The Ringer NBA Show - Biggest Takeaways From the First Week of the NBA Season | Real Ones

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

After the first week of the 2020-21 NBA campaign, Logan and Raja get into Raja’s experiences playing in Christmas games (2:45), their biggest takeaways from the new season (20:00), the Clippers' meltdown (44:00), and what, if anything, can be done about Golden State (51:30). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Okay, and we're here on the NBA Ringer show, and I'm Raja Bell. We're here with the mad hooper. We're trying to figure out why exactly he is so... Chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, chill, I'm gonna tell you why I'm mad, is because, listen, man, I'm being hooping for 27 years out of my life, right? Hooping for 27 years, man, and this is my fourth rec league championship, and I'm not getting the love I deserve. Meanwhile, I'm seeing highlights on Hardwood classics of this bum-ass Rajabelle, right? He's over here. He got postseason success.

He was cool. He made a lot of money in the league. It was all right. It was all right. It was cool. It was fine. He played for the Phoenix Suns. He had a hot album.

That season with the Sixthias was hot. It was all right. It was all right. It was cool. It was cool. But my shit is more John Blaze than that. I'm out here running the courts all the time at 24-hour fitness on high street. And I'm tired of it.

I need my respect. And, you know, Roger's cool. He's fine. He's fine. It's all good. But my shit, my stuff is more John Blaze than that. I got John Blaze. And I'm really just sick of all of the love that Rajabelle gets.

And I'm a four-time. I'm a four-time Oakland P-A-L league winner. Okay? Four times, son. Four times. And how come I ain't getting the love of an NBA player? I'm just, I don't know why. That's why I'm mad, son.

That's why I'm mad. Well, there you have. it. That's why the mad Hooper is so mad. No, no, I'm also mad. I'm also mad. Because the audio for the first 10 minutes of this podcast was trash. It was trash. And it was my fault. It was my fault. Okay. Because I am just so steamed that Raja is getting all this acclaim for being a Hooper. And I'm bawling out. And no one's watching. Okay. So tap into the real ones right now.

Bad audio. My fault. Ah. Let's get to the pod. Okay, so as a disclaimer, guys, the audio, as the Mad Hooper alluded to, is not as great as it usually is on the real ones pod. I apologize for that. Rajas was completely on Zoom, and my audio, the first 10 minutes, is Zoom quality.

So not the most pristine, but great nonetheless. Holla. Hey, man, what's popping dogs? Happy holidays. It's a real ones. I'm Logan Murdoch. Here with Rosabelle. How you doing, brother? I'm doing good, brother. All my building is done for the holiday season.

You don't have kids, Logan, like for those listeners that do have children, they know what I mean. You know, Santa comes in with all of his wares and drops it off and everyone's excited. And then dad has left the build. You know what I mean? And that's a lot. Like, I'm not a naturally handy dude. So that's a lot of pressure. What are you building?

What's going on? Oh, things. that I built this Christmas, that should be a segment. I built a trampoline. I built a ice cream slash hot dog cart from my daughter, like you would see on the New York City streets like a cart, like a toy.

I built an NBA jams old school video game. Are you serious? Built that bad boy, dog, like had to put the whole cabinet together, all that. I built it. I built a, you know, a 10-foot steel basketball hoop with a glass backboard. I mean, this is just off the top of my head, dog.

Like, I mean, I could go on. But, yeah, I built a lot of stuff. Like, all in a week? All in two days. You can't hide that. Like, where are you going to hide? Where are you going to hide a trample? It's got to be built the night.

Are you a handyman? Like, what's going on? Are you a handyman? I didn't get paid like one. I should have been paid like an handyman, but I was not. The house, how's Christmas in the Bell household, man? Like, is it, like, what are we doing here? What's going on?

It's rewarding, though, dude. Like, all jokes aside, it sucks. and I tell my wife, like, don't buy all this crap and have me build it. But when you see their little faces, like, the next morning, like, straight joy, dog. Like, I know it's corny. People talk about, like, you know,

given and stuff like that, but to see the kids, like, all, you know, blown out of the water when they see what's inside the box or under the rapid paper, or they know that the gift matches what they wrote on their list of Santa. Like, that stuff's pretty cool, man. We had a blast.

Wait, I have a question. So do you, as a parent, Do you use the Santa list as just a cheat sheet? Like, how does that work? I'm really just fascinated by this. How do you do this? Because how do you, my problem is I don't know how to like suddenly ask people what they want for Christmas without giving it away. Because I'm a person I like to surprise people, right?

Oh, okay. I don't know I don't know how to do that and get the gifts. Like, so does the Santa list help with that? With children, yeah. Like we, with my nine or he's a eight and four year old, the Santa list starts like early, I don't know, early November. So you get way out in front of that, right? Right.

A list to Santa. Actually, it probably starts right after Thanksgiving, right? Put the list down to Santa, tell Santa everything you want. And then you just take that and you copy and paste it into your browser. And then you just like check off everything within reason that they want. The older ones kind of know now. So, you know, like you just pick their brain like, you know. know some stuff they know they're going to get.

And then other stuff they would have like dropped a little. You got to be kind of like blues-clusy. Like you've got to be detective dad on it. You got to know, kind of like he said he liked that. So, you know, send a text to Mommy. Mommy, you go grab this because, you know, he said he wanted. So what if they do a subtle A-pop show? Like this PS5 is looking nice.

Yeah. That was. Dad. Dad. No, no PS-5s in our house. When we did, we went PC. like my son didn't want a PS5 he wanted a game on his PC

so we got him a game and PC with a little setup and he was fired up much easier to get that PS5 work was real yeoman's work this Christmas dog if you got one of those you are matter of fact can I do my real one now like if you held down a PS5

for your child or significant other or yourself this holiday season real one yeah I've never seen anybody I've never seen any console just capture the imagination of America the way the PS5 has, including other PlayStation. I remember, back in my day, when you go get a PlayStation,

where you can go get a PlayStation. That was your best great Cody? Was that your best great Cody? The video vibes. That's dope. I remember when you could go to the store and just go out cop it. Like, back with, like, before, it wasn't, PSs weren't always like Jordans, you know what I mean?

But dog, when did, okay, I don't mean to hijack, Logan, but I'm with you because like the Grinch's, the Grinch's came out the other day, like the Kobe six Grinches. When did it become that you couldn't go to the store and get a pair of kicks? Like, when does that happen? Well, to be fair, the original, I don't know. You were in the league when this happened, but it was very hard to get the original Grinchis.

