The Ringer NBA Show - Are the Warriors Cooked Without Curry? Plus, Can the Celtics Turn It Around Against the Knicks? | Real Ones

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

The Warriors have lost Steph Curry for at least a week and seemingly the series against the Timberwolves. Do the Warriors have any chance of winning this series without Steph? Following the Warriors' Game 2 loss against Minnesota, Draymond Green made comments about being labeled an “angry black man” after receiving another technical foul early in the contest. Logan and Raja react to the future Hall of Famer's comment. Up 2-0 and heading back to New York for their series against Boston, are the Knicks actually the ones under pressure? How will Denver bounce back after its embarrassing Game 2 loss to the Thunder? (00:00) - Intro (5:35) - Are Steph and the Warriors Cooked? (15:43) - Minnesota’s Edge (18:16) - The Continuing Saga of Draymond Green (43:07) - Knicks-Celtics: Are The Knicks in Trouble? (51:25) - Cavs-Pacers: What is this series? (53:42) - Thunder-Nuggets: Will Denver Bounce Back? (57:45) - Interview with Seerat Sohi (01:38:51) - Real One of the Week The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hit the mailbag! [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Clifford Augustin Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz Video: Victoria Valencia/John Richter Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to The Ringer NBA show presented by Fandul. America's number one sports book has made it easier than ever to get in on the action during an NBA playoff game, even after tip off. Just look for the live SGP tab on the Fandual Sportsbook app and build your bet slip. Then sit back, relax, and track the outcome of your parlay right in the app. And if you don't already have it, download the Fandual app today to make every moment more. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. please visit rg dash help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available

and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit rg dash help.com. What up? We got a great show for you today. Me and Rajah are talking warriors, Dremon, NBA playoffs,

and then me and Syrit Sohi are talking everything you need to know about the WMBA season. Fandall is letting you get in on all the NBA. playoffs action right from the first tip because right now all customers get a no sweat same game parlay every weekend when you bet the NBA playoffs that's right just use your token on three plus leg same game parlay or same game parley plus on any NBA playoff game and you'll get bonus bets back if you don't win let's take a look at the slate cabs payers i'm definitely taking the over on that one taking the over on assistant points from haliburton and i'm taking the over on points for donovan Mitchell. Thunder Nuggets, I'm taking the nuggets on this one as an outright victory, and I'm taking the over on points, assist, and rebounds for Nicola Yolkits, and I'm taking the under on points for Say Gilgis Alexander.

There's no better place to bet all the playoff action than America's number one sports book. Visit fanduil.com slash ringer NBA and get a no-sweat, same game parlay every weekend of the NBA. That's fan duel.com backslash ringer NBA. Fan duel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. must be 21 years and older and present in select states or 18 and older in president DC opting required minimum three leg parlay required refund issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt max refund $5 unless otherwise specified restrictions apply including token expiration seat terms at sportsbook.fandul dot com gambling problem call 1-800 gambler or visit rgdash help.com What's popping real ones Logan Murdoch here rogerbell there Howard Beck is somewhere but not

here, Cliff on the motherfucking boards. John is on the video. I don't really have a good catchphrase for John right now. We're going to hear to talk fucking playoffs. Hi, Roger. Ross didn't even want to talk pre-potty, so let's fucking go. He has his onyx haircut. He has his Bluetooth headphones in. He's

ready to pod. I'm ready to go. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, let's go. It's fucking Friday, man. Let's go. What age are I mean, I guess I doubt Cliff would be at this age, Logan. I don't I don't know if you're there yet where like you have a closet full of shit that you've

accumulated. I mean, I've got a nice size closet like full of cool stuff. And I wear like the same five things all the time. Like we'll do like a load of laundry in the morning if one of those five things aren't available to me just so I can put it back on. I'm not there yet, bro. I'm not.

I use, you know, I'm actually on the other side of this equation where like I have a big closet and it racks my brain to figure out what I'm going to wear. I actually do, you're going to laugh at this. You're going to laugh at this. I do outfit changes throughout the day. Just based on my movie, you will roast me all the time for it. Like, I'm like, I'm not actually, you know, I get back from like a walk or something. I'm changing. I swear to God. It's so subtle too, right? Like, maybe I'll put on another shirt or, like, some sweats. I have done at least three or four outfit changes throughout the day. So,

You know, the laundry is diabolical. So all that to say, I can't relate. No, you're not going to relate to that. But there does come, there will come a time in your life, I think, where that will slow down. So maybe instead of like three outfit changes, I mean, we're down to like one. Maybe just a midday change. I don't know. Maybe.

Maybe. I just want to say before we get to playoff talk, and I've been like, in my mind, I've been thinking I'm going to bring up this on the podcast and I just forget. Hey, man, I just want you to know, Steve Nash ain't coming on our pod ever. Yeah, that ship sailed, huh? That ship is fucking sailed, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he, look, I mean, it might be better for me to collect in some other facet of life, but he's going to owe me one.

We'll see. We'll find out if it's better. And the cold thing is, people don't know behind the scenes. And now I can say it because he's clearly not going on. And he's like, he's even more of a celebrity now than he was, you know, even fucking two years ago. But he'd be like, pump faking and double dutch it. He'd be like, Roger will hit Steve Nass. He'd be like, yo, you're coming on?

Steve will be like, yeah, when? And then, like, not respond. And then pops up with LeBron. And then, you know, now he's doing the Amazon thing. So, you know, we're done. We're cooked. I just, I don't, I can't, I've been wanting to vent with you for the last few months, but, you know, we're here now.

Yeah, I think it's, I mean, it's an indictment on our friendship for sure. Although I did ask him to train with Ty, like, see if I could come bring Ty out to train with him. And he was like, gasped. He was like, yes, we could do this. So, so, I mean, we're, you know, but we have some things to work through. it's fine I mean it's not even just fine

it is what it is I don't have no transition for this but the goal to say warriors man they lost a game two they somehow got a split in this series which is crazy

and they look but it looks bleak without Steph Curry there right and we can get to the stats but it really doesn't matter they I know I'm the Warriors guy and I have a lot of thoughts

but I want to get to your thoughts in general where are the Warriors right now as a staff record label mother effing crew and we are going to talk about the Timberwolves at some point in this segment but I want to get to the Warriors part

because it looks like they are taking a walk towards the end and it's looking like it's about to get packed up Steph Curry hamstring injury since the last time we talked which is tough people say like a week for that, but I think he's out for the series, at least, right?

Like, it's not even a question. I don't think he'll be back for this series. And probably if they somehow miraculously won, would probably wouldn't come back till the middle of the next series if it's all, if it's even a normal hamstring injury. Where are the warriors right now?

I mean, I know they're in the abyss, but where in the abyss are they, Rajah? Well, they're in a lot better position than you would think. all things considered because they stole that first game. So, you know, now, look, clearly without Steph, they are not nearly the same level of threat to anyone as they would be with him, right?

So do I give them much of a chance, you know, to do anything past this series? No, but as it relates to this series, I would give them more of a chance than I normally would because they stole the first game. So in that world, you know, I tend to think that they aren't going to win this series. Like I'm going to say Minnesota beats them. But if they should steal another game or like Ant hasn't been playing fantastic this series,

like if he goes cold or any number of things happen, like you almost saw it last night. Ant hurts that ankle. Like when you steal a game, it opens up possibilities for you. So if you fall into another one now you have a series, I don't think they get out of the series. I think they're kind of cooked. It puts a lot of people into a role on that team that they aren't used to playing. And while you might be able to do that for like a night, on any given night tonight, I think it was, might have been game six against the Clippers.

I think game five is when I hit the shot, if I'm remembering correctly. Game six, we go back to L.A. And somebody was out. It might have been Steve. Somebody was out. So it put me in the role of like having to score. like to be the be a primary and i think i had like 33 that night but i wasn't enough to win a game and i couldn't do that every night so like you're asking guys that normally are just like

you know complimentary pieces to step up and have to be the driving force of an offense while jimmy butler can you know i'd say he's probably not what he was a few years ago himself and i don't know that anybody else on that roster can really do that in a way that gets them through the series but winning that first game, Logan? And that certainly helps. I mean, that Jimmy Butler, $120 million contract is looking nasty right now. I mean, he had a triple double to start the series. But like you said, he just doesn't have the lift. He's also playing with injuries, right? Like, I feel like he's playing with injuries right now that he wouldn't necessarily play with if it was the regular season. I mean, he took that big fall against Houston. And I think

there's some lingering effects to that. And he just also just doesn't have the athleticism he even had two years ago. And we always talk about role players being outsized in their roles in playoff time. It's just not sustainable. Like the Buddy Heald, I love the story of Buddy Heald.

He's also one of my favorite guys to see in the locker room. It's just not sustainable. If you're relying on a guy like this, I want to get your stats really quickly because I just want to, you know, you against the Clippers. This is the 2006 playoffs, right? Yeah, I think so.

Yeah. All right, let's go down memory lane. Let's look at it. Let's look at this. You had, against the clippers, you had 33 in game four. Four? That was in game four. Then you had 22 in game five, which was the game winner in double over time.

And then going back to L.A. you had 13. You were two of nine, sir. So that, the wrong game. but very supportive of what I'm saying. Like one of those games, yeah, you have 33. Then another one you have 20, but then that 13's showing up. Like if you're relying on me to carry your offense to wins, because we're without Steve or Steve and Sean, you know, we're just not going to be consistently able to win games. My favorite thing about this is the NBA.com headline, which says Roger rings bell on clips.

also fucking John Marion had 36 and 20 telling you bro Sean was so important Sean was so critical to what we did yeah it still doesn't think he was seen as quite important enough

but anyway but well let me touch on this because in that same playoff run I actually pulled my calf right so you know to tie that into Steph's hamstring those soft tissues are are interesting right

because you could put like a week to 10 days on it, right? Like, that's just a general, you know, kind of timeline. But, you know, what you find with those injuries is, even if you're trying to convince yourself that you can play on those, because they'll eventually come a point where Steph gets close enough to convince himself, I might be able to go. When they test you in whatever capacity they're going to test you in practice,

like, all right, let's do some lane slides where you're going to slide from one side of the lane, touch the box, slide to the other side of the lane, the box. Okay, fine. Let's do some sprints. We're going to do a suicide. Free throw line back, half court back, free throw line back, full court back. They're going to watch how you move in that. Well, that's all a script. So in a scripted situation, you can protect whatever little pull that you have. Once it's healed to a certain degree, you can protect it. Where you can't protect it is when you drop him into spontaneous reactive type of play. And that's a quick twitch player, too. He's not like he's a normal NBA basketball player.

