The Ringer NBA Show - Jokic and Murray Sit Out the Nuggets' Dub Against the Warriors. Plus, Who’s Down Bad? | Real Ones

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray sat out the Nuggets' victory over the Warriors Monday night, but is the reason for the stars sitting out plausible (1:14)? Speaking of Jokic, is he in the lead over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the MVP (19:42)? Who’s down bad?! Should the Suns look to trade Devin Booker in the offseason (25:40)? Is there any hope for the Sixers after the latest news that Paul George will be sidelined for the remainder of the season (37:25)? Do the Mavericks have the bleakest future of them all after the Luka trade and Kyrie’s injury (41:38)? Plus, the highly anticipated mailbag (49:36)! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hit the mailbag! [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer/Audio: Clifford Augustin Video Producer: Victoria Valencia Social: Keith Fujimoto Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello there, friends of the program. It's Tate Frazier, and it's officially that special time of the year where we go on a March through Madness Together for the 85th edition of the NCAA tournament. What makes March so special, you ask? Well, it's the unknown. It's the fact that this is basically Survivor on a basketball court on CBS without Jeff Probst. And no matter how much you prepare, you can not predict this kind of chaos. And that is what we will be covering on this podcast, one shining podcast, all the madness,

all the David versus Goliath personified. It's the best show in town. The ball is tipped. And here you are with us. Come listen and join us wherever you get your podcast. What's popping? Real ones. Logan Murdoch here.

Roger Bell there. Howard Beck and the motherfucking cut. Cliff on the boards. Victoria. On the video. Ah, we're going to talk some nuggets and play a little game of who's down bad the most. That's going to be in the second segment. But first, I was really down bad last night, y'all.

Specifically in the pregame presser at Chase Center, when Mike Malone, hours or an hour before, one of the most anticipated games in a while, relays the news to the local media that neither Jamal Murray nor Nicola Yokic will be playing in this game against the Warriors. it was a tough scene because you were getting word like pre pre pre game that nicola was probably not going to play and neither was Jamal Murray and I couldn't believe it because I was just like you know man the NBA cracks down on allegedly cracks down on sorts of things right and there's no way like you know the nuggets are tied for second place in the Western Conference right there's no way that this is going to go down you know Now, there's two teams fighting for playoff position. And I was just really upset with this circumstances. I get Joker is injured, but he's played over the last few games. Same with Jamal Murray. Howard, didn't they legislate this type of shit out of the game, allegedly? What the hell?

Why were we, and I texted you last night, like, yo, man, it's bad. The league is cooked. And you and your East Coast bias was like, well, shit, I ain't watching. So, like, I didn't. I'm sure you are... Okay. Well, you said something along the lines of that. It got...

The game got a lot less vibey in your words. What the fuck, Howard? Great question. What the fuck? I don't know how to answer that. Other than this, yeah, it was really deflating. I was excited for that game, too. Planned on staying up and everything.

I did stay up anyway. I watched the Warriors gagged away a night that they should have absolutely won. Great for the Nuggets, winning without their two most important players. I get it. It's mid-March, late March. Coaches are now thinking about being fresh for the playoffs. The Nuggets aren't locked in in terms of standings,

seedings, but they clearly are not concerned about slipping too far. They're not concerned about anything. Like, they're fine. They're going to be somewhere in the top four. They're fine. And I get all of that. And to your question, Logan, about the league's policies, yeah, they've legislated all kinds of things, but they haven't been able to legislate out resting period. There's combinations where you can't rest multiple stars, but like Jamal Murray doesn't even qualify as a star because he never makes all star or all NBA. So it was only like one star that they rested. And there's the Lowry Markan situation a week ago where the jazz get fined for resting him. But that's because, A, he does qualify as a star under the player participation policy. And B, it was. clearly that they're tanking. The nuggets aren't tanking. The nuggets are just

strategically resting. There's nothing that I'm aware of to actually eliminate this particular circumstance. And we're just stuck with this. But the shitty thing is for fans, and for the league, frankly, because this is a problem for them perception-wise, image-wise, on any given night in March, you've got a bunch of teams that are pulling the plug-on players because they're tanking and they're trying to just enhance their lottery odds. You've got contenders like the Nuggets who are resting their top players because they're resting for the playoffs. So whether it's resting for strategic purposes, resting for the playoffs, resting because

you're trying to lose, there's just too many guys who should be playing who are the marquee names who are not. And that's not, it's not great. It's not great for your TV partners. It's not great for fans. it's not great for the sport. And the league has been grappling with versions of this for years, and it feels like they still haven't come up with enough solution.