It was just very hard. Not even the Grinchers at this point. Every Kobe that drops, you have to have some kind of software to get it. You can't get a pair. Because they're trying to be. build hype right now and I don't really like that right. Just like give me the kicks man. Like I remember when it was easy to get Kobe's just in general. And I do not like with the pro tro that they're just making this thing really hard to get. You know what I mean? They're

building out on the hype of Kobe's death. And I don't like that. I don't like that either. I don't. Because what's up with like the little homies like my two like that really like have in their mind some connection to Kobe and want to rock and represent. And I'm sure there are, you know, millions of kids out there that they wanted to pay homage to the brother. And you can't even get a pair of his kicks because Nike's making them so exclusive. That's crazy. It's so crazy, man.

And like you, I mean, you're a former player and got, and who had a Nike deal and it's hard for you to get Kobe's. You can only imagine how, like, it is for civilians to get Kobe's. And I just don't. I know supply and demand, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. But, like, from a business standpoint, those small quantities don't even make bread anyway. So what are you doing? Like, what's going on?

You're just, I don't like it. I don't like this hype. But this is, this isn't what we're supposed to do in the pod. So can we get to the shits in a minute? But the way I, because I, I've mapped this out. Like, I'm thinking, I'm on the same wavelength. The only people that stand to make real money from what you're doing is, the secondary sneaker market people.

Like those are the only people really making bread. So it's like, why would you do that if you were Nike? Like if you made them available to the masses, you would make so much more bread. Like you were only putting money in the pockets of all these people who are on the secondary market flipping kicks. Listen, we can get to this. I just feel like Nike and other brands,

specifically Nike when it comes to that. All they're doing is building enough hype so people just end up getting air monarchs. You know what I mean? just so more people can buy Air Monarchs, bro. It makes me sick. I'm sorry. This makes me sick.

Tell them why you mad, suddenly. I'm just mad. I'm just mad. I'm just, I'm just, ah. The mad sneaker head. Here we go. Mad sneaker head. But anyway, let's get to the shits, man.

Get to the shits. And one thing I do want to talk to you about the NBA season started on Christmas. Yeah. Right? You were a guy who has started around Christmas, but you were a guy that has played, on Christmas. What is that like to do that? I don't think people really realize they just see the guy like, oh my goodness, Phoenix Suns are playing on Christmas. This is cool for me. Oh,

I speak to my family for three hours. How is it for you to play on Christmas and specifically play on the road? Yeah. It's a good question. Because it's always a huge honor to play on Christmas Day. Like I want to say I don't want to speak out of pocket, but back when in my day, you didn't have as many Christmas Day games on the slate. Like there weren't like five and six games. They didn't run all day long. So it was even more of an honor to get to play on Christmas. But it's difficult when your organization doesn't see it as the honor that it is and then want to make sure that you keep your Christmas as normal as possible. possible. What I say that, I mean, like, the sons, for instance, and the 76ers both allowed

our families to come on the road. Both of those teams I played in L.A. on Christmas Day with, and both of them opened the plane up for, like, three family members to fly with you. Or whatever your immediate family was, to L.A., put them in a hotel room. So your Christmas could be as normal as possible, Logan, given the fact that it was in a hotel room and you didn't have all your gifts there. And then they'd have a big, huge dinner for you. you had like the afternoon game in LA, like the 12 o'clock game, then all families would go back to this beautiful ballroom and there'd be a big Christmas dinner spread laid out for you

and you guys can eat together and kind of be a family, which was keeping it as close to normal as possible. But my kids were young. When you have older kids, it's got to be really hard, man, because, you know, there's no Christmas tree. There's no waking up and seeing the gifts under the tree and the faces when they open the presents. And, you know, you only get so many Christmases.

Nobody knows how many you're going to get, but you only get so many. And so it's tough to miss those things. But it is an honor to play on Christmas Day. It means you're one of the more interesting teams in the league. So when you say you're going, you said you had the two games in L.A., how do you bring the gifts over?

Like, well, what is from a human level? How do you do that? What is the process? Do you have, like, two beds in the room? Or do they have their own room? Paint a picture of how it is to bring your whole family across the country and then try to celebrate a holiday in a hotel room. Yeah, so let's see.

Let's go back to my Philly days when I wasn't married yet. So I had my mother father, my sister and her then fiancé with us on a plane. And so everyone, we had one of the big, you know, three seats on each aisle and then like five seats in the middle type of planes. I don't know what that's called. But that bad boy was like packed with people. And so you got to the hotel. we had two rooms set up or three rooms at the time because I had one and then everybody else had two rooms. There weren't any gifts involved so that was relatively easy.

In Phoenix, it was my wife and I and I think we had two kids, my parents. So we would have had three rooms and what we did was like the kids would sleep in our room. They were little. So my parents would have, I don't know, like three or four of the cooler gifts that they would get for Christmas with them in their room. And then in Christmas morning we'd walk down to their bedroom and kind of the kids. would open them, but that's the best you can do. That seems like a rough life. How do you keep that with your routine, right?

Because you guys are all built on routines and playing through types of things like that. How did you celebrate family and then like, oh, wait, I got to get to team meeting? Yeah, you just look, it's like any other walk of life. Once you've done that a few times, it's normal for you, right? So it wasn't, you can learn to compartmentalize when you're an NBA player. pretty quickly. So you flip gears from, all right, we just did our little Christmas morning thing. I love you guys.

Like, you know, Merry Christmas, kisses, kisses. And then it is off to whatever meeting you have, a quick breakfast. And then Real Talk is on to the arena because usually that's a noon game in L.A. So it's not a lot of time for BS. Like, you've got to get to it, give the kisses out. Merry Christmas, you rub the heads, and then you're

right to the bus. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, even from a beat writing perspective, it's tough because you I actually prefer the afternoon games because there's not there's no shoot around and you get out of it you can still see sunlight when you get out of the arena right right right you know what I mean people sleep one how long you guys are there after people are leaving the it's a legit seven eight hour day for us because we got to get to the arena early you know we got to you know, shake hands, kiss babies, and the whole nine. And what I always envied about you guys is that you guys could leave.

Once the game was over, you guys can just leave. You know, you guys just get out and that's your night, right? Like that is just, you guys played a game, going to the hotel, onto the flight. We got to stay in that, in the arena, in the right and things like that. And then think about, oh, man, I got to go to the hotel and then worry about catching this flight as a civilian. I got to get through security real quick. I got to get through security. At LAX.

Hey, no, no, no. Hey, little pro tip from all my, no, I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to do it. I was, I can't throw the travel pro tip in there because, but the fact is, I'm going to just say this. If you were a real one, you do not fly out of LAX is all I'm saying. There it is. Pick one of them other airports to fly out of.

But it's tough, man. So I can only imagine how it is for you guys. But again, I would say one of my favorite things about Christmas Day. And like these are little things. I don't know that anyone cares, but there's not a lot of that's happened in the NBA yet. So for all you basketball purists out there, like, we'll get to it.