He's running off screens. He has like the fidgety game. You know, he's trying to shake and bake. That's where it doesn't work because you can't protect it. And that happened to me. Like I was, I actually kind of tricked them into letting me play in that series. But I couldn't move at all, you know? And once it got like spontaneous and I had to just hoop and react, I couldn't do what I was supposed to do.

So I would venture to say that he's out longer than that that week to 10 days myself. Would not be surprised if he's out for the season. I know that's hyperbolic, but it's the truth. That's how tricky hamstring injuries are. I saw some people like, yeah, he might be back for game six. Okay. All right. And you have a great point.

If that's KD or if that is, you know, even like Braun, if those are guys that you can basically stand somewhere, Luca, and have them catch the ball because they're big body dudes and they can just get into their mid-post work, I could make a case for maybe, you're still not going to be great, but like that's not a lot of running and change of direction.

Like his whole game is predicated on movement. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be difficult. It's going to be difficult. Also, like, I want to go back to the Timberwolf side real quick. What's the deal with ants shooting right now? What are you seeing? What are you looking at?

What has been his problem? Is he going too fast? Because he had, like, he hasn't shot well. from the field throughout these first two games, but also, like, going into game seven of the game against the Lakers. Like, he was not great offensively. You know, that was the Rudy Gobert game. Julius Randall's also been great.

Nasreed has been great. Kind of holding down the fort while he's been gone. Like, this has been a really impressive showing from Minnesota supporting cast. Kenny Smith said something really interesting about the Timberwolves. Is that, like, the guys don't necessarily have to change their roles when Ant is out. They can kind of just still play within themselves because they have a guy like Mike Conley and they have a point guard setup, whereas the Warriors whole universe is centered around one player and their whole offenses. But what do you see from Ant that is troublesome and what can he do to get back on track to help this team get to where you to go? I don't know that anything's troublesome.

He's just not, you know, he's not making the pure volume of shots that he. that you're accustomed to seeing him make. I wouldn't say anything's necessarily troublesome. And why I don't really worry about him is because he always gives you an honest effort everywhere else. And I've said this on pods before. Like when he's not making shots, he still can affect the game in a lot of ways. And so there's value there, right? Now, for them to, if they should get through Golden State, have the opportunity to beat whoever comes out of the other series in the West or even moving forward, have a chance to win a championship.

you've got to have your number one point produce like a number one consistently. But like right now I think he's okay. Like, you know, obviously Golden State's wounded. If Steph was healthy, maybe I'd be singing a different tune right now. But as it is, you know, they're not whole. They're going to struggle. And I don't think that it's really troublesome that ants going through what he's going to right now.

He just needs to find it. And more than anything, you just got to relax and go out there and shoot the ball. Just shoot your way out of it. Keep pooping. Yeah. And I think Minnesota is going to be okay. And the other thing that we have said, I mean, even prior to the series was Minnesota was going to win. We thought Minnesota was going to win in five or six games pre-step injury, right?

Like, this isn't, I think they're that much of a better team. And I think you could see. What was surprising you in that game one, though? Like, how does that happen with, if you're Minnesota, for a team that is definitely inferior to you, but it's just that they caught fire at the right time? Like, Draymond played like it was 2015. Yeah. He was hitting threes. But like that seemed like an anomaly game in the moment.

What did you see from Minnesota that maybe gave you pause? And also was it just a, this is fine, it's an anomaly game. They just look shocked that they got hit. I think the way we spoke about the series coming in, about how Golden State was going to be gas. They expended too much energy, you know, messing around with Houston. There's no way that they can keep this pace. I think that to some degree, Minnesota was listening to that, you know, not necessarily us,

but the narrative had creeped in. Appreciate you, Ann, for listening to the podcast. Thank you, sir. Good word. The narrative had crept in in a way that you can't let something like that creep in. And I don't think they had, the Golden State had Minnesota's full attention, if you will. No, I know they prepped for them and stuff, but I don't think that they were ready for that. On top of that, not to take any credit away from Golden State, they came out and hit them right in the mouth.

They defended their asses off. Like, you know, that was the theme of that particular game to me was just how swarming that that defense was and how it was from top to bottom on that roster. Everybody that hit the court was like flying around and ready to go. Before you know it, you were like, you were in a buzzsaw. Like you couldn't get anything going. You were turning a ball over left and right. Offense looked really disjointed if you're in Minnesota.

And, you know, that just fueled the fire that was, you know, Golden State that game and Buddy Heald and everybody else. So, yeah, that's one of those that, you know, while it's disappointing and we let that slip, I didn't necessarily look at that one as a sign of things to come for Minnesota in the series. Yeah, especially now. Like, I think Minnesota has a great opportunity to just take control of this series. And I think that they will. I think that when they're on and Ant is on, I think they're pretty unstoppable,

especially even against this golden state team is where they are right now. Okay, so, you know exactly what I'm going to talk about, and I don't necessarily want to talk about it. We're going to talk about it because we're here, and it's pertinent. Okay, so, and this, so after the game, though, let's just say, actually during the game, Draymond Green received a technical foul, after um what the hell is what the hell is this roger walk me through this as a basketball player he

got the ball tried to go for a for a shot or tried to draw a foul on a shot of nozreed and elbowed nose reed the face he's a flailer like it's what he's a flailer does yeah when he doesn't when he when he when he perceives when he perceives a foul or he thinks he's been fouled his his his reaction is to flail and that's always been the weird thing to me right it's not some people flop and try to sell it but he like blails and tries to like inflict some sort of harm to the person that offended right so he did the flail um it inflict harm uh special and he gets a technical foul for that probably still got another technical foul for that um and then after the game i believe he was asked about it and he just put a statement out and he says i'm not an angry black man i am tired of the

agenda to make me look like an angry black man. I am a successful, highly educated black man with a great family. I want to preface this by saying I believe all of that. I do believe he is a successful, highly educated black man. I've seen his family. He does come from a great family. Drey mom is great. His wife is great. Everyone is great. He has beautiful kids that run around the practice facility, like part of the family, by all intents and purposes, he's raised a great family. Absolutely. And but I do, and I also want to preface this by saying, do I believe that the perception of him being angry and an angry black man, could that be misconstrued? And could people look at him a certain way based on the color of his skin? I believe that to be the case,

absolutely because I would be naive to say that's not the case in the current climate that we live in in the history of this country absolutely I believe that but what I had a problem with Raja was and also I want to I want to also talk about and give light to the fact that he did allegedly have slurs thrown out him while he was on a stationary bike right so all those things I do believe him when he does, when he says he believes that there is an agenda to make him look like an angry black man. What misses the mark for me, though, and what I, what kind of gave me pause was the fact that this seemed to be a ploy to mask the level of responsibility that he holds for not being the best teammate that he can be. when you get five technical files in nine games and probably should have got more and it seems like your skating responsibility because I don't think that that has to necessarily do with an agenda

against you I think it's your actions because we all seen it throughout this playoffs and beyond before that right he built this reputation brick by brick with the technical files with the flailing with the kicking with the punching of his own teammates with the flailing and kicking that made him get suspended indefinitely and have to get league mandated therapy. Like, I feel like Dremont wants his cake and eat it too. And when I saw that clip last night, it was, I want to make sure I make my words carefully here because I know a lot of people listen to this.

But it felt disingenuous because it came on the heels of yet a. another play when you acted selfish to the point where your teammates had to come onto the floor and tell you to calm down. Right. And I feel like he has been doing a disservice to his team with the technical files. And I'm not the only one saying this. It's the people in the building that are still concerned about how he's been conducting himself and the behavior that he has had.

And while I respect all of those things that, you know, I feel like he's going through, I'm a black man myself. I understand. I have heard people say some wild shit about Draymont in the stands being in the media thing. I have heard that shit. I've seen that. But I feel like this part is separate.

His behavior is separate from the fact that he, yes, he does also go through things that we all do go through as black people and his black men. But I don't feel like he should have the opportunity to skate past that and skate past his actions and not hold himself accountable, which is what I feel like he did. I don't feel like he held himself accountable for the technical fouls that he put himself put himself in during the last game. And that's where I feel like we are right now. I don't feel like he's holding himself accountable right now.

I think that's, I think it's okay to feel like that. What I couldn't figure out, and I've tried to flesh it out all morning, listening to everything I could about what transpired last night. was whether his reaction and that it wasn't a press conference because he didn't do media availability, this was like he wanted to make a statement. And it walked off, yeah. Right. And so the statement, I couldn't figure out whether the statement was in regards to the incident

that happened when he was on the bike and the racial slur that he says was hurled at him, or if it was in regards to his interactions with the referees on the court and the media's portrayal of that, I find those to be too. separate things. And I can't determine whether or not he was addressing one or the other, if that makes sense. No matter what Draymond does on the court,

no matter what position he puts himself in as a teammate, no matter how angry he is or is not, there's no place for what he says happened to him in that tunnel. In a sporting event. And whoever

transgresses and is the culprit of that must be removed and my vote is they never get to come back. So let's make that clear. On the flip side of that, and this one is kind of hits near and dear to my heart. Like I've told you before, I don't know if I've said it on here. You get, um, you get like fake names. What do they call it aliases? Like when you get, when you get to the NBA and you, when I first got to the NBA, I wasn't able to pick my own alias, right? So I was given an alias. Do you know what my alias was? Who was it? it was A, B.

You know what that stand for or stood for? A black? Angry black. Angry black, okay. Right. So that's what I was given by the staff of the 76ers, affectionately, because I would get fired up. And, you know, I, I, you know, interesting, like, Dremont's an interest in me, man. And I'm like, bear with me as I work through this.

