The Ringer NBA Show - Bradley Beal Is Out for the Season. So, Remind Us Why the Wizards Are Going to Orlando? | The Mismatch

Episode Date: July 7, 2020

We discuss the breaking news that Brad Beal will sit out the rest of the season to manage a shoulder injury he’s been dealing with this season. What does that mean for the Wizards’ chances of making the playoffs or even the play-in tournament? Plus: Beal’s injury raises questions about why the NBA decided to go with 22 teams in Orlando instead of the initially proposed 20-team plan.  Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Kevin O'Connor. Before we get to today's episode of The Mismatch, I wanted you to hear the trailer for the Ringer's new podcast. It's called The Cam Chronicles. It's about Cam Newton, NFL quarterback, and it's hosted by our staff writer, Tyler Ricky Tynes. Here's a clip. From the Ringer, I'm Tyler R. Times.

When I spoke to NFL star Cam Newton in January, his mindset was clear. I want my whole career to be in Charlotte. Cam won't be getting that wish. He was released by the Carolina Panthers in March. Cam is a complex figure, and my interest in him goes far beyond his exuberant smile and transcendent style of play.

Cam broke the glass ceiling in American athletics, ascended to a place in a sport that few black quarterbacks have ever reached, making his fall that much more dramatic. Over the past year, I've traveled the country speaking to coaches and teammates, friends and family, reporters, and even briefly to the man himself, trying to unravel the enigma that is Cam Newton. Uncovered contradictions at every turn.

How can the hardest work on the team be depicted as a bad leader? And how can a franchise icon, with the NFL MVP and Super Bowl appearance on his resume, be so abruptly cast aside? The Ringga NFL Show presents, The Cam Chronicles. The series premieres Monday, July 13. The Ringer NBA show, I'm Chris Varni, and join him as he does.

Every Tuesday from The Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Kand, Kevin O'Connor. Chris, what's going on? Hey, man, it's been a long time. We have been doing two a week. We were off last week in preparation for the three-day weekend, and so a lot has happened since we have last spoken. and we now are about three weeks away from what we hope is the NBA resuming. And right before we were about to record this show this morning, the news just broke via A. George Nowski that Bradley Beale has opted out of playing in Orlando, which is clearly, I mean, I guess Oladipo is probably the same level of name. but in terms of big names and that all NBA candidate, this is a big one.

And the NBA had gone out of their way to include the Wizards in this deal. And now they don't have Brand Beale. They don't have Davis-Portons. And so, like, what is the point? Point is to evaluate Thomas Bryant and Troy Brown. Jerome Robinson get him some minutes after acquiring him mid-season for Washington. that's literally the only point now because the fact that you need to win

two or more games than the Nets or Magic in order to qualify for the postseason playing tournament of which you would have to win two in a row against either the Nets or Magic to get a first round date against the Bucks. For Washington, it's clearly just about development of these young guys over eight games that sort of kind of means something for them.

Obviously for Biel and for Brough, Bertons, good for them making the right decision for their own careers. The Wizards are clearly a team looking ahead to next season when John Wall comes back to this new and improved Bradley Beale. But from a basketball standpoint, it further underlines the disappointment that we share in the fact that the NBA went with this format and that the fact that some of these games in the back end, it's not going to mean a lot for Washington. It's probably not going to mean a lot for Phoenix.

It's going to be a lot of fun games, but for the Wizards, they're pretty much an automatic win on the schedule for pretty much every team in the league. Yeah, I thought it was kind of interesting. I mean, they just issued a press release. The Wizards did. And it's a lot of stuff. I mean, it says he's got a right rotator cuff entry. And then it just says that they did full consultation with all these different people.

And he did everything to be ready to play. But they closely monitored him after individual workouts. I thought it was best for him to sit out instead of further risking. And then it says that, he experienced discomfort with his shoulder early in the season and worked with the team's medical and performance staff to manage the injury. I mean, the guy averaged 30 points a game this year, for God's sakes, you know? Like, he's just having this unbelievable.

I don't know. Look, I don't want to question whether the guy's injured or not, but they've been off for a long, long time, a long time. It's hard for me to believe that a guy that averaged 30 points a game that was managing the shoulder. As far as I know, he didn't sit out any during the year, you know, because of a shoulder injury. It feels like a reason for Brad Beale to not play in this. And then that's fine.