But, I mean, there's been three games. So one of my favorite things about NBA Day games, I mean, sorry, Christmas Day, NBA games and MLK games, like aside from celebrating the greatness that was MLK and obviously the beautiful holiday were the kicks, bro. Like Nike always sent you some cool stuff to put on your feet for those games. And so that was like a little present with their, the holiday, you know.

Okay, all right. I'm glad we got into this. And guys, we will get to the, we'll get to the shits at some point in this podcast. But like Roger said, it's been three games. Relax. You'll be honest.

Anyway, it's funny you said about the kicks on, on Christmas Day and MLK Day. They are fire. What? What? How does that work? Do they,

because they send the FedEx to the, to random cities? Like, how does this work? Give me, give me some, No, son, they go, they go, hey, so someone like me, I don't have a ton of like, I didn't have a new shoe. I didn't have the Rajah for being released on Christmas Day, right? Like, that didn't happen. So it wasn't as big of a deal, but I was getting something out of the ordinary.

And so, like, let's use, like, I use Phoenix and Philly. Like, in Philly, it was Scotty Rego was our equipment dude. Shout out, Scottie. He was a great dude, man. And then it was Jay Gaspar in Phoenix. Jay's a good shit, too. Shout out. both of them would get the shoe from Nike that I was going to be wearing on Christmas Day.

Like I had very little input in that. Nike was just going to send them the shoe that they wanted me in. And I'd see it like, you know, a day, two days before, maybe I get to break it in. Maybe I did it. But he would have it. And then I would get blessed with it when he got it. It was very little input on my part. But you'd still be really excited about what you might get to wear, right?

Wait, are you a guy that can wear brand new shoes? Because I remember, you know, covering Kevin Durant. and he was a guy that just didn't care about the shoe that he wore because he was all about comfort, right? And if the shoe, if this shoe was just more comfortable, it didn't matter what holiday it was. He wore the what the Kevin Durant's,

he wore them from the middle of the season all the way until the finals. He didn't even wear his final shoes in 2018 because those shoes that he was wearing were just so comfortable. Right. Are you a guy that could just break in new shoes and just be good with it throughout the game? Or are you going to go back to the other shoes?

It really depended on the shoe because I was at heart, a break-in shoe kind of guy. But some shoes came, like the 2K-4s, the Harachi 2K-4s, which I wore forever. They were ready to go. Like, you didn't really have to break those in too much. So I could, like, get a new. pair out of the box right before the game.

And my warm-up slash shoot-around would break those in. Like, not a problem. Back when I played in some other brands, I won't say the names. Like, they were like bricks. So it would take a week and you'd have to like strategically try to break in shoes so they'd be ready for games. Kobe's were always, the only Kobe that didn't break in well was that five pro-tro. Like, no, it's a pro-trow now, but that five, it didn't break in well for me.

But like the sixes, the fours, all of those were like butter. You put them on and you were ready to rock. Like you didn't have to worry about any kind of break in. Got it. So Christmas MOK Day, you have a, you know it's just one of those big games, right? Like you know it's an honor. You know you're one of those teams. So you flourish in that, right?

Yeah. Right. So let's just let's get to some of the performances on Christmas Day and just over the last week. what have you been most impressed by during this first week of the season? Listen, well, first of all, let's start at the top in the Eastern Conference. Like, not of the standings right now because that in and of itself is a huge surprise. But I think Brooklyn has been really, really fun for me to watch. You know, obviously, you know, my connection to it.

But just seeing how healthy you had spoken about how good Kevin Durant looked on, but like I hadn't really seen him. He looks good. He doesn't look like he's missed step in terms of, of ability to move around the court in athleticism due to the Achilles. And then his relationship on court and the way him and Kyrie worked together has been really, really, really cool to watch. Like Kyri is tearing it up us.

You know, I was joking with somebody yesterday. I was like either Ime, Udocha or Jacques Vaughn. someone there is really teaching some damn defense. I know damn well it ain't stat. Mike DeAnne and Steve Nash. I'm joking. But they're number one in defensive efficiency through three games.

So someone there, like, it's been cool to watch them. But a surprise, a real surprise, is the Cleveland damn cavaliers, Logan. They're sitting at 3-0, Collins-Secting average in 27 a game. And they are like offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency is what I kind of look at to see if you're like top 10 in both of those.

Like you guys, if you are, that's not fools gold. They are through three games. Like, that's pretty cool to see. Shout out Kobe Altman. I mean, shout out, but let's relax. But you asked me what surprised me, man. I'm not saying they're going to win a chip, but that's surprising and it's cool.

I'm happy that the Cleveland Cavaliers are doing something when LeBron is not on the team, because usually when he is not on the team, they just go into NBA purgatory. So I'm happy that they're doing the damn thing, and Colin Sexton is bawling out. I do want to talk about Brooklyn for a second because both of us have a bit of a connection to Brooklyn. You would Nash and me just, you know, covering Kevin.

I just was, I'm still very surprised at how good Kevin Durant is right now, right? And it's more so as like, I always knew that he had the game and just, you know, the body type and things like that to overcome an Achilles injury, you know? but it's just it's one thing to see that and it's just one thing to actually do it. He doesn't look any different than I saw the last time I saw him play. You know, he's getting to his spots in the post up.

He's dunking on fools and getting dunked on, by the way. But he's dunking on people. He's got that step still. And then I'm seeing Kyrie play defense. Yeah. I'm impressed with Brooklyn. They lost to Charlotte, who's also really good,

who's also been playing pretty well. But I think, do we think that the Nets are going to be something this season? Can they come out of the east? Yeah, they can. Yes, they can. Look, there have been a, let me backtrack because I didn't talk about some of the other teams that are near and dear to my heart. Like Orlando's also 3-0, Cliff and them are doing, you know, a great job.

The Hawks and Trey Young's looked like as good as Kyrie's look. Can we, like, Trey Young's look phenomenal in terms of what he's doing. It's like over 30 a game. But, yeah, Brooklyn is definitely a contender to come out of the East. And we always said, like we always said, I was a KD not ever being the same type of player guy. And it wasn't an indictment on KD. Like, it was an indictment on that injury.

Like, that's a catastrophic injury, man. But if he's even 90% of who he was and 95%, and that combination on the court works together, they're really good. And Logan, those are just like the marquee names. they got a bunch of dudes that can hoop over there. Like you're talking, you know, Spencer Dinwiddie. I just want to stop real quick. Spencer Dinwiddie just has a partially torn ACL that just came out.

So that's tough. That is tough. That is really tough. They still do have a deep team. They still have a deep team. They have a really deep team. And I know this because Steve had told me this. Part of his challenge, and I'm sure no one ever wants that to happen to a player.