I'm not inherently an angry person. Most people who know me know that I'm not just like, you're not walking on eggshells around me all day long. I'm not ready to pop all day. I don't have a lot of time for perceived bullshit. I don't like ignorance of any color, shape, size. And there are things that might happen that a normal person might let go and say, oh, don't worry about it.

Don't call them on that, that I just don't. And I don't know where that imaginary line is to know when I've, crossed it into the angry territory. And so I don't think it's all the way fair. And I feel him when he says he doesn't appreciate, you know, the angry black man narrative. Having said that, when you are in an atmosphere like the NBA or an arena like the NBA, the NFL, hockey, baseball, media, whatever, when all eyes are on you and you've got that many fans tuned into what you're doing. And you are acting the way you act sometimes and comporting

yourself the way you do. And you've accumulated, I don't, it was 30 some technicals over your career in the playoffs, which was a wild number. It was like 19 more than anybody else. You got five. You've had the choking incident. You've, you've, you've had the incident in the playoffs years before where, where you were suspended for a kick to the groin. Like these things have actually happened. Nobody's manufacturing this. You're handling yourself this way. And even last night, you had the tech for the flailing. Let's say the flailing is genuinely the way you move, right?

Like, I don't think that you always have to flail and hit someone when you're trying to draw a foul. But let's say, like, when the doctor hits your knee as a reflex, that is one of your reflexes. Fine. You're going to draw some text for that that you can't control in that scenario, hypothetically. You don't control them. That's your reflexes. But after that, once you got the tech and you went over to the bench and you could have calmed down and you should have calmed down and given every opportunity to calm down, you came back out on the court, guns blazing and probably should have gotten another tech because you berated the official.

Like you were after him in a way where I was, it was unreal that he didn't get ejected. it's then hard to turn around and say, I don't appreciate the narrative that's being spun about me without acknowledging your contribution to the narrative. We're all watching it. And so this is a difficult thing for me because there's so much that goes into it. And I feel for you on that, listen, man, as black men in this country, I'm sure you've experienced it, Logan, like any number of ways that you can,

to offend someone or or or stereotyped them or profile them. It's all happened to me. All of it. My kids get called the N-word at school. We've been in there multiple times for that. This is happening right now. This is real. Right. So I'm, I'm sympathetic and empathetic to that. But when you, when you are out there choking and kicking and hitting and punching you, like any number, like you cannot shirk the responsibility that you have for contributing to that. I don't deem this as someone trying to paint you in that light. Like I, I've never heard anyone call him that. But if I did, I would stand up and be like, yo, bro, don't, don't say that, dog. Like, that's, that's tacky a shit. That's a terrible, like, it's a terrible label to put on someone. It harbors all types of

stereotypes and, and inherent racism. Like, don't do that. He's an angry, he's an, he's an, he, you say He's an angry person. It doesn't have to be angry black. We don't have to do that. Right. However, I would just say again, and I would agree with you, Logan. Like, you have to take responsibility for each out there doing, dog. Like, again, I was given that, that nickname. That was my, not, not a nickname, but I was given that. Alias. You know, alias. I contributed to that. I was in practice doing things and fighting people in a way that from someone just watching would say, yeah, bro, he looks angry. You know what I mean?

So like, I'm all conflicted about this, Logan. Like, as you could tell, because I probably just said a whole lot without saying anything. But I do agree with you in that, like, look, man, you have done way more than enough for people to think that you're out there being angry. Does that mean that's who you are? Does that define you off the court? Is that who you are in your personal life and your personal space at every minute? No. Is it fair to say that you might be angrier than someone else? And just because you are doesn't

mean that you're an angry person. Absolutely. Like, who the fuck are you to tell me what I can be angry about? Where's the line drawn in the sand that says you can't you don't have to be offended by that, but because I am, I'm angry. See, I don't subscribe to all of that. However, when you're out there doing what you're doing and the rules say you can't do that, then you don't get to stand up in the mic and say people are creating that narrative. I agree with you in that. Yeah, I mean, also, like in these games, Roger, like, you talk about a leash. He has a super-duper-star type leash when it comes to their officials for reasons that I just don't know at this point, right?

Like you just said about he probably should have gotten ejected last night. Absolutely. There was also the play against Eason. What was it? I forgot game four, game five, when he got stripped by Eason and tackled Eason, he had already had a technical, He had already had a technical foul that gave him a flagrant and didn't eject him. Yeah, should have been out on that one, right? And, you know, I remember when I, the first thing that came to mind was when I saw this quote,

this was one of the group chats, but when I saw this quote from Green last night is I was immediately thinking back to Warriors Media Day from 2024, this season actually, where a reporter exed, Draymond, you know, basically was like, you know people are worried about you around the arena, around the team just because of your actions and things like this. What is your response to that? And his response was, I'm a successful black man. Same response, right? And when I saw this clip, and again, I agree with everything that you said.

I also feel like he probably is vilified for the color of his skin. I do believe that in this climate that we're in. Like whether he was yelling or not, I think that he would get that regardless. That being said last night when he said what he said, he said it in a way, like, who's going to chat? He said it and then he walked away, but who's going to challenge him in that media scrum, right? And it's not even a beef, but like if you have like a majority white reporters there and what are they going to say? Like how even if they were in the right, it's not a great look for you to be like, well, I don't think that. Why would you say that as another reporter, right?

Like he basically got a cheat code to say that and walk off because who was going in the moment be able to say something like that. And it feels like it felt like in the moment that he was, it was bigger than just what he said it was. And it was just him skirting responsibility, which is something that he's done for the majority of this postseason. Right. Yeah. He's been doing that the majority of this postseason. Like Steve Kurt talked to him before game seven against Houston about the time. technicals and about, you know, the behavior and things like that. And that same game, he gets a

flagrant for fucking up Van Blee, right? Like, it's a continual, continual process. And I just feel like this was just another, this statement was another way to skirt responsibility. Even though I believe, and I know it's a convoluted thing, and I know some people probably won't understand it. But I do believe that he feels that he gets vilified for the color of his skin. It's not a thing that this thing to set not it's not a crazy thing to say and no let's let's do this first of all try to compartmentalize this uh just put it a little bit number one i don't know and you're more familiar with the narrative around dream on you're in the market you're way more tapped in um to the media i've never really seen anyone writing pieces that i would say over an accumulation of

time have painted him as an angry black man. I don't, I don't, I don't read all the Dremont press clippings. So maybe there is someone out there that's trying to paint him in that light. When I'm watching the games and listening to the broadcast and I don't get the feeling that that's what someone's trying to do to him, paint him as a villain. Like he may perceive it that way, but I, it doesn't give that to me. I don't feel that. Well, I was saying is I could see how he, how he could perceive that, right? You're a guy that is continuing to like do these things and you feel like you have a target on your back. And I can see why he would feel that way. Yeah, I understand what you were saying, and I agree.

I agree. I'm just saying, like, if I'm keeping it a buck, I don't get the feeling that that any one person is out there or any league or anything is trying to create the narrative. Creating the narrative means we've got nothing to go off of and we're just going to, hey, man, let's conspire to paint this picture about someone and they've got no culpability in it at all. But I don't, that's not what's happening. Like, you're doing it. You're out there acting the fool and acting like an ass, bro.

Like, people are going to report that. Like, that is really happening. Let's get back to like, you know, because there are people, some very close to me. I married, you know, and we're an interracial couple. My kids are biracial kids. And I was met with family members on the other side that didn't fully understand where I was coming from all the time and some of the things that I said. And so I'm not naive to the fact that there are people.

people out there when I tell them that Luca and the Joker and Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash in my time would be rate officials. Like I'm talking about some of the worst stuff you ever heard. People's elbow to fucking Lou Dort the other game. We just saw that from Yolkis. No, but I'm not even talking about physical player to player. I'm talking about the berating of officials and calling them every name under the sun and not being portrayed.

as having anger issues or being like complete skate on the on on on that reality and drayman or uh Rashid in my generation or someone like that being turned into like a villain you know because of it that that that's a real thing like anybody out here like I hop on my socials if you want debate me if you want that's a real thing so so I'm not absolving draymond of of a I'm solving is the wrong word. But I'm not saying that Draymond, you know, doesn't slightly live in a world where his transgressions are, are magnified in that space, right?

And maybe to some degree that I'm saying he might be slightly right. But you've put yourself in that position so many times. You've put yourself in that position so many times. And on a deeper level, again, you know, I didn't prep for this. But like maybe that's what Drayman's saying. Maybe that's what he's saying. Maybe he's saying, hey, man, I play Luca.

of and I play joker and I was in the league when dirk was in the league and they don't get text for this like they they don't and I do I'm not I'm not putting words in his mouth I'm just saying maybe that's where he's coming from because I'm trying to figure it out today too I would just say that if I were draymond I'd really be reflective and look and realize that you while you get a lot of text get the benefit of the doubt a lot of times dude a lot of time so you're a leish whether He's getting calls like, he's getting restraint from the refs that like the rest would show to like LeBron or somebody like of a Kobe or another, like a other stature that he's just quite frankly just not is not in. So it's always surprising that he gets the benefit of the doubt on these things. Because even the like when you talk about Luca and you talk about Dirk and you talk about Yokic, right, they are of a different like class of him as a player.

And that's just what it is. right? Like it's just different. You know it's a funny thing and I just thought about this? I interviewed Jermont in 2021 and he said something really interesting. And I think it goes to the psyche of what you just said. I remember it was the context was I was asking a question like how it felt to lose, right? Because it was coming off the heels of them losing a lot in a way that he has never lost before in his life during the 2019-2020 season. And he said it was very, very tough. And I'm paraphrasing here. But the part that he said that stuck out was, Um, people were talking shit to me. And that was weird because honestly, the only person that can actually talk shit to me in terms of accomplishment is LeBron. And I was kind of floored to hear that.

