The Ringer NBA Show - How the NBA All-Star Weekend Has Changed Over the Years | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

Logan and Raja are back to discuss how changes to the All-Star Weekend are representative of league-wide trends and specifically why, in recent years, the spotlight has shifted from the Slam Dunk Contest to the 3-Point Contest (1:44). Along the way, Raja talks about what it takes to prepare for the 3-Point Contest as well as what it’s like to experience the rest of the All-Star Weekend festivities (20:56). Later, they make predictions for the winners in both contests (39:54). Finally, the guys close out with their Real Ones of the Week (45:39). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Associate Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady The Ringer NBA squad is coming to Salt Lake City for NBA All-Star Weekend! Get your tickets here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping, everybody? This is Logan Murdoch from Real On I have some big news to share. On Saturday, February 18th, the Ringer NBA show will be hitting the road for All-Star weekend for a live show in Salt Lake City. You heard that right. We are taping the pod in front of a live audience in Salt Lake next month and we want you to join us. Pull up on us at the Stateroom in the heart of downtown Salt Lake. You can grab your tickets now at thestateroom.com. That's thestateroom. Doors open at 9 o'clock. Show is at 10. It's going to be a 21 and up event. come hang with the gang and chat midseason updates draft preview and even have a Q&A with us space is limited so grab your tickets while they last at the stateroom.com or click the link in the description of this show hope to see y'all in there what's popping Logan murdock here roger bell there raw i'm getting ready for salt lake going to miss you there pal but i'm getting ready for salt lake and me and um third i kai were talking before you got onto the zoom call just about all-star and

He brought up the dunk contests and was like, yo, man, I don't know who's in the dunk contest, and I don't know none of these people in the dunk contest. And I'm like, me neither. I want to go look at the participants. I don't know. But then I go to the three-point contest, which is your wheelhouse. And I see the Jason Tatum's of the world. I see all of these names.

I see Tyler Hero, Tyrese Halliburton, Dame Lillard, you know, Anthony Simons, buddy healed, right? And I'm thinking like, oh, wait, the three-point context, excuse me, is now the catch meow of the All-Star festivities. And this got me wondering, like,

what does it say about where we're going as a league? Because when you were growing up, and when I was growing up, the dunk contest was it. It was it. That's what we were doing. Vince Carter's going in a dunk contest, right? And, you know, Kobe's going into dunk contest.

and I just don't know where we went. Why are we here right now? And are you a fan of this? Where do you fit on the spectrum of where people? Where do you fit in this? Yeah, I mean, I'd be disingenuous for me to say that I'm not a little sad that the dunk competition isn't the crown jewel of the All-Star weekend.

I mean, I can remember as a kid being somewhere doing something I probably wasn't supposed to be doing and looking down or looking around and being like, Yo, what time is it? Yo, I gotta get home, bro. I'm about to start dunking. Like, we gotta go. You know, I, like, racing to the crib so you could, like,

throw to VHS in and try to tape the dunk competition was a real thing. And, you know, big names showed up to do it. Like, you were going to see the MJs and the NICs and the Vince Carter's. I mean, you know, those were the glory days. Now, I'm not totally upset that the three-point competition is popping like it is. like because quite frankly I was never going to be in a dunk competition. So,

but put some respect on your name, bro. You could, you never did like a between. What's the best dunk you've ever done with the trick? Nah, between the legs, I wasn't even thinking about that. I was,

I was 360 and I was windmill and I was doing stuff like that. But like the freaky, the freaky stuff, I wasn't, it wasn't even in my mind to try it. Like in that era, there weren't too many of us thinking about going between the legs.

So, but like the three point, what it means, Logan is that, you know, the league has now, over the last, I don't know how many years, I mean, you know, the emphasis on the three ball and, you know, analytics and the need for everyone to be able to be out there for the most part and knock down the three has created this culture where that's the most exciting thing. Like you're, you're pulling from half court, right? And, you know, we're coming down and. you know, we're playing pick and roll with a big seven foot three dude who catches that

and he, he splashes a three. Like that's, that's what the game is now. And so it's kind of organic that the three point competition is going to be the thing to watch. Stars want to play. And the other thing that led to that was like, boys didn't want to be,

it doesn't take a ton of stuff out of you to be shooting threes for a couple rounds. You know, it's taxing to some degree, like immediately in that moment. But you're not going to fuel that the next day. like if you had just, you know, warmed up for 30 minutes dunking and then got all the way through a dunk competition. Like, that's going to juice you a little bit.

So you started to get stars that didn't really want to do it. They wanted to rest. And, you know, now that you got into the age where you couldn't, you couldn't really name four of the competitors in the eight-man field or whatever it was like that, it shifted to where the stars went, which was a three-point shootout. I'd imagine because when I think about All-Star Weekend and the change of what it's been,

I think about two things that happened in terms of why we've switched from the dunk contest to the three-point contest as like just the event and All-Star. One, I believe in the mid-2000s, LeBron had a chance to do the dunk contest, and he pumped faked. He said he was going to do it. And he said, you know, like, and also like especially prime LeBron and not even prime, like early LeBron was like the prime candidate. for a dunk contest, right? Like star power, you know, going to be an icon, super athletic.

