The Ringer NBA Show - Final Thoughts on the Kyrie Irving Situation, Jordan Poole’s Ascent, and Lakers Concerns | Real Ones

Episode Date: October 14, 2021

Logan and Raja give their final thoughts on the situation in Brooklyn after the Nets said he won’t play with the team until he can fully contribute and Kyrie put his reasoning on the internet (1:00). Then Logan asks Raja if Jordan Poole is a potential future All-Star (22:30) and airs his concerns about this Lakers team (29:10), before they each award their Real One of the Week (35:50). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's up everybody. I'm JJ John D. Stramski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, welcome to Real Ones. This is Logan Murdoch with my co-host, Roger Bell. Roger had a bit of audio difficulties. So his audio is and is up to snuff. But we still will do it. It's not a usual pristine quality, but we have given you the best of what we have. Halla. What's popping? Logan Murdoch here. Roger Bell there. This is Real Ones. Roger. This is our first, let's call it. celebration before we get into the shits. This is our first Thursday show of the season, man. This is a dawn of a new era. We're going back to our Monday,

Thursday schedule of real ones. This is our first Thursday show. We couldn't do Monday because I was a company holiday, but we are back on track two days out of the week starting next week where the season starts first Thursday show. Roger, how you feeling, dog? Ready to go, baby. I'm rejuvenated, I'm rested.

I'm ready to go. I mean, I got to I got shit to get off my chest, Logan. I'm not going to lie, man. I know this is a Thursday show. I couldn't sleep worth shit last night. I was like the first day of school. I'm not, I'm cabin. But I didn't sleep last night and I'm ready to go right now, though.

Let's just get to it. Let's get right into it, man. It's funny because we were talking pre-production. And, you know, there's just some times where all my podcasters out there, all my pod fathers and pod mothers and all my peeps out there, everybody out there knows. Sometimes you just don't, the rundown is just getting hard, right? Where you just don't know what you're going to put onto your program.

You have no idea what's going to happen. And then, you know, right at night, you just, you know, you do your Googles and stuff and something happens where you're just like, oh, this is going to not only lead our show, it might just carry our show. And that happened last night and the days before our show. show, and that is the saga of one Kyrie Irving, Raja, who went on an IG live, 19 minutes. I didn't see the full 19 minutes live. I actually found it on, you know, the Nets Daily, the SB Nation site for the Nets.

But you actually watched it a little bit. You're the social media guy now, and you're head of socials for ringers, for ringer ruins, and you got a chance to check it out. there's a lot of stuff going on. Can you just give me your raw thoughts on what you saw from that 19 minute clip from unvaccinated Kyrie Irving, please? Yeah, first of all, I didn't watch the whole 19

because I don't know, like eight or nine minutes into it. I tapped out. I was kind of like what I say that the people who hop in my DM sometimes, you can just miss me with some of that. Like I, it's just, I felt confused, I guess is the best way to put the way I felt eight or nine minutes into it.

It just felt like you were kind of all over the place. It left me feeling kind of like you're looking for different places and different reasons and different explanations. They kind of fit the narrative, maybe trying to paint yourself as the victim in this to some degree. Yeah. And for that, I just couldn't listen anymore. And so I didn't watch the whole 19 admitted. Yeah. In the 19 minute IG clip, he talked about how he's doing what's best for him to not get vaccinated. He alluded to not be alluded to being told one thing about vaccinations in the summer by the Nets that he could get maybe an exemption by the Nets or maybe by the New York. I don't know. It's unclear right there, but he thought that he could get an exemption from getting the vaccine. And he says he's not anti-vax, but he is trying to speak up for. the people without a voice who don't want to put things into their bodies. And I do feel like most

times, and I want to give Kyrie the benefit of the doubt, I do feel like sometimes he, or most times his heart seems to be in the right place, I guess, with these things, but it always seems to come up when he gets himself in trouble. I'm just not speaking up for the media because the media are pawns, right? They're not going to do, they're not, they're not saying the right thing. And most times we don't really hear what you're talking about. You never talk to us. And when you do, it's a lot of misguided stuff. It's a lot of stuff that there's some truth, but a large majority of it that gets put out there is not truth from you, from your words. And what makes the Kyrie holdout different from all the other holdouts that we've seen? When we talk about

Ben Simmons, and we even talk about the NFL, because you know we're both NFL guys, what's the biggest thing with this holdout when it comes to a team than other holdouts that we see where, you know, players do get support from things like this. When they do get support from their teamers, when you do get support maybe from some people in the front office. But what is different between this holdout and other holdouts as you've seen? It's a good question, Logan, because it's hard to digest all of that, right? Because there's a lot that goes into that. Yeah. Among other things, I would say history. You have a history. of not being available, both for injury,

which is beyond your control, no one would hold that against you, but also being unavailable for reasons that have nothing to do with an injury, where you just need time to go off and do what you do while everyone else is at work and on this same journey and quest, galvanized as a unit to try to win this championship.