Right. I was just floored to hear that. And I, and, um, but that speaks to the psyche that you're talking about. Yeah. He truly believes that he is of that class. Right. Is, so it's, I don't think it's a crazy thing for him to think like, oh, yeah. Like those superstars are getting those call or not.

saying all that stuff and they're getting vilified and I'm not and I am and they're not getting billified and I am like what's going on but you still you've still missed the mark though was my point on that because you might be right but you still miss the mark because if you'd reflect a little bit and watch your interactions you'd realize you're getting way more rope and way more leniency than you think oh my god I know I know we've done 40 minutes on this I do want to talk about the playoffs it was fascinating though no it was really fascinating and I found myself this morning for any number of reasons, Logan, like, just really, really all over the place emotionally about that, right? Like, just really, man. Like, I was really before I got into this podcast, Roger, I was, I was kind of,

I wasn't angry, but I was a little fucked up, man. I'm not going to lie. Like, those comments really messed me up in a lot of ways. And it wasn't because, like, I internalized them, obviously as a black man. I felt them as a black man. I believed them as a black man. But the context is everything, right? And I think that was the big thing. But this morning really fucked me up, man. Like, I didn't know how to, I didn't know how to get, I knew we had to talk about them this podcast. And I think that's what fucked me up about it is that I just didn't know. I didn't have, I didn't know, man. No, I don't know. Look, I'm, I'm sitting here telling you, it was literally my, my alias. Like, I lived that. Like, so, you know, but I'm, I'm 48 now. And, you know, I see it from another side, right?

And, you know, listen, I still don't have the right words for it. It's just, you know, it's unfortunate. Let's just boil it down to this, dude. I told you Mark Ivaroni one time, slipped me a letter under my door. We were in Chicago. And I was so offended by it. I was so offended. And it was basically saying, hey, you got to get yourself under control.

You'll cost our team eventually if you can't control yourself, so on and so forth. I wrote him back a very nice letter and slid it under. under his door, saying, yo, I got this. Like, I don't worry about it, so on and so forth. And as it played out, I got kicked out of a playoff game and cost our team an opportunity to potentially, you know, move on into playoffs. Luckily for me, my teammates had my back and they won that game. But the point is, he wasn't wrong.

And at the time, I couldn't see it. in retrospect, like thinking back and reflecting on it, he was right and he saw the signs of it. And at least to that team, my level of importance was too much to be putting my team in jeopardy like that. And that's what I'd say to him, even with Steph, you're too important to what they do to be putting them in the position of having to worry about you not being available to them this late in your career, especially without Steph. you can't be doing it. The unfortunate part, though, Roger, is they've been telling him that for 13 years now. That exact same thing, right? You know, at some point it has to, you have to actually look yourself in the mirror, right?

And I just say it after indefinite suspension, right? Like there was this huge media tour after he had his indefinite suspension about how he had turned over a new leaf, how he had found his new self, right? How he was accountable for his wrongs. And every single time he does that, his actions don't. follow through on that. Just don't. And that's something that he needs to figure out. So, I mean, that's not where we are.

No, yeah. Let's talk some playoffs. First thing, I think the series of the group chats in general has been Nick Celtics. And you said something very surprising. And I think you're going to get a lot of our Nick's fans pissed off when you say this, including the one near and dear to our hearts. you said what is going to happen in game three after what just happened in game one and two.

No, no, what the fuck does you say? Don't fucking don't. No, no, no, no. I'm not going to know. Say what you said. I didn't say anything definitively. And I would just argue that if we put everything that was said in our pre-pod meetings on air, we'd have a show no longer.

So I don't think I'm obligated to say anything. Or the pay wall would be lit. The pay poll. Or that. Here's what I believe. I think the Knicks could be in trouble. Why is that? I think the Knicks could be in trouble.

You've been down 20, two games in a row, and the Celtics have had their two worst shooting performances of the season, and you were down 20 in both of those games. Yeah. Do I need to say more? I mean, now. Hold on. Here's another thing.

What about this, Roger? What about this argument? Just playing devil's advocate here. What if the Celtics are perpetual bag droppers? That's your hope. And cucklers of bags. Well, that's, that, that would be your hope if you're Nix. I, I don't mean, I'm not taking anything the way from Nix.

Like, I genuinely am excited. Like, my wife grew up in Long Island, like, her and her dad, like, I just talked about by my extended family, like, huge Nick fans, her, like, huge Nick fans. I fucking love the Nix, bro. I love the Nix, bro. I love the mix. I love what you put in the fucking chat, the fucking, uh, let's go Nix after they want and shit. Like, I love it.

It's great. Like, also, I watch the side talk. Uh, I put it in the chat. the fucking compilation, the side talk, next season opener. Bro, the propaganda for the Knicks is amazing. Yeah, but make, make no mistake. And just as a generally speaking, I only know how to root for underdogs, really. So like, I'm in.

I just, it's hard for me to wrap my, my 30-some years of basketball, like, experienced mind around the fact that, that the, Knicks are the better team and I should expect them to win four out of the next six. When I've seen the Celtics just look like a better team for six out of the eight quarters they've played. Like substantially the better team. Well, what does that say about the Celtics though, Roger? Because they continue to do this. I don't believe they will. I don't.

Like now if the Knicks and this was all I need is two games now. They only need two games now. I got it. They better win tonight. If the Knicks, and this would be the case for the Nick, like Brunson hasn't popped off all the way yet, like it's not like you would look at them and say they're just playing out of their mind. And that's the reason that's happening. To their credit, they're fine in a way. They're like slugging and out and grind in a way and playing the game all the way out and chipping away.

and chipping away, and they're doing everything executionally to earn the win. I'm not trying to take that away from them in any way, shape, or form. But I have to be realistic when I look at that and say, man, it's not always easy to pull away from someone by 20, especially when you're not shooting the skin off of the ball. If you were just barraging people with threes and there was a boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, like you could be up 20 in a heartbeat, but that's not what's happening. They're like pulling away. Like we're better than you.

We're just going to pull away. What about this, bro? Like, what have you seen from this playoffs, not just in this next Celtic series, but the fact that league-wide, no 20-point lead is safe. Like, I feel like this is just a trend here. Everybody is fumbling the bag when they're up 20, right? Like, you just saw O'KC do that against Denver. Pace, pace, and shot selection.

I mean, those are the two. I mean, you saw it with Cleveland. That's another team to Cleveland again, right? But they're, they're dealing with a little bit more than I think what the Celtics are dealing with. They're dealing with injuries. They're dealing with, you know, the taxing, this taxing burden on a star. So here's what people. Here's what people don't, don't really fully understand.

I don't think until you've done something. We talk pace, right? And you're saying, well, how hard can it be to go from, like, running up and down and shooting in the first eight seconds of a shot clock to, like, shooting in the last eight seconds of a shot clock? Like that's, you know, 16 seconds roughly. Like, what's the big deal? Like, why can't you? There's a rhythm that you get used to playing at. It's why you see a lot of times, like in youth basketball,

a team will get up like by, let's say, 17 with seven minutes to go. And a coach will outthink himself and say, let's start stalling the ball. And they lose all rhythm. They can't play like that. Before you know it, the other team has crawled back in the game. and they've got you know, they've got you on the ropes. So when you try to slow something down like that, it might throw people out of rhythm.

So most teams, you're stuck. You're either going to keep playing this pace. And if you're not making the shots, the other team has the opportunity to climb back into the game. But if we try to slow it down and work it a little bit, that's not our wheelhouse as an offense. We're at a rhythm. That's not the way we're used to playing. So we're not now at our best. We're missing shots.

The Celtics are pressing. I mean, every single shot they shot in the, in the fourth quarter of that last game, it looked like there was a 1,000 pound weight on their show. It was, it just, you could feel it through the TV. They were tight. And so, yeah, that pressure mounts. And I'm not telling you that they won't be the perpetual fumbles of the bag

that you're talking about. And the Knicks keep the pressure on and do what they do at home. That place is going to be electric. But I just see a team that, at least on paper, pound for pound, player for player. The Celtics have a huge. huge advantage. And if they play just, if they just play average. Well, on paper, they had an, here's the thing about the Celtics. Here's another thing about the Celtics. On paper, they are better than everyone, right? But I just, I told you the last podcast, Raja,

they have a propensity to get pumped. This happens to them. When they get punched in the face, they fold, bro. It's what happens. It's happening against Miami. It's happening right now against the Knicks. Bro, how McHale Bridges be taking the ball away from Jalen Brown, it is so disrespectful, bro. It's so disrespectful. Wait, Jalen Brown was bullying boys in that last game. Talking about to end game one.

I'm talking about the end game one. That was just, that was talking about game one. When he did, when he ended the game and threw it away. Yeah, no, he was going to say Jalen, Jalen Brown is, as opposed to Jason Tative, has been put into work.

He's been, he's the one that goes to the cup when they're supposed to go to the cup. But as a whole, the Celtics have a habit of getting punked. It just, it happens. And I'm just, it can't happen in game three, which is going to happen tomorrow at 1230. I just say if it's not out of their own possibility, I think you're giving them too much at the benefit of the doubt because yes, on one hand, they are the better team. They absolutely should win. But we shouldn't be 0 and 2 right now.

If you're the boss itself is getting punked, bro. They're getting punked. Oh, no. Yeah. Everything you said is correct. I can't argue any of that. I saw. What you see? I saw the boomerang came up on my phone the other day and they were sitting there at the table. And what was it? What's the, what was the actor's name? And he was the dad in Friday and Wether Spoon, John Wetherspoon. Oh, John Wetherspoon. Yeah. And he says something about eating the pig from the roota to the Tudu. So like. Yeah. You're right. From the root to the to the Tudu. You're right. But I would just sit here and apologize to all my Nix, you know, fans and friends and.

friends. I know you got a lot of next friends. I don't have a great feeling. And I, and actually, I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. I just don't have a great feeling. Okay. What is your feeling on the Cavs, Pacers that's actually happening in the night? I don't have a feel for this series. It's still weird. I don't. It's just such a weird. Yeah. I, you know, I'd be lying if I sat up here and I, I don't, I don't like to be faking what I'm, what I'm talking about. I have no feel on the series. It's been a weird one to watch. Um, I, I, I don't have it a, I don't have it. great opinion on that. Sorry, guys. I love Tyrese Halliburton. I know that, though. I do know that. So I came on here and said, I agree. I said that Jalen Brunson is one of the best closers in the game or the best closer in the game. I think you got to put Halliburton in the mix with that, right? I mean, big shot for big shot. Game winning shots. Like, I have a chip on my shoulder players in the league, at least top three. Like the I took it personal player.