And that sucks. Like you'd rather have more than less. But part of Steve's challenge. and the coaching staff challenge in Brooklyn was being able to get all of that talent to buy into specific roles, right? And, you know, sometimes, you know, like, when you subtract something from the equation,

it eases the tension in the room in terms of, like, how many shots said players going to get. You know what I mean? I'm sure, you know, Stephen, I don't want Spencer to get hurt, but that could wind up being something that actually works for the chemistry, like, in the long run. Like, you know what I mean? But yeah, dog, they could come out of the East.

I mean, who in the East right now would have you, like, would you have beating them over the course of seven with Kyrie and KD? Well, not many. I would say obviously the Bucks could do it, but the Bucks are playing, like, crap right now. They've lost defensive identity, bro. Yeah. They have.

They've lost defensive identity. They're worrying too much about Yannis and the offense and making the fit, and Yonis having to hit Fritos and, and all of that, and they suck on defense right now. Yeah, thinking way too much. And that's something that you really don't want to do, man. You want to be crisp and not think.

But to answer your original question, I guess the Bucks, you know, I would say I think they would get their stuff together. And then the Celtics, I really like the heat, maybe those. But like, if Kevin is playing like he did two years ago against the Clippers, and he's just, like, averaging 30 in a playoff series, He's like, I don't see it. Kevin is a top three player in the league when healthy. It just is what it is.

Like, I don't see. You know Kevin. Steve knows Kevin equally as well because Steve worked with Kevin in Golden State. I watched them play the Celtics and one or was it the Celtics one of those first two games. And the announcer said a quote from Nash was he imagines that KD's operating in like 85% right now. It's going to take him 10 to 15 games to like, get all the way back. So, like, that's a scary, that's a scary thing in and of itself.

Like, what you're seeing now, his head coach isn't even convinced that that's the best, you know, that he's got. It's not the best that he has. The thing with Kevin is, man, I remember, he's just such a savant. I remember one time he just got annoyed and said something about efficiency. And he went and, I think it was after the 2019 season. It was the end of the 2019 season. He probably shot like, he was like, okay, I'm not going to hunt shots.

I'm just going to play within my game. He went and over like a stretch of like a week and a half shot like 70 or 80% from the floor and average like damn near a triple double just because he was annoyed. Yeah. This is easy for me. This is really easy for me. Like, it's easy. And it was another time where when he said I am, it was during the postseason, it was, it was during the postseason.

Last in Golden State, where the media was getting on him about a game where he didn't play well. And he had the I'm Kevin Durant moment. He's like, you know who I am. I'm Kevin Durant. And then he just eviscerated to Clippers by himself. Went to L.A. And he just was like, okay, Pat Bev, double team, I don't care.

Fade away in your face. Oh, you're going to double again? Here. I'm going to pass to somebody in the corner. Bucket. It was just so easy. The game was just like, it was at his pace the whole time. Yeah, I think there's Michael Jordan that was talking about the speed of the speed of a game

and how, like, how that registers in your brain. And, you know, some people see it really fast. And so therefore you're always kind of, you know, you look like you're moving really fast. It's hard to process that information. And other people process real quickly. And so it's like Neo and the Matrix where things just slow down. Like, and you're like, oh, shit, like that. Oh, that's really easy.

Like, that's the way he plays. the game, you couple that with just a freaky build of a human being, like, and athleticism. Like, he really is playing it's unfair what Kevin Durant does. And, you know, we'll tell, like, we can get to

this now if you want, like, one of my, the most fascinating thing in the world for me is to be like in an LA fitness or even in a high school gym, which I mean a lot now, and have cats, like, talk about NBA players and call them bums. And I'm like, you know, that bum would come in here

and you wouldn't score a point and he'd have like like he'd go seven for eight on every field the worst player that's the worst player in the league that's the worst player in the league would give you bucks right so what Kevin Durant is you can't even fathom what that man is on a basketball court

you see it but you're not you're not that's not registering what he's doing it is unreal shit it's almost it's like superhuman stuff what those dudes do there's two guys that I've seen in the like swatching basketball

that can just capture the entire arena's attention when they're in the post there it was Kevin Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nevinsky where and the game was just going at their pace the whole time

where they just get the ball they're surveying the floor you don't know what they're going to do all eyes are on them all 20,000 eyes are on them and they don't seem phase by it and the game slows down. I remember specifically with Dirk Nevinsky. I remember when I was a kid, the Warriors, they still have it, I think.

But the Warriors had this thing where they had a giveaway every year where you can get a four-pack, a Christmas four-pack. I was my Christmas gift every year. You can go see a player. It was a Kobe pack. I always got the Kobe pack every year. But with the Kobe pack, you can go see, just see the Lakers to see one game was like $150. you can go see the Milwaukee Bucks,

maybe the Phoenix Suns in that in that package. And that package that I went to, I got to go see the Dallas Mavericks. And I watched Dirk get to his spot every time. He was slow as shit, but he got to his spot every time. You knew everything that was going to happen. And it didn't matter.

Logan, it didn't matter. And again, I was going to say it, but you just said it. Everyone knew what spot he wanted to get to. Like we had spent as the opposing team the entire day and morning prior to that talking about how we're not letting him get to that spot. And he still gets to the spot. Specifically on that game, they were playing the Warriors.

And there was a, I think it was in the second quarter. He got a shot in the post. He got it in the post. did his dark thing, you know, did like the, the jab step into the shot

from the fade away. Right. And he misses the shot, right? Game on the line, they throw it to him at that exact same spot, 20 seconds to go in the game.

Takes the exact same shot. Buckets. It hit, it damn near hit the top of the roof of Oracle. And it went down. But it just, but it seemed like

it was, it made it seem like the second quarter shot that he made or missed, that was just a subtle adjustment. It had nothing to do with how you guarded him. It was just something that like, oh, it was an adjustment that I had to make. Don't even trip. I got it. Well, it's interesting that we're talking about Dirk because I see him like Kevin Duran. Like, you're so long and they shoot the ball from such a high position, like in terms of where they're releasing it from. And I used to, they used to put me on Dirk because at times

I can get under his feet, right? And, and like, I can. never affect. No one can affect their shot up high. And so that's where I draw the similarity between the two of them. So to your point, it is just about an adjustment for them because you're not doing shit. Like they don't even see you. You know what I'm saying? Like that ball is so high and they're so long that they don't see Rajah or Logan down there by their feet. It's just whether they execute their shot or not. It just does become about what they're doing. Well, what's it like? Because when you're guarding a mortal person, right, you can get into their airspace. You can just block them.

You're a smarter basketball player than the average human being, right? Right. What is it like when you're playing against an NBA player and you're doing all the shit, you're elbowing them, you're, you're, you know, you're, you're doing the subtle things, the weak shit you guys do with their legs, you know what I mean? Where you suddenly touch their legs. Did you call it weak? It's so trash.