Is there a balance, Raja, for the fans getting what they want, the players being healthy as possible, and, you know, things like this not happening, right? Because this was a, you know, this is a really, like, anticipated game, right? It was, this was Yokic versus the Warriors, down the stretch. This could be a potential point. playoff series, right? Like, this was, you know, they had, it's so funny when you have, like,

like Mike Breen stayed over with Doris and, and, I'm not sure it was, but Mike Breen stayed over and was, and so was Richard Jefferson. We're calling the game. So the ABC had their number one team there. And it was clearly like something to the league wanted to showcase. Can we get a balance? Yeah, you're going to need someone smarter than me to come up with, like, the what type of legislation could be put in effect to actually balance it out and what's fair

to everybody. I don't see a world where I could come up with that. You're always going to be in conflict with fans to some degree, with networks, you know, with the quality of the product at this time of year when you're a team that has a roster that thinks it can win a championship but has a little bit of age on it, like, or has a bunch of miles on it, even if they're not old. They've been playing deep into the playoffs. And, you know, Nicola and some of those guys were in the Olympics.

And like, that's a lot of basketball. I say this all the time. We've just been conditioned to watch people go out there and play 100 games a year. And the level is so high and it's so remarkable what they can physically do. You take for granted how difficult that is. And even the most conditioned bodies are going to. to break down at some point because that's just a lot of basketball. And no one's complaining.

Like people are paid great to do it. You understand the gig when you take the job. But the reality is that is a fact. And as soon as teams, you know, started to realize that those miles were accumulating in a way that could be detrimental to winning a championship, then it becomes about protecting, you know, their bottom line, which is making sure that they got the best chance to win a championship by ensuring that people are healthy. And that means resting them. They're going to fucking rest them.

They're going to sit them down and make sure they're, you know, they're ready to go. And you heard Steve Kerr, even after the game last night, say, Steph's tired. And I would agree with that. I was with you guys in that I was fired up to watch the game. And as soon as I saw those jokers were out, I'm like, I'm not watching the shit. And so, you know, I taped it and, you know, I recorded and watched it this morning. And I was looking specifically, having heard the comments from Steve last night, specifically at Steph and trying to see like how he was moving and stuff like that. And

it harkened me back to playing in a game at this time of year watching him. Like not level of player. This is just the way a body would feel rolling out in March and just not having the juice that you need to have. Like you're still going to be out there. And to the to the untrained eye, it might look pretty normal. But I was watching it. I was like, oh, he really don't have the juice. Like it's the legs, and he's trying. And they're all out there giving it what they got, but they just don't have the juice. And so, you know, that's a lot of words to answer a really simple question. Like, is I don't see a balance.

Because at the end of the day, it's too much of an investment made by these franchises in an effort to win championships and increase the valuation in X, Y, and Z to not rest a dude when every analytic you have and every piece of sports science you have says he needs to rest or his percent chance of injury increases exponentially. Yeah, I mean, to your point about Steph, one, that was one of the worst games I've seen from him in like years. And a lot, he did look tired in those things. And second point to that is he's probably not going to play against Milwaukee tonight because of that, right? They got a back-to-back at Chase Center.

It is the, I don't know if this is the dog days necessarily because now there's so much more competition with the playing, right? and you are expected to at least try. That's why the playing is kind of put in place because you want to get out of it. I mean, the lawyers on one hand, I was in that Steve Corpressed. Yesterday, on one hand, they don't want to go to the playing, and they're playing hard. But that means, you know, Steph has to play all back-to-backs. He's played, Jimmy's gotten in town. He's played every back-to-back thus far.

And he's just turned 37 last week. And so it's going to be tough for them. I want to get back to the Nuggets because I was curious about them coming into this game as a contender. And I was reading the story or reading the substack by Hardward Paroxium, one of the really great writers in the NBA sphere. But he had a piece on his substack called the worst kind of team and how Denver fits that kind of description. And because of all the things that we have talked about, right, where, you know, they've beaten up on this season, they've beaten up on a lot of the bad teams in the league. They have also, you know, showed up in some games, but also, like, laid real big eggs in other games. And you can't really get a gauge on this team.

They're on path for, I think, 53 wins this season. but then they also have like the curious win against the Lakers the other day where the Lakers who had no bit. What was that? What was that? Rob my phone just started talking. Holy cow, man. Oh, my God.

Yo, keep that in. I was in a bag with my monologue. And my fuckers was like, ah, yeah. And I was looking up stats on my phone. Sorry, and some ad popped up. This is all good, buddy. But no, they're this team that you can't really get a gauge of. And I think I wanted to talk through and have that exercise here on the pod.

Like, what do you guys think of the Nuggets? And do they deserve the benefit of the doubt? I'll start with Raja. What do I think of the Nuggets? I mean, trying to remember what I said. I had the Nuggets in a subcategory, like a number two category, I think. I think the last time we were on tonight, isn't that where I had them, Logan? I didn't have them at the top. But I had them in a group of teams. When you have Yolkits, you have Jamal Murray. They're playing well.