Also won a dunk contest in high school. Like it was a McDonald's All-American dunk contest winner. So we already knew that he can do that. Also, early LeBron, great in-game dunker. Just would have won it just on narrative alone, right? And he just completely pump faked. And that's the first thing. And the second thing was, you know,

Steph Curry when he went to the three-point contest and making that an event, going against Clay Thompson for the, you know, for the title and, you know, beating his teammate, but two of the best shooters, probably of all time, but definitely the generation that they're in. I think that that happened. And it was interesting, to your point about how much a dunk

of a toll that takes on your body going into a dunk contest, I'd imagine that's like playing an, game, you know, and right, like I'd imagine being in a dunk contest is playing in a game. And in another point to that, like when they were, when LeBron was trying to be in a dunk contest, bro, they didn't have the break that they have now. The NBA didn't have the long All-Star break. It was like, yo, you're going to be in a dunk contest and you're going to play on Tuesday. Like, that's just what's going to happen. You're going to play throughout the All-Star Week. So you, stars had to be an All-Star, but they wanted to get as much of a rest as they could. Is that fair? No, it is fair, because

I, you know, again, I've been to All-Star Weekend as a participant and as a non-participant, and even as a non-participant, when you leave that without the extra day's rest and you get back to practice on Monday, you are beat. You're beat. And so, yeah, it's not necessarily the equivalent of playing a game, but being in the dunk competition and expending that type of energy if you're going to advance in the field is, is a lot more taxing than if you were to do it in the three-point shootout. So you're going to feel that in a way that you're not going to feel the three-point shootout. So the other thing that kind of, I guess it's just human nature, like I find myself sitting there. Dunks are immediate.

They're, they're, the dunk, you gasp and you say, oh, shit. And then it's, and it's a rap. You wait for the, the three-point shootout, there's some buildup. There's some anticipation. There's a little bit of drama. Like you're, you're kind of on the edge of your seat waiting to see if this boy's going to get hot to hit the 22, 23. And, you know, there's some, there's some drama to that, which is, which is, which, has a little bit more intrigue for me now. Like, do you know what I mean? When they started messing

around, I should have said this in the last question you asked me, when they started tinkering with the rules, right? And there was a year where they put like a minute on the clock. And this isn't directed at the bird, man, but because I'm sure there were a lot of other brothers that fell in this category, but he's the one that I remember where you took all 45 seconds trying to get it right, trying to get it right, trying to get it right, trying to get it right, trying to get it right. And And then at the end, you just had to go up and dunk with, like, one hand off of two feet. It just, it zapped the energy out of it. So you started tinkering.

Like, you know, there's a lot of shit with the three-point shootout. I mean, with the dunk competition. Also, like, to that point about that Birdman dunk competition, that shows, like, at least there's always the potential in a dunk contest. And I'm not just talking about dunk contests at All-Star or even college. Like, you know, you go down for, like, the dunk contest in your neighborhood or whatever, right? Or, like, the dunk contests are, like, that's local. they always have a potential to be hell of boring, right?

If you, like, if a player just doesn't get a dunk on the first time, and he keeps like, oh, wait, hold on, show, show, show, chill, show, show. I'm about to do this again. I'm about to, I'm about to do this again. Then it's like, yo, man, it's like, all right, I'm checking my phone. Like, I'm not. All wind out of the sales. All wind out of the sales.

The thing about the, and also, I don't know if it's appreciated in the moment as much, how difficult it is to be. that athletic and dunk as much as you can if it's not on the first try as it is when you're seeing someone shooting from as far as they're shooting three point shots and it's going in. It's cash. It's cash.

It's cash. Because it's showing that like I think we have more appreciation now for how difficult a three point shot is as a person just to like shoot. Because bro, the NBA three point line is hell of far. I know this because someone who is like shot a three point shot

in an arena at an NBA game. or at an NBA arena. And it's so far with debt perception, you're in a new arena. Like, it's very difficult. And I feel like that's more appreciated now than it's ever been. Yeah, the three-point shot for those who you're out there. It's not every fan, but some fans, you know, these are my guys,

the guys that are always like, oh, I could this, that, stop it. It is a heavy shot. Like, that's a deep ball that you're shooting. And what happens with the heavy-ass NBA ball. With that slick, leather, heavy ball. Yeah, don't come out here with. a solution or an evolution or a Feeba. We're talking about a medicine ball,

a old Larry Bird, Kevin McCale, Slick. The one signed by David Sturred himself. Word. But what I didn't realize when I was training to go to the three point competition was how quickly you got to be moving to get those racks completed

in the time that you get. And what that did to my shot. Like I always felt like I had a semi-quick release off the catch. But having to find that ball on the rack, having to find that ball on the rack, having to find that ball on the rack, get them all up and then get to the next rack. Like, it wasn't that easy, man. Like, there were, I think I might have tried five or six times before I even completed, I was able to, before I was even able to complete all the racks. Wait, so you, you, you, I mean, you didn't ultimately, go into the three-point contest, but you were selected in All-Star Week. And like, you were good to go.

Well, you could listen to other episodes to see why he didn't go. But, You didn't end up going, but I'm sure you practiced, like, in the lead-up, what is practicing for a three-point contest consist of? Because, like, let's be real. And this is something that, like, it's also the give and take of somebody that's going to All-Star Weekend because teams also see it as, like, an extracurricular. It's like, bro, you ain't really got to do that. You don't really have to go out there, right?

