shows up, I'm not sure how much that Achiura part really matters. But, hey, who am I to say? Clearly, they know what they're doing. Oh, his father's name is Zachari Jabil. Oh. He is from Benin in West Africa. It borders Nigeria to the west of Nigeria.

He moved to Japan in search of better opportunities and played semi-probatten. basketball. And this is the last bullet point on him from perplexity. As a black man in Japan, Zakari faced challenges integrating into a predominantly homogeneous society and experience that shaped both his and Ruiz's perspectives on identity and resilience. And I am terrified to get deeper into what that last part needs. Yeah, perplexity, fall back. It's a perfect amount of information you gave right there. We don't need no more. Yeah. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I I asked perplexity, that last bullet on Zaccari. What that mean?

And perplexity said, the last bullet about Zikari refers to the challenges he faced as a black man living in Japan, a country with very few black residents. Rui Atramura has spoken about how his father encountered difficulties integrating in the Japanese society. And despite these challenges, Zikari maintained a friendly attitude and was able to communicate with people. Rui said, I think it was hard for him. But he's a really friendly guy. He could communicate with the people. he didn't feel sorry for himself. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

This resilient and positive approach to adversity influenced Ruizzoan outlook and ability to persevere through challenges as a mixed race individual growing up in Japan. And on one hand, I'm glad that he's able to keep his head up. On the other hand, I don't want to ask him no more questions

about other types of things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Benin, I know of Benin, mostly from like reading about, the middle passage. I assume that things aren't great in Benin and his ability to hoop. I guess I just assumed that it was like American, which I didn't consider. We all do. We all do, brother. I know, I didn't consider, but one thing I didn't consider that it was an American basketball player. Like basketball didn't even cross my mind that someone would go to Japan to play basketball because he was saying that his dad or he said perplexity

told us that his dad went over there in search of opportunities into play basketball, right? So it, well, it said that he went for better opportunities and played basketball. Oh, okay, okay. So I don't know if it was a direct goal. But I will tell you, when I was in Vietnam, I had a conversation with a Zimbabwean man who lives in Perth, Australia, where he went to work in the minds and he comes to Vietnam all the time, which is, I had just not considered. We just think of everybody leaving and like going to America or going to London or going to Paris. I just never thought that somebody was like, man, look, man, I'll go to Tokyo, goddamn. Damn, they got job, shit.

And then they go. My cousin loves Tokyo. Like, he, or loves Japan in general. He's been to a bunch of different places. He goes there, like, once a year. He loves Japan. I don't know. I'm going to sound real ignorant, but, like, when I be looking for places to go, it's like,

damn, I got kids and stuff. Like, that's far. You know how many tickets I got to buy? And I, I'm fine with sitting in the back for a certain amount of hours. But I'm going to spring for that big ticket. If I'm going to Japan, Australia, something on the other side of the earth. I'm at the spring, man. I did 15 hours.

So to get to Vietnam, it was 15 hours to Seoul and then another five to whatever, any of the Vietnamese cities. And I was like, honestly, the 15 hours wasn't that bad. But I was up there in front of the plane.

You know what I'm saying? They out here feeding me good and everything else. And I can stretch out and I can lay out and all of this stuff. Oh, man, I couldn't imagine. I couldn't imagine back there with y'all.

I did, my brother got married in Morocco. And so, like, I was a little annoyed because, like, why are we doing this, man? But anyway, like, we can't we just do this here? But my family, my wife and kids, it was just before school started, so they couldn't come. So I went. And so I got on the same flight with, like, a bunch of the wedding party. I got on the plane first.

And I just had to wave. I'd be looking down when something like that happened. I get deep into a book. As my mom walked by, I was like, well, I feel real bad. I love you, mom. But I got these knee surgeries, man. It's a different situation.

I bought a nice gift. I bought a nice gift. Gave a great speech. But I wasn't sitting back there. I just wasn't going to be able to do it. I don't think I told you, the most awkward one I was flying from, had to be here to Atlanta one morning. And I'll get to the gate and the L.A. Sparks were there.

And, you know, this is when all this discussion was going. And I think they was playing a back-to-back. They had a game in Atlanta that night. And I remember because they got their asses whoop. But I'm looking at them in the gate, in the, in the, around the gate. And I'm like, I'm about to sit on the front of this plane as mandated by my contract, just to be clear. I just kept my head down when they was walking past, bro. I look up a little later, Candace Parker is in the exit row because she popped for herself.

You know what I'm saying? because they was getting paid like 1275 an hour at that point. But I feel so bad. And then when we landed in Atlanta, I saw them at the baggage claim. And man, they looked tired, dog.

Because that was like a seven o'clock flight or something like that. They looked beat. And I just don't, I don't want them to know that I saw them. You know what I mean? Like, I want to give them the dignity of like, I know you ain't at your best right now.