I see you guys do it on the TV all the time. But you got, you know what I'm talking about. When somebody's doing it is you like kind of like subtly hit their leg. and they still make it. What is it like when they still make it, though? Right? And you did everything possible. You put the Shane Badi and you put your whole face,

your whole hand in their face. I hate that. That's my pet peeve move. I hate that. I hate the palm to the nose on the guy's shooting it. Like, I don't like that. But it is, to answer your question, it sucks. And to be a earn your key defensive player in the NBA,

you have to have really, really, really fixed skin. First of all, nobody likes you because you're the villain. Everyone's favorite player is an offensive player. So by the nature of that relationship, you're an A-hole because all you do is come in here and foul my favorite player. Like, you suck, right? So every arena you go to, someone is MF in you because that's, you know, that's your role in this production.

But then on top of that, the job is, is, is, one that you have to have thick skin because there are times where you execute everything perfectly as from your point of view and Kobe's just too good like he's just going to make the shot and you're like I did everything I could do

and even when you look at the film and people are like yo you're trash you're like you just got 50 square on you're I was gonna ask you that I'm like dog I was right there on every one of those shots like he didn't shake me ever I'm right there he's just making great shots you have to have thick skin

because it can be deflating as hell because dudes are just that good. They're going to make shots. Wait, so, Raja, how do you feel when you, an NBA player who earned their way to the league and you're playing great defense and somebody, a media member

or a fan is like, you're trash because why didn't you guard Kobe Bryant? Good enough. Why didn't you stop Dirk Nevinsky? Why didn't you stop Kevin Durant? It seems easy on television. You guard it. Is that what you think?

think? How do you feel when people critique your game without, you know, a playing experience? Yeah, that's a good question, Logan, because I was usually dealt with pretty fairly by the media. So I never really had anyone write any kind of scathing review of my defensive performance. I think most people knew that I was trying really hard and dudes were just that good, right? But there are times where people write stuff, you know, about your team or or other players. And you're like, yo, man, I don't know if you're really qualified to like write that, which is, which is like just my, I'm being honest. Like that's the way you would feel as a player at times. Like, you know, like you don't, you don't know what the hell are you talking about.

You ain't ever been in this. But then, you know, as I've been around and I've dealt with like different coaches on different levels, you don't have to play something to know it really well. Right. Like, because by that, by that, by that logic, you can't coach. something you've never played because you don't know it. And that's not true. You know what I'm saying? Like if you've studied and done your homework and really put the time in and grinded on it,

you can know it well enough to be an authority and write about it. The same way you could know it well enough to be an authority and coach it. So, you know, I had to kind of, you know, look at it through a different lens as I got a little bit of perspective on it that changed for me. But when I was playing, I was one of those doing it. Like what that? Like, you don't know shit? Like, how are you going to tell me what to do when you've never done it? I don't know, but you know what I always found fascinating,

and I'm just running off at the mouth now. The great ones, right? Because I knew what you wanted to do if you were Kobe or Dirk, LeBron, Mello, even Manu and Dway, people like that. The great ones, like, and I'm going to take that away the best I can't. So real talk, I'm going to come into the game, and there's something I'm taking away from. Like, D-W8, when that pick-and-roll comes, two things.

You're not rejecting the pick-and-roll. I'm not letting you reject the pick and roll because that was Deway's favorite thing to do, right? I'm not letting you reject it. So you got to use the pick and roll. You got to use it. And then secondly, when you get to your spot and I think you're going to shoot that pull-up jump shot,

I am not jumping. I'm not jumping because you're going to hit me with that pump fake and then I'm going to get in the air and that's what you do. Like those two things I'm controlling tonight. It was always fascinating to me to see a tier of player, right? Like that alpha apex predator, you were only going to like your adjustment to him, was only going to be valid and useful for part of that first quarter, maybe the whole first quarter.

But after that, they were on to something else. Like, okay, he got that figured out. So I'm on to like a counter to that. Your second tier of player, you could get him for a whole game. Like, you understand, that's how that's how that worked. Like Kobe, Kobe's thing was, like, my thing with Kobe would be, all right, dog, like, I'm not going to allow the spin out lob in the blind, in the blind pig action on that elbow. I'm going to make him catch that.

And if I can get him to step off that elbow, like, I feel like I won. I am also not going for any pump fakes when he gets to his spot. So I'm trying to limit his free throws. And then when he gets on that post and he gives me the shoulder shake, I'm going to have my hand right at his belt line. Because when I put my hand at his belt line, like Kobe liked to bring it up low. And I get a strip. So like when he'd give me the shoulder shake, boom, boom.

And he'd go to turn over that right shoulder. That ball wasn't up in his face already. It was low. So if I could put my hand in his belt, line, he'd have to bring the ball through my hand, which was a steel. And so I remember vividly, Kobe said to me, like, I got him with it early in the game. And he said to me, he said, fuck. Like, literally, as we say, he said, fuck, I forgot how I forgot that you like to get that steel right there. I'm, I can't do that no more. And he didn't do it anymore. But like, it was early in the

game. And that's how quick they can make an adjustment to what you're doing when you're really, really gifted offense. That's crazy. Because Kobe, it, I don't think this, this is, this is, We talk about this a lot, but Kobe was a guy that could crazy footwork and crazy smarts. I don't think that people realize that, like, I don't think he wasn't as God, didn't have as much God-given talent as some of the other greats. But you see that in the way that he plays because he, everything else is just work. He's not the most athletic dude, right? Like, he is athletic, but he's not apex athletic. He's not LeBron athletic, right?

Okay. He was. Fair? He was. He's not Derek Rose athletic. He's not Derek Rose athletic. That's true. And his crime, right?

That's true. He can't shoot like Steph, right? True. But you see the other things of how we work. He worked hard to give counters, right? If you're doing it in the post, right? Say if you hold his belt line and try to strip him, he's going to bait you into fouling him. You talked about the pump bait.

If you don't go for the pump bake, he has six more pump bakes for you to go to. And you might jump on that seventh pump bag. Right? That's what I was so fascinated about Kobe with. And I don't know how you, I don't know how you guard that. I just, yeah, you don't. I don't know how you guard that successfully over a seven game series or something like that. You know what I mean?

I've said this before. I will say it again and I'll never waver off of it. my job wasn't to stop Kobe. Like that's just something someone said somewhere about someone that played Kobe. And then it became a narrative for anyone that played against Kobe in any heated type of capacity. Like none of us were able to stop him.

That's not your job. Like no one's going out there thinking that you can stop him. Your job is to make his night as difficult as possible. And so like if that meant like a, affecting his field goal percentage by 10 to 15%. Like within that 10 to 15% you can win a game. Like if you get him to shoot 10 percentage points less on field goal percentage, you can win a game.