And so I think what's different about this, this one is the history behind Kyrie and some of the some of the other times in that history where he has been unavailable for his own personal reasons. Yeah. Is that fair? I want to also be fair to Kyrie, but I do too. And I was talking, it was funny because I was talking to somebody, at least last night about this.

And it, the biggest thing that I, they were talking about how, you know, Kyrie's not the first person to have this unvaccinated stance, right? and especially in the NBA. So does he feel the person, you know, just, you know, throughout, is Kyrie might potentially be targeted. My answer to that was, I don't think this would have been as polarizing if Kyrie didn't have the history that he has. If he didn't, I think people forget that he left the team without talking last year,

without telling anyone on the nets that he was leaving for a person, or a family reason or anything. But he didn't tell anybody about this. And then we get the, this goes back to my point of when he gets in trouble, he's talking about how he's fighting for something. Like last time he was talking about how he's fighting for, it came out. Maybe he's fighting for workers' comp, right? Or workers' comp in the NBA or PTO in the NBA, right?

Not workers' comp, but PTO. And when we take PTO, we got to tell our bosses, you know, no matter what walk of life this is, right? But we forget all of what that happened. I think if there was, if this was just an isolated incident and Kyrie didn't have a history of this, I think that we would probably give him the grace that he's asking for during this time. Am I wrong on that? I think that that's really the biggest thing is if this history of Kyrie wasn't the history of

Kyrie, we'd probably be on the side, but it's just a, it's just a gradual thing because you worked with him in Cleveland and then it keeps on going. And we've seen this. We've seen it in Boston. we've seen this and now in Brooklyn. And it's just been a pattern so far. And I don't think we would have been as hard on him about this if there wasn't such a pattern. Yeah, well, let me be clear.

Like, I didn't see this in Cleveland. Like, there weren't any issues with anything like that. Like, he seemed to be fine. The team was fine. And then, you know, I resigned. They went on to win a championship. And whatever transpired thereafter I left, I wasn't privy to. So I didn't get to see that.

I've watched from afar, though. And I do think it's fair that you take, you know, history. his history into account when you're forming an opinion on what's what's going on right now. I, however, without his history, still would not be on his side. I wouldn't be on his side because I try to put myself in the position of someone on that team that would have been similar to me in my career. Someone who looked around this offseason and said, you know, one of two scenarios probably, man, I'm older.

What's the best opportunity? I'm a minimum guy at this point. What's the best opportunity for me to win a championship? And I deemed Brooklyn to be that. Or a guy who may have been able to make more money somewhere else, but because of the opportunity to win a championship, and this happened to me. So you chose to go to Brooklyn.

For instance, in my career, when I had the opportunity to go play for the heat, the year the big three came about, and I did have the opportunity to go there, but it was for the minimum, right? And I had offers from Boston and Utah on the table for $9.5.10 million for multiple years, right? I could have chosen to go play for the heat. I did not. But had I chosen to go play for the heat?

And then DeWade, for whatever reason, you know, the city of Miami came down with a mandate. And D. Wade decided he didn't want to comply with that. And so he was going to sit out the year standing up for a bunch of other people. I would be looking at him sideways. Like, dog, wait a minute. I sacrificed a lot. You literally took money on my pocket here. Yeah, you're correct.

And so that's the stance that I'm coming from. So I wouldn't be on side regardless. I'm not even touching vaccines versus, you know, non-vaccines and the hell. I'm not even getting into that. I'm talking about purely as a teammate, you know, as someone who chose to come to Brooklyn to get something done. And now, you know, that's in jeopardy. Listen, man, and I'm with you on this.

