The Ringer NBA Show - Can the Grizzlies Catch Up to the Struggling Warriors? Plus, the Mavericks Are Surging. | Real Ones

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

Logan and Raja dig into whether the Grizzlies can make a Finals run this season (2:00) as the Warriors have faltered in recent weeks (6:00), what has changed for the positive with the Mavericks (15:00), and what KD’s return means for the Nets (23:00). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Sasha Ashall Associate Producer: Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Benefer is back. Brad and Jen are friends again, and Paris Hilton is somehow still making headlines. 20 years later, we're living in the world that the 2000s tabloids created. On this series, I'm going to tell you the story of a decade of American life through the trash we love to consume. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, I'm Claire Malone, and this is just like us, the tabloids that changed America. Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Spopping. Logan Murdoch here. Roger, how you doing? But you sound, you sound, you sound, you sound low energy today, Logan, what's up? I'm good. I'm good. I'm feeling really good. Okay. I don't know if I could talk about this. I don't know if I could talk about this on the pod. It's kind of gloomy and I'm matching the gloom and gloom outside. That's all it is. I don't know how much I can get into that. You know, it's probably, that's type of secret information. But I don't know. It's just, you know, I'm matching the mood of the, of the vibe. around right now. That's the best I can describe it.

You know, I can't go further than that. I can't go any further than that. I can't. I'm feeling good, man. Yeah, we don't want, we don't too much weather talk. I feel, I feel good.

You know, sunny out in this bad boy. I'm about to move back into the crib. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

how's the H-O-A treaty these days? I've been meaning to ask you that for the last football episodes. Like, are you, is everything good? Are you, are you in a good place with them, I know that that's been a point of contention.

Yeah, I think they allow you to kind of just be when you're remodeling, right? So I imagine once I get back in the house and all the construction trucks leave, I start getting the dumb shit again. And the crazy part is my neighbor across the street, Channing Crowder is like the president of that bad boy or something like that. And he and I are really cool. So I wonder who I can't be Channing that's on me about my roof and my mailbox. Or is it? I get to the bottom of that shit. Channing.

Channing, come on the show and let's figure this out. at some point. I'm going to show. I figure this out. One thing that I am, it's really hard to figure out, Raja, what's this transition,

is the Western Conference right now. The top of the Western Conference, specifically, so smooth. You see that vibe. Specifically, that two and three, that two and three seed,

and that is the Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies. And Raja, I know you've been on this bandwagon for a long time. Feel free to gloat if you want, or not, but John Morant has literally been the best point guard in the Western Conference over,

oh, it was like the last two, three months has gotten the Memphis Grizzies within a half game of the Golden State Warriors right now. And I put this in our exit survey, our All-Star Game survey. One of the questions was, what is the storyline that you, that is being like, I'm paraphrasing here, but what is the most underlying storyline that you like? the under the radar storyline that you like. And I ask the question, can the Grizzlies win the title?

Can they win the title? Can they get to the NBA finals? I would like to see that. I think that they're on that path. We're in March. We're in a bit of like the second round of dog days. But is that feasible? I know they can,

they're better team in the Warriors right now. They're not scared of the Phoenix Suns. They're not scared of your Phoenix Suns, Roger. What's going on here? I'm not ready to answer that question today. I'm not. I'm not because you know my affinity for, you know my affinity and how much I love Memphis, man.

And then you just put them in a conversation that I wasn't ready to put them in. So could they win a championship? Yeah, why the fuck not? Yeah, sure. Let's go. Sure they could. I mean, you're talking about a team

that holds it down on both ends. the floor. You know, their top 10, you know, efficiency, both offensively and defensively. They've been there throughout the year. They have multiple role players that can handle their business. They can get buckets from a lot of different places. And they've got a bona fide superstar. And I can't argue when you say he's been the best point guard in the league because he's been one of the best players in the league at any position this season. And so, you know, when you've got that star power and he's just really, really clutch big buckets. You hang your hat on defense as much as offense and you've got a great supporting cast that understands their roles. Yeah, I got to put you

in the conversation for being able to win a championship. Now, they wouldn't be my pick. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I'm picking Memphis to win a championship. But if you ask me, can they win a championship? Yeah, the answer to that's yes. Okay. I'm going to answer my own question. And I don't think that they're there yet, but they are in a great They're in a great position right now. They are. I think that they're on the ascent. I don't think that they're ready specifically just to go to the title.