What they can do to you offensively at times if they're getting the support from the others. Like Christian Brown's playing well and Michael Porter Jr. shooting it well. I mean, you saw Aaron Gordon given the opportunity to be kind of the primary offensively go off last night. So like in a perfect world offensively, but they're just, I mean, they're a really poor defensive team this year. They're below, I mean, what are they? 20th, 21st in the league. I was trying to look that up. But, yeah, like, they're just not a great defensive team. And, you know, that means you just have to be on every night in a way that when you see better teams in the NBA and what they're going to do to you schematically, I don't think it's realistic.

So, like, I think they are who they are. They're the team you just kind of described, right? Like, they're going to be, you know, a lot of teams that they probably. should be on paper, but like, you know, when you see that upper level or upper echelon team, I think it's going to be, it's going to be hard for them as a unit and the way they're playing this year. Howard, what do you think of the next? Defense has always been an issue for them.

But a couple years ago when they won the championship, and they were, that season, they were 15th in defensive rating. So they were at least middle of the pack, and they were, if I recall correctly, they were improving down the stretch of that season. I just looked up last 15 games for the Nuggets. So they're 20th overall this season. And if you do the last 15 games, they are even worse. They're like 23rd over the last 15 games.

So they're not improving. They're actually getting slightly worse. That said, they're on pace for about 52 wins. They won 53 the year that they won the championship. Their net rating right now is plus 4.4 per 100, and they were at plus 3.3 per 100 the year that they won it all. but the league is better now, I think. Like the teams at the top net ratings are in double digits.

And so that's Oklahoma and Cleveland and Boston's right up there too. So like the nuggets, even by net rating, which the stat guys will tell you is, you know, tells you a lot, even sometimes even more than the standings. Their net rating is good. It's solid. But it's well behind the top three teams. and you know it's a matter of like who you trust and it's funny that we're having this conversation now right like do we trust the supporting cast the supporting cast just beat the warriors last night on the road with Russell West brigade just want to give give credence he went like seven of 85 but he had a triple double

he he did he was like five for 18 for 14 or a triple double bro did you see dog there was a play down a stretch for Russ where I think Gary Payton was on him. And like, by the way, he was chucking for that last triple double for that, he was like chucking three so he could get his 10 points for the triple double. But then he hits like three threes in the fourth. And then he had, and then he's, he's the guy in pickup right now, at least in that game, where he's, and I can relate because I am definitely this guy as well, that you throw it up and they're like, yo, don't even worry. Don't worry let him shoot let him shoot and but he hits the shot at the right time to throw the game away

Russ had a lot of those shots last night it was a quintessential late stage of his career Russell Westbrook game were you happy for Russ like how did you feel watching this version of Russ at the game last night a triple dub with a dub come on almost had a quadruple dub with the turnovers a triple dub now you ain't got to do that ain't no need for that like ain't no need for that you go coming over that bullshit triple double double double would have done. We go take that all day. Go ahead, Howard. Sorry, we got off. We got off. No, not all. No, not all. Yeah, five for 18 for Westbrook with seven turnovers. I mean, it's not exactly a stellar performance, but he hit some big shots late when the Warriors were

trying to get back in this thing. He's having what of the better three-point shooting seasons at 34 percent, but teams are still going to leave him alone. Like, this is the problem for them in the playoffs. Teams aren't going to guard Westbrook. A lot of times, not going to guard Aaron Gordon either at the three point line. It was like three air balls, by the way, by Russbrook in the, the second half alone. Yeah. So I, like I say, when we were, Logan and I talking yesterday, like, yeah, we want to talk about tomorrow.

The game hadn't happened yet, of course. And we're like, oh, let's talk about the nuggets and just kind of, you know, where they're at and whatever. They're like 500 over the last month or hovering around that, like a game over. And it's an awkward day to be having this conversation. But yeah, I think, you know, one game aside and the Warriors were clearly gas, step was clearly gassed. Great performance by the Nuggets, but I don't know that anybody in the league would look at that team and say, we really trust their supporting cast. And there's a reason that they're

also adding to that, Howard, I do believe, like, it was jarring to see like pregame where the warriors were like clearly up for this game. Like they were, right? There's no bones about it. And then they got the news that Yokic was out and Jamal Murray was out and they just came out flat. It was like the quintessential game where the stars are out, but they tend to play better. I mean, Roger, that's a, that's, I feel like that's a phenomenon here. It's definitely a thing. And I would just add to that, like you, on a night when you're not, like, you never know when the legs, like, you don't know when the legs aren't there until you hit the court, right? Like, you, you could tell sometimes in warm up, it's like, oh, like, man, it just doesn't feel like, I don't feel great right now.