And so I say, I'll let to say, when you're practicing for a three-point contest, you're actually putting work to something that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of the season. So like how do you take it? Is it extra time you put in for the three point contest? Are you doing it during practice? How do you how do you prepare for it? Well, I mean, I actually went the one year and I didn't get to compete. So I found it really cool as like a as a basic NBA level like Nike. So Nike, all right, this is a sidebar. Let's go into like at the time. I don't know how it works now. When you come into the league, every shoe is going to want to provide you footwear if you're kind of playing right so like Nike's going to give you shoes so I was an

underarmor athlete when I got to Philly I'm not under armor I'm sorry and one and one apologies and one and when I got to Dallas I switched to Nike so it was a matter of my agent calling Nike Nike Nike was like cool we'll send him shoes and so on and so forth and then like that's one level right I wasn't doing much like it's whatever and then I started scoring a couple points in in Utah or somewhere like that and I got myself a little a little Nike Dube deal, which, you know, consisted of a little... Wait, hold on. I'm in a bag, too. Hold on real quick. So did you get the Nike deal where it's like the allotment of stuff, like, where you just get like however much money that you can

spend or did they give you a bag? Like, how did they, how did they do it? So I had a super, a super nice allotment of stuff that I could spend on like the Nike website. At the time, there's an employee website or at the Nike stores and whatever your town is. It's like the gold, like the gold login or whatever, right? Yeah. Or the employee store when you had, out to Portland. But I also got, like, I had, you know, I had a little bit of, I had a little bit of chips on a table in terms of a base. And then I had stuff built into it. So, you know, team goals, um, individual goals going to the three point shootout goals. Like, there were things like that built into my Nike deal. So I say all of that to say, no, it's not, obviously it's not like a, a mega Nike deal. This is like your, Brad is Brad is. It's best. Like, you know, but like people used to live off that Nike gear, bro. People, people, would be like, hey, bro, you still got some of that cop left? Be like, yeah, what you need?

I'll say this real quick. Hold on, bro. I got a quick, Nike employee story story. I got a real quick one. I was in, I mean, shit, but this is the vibe pod, man. You guys want to talk about what happened in the league, damn it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go listen to the A. McPod, if you want to go to that. But, like, we're getting in the bag right now.

So I was in a Portland because I think the Warriors are playing the Blazers in the Western Conference finals. It could have been that. I think it was either that one or a regular season, Portland game, but I'm pretty sure it was like it was during the Western Conference Finals. But anyway, I went to the Nike Employee Store because, you know, like, I know, like, media members got the plugs too, okay? We can get an employee store as well.

So I'm going to Employee Store, right? And I'm going to checkout. And for all the people that I don't know, Nike actually, employee store actually has a shipping center that you can ship your, it's kind of expensive. So words to the wise, you actually go, if you're somebody like me, you go to the shipping center near your hotel in Portland, not necessarily the one in Nike. But I'm checking out, and I see Jermann Green with a shit ton of shit. Just like a pile of shit.

Like at the shipping part of the Nike employee store. And he was like, shit, it's Christmas. This is Christmas for the summer. This is I got to get my kids and shit. I got to get my pot to this shit. I got to get my, like just a ton of shit. And I feel like that's every time a player goes to Portland, it's just, it's Christmas. It's a ton of shit that you're just giving to people.

Portland is a great town. In general, off rip, just as Portland. Stand alone by itself. Portland's a great town. Shout out Sheryl's on 12th. I see you. Okay. But add in the Nike employee store or Adidas used to be there too when we played.

I think Adidas is still there too. Adidas is still there. But when you add that into your, you're like, uh-oh, we're going to the, employee store. I'm going to tell you to what happened to me, people in my life would know when I was headed out to Portland. So they looked at the schedule? They knew you were going to Portland. So you start getting the random sizes like coming to your phone like sizes. This is what we got. So I would literally go in there with a checklist of people in my life sizes. And then I started that left hand corner of the store right where the women's gear used to be. And it was like,

you remember to show it was an old grocery, like a grocery store where you had to get around that grocery store where you had to get around that grocery store as fast as you can to find the objects. Guys grocery games. I'm locked in.

Dog, we'd be moving around just like that, hustling trying to get to it. And before it's gone, bro, let me get over here. Like, okay, I got this X, Y, and Z. I need. And so that was a fun time, right?

And then you'd have all these bags and you ship on them. Also, sometimes the employee store is hit or miss. So if you're an East Coast team, it's like, I'm only in Portland once a year. Come on, bro. Fuck. The worst.

if you hit the employee store right after another team was there like the day before and they haven't got their their shipments in the worst it's a waste of a trip but my favorite time of year was like your deal regenerates or kind of like whatever comp you haven't used as a punishes yeah like let's say the date was like August 31st right where any comp that I hadn't used off of my deal from this year it's going to expire and it doesn't roll over so like I'd be sitting at the crib with like X amount of dollars to spend no Nike town no no employee store to go to the only thing I got is this computer in front of me as a as a portal to kind of spend this spend this cup so you know I would like literally

call anybody I I know they needed like golf clubs or shit like just random calls and be like you need some sticks all right let me boom send them out like putting it was just crazy but Nike as a comp was a complete vibe, bro. One of the hardest parts about retirement for me, Logan. Straight up. Bro, I saw you. Hold on, bro.

I've been meeting to compliment you, bro, because I saw you at the Notre Dame game with some cold-ass motherfucking dunks that I ain't never seen before. Nike treated you well, bro. No, no, no. Nike didn't send me those. I had to wait.

