The Ringer NBA Show - Introducing the Inaugural Realys Awards With Jomi | Real Ones

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

Logan and Raja are joined by Jomi Adeniran to kick off the inaugural Realys Awards and give out some year-end awards to celebrate some of the most memorable moments of the past calendar year in the NBA (1:00). – The “THT” Newcomer of the Year (2:00) – Coach of the Year (10:30) – Moment of the Year (15:00) – The “Raja Bell” Memorial Award for Defense (21:30) – The “Jomi Jom” Memorial Pack (24:30) – Who Won the Year (39:20) – Real One of the Year (47:45) If you want to submit your fan mail with a chance to be heard on Thursday's show, leave a voicemail at ‪[phone]‬ or email us at [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guest: Jomi Adeniran Associate Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Peace. We're out of here. What's popping? Logan Murdoch here. Roger Bell there. Rajah, it is time for the inaugural event. It is time for the release, okay? We got awards to give out. It's our year-end awards show.

I figured this out. We've made this happen about two weeks ago, I think, and we got some makeshift categories. We're about to just give out awards, Roger. Are you ready to go? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go. Let's pop up.

All right, so, you know, when we do something special, we got to bring on one person. You know this, right? We got to bring our guys. we got to bring the man, the myth, the lesson, the czar of the ringer verse, the tyrant of the timeline, the chief apologist of Laker Nation,

the T-8's truther. You got a lot going on. The CMO of the streets. Jomey Jome is in the house. What's going on, Jomey? How are you doing, bud? Tireant of the timeline is insane. That's nuts. You earned it.

I'm the nicest person that's ever tweeted. How could you even say that? Wow. Are you serious? This real ones is built on truth. And you out here lying. I have a reputation to uphold, Logan. Come on now.

Nah, man, it's always happy to be here. It's always love, man. I can't wait to get into this. I got some awards to give up, man. I can't wait to get it. All right. Let's get right into it with the first award. Okay.

Without further ado, let's get into it. Our first award of the year of the night of the morning. Newcomer of the year. I'll go first and then we'll go to Jemmy and then go to Rye for this one. My newcomer of the year. So like I have two right now, right? I was thinking I'm thinking Scotty Barnes is, but no, I'm going to go. I'm going to just go right out of the building.

Just my wild car. I'm going to go Austin Reeves. You know why? You know why I'm going with Austin Reeves? I'm going Austin Reeves. I'm going Austin Reeves. because I watched a lot of terrible basketball in Los Angeles. And you know who kind of just gave us a glimmer of hope,

gave the Lakers a glimmer of hope every single time. It was Austin Reefs. Well, you might as well call this the THT Award then, bro. Because this is what y'all did two years ago. Both y'all got up on here, Sasha Matthews still present, and I had to listen to all of this bullshit about three years ago. So we named this.

This was the THT Award. Go ahead. Give it out again. Okay, okay. For me specifically, I don't know what y'all are going to pick. but this is the THT Award for love and respect and just just giving us hope. Austin Reeves, baby.

We're going to give it to Austin Reeves. There it is. Who is your newcomer of the year? Jomey Jome. Who is your newcomer of the year? Well, that took this a little more seriously than you did, buddy. My newcomer the year is Paolo Bancaro. Shout out to Magic fans out there.

Shout out to my man Steve Serrudi. and you already know the big dog, Ryan. But here's the thing, right? I went to the Summer League for the first time this summer. I was like, hey, man, we're in Vegas. You know, we're going to watch some basketball. We're going to have some fun. Da-da-da.

I had never seen Paolo playing in person before, but everybody's like, man, he's so big. He's so strong. You know, I was like, all right, we don't see about, we don't see, you know. And like the first thing, you know, you go down on the floor, and the first thing you notice is he's the biggest dude on the court.

6-10 can dribble can pass can shoot the man's got all the skills he's fast and you're watching him in summer league you're like oh dude he's he's just the best guy on the court easily easily you know and they pull him after two games because you already know what you got when palo's on the floor man you got a guy who can who can really play play basketball so when you know to see him playing this well early. I know, you know, Mathrin's playing well as well. You know, he's not going to walk to rookie the year like I thought he would, you know, because there are other rookie Jade and Ivy's balling right now too.

So shout out to them. But Palo Van Carroll, man, like, from something like I knew, like, oh, this dude's going to ball. So he's my newcomer the year. Oh, what's his ceiling, Ron? What have you seen from Paulo? Because you've been on him early as well. You've loved his game.

What is his ceiling, you think? Yeah, that's a good question. I don't have a great answer for you. think because he was so physically ready to come into the NBA, you know, the floor was going to be really, really high for him. Like that was going to be hard to miss just with the physical prowess that he possesses. You know, I think I think Paulo could be a perennial all-star. I don't know that he is Jason Tatumish. And I mean, that's a bad cop just because both of them came out of Duke. But I don't know if his ceiling is like best player in the NBA type of deal, you know, if that's fair. Yeah. I don't

mean to disrespect because everyone can go to the drawing board and keep working. But I don't know that I see that type of Twitch, just general fluidity and upside. But, you know, I think he could be a perennial All-Star in the NBA. I think he'll continue to add to his bag. He was just so far ahead of the curve physically with a lot of young players that come in that it was kind of easy to see this one coming for me. But I will let you introduce my pick. I'm going to go in a different direction only because Jomi picked my guy. Oh, Jovey took your pick? We'll have one more question for you real quick.

