The Ringer NBA Show - How important Is the Lakers Comeback Against the Clippers? | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Logan and Raja react to last night’s Lakers comeback against the Clippers, and what it means for both teams at this point in the season (05:00). Later, the guys look at the Denver Nuggets ramping up and discuss the current state of the teams (35:00). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. What's popping? Logan Murdoch here. Roger Bell there. Roger, what's going on, man? How's everything going on, bro? What's up? I know you were...

Are you teeing me up or are you, is this like... I don't know what I'm doing on this pod, which is honestly like a... This is just a continuation of what I've been doing the last four years, damn there. I never know what I'm doing on this podcast, but specifically today. I we came in on I let's just let's just bring the curtain back because it's not a lot to talk about in the NBA right now slow news day right now it's a slow news day we'll talk LeBron Clippers for sure but yeah but like it's a slow day so let me just let when there's a slow day we'll just peel back the curtain of what's going on so last night I was at Clippers Lakers right and I sent every night before uh before a podcast, I'll send it like an obligatory text to the group chat and just say like, hey guys, we're going to, um, you know, we're going to talk about these things and these topics and we'll go at this time, right? And last night, Roger, I'm going to tell the truth. You don't

act like I'm not going to tell the truth. But you're already not telling the truth. You're already not telling the truth. What do you mean I'm not telling the truth? You don't send that text every night before we pod. You don't. It's not like, that's not like a you're trying to make that sound like that is a a check-in of sorts that is a headcount that is something that everyone is that's not how that works occasionally you send a tech so i will let you finish but i just need to clarify as we as we work our way through that story that that is not an every day before the pod text that people are responding to i digress continue occasionally i will send it mostly on mondays because we got howard beck right like he He wants topics, right?

So he wants to, you know, he wants to lock in. And so sometimes on Thursday, I'll just send a link and say, hey, we're coming on at this time on Thursdays. Because you like links and you are, you don't. Now this is fair. Now we're getting to the nitty gritty. Usually the majority of the time, it is a link. Yeah.

And that's it. It's just a link. There's no other conversation. I digress again. Hold on, bro. Let me see. go ahead. So I can have my stuff together.

Let me go into the real ones group chat. And we're going to keep it up being. Like, I'm not picking sides here. It is, it is a ritual that Logan sends that text, but nobody responds to it because we know what time to show is that. Right. This time.

Right. Is there a time? No, no, no, no. Don't get involved in this shit, Kerm. Take your ass off the pot. I was going to help you on. Take your ass off the pot. I was on your side, bro.

I was on your side. Let me say it. Go ahead. I was about to say, typically it's earlier in the day. Send it at, you know, 11 pm.T is not ideal when one of your hosts is on the East Coast, i.e. you, Roger. So that is, I think, where the disconnect came. That's all I'm saying. Yes. So what happened was last night,

we were going to drag this out for content purposes, but he got to what happened was. What happened was last night I sent the text saying, hey guys, we're on at 8 a.m. Pacific time, 11 a.m. Eastern time. Usually we go at 8.30 on Thursdays. And it's usually like Rogers's like checked in on that time. right. And so usually I'll just send like, oh, yo, we're going at 8.30 and just send a link because Raja needs links every single time. Right. And so what happened this time is I said 30 minutes earlier because I had to do something or I thought I had to do something and it would, and I needed to get at 8 o'clock. Raja sees the text and is like, yo, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And I didn't really get it. I could have sent this text earlier yesterday. I could have done that. I apologize. And so what had happened was,

Roger gets up. I was like, yo, what the fuck? You send me this fucking text at one in the morning when I was sound to sleep. It's past my bedtime.

It was one, it was 150 in the morning. Two in the morning. Two in the morning. Two in the morning. I'm getting up in four hours. You're getting up in four hours. And then you wake up and then you have the,

yeah, you have the, what do you have to do? Drop-offs in the morning. So yeah, I could have sit in the text earlier. I could have said the text earlier. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, that's fair. And I'm not even, I'm not really even tripping until I got it. Like, I'm halfway like through my little errands that I got to run right before the pod and I get the text like, yo, we're on.

When are you popping in? I'm like, what the fuck? So now I got to go back and look. And in fairness to you, right? Are they always time stamped when that? But let's just say you do always put a time on that. I will apologize if I was mistaken on that. They are very rarely in the evening though because I usually, they usually come through like at some

point before I go to sleep. You know what it is? You know what it is? No, actually, I'm looking at the text right now. And usually, they're usually at 8.30 on Thursday, so you don't even have to do anything. That's what it is. I'm looking at the group chat right now. What up?

We're on at 830 Pacific. Here's the link. But like, it doesn't matter because it's always 830 on Thursdays, right? This one, I threw you for a loop. If I was going to do 8 o'clock, I should have probably did like, yo, a couple days before. Also, everyone are ruins. You could just flood our mailbags to tell me or wrong. Roger, if they're right.

Let's take it to the streets. How about that? Take it to the streets. I think we're both. I mean, I've been wrong in this conversation if they're all timestamps. So I think we're both right to some degree. But let's go. Let's get it.

I'd love to hear. Okay. Let's go. Anyways, like everyone is like could gather right now, I'm in Los Angeles. And I'm in Los Angeles right now. And I went to the Lakers Clippers game, the last game ever between the two teams and Cripper. crypto in crypto slash staple center in Los Angeles.