And on nights like that, you need the adrenaline kick of playing in a big game. Because sometimes that adrenaline kick of playing your arch nemesis or one of the better players in the NBA or better teams in the NBA, that'll get you going just enough to kind of find it in that way. But if you have a letdown on top of your legs not being there, like a letdown in emotion, like, oh, we're straight. Now, we don't even have to really be locked in to beat these joker. They don't have the joker or, you know, like at that. point, it's a double negative. I like what you did there. Thank you. Back to Howard. We keep interrupting him and throwing him back to him. Sorry, but. No, no, no, not at all. I was, I was,

checking with the league about Yokic. They didn't, so he was listed as an injury last night, not, not rest. So it may depend on what the Nuggets do next. If he's out, like, so it's, it's, unclear whether there's a violation of the player. They have the Lakers on Wednesday. We'll see. Yeah, exactly. So, well, it's, I mean, speaking to the Lakers, you asked me the question, Logan, about, you know, about the balance. I mean, the Lakers are dealing, that's an overuse injury. What LeBron has going on in the groin is a, it's an overuse injury. All that soft tissue, like, that, that's, that's what pops up when you've played as much basketball as you have. Even the most well-conditioned dudes, like, have, have a point that they get

to and then, and then, you know, you're going to sustain something like that. So, you know, ask a Laker fan if they'd rather have LeBron on a national TV game against OKC right now, or they'd rather make sure he's healthy for the playoffs, you know? Victoria, what do you think? Are we put it in the chat? What would you like to see half Laker fan, half Warriors fan? I don't even know that that existed. But, you know, put that in the chat.

But yeah, like, I do believe that it is a tough balance, man. Because you want to see these games, but also like, you want these team, if you're on a team, you want them to be healthy for the playoffs, bro. You want LeBron James to be as healthy as possible. at 40 years old to be healthy in your second round playoffs instead of a second night of a back-to-back. That was a bar. But let's go to the MVP race, Howard, because right after the Ringer published who should be the MVP,

I think it was like 9 to 1 Yokic. I was on the Yokic end of the spectrum. Howard was a lone person that picked SGA who's probably going to win the MVP. But ever since that list drop, like SGA has been on a heater and Yokic's teams are still like hovering around average. Where are we at in the MPP race at this point in your eyes? Yeah, I mean, Bontemps' last straw poll a few weeks back, it was like 70% SGA and 30% Yocch in terms of like the way the first place votes broke. like it was looking like a landslide in in shaggles Alexander's favor. So yeah, I was pretty stunned when I was the only voter within our poll at the ringer outvoted 9 to 1.

I don't, listen, I don't know where this goes from here. I'll just say that the way that the Nuggets are playing right now is reminiscent of a couple years ago where Yokic kind of lost momentum down the stretch to Mbd because the Sixers finished. on a stronger kick and Embed did as well. And the Nuggets and Yokic kind of, you know, bragged themselves to the finish line. And, you know, first impressions matter, last impressions matter, all impressions matter. The whole season matters. But there are times when an MVP race can turn based on how teams finish. And I do think whether it's, no, Yokic being banged up right now, or Yokic resting right now, the Nuggets being banged up, the Nuggets not winning as much.

Like, oh, that's probably going to factor in a little bit. I think all the momentum was in Shade of Giles Alexander's favor anyway, based largely on not just the fact that he's been awesome, but like the record. Like, as we sit here today, the Thunder now have a 12 and a half game lead on the Nuggets. And, you know, the Thunder are, you know, clearly going to, you know, get past 60 wins. They're going to flirt with, you know, they're going to be in the high 60s. They could, they could even still potentially get to 70. And the Nuggets are going to be very good. They're going to hit 50 something. But the record matters.

The record matters. The record has always mattered. The winds have always mattered. It's just a matter of how each voter calibrates how much the wins matter versus the individual's stats. And I do think we're in an era where more people are weighing the individual part of this more, where it's becoming more of, for some people, I think what I would consider most outstanding player, MOP, instead of MVP. because the V to me has always been about it has to contribute to incredible team success. And 50 plus wins is fine, but 60 plus wins is outstanding in this league. There's a major difference between being a 60 win team and a 50 win team.

And when you've got an 11 game lead in the standings as the Thunder do, I think that has to be in SGA's favor. It's not automatic. The record alone doesn't do it, but the individual dominance has to be there. But SGA already has that. So to me, there's very little doubt. A lot can happen still in the whatever, 15 games left in the season. But yeah, when we did the poll last week on the ringer, I was pulling the lever for SGA. Same as when Bontemps had his poll a couple weeks before that.

Anything can change. I'm open to, you know, you've got to be open-minded until the ballots are actually due. They're not even in our hands yet and won't be for another few weeks. But it does look like SGA's. Hey, Howard. You dealt with MOP? You know me. That's surprising to me that nine to one.