Just an NBA question for Paolo really quickly. Because you brought up a good point in terms of just him being physically ready and that bringing his floor really high. And I don't know because sometimes that could be, that's fine, right? Luca Dant just comes to as a good example of someone that was physically ready to play, right? But then you talk about also a guy like Tyreek Evans who was physically ready to play basketball when he first got into the league. And he became rookie of the year,

but it was just that he was who he was. Like how hard is it to see a guy that, oh, he can play in this league at a young age, but can he go to another level? How do you judge that part? Well, I mean, a lot of people miss on that. It's not, there's no perfect science to that, right? You're trying to, you're trying to marry a few things, right?

You're watching areas that he could improve in, whether he's got the mindset and the work ethic and the general makeup to go back to the drawing board each summer admit at first that, hey, there's room to grow in these deficient areas, put that work in to do it. You know, the situation that he's in a lot of times will dictate whether or not their player development staff, whether there's, whether there's, you know, we talk about this all the time, whether there's a foundation in terms of organizationally around. him that's going to allow him to continue to develop and blossom. There's a whole lot that goes into that. And that's not even just touching on, you know, physical trade, size, speed, you know, because some of that goes into the package. Like, you know, we could talk about, you know, and it does, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard, but when talent works hard, it's hard to beat it. Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? So like when the talent is really out there working, yeah,

it's hard to beat it. So, you know, there's a lot that goes into that. But I mean, it is the, it is the question that that quite frankly keeps some guys higher keeps keeps other guys getting fired it's hard if it's hard to put your finger on what what that looks like who's going to wind up succeeding and who's going to wind up not reaching potential of of the highest drafted type of NBA ready players it's hard yeah sure we'll see what happens with palo so who is your pick rajan well I mean I'm going to go with the young and from Indiana Benedict Matherin I'm just I think uh You know, it's a 6-5 guard.

I mean, I like Paolo Bancaro too. Obviously, that was my pick. I've been on him from the jump, but I'm going to give him the nod because his team's just playing better. Like the Indiana Pacers are maybe a little bit of a surprise to me. I mean, I'm sure Indiana fans had them doing what they do. But for me, I think they're a surprise team, and he's been a big part of that. 17.19.18 points a game as a guard in the league is no easy feat.

It really isn't coming in trying to get a touch. adjusted to the size speed or in lack thereof like time, the lack of time that you have to actually do things in the NBA. That's what people don't necessarily realize. And I tried to talk to kids about this, especially high school kids, what happens when you level up, along with people getting better, like with their skill sets, but the level up in size and athleticism just changes the speed in which you have to be able to do things to be successful. So it's hard to account for that like on the fly. So a lot of rookies will hop in and they struggle for a year or two. They're trying to catch up to the speed, the processing. Like, oh, shit, I don't have, you know, 0.75 seconds to get

this shot off. I got 0.5. So it's fractional, but it's real. And I think he's done a really good job with that. And since his team's overachieved in my book, I'm giving it to him. Word. Also like just the Pacers overall, man, you could tell they're building something. And you know, they might not have the best record in the Western, in the Eastern Conference, excuse me. But you could always tell how good a team is going to be, but how hard they play every single night. And they're a team that they're going to give you everything you can handle. And they might, they might still a couple. I love what they got, what they're building over in Indiana.

So we'll see what happens. So I'm going to start this next one with Jem. I'm curious to see what he picks for this one to start. Coach of the year. I know you've had a hard time with rooting for all the coaches that you root for your team. But I just would like to see

what you got going. Who is your coach of the year, sir? Look, again, I came here to impart my basketball knowledge upon the people, Logan. I got to go with Jogne out of Brooklyn, out of the Brooklyn Nats, man.

Look, when he took over the team, they was looking at the abyss. Steve Nassan let him in the lurch. ever since, right? In the 24 games, they're 17 and 7. That's a 700 ball club right there. Even go back to 2020 when he was the interim coach, they were 7 and 3.

700 ball club. The guy can coach this team. And I think, like, you know, I honestly think he's the future to Brooklyn Nets. You know, he's, you know, what, 47, you know, a lot of time left. but really, they're playing defense, they're winning games.

You get some, you fix the Ross a little bit. You know, I know, I know Katie, you know, he's getting up there. Kyrie's doing Kyrie things. But I legitimately think they got a shot to win it all, right? With those talents, with those guys. So he was already there, man. He was already there, man.

I have a serious question for, I have a serious question for Jemey real quick. So you're going to make Jacques Vaughn, your coach of the year on a 20 game sample size? That's right. Or 20 something game sample size. Okay. Well, that's right.

That's right now, though, right? That's right now. Listen, the Nets were in the lurch, dog. With Katie and Kyrie, we're looking at them like, dog. Are y'all even going to, are y'all going to get past the second round? I'm saying, which again, they still have to do. But I think they got a shot. I think with Jock Vaughn, it's a way better shot than when Steve Nash.

Right. And he's come in, they're playing defense. That was a team that was just leaking baskets. Games were 130 to 125, you know what I'm saying? But now he's got them actually buying into something, which is insane when you talk about Kyrie, right? You know what I mean? Like Kyrie, like building into philosophy?

What? Kyrie buying into team play? What? But they're doing it right now. You know, I know, like, you want to talk small sample size. I think this is good, though. This is a great start. Right?