Like if you keep him off the line and don't give him eight extra free throws, like that can win a game for your team. Do you know what I'm saying? So those were the things you were trying to do to Kobe because you knew that number one, he was going to keep getting the ball. Like they weren't going to stop because he missed some shots. Like he's getting the ball almost every time down the court. That's happening.

And number two, even if he missed 10 in a row when you thought you were doing a good job, percentages suggested that he was about to make the next 12 out of 16 of them. So you know, you're not stopping. Do you, this is a Kobe thing that's always talked about, Anasium, about his field goal percentage, right? Does that matter when a guy can shoot,

has leeway Greenlight to shoot 40 times a game? Does it matter as a defender? When you're like, well, his field goal percentage historically. It doesn't. It's lower. Do you think about that when you're guarding a player? Well, yes. I mean, I wouldn't claim that as a win for me. Like I stopped him. Like, that's not like a notch in my belt type of stat. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I wouldn't use that as an argument. If Logan said to me, hey, man, you can't guard that man. And I'd be like, well, he shoots 15% less percentage points from the field when I'm guarding him. Like, that's corny. I wouldn't do

that. But deep down, like, I would have to say, like, yeah, dog, if that translated into wins from my teams, and he still had 40, but it took him, like, I don't know, 36 shots to get the 40, and then no one else could, yeah, that's a win for me. I get that. Then, you know, I just feel like we've gotten so much into the efficiency bag that we forget that this is the fear that certain players put in your heart, no matter what their field goal percentage is, it's just something about them. You know, Iverson is another guy like that.

It doesn't matter his field goal percentage. Like, you're going to want to guard him. You're going to want to guard that guy. Yes. Let's take a quick break. And I want to get to something that really pissed me off. Oh, there we go. And we're back.

So, Raja. So yesterday, I was, I was going home. I got some tacos, you know, we're in California. I got my tacos, and I came back home. And they were so good. But, dog, your face, when you're talking about those tacos, though, for people who can't see it,

like, this actually needs to be a clip. That, I could just picture what you was going to do to those tacos because I can see the face. I can see it. So I said, I'm going to go. I'm going to go home. I'm going to watch some basketball. right? And I was like, oh, the Clippers are playing today.

They're playing the Dallas Mavericks. Let me go get some tacos and let me go watch them play. This is going to be a good one. Luca versus Paul George, you know, two of the top teams in the league, right? Clippers, they are months removed from embarrassing themselves on in front of the world in the semifinals. So I want to go do that. I'm like, okay, they're going to have a battery in their back this year. They're going to just bowl out.

They're just, and they have, you know, they got some wins against the Lakers and on the road against the nuggets, right? So get home, man. I get, I get my tacos. I'm sitting in my little workstation. I'm going to let's watch it. I turn on this game. They are down 50 points at halftime, my G. 77 to 27.

It was like when Team USA played Angola in 92. The Dallas Mavericks are just, just bawling out, they're talking shit, they're just, they're in Staples. I was thoroughly disappointed in the LA Clippers. Paul George took responsibility. He said, man, I took a day off yesterday because we didn't celebrate the holiday and we celebrated Christmas late. That's my fault. Da da da da da da da. I don't, I just don't know, Raja.

I don't know, man. They ruined my taco experience because they just fumbled the whole bag. Should I look too much into this, Raja, or should, is it just chalk it up to one game? Because the Clippers are just doing Clipper things right now, and I really want them to do well. I thought that would have enhanced your Taco experience. Like, I think, like, I don't know, we haven't known each other that long, but I think you take pleasure in the shit show at times that the Clippers. could be. So I would have thought that that would have

enhanced, like, that would have been like a little people de guy on top of the top moves or something, maybe like I thought you would have been cool with that. But no, the answer to your question is it's one game, bro. It's one game, Logan. They're like, you put no stock in them beating the Lakers? I don't, full disclosure.

Like, that was just a ring ceremony night, right? I don't, I don't put mudstock into it, but also, man, have some dignity. Please don't be down 50 at halftime. This was an historic beatdown. 50 is.

Right. And this is the team that also said, hey, man, you know, we got Doc Rivers is not here anymore. We're switching some things up. They openly blame Doc. Paul George openly blamed Doc. They said it was going to be different this year. And I'm sure it might very well be different. But when you lose in the way that they lost in the postseason, you can't afford no 50 or no 40 point losses.

against a team that you should get up for. Am I right? And for full disclosure, I was disappointed in the Clippers because I wanted to watch some really good basketball. And they're one of the top teams in the league and the Clippers Mavericks matchup is a marquee matchup in the league.

I want to watch good basketball. And I want to see the Clippers do well and I want to see good basketball. I've wanted to see the Clippers play the Lakers last season in the postseason. Okay? I wanted that. And I was just disappointed, Raj. And I got a little in my feels.

But yes, I'm just, I was just very annoyed by this. I could tell. And I think all of that is okay. I think it's all okay. But the fact that they were beaten so bad is what makes it like something that I'm not going to be really worried about. Like the clippers aren't that team. That's an anomaly.

That is I can't speak to why it happened. I'm not there. I wasn't around. But clearly they weren't ready to play. And they got their ass handed to them. And then, you know, the Mavs might have been just on the flip side of that from their earlier performances, is just super ready to play and make a statement. So you've got two teams or two opposite ends of the spectrum,

like mentality-wise that night, and that's what you get. So I'm not really worried about the Clippers because of that game. I still have my concerns about the Clippers overall, Logan, like, if I'm being honest with you, I still think the Lakers are the better team in the Western Conference when it's all said and done. But I don't know that that game, it annoyed you. It annoyed you, and that's fair. But I don't think it did anything for it.

me in terms of the way I look at the clippers. I think that's fair, too. Okay. And then I get to a bigger question that we talked about before the podcast, when we're talking about how much stock do you put into a season like this and a start to a season like this? And I equate it to the lockout year. It's hard to equate this season to anything, but the lockout year, I feel like,

is the best comparison. You played during the lockout year, right? But there was a lot of wonky games, especially early on. It was the back-to-back-to-backs. There was the congested, there was 66 games schedule. Do you put much stock into Cleveland being 3 and O and atop the Eastern Conference? Do you put much stock into, or how much stock should you put into these weird finishes

to games? Well, yeah, man. So those seasons, you know, I think coaching and togetherness as an organization really help you navigate seasons like that. And that's highlighted more in a season like that than it would be in a regular season because you've got to get things together in a hurry.