I think that they are a second round to third round. I think their ceiling is probably the Western Conference finals. I think that's fair. Okay. The other point of that and something that we were talking about in the pre-pod is, what the heck is going on with the Golden State Warriors right now? We don't really talk too much about the Warriors like that. We don't talk, we know we got a lot of friends of the show from the Golden State Warriors,

but we don't talk to them about them enough. they're a second seed right now with a lot more questions than we thought that they would have even a month ago. I was talking to some folks yesterday. And we're talking about, you know, Draymond's out. We don't really know what he's going to look like when he gets back. He has a back issue. Jordan Poole has kind of been waning with his jump shots and turnovers. And then you got Steph, who has had a great, seeing the other side of his great start where it's not, he's carrying a team, but I don't think, I don't know if he has right now.

He's feeling the effects of that load that he started, he carried on to start the season. And, you know, a team that was firmly in the second seed and had such a great start is now on a dissent, man. They got some, they got blown out by the Minnesota the other night. I was in the building when Luca came back with the Dallas Mavericks. I just, they're in a weird space right now, man. And in some parts of this season, you thought they were going to be a, you know, a title contender. And they still are, obviously. But a lot of questions there and go to stay, Roger.

Yeah. They have a, they have a style of play that can't withstand certain pieces missing for extended periods of time. Namely, Draymond, he does so much for them. You know, in terms of just kind of being the backbone of who they are for sure and that emotional leader. But also, you know, his offensive skill set is a perfect match for the way they want to play. They build around that style, right? And what it accentuates and kind of highlights what Steph's able to do with all of that ball. I mean, you know, people movement.

I'm sorry, ball movement. And then a great passing mind like Draymond. And so when you take that out of the mix, they're going to struggle a little bit. The NBA season, it's a long season. And you'll hear people say, I've said before, you want to be careful not to peak too early in one of those like marathon seasons. And I'm not saying that that's what Golden State did. But maybe it's a good thing that they hit a lull at this point in the year. Just coming out of All-Star break, you know, you have to factor in the reintegration.

of Clay. I'm sure it's not the number one reason for some of the, for some of their play lately. But it was going to catch up at some point, Logan. Like you don't just drop Clay Thompson back in the brilliant player that he isn't expected to just be, hey, we're good. We're never going to miss a beat. Like, you know, you're going to, they're going to be an ascension and then you

might plateau and you might dip a little bit. And then, you know, the end game could be a much better product with Steph. I mean, with Clay there. But maybe they're in just one of those areas of a lull or a plateau. But right now is when you can afford for that to happen. And so hopefully for Golden State, Dremont comes back, he gets the back, right? You know, they hit the bricks, you know, kind of rolling down the stretch. And they get that momentum rolling into the playoffs and become the playoff threat that we think they could be or that we thought they could be at the beginning of the season.

I'm hoping it's not a case of just peeking and coming out of the gates way too quickly. When's a good time to have this flow? If you have to say during the season, what is what type of team? team do you have to have to have this type of low? And what is a good time of the season, if any, to have a low like this? Is it March right before the stretch run in April? Is it in December, January? When's it like a time you can have a low like this?

I think the best time to have a lull, I mean, for every team it's different. But I think the best time to have it would be right before and right after All-Star break. Like, you know, right before All-Star break, if you came out of the gates hot, you probably separated yourself a bit and put yourself, you know, firmly in the playoffs or upper half of your conference, so on and so forth, you can afford a little slippage. It's natural going into all-star break.

And then coming out of the break, you can be a little sluggish. You know, there are a couple weeks there where it may take you some time to get your footing. And then, you know, for that last third of a season, last quarter of a season, let's say, last quarter of a season, you need to be hitting your stride. You need to be, you know, guns ablaze. You know, everyone kind of dialed in and locked in

and really starting to play good basketball. Now, there are teams with stars that are, you know, that transcend, like, you know, the sports, so to speak, that can get away with not doing that. Like a LeBron team at times can get away with not doing that. There are guys who can flip a switch. And the NBA happens like that. I don't like playing with that, though. Like, you better have a star that is just bigger than life to do that. Yeah, I don't think, honestly, I mean, we've seen over the last week, LeBron can't help his team right now.

There's nothing, there's nothing saving the Lakers right now. it's over. But when it comes to the Warriors, though, man, it's an interesting case study, right? Because they wanted to,

this is kind of what they, I don't know if they came by, took anyone by surprise this year. I mean, I didn't know if they were going to be in this mix right now, but this was probably a best case scenario for them. And when I look at their roster,

I see a guy like Dremont that is so vital to their team and it's showing, but they have other guys that may be a year away. And they have, they have to like a Jonathan Kaminga is like really

shown I think if he has a if he has like one summer he's gonna he'll be really good next year right not to say he's not good now he's showing spurs and you have all these younger guys and I'm almost kind of seeing this team I don't think they win a title this year but I think that there's seeds right now

they can win it next year or they can at least be at a better prime position because I feel like there's just so many question marks with this team even with a guy James Wiseman, who hasn't played pretty much all season, and then you want to integrate him into a postseason type environment when he hasn't played all year? It's just a lot of question marks.