It was for like three quarters, the game sucked. I'm not going to lie. If you were in the game, it was so boring. The crowd wasn't in it. You know, Clippers crowds aren't great at all. So if the Lakers aren't doing well, it was like a pro-Lakers crowd, as you can imagine. It was my first time ever being in this iteration of this rivalry and ever seen these two teams match up in person. And then like the Clippers go on.

up 21 and then the fourth quarter starts and LeBron is like, I'm just going to take Daniel Tice every time on a switch all the time, every time I see him. And I'm just, I'm not, I'm going to go to the whole one time to keep him honest, but I'm just going to take step back three on Daniel Tice every single time and run action

around them. Had the Clippers' defense in a spin cycle, the Lakers win and their best win of the season, and the Clippers probably worse, like, explanation point on their worst, probably stretch of the season right now. I tried to broce this topic to Raja before the pod,

like in the two minutes before the prepod after he yelled at me. And then into this. And I gave him the topics. And he was like, this doesn't make sense. Does this game matter, Raja? Let's this game even matter. Does this game give us a clue as to what these two teams can be or not be in the next few months? This is where we are in the NBA season, by the way.

Well, I mean, the game matters. for sure, right? Because, you know, the result, I think for the Lakers, you know, specifically could be kind of a little springboard point for them right now. You know what I mean? Like it could, you know, that feeling, those vibes, that energy can propel you a little bit. So it matters in that regard. I don't think, I mean, while it is a devastatingly bad lost for the clippers in the moment, I don't think that conversely, it's one of those losses that derails your season. You know, if I'm saying it could help the Lakers and spur them on with a little energy

kick right now, I don't think it derails the clipper season, but it's embarrassing. Like, nobody wants to lose like that. I was tapped into the game here and there. I keep coming back to it. It is 18, you know, 17. And, you know, it just, to your point, it wasn't a great game to watch until late. I would just say this. I don't think it matters broad picture, larger,

you know, picture type of vibe because, again, I would just, if the Lakers have to have that effort from LeBron James at the point in his career at which he is, to steal a win with a home crowd, while I'm telling you it could be good in the, in the immediate next few games in terms of energy and stuff like that. That's still, I don't believe, to be a sustainable model for them to win a championship. If he's got to do that and put on like that just to beat the Clippers without Paul George and Zubots,

then I don't believe that that's sustainable for them. It's a great win. It's another great, like I think LeBron's biggest comeback, something he'd never done. before. And, you know, the biggest Lakers come back since I think like in 20 years, too. All that is dope. I don't mean to downplay any of that. And I won't.

It just doesn't really change for me what I see the Lakers as in terms of trying to win a championship when it comes to the heavy hitters in the NBA. And then the Clippers. I mean, how fair is it to judge a loss

like that and judge trajectory after a loss like that? When you're playing with, without two of your major pieces. Yeah. I think the other biggest thing is like, and this is what I want to kind of pick your brain on is this time in the regular season. Like, obviously we made the joke of like there's nothing to talk about it.

It's not that, you know, we're just in that the dog, we're in the dog days of the NBA for everyone. And, you know, I've been around, been in L.A. for the last few days. and I went to Clippers practice the other day. And Ty Lou was just basically talking about like how much she needs. Like at this point in the season with the Clippers, they're having a lot more practice time, a lot more shoot around time

because they need to get back in gear. And it feels like they're dealing with them after that huge run that they had when Westbrook went to the bench and, and James Hardin just kind of went off and it's been the facilitator role. ever since the All-Star break, they have kind of lagged back into the season.

There's two trains of thoughts right there. I know that the Clippers are like, damn, we wish there wasn't an All-Star break so we keep our rhythm. And there's always two types of teams. There's a team that just gets back on the ground running after a All-Star weekend. And then there's a team like the Clippers who are trying to find their footing. Like, what is the genesis for both starts after an All-Star? break when on one hand you want to hit the ground running. Other hand, that might not be a realistic.

How do you navigate through that and these next as March comes tomorrow? How do you navigate through it? I don't know. The genesis of it is unpredictable. You don't really ever know how you're going to come back from an All-Star break. Quite frankly, that's why good teams that are playing great don't want to stop playing. And bad teams that can't find it want the break. because on the other side of it, we could come back either way.

And it doesn't serve the team that's playing well. And it could serve the team that's playing poorly. All you can do is what Tyloo's talking about doing. Look, we got to get back in the gym. To some degree in the NBA, when you are rolling, it's on cruise control. To the point that you kind of touched on with Tyloo saying they're practicing more, man, when things are haman and you're in a stretch of a lot of travel and a lot of games, and you're in the meat of the season,

there's very little real practice tinkering and work that's going on. This is basically on cruise control. We have a few tweaks. Sure, we're going to get in to shoot the ball a little bit and go over game plans, but we're not really going to be structurally dealing with much. This is working. We're playing well. And so I think if a team comes out of the gates after the break

and they are not playing well and they are in a little bit of a funk, it does behoove you to go back and start to hoop a little bit more, start to really, you know, maybe while you can't go all the way back to a training camp style practice for the length of time that you were doing it in training camp, you could maybe abbreviate that type of practice a few times, you know, get guys in and out of drills that are, that are, you know, more grueling, if you will. And just to, you know, kind of refresh, hit the reset button, you know, those thoughts, those, those mantras,

those type of, you know, attentions to detail. And for a team that comes back out playing better and on hitting their stride in a way that they maybe weren't right before the break, I mean, you've got to look at your season ahead of you, figure out where you are

positionally in the NBA, or are there realistic opportunities if we're a middle of the pack type of team to climb up, you know, and get in one of those first four spots? Is there an opportunity if we're already up there to get to the first? If we're out of it, Can we sneak into the play in? Like, let's kind of figure out where we are.