Nine to one. I was surprised too. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess you said that. But maybe it wasn't registered, but like, that's really, that's really surprising to me. Like, yeah, I mean. Well, to be fair, Raja, to be fair, this came in the weeks leading up, he turned in like Will Chamberlain again. It was like days after he had the 30, 20, 20, 20 game. Yeah, we were kind of like, right.

We were caught up a pressure. No, I got you. I got you. I got you. I mean, look, he's been brilliant. I'm not taking anything away. I was, I was, Michael Pina was on like, you know, we were having the conversation about him back then, but I'll be, that was a long time ago.

And I, I don't remember exactly what I was saying about that. But I was like, yeah, man, like, there's going to be a no-brainer type of deal. But she's just been so good. And they've been in big. games like on, you know, on big stages and he just keeps doing it. And that record, I'm with you, Howard. That's got to mean something, man. You're talking about 56 right now, wherever that winds up, unless they just fall apart down the stretch and he falls apart. Like, I can't, I can't see him not getting that. We'll see what happens. We'll say a quick break, play a game called

which team is down bad the most? Tap in. And we are back. All right, let's talk through some teams, talk Turkey, as they say on the backstretch of the season. I'm going to give you a set of three teams. We're going to talk through these three teams. And I'm going to ask you guys which team is down bad the most. Let's start with the Phoenix Suns. I don't know if you guys saw the game on Sunday. Victoria, apparently, to your point,

I saw that LeBron was out and was like, I ain't going to this game. She had an opportunity to go to Lakers' sons. It was like, uh-uh, forget it. But the sons look bad. Boot and Holzer and Durant are still like chirping at each other on TV. Kevin don't even give a fuck anymore.

He's like, I don't care. I'm going to just, even when I'm miced, I'm just going to talk. Just going to just go in on my coach and they're not backing down. It's pretty bad. Roger, what do you think about your Phoenix suns right now going down the stretch? What do I think about them?

I mean, they're not good. They're a mess. It's been a mess. You know, it's hard for me to, it's a really big kind of question. And I'm trying to give a really big broad answer. But like there's something, there's something wrong there. Like I, I, you know, Ishbia and team have done a, a better job than old ownership. They've been great in terms of trying to get, you know, former players back and trying to have us around and trying to, you know, trying to get us back in the community and stuff like that.

And that's really the only capacity I know them in. And so I give them a lot of credit for that. And I'm a, you know, I'm always a fan. But there's, there's something going on there, this. just kind of dysfunctional right now. And like, you know, obviously, you know, some of the moves made with the roster and, and the situation that you're in with that and it not being productive. Like, that's one thing. But I mean, you've cycled through coaches. Like, there's stuff going on there that's bigger than the roster that they have to get figured out, you know? And then, you know,

the Katie thing, I get it, man. Like, he was right. Like, when we saw it the first time, you know, he's like, we care, we both care. You want people that care. Like, this is what we do. And that's fair and it's true. Like you get heated and that happens. Lord knows it's happened with me, but, you know, I think when that, when you're when that's happened in multiple times, like it doesn't have to be that they hate each other and he wants him fired or anything like that. But it does speak to like y'all, y'all clearly aren't on the same page and have a lot of disagreements, you know, as to how things should be operating. And that is kind of rare, right? on good teams, you don't typically see that type of disconnect with, with, but we, as players,

we kind of know what a coach wants in situations like that. Like, we've been in so many, we've been in so many games. Like, you know what I mean? Like, especially if we've had success, we kind of know what you want to do. And conversely, like a lot of times, Mike don't have to ask Steve what he wants because he knows what he wants. And so I think there is something to their exchanges at times. It doesn't have to be a big blown out of proportion thing. But I do think when you take everything into account, I think it's just kind of messy there, man. Like, I don't know.

Did I answer that? Like, it's just a mess. You get a good job, buddy. Yeah, pat yourself on the back. Good shit. Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, they have a lot of stuff going on, dude. I, oh, I mean, I don't know.

When I talk to people around the league, like, it's very clear to me that the, uh, the relationship between Boone Holzer and Kevin is probably at the point of no return at this point. Like, they're just at each other's necks a lot. I think of the backstretch of the season. Like, you know, Kevin's wants the offense to be simplified at this point, right,

just so they can, you know, get offense and get some, you know, stuff going offensively and not have to play sets. And Boone Holzer wants to continue to run, you know, through, you know, sets and complications. of sets and stuff like that and they're having to disconnect on that in and in the Laker game Boonehouser saw some defensive rotations that he didn't like and

got on Kevin's head and Kevin just responded right but like it's not the you know I know there's the one side where Kevin is like yo we both love the game of basketball and we're going to figure it out I think that's something that you say had a presser to get through it

but like I don't even think it they're at that stage right now it's it's really like, it's really bad in Phoenix. Howard, is there, like, I don't, I don't know what, I know what we would do at the end of this, but I feel like Matt Isbia is just going to keep rolling the dice until like he craps all the way out, even though he is pretty much crapped out at this point. They should revamp this roster in the next few months, right? No matter what happens this season. Everybody believes they're going to move Kevin Durant. Okay, cool, great.