How do you, do you see, like, how is your opinion of them evolved since, you know, maybe even two months ago? You know, I always kind of felt like this is, this was who they are. We had these questions. We talked about this earlier, you know, maybe even in the preseason about you know, the James Wiseman's and whether or not they were going to be ready, whether they were going to be able to take that step to be the type of supporting cast that could win a championship. That was going to be a question more.

Kaminga's been a great, you know, a great story. Like, he's going to be a star in the league, you know, as long as he continued to keep his head down and, you know, trust in the player development and put his work in. I mean, he is a good physical, athletic, rangy, skilled player. That's the type of thing that franchises need. to fall into and draft to continue to keep that window open around the steffs and the clays my opinion on them hasn't changed i think you know that they they play a certain way um and it's really hard to guard them when they're clicking and they're firing on all cylinders and they're executing that

style of play they just don't have the margin for error um with with with with with a guy like draymond um you you it sounds crazy because i imagine you know clay if you ask me who's a better play like when they were healthy, Clay or Draymond, you'd say clay, right? But you could afford to miss clay in the way they play. And you could plug in, you know, a Jordan pool or someone else. And it's not going to be Clay, but you're not going to miss as big of, you're not going to miss him as much as you're going to miss Draymond when you remove

Draymond because you don't have anyone that can there that can really fill that void. And that's not a knock on anyone in Golden State. He's really, really talented in playing, you know, and doing the things that they ask him to do out there in Golden State. But I think it's interesting for them, Logan, because we talk about playing good basketball. And when you look at the Western Conference right now, if you're Golden State in Memphis, and Golden State has a significantly harder schedule down the stretch than Memphis does, their strength of schedule.

Memphis, that is, is a little lighter. You don't want to be pulling that three-seed playing six. Six is going to get you Denver. You're talking about, you know, Michael Porter, Jr. And maybe Jamal Murray coming back. you slip the four, now you're looking at Dallas. You know, you've got to be really careful in that Western Conference that you don't pull that first round card that could get your ass beat.

I don't know. Man, it's, it's, I've kind of evolved on my, I think the overall narrative is, hey, man, the Eastern Conference is better and deeper and all these things. And that is true. You know, I got the Miami's, they have the, the, the Milwaukee's, they have Chicago's, all the, Brooklyn's, all the way down the line, good teams. I think people sleep on this, on this Western Conference slate, man. Like, I saw Dallas the other night. came back against the warriors, beat him, and they go into L.A.

Bro, did you, I don't know if you saw this. I don't know if you saw this. You probably did. Did you see Luca seek out LeBron on a switch? Bro. Did you see him do that? I don't know. I don't know if you saw just the level of, I'm going to just take this torch from you right now.

I'm just going to just do that. Give that here. It'll tell you everything you need to know about the way that a team. feels about you. If when on a defensive possession, everything immediately stops and people space the floor. When you see everything that's going on offensively, cease really quickly. Oh, stop, everyone stop.

Get out of the way. Get out of the way. Get out of the way. Get out of the way. It tells you everything you need to know about the way that team feels about the defender that is currently on the ball. It's funny. I mean, we're going to have somebody later, like, you know, next week that can really

give us a bit more insight to what the Mavericks are doing. Make sure you check that out. But it's transitioning because we're just viving out here on the real ones today. The Mavericks are interesting, man. I like the Mavs. I do like the Mavs. They're just, they're, they traded away Porzengis. And we kind of were like, you know, on the face of it, what the hell?

You know, we got Denwitty. He's cool. And, you know, you got Bertons like, uh, you know, doing some things, man. I like what they're doing. They got their swagger bag. I don't know, like, I don't know how they're not a title contender. But like, yo, they're making. some noise right now. I do like what they're doing. Well, I mean,

Lucas, as talented as there is in the league, I'm going to be fascinated to hear what our guest has to say about what he attributes this kind of change in their vibe. Because when you watch them play, they look like there's a different energy around them right now. I think that they fall into the conversation or the, the category that you set Memphis fell in for you, which is probably a year away from really being able to, and a piece away from really being like a danger, a dangerous team.