But I certainly wouldn't draw from it after reading that. I wouldn't draw from it because I think a fan's instinct, you know, anytime if they announce, hey, a player's not going, you're like, oh, no, what's wrong? You know what I mean? Like, is this a real injury? Because for goodness sake, you've been off for six months. like you're still not better from you know so what kind of injury is this who knows

but the the end game is Brad Beale ain't playing in this thing for sure and I mean like whether it's an exaggerated injury or not it's enough for them to say you know what you're not going to play and because he has the injury and has apparently been evaluated by doctors that should mean that he still gets paid for these games since it's not necessarily by choice

like it is for Bertons without an injury. But for Beal, you know, again, injury or not, this is about next season when John Wall is back on the court. I'm running a story this week on the ringer

about the Wizards, and I'm going to have to change some things as soon as we get up this podcast. Now that it's official, that Beal will be going. But maybe tomorrow or, I don't know, maybe we'll push it out today now.

I'm not sure. of a story about the Wizards. And the point is, is that, like, in the story, TLDR, too long didn't read, the Wizards, you know, everybody talks about them of with all these trade rumors, the Lakers have interest, the Pelicans have interest, as this team that could blow it up. And very well, they could be the next team that blows it up. Look at them.

They have the worst record of the 22 team set to resume play. They've had all the chemistry problems in the past, like in 2016, when John Wall and Bradley Boll, Beal admitted that they don't necessarily like each on the court. In 2018, when Brad Beal said everybody eats while John Wall was out, and Marcy and Gortat said they like the team victories they've had and that rubbed John Wall the wrong way on ESPN. They've had a lot of issues and they were fine. They were decent with John Wall. It's the best player. However, things are different now because Bradley Beal, like you just said, Chris, has turned into a 30 point per game score. And not only the 30

point per game score, he's doing it with efficiency too. And he's passing the ball more now. Bradley Beale is now the wizard's best player, not John Wall. So when John Wall comes back, that's going to create a really interesting situation. If John Wall can adapt and be a guy who cuts more instead of putting his hands on his knees, if he could get back to being an all defensive player and if Bradley Beal can continue doing what he's doing or even get better, you're talking about a really interesting team all of a sudden. But if they fail, then yeah, of course, Beals probably the next star to get traded. That's just the facts.

They have a shot to turn this around if Wall can adapt and stay healthy. And it all flips if they get lucky one time. They get lucky in the lottery, you know what I mean? They get lucky with their draft pick. They're going to have an opportunity. I mean, that can flip their fortunes. They need to get lucky once. They need to get, and they get lucky once,

and they add somebody that can be a real core piece to theirs. I mean, look, who knows what percentage of John Wall will be, you know, we'll get when he comes back. But let's say you get a decent percentage of John Wall. And then you re-sign Bertons. And then you got a couple more guys, you know, maybe down the pipe. Add somebody that could help them, you know, maybe you go cheap. and add something with your mid-level that actually helps you and as a rotation player.

I mean, you could see, you could see how they could be significantly better next year, even if they didn't get lucky. And then if you got lucky and you got somebody that could contribute, I mean, they need that badly because with those two guys on the books for the fortune that they're on the books for, you need somebody, you need players that are going to greatly outperform their contracts. You need Hachimura to turn into something, Schofield to turn into something. you know, these guys that are on their rookie deals, and then if you can get lucky,

or you just nail the draft and get somebody else that can come in and be in your rotation, play real minutes for you on a low contract, then I could see them being something. I really could. I mean, like, look, here's what we know. They're not run by an incompetent boob anymore.

Like, this guy was the worst GM. I mean, they're miserable. They haven't won 50 games since like the 70s. It's ridiculous. You know, and they've had players too. And so now they move forward and we'll see. To your point about him in the season this guy had, look, he's going to end because it's over now, right? 30.5 points per game to go along with a career high, 6.1 assist.

And he trailed only James Hardin on points per game. he averaged 30.5, 4.2 rebound, 6.1 assist on 45 and a half percent shooting. He joined Steph Curry, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan to average 36 and 4 and shoot 45% or better in a single season. We got a similar stat. I got a similar stat in my article, no lie. Really? Bradley Beale. average 30.5.6.1 assists in a true shooting percentage of 57.9. The only players who have ever done that,

Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, James Hardin, the only players who have ever exceeded all three of those stats. So it's the type of thing where like no matter how you slice it, no matter how you divvy up these statistics, Bradley Beale had a special, special season. This guy has become, one hell of a player. And that's why everybody wants them. It's why Washington is going to give this a chance and why despite the fact they're this boring-ass team that just had a couple decent runs

flaming out in the second round that when you look forward with them, it's hard not to get a little bit excited when you think about what they could be. And I'll tell you this, you've seen the different Scott Brooks and that team was fun as hell to watch. They really were.

Like for a team like that, I mean, you could, you could on a random, night flip on league pass and all of a sudden you're watching a 138 to 133 game that's coming down to the wire. They have another crazy stat in here. Beal scored 25 or more points in 21 straight games from January 20th to March 6th. The longest streak in franchise history, the second longest NBA streak in the last 10 years.

