The Ringer NBA Show - Gregg Popovich Steps Down as Spurs Head Coach. Plus, Future Possibilities for the Pistons | Real Ones

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Logan, Raja, and Howard Beck react to the breaking news that Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is leaving his current position, but remaining as the team president. (1:17) What legacy does the five-time champion head coach leave in San Antonio? (17:14) The Knicks eliminated the Pistons in the first round. What’s the future hold for the Pistons? (30:04) The Clippers and Nuggets are headed for a Game 7 in Denver: Can the Clippers pull off the win on the road? (46:11) 'Pack Watch' with Jomi Adeniran (47:22) Anthony Edwards and the Wolves packed up the Lakers in five. Where does Ant-Man currently rank in the NBA ? (56:40) Mailbag The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit ⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hit the mailbag! ⁠[e-mail]⁠ Hosts: Logan Murdock, Raja Bell, and Howard Beck Producer/Audio: Clifford Augustin Video Producer: Victoria Valencia Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz, John Richter, and Belle Roman Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and listen to the end of the episode for additional details must be 21 plus and present in select states gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or visit rgdash help dot com it's popping Logan murdock here roger bill there Howard beck the curmudgeon in the motherfucking cut how's everybody doing good to see you back hello that that cannot be a permanent part of my intro. That just cannot. Stop it now. Nice to see you guys.

I'm just, oh, wow. You do the thing that coaches do when they say, you do like Steve Kerr says when he says, Kamiga's not the doghouse

and then he explains to the media why Kamikas in the doghouse. That's what you just did right now. You were just like, I'm not a kerboggin. Fuck off,

motherfucker. It's fine. It's really the secret of this show is there's actually three curmudges on the show and we just talk things out. That's, Raza, don't give me that look.

Roger, do not give me that look? What look? The non-Kermudgeon. I'm not a curmudgeon, but I'm really a curmudgeon look. No, no, no, no. This is, I am a self-proclaimed curmudic. Like, I've got, yeah. I am proud of it, right?

And all its curmudgeonness. Proud of it, right? Yeah, dude. Fucking love it. All right, cool. I'm just saying, you gave me a look like you ain't really out here. No, I was giving you a look. It was meant to be more of a confirmatory look, if that's a word.

Okay. It is now. Yeah. Thank you, Howard. All right. Speaking of kermudgence, Mr. Greg Popovich is stepping down as coach of the San Antonio Spurs. And as now is the team president of basketball ops. This came right before the pod.

We're going to talk playoffs in a second. But I brought this to Howard at first. And Howard, what do you think of this? We kind of started the discussion on what this means. But what does this mean in your interpretation? Based on everything we've heard this season and saw this season, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera and all in between, what does this particular move mean for the Spurs going forward in Popovich as a whole? I mean, we're going to wear out the term end of an era by the end of this podcast, by the end of the next week. I just don't even know how you possibly speak to encompass, encompass, describe the totality of Greg Popovich's impact on the Spurs, the least.

the league basketball worldwide. Hell, even politics and the intersection of sports and politics, like so many dimensions to Greg Popovich. And he has been, guys, I've been covering this league for 28 years. I can't remember a time that Popovich was not an integral and front-facing part of this league. So, like, in some ways, this is not the same as like when David Stern retired as commissioner, of course. That's a different station.

But I don't know. Maybe it is. It may be just as big in terms of the actual basketball. It is hard to imagine the NBA without pop, his influence, his voice, all of it. The comradesliness, now I'm inventing words, Raja. The Webster's Dictionary episode of Real Ones is upon us. It's expanding by the second. It's hard to imagine the NBA without him, period, on every possible level.

So you just have to start there. But I will also just say this. I'm not surprised this is where this landed. From the moment the stroke happened, obviously earlier in the season to the vague health scare of a couple weeks ago, I had been talking to people who know him well, even within the last couple of months, who, you know, without saying it definitively made it pretty clear to me, they did not expect him back. But I think everybody's being very respectful of pop. He has earned that. Take all the time and space you need to make this decision.

But I don't think we should be surprised at the outcome. Yeah, I think, I mean, when I think about this season for him and also like, I know there was a couple of people that I had talked to, not like in depth in his circle or whatever, just a league wide or whatever. When he signed that five year contract to coach Wimby, even that was a little bit of surprise, right? Like that he was going to go all in on this commitment as a coach. And there was a sense that there's like really no riding off into the sunset with Pop. He's going to coach till it's over. And I just wonder how he's going to adjust to the front office role. And what that actually means, right?

Because R.C. Buford is also in the mix. There's also an established front office culture with the spurs. He is a part of. Exactly. Yeah. Like what is his role going to be as he fits into this new ecosystem where there's a big difference between coach and GM and front office member, right? And he kind of tackled that line in the Bill Belichick way.

But I'm just wondering how it's going to be an adjustment. Do you have any idea how it would it be an adjustment? If you had to guess Howard, of him just strictly being a front office person right now, I know it will be like not coaching every day because that's his passion, but like the day-to-day work of a front-officeman, how that will lead to its sort of transition form. You know, I think sometimes it's really difficult for a, coach to step away and be something else, right? We saw Phil Jackson, if infamously, I would say,

move into the front office with the Knicks because he just couldn't physically coach anymore. He, like, he wanted to be on the sideline. And in lieu of that, he says, well, I'll go try to run a team, but he wasn't really suited for it. It wasn't the right role. And it didn't go well, to be clear. Pop, it's different because, like, there's really no choice in his case either. But Pop has always been both president and coach for as long as I can recall. And so, you know, the, the aspect of strategizing, of putting together a team, of managing talent, of scouting talent, of having the long view and the, and just understanding the mechanics of how to construct a team and having people that he's worked with for, I mean, in R.C. Puford's case, for decades and in Brian Wright's case for many years,

like this is this is Pops organization, right? Like the Holtz own the team, but this is POP's organization and has been for so long that I'm glad he is at least hanging on to that piece of it, the front office piece of it, because everything that we talk about, Spurs' culture, the Spurs Dynasty, the Tim Duncan era, Manor Genobly, Tony Parker, through to Kauai, Leonard Wembeyanama. Like all of this, it's Pops DNA all over it, right? Like, Pop and Narsi Buford will be the first to tell you, there is no Spurs culture or dynasty without Tim Duncan. We're the, we're the lucky ones who got to draft Tim Duncan. They will

say that. They are, they are very humble about that. But you have to set the agenda and you have to instill what the values are from the franchise's perspective to. And pop is a very, as we know, powerful voice. And that has mattered for a long time. And I think it's important that he's still there, not just as some figurehead, but as a day-to-day voice and resource, as whether it's Mitch Johnson or whoever else becomes, you know, the head coach. As they move forward, having pop there, I think, it matters. Kind of in the same way, looks, you know, The Ringer produced the Celtic City documentary, which just wrapped up. Red Hourback. Yeah. One of the things that's what I've thought about.

Yeah. One of the things that really struck me in watching Celtic City was how many franchises have a guy, not just who is tied to your glory days if you had glory days? I thought that Red Hourback owned the Celtics. Like, I literally thought that he was the principal. owner of the Celtics until he died. And, you know, I was like 11 when he died, but I still thought, like, it took to meet him dying to be like, oh, he actually isn't the owner of the Celtics. That's someone else. Yeah. Pop is their hour back. He is, you know, in so ways, the heart and soul and conscience and, and their history. And so that's really rare, you know, like Jerry West was that for the Lakers for a long time, having won a championship with them and having gone from, you know, player to, to, you know, head of basketball ops for decades.