I mean, we talked about with the player poll where they said he was overrated. And his dad's going to pop out and hold a flag in your face. Straight out. I'm going to just say this, though. And I know this.

NBA players and athletes in general got to be some of the most hating motherfuckers on the face of the earth. Just haters, bro. Just like, oh my God, you would. I mean, you would believe because you played in the league. But just about of players

that just hate on other players behind the scenes. It's just astounding. You go into a locker and you're really that good. And I know I guess you guys need that to have the edge or whatever, but y'all some hating mofos. Y'all are just some hating motherfuckers. They, I genuinely, like, didn't really hate on a lot of people. I just, that was, that wasn't ever my, it wasn't ever my thing.

You feel what I'm saying, though. I do, I do. I do. I do. It does exist. And for him to be voted most overrated, I mean, that's pretty wild. But, you know, whatever, that mofo, you give me a select, there are a select few group of people in the league right now that I would take with the ball and an opportunity to win the game. Give me those guys to put the ball in their hand, and he's one of them. Absolutely. OkayC Denver. What's your feel for this series, brother?

I don't have a feel for it either because Chuck went on a limb and if you can't tell I am watching inside the NBA all the time now just for nostalgia. We're not going to have it no more. So I got this iteration of it. So I'm just always watching now. But after game two, Chuck said they were championship contenders after OKC was after that win. And I like, yes, in theory, obviously their championship. contenders, but that was just one game, right? Like, they were still

the bag fumblers in game one, and they're going back to Denver, which is a hard place to play. And I do know that Michael Porter Jr.'s been struggling, and I do know all of, that Murray struggled, and it just seemed like a game where they just got blitzed really early, and they couldn't recover from it.

But Denver is a very hard place to play, and I just, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen in game three, Roger. I don't have a fucking clue. I wouldn't take anything away from that game. I mean, Denver's also the type of team with enough experience to basically put it into neutral, a third of the way into that game. Because we're saying, we ain't got it. This is never going to, we'll never pull out of this hole.

So, you know, you stop really competing. When do you run cardio in that? When do you run cardio in those type of games? It's like, like, third quarter to third quarter. That one, it was earlier because they had 80 points at that. It was like, what was the halftime score? Bro, it was like 40 to like 15 when I turned it on because I turned it on a little late. And I was like, God damn, well, I guess I'm not watching the rest of this game.

Yeah, well, I was, I was there early. So I was watching it until it got just completely out of hand. And it looked like they shut it down early, like second, some point in the second quarter. I mean, I know they came out in the third quarter and everyone's going to come out in the third quarter and say, hey, we're going to give it the old college. Bullshit. Like, they, they, they, they, they. You ain't looked so locked into me. What I would say about that series moving forward is a game like that,

which you could take away from it if you're OKC, nothing for Denver, nothing. There's nothing. But for OKC, that is the monkey off of your back from game one. If you're saying telling me exactly what a doctor would prescribe for a remedy to what happened in game one, it would be what happened in game two. beat the brakes off of him. Everybody get involved. Everybody get a taste.

An absolute route. Like, just drill him. And I think that takes a little weight off of their shoulders in a way going back to Denver. Even more weight than just a regular win would have taken off. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because you can see they were timid in game one.

Like, they went from being the 68 win team to just the team that is one of the youngest teams in the league and ain't been there before, right? Which is, you get it, right? The lights are, by the way, pay comp center looks electric. I love those black shirts. I love how it looks like it's, uh, it's just, it looks like a theater in there right there with like the black shirts and then the, the, the court going all. It just looks great. I just wanted to pay comp center, you're doing your thing. Okay, C's doing his thing in general. Um, always a great place to play. Always. Always. I mean, I, it's always. Did you play to, you played, you played, played in okayc before right yeah i mean i don't have they got in a new arena recently like i don't know i

no so it's the same place just rebranded i just the fan the okayc fan it's always a great place to and they're on top of you i only i've never been there for the postseason but i've been there for a few regular season games not that there's much of a difference because they are loud as fuck no matter what but it's a vibe it's the only thing in the state it's it's also one of the rare places i think what's the other place uh i think phoenix is another place like this where the basketball team is the number one story in that region and is the number one team. It's so it's pretty special when the NBA team is like that. All right.

And now for our conversation with Sirot Sohi. Okay. And we are here with Sirot Sohi, the host of the WMBA show. You can read her WMBA work on Theringer.com. Most importantly, she's my homie. How are you? Good to see you. I'm great.

It's good to see you, man. How are you? I'm good. We had the pre-pod, the pre-interview, talk with Victoria and Cliff that was that was off the rails and I'm still kind of recovering from that. Are you okay from, you know, what we can't say publicly here, but, you know, that we heard nonetheless? I'm, I feel like it got me good to go. I'm really ready. Yeah, I think we should just use the energy. Okay. Okay. So we are here. We, full transparency, we have five questions for each

other on the WMBA season that neither one of us has reviewed yet. Like, I don't know what's here it's going to ask and I'm kind of scared about that. So with that being said, Seared, what is your first question for me? Wait, why are you scared? Well, I'm kind of have a residual from the pre-pod interview or the pre-interview pod.

You're still trying to turn that into excitement. We're still on like the nervous baseball. I'm scared. I'm scared of Cliff though, but now I'm scared of Cliff as a person right now. Well, it wasn't really that big of a deal. It wasn't. Yeah.

It wasn't that big of a deal. Well, okay. I'm going to start you off with something easy because I know you're at the Sparks, Valkyrie's preseason game, the first game in Valkyrie's history. Are the Sparks a top five team for you? I feel like I already know the answer to this. But that's the thing, you guys. Sometimes you ask questions that you know the answer to for the sake of content.

Yeah. The sparks are absolutely not a top five team in the WMBA. They're probably going to be a bottom five team. I am not impressed with them whatsoever. That's going to lead into my question for you at some point. So I will not talk about the trade that we will talk about in my next question. But they just seem, and I told you this when we talked on the phone, which is probably why you asked me this question.

But I just think of them as just a team full of ancillary pieces. and draft picks that I don't know if they necessarily fit necessarily on the roster. And then they're in all in the midst of this culture shift with their new general manager. They're going to have a lot of, I think they're going to have a lot of struggles, right, this season. And, you know, they just traded for Kelsey Plum. And I don't know if this is going to be a one-year rental or if they're going to keep her long term. with the cap space, but I just don't see a team that is worthy of contention of any kind other than contending for the lottery series.

Well, that should have been what they were doing if they really are going to be as bad as you think that they are. But I feel like they are part and parcel of a WNBA storyline that we are seeing across teams this season where everybody all of a sudden wants to be very good, very fast, because they want to catch up to this moment. And I feel like LA kind of got caught with their pants down last season. No practice facility. Magic Johnson doing interviews saying,

hey, I'm going to be better. I'm going to be around. How many arenas are they playing? Is it 15 or 16? My sparks hot take is that I actually like the Long Beach arena that they played in because I don't think that they had like, I think sometimes the overhead lighting for a lot of sporting events

is just a little too glaring. It's just like it's built for television, but I really like the shadow that you saw the players casting the Long Beach Arena. I'm being 100% serious. I know it sounds like I'm roasting them, but it totally reminded me of like when you see those remastered old school pictures of like Will Chamberlain and you can like you can see his. It's just kind of cool. Every time in the NBA finals. And then like you then it's like his shadow is like 10 feet tall. Every time in the NBA finals they do that picture.

They do that picture in the NBA finals every year where it's like the low light that. It doesn't look like the arena at all. It's like puppets playing. That's what it's like when they play in the arena in Long Beach, which, I mean, it would be cool if that was their home arena, right? But like, you never know where they're going to play on a given night. They can be playing at the Galen Center. They could be playing at the convention center. They could be playing at the convention center.

They could be playing at your local high school. We don't know, right? Which is like the sparks in a nutshell, which is so. And I am a recovering Sparks fan. I think I've fully renounced my sparkstem over the last eight months. But you talk about last year, it wasn't just, you know, the facilities. It was the medical staff, right? It is the Kurt Miller just, I felt like last year he was very overwhelmed with the young roster.

And you talk to people in that locker room and it feels like he got overwhelmed and kind of checked out that last part of the season. And you have the cambrink injury and you don't know if she's coming back. I think we're hearing different things that you're here in June. I'm thinking like sometime in July, which is also like an ACL injury. You don't really want to rush it. They're just in a perpetual state of chaos right now. And that leads to my question for you, my first question. How much will the sparks regret making the trade for Kelsey Blum?

Look, I'm not fully ready to go there yet. I feel like we just saw her preseason debut. She has not played basketball in a very long time. She was going to play unrivaled and she dropped out of unrivaled. And I think it's just going to take her a minute to, you know, get her accuracy back, get her legs underneath her. I do think that Kelsey Plum is going to have a really good season. But I do think it's also going to be fascinating to watch how she navigates going from a franchise like the Aces that was so competent and treated its players so well that they triggered CBA investigations. You know what's great when you get CBA investigations.

Exactly. I love that. Exactly. Exactly. You know, it's great. It's kind of like, you know, you have a great accountant when the IRS is kind of knocking on your door. You know what I mean? Like it's like, too good of an account.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Maybe they need to be a little less good. I think it's going to be interesting, though. Like, how will she, like, they brought her in because they know that they need a cultural lift. They know that they need an on court lift. But that's also going to require things of her that she's never had to do before. It kind of reminds me of her deciding to go to Washington. instead of going to a big school.