I don't know what you're getting for a 37-year-old Kevin Durant. He's still awesome. He's still worth a ton. There aren't that many teams, though, that are won Kevin Durant away, right? A rebuilding team's not trading for him. A kind of pseudo-middle-the-pack team isn't trading. So you've got to find the team that needs him and has the actual assets that makes sense in a trade and has the contract to match besides.

So it's really not that easy to do. But it's automatic. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. We're finding our guy, Roger, God. Jesus Christ. Like, three times, Roger. That's three times, Rosa. Put your phone on fucking silent, dog. The phone is on silent. The phone is on silent. You can turn the volume down, brother. You can turn the volume down, brother. Or Cliff just cut it out. Like, you cut out all the Logan's fuck-ups.

Just do that. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Just do that. Like, I don't understand. Like, Logan's the only person who gets to cut that out when he fucks up. Everybody else got to have all their, all their shit on the air. No, just. You know what I'm saying, Howard? like don't buy into his bullshit Howard I don't think we've ever had I don't think we've ever had like multiple random just like interruptions from electronic devices

that's fair that's first first time for everything oh man go ahead we go ahead that Virgo on Virgo crime is sick can't even flip you off because we go on video right now go ahead Howard ah no look like

I don't even know where the hell I was. Durant. Durant's gone. Fine. Great. That's not the question facing the Sons right now. The question is not whether to trade Kevin Durant. Everybody, I think, in the Sons, outside of the Sons, everybody knows they're going to trade Kevin Durant somewhere.

We'll see what they get for him. That is not going to fix things because whatever you get for Durant plus Booker and Beal and whoever else is left is still not going to be that great of a team. In fact, you're probably going to be worse because whoever you're trading Durant for is not going to be better than Kevin Durant, even this stage of Kevin Durant. So the real question facing them is the one that they don't want to face and the one that Ishbis seems to have already ruled out in his interview with ESPN last week where he basically said, like, we're never trading Devin Booker. Guess what? That's the actual decision you have to make because, and from both sides of this, too, if you're trading Kevin Durant, and again, what you're getting back for him is not making you better probably. So you haven't

moved the ball forward. You can't trade Bradley Biel because of the no trade clause and nobody wants his contract. So you're stuck there. You're keeping Booker. What else can you possibly do? You have no draft picks. You're very scant. Where else you're going to go? The answer to all of this is the trade Devin Booker. And the answer to all this is probably to trade Devin Booker to Houston, who owns, who has control of two of your first round picks because that way you can tank. You can get your picks back, tank, get some of the, some, you know, good rotation players from Houston. Howard, Howard, they still have Bradley Bill on the team. You don't think they still will. But, but, but, but, You don't think they can get to the postseason?

You think that's still a tank game? No. They're done. They're done. They're cooked. There is no version of the Sons where you just trade Kevin Durant, keep Booker and Beal, and are suddenly back in business next season. You might be a fringe playoff team. Maybe you're a play in team. But what have we seen to suggest that Booker Beal plus non-Durant players is going to somehow make them a contender or even a decent playoff team? Like this is so obvious. It's painful. by the way, if it's obvious to us, then it's obvious to Devin Booker, too. And when they do trade

Kevin Durant, whatever they get back for him, I'm sure that, you know, Devin Booker's been a great loyal soldier just like Lillard was in Portland. Everybody's got their breaking point. I don't know why Devin Booker wouldn't look at the situation this summer after they traded Kevin Durant, look around and go, all right, what are we doing now? How are we getting back in the thick of things? It's time. Like, to me, that is the logical conclusion. I'm not suggesting Devin Booker will do that. I'm not suggesting he should. It's Devin Booker's decision. It's his career. But I don't see why he would want to stay at this point. Because once you've traded Durant, you're basically sunk anyway. And like, you brought up Lillard. That's a great comp for what's going on right now with Booker.

And like, I think when Lillard left Portland, there was this understanding of like, we couldn't figure it out. Like, we still love you here. But like, go on and prosper. Yeah. I feel like you need, if you're a Phoenix son's brass, you need to just like, if you love Devin Booker, let him go prosper, free him, you know? And he'll still be a son for life. It's okay. But do it right now while he's still young, you know? It's a no-brainer. Yeah, that's a fantasy world. What's part of it? What the part you talking about? Like, I'm in agreeance with Howard, but like that old, hey, we love him. So we're going to let him go while he's young and go do it somewhere else. That's not a couple of you.

That can't be positive. No, I'm with you. Listen, I would, I, it'd be really refreshing if some front offices out of that is not operating in that space. But like that shit ain't, uh. With show. Respect, respect. Um, all right, let's go.