But it's really, really rare to have that kind of continuity with one person who embodies what your franchise and all of its success is about. So I think it's really important and it's great that Pop is staying on in whatever role that becomes. Roger, Roger Bell. What are your thoughts on this? I mean Howard Howard said it very well I think I would just add he's going to do whatever he wants to do like that's you know in terms of the role you asked what would he play in the organization I mean

they're so buttoned up and so kind of like I mean they're they're like really well kind of woven together as an organization right so like fitting him into a role is not going to be difficult for them in that front office, whatever that becomes, and it'll probably be whatever he kind of wants it to be. And more importantly, I think even than the basketball, I would just say, like, he's too good of a human being and a mind and a person to risk the health anymore. If you're having, that's a high stress. Coaching is, you know, amongst a lot of things, a very, very high stress, you know, gig. And doing it for as long as some of these guys have done it is remarkable.

I've coached only youth level basketball and high school. And when I tell you that my stress level is exponentially higher during the parts of the year when I'm doing that, than it is when I'm not. Like, that isn't like hyperbolic. Like, I am really stressed out. So at 76 years old, for everything he's done for the game, for everything he's done for people in the game, myself included, I think it's time.

If the health is an issue, it's time get involved in another way because, you know, people want them around. Roger, do you ever like, all your friends play for the spurs and you try it out for the spurs? It's like when you see the spurs, is it like that Dante Divencindigo commercial that comes on where, like, you know, he walks away and they have to throw him the hat and, you know.

I'm fuck Spurs. Oh, okay, all right. That's what I'm. affectionately, affectionately. No, no, no, listen, I think anybody would tell you. That's some Spurs' son stuff coming through right there. Fuck them. Fuck them.

But anybody given the opportunity to have a chance to play for them and having squandered it because you probably weren't ready would tell you, man, it would have been dope. I would have loved to have been a spur, even if it was just for a fraction of real NBA regular season time, I just thought that who I wanted to be, not necessarily who I was, but who I wanted to be was aligned with what they were, right?

Like I aspired to be that kind of player. Like I, the DNA of who I had to be to play in the league. And Pop said as much to me later in my career. Like we'd always have our exchanges before the games. I think I could have fit well there. As it were, like I was a year too early probably, maybe even a year and a half too early for my skill set to be ready, you know, to help them. But, but I still, I still cherish the time I was there.

It was still, it was still great. I was able to rub elbows with Hall of Famers and work out with Avery Johnson, you know, at Life College over and over again. And honestly, I don't get to play. I tell this when I speak at camps and like I do the motivational speaking thing once in a while, like Greg Popovich is the only reason I wound up in Philadelphia. Did he make a call, right? Him and Larry Brown were like best friends.

So like I don't wind up there, which starts my whole career if Pop doesn't make the call. So, you know, I owe them a lot. Yeah, yeah. I'm still fuck Spurs. Even after Timmy, even after Tim Duncan came on this pod and said you're one of us? Nah, I'm telling you. Like, it's weird, right? Like, Tim Duncan came on his podcast.

It basically was like, you're. honorary spur of your part of the family. It got, only time I've ever seen Roger like this was on the Ben Stiller episode, but he got a little choked up. He was like, thanks, dude. Little misty eyed,

Roger? Yeah, he got out of character. He was like, they're the gold standard. Thanks, they were like, yeah,

I mean, and not for nothing, you are right. Like, I was cool with a lot of those dudes, like, a lot of dudes that were left over kind of remembered me from being in their training camps.

I mean, I was the last cut. Like, I think most people, Were you like to lo-homie a little bit? Like this, the, the, the, the, because you were a rook around that time, right? I was a rook. And I was, I was, I was the last cut.

So I think some people had started to wrap their mind around. I might, might be a spur. And so for a lot of reasons, like, yeah, man, but like, when you think of, when I think, of the people that when I walked into a building and they were coaching against us, like, that figure and what their team represented loomed, like, larger than the game itself. Like the Spurs were that. The Lakers were that. There weren't many teams that were that. Yeah. Like it's a weird thing to say.

I don't know if I'm doing it any justice, but like when you go into games, it's not that you're, it's not that you're like intimidated by the team because like we can't do that. We got to come out here and play the game. But the franchise, the coach,

the mystique behind it, like the things that make it even more special when you play against them, if that makes sense. Like the spurs, the Lakers, I mean, the Knicks for obvious reasons.

It wasn't really the teams, but it was the building. But there are few of those. And the Spurs were always that. Yeah. Raja, real quick. Logan, I know we need to get to playoff stuff. But like, Raja, we think of like Pop as being the consummate old school coach. We talked about him being curmudgeoning and Krusty and all this other stuff.

But like I've always looked at him as being able to like do both where he's also the guy who after he choose your out puts his arm around Tony Parker and, you know, and talks him back up and stuff too. I'm curious, like in your time. Do you think, like, players regarded Pop as like, is that a guy you wanted to, like, avoid? Did some players want to avoid him because it was like, no, he's too much the old school hard ass, which doesn't play as well in today's NBA? And then to that point, literally today's NBA, because you've been out for a while now yourself. Do you think that that model is going by the wayside?

Do you think today's players were maybe looking at him going, like, I'm not sure if I want to deal with all that comes with that, as brilliant as he is? Yeah, that's an interesting question. I do think that even when I played, there would be some, there would be people that didn't know him, Howard, like, that didn't spend time with him that could see the gruff kind of exterior and be like, yeah, I don't know if I want to do that. But you have to experience him to know that, like, yeah, that that's part of it. But the other part of it is it far outweighs, you know, that superficial level, right? Because like, there's, there's a care that he has for you. There's a human being there. There's a depth of knowledge. And there's a real psychology behind what he's doing to your point. Like, you ever seen Tim Duncan, like a player of Tim Duncan's level? I'll never forget it. Popovich pulled this man out in the first minute of a playoff game. I believe it was a playoff game. Don't quote me on that. But it was, it did happen. He pulled him out in the first minute of the game, reamed his ass out at the scores table and sent him back to the scores table to check back in. I was like, oh, shit. He just did that to Tim Duncan.

But like he had invested in you so much at that point that like even the Tim Duncan's of the world were like, yeah, man, that's cool. Because like our relationship is that strong. So I do think that there were people that would not know that because they didn't experience that. In today's NBA, yeah, I think it's harder to do it obviously with our player today and are just our kid in general. but I also think if we're being fair, pop, as you get older, I know I'm experiencing this, you have less patience.

Like, and as I have more kids, I have less time to be like explaining the things that I explain to maybe the first one because I'm tired. Like, I'm a little more fried. And so if you compare, if you combine those two,

like maybe he's not the exact same person that he was like 10, 15 years ago. I mean, it's still probably, you know, you know, he's all time, but like, you know, it's difficult, Howard, right? You would have to be even more accommodating for today's player in a way that Pop, as he got older, was probably a little less accommodating.

Yeah. And then on that note, Mitch Johnson has been, the assistant Mitch Johnson has been hired as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. So big day in the history of both the league and the San Antonio Spurs. Let's put a ball on that. I'm sure we'll talk about Pop a lot throughout this podcast in the coming years and months. I want to talk about the Knicks. The Knicks and the Pistons first.

Then we'll get to a little Clippers talk and some other stuff I want to get to throughout this pod. But we talked about at the onset, me, Raj and Howard, that this series was predicated on poise. And the team with the most poise was going to win this series. And that held true in game six, where it felt like Detroit was... thought they were there for the moment, but ultimately was not there in the last minute.

And I feel like everyone who watched this series won it, it just happened that the Knicks got through. I'll start with Howard. What were your thoughts on this series and what did Game 6 teach us about both teams? I mean, I think we all thought it was going to be like Nixon six or seven, right? I don't even remember what our predictions were on the fly. A couple weeks back, but like, except Cliff. We thought the pistons were going to smoke. We'll get to him in a second. I mean, listen, let me start on the piston side of it, because we'll have time to talk about the Knicks for the next couple of weeks, at least.