Obviously, that worked out for her, but it was a big lift. And obviously, everybody is a free agent in 2026. The rumblings are basically that when they made the trade for her, she, on the low low, was like, hey, yeah, I'm ready to commit long term. But you never know with things like this. Like, we see this play out in sports all the time where you might have some sort of agreement, but things change and all of a sudden somebody wants something different. I don't know, like, look, I think we could also be having a conversation.

about the sparks in August with Camback and, you know, Kelsey's playing a lot better and she's like acclimated to the system and is like ready to be the one-on-one player that maybe it's a lot more positive. But I'm skeptical and they gave up the number two pick for her who is Dominique Malanga who might be the rookie of the year and like a transcendent generational player. Like that's they traded her for female wimby. And that's not my whole thing, right? You're you get the whispers out of Seattle. Like everybody is so juiced about playing in Seattle right now. I kind of might think they're my Dark Horse contender right now.

We'll talk about that later. But I do love them as that team. Yeah. And you essentially for a one-year rental of Kelsey Pump, because Kelsey Plunk would say whatever the hell she wants in May. But in October, after, you know, you've been playing in three or four different arenas at home. I do have to say that. I do think that that thing will be solved a little bit.

But the Clippers moved out. They're into it now. And the Lakers aren't playing basketball right now. So I do think that they will consistently be playing at Stables or crypto this year. Yeah. But also like even if they do play a crypto, which is probably the case. Like as you say, like I went to a Sparks game two years ago. Oh, also I have to add that the Edmonton Oilers also knocked out the L.A. Kings as well.

Just mentioning that for no reason. So yeah, they don't have to worry about the NHL as well. I just wanted to throw that in there. Yeah. Okay. One four straight games after going down O2, and I was just hearing a lot of stuff. So I just wanted to throw that in there. Okay, for sure.

I don't know how many hockey fans are real ones. But anyhow, what I was going to say, though, is even if they do play a crypto all season, they're always playing when crypto is getting renovated. Like two years ago when I went there, there were holes in the lower bowl. Like, it was just like in yellow tape. It was roped off, right? I couldn't like it was it was very depressing to go to a sparks game. I'm sorry, we got Victoria on the line.

And I'm, you know, I know she's, this is just making her depressed by the second. But I don't know what the future of the sparks really holds, right? Because you're coming into this. In theory, a team in L.A. should be a, you know, a more, especially with the history of the sparks, should be more than what they are right now as a legacy franchise. They should have theoretically all the. the resources to get what they need done. But I don't see like a sustainable, at this point, sustainable home arena for them that they

can call their own. They're never going to be like the first tenant, but maybe they'll, you know, maybe have more of a favorable arena deal like all these other teams. I don't think they're ever going to have that. And then they're just now trying to get a practice facility, which a team like the Sparks resources should have been tried to invest in this, but I digress. and you go down the line to see where the W is going, how much bigger they're getting,

I feel like the sparks are going to win and be one of those teams that get left in the dust if they don't get their act together really quickly. Yeah, I agree with you completely. And I think the Kelsey Plum trade was them trying to fast track this thing, and we'll see how it goes. You ready for my second question? I don't know. All right, there's only one way to find out.

Who's going to be the breakout star of the WNBA season? I know your answer to this question. Let me see. I don't know if you do. I don't know if you do. I'm going to go with Dominique, man. I think that's the, I think isn't she already the breakout star right now? They just got the video of her dunk in a Seattle storm practice.

I think I'm going to, I think I'm going to put my money on her. I like it. I like it. Look, Dom is only 19 years old, so we'll see how it looks. I think that long term, definitely. If she can be, I think Seattle's in a really interesting spot too. because if she can be good right away, then they can be contenders. Because they already got NECA, they got Skyler,

and they made a big three last year in the hopes of contending for a title. Now, obviously, things went south with Jewel Lloyd, who is now with the Las Vegas Aces, but they traded, they got the pickback for her, right? And I think if you're those players, like, there's a degree to which if Dominique is not right away who you need her to be, they might be looking at the Seattle front office being like, hey, so we actually came here to contend for titles, and you guys drafted a 19 year old.

So I'm kind of like they have, they could go both directions for me because they have a lot of picks as well and I think that they'll need to use them if they actually want to consent. I think they need more shooting. They actually do need to like replace. They remind me a lot of the rockets this year, right?

Where this team that is very young that has some veterans, but like when you think about veterans, well, again, ancillary pieces and they seem like they can overachieve in that moment. And after that, attractive free agent to come to Seattle.

Like, I know everybody on this call is team Seattle. I love that city. I would live there if I could, right? Like, it's a great place to live. I love sunlight. I love Sunlight personally. I forgot. I thought you were my email best friend.

I guess that's not the case anymore. That's why I need the balance. I need the balance. Like if you're, if like, if you have like a generous sunny disposition, but Seattle in the summertime is amazing. Seattle in the summertime is amazing. Like I would not be in a. spot. There's already too much going on inside here. I need vitamin T. Fair enough. But

I do think that they're on the rise. And I think they can play both ways, right? And they can play out both ways, right? They can have the veteran corps and compete for titles while they can have the two-time line approach to the actual work. I was just about the two-timeline experience and how great it goes. Yeah. So, I mean, I think, so who is your breakout star? Who do you have? Wait, who did you think I had? Well, I mean, if I look at who you're writing about every other week, it could be Caitlin Clark. And based on our phone conversation, 30 minutes of that was spent on how Caitlin Clark is about to be the goat this year. But I don't want to mess up any other questions that you have.

I actually wasn't going to go with Caitlin, but I think that's actually a funner answer than what I was going to go with. Who are going to go with? Well, I was going to go with Ryan Howard. Okay. Yeah, because, like, to me, only because Caitlin is already a star, she does not need to break out. All right, that's not fun anymore. So to do the Caitlin Clark one, what's the Caitlin one? Well, the Caitlin one is like clear.

Like she was averaging like 23 and 9 through the course of the last 15 games last season. We all saw how much work she put into getting stronger this season. I just think that she's going to be so much more in command. I think that her being in this Steph White offense that like prioritizes movement, it's going to look a lot like it looked like in Iowa. I think the pieces that they got around her, it's just going to be so much harder to trap her. Even if they do, you can get the ball down. to Alia Boston.

You can get it down to Natasha Howard. They can make plays with it. And they've got shooters. Kelsey Mitchell is back. I think she's going to be a year improved as well. I just, you know, I feel really high on the Indiana fever. And I think that Caitlin actually got rest, too. Like last year she came into the W like pages coming in, like played in the national

title game and then just had to like go straight into it. Yeah, I got the Olympic break, which like these rookies won't get. So that'll be kind of interesting to see how that. goes. But I mean, I just think it's, I think the case is quite clear and obvious. Like, so when I think about the fever and I think about Caitlin Clark, I think about, I, I, after our conversation a couple days ago, I was very ready to anoint them. But I do believe that I'm curious to see how they do go through growing pains, right? And when I mean growing pains in the postseason, I know they had their postseason experience last year. But I'm curious to see like how they do, say

if they are number one or a number two seat, if they get to that point or become a top five seat, how are they going to go through the rigors of their first playoff birth? Similar to how OKC is going through right now, right? Where they are, how do they respond to being the best? And that's what I'm curious to see. And I think there's going to be some growing pains that go there. I don't think they win the title necessarily this season.

Yeah, I don't think so either. I think they scare the living day lot out of somebody while they're trying to figure it out. And I think that's where they are right now. And I'm excited to see what they do in October. But you made it a damn good compelling case about the fever. And almost to the point where I almost picked them to win it off. I think about it. I think about it every day.

You want to do it. You're playing double Dutch. You're just scared right now. You want to do it. I'm scared of it. Well, I was going to ask. I can ask you your title picks. Like, that was definitely going to be what of my question?

We'll do that the end. We'll do that the end. Okay. Okay. So I have a question for you that's building off of Caitlin Clark since we both brought her up. This might get us in trouble, but I'm just going to ask a question anyway. Do you buy Angel Reese as a formidable foe for Caitlin Clark for the rest of their careers? No.

No. I mean, and it's like, I also like, I hate having this conversation where we compare Angel and Caitlin all the time because I actually. I feel like it's so lazy. It's lazy. They're not, they're not similar players at all by any means. And I think that I actually, I think, I think Angel is going to have a fantastic season. I think that what Chicago and Tyler March is doing with her moving her around to the perimeter, keying into her latent playmaking skills that just don't have never really been utilized since

she went to LSU definitely were not utilized last year I think using her as like just like simple stuff like oh she's she could end up being the greatest rebounder basketball has ever seen so when she gets the ball out of the basket she can handle the ball and run the break things like that that will allow her to get to the foul line more so that even if she doesn't improve her layups which I do think she will she'll still be more efficient down low if she's getting to the line because she's a good free throw shooter and she's got good touch. And I think that that area that they're putting her in, she's just a really fascinating player in that like she does struggle with finishing. But I think she actually has like pretty solid potential with her jumper, which makes her a fascinating player to think about, I hate thinking about her in the context of comparing her to Kate and Clark. Like that's just not fair to anybody.

It's not going to be fair to page. It's not going to be fair to the only player it's ever going to be fair to like in this young crop is like when juju eventually is. in the WNBA. She's the only player that I think that you can actually do that. Where's, where's, where does you predict juju going? Oh, like future Toronto tempo, Juju Watkins. Yeah. Gold to say Valcary over here.

The gold state's going to be too good. Natalie Nicosi wants to compete right away. And I think that's great. I think that they should be trying to be. Have you seen the roster? Just like five or six games better than Toronto tempo by 2027 is where I, is where I have them slated. I want to get back to Andrew Reese.

We'll talk about Golden State. Valgary's in a second and like disfrey agency as a whole. But I just don't, I do think it's unfair because I think there was the, just because of black and white, they wanted to make the, they wanted to make the magic Larry Bird comparison without actually watching. Kathy Englebird straight upset it, which was insane. It's just, I, Kathy Engleberg, we would talk about her. We could have a whole other podcast. Maybe we'll talk about her midseason. But, uh, I don't think overall that Angel Reese has the game of a. number one. And I think that that's just the thing that's just going to hinder her from being the

formidable foe for Caitlin or anyone for that matter, right? Because I feel like people that were in her position, you think about, or even the people that she was compared to, right? Like, she was compared to Aza Wilson, I think it was a wild comp considering like Angel Wilson was had such a refined offensive game coming into the league. Because I feel like Angel is going to be working on her offensive game for the most part. And you even said it yourself in your, And the thing that she wrote on a couple weeks ago, just about how she could be Dennis Rodman, right? And that would be great for a team. But Dennis Robben couldn't carry you on offense and was more of an ancillary piece. I think that once, I think Angel Reese can be that at some point. I just don't know if her offensive game will mature enough to get to the point where she could be relied on down the stretch of playoff games year and year out.