Let's go to a team that we do all consistently on this program. Hi, Cliff. How you doing, buddy? Um, the Philadelphia 76ers. How down bad are they, Rajabelle? Um, where do we tell? I mean, listen, all that's wrapped up to me and Joel Embed and, and what percentage of himself he can come back to be. So like right now, I think they're down pretty bad. Um, but you know, Paul George thing hasn't worked out so far. Um, you know, Tyrese maxi, I, I love Tyrese maxi. I don't think he's a real number one. Like as much as he kind of, they tried to paint him as one for a while. Like I don't think he's a real championship level number one, right? And so. then it becomes about Joel Embed, who at his best and at the height of his powers, you know, is as good as anybody in the league, you know, offensively. And it's just a force that creates

a lot for everybody else out on the court, especially when he decides to like be big and act big. But what that looks like, I don't know. I don't know what exactly the injury is. I don't know, you know, you know, there comes a point with some of these guys, in some of these bigs especially where even coming back off of these injuries, you're penciling in a percent decline in what they're going to be. And I don't know if you're at that point with him, Logan. So, you know, I didn't like notice segment was coming. So I didn't prep in terms of like what picks they own of their own and like what there

are in terms of cap flexibility and shit like that. But in terms of a roster and what your big three or your supposed big three, looks like right now and will look like moving forward, knowing that it has to be the nucleus of success. Like that doesn't look so good right now. Howard, if the Sixers capture the flag, do they at least try to move like Embed and or Paul George this off season? How do they play that if they get the number one thing?

Well, they're doing a great job of tanking. They're doing a great job of preserving their pick. So their pick goes to the thunder unless it, it's top six. And right now, the Sixers are doing a phenomenal job. They just shut down Paul George. Embed obviously already is out. Not saying either of those weren't justified.

But they're pulling the plug on the guys that need to pull the plug on. And they're letting Quentin Grimes just go out and, you know, shoot every possession. And he's being great, by the way. One of the upsides for the Sixers right now is Quentin Grimes actually looks really good. They robbed the Mavericks blind, speaking of a team that we're going to get to eventually here that has made just catastrophic error after catastrophic error, not a Luca size error, but giving away Quentin Grimes was a mistake. So the Sixers, look, Embed and Paul George are there. Let's not even talk about potential like Embed and Paul George trades. That's not happening. Their contracts are onerous. Their injury

histories are concerning. M.B. and Paul George are going to be Sixers for the rest of their careers, very likely. The upside for the Sixers is this. Nothing about Embedead's knee that that anybody's aware of suggests that this is career ending or that this is going to be the end of him as a dominant player. He needs to get rested and healthy and there are paths. If Embedd is even 90% of himself next season, Paul George then gets to be the supporting player that he's supposed to be and not trying to lead them without Joelle Ambide. So Paul George is better as a third wheel than as a number one or co-number two with Maxi. Maxi falls into place. Now you've got, you know, your three stars in place. Everybody loves Maxi. Like no one's

doubting his his abilities. Jared McCain was a leading candidate for rookie the year before he went down with an injury. So he comes back healthy. If they can resign Grimes. And now they potentially have a top six pick. Like they're in pretty good shape. That top six pick, by the way, maybe they're not actually using it, depending on where it falls. But maybe they're flipping that for more immediate help because you've got a window here still with Joelle and B. And I know people might be snickering already like a window to do what, like they're done. I get it. I get it. I'm not going to try to talk anybody out of the stance that the Sixers might already be done, that the era is over, that they're never getting anywhere with Mbid.

Joelle Mbid was MVP the league just like two years ago. And that knee injury last season, he was actually having a better year than he did his MVP year. The knee injury, ever since then, things have been rough. But there is still a world here where Mbid gets the knee right, comes back next season, and the Sixers are right back in the thick of things. I'm not predicting championships. I'm not predicting the finals. But a healthy season from their big three plus whatever they get in the draft or whatever

they parlay that pick into plus a couple of good young players that they already have under contract, they're going to be fine. Championships, I don't know, but they're going to be fine. This is not the verge of a tear down. This is by far not the bleakest situation in the league because we haven't even gotten to that. I would agree with that, though. I would agree. Like, if you're telling me he's coming back healthy and, and, and, uh, and he's back

to form, like, because again, I'm, when he's, when he's playing his best basketball, like, they're, they're very few in the NBA that they can, can do the type of stuff he does and just, and just have that type of presence to, to your point, lets everybody else do what they're supposed to be doing, Howard. Um, not terrible. I just, I mean, if you can't, I don't, I don't know that definitively. So. Yeah.