The Pistons, I thought they really showed a lot. They did get this thing to game six. Not only did they get this to game six, but it's a player two away from winning it and forcing it back to the garden for a game seven. Not only that, but aside from game one, so they're in game one, into the fourth quarter. And suddenly you blink it. It's a 21-Zip, Knicks run, and the Pistons are suddenly not in it.

But what happened after that? The Pistons win game two. At the Garden, this young team steals home court advantage. They lose two games at home in three and four, but both of those were decided by like razor-thin margins. They lose five a game that could have won. Like, all of them went down to stretch. So like aside from the first loss, all of these were really close games. I think the final three losses were by six combined points.

And when you're a young team that's prone. to making errors or freezing up at the wrong moment in a tight fourth quarter, yeah, that's what happens. A player two is going to kill you, but they were right there. And they weren't even whole, right? Isaiah Stewart didn't play most of the series. Jaden Ivy, of course, has been out since January. The Pistons, like, there's nothing negative coming out of this. This is a team that just broke through, had their best season in forever, tripled their win total. Cade Cunningham's a freaking stud. Duren is on his way or Thompson is on his way

I just thought they were really impressive across the board the Knicks did what they had to do I think the Pistons stressed them to the limits and I think they very easily could have lost this series and I think that even as I've made the rounds with some of my friends

who were Knicks fans the last you know a couple of days they're they're a little antsy not just not just Ben they're antsy and I think there's kind of almost an acceptance. They all kind of, like they hope they can beat Boston.

They don't expect to beat Boston. Fans. I'm not saying this nicks themselves, just fans. I mean, as an observer, I don't think they'll be Boston. I think they're just matchup-wise. They're not there yet. I'll just say Boston six. But what I wanted to get to, and specifically, and I want to get to Rajah on this,

about that six game, and specifically down the stretch, right, where it reminded me a lot of the game six of the 2010. the 2010 first round series against OKC and the Lakers. And I know it's a little bit different context of like a champion and things like that, but it's more about how the game went in the two types of teams and where they were in their trajectories. I'm not, Rogers has given me a look. Yeah, I can't.

I just couldn't, my bad, I couldn't remember. Explain to me what happened in that because I have no idea on 2010. Pretty much, honestly, to a T, exactly what happened in this game, this game six in 2025, where, The younger team, OKC, they're playing in OKC, down the stretch,

are just giving the Lakers everything that they can give. And it comes down to a Powell-Ghaw-tipping layup to win the game off of a, off of a, I think it was a Kobe Airball pass or something like that. But it was the same kind of context in the younger team that's up and coming, pushing the older team to the limits. And the older team is like, yeah, we got to win this game right now because game seven is not promised at all based on how good these young bulls are. And I want to get back to the, and I want to get back to that final minute in the 2025 first round where, you know,

Azur Thompson like is a monster on defense throughout the whole game. And then it comes down to this game, this play against, uh, uh, uh, jalen. And, you know, Jalen just has the upper hand. What I want you to do, Raja, is just take me through. both sides of that where you have the young player that is really, really good and a young team that's really, really good. And they don't know what they don't know going up against a player that is accomplished in Brunson and has been to not the mountaintop, but has been to really high heights in the league. What are both players feeling in that moment? Like, how does one player have the institutional knowledge and use that to his advantage?

And how does the ignorance as bliss player play this hard out and try to use that to their advantage in that moment and how do we get the moment that we got last night. Bro, I don't even know what? I don't know how to answer that question. I don't, um, I don't know. I got to challenge you, bro. I got to challenge you, man. I don't know. My bad. I don't know. I'm going from over here to here to here to here to over there. I'm going to try to unravel. Miss acting. Let me. O'S-ha. All right. Logan's got that bullets and board going with all the strings attached, connecting everything, whatever. Now you got to me. Now you got to me. Now you got to

make sense of it all, Raj. Let's do it. I would say that, you know, I felt for a sore in the moment. I was sitting there. We had, we, we had coach Millway here from Texas, and we were kind of like, we were watching, talking, like this was going to be like kind of the first watch of it. And right when Cade, they had the ball tied, and Cade went to the basket and missed it, this was after the tip-in, I think, when Brunson missed and, you know, they tipped it in. I said, damn it, man, that's right then I started, I felt terrible for him. And I said it out loud. I was like, oh, I was like, he's going to kill them.

And they were like, who? I was like, Jalen Brunson is going to kill them. Like, he's going to, he is going to make this shot. And I felt terrible for a sword because as soon as they came out and gave him the ball and there was nothing around him, I know that feeling. that is that is i mean like being in that gym with nobody in it you're like alone it's quiet the seats are black like you could really feel him in that space because you know at a tide situation everything's at his disposal like he he you know in certain situations you can i don't know by process of elimination say okay i can kind of try to predict that this might

happen. Any little edge you get like that as a defender is it's critical. In that situation, everything's available to him and he gets to his left hand. The only thing I might have said to him was I might have tried to make him move right to start, right? Because once he moves left, as explosive as he is, you got to react. And as soon as he reacted, he snatched him. And that was that. That was so disrespectful, bro. It was so disrespectful. Even before he shot it, we were like, oh, shit, there it is. Right. And so, look, I'm not going to work. He was in downtown Detroit what he got at the beginning when he was locking him down, and he was down by the airport when he got shot, bro.

Yeah, no. That's a long way, as we know. Yeah, and I felt terrible, though, because, like, that's just a really, you know, that kind of is, that is who Detroit is right now, right? Like, scrappy as hell, game, ready to go. Like, we're going to fight you tooth and nail. But you got some stuff to learn, right? you have some wounds and some scenarios that you're going to have to go through and learn from

on your way to where you ultimately want to go. And while it sucked for them, that's just the reality of who they were as a team, right? And then on the flip side of that, the Knicks, I would say just what you do better as a more experienced team in a situation like that is execute. And that doesn't always mean like you're going to convert the bucket. It doesn't. doesn't always mean you're going to, it doesn't always mean it's going to show up on a stat sheet, but you're going to execute what you're trying to do. Like the box out on the Jalen Brunson shot, we missed there. That's a critical box. Like, that's a critical box. And I'm not here telling you that lost the game. That's not what I'm saying. Or like that after that free throw,

the ball goes off of you when you're supposed to get a rebound as, you know, just like simple stuff like that. There are some things. Throwing away the inbounds pass twice in the series. Those things are executionally like, like critical, especially. late in games, even the last play of the game where a good play was made on that ball. It wasn't executed cleanly. You could see that before they started the process of whatever the play was before the inbound. And those are just things you have to learn. I don't know if I answered your question, but it was just the theme was we're in this dog fight. This team surely has a chance to beat us and could easily be winning this series. But if we get you down to two minutes, we know we're

going to execute better than you guys will more often than not. And that just played itself out. Cliff, come to the, come to the stage really quickly. Any final thoughts, sir? And you got your you took your buffs off. Your fur is somewhere. Your regal is in the, is it's in the shop. Nah, I take my buffs off, man. It's throw three one three all day. That's my that's my second team for now. You know, hopefully we can get an upgrade. You had to root for Tobias Harris for two weeks. Yeah. shit, right? Think about that.

Tobias Harris, the guy who scored zero points his last playoff game as a sixer, and I had to end up roof for him to go against Kat against the Knicks. But look, man, I just wanted to be right. I was hoping to break Ben Stiller's heart. He came on here, popping his shit, man. And the Knicks pulled out. Look, man, the Knicks pulled it out. Jalen Brunson, he crossed up Thompson for that crazy three-pointer at the end.