And so in terms of winning a championship, they're dangerous right now, but I think they're a year away from it. But I'm really intrigued because when I watched them, we talked about them briefly, maybe a month and a half, two months ago. And I didn't feel anything. When I watched them play,

Like, I get a feeling when I watch teams play. It's hard to describe. Like, I'll be sitting there, and it's not really about your pick and roll coverage or your, you know, what offense you're running second. Like, it's not about that. I just watch and I get a feeling, right? Like, like, man, damn, that's a good energy. But then the boys look like they're having fun.

That ball's moving. People are moving. You know, I'm watching the bench to see, you know, people are engaged. And if we got multiple efforts going on on defense. And so all of that gives me a picture, and I get this feeling about a team. When I watched Dallas a few months ago, it wasn't a good feeling. It was kind of like, you know, when you started the pod and you said, like, I'm just matching the energy outside. Yeah.

That's kind of what I got from them. And then I watched them the last couple games. And I was like, oh, oh, we got a little, we got a little something going on. I think specifically, like, I'm not around Luca all the time. When I do watch them on television, there's two Lucas. There's the one that's like, both of them are amazingly great, right? but the Luca that I saw earlier in the season when he came out to the bay it was I'm struggling to get baskets I am carrying my team

and there's not much other rhythm going when I saw him in San Francisco and also when I saw him playing LA it was a pep in a step there was a bounce right when he started like he dunked on Dwight Howard at the putback slam on Doug on Dwight he talks a lot of shit when he's on one when he's bouncing and doing all those things I'm starting to see that Luca again. And it's right at the time.

And I don't think, I think it probably coincides with him playing his way back into shape. That probably did a number for him. But I just want to see what a Luca team can do in the postseason, man. I really do. I think that he's such, I think you brought this up. He's such a ball dominant player that when you see him in the postseason that he'll,

he'll carry mostly the offensive load, but a lot of guys are kind of stand around, right? what I would like to see, I want to see him. And then you get the narrative when you do see him, you know, a lot of guys staying around, oh, man, Lucas Carrying all this offensive burden, he needs help. When in actuality, we would probably kind of, if you had a little bit more ball movement,

I would see, you know, probably better basketball. I want to see that the basketball that I saw during the regular season where they're bouncing, they're going around. I want to see that in the postseason. And I think the Dallas Maver's can make some noise. That's fair. I think you did touch on something there, and especially in the playoffs when teams have the time to really drill down on what you're doing and what your tendencies are and how you as a ball-dominant player want to get yours, it becomes harder than when that ball is stagnant and you are more of an ISO team. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of time playoff games come down to having your best player with the ball in a one-on-on-one.

one situation and they got to get a bucket. Like that a lot of times dictates whether or not you win those games. But for the majority of the game, you know, the ball moving, people moving, not being stagnant is going to allow everyone else to help you in the way that they would need to help you just to get you to that point where your brilliance offensively wins us the game. And so, you know, it'll be interesting because the last game I watched, you know, you had Dorian, Dorian Finney Smith was cashing out a bunch of threes. Jailant Brunson was getting good looks at the basket.

get the ball was moving. And so I do believe them to be a better team when that's happening. But clearly, you know, Luca is going to be what gets them over the top, like in a win or lose situation with the ball in his hands. But you could make it easier on yourself sometimes, you know, by just getting off of it or getting it off of it sometimes, you know? I just, I didn't see this coming because, like, you know, say what she want about him, but Percinkus at his point in time, they called him the unicorn.

and he's on the team, you would think, like, on paper, hey, Luca Donchitz, Porzenga's team will, is supposed to do well, right? It's supposed to be a great one-two punch. Why didn't, why, in your eyes, and it isn't in a basketball officiato who watches way more film than I could ever think of? Why did not not go right?

I do not know. I really don't. There's clearly something with Chris that, that you would need to be in the building or around him to figure out. I can't tell you from watching the games. It's multiple stops now where, like, you know, it's been like, oh, shit, they traded him. You know, and so when that keeps out, there's something there. I don't know what it is.

I don't know, I don't know Chris Daps. You know, usually when you get people from different, backgrounds and locker rooms, you know, because it is such, it's such a melting pot of people. But typically when you get people like from the Caribbean, let's say, you know, I was from the Caribbean, if I was ever in a locker room with someone else from a Caribbean nation, you know, there were vibes. Like, you know what I mean? Because you're like, yo, bro, we're here, dog, we're doing it.

Like, you know, you see that all over the, all over the place. Even like, you know, Leandro Barbosa, who was from Brazil, vibes, you know, players that aren't from the U.S. Boris Diao, like vibes, right? even though I'm from the Caribbean, he's from France. Like, you usually see that work out with guys. And so I'm not saying it didn't with Luca and Chris Staps behind the scenes and their relationship. But, you know, when they keep moving you and you're as talented and as long and rangy as Chris Staps is, you know, that says something. Yeah.