And we'll see what happens in 2023. but ultimately, they're in a way better position than they were a month ago. And you got to give the credit to Jacques Vaughn for that. Roger, who is your coach of the year? This one was a tough one for me because, you know, my affinity for New Orleans and Willie Green and what they're doing. But this one's going to go to J.B. Bickerstaff from the Cleveland Cavaliers. They're 2011. Okay.

He's orchestrating what is the best defense analytically in the NBA right now, at least in defensive efficiency. Sorry, I shouldn't say analytically because I'm not into every single analytic stat. But in terms of defensive efficiency, they're a wall defensively. And I just think he's a really, really good young coach, and he comes from good stock and it's in his blood. And I just love the way they play. So I'm going to give him defensive. I mean, sorry, excuse me, coach of the year. That's what's up.

That's what's up. That's, and I, like, another, another team that plays hard for their coach. And it seems like, and you can also tell with the calves, and Roger can attest to it, big family atmosphere right now. And you can really, the guys play for each other. And that's a testament to J.B., man. He's doing a really good job this year. I am going to go, like, in kind of the totality of the year, not necessarily this season.

I'm just going to go with the coach that really did great to define this year. I'm going to go front of the show. I'm going to go with Steve Kurt for the job that he did. I'm talking about last season and what he did coaching that Golden State team because I think we're seeing now, especially what all the Warriors are doing this season, just how much of a feat that was. And just with that roster makeup and just the run that the Warriors did this last season,

a lot of that has to go with the players, but Steve coaches ass off last year. So I'm going to go with Steve Kerr for my coaches of this year. All right, I'm going to start off with Rara on this one. See what he got on this one. We're going to go with moment of the year for Roger Bell. I don't really, I don't, I got it in full, full disclosure. I don't really understand the question.

I didn't love the top. I didn't love the fucking category. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to concede my time. I would, the moment that defined the year are so far the moment that this, you two go first, damn it. God, tell me, who's, what is your, do you have a moment of the year? Like, boom, the moment of the year, Raj, just so. I don't fucking love that.

If it was 2016, if it was 2016, Roger, it would be the block from LeBron. That would be the moment of the year. That's what we're talking about. Right, but it's not. It's not. It's early, dude. What you mean the moment is, I guess it's all early. I just don't love the category.

I'm sorry. I'm grumpy. You got a pink fucking scully on. Jummi's in here with like an electric sweater. You're just mad right now. Sorry. And you have a Gray Haynes T-shirt right now. We're just all mad.

It's cold. You know what? All right. All right. I'll make this one moment in the year. I'm going to go outside of the box. I'd be like, there's some things that actually make sense to you.

This category just didn't really make great sense to me. But I'm going to double down on what Jomey just said. I think the moment of the year was the firing or the resignation of my dog, Steve Nash. I think that was the moment of the year right now because that was a, that's a sleeper in, in Brooklyn. We always said if they could feel. figure out how to get it together, you know, that it could be a wild card. That was a team that had the talent to be able to do some things. And it was clear from all accounts that they had

checked out on him. I haven't really, you know, spoken to him at any lengths about it or whether or not his heart was still in it. But the bottom line was, it was kind of messy. And we can't ignore the fact, to Jomi's point, that since he's been gone, they are a 700 team and they seem to be playing much better basketball. So as far as overall big picture of the league and potential ramifications for for playoffs. Having Brooklyn being good again is really, really interesting.

And so for that reason, moment of the year would be Steve Nash. That was really good, Rob. Thanks. You're really good at this. You're really good at this. No prep on that one, bro. Didn't like it.

You had to roast us for no reason. And then we finally, we got a great answer out of you. Edit it out in post. Edit it out in post. No, dog. That's standing. in, that shit was hilarious. That's staying in, bro.

That's staying in. Fuck that. Joby Joe, what is your moment of the year? Oh, I mean, for me, I think this is like very clear. It's a moment when Chris Paul hit a three to bring the Phoenix Suns to within 42 of the Dallas Mavericks. That was the moment of the year right there. Oh, you know, Chris Paul bringing it back in the clutch. You know how he does.

That game was, because you think in Game 7, you know, Game six was kind of like a blowout too, but that's in Dallas, you know, the plan, they're going to come back to Phoenix at home. You know, they just went to the finals. They're going to be a right. We're going to see a great game seven. Can Luca, you know, do his thing, you know, or will the defending Western Conference champions hold serve? And Luca outscored him by himself in the third quarter. Like, it was bad.

It was bad. They were down 50. at 1.50. We could not believe what we were watching in the moment. You understand? Like, it was, it was bizarre to say the least. And, I mean, we had to say, I had to St. Phoenix Home after that, you know, in a wild way. But ultimately, that was the moment.

I remember the most from this last year basketball, just been like, oh, my gosh. Like, I cannot believe I'm witnessing this right here. My God. What a debacle. that was a great it was fun though it was fun to see a little bit this is not my moment of the year but it's an honorable mention just building on your point jemmy jomi's pack watch after the after the sons did what they did was pretty legendary that got to the point it got to the point where raja couldn't even have a rebuttal he said he said it was a poverty franchise

damn there should move as a franchise move to seattle we don't need to do we don't need to do that again There's no need to do all that again. They heard it. They heard it. They can go back and listen to it, right? It'd go nowhere. Well, my old shit, buy my old album. Oh, man.