They coached you walked up and introduced himself to me. And I'm like, thank you for identifying me as whoever you are, because I'm just trying to, this is real awkward to me right now. The, uh, we get so sheltered. Like when you were talking about his father going to work in minds, like, damn, like, I, bro. Like, I, like, it's just like, all, all of, all that is in America, there's plenty of bad.

There's plenty of good. Um, but the rest of the world, man, the rest of the world, man, like, I can't imagine being born in a place where I thought it was better opportunity to go to another country and work in their minds. Like, forget where you sit on the plane. Like, I, people would die to be 6'5 in the exit row rather than being 5, 7 in a mine? A mine. That's one of them jobs, that's one of them jobs where they factor in.

some people ain't going to make it. You know, of the people who are going to make it, some people, they're going to get up out of here pretty soon because every day they went down and they breathed black. They just breathed black. Rather than air, they just breathe black. And they had canaries down there to make sure they ain't die on the spot. Like, gosh.

And that's like most of the world, man, like most of the world. Yeah. You ever up here, Gil Scott Harris saw in Johannesburg? And, you know, he said our brothers over there refused to work in the minds. And that always hit me hard. Like, damn, the minds. You know what I'm saying? Like, it took some courage to say I ain't going down there in that mind.

I had a hard time focused on anything else you said after you asked perplexity. When you said he went to go work in the minds. I was like, I was like, God. Like his, like I talked to my dad, like growing up. in Charlotte and like dealing with certain things, certain level of racism and not having a bunch of opportunity and joining military or whatever and then talk to him about the stories they hear from his father and whatever. Like, man, that sucks.

But you know what? They never had to consider working in a goddamn mine. The mine. Like there's no, I'm trying to imagine a situation where working in the mine is not like, were you a diamond mine? That's terrible. That's terrible. Would you get in cobalt?

atrocious. Like there's no situation where you mind and life's great. Yeah, you don't mind anything that you want to breathe. You know what I'm saying? Like at least you out here picking crops.

It's fresh air. Well, I mean, maybe not always fresh, but you feel me. But yeah, brother said that he went to Perth. He's over there in Perth in Western Australia working in the mines and he'd be shooting up to age every now and then because I had never thought about this

because American. But a lot of Australians in them Asian spots. That's where they, you know, that's where they go. Oh. Oh, yeah, I guess it's, yeah. I mean, where else you're going to go? You're in Australia.

It ain't close to nothing, right? It ain't, brother, it's not even really close to New Zealand. Did you know that to fly from New Zealand to Sydney is five hours? What? Yes. Yeah, I just assume they was neighbors. I mean, I guess they are neighbors, but they look like neighbors in that Mercator projection. Exactly.

But I had a partner who went to New Zealand was like, cool, well, we'll just hop over to Sydney. See what's cracking over there? Five hours. It's 18 hours. There's a direct flight from New York City, 18 hours to Auckland. 18 feels like. And here's the bag, Dominique. I looked it up.

I want to say the first class ticket is something like $12,000. Shit. Because, brother, I can't do 18 hours with people. See, what it's going to have to be for me to get to Australia is this going to have to be a series of trips. Like, I'm going to have to go to Europe, give me a couple days there. Like, once my kids is old and off in life and I, and if I still am financially the situation, if I send three kids through college and I still got a little bit left over for me and the wife, then yeah, we're going to have to hit Europe and we got to continue. I mean, I guess what's the next stop? I ain't stopping in Russia or China.

Oh, Dubai. Then we hit Dubai. And then from there, maybe we eventually get our way to Australia. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I could do that 15. Then I get there and they're not even happy I'm there. That's the thing I think about a lot with traveling.

Like they have these places, these black travel things on social media where they're like, they'll give you a grade. And that's the thing is like you can, for black people specifically, it's like, you black immediately and you black everywhere and so like you can be American and white and show up somewhere and they don't know yet

that they should hate you but like I need to know I need some black people to tell me that when I get there they're going to treat me right that's all.

I felt like Vietnam I felt like we was cool. Yeah. Now I had to remember though I was in South Vietnam and you got to remember like in the war that's who was on the same team

as the good old US of A. I don't know how it's hitting when you get up north and they, you know, like deep in the, you know, they, as Bob Marley would say, the real revolutionaries, that's dope. I just think about the little things about our country that people, I would assume,

don't know, you know? And I imagine that I don't know lots of shit about the places that I'm going. And my black ass better be real careful. I'm going to stay, my wife got mad at me when we on our honeymoon. I wanted to like explore Bahamas.

I didn't want to sit in the on a resort all the time. Like that was cool, but it was boring. She was like, don't go out there. You don't know you? I was like, I felt like these was my people and I would be fine. It probably was dumb. I was young and dumb.