During that streak, Beal passed Jeff Malone for second place on the franchise's all-time scoring list. What? He's the second leading score in Wizard's history. That's crazy. So anyways, we'll see. But we're not going to see him again. And those stats that you gave, the one with Oscar Robertson,

the one that I threw out there with Curry and LeBron and those guys and Wade, don't mess those stats up. Those stats now, right? That was your season. That was the season you had. And we won't see him play basketball anymore. You do wonder if they're talking in the NBA office. I mean, look, we added the wizard because of, to add somebody in the East, like, clearly.

Now, what in turn happened was you did end up with a lot more teams that are going to be able to hit their RSN contracts, and you are going to be able to have a lot of games there and a lot of teams for each team to play against in the Orlando bubble. but you do wonder if you knew this, if you knew this beforehand, that there would be no Beal, there would be no Bertons, is Washington added? If you know that,

if they don't have those guys, are they added? And then it could joked with that, then what happens with the spurs and the sons? I don't know. We'll never know, but I do wonder if you went back in time, I can't imagine you'd add them

if you knew both those guys weren't going to be playing. sure yeah i i don't know i'm not sure i think look for the nba i've reported this before the original plan with this current format was 20 teams and it was changed to 22 a couple days before they made the official proposal to every team why i don't know probably just to appease washington wanting to fulfill more of their tv contract and phoenix to do the same um Washington shouldn't be there. They just shouldn't be there.

It's just the truth. They shouldn't be there. Even if they somehow slip in, the odds are that they're not going to grab that eight seat. And if they do grab that eight seat, they're going to get pounded, pounded by the bucks in the first round. It's just,

it's just disappointing. Yeah, and this is how this affects. It doesn't really affect honestly what we think the wizards were going to be doing, even though they just needed to get within four games. We got to remember that. They didn't need to get all the way there. They just need to get within four games, which would have been possible with Beal and Burkons.

Which, by the way, I misspoke about last week when I said they have to go six or two, six and two or better. That was to get the eight seed. Yeah, I misspoke there. It is correct. The wizards have to go six or two, six and two or better to get the eight seed. But they, in order to get the nine seed and qualify for the postseason playing tournament, they have to win two or more games than the Nets or Magic do. which is still tough, so hard. And here's the thing, Kev,

this is, this is where it matters. You look at who is on their schedule for this restart, and it's, you'd imagine, like you said, auto wins. I mean, it would be clearly a big upset if they're able to, imagine if they did reel off some wins. That would be one hell of a story. But Phoenix, Brooklyn, Indiana, the Sixers, the Pelicans, the Thunder, the Bucks, and the Celtics.

Those are their eight games that are going to be played. Interestingly enough, what we got? Three Western Conference teams, I think I mentioned. So the three Western Conference teams are the Suns, the Pelicans, and the Thunder. And then the rest are really outside of Brooklyn pretty much towards the top in the East, certainly with Milwaukee and the Celtics and the Sixers. and you know that the Sixers are trying to move spots and Boston is trying to move spots if they can also up to two.

So you got a lot of, I mean, this could affect a lot just by if those do, if that does just become 0 and 8 for one of the teams that is there, well now all of a sudden their 0 and 8 does really affect what the playoffs are going to look like by giving those teams a win that might have been they're probably I mean they're they're probably the underdog honestly in all those games or maybe maybe one or two maybe the Brooklyn game or maybe the Phoenix game to pick them but doubtful and by the way I mean like the list of players that are sitting out for any number of reasons whether it's Bradley or reason for family reasons or burton's because it's

you know playing it safe with his contract coming up the summer or a beale with this apparent injury and still playing it safe. I can't help but think about the question posed on JJ Redix podcast with Tommy Alter this week. Over under, seven days for the first player to decide to leave quarantine at Disney World. How many guys are going to end up arriving and then say, you know what,

peace. I'm not going to do this. I want to go home. They're not going to bother after actually arriving there and seeing what it might be like. I wonder if we'll see more players after arriving. decide they don't want to be there. I think, I mean, again, the whole wizard's team might just get in their car and leave, but if they get their ass kicked a couple of times.

I'd honestly say under five, JJ would obviously know better than me, but I don't think many, and here's why. Because it's much, much, much, much easier to do it right now. Once you're there and you're in the bubble, well, guess what? It's like you're in a college dorm amongst your teammates. And so I think there is going to be, even if you think this sucks and I want to leave, there's still the peer pressure of I'm letting these guys down and it's guys that I'm seeing every day.