And you're just trying to ride out. You're trying to keep the good mojo running. That team is in a spot where it's not going to need a whole lot. Like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So you want games to come as quickly as they can come. Yeah. I mean, all this we're saying, right, with the Clippers, they got the Wizards on Friday night.

Like, it's going to be fine. They're probably going to blow the Wizards out. I want to get back to LeBron Roe. quick. To your point about him having to summon this type of effort, and honestly, it was a home game. Like, there's, there were so many Laker fans in attendance at Crypto, even though it was a designated Clippers game. But there were a lot of times where it was, it felt like a game, honestly, in the fourth quarter where LeBron's just got hot, you know, because there was a lot of times where he doesn't, What made LeBron so devastating in his early career, even the mid-career, even up until like maybe six, seven years ago, is that he was so devastating going to the cup. And that threat of him going to the cup really just put people on edge.

And I don't know how closely you were watching last night, but he was settling for a lot of threes. And there were a couple of times where he would just go for the hat trick and shoot a little. long three and then miss very badly. This was in the fourth quarter in the midst of this run and just put his hands on his knees, like looking very, very tired just to summon that energy. And this was a regular season game in February, right? So this wasn't playoff intensity by any stretch of the imagination. I just don't know whenever I see the Lakers, it's one of those things where, and I see this with a couple other teams, where on paper you're like, you're like, you're Yeah, they can do this.

Like, when you look at LeBron do that in person, you're like, man, this dude is obviously generational. This is crazy. Wow, what a performance. And then when you take a look back, you're like, I don't know if he could summon this again. I don't know how many times he could summon these types of things. He's in year 21. And I just, I don't see just he's going to need help that he's never going to get point blank.

And that's just where we're at right now. So we're going to continue to get these types of performances, like maybe periodically, but not sustained enough for a seven-game series. Yeah, I mean, that's very unlikely. And I think that if LeBron were to hear this clip, you know, and he really listened to what was being said, he would agree. Yeah, sure, he can do that, man. Sure, at any given moment, with fresh legs, if you said, go be the best player on the planet, he could summon that. Now, it looks different to your point. I've been saying that for years.

It's not shoulders by your defender. That's a really weird thing when that happens to you. When you're like, okay, I'm going to go to my go-to. It works 99.7% of the time and you hit the gas and there's a chest right in front of you. You're like, what the fuck? Like that, no one was ever right there. That happened, though, a couple years ago to LeBron. So he's been figuring out and morphing into more of a jump shooter at times because it's not as easy.

and you couple that with everything becomes a little harder when you're older, and that's a bad combination of things. But on any given night with fresh legs, you ask him to be the best player on the planet, he's even going to do it or come really, really close to doing it. But that's not NBA basketball. You don't get, you know, you're not getting four days of rest in between every game. You know, not even in the regular season, certainly not, you know, as the playoffs.

If the NBA played 50 games a year, I think the Lakers will win the title. honest to God, I would give them a much better shot. Yeah. I would give them a much better shot. Now, you would also then have to tell me that in the playoffs, you are going to stretch the rest out more. Because that's what it comes down to, too. Like, you know, it's the amount of games over the course of the season to take their toll.

And then it's one year at your most withered as an athlete, you know, because you're never as strong and as fresh and as healthy as you are right when the season starts. So you get through even 50 games, and that's mileage. Those are, you know, nicks and bruises and tweaks and slight tears. And when you are now on top of those 50 games playing, you know, seven games over the course of, like, I don't know what they fit seven games into now, it becomes really, really hard to recover. Like recovery is very difficult. And so I would just say that even LeBron would tell you that if he had to do that for them to win. First of all, it's him making that many threes in a quarter to save you.

That's not a sustainable model to begin with. No, not at all. That's not. I mean, it's just got hot. Like I'm saying, he just got hot, man, at the right time. That doesn't happen. And that's cool. I mean, that's great.

Like, again, one of the greatest players ever to play the game, like can do that sometimes. But to have to win with that in and of itself isn't sustainable. But to have it be LeBron in any capacity, whether it's going to the rack or making all those threes or what have you, having him be the guy that puts the team on his back and carries them home to wins just by willing it to happen in the fourth quarter of games in any shape, form or fashion, that's not sustainable in terms of winning a championship for the Lakers with LeBron at this point in his career. It's just not. The thing is that I always struggle with when I watch the Lakers and I struggle with it last night is I keep hearing, I keep hearing

your voice in my head, Roger, around whenever I watch the Lakers and one of your favorite sayings, the worst place to be in the NBA is the middle. And that's exactly where the Lakers are right now. They're in the middle. They are in the playing, but like they'll beat some teams they're not supposed to beat case in point last night. They'll lose to some teams that they're not supposed to lose to because their best player is 77 years old.