Moment of the year, specifically. It turned to a pretty viral moment afterwards. And I think it's something that define the NBA season afterwards. And I think that we're witnessing a trend in my list right now. But when Steph put him to sleep, when Steph did the night and night in Boston, which, honestly, I think that was the closest that Jomey ever got to being a Warriors fan. It wasn't very close, but it was the closest that it ever came. I remember getting text messages from him, just talking about how much he hated the Celtics. Didn't mention

the Warriors specifically that night, but was talking about how much he hated the Celtics and how happy he was that the Celtics lost. I mean, you have to understand. You have to understand as soon as As soon as the finals matchup came out, man, it was we believe. Let's lock it. We're here. Let's go dubs. You know, I was back at Oracle. You know what I'm saying?

There was no shame in your game. There was no shame in you and you fly up to the bay for two weeks. Although it was disgusting watching y'all get the rings on opening night. That was stuff. I was like, this is what I wanted? Like, I've won, but at what cost? You know, it was tough. Would you do it again?

Absolutely. Would you do it? Well, if I had, for the seas, of course. I'd root for the clippers before I root for the Celtics, bro. Like, I would root for the aliens to come and take over Earth before I root for the Celtics, man. Damn. Okay. If the Martians came to Earth and said, listen, we were playing the Celtics in a seven-game series, winner gets Earth.

Let's go Martians. Let's go. Let's go. I'm Team Mars, maybe. That's insane. That's insane. That's insane. That's insane. I love what I love. This is a very special award we got coming on. This is this is this means a lot. This is someone who exhibits all the great things that represents basketball.

This is the Rajabelle Memorial Award for Defense that, Raja names himself for a person that exhibits all the qualities that Raja wants in a defender, and it's a lot of qualities, damn it. It is a lot of qualities. You have to be of a certain ilk to get this award on a yearly basis. Raja Bell, who are you giving this award to? All right. So again, you've thrown me, this year for this NBA basketball season. This calendar year, Raja. Nah, I mean, I don't, I mean, no, I don't like that. Well, All right, okay, let's do it, this calendar year. Because I thought it was slightly snubbed last year for it.

So it's going to go to one BAM at a bio. All right. I know the heat aren't necessarily living up to expectations right now record-wise, but Bam is still strapped up. Bam is still not who you want to see matched up against you when you're trying to get your buckets that night because you got family and friends in the crowd. All right?

Bam is not the dude you want to call up there into pick and roll. to get that switch no matter how good you are with the ball in your hands. Bam is the problem. He's a Swiss Army knife defensively. And he'll get down and dirty and he makes extra effort plays. And he's physical and he's slightly mean. So for all of those reasons, you said it's an all-encompassing award. There are a lot of things that go into that.

It's going to be bam out about it. Listen, listen, basically what Raj is saying is, I know that you want your family to come to Miami with you, you know, when you're coming into games and stuff like that. You want them, they can come with you to Miami. Miami. But don't bring them in the stairs because you're going to get embarrassed when Bam out of Bio is playing. Is that basically what you're saying around? No, I don't know. I mean, you just might not hit your mark, man. I mean, you might be held under your average. You know what I mean?

There's got a lot of good qualities that defensive-minded people can appreciate. So yeah, you still have a good time. I mean, Miami's something for everybody. Like shit, I ain't telling you some great meals. You walk around on the beach. You're going to see some pretty people, but you might not hit your mark number wise. That's all I'm saying, Doc. Okay. That's a great one. The first ever Raja Bell Memorial Award for Defense goes to Bam out of Biles, big time. You can get your award from Jomey's house in Hawaii or wherever he is. That's where all the awards will be at. Wherever Jomey is, get your little certificate. And since Raja is printing the certificate, your name might be spelled wrong. Another big moment. Let's go. I don't know what the,

what the sound design is right now, but we need some We need some streamers. We need some flex bombs. We need all the above for this next one. Because it's going to go for three or four minutes. I don't know what this is going to be. I'm really curious to what this is. But this is the inaugural award for the Jomey Joan Memorial Pack.

For someone that just didn't meet their mark, they may have played Bam out of bio in Miami and just got embarrassed. But someone that just needed to get a royal, you see what you see the vibes, man. y'all here, man. For someone that just didn't hit their mark this season in our Lord's year of 2022, I'm going to cede the floor to you, Jemmy Jum. Who earned your Memorial Pack for this year?

Wow. I mean, how much time do I have? Listen, I mean, we could go through, I mean, the whole year, really. like we gave the Utah Jazz like a solid goodbye, you know, when they lost to a, Luca was gone for half of the series and Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert,

you know, didn't show me anything. And they split them dudes up. In fact, they blew that whole franchise up. They changed the logo. They did everything different after that loss. We mentioned the Phoenix Suns. Those bums. I don't have to say it all again.

Listen. Listen, it was tough. Game 7 was tough. You know? Ultimately, though, ultimately. And this is really hard for me to say this right now.

Because I think, Logan, you know where I'm going with this, man. Got to go to Anthony Davis, man. Oh. He's hurt again, man. He's hurt again. man it's tough it is tough every every time AD starts to put it together every time we're like yeah this is the AD for 2020 this is the AD we got this is the AD we fit to build around oh it's a foot it's an ankle it's a knee every single time and it sucks

it sucks because we got to hear for everybody all street clothes da da da da this man uh uh

Anthony data Davis you know what I'm saying like it's it's jokes all over the place man it's jokes all over the place

despite the fact that the man had been bawling balling and think about it think about it every single time like

it's always more doubt Everstating the injury, how better he plays, right? In 2020, he was playing all right. We were like, oh, man, he's hurt. It's all right, though, man. We got Broncos, da-da-da. Last year, balling again gets hurt in Denver.