I was on a sneakers app trying to get those. Oh, okay. Excuse me, all that. All right, all right. Now, I can call Nike, and I have called Nike once in a while because I don't like to abuse relationships like that and ask them for something that I know I can't get my hands on

but one of the hardest parts for me about retirement was not having the cup as my boys right because my boys were babies when I was finishing up so they had to cold his footwear because I could just compliment anything with the cum and then these little jokers got big feet like me so they went through boy sizes like right when I got out of the league they were in boy sizes two three years later

they're in men sizes and I don't got a Nike comp no more. Damn. Damn, bro. Bro, I remember I saw, I saw, no, the worst part though, and we're going to get back to All Star, I promise I'll tie it together. You know how I do. But anyway, I, the worst one is when you got like these tall dudes

and you got these people with these big ass feet that you know that Nike doesn't make the shoe for, but they got the one of one very rare ass sneakers that is like a size. 20, bro. Like, I saw, I've seen, I saw K, Katie had one. He had like these fucking, was it, there were like some, the Virgil's, like one of the Virgil Ablo ones. Yeah. And like LeBron had them too. And that I remember it was like Christmas Day like 20, I think 17. The motherfuckers pulled up in them and I was in like, I was in the Lakers locker room and I saw LeBron with the

motherfucking Virgil's and I know they didn't come in like a size 18 and real. life and I'm like, so, okay, so that's, that's a perfect segue back to the original thing, right? Because that could be, so when I got invited to shoot, right, I had the little lightweight Nike deal and I go, I do the media and I do all of that. But Nico, Nico Harrison, my dude, Nico Harrison was like, yeah, what do you want to shoot in? I was like, what? I'm like, what? I mean, I don't, I wear the 2K4s in the season. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. What do you want to shoot in for All-Star. I was like, oh, I get more shit. And so I'm like, yo, phone pauses, bro. Phone P's. Send them. So boom. Phone P show up with a big luggage bag, Nike bag, full of random shit. Just the flyest shit that nobody had yet, right? Because you're going to be an all-star participant.

The average consumer probably won't have. Just because you're an all-star participant. So I was like, obviously, I'm not a major Nike player. So for me, again, that's like Christmas. I was super excited. I didn't shoot and I didn't give any of it back. Forgive me, Nico. But Robert Sarver, and this is to your question about how you prepare for it and do you take time to kind of out of practice. I never took time out of practice. Like I shot, you shot a ton of shots in a Mike D. Antony practice. But I would ask, you know, some of the staff to help me prepare for it after practice. And then some days I take my wife in the gym and she'd move the racks around like because you don't have like five racks sitting around an NBA gym. You typically have a shooting gun around that time? Like what, how does that work? Or is wife you passing it to you?

Or is like a staff member passing you the ball? Like how do you, who rebounds for you? The thing about a gun is it's going to keep throwing you the ball. And that's not you have to learn how to pick it up, you know, and run around the rack. So you have to have multiple people there like rebounding, putting the balls back on that rack and then hustling to get the rack over to the next spot. So so you got two racks or three if your team has three racks. And you're constantly rebounding them, loading them back on a rack and then moving them further ahead. in the sequence so that I could get to him.

So I would do that after practice. And I felt kind of a responsibility. Robert Sarver didn't pressure me at all. But there was pride attached to having multiple participants in the All-Star game for an organization, right? As the Sons, you know, as someone that represented the Sons and bled orange and purple, like, I was proud to go out and represent Steve Nash was there.

Sean Marion was there. Like, you know, I don't remember if Amari was hurt that year. but like it was kind of like a feather in the cap of an organization to be like, yo, we got people competing in everything. And so, you know, I was proud. I was proud to have to have gone. I really, a sidebar to that story is Jason Capono was the alternate that filled in for me and he won it that year.

What all-star game was this? Was this? Houston. Oh, so 0506. Okay. Yeah, Houston. And then I declined the next year. I had a little neat thing going on and I needed the rest.

But it was a really cool vibe. Nike was a hell of blessed. lessons from Nike. And yeah, you do feel like, you know, there's some pride attached to it. At least a guy who doesn't get asked all the time to go. Like, I was proud to get a shot to go. I wanted to put on for the Sons and for the Valley. And, you know, the work came after practice. Like, and a lot of people had to help you to get that work in. All-Star weekend, and I've only been like once. I've only been to All-Star weekend once. And that was in 2000 when it was in Oakland. And I went to the All-Star game. I was six.

Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. I was a young man. Oh, wow. But the way you describe it and all my, like, all my hummies have gone, like, I've been around it and everything like that. And I've been around people that have gone and their experiences through that. I usually, full transparency, I usually take All-Star weekend off. That's when I go to somewhere where there's sunshine, you know, the last All-Star weekend I went to, I mean, I'll start weekend like pre-COVID. I was in San Diego at the beach chilling, bro. Like, I was not worried about anything going on in that cold-ass town of Chicago. And so, but what I notice is, it's like, it seems like, seems like Vegas, like an else, like a cousin of Summer League where even if you don't do anything, you're tired as hell, like,

to your point, right? There's always something to do, even if you're just lounging it and like kicking it or like, just going to a party or like not even going to a part or going to an event, it's taxing. Can you give me an idea of like what that is? What are, what's, what is All Star Weekend? What are you trying to get into? How are you Wayne? I'm going to this party versus this party or like this.

Let's get into your bag, Roger. What are we doing? What's All-Star Weekend like? What are we going? I was at two All-Star Weekends. Like one was my second year in the league. It came to Philly. So that would be the year after, I think the year you're talking about, right?