And I just don't. It's going to be really interesting with, you know, this fan base out here for the next couple of years because LeBron is going to retire in the next couple of years. He's going to have the fair world tour, all the things. But I do wonder, like, how this fan base is going

to deal with that and just deal with the fact that they are just mired in mediocrity despite the fact that they have two generational talents, one of which is 85 years old. Well, there, you know, I mean, that's going to be an interesting transition for sure. I think the Lakers have an opportunity this summer, if I'm not mistaken, cap-wise, to go out and try to solve that problem to a degree by getting something else in the building that that might be able to, you know, help them.

But the Lakers are like a lot of glamor franchises in that. You play in that uniform, you're overvalued. Yeah. Not, not LeBron and AD. I mean,

they are who they are. But everything else that plays in that uniform is over fucking value. Roger. Like, Laker fan thing. The media does it too. It's so frustrating.

Like, I say this shit all the time. Forgive me. But like, go through, the roster and it's overvalued by the media. And so the Lakers fan gets tricked into thinking they have this, oh man, this cat is going to, no, he's not. The THC Memorial Award for Overvalue.

And it's all good like that. I mean, I guess that signifies and that that is a phenomenal fan base and, you know, as a brand good for the Lakers and stuff like that. But it does sometimes, I mean, it's going to be, when you have. a Kobe in his prime, when you have a shack in his prime, when you have a LeBron or AD in the prime, it doesn't really bite you in the ass. Those unrealistic expectations from some of the role guys, because the greats are so

great that they're going to overcome most things. That's a really good point, though, Rajah, because I'm thinking about this, right, where when you look at a championship team, right, let's look at Denver, right, who I know I've been hard on all the real ones been on my head about just being harder on nuggets. I think they're prime. I'm also trying to post myself some bail. I'm trying to shoot myself some bail, but the nuggets are at the class of the

Wessler Conference and look like they can go make another run. But if you look at that team, right, they have Yokit's the all-around dude, right? Just like the generational talent. But they also have Gordon, who had a point. time say what you want to say about them was considered a franchise cornerstone for a certain team, right? Then you have Michael Porter Jr. who could be a number one option on a bad team, right? You have Jamal Murray who can also be a number one option on another team. Is that team going to win a title? Not necessarily. But you look at those, a roster like that, it's stacked. You look at

those old, look at the Bulls, for instance, who perennially won titles. They had, Scott, Pippen, but they also had like a Ron Harper who at a point in time in his career was a number one option. But if you get what I'm saying when you have, I don't see that on the Lakers roster. You know what I mean? Like if you look at even the Lakers of the early 2000s, they had Robert Ory who had a life before the Lakers, right? You know what I'm saying? Or Andre Guadala, these guys that were like just stacked rosters. The Lakers used to have a lot of them, though.

The Lakers would have Rick Foxes. Like those dudes were those dudes were Hoopers. Yeah. Not discrediting. I'm not, forgive me, because I know what it sounds like. I'm not discrediting anything in the Lakers, like, uh, uh, franchise right now in terms of not being a hooper. Who would be on this roster as a, as an ancillary piece? The closest.

Yeah. The closest thing when he was like, that's the closest thing. Yeah. Right? When he first came into the lead, that's, that's the closest thing. And so, you know, I know to, to a, to a fan, it would sound slant. It's not, man. I first hand know how hard it is to make it in the NBA.

I'm talking about to scratch out a living, sitting there watching other people play basketball and practicing every day. That is a remarkable feat. Far too many people discount that and try to play people that make that living off like they can't play basketball. That is utterly absurd. But to get to a point where you're averaging 12, 13 points a game, like that is a whole

another thing. And so for the Lakers players that are doing that, I am throwing no shade. Those were my best years in the NBA. But I will still tell you that at that point,

that player isn't enough on a roster with an aging LeBron and an AD that is like that's not enough. And I want to build on that because like I said, like you said,

it's just, it's more of an argument just how hard it is to fucking be good in me. NBA, bro. Like this, or being great as a professional athlete, right? Like, and there's a lot of other nuances to that. But I just want to go to this roster, right?

Who on this, who can you run offense through consistently, not name LeBron James or Anthony Davis when they're not on the floor? Who can you do it with, right? Like, if you look at other, who can. Well, I mean, you could make an argument. Someone's going to come in here and argue that you could run it through D.Lo and you could run it through Austin Reeves. And you could.

You ain't going to win shit. Right. So I'm like, I just want to, I want to actually parse through it with you. Right. Even like you look at the Warriors right now, right? I looked at them, granted, they played against the wizard the other night. Wow. But you have a Chris Paul coming off the bench who you can run offense through and you can take pressure off of other people, right?