Malik Beasley, Rock hands, you know what I mean? He had the rock. My man had the rock hands. Couldn't catch the ball. properly. Somebody sent me a meme this morning about

about Malik, or about Beasley, about Beasley. He says Malik Beasley in the 4th, 0.4-2, field goals, and 10 butter fingers. Janus was right. Damn. Oh, God. But look, Detroit God,

by future, man. I'm rocking with the 3-13, bro. Shout to Side of Baby, shout out to Baby Face Ray. Shout to Big Sean. Shout to Jill and Rose. All rappers that, all rappers that, All rappers that Howard and Rajah know.

All the words to every song. T. Grizzly, you know what I mean? Shout to my guys in Detroit. I know T. Grizzly. Oh, okay, okay. Everybody got three-13. I know T-Grily.

Okay, all right. Shout three-on-three, man. Detroit, you got bright future, you. Yes, sir. Fandle is letting you get in on all the NBA playoffs action right from the first tip because right now all customers get a no-sweat, same game parlay every weekend when you bet the NBA. NBA playoffs. That's right. Just use your token on three plus leg, same game parlay, or same game parlay

plus on any NBA playoff game, and you'll get bonus bets back if you don't win. Let's take a look at the slate. There's only one game. I'm taking the Warriors, taking the over, taking the over on points with Steph, and taking the under on points for Jalen Green. And I love betting on Fanduil with their great promotions every day. They're safe and secure app and instant payments. There's no better place to bet on all the playoff action than America's number one sportsbook. Visit fanduel.com slash ringer NBA and get a no sweat same game parlay every weekend of the NBA playoffs. That's fanduel.com backslash ringer NBA. Fan duel, official sports betting partner of the NBA must be 21 years and present in select states or 18 and present in D.C.

Opting required. Minimum three leg parlay required. Refund issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Max fund $5 and less otherwise specified. Strictions apply, including token expiration. See terms at sportsbook. com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helph.com. Let's quickly get to this game seven between the Clippers and the Nuggets. I'm really excited about it.

Really, I came on this pod. I texted Cliff, and you know whenever I texted a prediction, it goes the other way. I was like, man, Clippers about to fumble this because I thought we were going to laugh at the Clippers for 30 minutes, but the Clippers figured it out. and they're going to a game seven. Let's just quickly preview this game seven, like do like five minutes on it. Howard, are you,

how are you feeling going to this game seven? Who do you think can pull this out? And like how many demons do the clippers need to exercise to win this game seven? And how many will they once they, if or when they do win this game seven? All the demons. I don't know how many demons there are.

There's like an army of them. It's like something out of like, just like the Lord of the Rings, orcs coming at you. Like, that's their demons that they got. Demons on the wall. They're everywhere. The demons on the wall, indeed.

If the Clippers could only bring the wall with them from Intuit Dome. It was popping it into a dome. Shout out to the Clipper fans. I didn't know there were that many. It's like seven or eight now, I think. It was like seven or eight thousand. I don't know if they was paying actors or what, but it was popping it into a dome. Now, they got something special there.

With the arena, and even with this team, if they can stay upright for any length of time, We can address that another day. But like, game seven in Denver is going to be just absolute dogfight. Like, this is going to be, like, Logan, you're referencing like old Laker teams from 15 years ago. This may look a lot like, you know, game seven of the 2010 finals where it's just going to be like, you know, just, just ugly as hell. A lot of miss shots and a lot of nonsense possibly. I don't know. I don't know how to handicap this.

Everybody was burying James Hardin after game five. He comes back with a phenomenal game six. You know, Kauai Leonard at any given time, we know can go off. Norm Powell had a nice stretch last night. Like the clippers have the ability to go in and win this thing. But I don't know. I still don't know what to make of game five. Like was it altitude?

Was it just general exhaustion? Was it just a bad night? Nicola Yokic in a game seven. I'm putting my money on Yokic. Like, I think I picked the Clippers in this series. I think I probably said Clippers in seven. I did a lot of hedging with seven-game series, didn't I? I just think a lot of these were really close.

And this one was going to be one of those. It has been. The Clippers could have had control early on, should have been up 3-1 instead of being down. But, yeah, like, I think there's a lot writing on this for the Clippers. Because you don't know if you're going to get another. Organizationalally, though, I think is a lot writing on this. Organizational, spiritually. like you're you know you you let paul george walk you put all your eggs in in the uh kawai leonard

basket he comes back and looks like 2019 kawai for the last couple of months can you get another full season of that or even another half season of that can you get another april or may of that we don't know the answers to those questions there are no answers to those questions so there's only now and if they lose this you know i i don't i don't know where they go from here because i don't know how much mileage is left on him and and for that matter james Harden who's you know he's up there too now what do you think about this game seven rock yeah i also picked the clippers um i think i would tend to agree with howard um for all the reasons that you want a game seven at home like that that this is the ultimate like advantage in a one game

scenario we get that crowd we get that altitude we get everything that comes along with playing in Denver, I would just say this. Yokic is going to be Yolkich. Jamal Murray is going to have to come along for the ride. And if he doesn't, someone else, either Gordon or Porter Jr., I'd even say Brown, but like someone is going to have to play out of their mind next to him to win that game. Right? So it's going to need to look like that.

And if it doesn't, I think I'd take the clips, even in the hostile environment. But if they get it, if they get the Yolkich game and someone else gives them, you know, that, hey, bro, I stood on business tonight with you, I think they get it done. Yeah. I mean, it has to, I mean, Michael Porter Jr. the way he played in game six, he has to ball out. Like, there's, I mean, and we talked about, Howard just talked about how many, you know, demons, the clippers are exercising. I mean, the nuggets are very well and always playing, everybody in there is playing for their survival on that team, right? like Michael Porter Jr. is playing so he doesn't get traded, right? Or it's same with Jamal Murray, same with everybody not named Yokets.

And Dave Adelman, who honestly, we're not doing this segment much anymore. But ruin the week, man. Jeez, he has done a hell of a job based on the circumstances. Howard is smiling like he was right a couple weeks ago. Whatever, bro. He ain't tripping off. Everything we said is true. Nothing.

You know, a little smile. Yellows did a little, yeah. You feel me, right? Yeah, a little smile. I told you, motherfucker. Anyways, kudos and flowers to him. But Howard, like, the nuggets do have a lot of demons that they need to exercise as well. Like, it's going to go both ways in that argument.

I mean, you don't fire your GM and head coach with three days to go in the regular season for no reason, right? It doesn't... Stupid. There's an aspect of this where, you know, you lose in the first round and you go, yep, see, things are. were bad and we've got a lot to clean up. We've already started and we'll continue the cleanup on aisle four as soon as we get to our offseason. There's a version of this where they win game seven. Who knows? You know, like, I mean, listen, I don't think anybody's beating Oklahoma. I don't think any of us have thought for a while that anybody's beating Oklahoma. But if you somehow pulled that

off, now the organization's got to reevaluate everything. Now, like, David Adelman is staying. That much is sure. Based on how we talked about this series, I mean, the Nuggets, the fact that they're in this and that they are in the games that they have won. Like, this has been a very impressive showing no matter what, though, from the Nuggets, I believe in this series. Considered what we all thought the, how the front office was messed up. We already talked about it. Does the coach firing for them to put on this performance? And like Adelman and all the reservations we had, he's going toe to toe with Ty Lou and ball.

But we had them in like seven, didn't we? Like, I had the Clippers in seven. It wasn't like, did you think they were going to get steamrolled? I thought, I don't know what I said, but like, I was like, yes, six might be in play because clippers were so good and so well coached. And also, six, six could have easily been in play. Like, the man, the man tipped the ball in with a point zero one seconds on the clock. Like it's, yeah, I agree with you. I'm not trying to take away any flowers from him. But, but this, like, we are where at least I thought we would be in a series like this.