We're like, uh-oh. Man, was playing good. Dang, that's unfortunate. He had been playing, like, maybe not the best ball of his career, you know, if you look at, you know, the whole, the entire thing. But one of the best stretches, pretty close, right? Pretty close to the best ball he had ever been playing. playing as a first battle of Hall of Famer,

and now he's out for a month, at least what Shams say indefinitely, Lakers'Reemite's Indeatine's Indefinite. Joemi, may I for one second? May I, because I feel your frustration, and I just feel like I need to give you a second to breathe and just finish this out where you want to go with that. But let me interject for a second. Please.

You haven't been on in a while. So what I've dealt with is trying to navigate this landscape of Laker fandom and hopes and to some degree reel in my Anthony Davis takes while while at the same time acknowledging that he's playing great basketball

and simultaneously preparing people for the inevitability that this man was going to be earned again do you know how hard it is to jump Roger what was your reaction when you got the notification on your phone Because mine was just resignation because we had talked about this two weeks ago, Roger, because I was excited. I was excited.

And we are on, full transparency, guys, we are on a Lakers call. This is a Lakers call. We have two producers, Third I Kai and O.G. Kerm, who are in Laker's stance, obviously, right? I grew up a Laker fan. You know this in this pod. So Raja, every week has the temper of expectations. But specifically during this time, right?

I'm saying, oh, man. what is this going to be when when when lebron comes back i'm talking to myself into the gas raja what was going through your mind in the totality when you got the the notification on your phone and then put on sports center and you saw that anthony davis was out i can't even really describe what was going through my head i'm so conflicted because as a former professional athlete i want to see no one hurt i want everyone to be playing their best ball and achieving like i know what it takes man So while I can tell you I don't see certain things in someone, that doesn't mean I don't pull for them to be the best version of themselves.

However, comma, but I knew it was coming. So when it came across the screen, I actually double take. I had to double take at it because it came off. I looked back up. My phone, it went away. So I had to click into something to find it. There it was. And I'll just say like this.

You know, normally I don't have a problem. Anyone who knows me, I'm not an I told you so all the time. kind of guy. Not all the time. Not all the time, but I'm not bashful about it either. Like, I will say,

I told you that. I felt, I, I couldn't even text that to you guys. I couldn't do it. Did you, were you thinking about screenshot and it put in the chat?

I, I thought about it for like two minutes. I was like, man, I can't, I can't, I can't do it. I won't even do it.

Because is so sad. It's just so sad. It's so sad. It's so sad, man. It's so unfortunate. Do you, do you,

do you, okay, so. you are a Lakers truther, you know, you are the eternal optimist of the Laker nation. You always have your ears to the streets. Yeah, man. How do you go through this Anthony Davis, just rollercoaster every year? Because it's not his fault that he gets hurt every year.

It's not his fault. It's not his fault. But what's the best ability, Raja? What's the best ability? It's availability, sir. Right, right, right, right. It's availability. So with that in mind, Jomey,

Like, how do you continue to go through this roller coaster? Honestly, and I'm going to ask you to put your GM hat on this right now. What do you do now? What's going on? What happens now? Well, I mean, let's be completely honest. It's cooked. It's done.

It's a wrap. We got to start thinking about that late first round pick from New Orleans, right? You know, we got to be like, listen, we can't give them, Wemby. You know, this just can't happen. There's a chance. But, you know, we can't let that happen. Ultimately, you know, if you feel that, you know, maybe in a month, let's say you tread water for a month, right?

And you're still in that, like, you know, 11, 10, 10, 80 comes back, you know, January, late January. And you're like, okay, we feel like we can make a run to the plan. Cool. Then you have the trade deadline. You make some happen. If in the next month or so, things go really bad. We got to start looking at LeBron, hey, man, how about you take tonight off, my boy?

What you think about, you know? But that's, but, but, but he's got to catch, he's got to catch Kareem first, right? Once he catches Kareen, you know, hashtag Jason Kareen, once he gets that thing, you know, we have the little celebration, we do the clap, you know, and then we'll be like, hey, man, ah, your back looking little tight, you know? Ah, you're growing looking a little sore, my man, aren't you? Damn, I shit out. Yeah, yeah. We don't need to push you, you know, you're 38 years old. You know what I mean?

We don't need all that. Ultimately, you know what? And it's tough. It stinks. You know, again, this is not 80s fault, but you know what, guess me through it? What's that? What's that? What's that?

Them 20-20 bubble highlights. The bubble highlights? No bubble highlights, man. It's good. It used to be the 2010, 2009 chips, you know, all those years. When it was Brandon Ingram, you know, When Nickyam was your best player? Dog, I would go on YouTube and load up the highlights.

Now I can go back, they ain't HD now, man. You know, that game winner against Denver, oh, man, it's good. But that's all we got right now. If it's going to be that bad. Stuff. Roger, what is, what are you doing, put your GM hat on? What is next for the Lakers, bro? Because I know AD is untouchable.