And frankly, I'm going to have to see more than likely in my locker room next season. And so I think if you are not, if you're wary about it or you don't want to go, I wouldn't wait to see if it's going to suck because I think it's going to be much harder to leave once you're there and playing games. amongst your teammates. That's, that's tough, man. That's tough to be like, all right, guys, I'm going home.

Because you do feel like you're, right? You feel like you're letting everybody down. There's a peer pressure aspect. Yes, yes. But that's the thing, like, what if a star player arrives? And they're like, you know what, I'm going to go?

Would everybody else follow them out the door? No. I don't think so either. No way. I don't think so either. But it was just an interesting, you know, thought that popped up on that podcast

that I hadn't really considered like a guy going there and then bounces. Yeah, we have had a couple guys that we didn't know, or at least it could have been questionable, whether or not they were going to go. And from the social justice platform front, and that included Jalen Brown, who has now stated he is going to go

and wants to use this, he wants to use this platform in order to get the message across. And Dwight Howard, who had talked, That story had come out where he was alongside Kyrie Irving and thinking about, hey, maybe we're not going to do, maybe we shouldn't be doing this. He has decided to go in what has been a big rebound season for him. He is going to donate the money he would make by playing in Orlando, which is upwards of $700,000 to the Breathe Again initiative, which is where he is donating that money. And so Dwight Howard has decided to use the platform given by the NBA,

but beyond that is also giving the money that he would earn by playing in Orlando to an initiative that he believes in. And so those players are going to play on the basketball front. They are going to be there. And we've also seen a couple guys be examples of how they want to make this thing work and how they are going to take this platform. And there's no greater platform that's saying, hey, look, I'm going to play in this. I've been wary about whether or not.

But what I'm going to do is I'm going to play for free, basically. Now, Dwight Howard, look, Dwight Howard doesn't have a money problem, right? I don't expect everybody out there to be donating their salary, but certainly a nice gesture and a way to get his point across. Absolutely. You know, like you said, he's a guy who is comfortable, who as Ed Davis, said has his million dollar mansion in Atlanta. He's set for life. And he earned all that money.

Great player, future Hall of Famer. And for him to do something like this does certainly set an example if other guys want to follow that. If they are also financially set to put their money towards some good. So, you know, kudos to Dwight Howard for doing this. And I look forward to seeing what more is to come once players actually get there on campus. I thought it was interesting or I think it was either yesterday or maybe Friday, a couple of players expressed disappointment about the names on the back of jerseys or the phrases on the back of jerseys that they could wear.

And that was, when I saw that list, I was kind of thinking the same thing. Like, what was this economics one? Group economics? Like, what is that on there for? I mean, come on now. And like, some of these are so empty. And that's one of my hopes is that anything the league does, putting Black Lives Matter on the court is a great start. Having these phrases on the back of jerseys is a great start.

but it can't just be that. There needs to be action here, pointed, focused action. And, you know, I hope we don't see just symbolism. And I hope we see action from the league,

especially, but because the players are already going down that road. We have another player that's not going to be there, and this is also injury-related. We had seen Ola Depot for a brief spell. the Pacers had really gotten by this season and had greatly outperformed what I think most of us thought

they were capable of this year. They got big seasons out of Malcolm Brogden. They've gotten big season out of the Monta-Sabonis. They've gotten a really nice season out of one of their acquisitions in the off-season, T.J. Warren. I mean, they've thrown it together, and they've been good throughout this season.

And you wonder, geez, If they get a healthy Oladipo back in that lineup, I don't care who you're matching up against, especially in the East. If I come to the table with Brogden and Oladipo is my backcourt, you're going to have a tough time, you know, facing up with that. No matter their competition. Because that's a hell of a back court when they're both healthy and would like to see them in tandem. But Oladipo is just going to not do this and then focus on next season. that again, you know, like what their ceiling is or would have been with Oedipo to me is much greater than what their ceiling is now.

Now to me they are, they're not in the mix, right? I mean, it's good for Philly. It's good for Philly, right? I mean, I think now if we thought like, hey, you never know, maybe they could pull it upset against somebody. Now I'm, you know, I really don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I, I don't know if they'll be able to get out of the first round. They might, but certainly ask him to win a second round series would be a bridge too far. To me now. But if they had Oladipo, man, geez, I would have thought they were a real threat. So I was a little upset, disappointed, I guess, to see that he's not. I understand. I understand why he's not playing.