Yeah. No, I think that's, I think that's fair, Roger. I think like, like, if this went seven and we all thought it was going to go seven and then nothing has changed, except that we don't know where the ultimate outcome is, right? Right. And if the Nuggets win and they go to the second round and now you're facing the thunder, okay, now it's how good do we look against the thunder? Like everything that I think the Nuggets, ownership and what's left of the front office, every day is, have we seen enough to convince us that we still have the right core and the right interim head coach who could become the permanent head coach?

Or every day are we seeing something that shows us, you know what? there are cracks and the cracks are obvious and the cracks are why we fired our coach at GM a couple of weeks ago and the cracks are why we're going to go into this offseason thinking about some wholesale changes. And, and, you know, like every, every game matters in that calculation. Can I just say this real quick? Like, and this, I mean, neither here nor there, but what you're describing there, Howard, is a wild place to be in the playoffs only because more than any other time of the year, the emotions and the swing of how you feel about your team

are exacerbated every single night. Like, you could feel great after a win. Oh, shit, we're going to win a championship. One loss could have you feeling like you got to retool the whole thing. Like, that's a crazy ride for decision makers to have to ride, like, at this stage in the season. It's so much easier in the regular season because, like, things are relatively flat.

Emotions are flat. We're just watching these games play out. But the emotional roller coaster that is the playoffs and the swings within a series, they're hard to keep a level-headed perspective about just even from a coaching or a playing standpoint, from a decision-making standpoint, it's got to be fascinating. Especially when you're not the people who are actually making the decisions because they're going to presumably hire somebody to come in and do this, right? But there is some semblance of a front office there that's still making these evaluations right now.

Roger, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about in light of the Bucks Pacers Elimination game, what happened after the game, between, because I feel like you have some insight to this, between Tyrese Halliburton's Pops and Yadis Adda-Cumbo. Why? Because I've been on a court after a game? Because you have been on a court after a game talking shit to, I don't know what was the other players, but it was definitely the parents of the other players. But what do you think of this situation? And what's the balance that you have to have as a parent of a really, really good basketball player? And how do you balance, like, cheer for your son versus getting into a situation where keeping it real goes wrong with Tyrese Halliburton's father?

Yeah, it's a good question. I reflected on this. I bet you did. I bet you did. I did. I did. The difference. When you saw it, did you look at yourself was like, is that, I'm not him.

Am I? That's not me. No, because first of all, I didn't go up to anybody in particular. Like, and I went over to my son. You understand what I'm saying? Like, you ran up on Yondis. Your son wasn't even in the fucking picture. In the middle of the court.

Tyrese didn't even know he had done it until later. That was hilarious, though. No, that was hilarious with like, Goddess hugs Tyrese Halliburton, who has no idea this is going on, by the way. And then, like, walks past him, he's like, I got a highlight show pops real quick. I went over, like, if you go, if you were. over to Tyrese to celebrate, I think that's okay, provided Tyrese isn't like walking up to another competitor that was on the floor or singling out any single person and trying to rub their face in it. I don't know that that if you're just generally celebrating, people are going to be

beefing with you. Once you target someone, and it makes it even worse that your son wasn't involved in it. But once you target him on your own and you feel it necessary to go. go out there and like rub like Ronis. Did you see the interview afterwards, bro? The interview that he had after Tyrese's dad had after the... He said something along the line. Cliff,

come on real quick. What did he say? What did he say to the local television? This man got on the local news and said, I was looking through Rianis. I wasn't looking at him. I had to He had the third eye open. He had super pot. I swear, yo, I'm not even lying. If any of y'all didn't see it, listen to the

pot, please check out his interview with the local NBC affiliate out there in Indy. He literally said, yeah, I was looking through, Yonis. I wasn't looking at him. He said, we dapped each other

over the game or afterwards and said, I love you or something to that effect. But yeah, it was one of the, yeah, yeah,

it was one of the craziest lack of accountability things I've ever seen in my life. It's just like, yo, dog, take the hell. You acted out.

You went on the court. You could have, the honest could have slapped the fire out you and he would have been justified in doing it. Lucky you didn't put the, put them pause on you.

You might be in the hospital. You know, to talk about fighting. Leave the Philly guy. I'm just, I'm just, listen, I'm just saying, we see some things happening on NBA courts. So, you're lucky he didn't get the fire smacked out of them. I'm just saying that. I would say, like, first huge, huge, like, issue in the NBA now about, like, having people on the court. Like, I heard it somewhere.

Who said it? Well, Janus said it. Yonis gave an interview about his family, and they don't even sit down by the court. and what have you. And I thought I heard someone else say, like they would have never in a million years dreamed of having a parent on a court. Like, they shouldn't be allowed on the court.

Like, you sit in the front row, keep your ass off the court, right? Like, that's where it starts. Secondly, I kind of disagree with Cliff, and I'm usually, like, Cliff, quick to say, defend yourself. But I don't think he approached Janus in a threatening way that Janus would have been warranted

for putting his hands on him, right? it was still tacky. It was still like lacking in judgment. You said he could have had. Yeah, yeah. I said he could have. Yeah. I don't.

Yeah. You open yourself up for that. You open yourself up for that when you out there acting acting like that. I would just from a parent's perspective like I get being like in the moment with your kid. Like that shit's exciting. You're hell of proud. Like all of that like trust me. I've been there.

Like that's documented. Having said that like you can't be running out on an NBA court to to to, to, to, to, to, to anyone, let alone be honest and be like, you know, doing what he did. You just made it. You made a mistake. So I'm with you.

You just got to take your medicine now, bro. Like, I'm not going to harp on it. Keep it moving. Take your medicine. I thought Tyrese approached it the right way. I was really, I was really taken it back. Like, and I got in the comments a little bit, and I usually don't do that about the reaction to Halle's kind of denouncing of what

his dad did that night, just saying I don't think he should be doing that. people were like skewering him in the comments. Like you got a ride with pops. You got to, you got to like I thought that was tacky as shit. I thought he handled it really, really well. You got all those are pups accountable, man.

Yeah, dog. He said the right thing. I mean, like in the moment, like, you know, I get it. I understand why people might react that way to an extent. But like, no, the right thing to do. And it's, and it speaks really well of Tyrese.

Hell, this is a compliment to his dad because you raised your son to have the kind of conscientiousness and values to say, yeah, that's my dad, but he was wrong. And I'm not, I'm not afraid to say that in a public space here, considering what that looked like and the way it reflects on him, on me, on our team. And not for nothing. Like, you know, the Pacers put out the statement, like, I can't remember how they like soft-pedaled

it, but basically, like, John Halliburton's now banned for the foreseeable future from home and road games. What do you think about that? I think it was mutual agreement or something, but like, come on. Like, yeah. Is that too, is that too harsh? Like, maybe just put them in a box for the rest of the? playoffs? Like, I don't know.

Can you suspend them for a couple of the games? Throw them in luxury suite. Yeah, but like, forever, though? Do you can't go to any game? I don't know if it's forever. I will say this. I do wonder, I've not checked into this at all, so I'm just talking out of my butt. I wonder if there was an NBA security piece of this where they said you can't let them back in, not even in the stands, because there has to be accountability after an incident like this. Now, granted, you know, let's not overblow. But there was no blows thrown.

Like it didn't get too ugly or anything. But once you've done that and you've shown that kind of bad judgment, I could see why the league itself, possibly at the league security level, might have weighed in on this. Because, yeah, reasonably you could say, come back to the games, but just don't put him court side. Don't put him anywhere where he could be running out on the court and having, you know, another incident like this.