Both of our stances have been crystal clear on this show about how we feel about vaccines. So there's really no reason to go there. But I do want to get to the teammate point of this because at what point does not only guys like you and role players, patients get thin? Because by and large, man, changes are going to happen until like Kevin Durant and Hardin's views change of this, right? Like, where do you think that, when do you think that they get at their wits in and they're just like, okay, we're giving up on Kyrie completely. Like, now they've already done that and said like, yo, you can't play until you get jabbed up. This is just not going to happen. But at what point do they just get like, man, dude, what are you doing?

It's simple. It's not, it's just get one shot for us. It's not even about your health at this point. It's about being a good teammate, right? At what point do you think that they're, the superstar patients weighs thin? because we already know the front offices is thin. We know we've seen rib-between the lines with Steve Nash, the patients is thin.

When does it get to probably the most important people in that organization's patients getting thin? It's a great question. I didn't, you know, when I told you what my stance was, like, it would be, it's impossible for me to put myself in their shoes. Like, I wasn't that type of player. Like, I, you know, I didn't have that. It's hard. But I can, so I can only assume that if they get, I don't know,

let's say a quarter of the way through the season, and there isn't, or there aren't clear lines of communication with Kyrie, and those lines of communication are expressing that we are getting this dealt with, and he will be on a court in Brooklyn sooner rather than later, I think you're going to reach a point where those dudes are out, you know, and that's just me speculating. I mean, we're talking 15, 20 games,

you may be able to salvage something after that if he were to come back into the fold, you know, much long. longer than that and it's too much to overcome, even for the greatness of Kevin Durant, Kyrie and James Hardin. And Kyrie is great. Like he's a phenomenal player. But that's too much to overcome. You're dealing with the second year head coach and Steve Natch.

That's my guy. But it's, I mean, he's still new to this, you know? That isn't a season, Phil Jackson or, you know, Jerry Sloan or, you know, I mean, guys that just know how to handle everything that you throw at them because they've got a a life's worth of work in the field. So I think, Logan, I mean, I would guess like that. But let me say this. Brooklyn did what they had to do.

It was the only play for the Brooklyn Dets. Yeah. Anyone saying otherwise, you're just not in touch with reality. There's no way that they could keep organizational control, have a bunch of guys in a locker room, buying to working together towards this common goal of winning a championship. And at the same time, have one of their main. Andrew like cogs in the wheel showing up half of the time. It's impossible.

Well, how would you feel if you're another team, right? Because there's only at this point, there's only really two markets that are, that are doing this, that are, that have the mandates as New York and that San Francisco right now, at this point. Now, California as a, you know, we've talked about this. California could probably do this mandate at some point, you know, other like states could probably do this mandate at some point. But at this moment, only two jurisdictions are really locked in on these mandates. Do you think that there's another way, like maybe another team can come get Kyrie or something like that? Or I feel like he's messed that up too.

His trade value is eroding right now. Or you're looking at me sideways. You don't think so? Yeah, I think talent always wins out. As long as talent is still in its prime, it's going to win. Yeah. It's going to win. People can't resist.

It's irresistible, bro. And Kyrie is still in his prime. and he is super talented. And so while I'm sure every single NBA team, hear me now, every single NBA team is having a conversation about you're not going to be able to trust him. Everybody, at least one person in every front office when his name is brought up is saying, if they have a good front office, can't trust him. Those same front office is given the opportunity to take a swing at that talent,

a bunch of them are going to do it. Why does that happen? Because I'm always fascinated by them. that rock when it's clearly that it's about to crash and burn teams can't help themselves and still pick up a guy like that right where it's the the proof is in the pudding they've been doing this and they're like we're going to take a jab out to see what's up we're going to see why do teams do that when the riding is clearly on the wall we all see it and we know that they see it and they still they still just take a chance i mean in some cases it's just you know you're over

you've overthought it in some cases you think you know you're so good at at your job, there's a level of ego that goes into it. Like I can, no one else has been able to make this work. I can. I mean, there's some of that going on, right? There are also situations like, you know, that I had in Cleveland with David Griffin and Trent Redden and Kobe Altman when it was, when we traded for J.R. Smith, who had kind of fallen out in, in New York.