Just even something like that. Do the Lakers have that? Like in a second unit, do they have? have that? They don't. That's the, that's the biggest thing. And that's, I don't see, like, even the people that you talk about, um, like, they're going to have cap space. They're going to have like just, they can make some moves and things like that. But I just don't know what player, the way their roster is currently constructed around the two players that they have, I don't know the player that's going to get them over the top via free agency. I mean,

Kyrie could have been that, I guess. But like, that was the type of player. but is there another type of player out there? Well, I don't know. I have been beaten down the free agency board. And I don't forgive me. I don't have my old Cleveland notebook with every possible free agent and how I'd have them ranked and whatnot. But with the money that the Lakers will have,

if you're going out and ideally trying to spend that money, it's in an effort to get a Kyrie. Now, Kyrie, like just the name, the skill set, mentality, the general ballpark of ability. That's what you're trying to spend that money on. That's what that money represents, a star. We want that to pair with these two. If you get that, you're fine.

Now you can have, now Austin Reeves is dope. Do you know what I mean? Now provided you didn't overpay him. Like, I mean, you know what I mean? Like that becomes another thing. Like you're in a Lakers uniform, they, you know, they value you differently. There's a lot of shit that can happen. I am looking at the, I am looking at the free agency tracker.

Shout out to Hoopside. There are some guys that are available. Okay, I'm giving you names. Okay, let's do it. And I just want to do a disclaimer here, guys, that I'm not reporting shit. I'm not doing anything. It's two friends spitballing. This is all this is.

Tyrese maxi, he's up. He has a player option. He's also a clutch guy. Maybe, but I don't, I don't think he's the guy, though. I've seen Tyresexian, no. So let me follow up. all I'm going to do here is when you say a name, I'm going to tell you if that skill set, when you put it to the, it works and it helps them get over to home with the other two.

All right, cool, cool, let's do that. Let's do it. All right. So Tyree Smith, you say yes. Yes. In a vacuum, yes. I mean, there's James Hardin in the picture. I mean, yes, in theory, yes.

But yes. Okay. O.G. Anobie, no. Pascall Seacum. I mean, yes, but it's not going to. to happen. Like he's not going to the Lakers. It's not going to happen. De Marder Rosen. That's an interesting one for me. Probably, probably, probably not now. Right. Drew Holliday. Probably not now. Yes. Okay. And can I let me, let me, can I clarify that one?

Sure. Because he puts out a lot of fires. Yes. He, I mean, while he's not the high end offensive player all the time, like he just does so much for you that, that I think that piece fits with those two, for sure. Yeah. Now we're getting into the Bruce Browns and the Clayton. So no, no. So we can stop because my point would have been, ideally you're spending that money on a Tyrese, Maxie, Kyrie Irvin, so on and so forth.

If you have to start spending it on, I'll even say, Pasquist, Seacom in this conversation. But I think Pascal is right on the borderline of like a guy I would tell you yes to. And if you start taking me to a tier of player just below that, the answer is no,

I need something else with it. Yeah. So then I have to think, if I can't get the Kyrie's or the Tyrese maxi for that chunk of change that I have, if it's not enticing enough to any of those dudes, now I need a couple pieces that are

maybe, you know, not a 10, but, you know, together they add up to 16. Yeah. You know, because now. But the thing is, the Lakers, like, talked themselves into, and I, and when I say the Lakers, I also mean I include myself. I don't want to speak for Kerm, but I think Kerm might have been, Kerm, were you drinking the Kool-Aid over the summer after all the, after all the signings were made?

When Vando got back, when DeAngelo got re-signed and Reeves, were you, were you drinking the Kool-Lade? Oh, absolutely. Over the summer, I thought we were going to be solid, dog. I was like, Gay Vincent, that's all we needed. Little than I know, the Miami Heat, point guards that leave the Miami Heat are scammers. And when they leave, they don't have knees, apparently. So, yeah, I was definitely drinking too late heavy. I thought, you know, with seeing the conference finals, like, they made the right moves. It wasn't too many additional pieces, but enough to believe it was something serious. And I was wrong. I was very wrong. Way to go. Karma was sleeping. He just came. came up and just gave us, woke up, just gave us, like, great analysis. Shout to you, Kerm.

But like, like Kerm, I was, I was feeling like, just like the Lakers were, feeling like, yo, yeah, we could probably do something. Lakers could probably do something. We got some action here. But you realize they didn't get the mid-tier piece, and that's the biggest thing. Like, the, there's such a gap between the Austin Reeves and LeBrons and the A-Ds that you need something to, like, kind of just bridge a gap. And they just don't have that right now. And I don't think, I don't see any moves out there for that to happen. And it's just, it just goes back overall to the Lakers until how I see it. And I don't know how you see it, raw.

But the Lakers are going to be mediocre as long as this roster is guided by these two guys. I just think so. Because LeBron on one hand is going to year 22 next year. He is who he is. He's not going to play a full season. AD is who he is. And it's going to toil a mediocrity. I just don't see anything beyond that short of the game.

a huge move, but like, this is the team. This is what's going on. Well, if this is going to be the team, then there won't be any more championships with this in, in, in, you know, the era of the team. But I don't know that that has to be the case, because, again, I think, you know, this summer they get a good swing, you know, at a pitch, and they're not, I don't think they're dumb. They know.

I mean, you know. You're fighting to your, and this all stems from the original question to start our discussion. That was great, man. That was a great win last night. But let's just put it in perspective, though. Like, LeBron was great, won the game, did something that he's never done in his career and the Lakers haven't done in years by coming back from the deficit that they came back from. He scored 34.