The people on the roster that is tradable are pretty untouchable. So, like, what do you do? What the hell do you do? I sit back and I drink my bourbon, bro. That's what I do. I mean, like, I don't have a great answer for you. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I can, because I know damn well they're sitting behind closed doors.

Like, what the hell do we do? Like what? I'm, he, I'm not going to do it. Because it feels slanderous. It feels slanderous. And I don't mean it to be slanderous. But I can't count on that. because everything about it that I have as a sample size of data

suggests that I can't count on that. So what gives me, like, mofos don't just get healthier as they get older. Yeah. I mean, there have been some instances of the Grand Hills, right? Like, as he's gotten a better medical team around him, having a resurgence of him. But he was a role player when that happened.

Antonio McDice, like those type of dudes. But, yeah, and that's fair too. but you know it's not like you're saying hey man we've got this new proprietary blend of supplement that we're going to start giving AD and all of these injuries whether they're not I'm then they're not saying they're his fault but like we can stop it you just don't he's just prone to it and so when that cog in your wheel as big as that is and as much as you have wrapped up into it is is is so enticingly talented but so disturbingly injury prone, it really puts you in this conundrum. I don't know. I'm with Jomi in terms of the

immediate of this. Like, let's see where we are when he's healthy. I don't know what that means. Indefinite is scary to me. But let's see where we are. Let's see if we can hold water as a franchise until he gets back. You know, if he's back and we haven't slipped out of contention to being, you know, in a good playoff spot, that's different, right? Like, I mean, he got injured again, but we could still, but if we slip out and this becomes another waste of a season, I think that's what you're talking about, right? Like, that's when shit gets sideways.

I mean, hopefully he comes back, the Lakers are still playing well, and you just re-infuse him into the lineup and they figure out how to play with him again. I'm hoping for Laker fans. Good luck with that. Phenomenal use of the word conundrum. And, Joe, just before we get to the next segment,

just real question, and this is the realest question I've asked you. which team would you rather watch right now? The 22-23 Lakers or the 2013-14 Lakers? At this very moment, what would you rather, what would you rather watch on League Pass? You see it right now. 2020-22-22-Lakers, man. Let me say something about the 2020-203, 20-20.

Let me tell you something about the 2013-2014-Lakers. That was some horrific basketball. ball. My God. And they were even that bad because the pick that got was Julius Randall. That was the seventh pick, right? And that didn't, like, I don't think that shifted at all. So they weren't like

the worst thing to watch. But my goodness, gracious, great balls of fire. Once Kobe tore that labrum, bro, you know? We're like, ah, it's cooked for show. Like, it's done. And he had to watch what was it? Jordan Farmer back. Marchon Brooks. Rodney Price.

Ed Davis. Roddy Price. Oh, Roddy Price. with the one shoe. No, bro. Ronnie's my guy. Ronny's my guy. Ken Bazmore. Shout out to Ronnie Price, man.

He held it down. Zavier Henry. We're just getting all in the chat. We're getting his names. I thought Zavia Henry was going to be the... Let me tell you something. Let me tell you my biggest miss. My biggest miss.

Ryan Kelly, bro. Oh, God. I thought Ryan Kelly would be like dollar store dirt. Okay? You know? Stretch, you know, stretch four. Come out of his shots. You know what I'm saying?

and the dude wasn't even like, I can't even say like Walmart, Dirk, right? He was, he didn't last in the league, you know what I'm saying? That, man, it was tough times. I'm picking the Slickers team every time because at least they got LeBron. Austin Reeves is somebody, you know, obviously we love to root for.

And, you know, I love Thomas Bryant's energy. Even though CNN's Westbrook, Benchbrook has not, you know, raised my blood pressure too much since he's been coming off the bench, you know. Hey, boy, chill out. I just want to make sure. I just chill.

You can just stop right there because you know what I'm about to do with the Westbrook's land. Don't even think about it. Don't even think about that. You mean to tell me I had to look him up because I, listen, you thought this moufo right here was going to be a Walmart dirt, you said? Dollar store, dirt. Dollar store dirt. Come in, hit some shots, you feel me? You know.

Hey, listen, I could have saved you. You ain't know me at the time, but I could have saved you a whole lot of hoping. You're going to just, are you going to hit me on the Twitter account I didn't have? I would have let you know immediately. Robert Sochre, come on, man. We was, we was like. Nah, I was got to relax. That was a tough year.

That was a tough year. Shoot. They ain't lying. Okay. All right. Well, we just, every time we talk about the legors, we just get sad. It just gets sad. All right.

Let's go to a, let's go to, whew. Let's go to who won the year. All right. Let's do that. Ra, rah, right. It's going to two. Wait, you got one more thing to say. What's going on, Joe? I think you should go first because I think you would have the answer.

I think you got it. Yes, he's got it. And there would be no need to go ahead. Okay. I'm going to go with Steph Curry, who won the year. There you go. 2022. He won the year.

In every conceivable way. We could just talk, talk through that. But he got the, he got the, ring without Kevin Durant. He, I'd say Steph Curry slash Golden State. Can we do that? Is that fair?

I mean, this is my who won the year. You can do Golden State Warriors if you want to do it. Well, I think we all agree. We all agree. Okay. All right. Can I just tag that on with you? Would you be okay with that?