I also think that they might have been a factor if he did. And if he was the old Vic. I'm not sure he ever will be after that injury. and then, I mean, I hate to even say that. But the fact is, it's coming back from the injury like that, it's going to be hard for him to be the guy that he was, considering how quick and shifty and explosive he was as a player. I mean, look, Ola Depot is a really good player,

and he had some really special moments in Indiana. But with his style of play and the fact he's not a great shooter, he's an average-level shooter from the perimeter, I do have concerns about him being the same guy. And again, like, it was just early in the season, just coming back from the injury, but he did not look anything like himself at all in his 13 games with Indiana.

Again, small sample. Don't want to overreact to that, but it wasn't a great start for him coming back from a very, very serious and weird, rare injury. So for Indiana, with his contract coming up in 2021, it's one more year. And I'm going to be really interested. to see what he looks like moving forward.

But to your point, though, Chris, you said this right at the top. Indiana did, okay. Without him. No, they can survive. They have a lot of good players on their team. And you need to have a star to really compete for championships. But with guys like Brogden and T.J. Warren, Miles Turner, a bonus turning into the guys that they have.

Lamb. Lambs helped them too. I mean, and it's like you say, what's your line? Don't play guys who suck. They don't have guys who suck, right? They really don't. And they've also got, they got a front line that when it's cracking, you got, Subonis and Turner can give you some real problems.

Because that's big, in an age where everybody goes small, they got some real big guys that can punish you for being small. Especially the Subonis rebounding numbers, I mean, he made his first All-Star appearance this year. Very, very good. One other side note on not being there, and then I'm going to get into a story that has come out in the last week about possible not being theirs. But two that we know for sure are two assistant coaches that I actually think it could matter greatly.

On one hand, now it's two guys that I know because I covered both of them. Lionel Hollins, who's a long-term coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, is an assistant for Frank Vogel there in L.A. Lionel Hollins was an assistant coach prior to becoming the head coach, and players have extreme respect for Lionel Hollins, and he is a no-b-s guy. He is also somebody that can get people in line, right? And it's dealt with all manner of personalities.

I mean, I watched them coach the team that had Zach Randolph and Tony Allen as two of its biggest players on the team. And you've got this Lakers team where they keep on adding to the locker, room and they've got everybody from Dion Waiters to J.R. Smith, to Dwight Howard, to Javall McGee, to Ray John Rondo. And I think having somebody like Lionel Hollins on that staff has been extremely beneficial to the Lakers. And so I was upset on Lionel's behalf that he wasn't going to be able to go because of health concerns. But I also do think it might could, you know, those kind of guys, those old veterans. And Frank Vogel's done a good job with that team. But I do think your

assistant coaches can play a big role, not only a game preparation and what they see out on the court, but more than anything, I know how Lionel handles players and handling players, right? The time that you always need, you know, years ago was remember the Ty Lou, who was next to David Black. When LeBron's going to freak out and start yelling. or whatever. At Frank Vogel, you need somebody to be able to say, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, right? And maybe Jason Kidd will just play that role. Who knows? Lano Hollins is one. The other one, and I think this one's bigger, is Jeff Bezdelic. Jeff Bezdelic, he is a defensive genius.

There's just no way around it. He was a defensive genius in Memphis. He was a defensive genius in Houston. You remember when they begged him, begged him to come back, begged him. What was that? Like maybe January of the season and things started to really turn around. I mean, they, Houston, he had just walked away and they begged him to come back.

And now, fast forward, because they have a coach that doesn't really care about defense, right, in Mike D. Antony. Guess what? Pelicans coach doesn't care about defense either in Alvin Gentry. And so it's almost like,

an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator situation, and most of these coaches, I know at least now the last three he's worked for, they bring in Jeff Bezellick and they say, you handle the defense. That's what they do. And the Pelicans had gotten to look, make no mistake, the Pelicans had gotten good on defense, much better than they were. Certainly when favors got healthy and they were not miserable. And now they've got Zion in the mix too, whereas they were pretty miserable

defensively early. But Bustell is very, very good at his job. You've got a guy who's very offensively minded. And I think we saw this affect Houston in a big way to where they had to beg him back. I wonder on the Pelicans front, you know, I think it could absolutely have an impact if he's not in Orlando on them.

He's sort of like the Romeo Cornell of the NBA. Romeo Cornell coaching for 30 plus years at so many different NFL teams and colleges and always as a trusted, reliable defensive coordinator for football teams. He, like in the NBA, whether any of his number of stops, has been a guy coach's value having

and just hand the keys to him as the defensive coordinator. So definitely a guy who's going to be missed. He's also... But how much will... How much will, like, Zoom help? How much will, like, these past couple months with teams adapting and having these,

virtual conversations help on off days. Because that's where the number one value is in terms of the fact that, like, you're making game to game adjustments. But in a game, I do wonder if that's where the loss is. That's where it is. Because you come out at halftime and you're going to defend them differently because

Biddle told you to. Will the NBA have any sort of way for him to have a connection at half time because of the unique circumstances? Will he be able to call in? Yeah. That's something I should probably. probably try to report out. Yeah, right.