And we felt like the culture that LeBron brought into the locker room and the pieces that were in place were going to be able to. to help J.R. And J.R. was going to be able to help them, you know, but you get the best out of J.R. because you had a, you had a good enough culture set up. It's kind of like Tom Brady, right? When Tom Brady is able to bring in guys like, you know, A.B., who was kind of out around the league. And Tom was like, look, I can handle that. We can, he's still got a lot of tread on the tire. Just, you know, personality may be a little difficult for some people,

but I can handle it. Like, culturally, I set a tone that can absorb that. I think there's some of that goes on. But more often than not, Morgan, after all of that I said, what it boils down to is very few people on the planet in history have been able to do with the basketball, what Kyrie Irving can do. That's a mouthful. I understand. And I can have my opinion about how he handles some of his business, about the way he's handled in this situation, and still say that what he does with the ball, historically speaking, not many people on the planet have ever been able to do it. And so you're going to take a swing at it. You're going to at least look.

Yeah. But it's funny because it goes back to the polarization of this vaccine stuff because also, you know, and again, you know my stance on vaccines. But we see this, we juxtapose this. Like, say, do we think that this would have been a bigger deal if, say, Kyrie was in Denver, right? where we just had a big feature from, a big feature from Rob Mahoney on Michael Porter Jr., who has said on record, I'm not getting vaccinated,

or I'm not getting vaccinated just yet. And, but he's in Colorado where there's no such mandate. Do you think it would have been as polarizing if, no, he was in Denver and he was doing, was just saying kind of the same things? No, definitely not.

It's because he lives in a municipality where he can't go to work and do his job. And like if he was in Denver where that doesn't exist, it would just be, it would be what it is, you know? Like it wouldn't be a big deal because he wouldn't be missing all of that time. Like you're paid to do a job, man. You're paid $40 million. I wasn't even $34 million to do a job. You've signed on to do that job.

You've, in some instances, you've, I don't want to say chorus, that's too strong of a word, but you've aligned with other people to bring them to Brooklyn with you to do a job. And when you do that, there's a responsibility. right and if you're not then going to be able to do that job and live up to your end of the bargain by your own choice we all have choices to make like you know what what what what I like people to miss me with is the whole like you know he don't have a yeah he's got a choice like he's he's choosing not to do it like it's it's it's the law currently where he is like and where he's chosen to play also I would say Kyrie wanted to go to Brooklyn right he wanted to be in Brooklyn he wanted to be in

York. New York passed this legislation or whatever happened. And then this, this is where we are. What are we going to do? So, no, it wouldn't be the same story. But, like, you do have a choice, right? Like, you have a choice. You can do it or you don't have to do it. And if you choose not to do it, then like I've said on the pod before, like, you choose not to get your kids vaccinated. That's your choice. They just can't go to public school. You know what I mean? Like, it's just, I mean, it's what it is. And it can't be around my kids. You know, like, you know, so I don't know. It would not be the same story. I just know how much

does ego play a part into this? Because I see this and I see it somebody who's like, yeah, man, I think this has been the rap on Kyrie this whole time. It's just like, yeah, I'm smart, but I'm going to let you know that I'm smart and I'm going to let you, I'm going to, you have to believe me in whatever I say

is, is bright, media is pawns. This is what I'm standing up for and things like that. But it always seems like he's talking down to these people. And how, how What does that say like about him as a leader and him as a person in this space with that ego? I've already said about leadership. We talked about this a few pods ago.

I don't know how many people heard it because, you know, we were infrequent at the time. We're just coming back. Leadership requires stability. You know, it requires accountability. It requires coming into work every day and being the same dude so people know what to expect out of you. if you don't check those boxes, then it's going to be hard for you to be an effective leader, right? And those that are in the building need to really,

really decide whether or not you're the best person to lead them, right? So let me just leave that there. You know, I hear him talk, yes, quite often. It's not even the, I'm smarter than you that he comes off as for me. Like, because you can, I mean, hey man, you're smarter than me. God bless you. I don't know. But it's the, you know, more enlightened.

than everyone else that interests me the most, right? Like, he's got this, you know, to the way he's got this fourth eye. Forget about the third eye. Like, he's got another eye that don't nobody else get to tap into. And that's fascinating for me. Like, you know, you're talking about all these people losing jobs and being forced to lose money. You know what else happened?

A lot of people die. Yes. Like, do you know, a lot of people die. Yeah. And people, like, I'm sorry. sorry, we're on the, we're on the vaccine conversation. I said I wasn't going to go there now. Like, no, ideally, no, I don't want to take a vaccine. I'd rather not. Given the choice during regular times and you said, hey, you take this shot in your arm where you don't have to,

now I'm good, I don't take it. But given the context of the global pandemic, which we are still in, by the way, and he said last night that we're out of it, we are not out of it. We're still in it. Given the context and my social responsibility in my eyes to help get us out of the pandemic, I'm going to take the vaccine. Yeah. Hey, man, I think I'm going to make a declaration, man. I don't want to talk about Kyrie anymore after this episode, Doug. And with that, let's talk about some happier stuff on the break.