All right. Yeah. Let's tag that on. Let's talk that on. So, I mean, he wins. He and the Golden State Warriors win the title post Kevin Durant, which was a big deal for them. They won in a year where,

very unexpected year, right? Like you did not expect that the Warriors were going to win or even be in contention. I think preseason, and you guys can go back and look. I think me, I think we picked that last year. I think it was going to be a Brooklyn Lakers finals.

That did not hold true at all. No. And just there was just, there was like a temporary restoration of the Golden State Magic. I don't think it's here this year. And I've been on record to say that. I don't know if they're going to recapture that at all.

But last year, it was just like kind of a throwback. And it just, it was just one of those years where, yeah, they're back. I don't know how long this is going to last, but I'm happy they're here. Right? Is that fair, Ra? Yeah. I think, I think you hit it all, man. Steph looking to place himself in the firmly forever, every conversation about some of the greatest to play the game conversations on like non-debatable.

right? Like, because, you know, some idiots to tell you, you know, before he had that one, there were arguments for, I didn't subscribe to him, but some people might try to throw that at you. Like, for those reasons, he cemented himself. I think Golden State, you know, as a franchise, both for him and the team without KD, obviously a lot of stuff going on there, but they have some good young talent. Like, that's another win for Golden State, you know, if they can continue to develop it, Clay Thompson coming back, like a lot of great things, bro. So I'm, I'm with you all 100%. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Jomey, how hard is it for you to admit that this team and then this that this player won any year? Because I know this seems like it could be tough for you. It honestly wasn't that tough. I mean, even them playing the Sussex aside, like seeing Steph Curry like do his thing, like for those, you know, six games was something that, you know, we had known that he could do, you know,

obviously the two MVP is unanimous. one in that. But on the biggest stage when everybody was like, like, Roger's point, everyone was like, does Steph perform in the finals? Just da-da-da-da-da. And you're like, doc, the dude balls. Man, he's got three chips. Like, have some respect. And to see him go out there, you know, them down the series two-one and just take over. Just be like, yeah, no, this is mine. You guys enjoy. Appreciate you, Jason, Jason, Tannan. Thanks for coming out. Janet Brown. Thank you for coming, Robert Williams. You know, hey, have fun.

And Grant Williams, thanks for coming through. And just giving them bucket after bucket after bucket, delivering after delivery. And then you see him at the end of the series. He's crying. You know, the whole team is just like, you know, they fill a sun type way because, like you said, they were done and dusted.

We had written them off. We had said, you're not supposed to be here anymore. You guys are cooked, goodbye. And ultimately, they proved a lot of people wrong. And so Steph in particular. Right. He got his finals MVP that everybody, you know, he said he needed to have to be one of the greats and, you know, whatever. But ultimately, he did what he had to do in that series.

And if you love ball, you can't, I don't care, you know, unless you're a Celtics fan, obviously. If you love hoops, you can't help, but look at that and go, wow, that's incredible. Like, just what a story. What a moment for him. And again, he didn't need that to cement his legacy. But now we can, you know, sit here and be like, yeah, he's one of the greatest of all time. I think that this warrior's title

I think this warrior's title makes this I think it makes their run Teflon. I think it makes them one of those teams where like this specific title and I was talking to somebody earlier like and I think this will be their favorite title when it goes when you go back and you know when they go to the reunion and all those things

and we see them in about 15, 20 years. I think they're going to be like this is the title that we love the most, that we wasn't expected, and we're good after this. We're fine. Every question was answered in this title,

and you could see, I was at Game 6. You could just see, and I had been able to go to the 2018 finals when they won in Cleveland, but then when they won in Boston, it was just, it was a joy that I had never seen from this team,

probably comparable to the first one that they had, but this was one where they were just like, we didn't know we were going to, to get here. We had no idea this was going to happen. And they sense the moment. And a lot of times, a lot of teams, that's their Achilles-Hill, they don't sense the moment of like, this is probably our only shot at it. And history, and, you know, we're watching the Warriors right now, you could see why they were like, this is where we need to go get this because this isn't promised next year. And it's not. And I don't know if they're going to go to the finals or we don't know what they're going to do this

season. But I got a question for you, Rob, as someone that knows ball. I was of the mind and still a certain as a player player of the mind. I remember just thinking like throughout that whole run and when Kevin was on that team, that he was the best player on that team. And I still, and I still think so. But I think this is the first time you can kind of make an argument though. Like, you know, Steph with resume and with with, step with resume and just with moments and with, you know, with titles right now that you can make the argument that he's a clips. Kevin, where do you put Steph, and I'm not putting, putting those two against each other for this question, Roger, but where would you put Steph in your all time? Like, where would you, where would he be

right there? He's so tricky. Is he top 15, top 10? Where would you have him if you had to, if you had to ask, if you had to answer that question? Where would you put him? So I don't mean to do this, but I suck at those lists. I suck because like right now on the spot, it's going to be unfair to someone because I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to put in enough due diligence to really get a good answer. Do you know what I mean? But I'm going to give you one. But I really suck at them because my wheels just don't spin that fast.

You got to forgive me. Someone's going to get left out. But I would say unequivocally top 15, unequivocally, right? And then I start getting into like I'm already at five where, where, you know what I'm saying? So like, I think he might. fall for me. And again, not fair apologies before this happens. Just outside top 10, but probably nine to 12 without me getting in the weeds and wasting podcast listeners times like debating 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. But I think he's in that. And that's a feat in itself.