We're talking about it. I'm thinking about it. Is there a way for a coach to talk to his team during a game? I do wonder about that. I don't know. Maybe they put earpieces in. Bizzellick's not much of a talker. He is a,

yeah, he's old school. He's a gruff one. Oh, yeah. He is. Look, he gets you to play great defense and then you leave. And you're not going to find hundreds of NBA players talk about how much they love him. Yeah.

You know what I mean? He's not. bedside man or ain't his thing, right? But he's great at what he does. Well, that's what I mean. Like, he doesn't say a lot. Yeah. Can they just let him call in for a minute?

Like, hey, do this. The other team's doing that. It would probably be just F this, F that. I mean, I don't know how long you're going to have the guy on. Another thing that's been interesting, and something that obviously we talked about families and ability or inability to go. The Gordon Hayward story about his wife being pregnant and, he will leave, obviously, the bubble.

Mike Conley's wife also pregnant. That was in September, he said, right? So, like, if they make that certain round. That's right. I think it's at the end of August. And you know, Conley also, his wife pregnant. I mean, these are two major players for teams that are going to be there, who we expect certainly, it would be a surprise if they're not playing in the second round.

Yeah. It's possible. but, and especially Utah is a little, they're a little dinged up because of the Bogdanovich thing. But anyway, there are special considerations, which we had not, at least I hadn't really understood prior to, which is if you leave, if you're gone for less than seven days, then when you come back,

it's not the sit-out for a long, long time because you left the bubble. It's when you're gone, you get tested, and as long as those aren't negative, when you come back, you'll get tested, and it's four days. And so what you don't want is a situation where, you know, you've got to decide between going back for the birth of your child or missing the Eastern Conference finals or something like that,

which would be, I mean, you don't want to put any guy in a situation like that where that's the decision they have to make because typically, if you have a kid, you could go, you could be there for the birth of the child, and you're missing maybe one, maybe two games, right? having to miss a series or something just because you left the bubble, that's a tough spot. So I was at least heartened to hear it's not as extreme for leaving the bubble for reasons that you absolutely should, should leave the bubble. Sure. Imagine all these sort of timed pregnancies for the off season.

For the summer, right? August, September baby. It'll be perfect. It'll be perfect. Yep. Oh, you know, I was speaking of that, you just lose total track of time and where we are in the year and on the calendar. Because at least for me, and I know for you, everything in our lives revolves around sports and the sports calendar and especially the NBA season. This morning, I got up and I got one of those like time hop things.

two years ago. There's a picture from two years ago and it's me and you and Jason Concepcion at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and it made me so sad. It did. I was like, we would be watching James Wiseman La Mello Ball, your guy

Killian Hayes. We'd be watching all these guys playing. Like we would literally be hanging out going to Summer League games tonight. It's the damnedest thing. And I just it doesn't feel like that. time of year at all right now because of all of this, does it? It doesn't feel like any time of year. I know.

I mean, like, I look at the calendar right now and it's July 7th. This year has moved by so slow and yet also so quickly and with no end in sight either of this pandemic, which is just, I don't know, man. Like, it is, I don't want to get political necessarily, but like it is a failure of the leaders of the world. It's a failure of Trump. It's a failure of Fauci saying, don't wear a mask in February. It's a failure of China not taking action early on. It is a failure of everybody. And it shows, like, you got to really question everything. You can't necessarily trust the leaders who are supposed to be the people protecting us, often many of which are elected officials. And it's just,

it is so deflating in so many ways that it's at this point here in the United States. My mom had the flu in January. I had a cold in January. And my dad was still alive at that point. We wore masks in the house, in the car. We knew like it helps prevent us from passing what we have to my dad. And we did that. Logically, that's why you wear a mask.

And for I remember hearing them say don't wear a mask, seeing all these politicians not wearing masks, sending an example for people to follow. And it just really pisses me off. That leadership is so poor across the board. Whether it's Trump, I don't care if you're a liberal or I don't care if you're conservative. Trump failed, Fauci failed, Jerome Adams failed, Pelosi failed, all of them failed.

They failed us. And if that doesn't piss you off, I don't know what to say to you. And that's why, like, the NBA here, just to tie it to basketball here, when they say, go out and vote, it is voting out these people on the left and the left and the, the right and putting in people who are actually going to represent us and do what's best for us. So it goes on both sides. I told you at the beginning of this, Kevin, we did this. I was like, you know, you would think, you would think that it would be everybody be able

to come together because we're all in this together, you know, against, it's us versus a pandemic, right? Like how, how are we on sides? Like, I don't understand how this whole thing became about sides. and everything in our country becomes a fight, everything becomes political. And it's like, bro, how did this become a political thing? It should be us versus a pandemic.