I just don't see it right now. Well, that's, yeah, that's not, I think, the way that you want to be building for her anyways, right? Like, I do think that you should be focusing on the defensive end and all the things that she's good at. Another player that I think of is Draymond as well, especially if she does. And also another person that is not a number one, right? Exactly. And not somebody, like, it's kind of like, it's like if you were to compare Draymond and Steph. Like, why would you, what do we even learn from that type of basketball conversation when in reality, like, those two are incredible complimentary players next to,

each other because of how different they are. And I think part of the struggle with this is like, there is no angel comparison. She is such a unique player in terms of her high level strengths and also her high level weaknesses as well, that it's really difficult to talk about her in a way that compares her to anybody else. But in reality, like, if you're thinking about down the stretch of games, like, it's probably the offense should be running through Camilla Cardoso, who has the potential to be an incredible post player and also a great playmaker as well. And then you have these shooters and Ariel Ackin. What a walkie roster that Chicago Sky had.

Honestly, man, I believe in Haley Van Liff. I really feel like she could be their future guard. Maybe not this season. But I think that she'll come off the bench this season. I think she'll have a couple performances that really make us go wow. And then like third year Haley Van Lith, I'm looking forward to that. I understand. I don't like the roster set up at all.

It was, and just like, just a lot of, and a lot of turnover as well. Like, we'll see. I didn't love the trade. That's another trade I didn't love, especially because, I mean, Sonia Citron just looks so good. It could have had her with the number three pick,

and she would have been perfect as, like, their future lead guard, but. The front office hasn't been really great since Candace left, to be honest with you. I mean, it's just, since that championship run. They've kind of been downhill since then,

and it hasn't really been that much continuity. And, like, they had half the team leave them last year. I like what they did this. season, though. What did you, what did you not like about this season? I didn't love the Eure Lachens trade, but I, like, understand it. Also, didn't love the fact that they, um, they got rid of the coach that Angel wanted to have, right? Like, if you, if you invest in your franchise star, you know, like, I don't know, man. Like, I, sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. What's that? Go ahead. Look, like, I think on a, uh, on, on, like, a raw, raw speeches level and, like,

you know, making, being a player's coach. and like making players believe, I think Teresa Weatherspoon was an incredible coach for them. You know, I think that she connected with her players on an emotional level. On a game plan level, on like a running practices level, I just don't think that she was like really up to the task. And I think that on some level,

what Chicago's goal is going to be this year is like maintaining that identity that they found of like, we don't care what anybody thinks of us. We're going to be like this hard nose defensive team, but also trying to like professionalize. And I do think Tyler Marsh is a guy for that. I think T-Spoon was just a little, she was just a little inexperienced.

Like she just didn't have. It was like Mark Jackson or Steve Carr? A little bit. Except it was a little too early though. Yeah. Yeah. But I actually like that comparison where like, yeah, like Steph didn't love it when Mark Jackson was fired.

But at the same time, it was the best thing that ever happened for his career. Absolutely. We're on you right now. What's your next question? Do we get to a point where the W starts to show any public frustration with unrivaled? You kind of took mine. We'll just combine this question because I had will unrival overtake the W as the prominent women's sports league in five years. But, you know, I think we're about a I think we're about a year away. And also don't underestimate the friction between unrivaled and athletes unlimited, by the way, too. Oh, interesting.

Yeah, there's some beef there as well. Oh, really? Yeah, absolutely. Do go on. Do go on, Logan. No, because, I mean, Athletes Unlimited started out as what unrivaled became, right? And instead of – and then I think there's a lot of pushback because – and I understand why this happened, but there's a lot of pushback. like why didn't you invest in us?

Like we were athletes unlimited is like, well, why didn't you invest in us and make us the sports league considering we were here first? And we had the W and we put out the motto. And I understand why Enrival was like, and the people around Enrival was like, no, we want our own stuff because Athletes Unlimited is a part of a bigger conglomerative like volleyball and other different types of sports. But there is a bit of friction between those leagues. And I think that that's another thing that could bubble to the service as well. I mean, because essentially Enrivaled is taking athletes or trying to get athletes unlimited. it out of business, right? So that's going to be an interesting thing. The W, it depends because the fact of the matter is they're still going, they're going to be criticizing their own players.

And there's a delicate balance that you have to have. It's one thing to criticize another league for taking your players, like a la, like live PGA. But like how much in the middle of the CBA negotiations, how much do you want to piss off like Brianna Stewart and the Fisa Collier right now? Yeah. I don't think you want to do that. So there's a delicate balance. I think there might be like some subtle petty shade, but I don't think it's going to go full on and full go.

What do you think? I think, well, that's a similar question to what we're going to be facing with CBA negotiations as well. If it does ever get to a point where it's contentious, the W does have to ask itself, well, how bad do we want to make our players look in a moment when public opinion is turning, but it's still very fragile and is also, I think,

going to look very different. with women negotiating for more money as well. Like we already kind of see some of the narratives that come out around like the W and like, oh, these players want more money, but the league doesn't actually make money. And it's like way more nuance in that, especially in this moment where like I just don't think you could like I think that conversation is a little bit outdated. But it's kind of, I mean, it's sort of a similar sort of issue, right? Like those two things are very, very tied in together, which makes it so fascinating for me.

Nefisa is also a VP on the Players Association. And they have talked about, hey, we do think that unrivaled is going to be a factor in CBA negotiation. So I think that everything ended up being like really, really well-timed for the players. I do think we've already seen a little bit of like, not subtle like shade, but like a little bit of like what Kathy Engelbert was asked about unrivaled

at the where was oppressor. I think it was before the draft. And she essentially, like she was asked about. like, you know, why were the, well, it was actually, so this was, let's backtrack a little bit. Because I think Unrivaled has been really savvy with their press releases and drops and stuff, like going back to free agency where players are announcing where they're going to, in the NBA season on Unrivaled, like while they're doing their media appearances for Unrivaled. So if you're writing about WNBA free agency, if you're writing about Britney Griner going to the Atlanta Dream, for example, you have to basically cite. Or sablely going to the Mercury.

You have to cite Unrivaled. And that's like complicated, I think, for ESPN too, because Unrivaled is a TNT property as well. So there's like a whole bunch of things going on there. But then the day before the draft on a Sunday, on a Sunday night, it's the week that Page is going to be joining Unrivaled as a player, not just as an investor, and that she's going to be making more money in her first year than she'll make over the course of her four-year rookie contract. So naturally, Kathy Engelbert, in a press conference that she is trying to win, because she just wants to talk about how the league is growing. One of the first questions she's asked about is, hey, what do you think about the fact that Paige is going to make more money?

And she basically says, look, like, the league has way less overhead. They play in one spot. It's 36 players. It's 10 weeks. It's just way less costly. And I think that's not necessarily shade. That's a fact. But it was the first sort of like public moment where I felt like I said,

saw Kathy look a little bit annoyed that she was being asked about unrivaled. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of the USFL, NFL type thing, right? Where there's two rival leagues and two different seasons. Or it could be like the NBA and ABA. Like, I don't know. I think that's what it really reminds me of. It's sort of like the ABA came in and just made the NBA get their shit together. And it's a reason that the NBA has a three-point line.

Well, do you think that, do you think that there is going to be a merger at some point of unrivaled in a? Oh, that would be interesting. I guess you would need like the Julius Irving, you know, you would need the player. I think though that I do think that there's less caught. Ooh, I like that. I like that. Dr. Juju.

I feel like it's more healthy competition than anything else because the WNBA season is so short, it actually kind of needs unrivaled to be able to keep its players in the limelight, like through like the eight, seven, eight months that we're just not playing. Well, the people that you talk to around the league, also, I mean, obviously the money is good and everything like that. But there was one of the reasons why even athletes unlimited like plopped up is because for women's basketball, there's no dedicated runs specifically for women in the offseason. They have to go on, you know, play in a dudes league or there's no just like, or go overseas,

which is being more and more complicated by diplomacy over the last few years. Um, that's something that they, they needed, I think, even just to stay fresh in the offseason, right? And, um, and why not make some bread on top of that? It's going to be interesting in the relationship between the two leagues. And especially like this second year is going to be like, is Asia Wilson going to play this year coming up, right? Like that's another big question. And it's just, it's, it's, it's going to be fascinating. We'll see what happens.

Who is your dark horse contender? I kind of like, you know, I pump fake mine, but who is your Dark Horse Contender? Dark Horse Contender. Your guilty pleasure contender right now. Guilty Pleasure Contender. Ooh. I don't know that I have one, honestly. I could make one up, but I truly feel like there are three contenders in the WNBA this season.

And I don't feel like anybody else is going to be. Who's your WBA League Pass Love Affair? Who's my League Pass Love Affair? Oh, okay. All right. This I can get into a little bit of a little bit. more. I feel like the sparks are definitely going to be up there. I feel like they're going to be a really fun team to watch on the offensive end. I don't think they're going to, like, that's what's

going to make them fun. I think they're going to play with a lot of pace. I think they're going to shoot a lot of threes. I think they're going to get a lot of points on the board. And I don't think they're going to really be able to defend anybody. They gave up, they gave up 82 points to the Balkans, which was nuts. Yeah, to the Valkyries in their first game ever. And like after a first half in which they were like, ah, like they had to go into that first half into the second half and be like, Don't be discouraged, you guys, like the Valkyrie's dead. So, yeah, not the best showing. I think Azrae Stevens had a few nice blocks,

but they need Cameron Brink to get back ASAP. And then once Cam is back, the defense gets better, but we also get to watch second year and Cameron Brink, who was one of my favorite league pass players last year because she was doing so much more than she did in college. Like, she was making plays from the three-point line. Like, she was driving from way up. She was just a lot of fun.