Let's take a quick break. I want to talk about an interesting team dynamic out east. All right, and we are back. You know who I want to talk about back east. You already know. Shout out to Bushwick. Shout to Williamsburg. Shout to the Stad.

Shout out to Brownsville. Shout out to everybody out and all the affiliates out there. You know, we hear. Talking about the Brooklyn Nets. Specifically while we're talking about the Brooklyn Nets. Are they friends of the show? I don't know. Are they, are they even acquaintances?

I don't know. Like, did we claim anybody on the Brooklyn Nets? No. I think we've got acquaintances of the shell, right? Okay. It's fair. We've done this. We've done this.

They're acquaintances. Like, we're, you know, they're cool. We got a lot of affinity for some people in the Nets organization, you know. Shout out to the homies. Y'all know who you are. Or maybe you don't know who you are. But the reason why I'll talk about the Brooklyn Nets. Kevin Durant is coming back tonight against your Miami Heat, Roger Bell. He's coming back into a situation where, you know, it's kind of,

it's a variation of what he was going through like during the beginning of the season, right? You got a guy, he's still going, playing with a part-time player in Kyrie, and we don't know who, we don't know when Ben Simmons is coming back, who just got traded for James Harden. He's coming into a new little,

new situation, but it's kind of the same in a weird way. Can he salvage this? Is he good enough to salvage all? of this because he's a great player. He's amazing. He brought them to the second round, put the team on his back last year, became within, you know, foot on the line of being at the Eastern Conference finals and going to the finals. I believe they would have beat the bucks. They would have went to the finals. Can you do that again? Because he's going to have to have that Herculean type effort considering what's going on with the Brooklyn Nets. There's a vaccine mandate that's happening. It's pretty confusing in Brooklyn right now. Like, you guys can Google all that. It's pretty confusing, but the fact of the matter is, Kyrie still can't play home games. Is Kevin good enough to salvage this?

Yes. 100%. But there are factors at play that are beyond his control. And first and foremost, the biggest of those is that mandate. And so if Kyrie is not going to be available to them for home games during the playoffs, Kevin can't salvage this.

I mean, he is great. But we know Ben Simmons. and even if Ben Simmons is great, which I think he will be. He's great in a role. He's not a great sidekick score. That's not the role that he flourishes in the best. And Kevin is going to need that to be able to do what ultimately you and I think he can do, right? Like he's great, but it's just going to be too much if you're not going to have Kyrie, you know, for half of the, for half of the, for half of the,

the time. It's too much to ask of him. And I still imagine he'll be fantastic. But until they get that figured out, it's not going to be, you're just not going to do it, man. Philly, Philly is really, really good. Now, I know they played New York twice and fucking Minnesota. So a small sample size, I got it. But they're going to keep getting better. They're going to know the pieces around them are going to get better. Milwaukee and the heat are really, really good. That's a lot to navigate having Kyrie play half of half of the time. I don't think Kevin can do it. How would you feel as a teammate, Raj?

If your guy, like Kyrie, is not, we've had a variation in this question throughout the season, but specifically now, because when Kyrie is bawling when he does play,

like just straight up, great. How would you feel as a teammate when you see your teammate bawling like this and be like, okay, I'm going to leave, I'm not going to go to the next game? Like, how does,

that doesn't seem I don't know how you slice it. I don't know how you can just fear it to say like this is a good thing. There's no way to slice it. This is point blank. And I want to make sure that I don't start like raising my voice and stuff. So the effect of what I'm saying is lost. I'm not going to do it.

I'm just going to say this is it has nothing to do with anti-vax, pro-vax, none of that. It's got nothing to do with that. When you decide that you're, are not going to do anything, like whatever it be, and that decision then stops you from being able to be there with that team, then you've made a selfish decision. There's no other way to slice that. And that's the answer to your question. Like, I'm not getting into vaccinations and whether you should have them or whether I think, you know, he's right in the anti, I'm not, it's not besides the point. The point is when you decide not to do it, and that makes you ineligible

to play with your team. You have made a selfish decision. And this is why, and I think when we had the, we talked about the trade, this is why I think there was like, there was a lot of people, including, I know Dre, Draymond said this too,

that somehow Philly lost this trade. I don't believe they lost this trade. At all. I don't believe it. There's too many question marks on the, on the Brooklyn roster for me to believe that, that Brooklyn won this trade. Like,

no matter what you say until, you know, there's a jab or a change in law. And Eric Adams, the New York City mayor said, quote, he will not change a law or change something just for Kyrie.

He said that. That was about, he said that in the last few days. The fact that he would, he even had to say that or that came out of that man's mouth is wild to me. Wild. Wild. Wild.