But somehow our team got fractured. You want to bring it to sports. It's like our locker room. We split and we're fighting each other. And like the only thing we got to worry about is I was like, surely everybody can come together to figure out the best way for us to handle this. and some way, somehow, that became a fight too. That's what depresses me the most.

I see people fighting over, like, what? Why is there a side in this? Like, how do we just figure out how we get past it? And you know why, though? It's like, look, people are who don't wear masks, like, please reconsider. If you're listening and you're like, I don't want to a mask, it makes you more sick, whatever. Please reconsider. Because the fact is, is that it's the confusion and the misinformation and the last

of leadership that has made this a political issue. It has made it a political issue. And it is these powers at B that have always tried to divide us, have always tried to create tension between us, the people. And they're the ones who always benefit. I wish more people saw it that way. I wish it wasn't as much about fighting amongst each other. Because ultimately, like, people just have conversation.

They'll find out they have a lot in common. even if they go into it, disliking each other. And we'll find out if we actually talk to each other, the enemy are these failed leaders, these elected officials, these people in power. And it has always been that way.

And it's always going to be that way until it changes. And like step one is voting for the person. That is the best candidate. But ultimately a lot of the candidates aren't good. And we see that a lot of the time, whether it's for president or whether it's for your local mayor or whatever. I hope more people get into politics that actually have pure intentions and that aren't going to get corrupted.

There aren't going to take money from big corporations. That's what needs to change over the course of many years for life to be better for everybody. And I was hoping, like this is just the optimism in me, Chris. Like you said, I was hoping we would unite together against this pandemic. But it didn't happen, man. And that just sucks. It just sucks, man.

And like now there's no end in sight. And I don't know, man. I've said this a hundred times, but the fact that a billion, multi-billion dollar corporation in the NBA can't figure out how to play basketball games and make it 100% work. I don't know. I don't know when it's going to work for the rest of us. I just don't know. We don't know if it's going to work for the NBA with all the money they have to spend. If they can't get it to work, then who's it going to work for anytime soon? Just got to pray that Bill Gates and his guys come up with the vaccine. That's it. That's all. I'm to that point now. Just please find the vaccine soon. All right, before we get out of here today.

who finds the vaccine. Just get one that works. I was just talking, these people put a fortune into trying to find it. They're just doing it on their own. To hell with all you ninkabooops. We're going to go find the best scientist. Look, honestly, I trust people in the private sector to figure out how to save us

before I do, unfortunately, our own government. That being said, before we get out of here, you and I, we've gotten along so well over the course of the past couple of months. Really felt like we've become much closer to each other. But this crap you pulled at the end of last week, I mean, right before July 4th weekend, you slip it in, knowing we're not doing a show. You know we're not doing a show,

and you're like, hey, look, here's a new show. And then it's like this love letter to Zion and the pelicans and what the pelicans are going to do in the bubble and all this stuff. And then you just drop it and then you just run away from it, knowing we're not going to be doing a show and I'm here to tell you I watch this video

this video I'm on this the Pelicans this the Pelicans this the Pelicans that this was treason it's treason what took place I mean you know you're going to have to talk to me

you can't run on a Tuesday we're back here I'm not trying to run out here I'm serious. I'm ready. You got a 13-minute video where I got to sit there and watch about how the pelicans are going to oust the grizzlies and they're going to be out. And everybody's going to get to watch Zion versus the Los Angeles Lakers. And isn't this going to be amazing?

And then I see a picture of him. He comes out. He looks like damn vain or something. He looks like a superhero. Instead of gaining a bunch of weight eating po-boys and jambalaya in New Orleans. You got unbelievable food there. I figured maybe this guy just, like, you know, instead of running every day and getting in the greatest shape of his life,

it's like, oh my God, here, what am I going to do? Cook for myself again, I'll order out. You got the best food in the world in New Orleans. And I'm like, maybe this guy will turn into a lard. Oh, no, a complete opposite way. This guy looks crazy great. But I can't even say that in good conscience. and be complimenting him because immediately it's like,

oh, Kevin O'Connor's got the video about the Polkins. Oh, you scared? You scared of the, you scared of Zion? You scared of the Polkins? No, I'm not. I'm not scared of them at all.