Yeah. Like, in today's NBA, like scoring 34 isn't a crazy thing. Do you know what I mean? And so the Lakers are watching that. I mean, we got 34, everybody celebrating, but it took LeBron to hit all these threes down the stretch. And we barely got the win. They didn't have Paul George. They didn't have this and that.

Great win. Like, surely, let's try to convince everybody that it's good momentum moving forward. But at the end of the day, do we think that's sustainable? They know that's not sustainable. No. You know what's not sustainable? The rest of this segment. We're going to take a quick break.

Get buckets with your first bet on Fanduel, America's number one sports book because right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. All right, let's look at the NBA schedule. I don't know what I'm going to pick this week. Oh, Bucks Hornets. Huh, I think I'm going to take the over. Jazz Magic, over. Hawks Nets.

Huh, let me go over. Warriors Knicks. Now, this has given me some trouble, right? There could be a defensive struggle. I think I'm going to take the under. No, I changed my mind. Taking the over. Under Spurs over, over, over and over on the rest of the NBA slate.

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Only $10 first deposit required bonus issued as non-witrable bonus bets that expires seven days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fandle.com. Raja and we are back. Raja has no idea what we're going to discuss. But I want to talk about the Nuggets. You don't know what we're about to talk about. No.

He's all about it. You know, I went to, I went to dinner the other day, and it was at a, it was a Santa Monica. It was great. I went with one of the homies. And I was like, it was like, what you want to order? And I was like, I'll figure out what I'm going to order when the, when the waitress comes through. And that's exactly what I did. That's what we're doing here on real ones, dog.

You know what I mean? We're just waiting. I can do that here on real ones to a certain level. Yeah. I can't do that at a restaurant. I am not good under that. Are you a terrible? Are you a terrible restaurant person?

Well, I'm not a great eater. There's a lot of, there's a lot that I don't eat and there's a lot of modifications to food on menus. So I did realize that in Vegas. In Vegas, you did. It's very difficult for me to do that. Roger just like ate like Brussels sprouts and what the hell did you eat there, bro? Brussels sprouts and beer. That was what you had.

I think, was it? What did I have? It was only the veggies at the at the at the uh I might have had shishito peppers or something like that man but not a lot. Anyway, that's an interesting transition to the nuggets that I just don't have. But, uh, great sushi restaurants in Denver. No, right? No, are that? Oh, that ocean?

No, my. I love Denver. I just, I just don't love the airport situation in Denver, which is why I don't know the next time I'm ever going to Denver. One of the most, that and Houston, Texas, after a long flight, getting in late, having to play the next day, are the most brutal bus rides from the airport to your hotel. That any NBA player, if you pulled any NBA player, like where don't you want to fly into late night on a back-to-back because of the bus ride from the airport to the hotel, you're getting Denver and Houston. Without fail, I bet, I guarantee you those are their number one and number two answers. Bro, it's like, and you, you have it easier because y'all fly private. The thing with the Denver airport is that the Denver airport, it doesn't matter what if you're a civilian, it's going to be like an hour wait to get through security dog.

After the hour, the hour fucking and a half drive out from Denver downtown to, yeah, bro. that's it's it's so like in houston like it's you know Houston is just as long whatever anyway let's talk about let's talk about Denver nuggets really quickly I don't know bro we were talking about airports and shit let's talk about the nugs I'm fascinated by Denver because they're this team and I watch them I think twice in person this year they're this team that knows it can flip a switch at a moment's notice to be the teams that it needs to beat.

But in February and March and January, they're also a team that just seems to not care and know how good it is. Do we, are you at the space with Denver like I am where I kind of learn my lesson because, and I'm living through this in real time, I've learned my lesson with Denver, mostly because Denver Nuggets fans yell at me a lot.

But they're a team that's just laying in the weeds. Is this something that is sustainable for a team like that? Can they continue to just like put, can they flip the switch? Is that something that they can continue to do? Or do you see flaws in this roster? And do you see stuff that can probably hinder them? I don't, I don't, I mean, it's always easier to flip a switch when you've, when you've won and you know all that it takes to get to the top and win, right? So I would say that they are better positioned to flip a switch than they've ever been.

But I don't necessarily see them having to flip a switch. You know, it's a difference between flipping a switch and then just kind of like, let's pick it up a little bit. You know, they sound very similar, and I guess they are, but one is like going from like completely idle engine turned off to like, all right, guys, let's play. But that's very hard to do.

but I mean, they're not, well, they're not number one in the West right now. I mean, they're right there. There are a couple games out of it. I don't think they were as strong as they were last year from top the bottom. Whenever you have, you know, the names that you talked about in the last segment, you got Nicola Yolkich, Murray, Michael Porter, Eric Gordon. Like, you have some of those guys out there playing, you know, Contavius Carlwell, poor Bridget Jagger, you've got names, Braun.

but you know there were some pieces over there like I think the Bruce Brown he played so magnificently in the playoffs for them last year who's who's going to do that who's going to pick up that slack you know so I don't think they're as strong but I do think because they won last year they know what that's like Nicola Yolkich is a problem for everybody Jamal Murray might be outside of Denver in my opinion one of the more disrespected players in the league for what he's able to do, especially in big moments. Like, he's good all the time. But when the lights get the brightest, he finds another level.