Everyone's got to be on the same page. Message has to be really clear. Culture has to be, you know, defined, established, and in place. And so the teams that I think come out of the gates and shoot strong in situations like that. I think there are some things that you can take away from that. Like Cleveland, for instance,

I don't see them as a 3-0 world-beating contender in the Eastern Conference. But for a team that I was really, really worried about and a general manager that I was really, really worried about going into the season, a 3-0 start suggests that you at least have some things, you know, moving in the right direction. Like those draft picks, like doubling down

on two, like, kind of small guards and Colin Sexton, Darius Garland, the trade for Andre Drummond, like all of that holding on to Kevin Love. all of that seems to be like working out for you right now, right? And like the direction, whether you wind up 82 and O or not is besides the point. The direction right now seems to suggest that we're doing things the right way. And so you take some things away from it.

So yes, there's stop put in it, Logan, but it doesn't mean that I think that Cleveland is going to win a championship or Orlando for that matter. You know, an interesting team for me, and I might be contradicting myself when this is all said and done, is in the Western Conference. of O and two Denver Nuggets. And, you know, I'm not really worried about Denver. I'm not. Like, I think that they'll be fine at the end of the day. But it is concerning to me that they're O and two early. Like, I don't, I don't, it might just take them a while with the pieces, but it's a little

concerning. I think their O'N two, Denver's O'N two is different than, say, Golden State's O'N2 when they started the season out. Right. What's very clearly could have been O'N3, right? Denver, no, they're going to be fine. They're one of the best, they're one of the most talented teams in the league. You know what I mean?

They're not one of those teams that I feel need to get a strong start out of the gate for me to take them seriously as a contender. At least not right now, right? Right. Whereas like Golden State, and especially the fact that they got their ass handed to them on national television in two straight games, a little bit more concerned. No, there's a lack of overall, like, I hate to say that, but there's a lack of, of your, you're comparing two teams with two different landscapes in terms of their talent. But I'm just saying the difference in an 0 and 2 starts. No, I know, yes, because one of them, you're like, they're fine.

Their talent is there. Like, they're just, you know, the only thing that concerns me about Denver is whether there's a little bit of a hangover emotionally from last, from the bubble and kind of the run that they made in the bubble. and guys may be feeling like we've arrived versus like we haven't done anything yet. I can't, I don't know that for a fact. I just, that would be my small sliver of concern with Denver. But I agree with you because Denver, you're like, yo, it's Jokic, there's Murray, there's, there are pieces. This is going to be fine.

Like in Golden State and I'm, listen, Golden State is, that's, that's hard to watch. Yeah, man. I watched them last night and it took them a game winner to beat the Chicago Bulls. and they were down nine with, I think, three minutes left and it took a step, it took a Steph Curry just being,

going back to being like all world, Steph Curry for them to have a chance. And they got some injuries, you know, like Jarmont hasn't played all season yet. Did somebody else get hurt too? Marquis Chris got hurt.

It broke his, fractured his ankle, man. I think he's out for the season. But I just, there's nothing that makes me feel inspired by their play right now. Except Wiseman. James Wiseman, who was my rookie of the year pick,

has been playing pretty good over his first three games. That wasn't even a subtle flex. That's just the flex. Okay, bet that. I'm just saying, you know what I'm going to? But the Warriors just don't seem like, I think that they're going to be, at best, a 7-8 scene. Is it over?

Yeah. It's over, right? I think with the Warriors, I think with the Warriors, honestly, man, One thing that they're going to have to figure out that all the other teams, the great teams figured out, the great dynasties figured out, the San Antonio Spurs figured out, is you have to figure out a way to reinvent yourself, right? They have reached the highest of highs in NBA history, right, in their dynasty. But that iteration of the Warriors is over. It's over. What they need to do is figure out how to reinvent themselves. And so far, it just doesn't seem like they're being able to do that.

A lot of that has to do with injuries. You know, Clay Thompson not being able to play for two seasons hurts. And then it doesn't help that Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Ubrey just can't shoot the ball anymore. They're just, they're shooting like me, right? You know, so it's not really inspiring the fact that Steph, has to be all-world Steph for them to just win off of a Damian lead three-pointer against the Chicago Bulls. That's just not. That was an ugly game last night.

A very ugly game. I didn't watch it. Did Steph, has Steph, I saw him on the national broadcast a few nights ago. Two questions. One, is it too much to ask for him at this point of his career? Because listen, if you're talking about best point guard in the game, which I think you would still say he is, right? like we've had this argument before. Yeah.

Then you should to some degree be able to like put a bad group of people on your back and still make it work. So the number, the question number one is, can Steph still do that? And then number two, when you're talking about reinventing yourself, because I'm interested you have way more interest,

way more insight onto that team than I do or into that team. Could like what piece can you move Draymond? Like is now the time? Like if you get, if you can move Draymond for something, you know, if Drayman's got a lot of value out there, like he'd be really interested to a lot of people. Like, is it that time now?

Okay, so first question. See, you're kind of good at this media. Duh. There you. I think your first question is Steph is, I think he needs to be, he's more passive than I would like out of an all-world superstar right now.

Because there are clips out there, especially in the Chicago game, where Kelly Ubre is just throwing up shots over three people and you have Steph Curry wide open on the wing beyond the ark. Like Kelly Ubrey should not be treating Steph Curry like he's Dionne Waiters. The Warriors should not be treating Steph Curry because Kelly Ubray is not the only one that should be treating Steph like he's Dion Waiters, man. I feel like at a point in time, just put the ball in Steph's hands and just roll with it.

Put the ball in Steph hands the wall in step hands the, way Portland put the ball in Dame's hands with the season on the line and just figure it out, man. We just got to get there. And I think the Warriors need to figure out a way to just get to that point of their offense. And stop putting Stefan backscreens. He's not back screening for Kevin Durant, okay? Right.

Stop doing that. Give him the ball. Do what he did the last few minutes of the Chicago game. Put the ball on his hands. Give him the ball. make them shoot threes. We need this organized chaos to happen. Because this doesn't work.

These sets don't work unless Steph is just doing wild stuff on the basketball court. I think that's where they need to go. The second question, if a move needs to be made with Dremont, I don't know, man, because Dremont's also entering the first year of a $100 million extension. Like, it is not as easy to move Dremont right now. because Draymond just also has to get to a point

where he's playing and this is something that he hasn't been able to do over the last few regular seasons plain full go so how do you reinvent so how do you reinvent that because you can't move clay like no one's you can't move clay

I mean I'm assuming that you would be anti-moving Steph right like how do you reinvent that how does this process take place I think I mean at this point

I think they have Ubre and they have a, they have a couple picks, they have Wiggins, which is a big contract. They have assets they can move, right? They do have assets they can move. You know, like, if Wiseman, I don't know how I'm not going to say they're ever going to trade Ryzman. I don't want to say that. I'm just saying, but if the right piece, like if you have like Janus or whoever, like a top three player somebody is available, you put Wiseman in a deal. Like, that's just what it is, right? And then you have a guy like Eric Pascoe who's really good.