So that would be like 0-1-2. We came to Philly. As a young, Tim's and Averick's jacketed. Wow. Inichi sweats like, The Lord with the Michelin Ness on. I was for everything. Whatever I could get to, I'm talking about, like, yeah, let me get the paid appearance to sign some cards.

Like, I jumped two of those off real quick. I hit this. You know, there's all kind of stuff going on around the venue of the actual, you know, all-star events, right? So you could get two or three little paid appearances to go sign autographs and do that kind of stuff. So I get, let me get those. And then, and then, you know, there's parties everywhere. Like, you got a NBA Players Association party that's big.

You got a creative arts agency party that's big. You got, you know, like all kind of sponsors that have these huge parties. So you're starting to get the pulse early in the night of like, yo, where's everybody going? Like, which one of these is going to be? So in Philly, I took the route of I'm going to hit them all. I'm going to try to get to every party. We started at the gallery.

You're like, I might not be here again, dog. Oh, yes. Let's turn up. Let's turn the fuck up. I got to get it all right now. So, you know, we're starting off at the Galleria mall. Now, here's the deal. Why are you always at the mall, bro?

Like, there's this like the third story on this pod that you, and like this calendar year that you've talked about going to a mall during your Philly tenure, bro. Was that what the fuck? I like a nice mall. This was a party, though, at the mall. They rented out the whole Galleria mall for this party. So. What?

Yeah. I'm at the Galleria Mall for the party. This one isn't really hitting like it's supposed to. So we hop in the limo, right? And unfortunately, Philly with all its one ways is not set up or was not set up for the traffic that comes with that amount of people in that northeast region descending on one town. Do you know what I'm saying? You got Boston, you got New York.

You got D.C. Everywhere is going. Everyone's going there. So you get in the limo and what should be like a 15 minute ride turns into like an hour and a half ride, which was one of my. my biggest beefs about All-Star weekend. But boom, we're now over at the Players Association party over, you know, I think in North Philly by Temple University. That's popping. A lot of stars in that in that spot. Like, there are a lot of people that you need to see having a ball,

like living our best lives. But now you got to check the clock because it's getting, it's getting to the wee hours and we still got to hit CAA. So that was back in the limo. Where are you, you signed with CAA? I was not signed with CAA. No. Okay. Okay. Okay. I was like, okay, Okay, Rob. No, but these are the parties that you have to get to. And I guess, you know, as I'm telling this story, trying to make an interest in the bottom line is, you're just trying to get to as many events as you can as a young,

second year in the league type of player. So that was my goal. The next day, you know, I had, I didn't even go, I didn't even go to any events because I was so wiped out. So I didn't go to the dunk competition. I didn't go to the three-point shootout. I watched all that shit on TV. And then on practice on Monday, I was dog shit.

because I was just awful. What did Larry Brown say when you came out and he knew that she was out this whole time? You know Larry is like, he's probably locked in. What did he say to your ass when you get back into the gym looking like shit? He didn't say anything to me that night, but Larry Brown said to me once, he said, I had been out with Matt Geiger somewhere. Shout out Mike Geiger, who kept AI in Philly. A lot of people don't know that story, but shout out to Matt Geiger.

Matt Geiger is my guy, man. So, like, we had been out just doing what you do. Like, Matt Geiger was one of my vets. Bro, he was taking me and putting me on, showing me places, and introducing me to folks. And so Larry Brown, I had not been living up to expectation, right, coming off of the finals. Were you feeling yourself, bro?

Well, not really. I mean, but, like, in, I didn't think I was necessarily better than I was, but I'm in Philly. I'm on an NBA team. I'm not about to sit in my apartment every night. I have no game film to stay. So like I'm somebody calls me says you want to go to dinner. I'm out. So I'm out, but I'm not playing well. Like Larry Brown thought I should be better at this point than I was. And so he ran up on me in

practice one day as we were stretching. And he said, where were you last night? Like what? What do you mean? I'm obviously not going to self-incriminate. I'm like, what are you talking about? He's like, yeah, I heard you're out with Matt, you know, you've been out with Mac Iger. And I was like, oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, we went out and he was like, he looked at me and he looked at me and he. And he's, He said, you're not Mac Iger and your contract situation is not Mac Igers. And I said, wow. I mean, yeah. Fair, fair, fair.

So it was my caution from Larry Brown. Hey, I know what's going on in this town. And you do not need to be out in these streets like you are, bro. Bro, I got two stories on that one. I remember that reminded me of, we were covering the Warriors. and a player had missed a practice. I don't want to like, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to,

a player had missed like option of workouts, right? And said player said, yo, man, it was a day off. Like, why I got to come in? Like, such and such is not coming in or whatever. Like, it's just a day off for the team. And Steve, to the press said, because he relayed the story to the press,

he was like, you are not Steph Curry. You are not Andre Aguadala. You are not Draymond Green and Clay Thompson. You get your ass in the gym. And that's what it is. That's what it is. Oh, bro. But another thing, no, I got a question for it.

This is my second question. I was listening to this podcast. One of my favorites. And I got a shout out. It's called Quest Love Supreme. It's one of my favorite podcasts, if not my favorite podcast that I listen to. And they had Chris Rock on. A Chris Rock is talking about how he went to a party.

I think with Mike Tyson and which sounds like wild as fuck what sounds like a time right and he's in I think it's like

in New Jersey or something and Kisham Johnson was there this is a story that Chris Rock tells and out of nowhere Bill Belichick walks into the room

and says y'all motherfuck has got a game to market your ass out of here bro so how I asked I sell that story

to ask this question like how much does a coach have a pulse on his team to know where they at, what they're doing, and when do they get to a point? It was like, nah, motherfucker, you come here. It's no beef. Bring ass in. You got a fucking game tomorrow.