And, locker room dynamics are everything, Roger, everything. And I can't imagine that is a happy locker room, bro. Because of stuff that you just laid out, right? Like, yo, man, I sacrificed for the team. Like Paul Millsap, I'm sacrificed for the team. A Patty Mills, who was a journeyman basketball player, really good one. But like, yo, I'm just trying to get a ring, sacrificed.

Yes. And he's playing larger minutes than he honestly should be playing. And then this is, this is happening. And they can't rely on you to come back. Like there's a stretch right now. The very important stretch of when Kevin's coming. They have Boston, Charlotte, and Philly on the road. That's going to be huge for them.

Then, you know, they have little road trips sprinkled in. But for the most part, Kevin's going to have to do this by itself with, would have been Simmons or a, and, you know, and all this are. all the serviceable guys that they've had because, you know, guys have had to play beyond themselves right now this season to keep them afloat. But it's going to be tough sledding for the Nets, man. It's not going to be pretty.

It's going to be tough. I don't care what anyone gets in front of a microphone and tells you about the way they feel in regards to Kyrie's decision to not comply with the vaccine mandate. I don't care what they get up there and say. Every single one of those dudes that is in that locker room

somewhere deep down feels the way I would feel if I were in that locker room, which was like, hey, man, that's fucked up. Like, while I can understand, like, I understand, it's still fucked up because now I'm sitting here and my opportunity might be squandered, right? And that's just the players. Let me just talk from, you're asking your coaching staff now to coach two different teams. They're coaching two teams, Logan. They're coaching the road team, which has a certain set of players and skill sets and abilities and liabilities.

And then they're coaching a home team, which once you extract that player gives you another set of abilities, like liabilities defensively or what have you. And you've got to coach two teams. There's a lot going on. It is going to be very hard for even a brilliant offensive and defensive player like Kevin Durant to come. to carry that over to hump. With the East being as good and as deep as it is. Do we give enough credence, you think, to locker room dynamics when we cover the sport, Raja,

because it feels like locker room dynamics are so precious. You have to, one thing can fuck up the whole shit. One little thing. How important is that to winning a championship? Because I think that we romanticize the Kobe and Shaq is like, you don't got to all love each other to be cool. And like, you know, you got to do that. You don't got to do that.

How important is that to have a good locker room vibe in order to win at a high level? Is it the most important thing? Is it lower on a totem pole? Where is that? It's a good question. It isn't the most important. The most important is that you have talent. Like, the most important is that you got guys who can, or you have guys that can get

it done. But it's, it's, it's in their second. I mean, it's in, it's in, it's in there firmly at, at, at, at, at, at, at, vibes are, it's why James Hardin is not in Brooklyn anymore. It's why. Like, he got, you know, for, he got sideways for one reason or another, and then dudes didn't want to fuck with him anymore. Like, it was toxic. You could see it, you know, and so, like, and Kobe and Shaq, yeah, no, they didn't love each other, but what ultimately happened to Kobe and Shaq. They broke up. That's right. Like that it doesn't work. So you might be able to harness it and capture, you know, a championship or a couple in, in this window of time provided, you know, it's not on the surface every day and it's not a contentious relationship, right? If we're just,

hey man, we're going to make it work. But eventually, Logan, it doesn't work. And in today, see, this kind of speaks to where we are as a society. Like back in the day, we didn't have one social media. Like, we weren't reading all of the stuff that people were talking about our relationship. Like Kobe and Shaq didn't have, you know, the ability to go out and tweet some sarcastic shit about the other one or read tweets and, and, and articles from across. I think he'll do a lot of work to, like, shit on somebody in public. You're like, hey, you have to, like, find a writer that you like and just, like, find something to do. Right. But today, all of that is at your fingertips.

So those relationships, like, devolve a lot quicker. Do you know what I mean? And so. I think a lot of guys are a lot more stream of consciousness right now when they say some shit. They may say some shit without thinking it through and just like tweet it because they thought about it in the moment. And that fucks up an entire relationship. Absolutely.

Just because like y'all weren't talking or just because you didn't have enough time to like calm your ass down. You know? No. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I think I don't overlook the locker room vibes and the chemistry. But, you know, I guess a lot of people do. I just, oh, that's a lot of.

It's such a, oh, man. So tough, man, because he's so good. He's so good. He's so good, bro. Kyrie is such a great player. That's what you're talking about, right? That's Kyrie. So good.

But if you, you know, I'm just trying to put myself in that position, like, of sitting there every day being like, I can't believe this much. I cannot believe that. I'm not going to lie to you when I was watching. When they came to the bay, man, I was just curious just how like Kyrie was going to, you know, I hadn't seen Kyrie playing a few, a few years. And I was just curious, like, how do you, like, how is he going to play? Like, he doesn't play that often.