Maybe this will be my famous last words. But, I mean, let him go 7-1 or 6-2, whatever. And then have to beat the Grizzlies twice. And, by the way, I saw a muscled up Marvin Bagley last night and they've got to play them twice. Anyways, very disappointing video by you. Disappointing script by me, but well produced, right? Well put together by the team.

Of course. The video team at the ringers. Dylan Berkey, Sean Yu, Jason Gallagher. Dude, they're so good. They're so talented. They're awesome. So talented. The script, though, the script needs work.

Well, look, I feel like you let the video guys down if I'm being honest. because they're so talented. I mean, it would be like if, I don't know, you gave the script to like of like, the Kevin Spacey won about poker. That movie sucks, whatever that was called. They ruined that MIT poker story. So whatever that movie was,

but then you like gave it to like Marmy Scorsese or Christopher Nolan. What is it called? 21. 21. That movie sucks. So if they gave that to like Christopher Nolan to direct it or something like that, that's basically what you did. You gave the script, you did the script of 21. I agree.

And you got Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese to direct the thing. But the content of it is just, it's crap. I gave that movie a seven out of ten. I have, I grade my movies. What? I gave it a seven out of ten. Seven out of ten. You were on marijuana.

You had to have been. when you watch that. Moron. They're movies. I said you had to have been on marijuana. I didn't say you're a moron. I said you had to be on marijuana. Movies awful.

I have no idea. That was a long time ago. I love that story. Oh, Jeffrey Maude and his old team. I mean, the whole story is incredible of how they, you know, brought down Vegas with their MIT counting card scheme. And then I watched that movie. I didn't even make it through the movie.

I turned it off. The average grade is a 6.8. on IMDB. So I'm like right on target with what the Amherst grade is. Then all those people. We're all on marijuana better. They're all on marijuana.

Every one of them. Only way you could possibly enjoy that movie. And it's gotten more complicated with the whole spacey thing now too. Yeah, exactly. You know, I mean,

you feel it's the weirdest thing now with how many people have come out as creepers. You know, when you go back and think about so many movies you like and whatnot. But, your video suck. Thank you.

I appreciate it. Hopefully soon will be better. Some complications with the wizard story this week. We'll figure it out. Your complications, your complications were with the standings. That's your complications. Your complications are that the Grizzlies are three and a half up on them. That's your complications.

I know you and everybody else that is, you know, wants Zion in the playoff so badly, are going to try to speak it into existence. Your complications are John Morant. That's your complications. All of you. All of you! John Morant and Jared Jackson and Brandon Clark, Tyest Jones and Jonas Valentinus, and Justice Winslow, that's your complications.

If you want to hear my response to Chris Vernon, go to the ringers YouTube channel and check out my video. I'm Zion Williamson and World's Pelicans. It's called The Recent. start. Whatever episode two is, I'm all in and I'll promote the hell out of it, but I ain't no way. I cannot endorse this.

Here, I'll give you, I'll get everybody a rundown. Zion's awesome. Derr-d-d-dur. The pelicans are going to be in the playoffs against the Lakers. Ders. Oh, they can, they can run Zion off a screens and he could dunk on people's faces. Ders-Dur-Dur-D-D-D-O-D. Oh,

should I mention the Grizzlies? Nope. Zion, Zion, Zion, Zion, Zion. You know, you're going to be doing this for like the next 10 years with Jha versus Zion. It's hilarious. I'm excited for it. I hope like Patrick Mahomes, we are here in 10 years. Look, I'm going to talk about the career.

I took my son outside to throw a football last night. Yeah, right. I said, enough with this shooting hoop stuff. Yeah, right. We got to get that arm right. insane over $400 million. NFL contracts are weird, man. I mean, the NBA salary cap is difficult,

but NFL, oh my goodness, guaranteed, partial guarantees. I mean, what does this all mean? As we get out of here, for your sake, for Bobby's sake, for my sake, I'm going to do something that I probably shouldn't do, but I'm going to do it. And I'm going to reference this Mahomes contract. And I'm going to say, let's say he made everything that he's got there, right? He will make, if it comes to, if it comes to fruition,

he gets paid all that, $3.7 million every month, $937,000 every week, $31,000 per hour, or per day, $521 every hour, $8.60 every minute. Come on, man. What is that? It's an outrage. It's an outrage. Unreal.

Hey, he's a hell of an athlete. I'll give him that. Kevin, it is always a pleasure to meet up with you. We'll be back on Friday. Give out that mailbag address. We need some good mailbag questions. Look, we're coming in. We've got three weeks until this thing starts.

Yeah, let's get rolling. NBA mailbag at gmail.com. Please send them there. Easy, easy, easy. NBA mailbag at gmail.com. Thank you to Bobby Wagner for producing as always, and we will talk to you on Friday.