Yeah, that's a great question. It sounds, it's, I think it all depends on how many, you like Game of Thrones, right? We're Game of Thrones fans, right? I mean, I never watched it, but go ahead. Oh, well, for anyone who listen, it's little birds, bro. How many little birds you got? Like, how many little birds are, right? things out there that come back to you with information.

You let them go. You let them fly out. Nobody even notices them because they're little birds out there, but they're just collected information. If you in the league long enough, you know where the little birds are. That's when you like, when you see the little bird in the spot, you're like, oh, that's time to go. It's time to go. But coaches and organizations, like, you know, there are certain people that are tasked with like just keeping an eye and tabs. Like everyone's got security, dude.

And most really good players, they roll with the team's security. Right. So, you know, like, I mean, you're going to have a, you're going to have some idea of what's going on anyway because security is there. But some coaches just have, they got birds, bro. So they could, they, hey, Bill, I don't know what's going on. But Logan and Roger are over here. And then, and Bill. And Logan and Roger are probably over there.

That's right. That's right. So, but now, all right. So let me take you to the next. So that was my experience with the first All-Star weekend was I'm here for all of it. I want to get as much in as I can. You were here for the vibes, sir. I'm not even saving anything to show up at the events on Sunday, bro.

I need it all. So my next experience, and after that one, I didn't want to go to anymore because I was like, yo, there's, I mean, there's nothing going on there, but tiredness, right? And you got to be back to work on Monday. But when I went to shoot and I was going to compete on Sunday, it was way more laid back and mellow. You get there, you try to have yourself, you know, a nice meal. Like, you got some friends that are there that are competing too.

you guys might hit something and have a couple drinks, you know, and just low-key vibe for a bit. But it's about the meal. It's about a few drinks. And then it's about, you know, getting some rest. You got media. You got a lot of stuff that's pulling at you on that weekend. See, it's not just the physical, but you don't get the emotional break when you're participating in it because you're still doing media. You know, you still got to meet all these requirements in terms of availability and time and so on and so forth.

And so you really just, it's just another day in the life of the NBA, you know, athlete, you don't get the break that it is supposed to be because you're still on a job. Yikes. So the second one, what did you do the second one? Did you even get there to do anything? Did you just keep it? Did you get dinner? What did you do?

I was there. I think I did dinner. I was so tired when I got there the second time that I did dinner in the room, room service and a movie, dog, like the first night. Like I was, you know, I was playing a lot of minutes in Phoenix, bro. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I was room service in a movie. And then the next day we had all the media availability.

We were going to hit the streets that night a little bit. Like dinner, go out. You know, I think Tony Parker was there and Boris was there. And, you know, we were going on and have a good time. Lightweight before the events popped off the next day. But I didn't even get to do any of that because I got the call from my wife. And I was having to get out of town. So I feel like as a, your NBA career,

it starts off as like a shot of Hennessy straight, right? That's what it is, right? And as you go along, you evolve, you go into your little mixed drink bag. And then when you get to a certain point, it's just like, I got my rosé, right? I got my rosé and I got that. And I just got like a chill, just a vibe

just to carry me through the night, right? Is that, am I, is that fair? Is that how we go? Is that, is that, is that, is that, is that an NBA career? Is that the good way to do an NBA career? You're just like, you're going really, really, really hard. And then, you know, you just kind of coast. You know, you kind of pick your spots.

You're like Jordan in the post in like 97. You know what I'm saying? You're just like with anything, man. Like you're really excited when you're first living your dream, man. Like, you're really excited. Stuff's happening fast. You're jumping on all the pump fakes when you're 21. Yeah.

Like, you know, I want to experience it. So yeah, you were, you were doing it. But again, at that point in my career, like, I can only speak for me. Like, I wasn't having to produce on the court. Yeah. So, you know, treating my body the right way and getting sufficient sleep and all of that wasn't as critical to, like, team success or, you know, if I were dialed in, I would have realized at the time what it was doing and the correlation between my success on the court. But, you know, as your body starts to be put through the ringer of what is NBA seasons, like, bro, you, you're trying to get some rest. Yeah.

Do you know what I mean? I'm getting room service, dog. I'm going to bed. Hey man, everybody know I'm room service, Poppy, bro. I'm not fucking around, dog. Or I'm going down to the restaurant in the hotel, bro. Like, I'm not leaving.

If I'm in your city, dog, I got to really love you to just be fucking going out the way to come see you, dog. Straight up. Listen, some of my, Portland was one of these spots for me. Like, there was a nice, it was a nice restaurant. I forget the name of it.