They got good pieces that you can trade that doesn't necessarily have to be Draymond, is all I'm saying. I got you. I got you. Yeah, and that was more than I was planning on talking about the Golden State Warriors. But warriors are 8C-7C at best right now. And also, shout out to Steph for taking the braids out because my man's needed to take those out and they won a game.

Because I just, I don't know, Steph, if you're listening to this, buddy. it was time. It was just time to do that, man. It's, I don't know what, like, I don't know if you had braids playing basketball, Raja, but it's very constrictive. It's very constrictive because when you have braids, you can't look around, it just hurts.

Like, your head feels tight. You know what I mean? You can't have your head on a swivel like that because your, your head is just so tight. So I'm glad that he got that out. Yeah, I don't, listen, I never thought that braid, this is probably not fair. Like, I never thought that braids were like,

Steph, that makes sense. sense. Like, you know what I mean? Some dudes you say, oh, yeah, yeah, braids. Like, and some, some just don't feel like Brady kind of guys. Like, I never really felt like Steph was a Brady kind of guy. He's not a Brady kind of guy, but it's cool, man. Quarantine got him, like, in a way.

It's all right. I should just need a braid. You know what I mean? It's, it's, braids are like sleeve jerseys for Steph. They just don't work. They just don't work. Um, all right. Let's get to a real one of the week. Yeah. Rewan of the week is a segment where we talk about an organization, a player, or an entity that we respected all of last week.

Do you want to go first, Rodgers? Do you want me to go first? I already gave you my real one of the week. I get that, but like, let's go again. Do you want to just refresh people for the segment? I mean, that's a lesson that you should save the real one of the week for the real one of the week. I know. I forgot who my real one of the week was.

Who was it? Who did I say earlier in the pod? You said real one of the week? I don't know. Who did you say real one of the week was? Sasha, we're going to cut that shit out. I fucking forgot. Sasha, keep this shit in.

Who did I say? I don't know. I don't know who you said real one of the week was. Anyway, all right, while you figure that out, my role of the week is none other than Dwayne Wade. I don't know if you saw this clip of Dwayne Wade. I will send it to you after this if you have not, but it is him playing bully ball with his son.

I've seen that. Him playing bully ball with his son. son and beating his son by posting up to the point where his son was like, Dad, if you didn't play, if you just did all jumpers, I'd beat you. Right. But no, that's not how this works. You play to your advantages and you show that old man's strength and you beat your son for as long as possible.

Real one of the week goes Dwayne Wade. Backs. Your one of the week was about the parents and the PS5s and anybody who got a PS5. Oh, that was. All right. So I'll go, I'll go in. All right. Yeah, look, you beat somebody

however you can beat him, dog. Like, anybody talking about jump shot. We're doing jump shot for playing horse. All right. This is mono e-mano, bro. This is for the title of like, Is that what you do with your kids? Is that what you do with your kids?

You're damn right, bro. Like, well, my kids are still young. No, my, full disclosure. I'll let mine live a little bit because they're still young. But when they get to a point where they, like, look at me like they might be able to really do something. Oh, yeah. Like, you're about to get,

all of this post work, not even messing around. So, all right, my real one of the week was anyone, right? And I've said this, all right? So I have two real ones in a week. It winds up being a lot of people. But anyone who got that damn PS5, though, because trying to secure a PS5 was maybe harder than anything I've ever done, like on the internet or in a store, including trying to cop Kobe's from the sneaker ad.

Like, it was absolutely impossible to get a PS5. And I hit every, like, retail website when they said they were dropping and you could get a pre-order in and you couldn't ever get a PS5. Like that was that was that was that was BS. So anyone who secured one for themselves, significant other or a child, um, real one of the week.

Um, my second real one of the week, I talked about him a little bit, Trey Young. Um, um, Trey young, when he came into the league,

you know, there was a lot of like, he was kind of polarizing, like he wound up going high. Um, and then they were clowned a little bit for that because, you know, he was traded for the Luca.

So, you know, It was a little extra on top of the Tray Young selection. But all he's done so far is lead the league, like, in scoring for the most part. Like, I don't know if that's an actual thing because James Harden had 44 in one game. But he is scoring at an incredible pace. And he's really little, dog. Like, we talked about Dirk and KD how big and long they are, how they don't see you because of their size and length.

He is the antithesis of that. He is a little dude. And he is out there cooking people. So my real one of the week is Tray-Y-old. And he's talking shit. And he's talking shit. To Grayson Allen. But let Grayson-Alan live, though.

Like, Grace and Allen, in college, nobody likes that shit. And the pros, do you think, baby? Like, that's what I'm an irritant. I'm out here to get under your skin. That's what I do. One irritant. One irritant to another. Shout out, Grayson Allen.

Okay. All right. So shout out to Tray Young. Okay, so I have a bone to pick with you real quick before we get out of here. I need you to fucking realize it's your Rajabelle. and that you have strings to pull when it's time to get stuff, okay? When it's time to get Nike's. You are a former Nike athlete.

Use that influence a little bit more, okay? You know real people, Raja. You know real people. I don't know why you don't use that to get a PS5 for your kids, bro. I've never really been that dude, man. I don't know why. And I think I can take something away from your beef with me because there are oftentimes where I'm like,

you know, why wouldn't you just do it? that. But it's never been who I am, dog. Like, I never, I never a favorite dude. You ain't got to hook up with somebody that star struck from, from Scottsdale, who could just hold you down, from GameStop, who could just be like, I'm sure I do. I'm sure I do, but I don't, I don't like, I don't never, I never did that. Like, I just wasn't my, it wasn't my Steve. I'm using all my influence to get swag, okay? Like, I'm just, that's what I'm doing. You need to, this is what you need to do, bro. You need to use your own court. I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you my roller decks, right? And then you can, you can, you can make the calls. And then

split the bounty. Like, we'll split all the loot you get. All right, for sure. Okay. All right. Well, that's been another edition of the Real One's podcast. Tap into every, all the podcasts on the ringer, the mismatch. The answer with Chris Ryan, new show, group chat. Tap into R2C2 with Vallejo legend C-C-Sabathia. And tap into the Ringer, the Ringer music show. Oh, my guy, Charles. Rose Holmes, man. We're doing the damn thing here. Okay. Tap into Kevin O'Connor's power rankings. He did that this week. That just came out today. Tap into that. He's going to be doing that all season, okay? Listen, man, wherever you get your podcast, subscribe, follow, Real Ones. We will see you next week.

No Thursday show this week. We will see you next week for a New Year's edition of the Realness.