I got some happy shit to talk about. Let's do it, bro. Let's take a quick break, man. All right, Ra, let's talk about some happy stuff, man. I'm here to dispute propaganda, and I'm here for you to tell me that I'm stupid. And then I can, I don't know what I'm talking about. With pleasure. You ready to do this?

So I, just like I said, I've been around the Warriors for like the last, I'd say two and a half weeks working on a story that's coming out Monday. I think you guys will like it. But I don't know how much free season basketball you've been watching, but I've been watching a lot of Warriors preseason basketball. And I think Jordan Poole will might be an all-star one day. I really do. Remember, hold on, hold on. Just let me give my whole spiel out.

Let me give my whole spill out. Okay. Remember last year when Jomey came on our program after two and a half late. Laker games and like seven quarters of watching Tailing Horton Tucker, you know, play really great in preseason, right? And drinking the Kool-Aid. And he just basically said that Taylor and Horton Tucker was the next, the next best Laker guard. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. He is going to be a champion. He's going to win a title by himself. It doesn't matter if LeBron is on the roster. That's crazy. It's not what he said. It was basically what he said.

Am I wrong for having similar feelings about Jordan Poole right now? No, no, I don't know. I mean, first of all, you're not wrong for having, like, he can play. I watched him the other night against the Lakers. You can who? You know what? Honest to God, when I turned a game on, he had a couple splash plays immediately. And I said, damn, that, this was my thought.

Like, man, if you get a healthy Clay and he's taking that next step into evolution as an NBA player with Steph and Dremont, that, you're cooking. So I am not all the way where you are, but I do think he's a nice player. I would just caution the same way I cautioned Joe Me, all right, allow me to do this. First of all, I thought it was hilarious that before you launched into your shield, like the wry smile that came across your face for those who can't see you right now was like, I can tell it. This wasn't just a lighthearted, like, hey man, you're like really a fan, okay? So. No, bro. I didn't think he had this in him.

No, I know. You were excited. You were like, yes, this is happening. Bro, go ahead, go ahead. What were you going to say? I just cautioned all of that. Like, you can look fantastic. And I'd say it again in preseason and in summer league.

And I would just say, as fantastic as I think Taylor Horton Tucker was last year, you know what he averaged? Tell me what he averaged. Nine points a game. I thought he averaged like 19 points. the game based on what Joe me. But my point is, that is not shabby at all. Now, to some idiots who watch the NBA, if you don't average 27, you're a bum.

But the fact, like, nine points are nine meaningful points. But there's a big difference between like what Jomi and people pull me he was going to be and the nine points that he wound up averaging. Now, he's going to continue to get better. So with Jordan Poole. I'm just saying I don't think superstardom. And I think that's okay, right? What's the, okay, tell me this right now.

And I've been around the game a long time and I always defer to you with basketball questions like this. What is it the difference between preseason basketball and regular season basketball in terms of play? Like I saw, I saw LeBron last week and he basically told the media is like, I don't go fuck about preseason. I don't care. I do not care about anything about preseason. I want to get to the regular season. This is just, I'm running through the motions right now. I don't care.

What is the difference when you get to? LeBron saying that versus opening night when Jordan Poole has to face LeBron James, because that is really the marquee matchup of the game opening night. Speed and physicality. Okay. I mean, you know, locked in aness, if you will. Right? Like in the preseason, you know, I may know that Logan is a good shooter.

And my assignment might be. You should know that. You should know that because it was on my scouting report. And I should run over. over there and try to run you off and make you a pull-up shooter, make you have to dribble the ball a few times because you're a catch and shoot guy. But it's the preseason. So I kind of run over half-heartedly giving you the time I talked about to squeeze.

And boom, you knocked it down. So you look good. Now, in a regular season game when there's more on the line, like, I'm going to run out there and get on top of your toes. So you can't shoot that ball. Now you've got to put it on the floor. Your percentage is dropped dramatically, right? So that's the time I talked about.