It would be right across from where we were staying. You got the nines? We had the nines back then? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And there was a nice,

I would go, I was good for finding, like, I love Italian food. So like your best Italian restaurant in the area, get with the concieres. Like if I wasn't going to do

a room service, and I'd be a one-man show over there. Steve and I used to go to dinner a lot, but on the nights where we did it, like I'm a one-man show. I'll sit at your bar. Just eat, hang out,

have a couple glasses of wine. You know what I mean? Isn't that the greatest, dog? Take the wall back to the hotel. I'm straight. Dog, when I'm on the road, man, I was in Baltimore for a story

for when I was in Mark I was in Baltimore for a week and it was like the Ravens facility is just like kind of out the way it's calling this place called Owen Mills I'm not sure if you like if I know but it's like out the way it's like a sleepy town bro

but they had this bomb-ass Mary out there and man it was like during the beginning of the NBA season regular season like around you know Thanksgiving or whatever bro I just sat in my my little corner dog, got my little food into like the restaurant area, put on a podcast,

you know what I'm saying? And put on like a vibey playlist dog. Have my rosé. Had my little food. You get a little like twisted, but not that much. And then you just go on up and just, you know, just go to sleep. Dog, it's nothing more than that. That's also more fulfilling than when like, you know, the 21 year old days where you just out

here mobbing. And the headache that is the next day with that is not. It's not, no, no, I'm good. It's not great. Bet the NBA on T&T with no sweat same game parlay from Fanduel. America's number one sportsbook. It doesn't matter if you're new to Fandor or already have an account. Every Thursday night, you will get bonus bets back if your same game parlay doesn't hit.

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Why not? And then the nightcap is Clipper Suns. I don't know what's going on in that matchup or who is even starting. But I'm going to pick the Sons. And I'm going to take the over. However you want to play, you can bet the NBA on TNT every Thursday night with a no-swet same game parlay. Just head to fandul.com backslash ringer NBA.

And download FanDle today to get in on the action. Make every moment more with Fandul, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 plus the select state's first online real money wager only refund issued as a non-terobal free bets that expire at 14 days. Restrictions applies. See terms at sportsbook.Fandil.com. Got a gambling problem called 1-800-Gandler or visit fanddol.com backslash RG.G. In Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. 1-800 next step, or text next step to 5334-4-2-2-4-2-2-4-7-2-2-4-7-0. Arizona, 188-78-9-7-77, or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut,

1-8009 with it, Indiana, 1-800-2-2-2-4-7-00, or visit KSgamblingholt.com in Kansas, 18770, stop-Louisiana, visit MD gamblinghoblinghote. Maryland, 18778, hope-N-Y, or text hope-N-Y-4-669, New York, 1,800-2-2-470, or visit www, www.w.w. With the premise that neither one of us have an idea of what the hell is going to happen, And we haven't watched a lot of these players. So I just really want to do, I want to see where this goes. Let's see where this goes.

I want to do like quick predictions. Okay. First we're going to go, we're going to go with the dunk contest because I don't know how much, you know, of these players that you've watched. I don't know how much you've been watching Jericho Sims. Shout to Jericho Sims from the Knicks. But we're going to, these are the contestants. And I'm going to, we're going to predict who's going to go into the second round and ultimately win it. And I haven't watched much of these guys, except for Trey Burfey the third.

So we're going to go with first, Kenyon Martin, Jr. What is he going to do? Where is he going to the second round? Kenyon Martin Jr. Yeah. I saw him at Sierra Canyon. I think he could ball. So the crazy part is it's got nothing.

I mean, I mean, you're just. This is what's funny. This is what the vibe is. I don't know, bro. I don't know. Let's go. Yes or no. Yes or no.

You're going to do it. Yes. How many participants are there this year? What is it for that? There's four participants. I don't even know. We're just five in right now. We're just figuring out before we get to ruin it a week.

All right. You got Kenyon Martin Jr. going into the second round. We got Matt McClung from the Philadelphia 76ers. I don't think he's going. I don't even, I don't think he's going to the second round. Yes, he's going to the second round.

Give me the four participants. Let's do it like this. Give me the four participants. So when you get to one, my guy. Our Kenyon Martin Jr., Matt McClong, Trey Murphy the third, Jericho Sims. Oh, no, no. I don't know none of them.

All right. So I'm gonna pick. Dog, this was the point. This is why we're doing it just so we can just pick and just see what happens. And then when you,

when you with your homies watching the games or watching the duck cuts, like, oh, I picked him. You can just do that. Bro, that's what we're at.

Let's do it. All right. So, Matt McClung, where do you have, where do you have him going? You have him going to second round? See, here's the thing about Mac McClong.

I know Mac McClong. Because he was like viral like when he was in high school and stuff and then he was at Georgetown, which was like my all-time favorite school. So I know Mack McClellan a little bit. He is, how do I want to?

He is not your normal dunk competition participant. Mm-hmm. Right? I think he gets through because he got a lot of shit with him too. And I think you couple the height, the not the normal like demo for the dunk competition and the fact that he got stupid bounce and a lot of shit with him.

I think he gets in there. All right. Shout out Mac McLun. You got him going to the second round. Trey Murphy the third. Honestly, my favorite to win it all. I think Trey Murphy is going to win it all. I saw him play in New Orleans a couple of times.

That's stupid bounce, bro. Stupid bounce. Really great. So I'm going to, he's my winner. But do you have him going? Like, what are you? Well, the fact that I picked the first two, he can't go. But let me get rid of Kenyon Martin Jr.

And I'm going to go with Mack McClung and Trey Murphy the third too. Okay, shout out of Jericho Sims. Okay, we're out of the Dung contest. We're out of Deng. All right, all right. I think MacKlegg might win it, though. I think I got Trey Burfrey, I got Trey Burfrey to third. I'm going to say I got Trey Murphy to third. I'm just going to give you the three-point competition.

We're going to see who, just say who wins. Okay, so Tyrese Halliburton, Tyler Hero, Buddy Heald, Kevin Herder, Dame Lillard, Lori Marketing, Anthony Simons, two Portland Trailblazers for a team that is not as good as what you think. They have two great shooters and Jason Tatum. I know who I'm picking, bro. I'm picking Buddy Heald. That's where we're at.