So when you have those, yeah, I think you're good. Some of those other teams, you know, that are at the top of the West right now, they're playing fantastic. And it's not to take anything away from Minnesota or OKC, but they've never closed. They've got to prove it. Yeah, they've never closed. Season does, yeah, this regular season is one thing for those two guys. But like, I don't really, when I see OKC in Minnesota, I'm like, all right, I see you in April.

That's fine. Yeah, and I believe in both of them. I'm not saying that they will fail. But when you're asking me if Denver, you know, needs to kick it in, not really, just keep playing. Keep, keep hooping, you know, keep picking off a half game here or there if you can before you know it. You know, if anybody stumbles, you're going to be right there, you know, at number one. And in the playoffs, I just trust them more because I've seen it. And that's just what it is.

But I honestly, Logan, don't think that they're a strong, I don't feel the way I felt about them last year, this year is what I'm trying to say. When you think about, you referenced Jamal Murray. And like, also what a career he's had thus far. Like, I'd be feel disrespected if I've continued to go, like, you know, he went toe to toe with Donovan Mitchell, who is, you know, thought of as this this perennial all-star got the shoe deal all these things but Jamal Murray's looking at him like a damn near Cadill outscored you and I got a ring

but I ain't got no but I ain't got no I got no I got no all-stars to show up and I'm not considered in that club you know like when like NBA players and professional athletes in general always have to find some sort of chip and they always there's some like I think there's always a constructive insecurity that athletes have because you guys have to have that, right? And I think Jamal Murray is at that place where he's like,

all right, fuck you and your little club. I'm still going to just go try to win a ring. I can contend for a ring each and every year. But with that being said, where do you think the disconnect is between the people in Denver who know Jamal Murray's greatness, the people that are in the know in like

basketball fishingados like yourself, that are in the know versus the general public who are like, who is this guy? Is he really as serious as we think he is? Where is the disconnect there? Well, I think it's just overall coverage and, you know, the fact that he hasn't made the All-Star game, I think it was Howard Beck that was on kind of articulating some of the reasons.

Like he had some very untimely injuries, you know, that would have him missing parts of seasons that would preclude him really from getting that type of consideration. Who else is in the Western Conference in terms of top-tier? stars, you know, and that's just, you know, that's an unfortunate, unfortunate timing type of thing. And then he's got Nicola Yolkich. So anything that ever happens with the Nuggets, it's Nicoliochich. I mean, you know, I lived. I was a fascinating part of being an NBA player, man. Now, again, hear what I'm saying to you, not putting myself in the category of Jamal Murray in any way, shape or form. But I'd play on teams. Let's say I was on the Sons or or or the Mavericks,

let's say or something. And for whatever reason, I was the one that had 30 some last night, right? And, you know, ESPN would come on the next morning and, you know, if my parents were at the house or something like that, you know, they'd be watching and they'd want to hear something about my 30 that I had that really contributed us to winning the game. And my name wouldn't be mentioned, it would just be in the little side caption that I had 30, right? And so, I know what that feels like, not on his level, because I mean, like, he is a star. It's just that he's got Nicola Yokic next to him, which detracts, you know, some of the spotlight. And that's more of a Denver issue too, right? Because, like, Yokic is a bona fide international

star. But, like, he's a recluse, right? And then also, you have Denver who isn't while good, like we have decided, and it's not, not we have decided, but it's always been like this in NBA consciousness. We go at, we follow the big names. If you go look at NBA today, if you go look at like even our past podcast, like we almost talked about Kerm was, Kerm made fun us because we've almost talked about the warriors in this segment, right? Like, that's where we are in the consciousness. That's something that you have to overcome as a small market team. And I don't get, and I don't really have a good reason why, you know, we do this with small market teams or what we deem as small market teams with the NBA. I feel like if we did a better

job of just marketing all teams, we would, the, the NBA would just be an overall better and also more viewed product if we put more emphasis on those things. But that being said, like, I think that no matter, unless Denver reels off maybe three straight, I just don't see them being like at the top of the NBA's consciousness in that way, right? Because it's just not flashy. It's very Spursian of them. They're just very Spurs-like in that way. Yeah, there's also something to be said for, I mean,

there's also something to be said for the way you handle your business as an organization, like you just touched on the Spurs. because the Denver Broncos for a while were like one of the toast of the NFL type of teams. Like when they were good, they had L-Way and those dudes and they were like, it wasn't like they were really undervalued. But yes, yes. Yeah, but it's like, you know what I mean? So like it's not like a Denver issue. It's it's there's, it's multifaceted.

And I think part of it has to be, you know, the way they approach and handle their business, the personalities that they have. I think Cal Booth, you know, ownership and the way they conduct. themselves and that's not a bad thing. That's just sometimes those personalities and the way you guys conduct business, even if you're a great team, it doesn't garner the headlights and the attention.

Do you know what I mean? I would, I prefer to fly under the radar personally. You know, then be the all eyes on me type of, you know, that's why you're an honorary spur, Roger. That's why you're an honorary spur. Thank you.

Thank you, Spurs. I appreciate that. Greg Popovich, you know how much affinity I have. also said it on this pod. You guys can go listen to that episode. He basically said that you're an honorary spare. To me is the dude, man.