The physicality is just that. like nobody's trying to get hurt in the preseason. So, you know, you're not banging and jostling the same way you would. Like, it just doesn't mean as much. And so, you know, some of those drives to the rim and those forays to the rim where you see guys, like last night, I forget who the kid was from Orlando. Don't drive down the lane. Just don't, don't, you know.

Trying to dunk on Ma'amba. Bro, try to dunk on Moamba. Like, that's fine. But somebody's stepping in front of that in the regular season and making you get up off the ground. Well, not as much in today's NBA. The point is it means a little bit more, and so there's a little bit more physicality,

and it takes away some of the things that some people are able to do. I've told this story before. Played MJ in my second year in the league. It was my second, it was my third preseason. I didn't play much with Atlanta my first year. I didn't play much with San Antonio my second year, but I was playing a lot for Philly in this preseason. And every starter was out.

Alan Iverson had surgery late. Aaron McKee had surgery late, and Eric Snow was out. So Speedy Clasden and myself were the starting guards. given, like, just doing everything we wanted to do. I gave MJ a hot 21 at Penn State. We went at Penn State University. Nanny, God bless her.

She turned 95 September 13th. Nanny was in the building. My grandma sitting behind the bench. Shout to OG. Yep. Going in. Shout out to the OG. I thought it was Kate, Logan.

I was gassed. What? With the family after the game, my old shit's about to be. I'm here, baby. I'm going to be one of the greatest of all time. I'm here. I'm better than Michael Jordan.

I am better. I'm in the building. Fast forward to three weeks later, first regular season game in Washington, D.C. I ain't score a point. MJ probably had 27. He just didn't care. Was it like a soft 27?

Was this like a like a white 27? It was an old man 27. Like, take this. Yeah. You can't do anything about this. And I don't know what you thought Penn State was, but that is not real NBA, bro. Welcome.

I saw, it's funny because it was a similar, um, friend of the show, Juan sounds, Tuscano Anderson had a moment with LeBron in the first game. It was at Chase Center against the Lakers. And first of all, Juan felt this shit out of LeBron. He didn't call it, right?

On the fadeaway. He fouled this shit out of him. And then goes in and then hits like a transition three on the other end. And I'm above the family section. So the family section, it's like, yeah, fuck yeah. Like it's like Juan Tiscano Anderson, team Mexico jerseys in the building. Like it was, it was ready.

It was rolling. It was ready to go, right? And then, um, a couple, like on Tuesday, LeBron got him on that same spot and was like, all right. And just cooked him. Just gave him the same, the same move every time. Just like, ah, ah, here, take this shoulder. Ah, Dirk fade away.

Oh, take this shoulder. Oh, oh, spin. Kobe fade away. It was all net. And it was just like, damn. It was, that was, that was, that was crazy. A quick transition, though. Jordan Poole, I think, I don't know if he's going to be an all-star.

but he's hitting shots that's just that's ridiculous. Like he's throwing up those step shots from the, from the, he's throwing up those, it's just, it's just a great thing. Now, conversely,

I, I'm, should I be concerned with the, with the Lakers? Because the Lakers look like shit in the preseason right now. They look out of sorts. They can't play defense. Russ is throwing it into the stands.

Carmelo's not playing any defense and hitting threes and, hitting like one three a game and then doing a three chuck to the ear. after not playing defense all game. What is my level of concern? What should it be for the Lakers? A three on a scale of one to ten. Okay. I don't think there's need for much concern.

The older you are, the older you get, the more experience you have, the less you care about the actual result of a preseason game. You're just trying to get out there, get the juices flowing, continue to get in shape,

get a little rhythm and a feel. and I would go as far as to say, don't worry about the first 10 games of the Lakers season. Don't even trip. Like that's going to come together. Like eventually, they'll have to figure it out. They've got a lot of pieces that overlap now.

And when you have a lot of pieces that overlap like that, don't necessarily all fit into the picture like seamlessly. You got to trim some of them, you know? Like you got to cut around the edges. Somebody's got to give up a little bit of that. I got to squeeze you in here. I give up a little bit of that. little bit of me for you to shine there.

That's going to take some time. So as long as they stay healthy and they can defend, right? Because they can't be a sieve defensively. See what happens when older players, even if they were really good defenders, like towards the end, you know, Kobe was a phenomenal defender when he wanted to be. But as he got older, it became selective and in selective spots. Like he wasn't just a beast defensively all the time, you know? That becomes harder to do.