I'm going to pick Buddy Heald. I've seen enough of a sample size to know that he is the perfect type of three-point shooter for a three-point competition. Now, Jason Tatum is the biggest name, right? But there's a difference between a guy that can shoot threes in a game off the dribble versus someone who's picking it up off the basket. And I don't know if Jason Tatum can do that and has made that adjustment. Or it's had the time to put in the work that is required for it. three point competition. And I'm going to Buddy Heald against the field, which includes Damien Lillard.

And I think I'm going back on my word on that I would never go against Damian Lillard and anything. I'm going to go with. I'm going to go with because I just think that he can, I just think there's the greatest game for this type of format. I like your breakdown. I do. I like your breakdown.

Shooting is funny though because you ain't got to be the best shooter to win that. You just got to be hot that night. Yo. Do you know what I mean? Like you just, you got to be hot and get in your, and, and, and, get in your zone. I like Buddy Heald. I do.

I think Buddy Heald is is uniquely, like, put together up top, you know, in the head for something like this. Like he's, and, and his, his shot itself is set up for it. I would take a flyer, too. If I had to take two other names, I'd probably take a flyer on Tyler Hero. I take a flyer on Tyler Hero. And I am with you on Dame. Like, has Dame won it ever?

I don't know. I think Dave's been in it a couple of times. I think he could be my dark horse, though. Like, I would not be surprised if Dame wanted it. I don't think he's won it. And I think, you know, I think it might mean something to win it since he's never wanted. Can you dig what I'm saying?

So those would be my three. I think Buddy Heald is my favorite like you, but maybe second favorite is Dame. And then my dark horse is Tyler Hero. Yeah. I like this crop, but I think like Tyrese Halliburton and Jason Tatum are just going to be like, I think they're going to be quick exits, man.

Tyree's Halliburton, great three-point shooter, but like his release is like hella slow and you need a quick release when you're coming off of the, you know, when you're taking it off the rack and then Jason Tatum thing. We'll see. I got, I got, I got Buddy Hill winning all my dark horse is Dave Lither. Do you got, who do you have winning it all again? I got Buddy Hill. I like Buddy Hill and your dark horse is Tyler Hero. Okay. Tyler Hero, correct. All right. Before we get out of here, let's do a little segment we like to call ruin of the week where we point out a person, organization, or entity that won the week. I'm going to go last, Roger, because I just feel like mine,

you get mad at mine when I go first, and I just do an out-of-pocket one, and then you're like, okay, how do I follow that up? So I'm going to go with you. You go first. Yeah, it's going to be Andy Reid, Pat Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, Eric B. N and me, the rest of the crew, the Kansas City Chiefs, bro. Super Bowl champs.

I mean, I think that says it all, but I would just say after losing Tyree Kill last year, there were a lot of people they were writing them off saying that without that deep threat going to have to learn how to play another way defenses are going to be able to do X, Y, and Z and they did it. I got to give them love

Kansas City Chiefs as an organization. Okay. You sound like Travis Kelsey on the thing. It's like, bro, you still have fucking Pat Mahomes. Pat Mahomes is the Cheecoat. But for sure. I mean, Pat Mahomes, not my real one, but he was going to be my co-rearer one.

My real one of the week. none other than the Queen Rihanna, bro. Did you see the halftime show, bro? Did you see that shit? I was so engulfed in just the theater of it all. She was like, fucking 700 feet in the air, fucking doing diamonds. I was so enthralled with all that that I didn't even realize she was pregnant, bro. I didn't even realize it until like fucking.

I did it, bro. Like, I was not. Listen, as soon as she, she's a great real one because it was dope. But as soon as she got up there, the whole crib, like we had, we had, we had. had a few people over and you know we had some of some of my wife's friends weren't even tuned into the game like they had their back to the game

behind me and then when Riri came on everyone comes over to the couch right so we had everybody locked in for halftime and immediately what started pulsing around our house was she's not even really dancing she got a little baby she got a little bump and then people started doing the math on my wife's like oh she just she gave birth like not too long

but I'm like nah nah she looks she might be and she's not really dancing And so it was the whole halftime conversation for us. I feel you. I just, I was just like, bro, I love Rihanna.

And I was just engulfed in the fact that Rihanna was doing the Super Bowl, bro. I was not even like paying it. And then I got an alert on my phone like, oh shit, she was pregnant. And then I text all the Pottinas in the group chat. And I'm like,

she pregnant? They're like, duh, stupid. Oh, man, but shout on Rihanna, bro. They never get a tour again, bro. She just did that.

We're never going to get a tour. Shout out to her. Shout out to to Rocky. Shout out to the new baby, bro. But like real one because that was one of the greatest football halftime performances, Super Bowl halftime performances I've ever seen, bro. And it's up there with Beyonce and Michael Jackson and like all of the ones and a prince.

It's up there with all of those. Bro, she did shine bright like a diamond. And she was going, it looked like she was going to heaven. Bro. Did you see that shit, dog? Like I was scared as shit. Just seeing how far up from, over the field she was, dog. It was insane.

All right. Rihanna, ruin of the week, man. Well, that has been our All-Star Vives edition of real ones. We will see you guys

next Thursday. I'm headed to, I'm headed to Salt Lake tomorrow. So I'll see all my real ones out there. I'm Miss Ra. And we'll see you next week, dog. Man,

I spend another edition of real ones, man. Tap in. Holla.