So anyway, I look, Jamal Murray for people who watch the games, like for people who saw the bubble, do you remember Jamal Murray in the bubble? I'm saying, yes. Do you remember that?

Yes. Like, and even last year throughout the playoff run, like, Jamal Murray is a fucking, he's a problem. If I was Jamal Murray and I fucking went toe to toe with Donovan Mitchell and I'm not making up no beef or nothing.

I don't even like that. I don't even do it all that. But I'm just saying as an example, if I did that and I'm consistently doing that and I want to ring and you're not giving me no flowers, bro? I'd be pissed every time and I'd be wanting to go at show. Like, I'm curious to see what he does in the postseason. Well, ultimate vindication is the chip and getting paid. And I would take it a step further. Do you know how much I talk about Kyrie and his ability to finish?

Yes. The under the rim finishing. I mean, clearly he can finish above the rim, but the under the rim, English, crazy finishes. So hard, man. That's so hard. And I talk about him, but you know who's very,

very close to him in terms of being able to pull off some of those incredible finishes with English and creativity and just what the fuck was that? Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray. Yeah.

Yeah. So, you know, I don't have a great answer for you, but I like, I love Jamal Murray's game. So whether anybody else does or not, it doesn't really matter to me. But I know when you have those to him and Yokic, Aaron Gordon, you know, Aaron Gordon also, man, we talked about in the beginning, we talked about the beginning of the especially for them. Oh my God.

We talked about like what the Lakers don't have. And I don't want to make as a Lakers conversation, but those are the pieces you need. Like the Aaron Gordon, who like under the radar can get you 25 and 13 on a given night. that could supplement like the perfect piece that can do that, right? And it's funny because, like, we talk about this too. One of the things you need in, well, one life, but specifically the NBA in sports, you need to have self-awareness. That will get you so much in this league, bro.

If you just know this is what I'm good at, this is what I'm not good at, okay, Aaron Gordon, he wasn't a franchise cornerstone in Orlando. Big whoop. Trade me to Denver. Let's figure it out because I can still get you 30 and 13 on a given night. Man, I just talk myself in the Nuggets, one in another title. Denver, forgive me. Denver, forgive me.

I got love. What's my voodoo donuts. Shout out to voodoo donuts, all right? I know they got that in Denver. You know, shout out. Anyways, I think that's what we got. What's up? Let's go to real one of the week.

We got 55 minutes. I just looked at the ticker. We're here. We did it. We did it, bud. I don't know how. This is all you, though. Thank you.

We did it. Appreciate it. No, this was us. Wow. Poetic. Amazing. All right, let's go to ruin of the week. You know what, man?

Shout out to Otani from the Dodgers. Tie in the knot. Boy, stop. Boy, stop. So I got, I don't have anything. I don't have anything. what do you have? Because I probably took yours.

You definitely didn't take mine. Let's think. Let's think. Let's think. Let's crowdsource this thing. Might be Kerm for getting up in the morning. No, can I just say something before you go to a real one of the week?

This man Kerm. This man Kerm has a hip-hop poster in the back of his, if you look in the Riverside chat, he has a first supper hip-hop thing with Snoop. In the middle is Jesus. Ludacris is in there. Eminem is somehow in there as well. And I just saw that.

So I just wanted to just put that for the public record. He could be your real one of the week for that. I don't know. Like, I'm just trying to give you people right now. That motherfucker's not getting my real one of the week. He ain't getting my real one of the week. Yo, you're up like, I don't say here. Edit your audio.

Like, I do a lot of work. I do a lot of work, brother. That boy hopped his butt in our conversation earlier, bro. Stradling the fence, talking about. He's defending me, but at the same time defending you, naeim, my real one. You know what? Hey, he is a real one, though, a true real one. My real one of the weeks are going to be Caitlin Clark for passing another milestone

last night and only needing 19, I believe, to pass Pete Marevich, Pistol Pete, as the NCAA Division I, all-time scoring leader. I believe it's senior night. That place is going to be crazy. she needs 19 to do that and she's just on this epic run of milestones as a score and as a basketball player and it's been really cool to watch.

So Katelyn Clark, hopefully friend of the show one day, real one. Yay! Good job, Roger. Way to go. Thanks, buddy. Okay, before we get out of here,

I need a crowd source for all my real ones. I'm in Santa Monica right now. Can somebody fucking tell me what Santa Monica High School does? My hotel's right across from Santa Monica High School. what the hell do you guys do every morning at 7.30? There's like there's there's like drums. There's like a chance every morning.

Like it's just it's been a lot. So like, you know, all the real ones just like hit my, hit my DMs or whatever or hit the real ones at Romansmailbag at gmail.com or something. Just let me know because I don't know what the hell is going on. By the way, we have a mailbag on Monday. That's all I have. But please let me know because I've been woken up every time at every morning at 7.30 to like bongos being played like a megaphone like oh like it's just like what the fuck man

sure it's not some sort of religious service but it's i don't know i don't know can somebody tell me what happens on pico every day at 7 30 in the morning all right this is this is a lot i don't know we got to this point ruins we'll see you guys on monday just me and raja but still send your mailback questions all right bye Must be 21 years and older and present in select states. Fan Duel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with the Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit Fandul.com backslash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

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