You know, put him in a luxury suite where you're safely tucked away, that he's not being allowed at all or by. mutual agreement or whatever they're calling it, it tells us something. I'm not sure what. Welcome back to Packwatch with Jomi, who is ready to make you feel worse about your team than you already do. What's up, Real Ones? Welcome back to another edition of Packwatch.

That's right. It's the postseason. We're getting teams out of here. First team, we've got to get out of here. Unfortunately, it's my Los Angeles Lakers. Frankly, I don't even know what to say to you guys. I really don't. It's one thing to get got by Ant Man, right?

It's another thing, Julius Randall, balling, okay? Even Daniels, he had a hot streak. Brudy Gobert? Got eliminated by Rudy Gobert. Hey, look, you lose the series to Atman. Hey, that's Ant Man. But Gobert, 27 and 24, looked like Prime Hakeem out there, dog. You know what?

I need to call it down. Luca, you hear what they say it about you, bro? They say Nico was right. You're going to stand for that? Hey, y'all, they was talking about you crazy. Shout out Rue. The way came hard in game five, you know what I'm saying? But we need more.

Need him more. Legons are all packed up. You hate to see it. I want to talk quickly about one of our faves on the show before we get to the mailbag because it needs to be documented. Anthony Edwards, ladies and gentlemen. Wow.

What a week for the guy. what a just to me and uh rosa talked about this on friday um just about how the resume that he is building thus far how impressed raza were you seeing in that closeout game of his performance and how he kind of galvanized that timberwolves group and how dangerous could many be um in the western conference um yeah i mean who do they draw the next round sorry my brain either between the warriors of the rockets yeah No, no, no, no, listen. Yeah, they can be very dangerous in a series against those two. I would take, I would take OKC if OKC were to come out of the other side against them in the Western Conference Finals.

But I could definitely see a Western Conference Finals for them. As far as Ant is concerned, I was very impressed, like very impressed with, he didn't score it great. but, you know, and this would be, you know, kind of bigger picture and if you're drawn a juxtaposition to like other stars. He, he produces for his team in a myriad of ways. Like, he can make a difference in, in parts of the game that don't always show up on a stat sheet that contribute to winning in more ways than the stuff that shows up on the stat sheet, defending, you know, leadership.

Like, I mean, he had a bunch of assist in rebound. but energy, like all of those things contribute to winning. And so if you don't score the ball great, even if you're a star, you're able to put forth an effort that helps your team, you know, win games. And he's really, really good in that. I didn't think he was phenomenal as an offensive player. And way too often, even I fall guilty of this.

That's what we quantify like your greatness on, is your ability, I talk about it all the time, to move all the puppets like with your, like, that's purely offense we're talking about. that's purely offense. That's half the fucking game. Yeah. Like,

and so I give him a lot of credit because he plays the whole game. Yeah. I mean, it feels like he's becoming back this national phenomenon. I don't know if you guys saw the clips of him walking from crypto to the hotel. Oh, crazy. Jeez.

Just a superstar in the making. Oh, you didn't? No. We will send that a post pod. He was literally in the streets. Like, he was in the streets. He was in the streets.

everything he came out of his mouth was an instant quotable for years to come. He's just amazing. But like the question I have for you, though, and the rivalry that we think between him and Luca Dachich, I would believe it's one in one right now. And it feels like, at least in the public consciousness right now, is trending upwards above Luca and the young dude standings right now. and there's a little talk about Luca proving Nico rights

for whatever that means. I just roll my eyes at all those takes. That's just stupid. But where do you see Ant right now in the consciousness of young players, right? Where he, low-key has the resume to stack up against all of the young guys that haven't won a championship but are expected to.

What did this win over Luca Dantches do for that case and that resume? Yeah, I mean, not to put too much one series, but to just pull back for a second here. Like, you know, Luca's got like the multiple top three MVP finishes. Luca would be there again this year if he hadn't missed too many games and ineligible because of injury and all that stuff. So like Lucas still has a bit of the upper hand in terms of like he's got the finals

appearance. He's got a little bit more of combination of hardware and higher MVP finishes. And Anthony Edwards, like I don't think he's going to finish top five this season either in MVP results. We'll hear that in the next week or two, I think. But, Logan, your question is, I think, is like beyond the basketball reference page. It's kind of more of like the zeitgeist and the vibes. And like, yeah, Anthony Edwards has it right now. And not just because he just beat Luca head to head. It's like Luca, like some of that stuff that came out of Dallas is true. He was like, none of us agreed. Nobody on the earth agrees with the trade. It's like, ah, you.

you were stupid, but you might have had a point. But you remember, you remember when it happened, I said, if anybody fucking knows, they see him every day. Like saying that you could have got more for the deal, but they see them every day. And Roger, where you and I, yeah, where you and I agreed on this is like, like, there's probably something to all that and they know more than we do and that it would, we're, you know, I don't think we did really disagree that much, but like, you still can't trade him, no matter, no matter what any of that stuff was.

But yeah, the fact is, we're looking at Luke a little askew. Not showing up as he should have in the finals, not being in the best condition as he should have been during the finals, during parts of any of the last couple of years. Defensive, you know, deficiencies or just complete, you know, ignoring of responsibilities on defense. Anthony Edwards actually defends his tail off, not always consistently, but dude plays hard at both ends. He's a brighter personality. He's fun. He says stuff. Sometimes he says stuff that he shouldn't say, and then he gets fined, and then he gets fine again and again and again to the tune of like $380,000 for the season.

But, you know, but there's a personality. Howard out here, he's, he's fun. He's this bright personality. And Luca is like, every answer is like five words. He tells you nothing. He reveals nothing. He's finally in some kind of fun commercials, but even in those, he's like barely says anything. Luca is still kind of like a mystery box as a person and a personality, whereas Anthony Edwards is just out there.

Like, for better or worse, and we've seen both. It's so crazy because like everything you see on TV is what you get in person with Anthony Edwards, man. Like, I got a little bit of the Anthony Edwards experience over the summer covering Team USA. And like, yo, he is a walking like Pied Piper type of person, man. It's like a crowd always follows him. And it's not just because he's famous, is because people genuinely want to be around him and hear what he has to say on any given moment.

Like, he's not, he may not want the face of the league, but it may be just above, like, anything that he has control over, man. Because like every time he is in front of a camera, he, it feels like he has another level to get to in terms of celebrity, but he's very much on the way to being a figure,

whether he likes it or not. So we'll see. Yeah, well, look, a lot of, I mean, in a weird way, not wanting it and not trying too hard to get it. That's why you got it. That's why you get it. Right. You know what I mean?

So, yeah, man, he's, I, I just enjoy, look, this isn't, this isn't shade. I enjoy the fact. And what I'm hoping for Luca, honestly, what I'm hoping for Luca is what is what a lot of people, you know, pointed out when he went and, and was able to team with LeBron, that if anyone was going to, If anyone was going to get him and have him see the need for taking care of the body and the responsibility and what you need to go through to be a true professional in that sense, it would be sitting right next to LeBron and seeing that everything that he does to keep that body moving the way it does. And that's my hope for him. Because honestly, not only did they see him every day, but the other thing I said was,

do you know how bad it has to be? Like, Nico's not an idiot. Now, I do disagree with what you got for the trade and everything like that. Like there should have been, if you had to, but think about the bigger picture how bad they had to think it was, right? And all I'm saying is if that continues,

then this candle doesn't burn as long as it should burn. The talent that is, LA market. And I want to see it. I want it for it. So I just hope that like after this, like a little upon reflection and stuff like that, that this summer, he gets down to like brass tax with like, yo, let me lean out, let me get in shape, let me commit myself to it in a way that I have it. And that's my hope.