But I got a little bit more culture. I tend to enjoy that a little bit more than just the beach and like the fancy restaurants and stuff. Go see something, feel something. Yeah, I like to. My travel game has gone. Like, it's, I will say this, Miami messed up the Caribbean for me. Yeah. Because it's so similar to the Caribbean.

Yeah. Like, why would I, I could go do this five minutes from the house. Yeah. Right? Like, it messed that up. So, yeah, now when I get there, I was like, I did two days in Ho Chi Man City. And Ho Chi Man City is interesting. It is not pretty.

It is interesting. It was fun. It felt like something. Right. But it was not, it wouldn't go lay around. You know what I'm saying? It's give some man $20 to ride on the back of a motor scooter while he takes you to Chinatown.

Right. It's that kind of place. It was very, it was very Spencer Hall fun. Oh. But it was fun. That's dope. Yeah. No, no, I want to get in it, man.

I want to go see what the world got out there. Like, it's, you can get me on a weekend trip now to just go lay around. Yeah. But if you're going, yeah, he's somewhere else. I need to go, I'm with you on that. I need to go see something. I need to go do something. Where do you think Belichick and Jordan be going on vacation?

Dog, I thought that we were going to, when I started this, I thought we were going to talk about this board. And now I hate that it's gone so far. Yeah. And we have not. I would just say this. New York Post reported that she don't bought like $9 million worth of real estate in the last year and change, nine million.

Does this mean Bill Belichick is an all-time Hall of Fame level trick? Probably. But her, she got to be the inspiration for a lot. Look, this I, and you help me out here, can you think of any time ever that somebody's, in sports, where somebody's relationship has completely altered the way. that we look at a person to the point where it's becoming more difficult to take them seriously. The parlay that she pulled off

into like not just the houses, but being, it's like we saw, we see parents do this often when they have a super talented kid. It's so rare to see a 20 year old sophisticated enough to not only be in the relationship

because whatever, the relationship is whatever. But then be like, you know what? I'm going to be the C-O-O-O-of-all-your-businesses. I'm going to mix the hard-knock because I don't like the way they plan. I'm going to get on the university for not tamping down on these people BSing. Like, I almost feel like it's not right to put her in the Hall of Fame because she ain't like them.

whatever you're talking about that ain't her like we I don't I wish not to disrespect young Jordan Air Jordan she ain't like that aspirations

her aspirations she's not just trying to be kept she's trying to run some you got like yeah she don't want a good job she went from she went from selling LeBron

and throw back out the truck to run into empire right and like I don't know I've been hesitant and try to be careful around this because like, I don't know, they

defining whether people's motivations and relationships and all that stuff, I'm not looking to suggest that she saw Mark and she took advantage of it. You could do that if you want. I don't care. I'm just looking at what has happened. And I don't know another time

where a 20-year-old met a 70-year-old and went in short order from being a kind of a joke, a punchline of a joke, to running all the shit. running all the shit. Did you see the Damien Woody tweet though where he said like he had us brainwashed with the media and now he can't even stick to his own script?

I am, I am, I can't believe that people don't know that with these public relationships, you gotta have the where we met origin story right. Yeah. You know what I mean? And they had a story. And now suddenly that,

That story doesn't work? No, they does. So the argument that they made was that this was, they were sick of the, um, the interviewer trying to get them off of the book. And so that's why they said, we don't want to talk about it. Not because they didn't want to talk about it, but they were sick of the interviewer pushing them there. They, they came out and doubled down on the airplane story, which I got a group chat that

was like, why, why they, why they put the date when he signed the book? That seems a little fishy. So now they've opened the door. to all people being like a real conspiratorial about this. Did you ever think? Never. Never. Never.

Never. Bill Belichick. And that's like so she could. I don't want to be sexist, man. But she can run a play that other people can't run. And ain't no defense. Dominique. For love.

For love. Say what you said. be in the text the other day. I will do no such thing. Say it. I will do no such thing. Why don't you say it? No.

Nope. Because as we were discussing, I got three kids. They all got to get through school. What in the world is going to interfere? And, hey, I don't understand this. You were more willing to say the stuff when we was doing this show on ESPN than you are not only now that it's not on ESPN, but now the ESPN ain't got no goddamn. rules.

No, no, no, no, no, nah, nah, I'm not,

I ain't go, I can hold you, but I'm saying at the same time, you know,

I'm saying that ESPN got rules for me. Let's be serious. Like, I, while I can spring for a first class

ticket on a flight, I'm not in the first class on the, on air ESPN. I ain't, I ain't, I'm breaking bad at the pilot. We good.

We good. That is Dominique Foxworth. Check him out on the Dominique Potswurst show. Available for all five podcasts. Give it away for free. My brother, I appreciate you. I appreciate you too, buddy. All right.

And ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this here three times a week. My man Ryan Brumley, handing everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Also hit the voicemail line. 3-2-3-9-6-77-67.

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