It's one of the times. What? I mean, because the names of five that I had gotten to, obviously, were like, who were your five? Well, I mean, I just started. This was a, in no particular order, but I was like, LeBron, MJ, we had Magic, we had Kobe, and then you got like Kareem or one of those dudes, you know what I mean? Like, so I'm already at five. And when you're not that far behind those dudes, like, yeah, man, like, that's, that's a hell of an accomplishment. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's in the conversation. Like, he's chasing ghosts at this point, right? Like, he's still in that conversation. That's a, that's a big feat to have for him. All right, man, this is the one. This is, this is where we, where we, uh, one of the, uh, one of

the biggest awards for the biggest award that we can give on our release. It's the award for our weekly award, but it's our yearly award now. Real one of the year where we point out a person, entity or organization that won the year, it's a big deal, you know? This might be a trophy at Jomey's House that he's going to give to this person. It just might be that. I'm going to start it off, and then we'll go to Jomey and go to Big R-R-R-R-R. I'm going to go with Brittany Griner. It's pretty self-explanatory, man. If you know her story, you guys got to go check that out.

But it touches so many different touchpoints just throughout our world, right? Just, you know, the justice system, geopolitical, everything you want to name. I don't want to go into all of that on this podcast. But I think when you think about it, her year in 2022 and all the things that she has, had to go through. Rewan of the year. She's going to play. She says she's going to play next season for the Phoenix Mercury,

which is a feat in itself, you know? So I'm going to go with a, I'm going to go with Brittany Griner for our, for my real one of the year. Jummy Jum, who is your real one of the year? My real one of the year, I think you might know this guy, Logan. Is the one Mike Trudell.

Mike Trudeau. Mike Trudeau has been a, you know, we met, last year, 2021, but this 2022, man, you know, he's been a, but a great person to talk to, you know, about hoops, about, you know, about, Disney Plus shows, you know, he calls me, like, John, what I got to, what I got to tap into. And I'm like, I got you, Mike.

And just being an overall great dude, you know, shout out to him, shout out to his family, all great people, all love to the man Mike Judel. That's my real one of the year. that's great bro friend of the show mike tradale also man legend in his own right i remember when like i remember when he when he sent a DM was like talking about how much he loved the pod i was just like what the fuck like i grew up watching you bro like that's crazy and then then he said he said and where's jelmy and i was like we need to put him on a group text so we me jelmy and mike have the most popping group text of all time that's our guy that's our homie the god big mic the guy big

Mike. Shout out to the homie, big Mike T. Yes, sir. It's going to be hard to follow, and I'm going to step outside. I mean, we're staying consistent with the theme of real ones, right? It doesn't have to be basketball related necessarily. No, it does not. Well, you know my, where my heart lies.

It's on the gridiron, even though I didn't play it. So my real one of the year is going to be from a team, Logan, that I think, that you have a secret affinity for too because Mom Dukes is from the area. He's from them Fly Eagles Fly. It's Jalen Hertz. Yeah. Yeah.

That's my real one. And real talk. He's the real one of like the last six years for me. Because all I did was watch him like, I think he was the best player in the country coming out. You got to forgive my memory. But I think he was a super, super high recruiting. He went to Bam and did nothing but win.

And then he got supplanted by Tua. and, you know, it was always the same shit. And then he got to Philly. And everyone scoffed it, why they took him with the last pick, you know, in the round. And why would you do that? You got Carson Wentz. And then Philly told you now, we're straight. We're going to roll with this.

And all I had to hear all the talking heads tell you why it was the worst thing he couldn't. He was inaccurate and he couldn't lead. And, you know, all of the trigger, like words, all of that shit. And all he's done is win. And now he's sitting in a position with the Eagles. I think they're 14 in one. Forgive me. I watched him the other day.

And all he does is just keep winning. Did you see the balls he dropped on DeVontay Smith in it? And the bull yesterday, what's the kid, Brown they got from AJ Brown? Did you see him drop that shit in a bucket? Yep. Like my man is out there. He's firmly, in my opinion, in the lead to win MVP.

The Eagles are the best team in football right now. And from what he's had to overcome and how he's, And I'll give some credit to the talking heads. There was room for improvement. But like I say with everybody, everyone can improve provided they do the work. They admit that they can improve and they do to work. And that's all he's done over and over and over again.

I wish him nothing but the best. So he's my real one of the year. I got a little message for Jalen Hertz in the city of Philadelphia. Fly, eagles fly all the road to victory. E-A-G-L-E-S-E-E-O's! Little fucking vibes. There we go. Shout out to Alpottis in West Philly.

We out here. Shout out to Ardmore. You see the vibes. We all here, man. All right. That was our inaugural release. We're going to do this. This is our new thing.

This is our new style. See us in December. Every December. We're going to pop in with the Rillies, all right? Little housekeeping. We got one more episode to close out the year. That is going to be our mail. bag. I will tweet out the information and do time this week.

Our annual mailbag. Get at us. We have some good mailbags, though, but get at us. Get at us, man. Dog, ask us any question that you want to ask, bro. Hey, make a. Hey, don't be, don't be, don't be, don't be, don't be, don't be dodo heads, okay? But ask us anything you guys want to ask within reason, all right? Um, and we will see you guys who got a lot of store for you guys for 2023, man. Can't wait to share it with you. Um, but we will see you guys on Thursday for our mailbag episode. It's been another edition of Real Ones and the first edition of the release.

Tap in. Power.