We'll see what happens. You know, it's funny that we're talking him versus Anthony Edwards in this context because Anthony Edwards had those question marks really early on in his career in terms of work ethic and learning how to work. And now, if you ask people around the league, I think Anthony Edwards is one of the hardest working guys in the league. And you could see it in his game and based on how it grows. and grows and grows. So, I mean,

Luke is in a different space right now, but it would behoove him to switch up his act right now because, like I said, in the Lakers market in L.A., everything is magnified in a way that it just wasn't in Dallas. So we'll see. Mailback time. What's good, buddy?

Fellas, fellas, fellas. I'm still mourning my pistons loss, but, you know, 3-13, you're going to be back up next year. Jay-9 are coming back. I feel like that's just a cover for, like, Just being sad about your sixers, not even making it there. Like, you just have to. I feel like this is some residual, too.

No, listen, Detroit got some guys I can rule for it. Like I said, they got my man Isaiah Stewart was on the bench. He was hurt. Jay Navvy's coming back. Kay Cunningham's the man. You know, just a little step back three. It killed us in the series. A referee, no call.

But, you know, we'll be all right, man. Detroit, three and three all day, man. All right. Let's get this first question popping. Coach firings in Logan's fatherhood. Was Popper, fellas. Omar here from Tampa, which I, like to start a petition to include as an expansion city.

The Ringer has somehow become the Avengers of Sports Media World and I couldn't be happier. That said, real ones will always be at the top of my listening list. Tuesdays and Fridays are my favorite days of the week. I don't want to belabor this topic. One, because it's been talked about enough and two, because it seems to get Roger's blood pressure elevated. But I can sort of see the logic into Malone and Jenkins firing. Rubber baby, Bobby.

Let's go. I do agree with Roger that if you're only comparing whether Malone and would give the Nuggets a better shot than Adelman this postseason. It's an easy answer. Of course, it's Malone. And same with Jenkins giving the Grizzlies a better shot than to almost. He's up. Yeah.

Brow from Easton of Finland. Sorry, though. I ain't want to butcher your coaches. But since we're a real one, let's be real. Another team was going to win a chip this year. And I think both organizations had the self-awareness to realize that before the postseason started. Knowing that both coaches were probably going to get fired before the start of next season,

if that's the case letting Edelman and Toalmos coach through the postseason in an interim capacity. If Howard Ghost write this question, maybe office to get a snippet, what they can do, which can help them make a more informed decision going into the summer about whether they want to commit to them in a permanent capacity or look for an external hire. If they waited until after the playoffs to fire Maloney Jenkins, and they decide to take the chance on Edelman or Toomos to start next season and they end up. I really did it up. Okay, okay, I get it, I get it. Yeah, you just like Howard wrote this. I feel like Howard wrote this fucking question.

Also, Howard. In all my spare time, yes. Howard, for you real quick, it says, give us your best pitch for Blue Sky because he's missed you on Twitter, and I can't get myself to make a million social media account. Love you guys. And looking, we need fatherhood update. All the shits, Omar Altaba.

Omar Altaba. Oh, okay. Thank you, Omar. Would like one of one of you like to go? I know what you're going to say. I mean, I would just say to Will you. And this question just set up for Raja to go off. So it was meant for Raj.

It was meant for you. It was meant for you. It was meant for you. Okay. Let me go back to my drama class. But let me come back to the blue sky thing after he finishes. By the seashore. She sells seashells by the seashore.

Okay. No, listen, I would just, I, in, if you, if you were saying that I'm living in a world where Thomas Isolo and Adelman are going to be real candidates for your coaching vacancies, then I agree with what's being said there. Like I can see that. We're going to give them a shot. We're going to essentially give them a head start on playoff experience by just throwing them into the fire this year.

And they're one A, like in terms of our coaching search. Like we think that they're the guy. We'll bring some other people into interview them. But like we think we got the guy. We need to confirm that. I'll concede. All right. Okay.

It's unorthodox. Like I rarely see it. But I got that. that logic. If that's not the case, and these guys are just placeholders for a wide open coaching search where you're going to go with someone more experienced or something like that, then that is what I'm taking exception with. Like, I don't see why you would do that at that point, right? And so I'm not going to go all crazy and stuff like that. I do think that it, I don't think it's debatable that the former coach gave both of those teams a better chance of winning in the

immediacy that is these playoffs. but if you are saying that these guys are your front runners for your job next year, I could understand giving them an opportunity in the playoffs, especially with all that was going on in those locker rooms. Word. I don't need to address the coach of the thing. Again, we did it a couple weeks ago. You wrote the question.

That was. Thanks, Omar, Beck. Thank you. Thank you, Omar, my alter ego. He did ask about blue sky. Listen, I sympathize Omar. Like, I know we all have way too many social media accounts. We all have just way too many things.

So here's what I can tell you. Great NBA community on Blue Sky. It has grown by leaps and bounds over the last three, four, five months. Not everybody from Twitter, but a lot of familiar faces, both media fans, shit posters, clip posters, scouts, film breakdown guys. There's a really good NBA conversation happening there. And on most days, I don't even miss the fact that I'm really barely on Twitter anymore. So if that helps at all.

By the way, no ads on Blue Sky, no algorithm pushing misinformation, bad actors, various propaganda. So that's a benefit. Smaller but better engagement. And if nothing else, you can come find me there because I'm not going to be back on Twitter as long as it's owned by the current owner. Hey, man. I'm with you. I'm a shout to Blue Sky. So this headliner here for this email is Detroit Basketball.

This is from Martin Ulet. Nice. We just all write emails to ourselves. Is this right this one? That's what I'm saying. Damn, Rowe's really ain't even fucking with us like that. We got two of the guys just to give us questions

because we probably have questions. Jesus, that's messed up. All right. This is from Martin Ulet. Hello, friends, long time, big time here. As an underdog booster, I've focused on the pistons for the past few years. I'm a K-believer, and I'm also stuck with Stu

and Duren through their sophomore struggles. So it's rewarding to see them as though. My question is threefold. First, should the piston stand pat this summer and focus on internal growth and refinement or go after some sort of alpha scoring punch? As a leader in another pro sphere, I know how important it is to enable trust and stability and usually prefer reliability, consistency and team building over raw individual talent. But when you have the chance to bring in a ringer to put your shit over the top,

sometimes you have to take that disruptive risk. So yes or no is my first question. If you do think they should bring in one, bring in board punch out of the big time for years this summer who could be the best tailor their game and attitude to fit what the pistons already have going on. I'm a booker guy, but they could also use more bang on the inside. Finally, what are your best practices for integrating new top line talent into an organization without causing a ruckus?

Thanks for all the shits, Martin. Martin. Detroit Basketball. Was it Martin in Detroit, right? It wasn't Detroit. He's from D.C. though, right? Like this show was in Detroit. Yeah.

Yeah. The show was in Detroit. Yeah. Shout to Martin Gina, man. Um, what was I going to say? Uh, I don't know, man. Based on the thing, I think they should just stand pat. Because Kate is that dude.

I think they just keep on building around him. And like, Booker is the only like trade piece that I would consider going to go get. I just don't know the fit there. Um, it would be cool to have another scoring guard. But I just, you would have to. it would depend on how Devin Booker just kind of

transitions into that role, which I think he can do, but I just don't, I don't see that happening. And so yeah, I think it's just stay pet. And it's hard to integrate another star into the fold just because of egos

and not only egos, just like stars are used to getting wherever they want to get onto the floor. So to adjust that, it takes some time. And just adjusting your game into a flow of a, completely different offense after you have an offense catered to you is a hard thing to do.