Like same with MJ. same with all the grades. Like they can't depend all the time. So they have to keep their chops defensively, but I wouldn't really worry about them. You know what I hate quick side note? I hate the compilations of like bad defense compilations because there's no context around those bad defense compilations, right?

Where people, where there's sometimes where players just don't care. And then they're like, when was this game? Oh, it was in January on the third night, like of a back to back to back to back. Like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to run out on that shooter, dude. I'm sorry. I'm just not going to do it. And then they act like, oh, this person is just a terrible defender because in a January game,

they didn't give maximum effort. I just, I don't like that. You hate that. Now, here's what I'd say. I can grant you that. But if said player has 27 clips in the compilation, then I think it's fair. If Logan Mordock shows up one time in a January 3rd game, not on a closeout, that's one thing. If Logan Murdoch has 27 clips of Logan Murdoch not doing his job and not give it a shit defensively, that's not a story.

I mean, there's probably going to be 27 clips in one game with me, not giving a full effort defensively, and then also one of 27 from the field. So, like, I'm just, I'm all over the place. It's a dangerous combo, sir. That's a dangerous combo. We're out here. Let's take, like, some tidbits before we get out of here.

Ben Simmons, man, he's back. He's back with the Philly Sixers. And I don't know where this goes. I have no idea where this goes. I can, I don't think I've ever seen it. anything like this before. I'm sure it's happened before. We're could Ben Simmons finish the season with the Sixers right now.

We're making a prediction time. What's going on? Are you asking me, will he? Are you saying could he? Absolutely. Could he? Absolutely. Why is that?

How can you make this relationship better? Just time with each other. Hey, I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry, too. I don't know that it has to be better for him to finish out the season. You know what I'm saying to you? It just has to be like lack of suitors or something. What does it have to be for him to stay?

We can't get the type of offer that we want for. for you and you don't really have any other option if you want to make your money and we're going to make this work. Now, I'm not saying that will happen, but that could very well happen. But when I see this is just, I don't know what to think of this, but I do think that they can make a resolution. We saw this before, like, with Kobe just blatantly asked for a trade with the Lakers and was like their opening night. It's not out of the realm of possibility. It's not. You know what's interested in Lowe? Because I've said before, like, it's a distraction. I don't know that you want that if you're the Sixers.

I would say this, though. If Ben Simmons feels so disrespected that he takes it personally, he doesn't have to be great with everybody there. He's just got to take that shit out on the court. Right? Like all of the disrespect and animosity that you feel from fans or whoever you're saying is doing that to you, take it, channel it. and bring that to the product

that the Sixers are thrown on the floor and they could be a better team than they were last year. Yeah. He's that good. They're that good. So it doesn't have to be all like roses and drinking wine together and combia. It doesn't have to be that. He's just got to be a monster

and a savage out there on the court. And if he can figure out a way to do that, whether he's happy or not, I think they're okay. You buying Ben Simmons and VP stock right now? It's at all time long. No, I ain't buying it. I'm not buying that, bro. I mean, it's free.

They're giving it away. I might just take it because they're going to it. I mean, if they're going to give it to me, you ask me if I'm buying it. I might just take it. Again, okay. Can we do this, man? The boy can play. He can play.

He can play, man. Let's stop. He's just not a score. He's not a score, but he can play. Yeah. All right. Story time before we get out of here. I have a story to tell you, Rajah.

So last week, I went to the Hollywood Bowl, for a I went to the Hollywood Bowl for the Chappelle you know like a documentary screening Dave Chappelle had a documentary screening at the Hollywood Bowl last week and you know I get there you know you know L.A. traffic is crazy

so you know I get there a little early you know get my get there right when the gates open right so you can get some merch and stuff and then I go to the snack bar you know because I got to get some waters because you know when I got there they took away my

I got, I had some assentious and they took them away at the gate. They said, you can't have your essentials. The dude was like, no, man, we're not, we can't bring that in there. So, and he was like, you know, I'm going to dispose these. I'm like, no, don't dispose of these. You can have them, dude. You can have them. Please take them.