We got some corner threes. We got more playmaking. I think she's a really fun player. So as much as I don't like really necessarily believe in the sparks as. A lot of sparks talk today. A lot of sparks talk. Yeah, a lot of sparks talk. I do I do feel like they're going to be really fun to watch.

You know, I'm going to go with Seattle. I can't wait to watch them play when they come out here in the Bay. WMBA basketball in the Bay area is like amazing. You got to pull up to the Tcha Center. I'm coming. How was the atmosphere? What was it like? It was crazy.

17,000 for a preseason game. It looked like it was the first time I saw that many people at a W game. And I've been going to W games since I was about eight years old. And I remember going, it reminded me of when I used to go to the Sacramento Monarchs games back at Sack, where it would be the whole arena popping. And the fans were engaged. The merch lines were out of his world. One of my homies was trying to get a jacket and was like, and she's a season ticket. and she was like, I'm just going to get them in the midseason.

This is just too much. She's an older woman in her 60s. He was like, I'm not doing this because it's ridiculous. But no, it was great. It was awesome. Shout out to my home girl, DJ Shellheart, who held it down with the music, really tapped in. They had a hi-fi cam, and they turned all the lights out, and they did a call out for all

the cities in the Bay Area, and it was popping. All that to say, I can't wait to see the Seattle Storm play, because just as if I locked in the air, they remind me of, of all. lot of, like we said the Rockets, but also like those, uh, what, those, um, old school Atlanta Hawks teams who were like really good, but you knew they weren't going to do anything, but they were really fun to watch and regular season. So I'm excited to see them. Like the Joe Johnson ones or like the Joe Johnson ones? Yeah, yeah, okay. Um, and like the Jeff Teague ones as well, like the Al Horford teams. The coach bud teams are a little bit different because I feel

like people believe in them. I personally didn't, but there was like the whole like, oh, they're changing the game like five out analytics and it was like, well, I don't know. I don't I don't know if Kyle Corber is really an all-star guys. I think the system. Okay. It's got weird. Okay. Anyway, last question that I have for you.

Last question I got for you. Yeah. With the new CBA, who is going to be, which teams are going to be helped the most by this new CBA in terms of this free agent, a future free agent, who you think is going to be hurt by it? Well, anybody who's willing to spend money, I think, is going to be helped by it. Absolutely. I think we're going to.

Sorry, Connecticut. Sorry, Connecticut. Yeah. I do think... Sorry, Sparks. I think it's kind of weird. Like, I feel like the Sparks are going to want to try to be big players in free agency down the line. I do feel like that's part of the reason they made this move is they want to show off to people.

It's kind of like when you draw attention to yourself in a moment of insecurity and you kind of realize that was actually the worst thing you could have done in my opinion. Are you talking about my whole life? Sorry. Damn. Why are you coming in? It's crazy. I was projecting. Yeah, I think that anybody is willing to spend money.

I think it's going to be great for New York. I think it's going to be great for Las Vegas. I think it'll be great for Indiana. I think, well, also, it'll be great for, like, a lot of the teams that players, like, want to go and play for, right? I think we saw this pass-free agency, Phoenix, with that Matt Isbia money and just knowing where their facilities have already been at. Players want to go play there.

I think players want to go play in Indiana because there's stats and, you know, the, the extra lucrative opportunities and everything that comes with being part of that organization right now. And then like, I would say probably be, like with Chicago, it's going to depend on how much they're willing to spend. I really feel like they should be going all in right now. They have an interesting thing going on where their practice facility has been delayed, but also because they want to make upgrades for it, which just feels like to me like the perfect metaphor for like all of these teams trying to catch up right now. I think it's going to be great. for my Toronto tempo personally because, look, they're not going to have the problems that

Toronto Canadian teams have historically had with attracting players to come and play. Like, you don't have to worry about the cold because there's one thing, you know, like, you've been to Toronto in June. You've been to Toronto in June. The WNBA times Carabana. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? WNBA players in Toronto in August?

You do not have to convince me to go to Toronto from June. to the end of September because it is just, I love it. I love it. I didn't want to leave. I was very upset with the Warriors that they didn't go to the KM7 because it probably was better for my elder that they didn't go back to Toronto because I would have never left.

I probably wouldn't be here right now. Clips said in the chat. I already forgot it. I already forgot it. What's that again? Baby girl. Stop playing with me. We're not doing this on this side.

We're not doing this on this side. on this side. Anyways, that would lead to my last. Oh, I can't believe I got to get that off here. I'm so happy right now. They really not like us, Cliff. They really not like us. Who is your champion?

Minnesota. Minnesota. I think they're going to do it. They're not going to cry for fouls. They were, they were, they were, they were jobbed. Like, I don't know what, like, Kathy was where. You saw Kathy's dress. You saw Kathy's dress.

Come on. Oh, my God. Okay, we're not going to do the WBA conspiracy theories. They were crying and like, I don't think it's a conspiracy theory. Let them be tougher. I think this actually gets into something that the W needs to figure out more than they need to figure out anything else, which is a reffing problem. There is a story in SI. Nefisa Collier did a story in S.I where, you know, she talked about the whole thing, the experience.

And she's kind of over in the sense of complaining about it. But she knows it's going to be something that bothers her for the rest of her career. and she's going to use that as fuel, and that terrifies me. It should terrify the rest of the league. But one thing that they did talk about is consistency of roughing across the league, which is a huge problem. The WNBA needs to fix that. Like, Brett Clark, Caitlin's dad talked about it in like one of the few interviews

I've ever seen him do. It's not to say, like, I think, I think that it's an issue beyond, like, but like before, you know, Caitlin came along and all of that. But it is truly an issue. And it does need to be, it does need to be fixed. Yeah, I think it's going to be Minnesota. I think that they're hungry. They're hungry than anybody else.

They went to game five last year. They added some nice pieces. I think that Courtney Williams just, I think it's going to take. Love Courtney Williams. I think Caleb Bride is going to take a leap. I think Nefisa Collier is going to take a leap. And all these players that kind of came in last year, they're the misfit team last year.

Now they all know their roles. They know what they're supposed to be doing. I think they're going to level up. I want to pick Minnesota, but you already picked them, so I'm going to pick New York. I don't, and that's a great opportunity to talk about Vegas, which is, feels like they're not necessarily on their last legs, but they're getting there. They're almost there with this iteration of the roster, right?

They're going to eventually have to regroup around Asia, obviously. But I love Chelsea, but she's towards the end of her career. Jewel Lloyd is really good, but I just, it feels like they're almost about to max out. So I'm going to pick the, I'm going to pick the Liberty in a rematch. Yeah. I feel like, I mean. So far preseason and also unrivaled, Chelsea Gray has looked like she's back to being what we are normally used to with Chelsea Gray. I think Jackie Young has taken a leap to the Jewel Lloyd.

I don't think Jewel Lloyd is going to be as good of a fit as Kelsey Plum is in this offense because of her tendency to just kind of want to freestyle every once in a while. I think the shots are just going to. Yeah, I think sometimes you've got to make the past as a corner, you know, especially with the way. way that that offense functions around Asia. What about, you know, who staggered minutes to make it work that way? He plays against second units a lot and then, you know, balls out that way. Sure. No, I mean, hey, look, it's fine.

Like, it's like, it's, I don't, I think she's going to have a good season. I think she's going to have a much better season than she had last year. I don't think it's going to be like 20, 23, though. And I just feel like they kind of just broke out even and are hoping that their star is being healthy and rejuvenated on the perimeter is going to be enough for them. But I feel like Asia just kind of needs more help in the front court. as well. I think they just put way too much on her and I just don't think that they have a very good bench. So I agree with you. I just kind of wanted to say that I feel like the stars are going to be

back, but I still think that they have issues. For sure. No, who doesn't have issues? Me and you, man. That was a great episode. I was wag. Yo, cut that out. Keep it in. I want people to see his essence. Logan's really earnest. I don't know if he gets like super earnest on this podcast, but Logan's I can. I got, you bring it out of. You bring it out. of me. I can't do it with Howard and Roger. I got to be locked in at all times. I got to be you know, I got to really have a strong sense of curmudgeonism. That was seared Sohey. You can catch her at the ringer and catch her every Tuesday on the WMBA show. Happy Mother's Day to any mothers that might be out there listening. Happy Mother's Day to mine, my wife, my sister, my mother-in-law,

my sister-in-law. I think I come with everybody. All right, you didn't get no gives. That's why y'all just pander in. We're going, hey, listen, bro. That's my afternoon, man. That is my afternoon. I understand. I already said.

Let's get you. Your wife? Yeah. Yeah. Vibes. Your mom? All of them. My bad.

All everybody, bro. Happy Mother's Day. Yep. Gang. All right. It's been another edition. I want to do one of the week, but I don't have any, because we don't really do Friday ones, but I don't really.

really do we have it i'm gonna do a real one of the week shout out to my young buck ty bell who made ESPN top 25 for the first releasing of the 2028 that's my real one of the week all right i'm gonna do a real one in the week shout out to my neff tie for getting on ESP at top 25 Yes, sir, well done. Shout out to Neff. And he's not going to Temple, Cliff. Calm the fuck down. Get the hell out of the chat.

Stop playing. Relax. Calm down. Who knows? You have to say that. Just say. Get Don Stanley back up to Temple, right, Cliff? Get her back and then we'll figure it out.

We'll see what's up. Cliff? We got the bag. Relax. That has been another edition of Realwoods. Shout to all the affiliates. All the homies. All the shits.

Make sure you talk to or make sure you tap into Realonesmailbag at gmail.com. Remlinsmail back at gmail.com. Remlins mailbag at gmail.com. Howard will be back Tuesday. Wait. No, he's back Friday. I don't know when the hell he's back. Just Realones mailbag at gmail.com.

We'll see what happens. I don't know what the hell is going on with the show. I'm loopie. It's Friday. Give me a break. All the shits. Bye. Must be 21 years and older and present in select states for Kansas and affiliation with the Kansas Star Casino.

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