I think this was early on. I can't remember if it was within his first few games back. And, bro, he comes in, the earliest dude on the floor, goes on a 90-minute workout is just flawless, right? Then goes in, I think he drops 38, brings the Brooklyn Nets within, like, within a shoot. chance of winning the game. And I'm like, this dude is incredible. Like, Kyrie is somebody that I want to watch play. Any chance I get, he's one of those dudes,

where if he's in town, you got to go see him. I got a list. My list, I think, my list is John Marendt, Janice, Luca, Kevin, Trey Young is in that thing. And then, you know, whenever, and obviously Steph and, I think, and Embed. It's a short list.

It's not that big of a list. Kyrie's on that list, man. You got to see him when he comes into town. And it just sucks that like this has to happen, right? It has sucks. It has to go down this way. It does. And I want to be clear because I think I've been clear about his skill set.

Kyrie is a good dude. Like in his heart. And the way I gauge that is the way you interact with like kids and stuff like that. My son is the biggest Kyrie. My son, Ty Bell, is the biggest Kyrie fan. on the planet. When he was young, and I would be in the gym after practice with my boys, Kyrie would come over and just, like, mess with them for a couple seconds.

Like, I didn't ask him to do that, but he just saw kids in the gym. And so, you know, kind people come over and they spend a minute with the kid, like made a kid's world, still a fan to this day, found him after his signature shoe came out, the first night that Kyrie 1 came out, gave it to tie in the stance, like, gave him his jersey after a game, like a really, good dude. And so I can say all of that and still say. I want to add on that real quick. Go ahead. Go ahead. I remember just like, you know, I have a Kyrie story too. Like, and then we'll go what you're saying. But like during that, that game, the game in San Francisco when the Nets came

to town, Jonathan Kaminga is a huge, huge Kyrie fan. Where's his sneakers, all the stuff, talks about how much he loves him in the locker room. Kyrie, like, I don't think, I don't think they know each other. Right. Like, I don't think, I don't think they know each other. Right. I don't think that they know each other on that level. Afterwards, like, Kaminga just asks for Kyrie's jersey. There's a camera, there's a footage of him. Kari takes his jersey off on the spot.

And you know NBA players, they don't do that to people they don't know. Right. Just took it off of his back and just gave it to him. Made Kaminga's, like, whole, like, life when that happened. He does that. He has that side of them to him, too. He does, like his philanthropic efforts,

his support for women's basketball, his support for Native Americans and different indigenous people. He is really, you know, like, tapped into that. But I can say all of that and still say that the decision not to comply and then therefore not being available

to your teammates in an effort to win this championship is selfish. Both things can be true, and they are. It's fucked up, man. I like there's no way you can slice that and I can only imagine the emotion that a teammate would have for him because we've had people on the show here and I've talked to people around the league bro you could like we already know how you know media members feel about Kyrie but everybody that I've asked like fucking loves him but they have that other they while acknowledging that other side right yeah that people that have been around him fucking love him and he like something to play where I'm like, are you sure? They're like, no, man, even with this vaccine and stuff, it's like, no, man, you don't understand. Like, Kyrie's a good dude.

Kyrie is a good. You don't understand all the other stuff. And it's just interesting. I can't imagine being a teammate of his this season where you like, you see the good in him sometimes. And then you see the other side. The confliction that you could get with being around Kyrie, I can't imagine being in that position. I mean, yeah, that would, it would be tough. I was Kevin Durant and we had decided together that this was what we were going to do.

And I had let other opportunities pass me by or left other opportunities. And this is where we wound up, Logan. I would be really, really frustrated. And I don't speak for Kevin. I'm just saying I would be. Yeah. I would be too. I'd be pissed.

I can't speak for him because, you know, Kevin got a lot of ways that he could speak for himself, right? But, dang. I mean, he could come on here and speak for himself. if he'd like Kevin Kevin I mean you know what's up I know you know you all listen man come on the show but

but damn it's all I can say damn no that's tough that's tough and I you know what I for multiple reasons and for multiple parties I hope that I hope that they get that figured out

and that he can play down the stretch I do I do and just selfishly as a basketball fan Logan I would like to see Brooklyn at full strength and what that Eastern Conference playoff situation would look like if everyone was playing their best ball with full roster. So let's just start there.

I'm not even going to get into personal reasons with relationships I have and stuff like that. Just as the fan, you know, I hope he's available to them because when he's available and you ask me, could Kevin get it done? If he's available, the answer is yes. If he's not, the answer is it's going to be too much. It's a good place.