And so I go to the, go get some water at the, get some water bottles at the concession stand. And so I'm going, man, and I'm about to go. I asked for two waters. And, you know, I'm going and I'm, uh, I'm, uh, I'm, um, I'm, about to go pay and I in the in the in the what the young lady and the in the front who's who's taking my order says are you Logan and I'm like I haven't even brought my card out I'm like how do you know my name like you don't even have my ID out and he's like are you she says again are you Logan and I say yeah and the dude behind her goes yo what's good Logan ruins what's up

man, what's popping, yo? Hey, what's going on? What's up? What's heading? What's heading? Right? And so I'm like, yo, what's good? Also trying to be like, yo, can I get these waters for free?

What's good? You know, we clearly like, what's popping? You know, what's up? And so I acknowledge, I'm like, yo, thank you so much for listening and stuff like that, right? And then I'm about to go pay or whatever. And like, it's probably like 15 seconds have gone by since then. And then he's like, yo, Logan, was pop it? can I be real one of the week?

Oh. And so. Oh, a solicitation for a real one of the week. Okay. So my man, Corey, from the Hollywood Bowl snack bar, is my real one of the week. Because he asked or because he gave you that shit for free, bro. You know what? Because we have a fan out here.

We have fans out here. So I'm just because he just acknowledged the team, man. Shout out to. I got to shout out to Corey, man. Shout out to Corey. Shout out to you, my guy. So without being said, who is a good. who is your real one of the week?

That's it. You weren't even ready for that. I was not ready for that. You told me a story time. I didn't even know what I should have seen it coming. A lot happened this week, Logan. You usually say that when you don't got shit to say. I'm not preparing.

I'm searching right now. Like, I want to go off the top of my dome and tell you Lamar, but he's been Lamar Jackson because he's been my real one multiple times. But did you see what he did against the Colts? Can we just talking about that? I know who it is, man. But do you see what he did? Yeah, but I have an argument for another quarterback.

I'm not going. I'm not going there. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I want to, but I have to acknowledge the brilliance that was Lamar Jackson. He was like, no,

I'm not talking about Lamar Jackson. There's another quarterback that is out here bawling right now and might be doing something this weekend. I'm just saying, I don't know if you want to bestow ruin it a week to such quarterback, but you know. Are you trying to shout out my young buck?

Okay. I'm trying to shout out. The young buck of the real ones, our little real one out here. here. Well, allow me to then. Yes, sir. Yeah, real one of the week, this week.

Can I let me just do it to my three sons, man? Let me do it to my three sons. First, my young mom, Diabelle, eighth grader, will probably start his first varsity football game for American Heritage School this weekend or this Friday night. Yeah, not too shabby. What's the mascot of American Heritage? The Patriots.

Let's go Patriots. I hate saying that. I can't say that. It hurts me, but let's go American Heritage Patriots. Let's get it. Appreciate that, man. Young is doing his thing. He's on his grind, man. My young and Ty Bell, who, who, uh, wide receiver running back slash cornerback got a big game against Tamrak this weekend. Yeah, he's just an athlete. He kind of does it all. Okay. And a special shout out to my young. And I, I, he's nine and his two brothers are kind of linked together because they're 18 months apart. So we spend a lot of time at their sports and stuff. But I snuck out into the backyard on Tuesday to watch my young Buck Zen Bell training. I didn't have time that I had with the owner to to train them. So I got him a trainer.

And he is out there on his grind, bro. Like really growing as a little player and starting to love basketball. So real one of the week, the bell boys. Boom. Shout out for the bell boys, man. Real one of the week. Shout out to the bell boys, man. Real ones of the week, man.

No doubt. That's been another edition of Real One of the Week. And also another edition of the Real One's podcast, dog. We will see you guys on Monday. It's good to be back back. back, man. We back, dog. It's good to be back, man. Check out everybody on the ringer. NBA feed. Check out, check out mismatch. Check out group chat. Check out the answer. Also, make sure you check out our NBA Palooza coverage starting next Tuesday. We out. We're out we're out we're about to be locked and loaded. We got all the stuff popping. We have a, we have a lot of stuff in the works, man. Make sure you check out Black Girl's songbook with who, Roger Bell. town legend Daniel Smith

Make sure you check out R2C2 with who Roger Bell That would be the Creside Cloud Also for Leo legend Cici Sabatian Okay on a quick side note He's a Raider fan

And I just want to say I'm not going to go too much more into this The autumn one is a joke And I told you that the autumn one was a joke I told you this you tried to get You tried to tell you That's all I'm going to go there But make sure you check out

60 songs That Defined the 90s with Rob Horvella. We will see you guys next week. Hala.