So those are my answers. I have a story as it happens on the ringer.com right now. Go read it about Detroit basketball. It's it. Read it. And about a lot of those questions actually because over the last couple of days while also, you know, hitting the games that were in New York, I hit up a couple of folks around the league just to kind of start looking forward like what's,

next for the Pistons. Where do they go from here, assuming that they were going to lose the series? Or even if they won the series, like, what's next? The consensus that I've gotten is basically, yeah, Stan Pat, like, you don't need to, like, hit the gas yet. You just broke through. You tripled your win total. Kade's going to be all NBA. I expect when those results are out soon. Jalen Duren's looking great, making strides. Asar Thompson's freaking awesome already. One of the best defenders in the league. If he develops a three-point jump shot, you know, he's on his the world, according to Malik Beasley? So there's a core group there.

They got through this series. They didn't even have, as we said, Isaiah Stewart and Jaden Ivy. Like, there's some doubts about whether Ivy makes sense as a long-term fit there. They've got, you know, the veterans who were so key, aside from Tobias, who's under contract, but like Beasley's a free agent, Schroeder's a free agent, Tim Hardaway Jr. is a free agent. Like, do they bring all those guys back? Is it maybe more like two of those three? but you've got this good young core. You've got your franchise star in Cade. It's really hard to have

multiple stars for cap reasons in today's NBA. So don't go rush out and lock up your cap, take away all of your flexibility when you don't need to yet. You just got here. It's okay to like let your young guys. Their three best players are all 23 and under. Just let it ride. Let them grow. And that's mostly the opinion from folks I talked to around the league. But it hit me this morning when I was like looking at the quotes from last night. Tom Gore's, the owner of the Pistons, did a pregame presser, which was interesting before game six to decide to do it then, where he talked about the big picture. And he's talking about urgency. I'm like, my guy, your team just finally arrived.

You have made way too many. He's gone already through like six GM team president types and six head coach. in the last 15 years. Like, just slow down. Let Trajan Langdon and his staff, who are doing a great job, let them advise you on how to proceed from here, which will probably involve a little bit more patience and a little less urgency for the time being.

Real quick, do you think if they put a flyer on a guy like Ty Jerome, would that be worth it? Give him a little bag. Couldn't hurt. Yeah, but moves around the edge like that. That's different than like trying to get a David Booker or a Kevin Durant or blow it up for Brad Bill. Or being, yeah, so or getting sucked into like the Zion sweepstakes or something crazy, right?

Like, don't go after any like the disillusioned stars. Like, you're not going to be in the Yonah sweepstakes anyway, probably. Like, don't, like, you don't need to make those kind of drastic moves. Like, the one guy I thought about, one of the people I talked to this week was like, well, they need, like, not the most expensive version of this, not a Carl Anthony Towns, but like a modern day big who can step out a little bit, hit the mid-range jumpers, stretch you out to three. put the ball on the floor. That'll somebody who could do the things that Duren and Isaiah Stewart don't. And I'm thinking like, Larry Markin is going to be available possibly this summer. But like, I don't know that that's the move to make for this team.

And again, like you don't need to make anything drastic right now. Cool. All right. Final one. This is from Cleary Percy. Hey, guys. I wonder your guys' opinion on what the fuck Jason Tatum has to do to stop being consistently underappreciated and ignored and NBA discussions.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a self-examination. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a self-examination. Did Michael Pina go straight this one? Yeah. Do we know, do you know when we work? Do you know who we work? But this is a guy. Dog, they talk about the Celtics on the Simmons pod all the time.

Jack Lowe just made a joke to Bill talking about how, oh, we're going to talk about the Celtics again? Like, dog. This is the last site where Jason Tatum is underappreciated. This is the very last site in the very last show by extension. I don't think he's referring to the site, though. I think he's referring to just the general NBA discussion. The world at large. Yeah.

Oh my God, bro. I mean, they just make Celtic City. Like, you can't. You can't say a record of Celtics. Yeah. But this is a guy who in that Magic series, even with the bone bruise, average 31, 11, and 5. Once that, I saw that Tatum joined Larry Brown as the only two Celtics in NBA history

to score 35 plus and three straight playoff games. What the heck else does this guy have to do to start being appreciated more by the casuals and NBA fans in general? Not be bland. He's an also player. There's nothing to do with his game. He's amazing. Be a little bit more Anthony Edwards and a little less Luca.

He's an also player with the sneaky elite bag and it just feels like more people should care. Would love to hear your thoughts and cheers. We said all of our thoughts going with the question. All right. Hold on. Here we go. Go, Ron. Jason Tatum, six-time All-Star.

Four-time All-MBA will be five when it comes out soon. MVP finishes. He's been fourth. He's been sixth twice. He's almost certainly going to be top four, if not top three, in the results that are coming soon. And he's finished behind better players who had better seasons in MVP voting. And it's not a knock.

And it's not a knock to be consistently top four, five, six, an MVP. He's also part of an ensemble in Boston where, like, Jalen Brown's also really super good. And, you know, Derek White, Drew Holiday, and Al Horford and Porzingis. Like, he's part of a great team. It's a little different than when you're Yokic lifting up an entire. team of guys who are just great as the guys I just named. Like, it's, it's just different. And to, to Logan's point, he's a little dry. Yeah, dude, look, this one's simple. He's, he is a phenomenal player. Anybody disrespecting what he is as a player is stupid. Like that, I don't, that's not

debatable. But there's, there's such thing as like an it factor, like having a little bit of like, you know, it's an unpredictable, unquantifiable thing, right? Like, like, a cue, a cue, rating, for instance, like, like, people have to want to consume it. You don't get to dictate, like, when, like, who becomes the person, the media and the public want to consume. That shit just happens on its own. And for whatever reason, like, other people move the needle more than he does in the sphere of, like, global or NBA stars.

It's just what it is. I don't know what it is, but that's your answer, right? Like, there's something and it might just be dry, Howard or Logan, that might be what it is. But it's not, he doesn't have a thing. You know what I mean? It's that personality, man. I seen he dropped the vlog, though.

He did like a sneaker vlog. It looked kind of cool. You just showed him. You go watch it? Probably not. He showed a shoe collection. I mean, I saw it on the ground. You know what's crazy about that is you can press.

This is not unlike the Anthony Edwards conversation we had before. You can do everything. You might not be dry. You might not be dry at all. You might have a great personality and like you want to show that to people. It still might not matter. like they've the the the the jury is in on that right they're like yeah we don't really like uh whatever we still get them compilations of him like copying other people's speeches and stuff like it's

still going to happen like there's also man favorite players is going to get slandered at some point in time bro that's what sports is and fan bases that's what happened oh geez you know how many i grew up a coby fan you know how many times he got slandered bro i don't want to hear anything about this because you can lay low make 300 million dollars fall back and be with lMA sounds like a good life to me. Yeah. But they don't talk about his life. His life is, there you go.

Yeah, like, come on. We're good. That's the Melba. Jason Tatum, Jason Tatum's fine. He's fine. He'll be okay. And a hell of a play. I promise.

Great player. All right. Wait, Jason Tatum's with LMA? Yeah. Damn, dog. You're not all paid six? You don't be tapping here? Yeah, he booed up.

You don't know what did it? What happened to the Rosabelle T report? But stop playing with me. Oh, we're getting loopy. All right. That has been another edition of Real Ones T report and Mailbag. You can check us out. We're going to do Raja, Howard, myself on Tuesday.

So back-to-back mailback episodes. RealWismailbag at gmail.com. Remilwasmail back at gmail.com. Remil's mailback at gmail back.com. I'm going to make it's Raj's turn to do the ads. So we're going to go do that and tap in and see you Tuesday. All the shits. Bye. Must be 21 years and older and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with the Kansas Star Casino or 18 and older and president in D.C.

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