That's a good place to get to it. are segments that we like to call Real One of the Week where we shout out a person, entity, and an organization. The One of the Week, I'm going to go with, I think he's a multiple-time winner of Real One of the Week. Just honestly, if he keeps going, we might have to name this after him.

I'm going to go with John Morant. Just I'm going to go with John Morant. I don't think I have to say anything more than that. Ja'am Rant is a real one of the week. Also, did you see, you see Chuck? You see Bubba Chuck? Shout him out. Yeah, with the MVP.

award with the with the with the with the judge jersey yeah with the judge jersey that's what thing i love about one thing i love about alan iverson there's a lot of things to love about alan ivers one thing i love about alan iverson is he's the og with like no ego to this shit right where he will gladly shout out of young it he's done it so many times he's like he will gladly show love to the next generation no matter in the generations after that he just shows a lot of love Shout out of Bubba Chuck. Honestly, co-reliens.

Alan Iverson and John Moran this week for me. That's what's up. My real one of the week is going to be Coach Mike Shosheshefsky. He won his last game, his last home game at Cameron.

And his career is winding down. He's shutting it down. And I know people have played for Coach K that hated him. Like to this day, hate him. I know cast to play for Coach Kaye that love him, and would stand by him no matter what. But despite any of that,

you can't argue with the brilliance that was the coach and all that he accomplished there at Duke, turning a school that wasn't really known, you know, for basketball at the time into the gold standard, man. And the place that most of us wanted to go to, like when you're coming up, you want to play at Duke.

You know, it's just synonymous of basketball. Were you a Duke guy? Were you a Duke guy? I hated Duke. I wanted to play Georgetown. But like all my kids, you know, my kids and stuff like that, it's Duke, right? Like that's what they know. Like, you know, and so for that and for a great career and for best wishes in his retirement, real one of the weeks going to Coach K. Man, I saw, I saw Coach K once at Michigan State.

It was for a Jersey retirement. I remember I had to like stand in the, like the, like the, we had. to stand in the tunnel before like we go out to the jersey retirement and um coach k like walk past me bro and it was like an aura dog it was like an aura around him it was like oh shit this fucking coach k bro yeah like he has he just wanted to i don't know how the how it is now like if if coaches still there's still coaches that have that aura when they walk in i'm sure like nick sabin has that right um uh who who else uh There's like a few guys, but it's like the last of a dying breed of like coaches that when they walk into a room, it's like, oh shit.

Coach K is one of those dudes, man. Coach K had that effect on myself. And I imagine from their reaction a bunch of other pros, we were in a practice at Phoenix. Coach K was taking over USA basketball at the time. He was going to become the coach. So he was there with Jerry Colangelo. So they came down to watch a practice. And, you know, I mean, Grant Hill had played for him, but no one else there had.

And so I think a lot of us were like, oh, shit, that's Coach K. Oh, shit, look over there. There's Coach K. And we were like eight, nine-year NBA vets at the time. You know what I mean? That's crazy. That's crazy. Coach K, man.

Damn. Man, ruin it a week, man. And that has been our Thursday edition of Real Ones. We got some stuff in the pike for you on Monday. Just check it out, man. We got some stuff for you guys. That's some stuff. That's some stuff next week popping for you all.

Looking forward to it. But in the meantime, make sure you check out our Slake on the Ringer NBA feed on Spotify. Check out Upside High. Check out Weekends of Waze. Check out Ball of Boy with KOC. Check out group chat. Check out the answer. Also, I got this from our social media man, Keith.

Make sure you guys check out the Ringer Spotify page for all the music. that complements all of our articles and profiles. I have a playlist for y'all called Songs to Write 2. Some of the songs that have curated, some of the work that I've done in the written format. Make sure you check that out. Our ringer page on, I think it's called Ringer Music on Spotify.

Make sure you guys check that out. And let's keep the propaganda going, Raz. Check out R2C2 with who, Rosabelle. Vallejo legend, The Cresti Clown. Cici Sabathia made appearance in Bill. I was watching last night. Oh, okay.

I didn't know you were caught up. Okay, I didn't know we had billions talk right now. But okay, all right, all right. We're locked in. You kind of just threw me off guard here. My bad, sorry. You always tell me not to talk about billion stuff when I want to talk about Chuck Rhodes,

who is the rural one of the decade. Okay? Shout out to Chuck Rhodes in the building. Make sure you check out. We're going to keep the propaganda going. Season 3 on the way, Black Girl's Song, but with who, Rochabelle? Town legend, Danielle Smith.

Powell. We'll see y'all soon.