The biggest problem is we don't know whether M. Bede and Paul George will look close to themselves again next season or ever again. And the downside here, their worst case scenario is really bad because their worst case scenario is neither of those guys who are plays a full season again. Mbid never gets his dominance back again and they're stuck with two really bad contracts. Like, that's on the table. That's possible. But we're not there yet. You ready for this Howard? You ready to get, you ready for it. Do it. Ready for Rajah to get sad and uncomfortable. Rogers is in Florida.

He is fine. He's about to go out to the beach after this. There ain't no sadness. Ain't no, there's a pet. Shit, what's going to make me sad? What are we talking about?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Dallas Mavericks, but like, you know, cares. Listen,

I've told this story. I asked the math for a dollar over the minimum. They told me no. I just know, I just know what paid you to have to talk about. I like Nico.

I like Nico. Nico is my dude. But make no mistakes. Let me get a dollar. And they was like, fuck out of my face. Nah. It's all right.

Fair enough. With the luxury tax, was that dollar going to cost them $3? Fair enough. Pre-luxary tax. I mean, I wish I could say that.

I wish I could. But anyway, go ahead. In the meeting like here, buddy. I got you. It's like, damn, Mark, come on,

man. A brother ain't never play for more than a minimum. Don't just let me say I'm playing for more than a minimum. Like, nah. You just did it for ego. He was like, nah, man.

Yeah, no, this real talk. This was just like a point in my career. Can I please play for more than the minimum? Nope. I said, all right. Who's more down bad? Roger and 05? What are the Dallas Mavericks right now?

Oh, man. The Mavericks are down much better, more bad. Roger wasn't over there. look, so we were asked this question by editors on the ringer.com this morning. There was a small roundtable. Logan did not participate. Logan had bigger with a great story. I have a Jimmy Butler.

People should all check out on ringer.com. But we were asked to choose. Like, who's in the worst shape right now? Phoenix, Dallas, or Philly. And I think four out of five of us went with Dallas and the other one went Phoenix. So Philly off the hook this morning on the ringer.com. It's Dallas. Like Dallas has the bleakest future right now because Kyrie's out with that ACL.

By the time he comes back next season, let's say he does come back next season, as Rajah was talking about when we talked about this a week ago. He's about to turn 33. I think it's this week, Roger. So a year from now, Kyrie's been back from the ACL maybe by, you know, by a few weeks, a month, a couple months, whatever. But he's turning 34, 34 post-A-C-C-E. this time next year. And Anthony Davis is Anthony Davis and 32, 33 and always injured.

They have like two of, they have control of I think two first round picks in the next seven drafts. So not a lot to work with there. And there's just not a lot of flexibility here. And you don't even have a true number one because Kyrie and AD are both kind of like co number ones or one B's, you know, or, you know, whatever they are. and the window was really small, and there's no obvious pivot here unless, and by the way, Kyrie's in a position this summer to be asking for an extension. And if they give it to him, they're just going to lock themselves in that much further. Anthony Davis, I think, might even be doing extension. So where are you going with two guys in their early to mid-30s

who are often injured, who are not true number ones, and without a lot of draft capital? They're just, They're just locked in and I don't, I just don't see where their route out of this is. I wouldn't want to be Phoenix either, but Phoenix can at least trade Durant and Devin Booker and get a shit ton of stuff. You can't trade Kireen AD and get a shit ton. You just, you can't. Like, Kyrie's trade value was was minimal when they got him. It's better now than it was then in terms of his playing and his steadiness. He's been a better citizen and a better teammate.

But now he's coming off of an ACL. and again, turning 34 a year from now. So I just don't see Dallas's way out of this. I think they of those three teams and of any of the 30 in the league, they've got the bleakest out there. I really do think that they could be the worst team in the league next year and like perpetually the worst team in the league over the next decade. And I say that because, I mean, one,

that's how big of a decision it is to trade Luca in the time that you trade him. right. But also, nothing tells me about their leadership that they know basketball and know how to build any sort of contending team. I know Nico has, but all that trust that you have for him to build a team has been completely eroded. So, like, I could see this team, like the punchline that we have been given, like the wizards, the punchline that the hornets have been. Like, I see this going down a really bad downward spiral, Raja. Like, it could be, it could get really, really bad. Am I far off on that or is that in play? I mean, it's in play.

Time will tell. But yeah, for all the reasons, you know, Howard just talked about, like, you're in a tough spot. Like, you're riding with Kyrie and, you know, there's a world where he doesn't have the ACL where I'm going to try to convince myself that this can get figured out. But even, you know, like when I was talking about him being back, like, acknowledging like, you're not going to be yourself at that point, even if you're able to come back, right? And you are 34 years old. And so what that looks like for next season. Now we're talking about turning 35 the next season when you're all the way back.

Like there are a lot of reasons why the situation doesn't look good. You can't get much for either one of them. And you're right, Logan, like, look, I, you know, a really good friend of mine, I've talked about before he's he's he's he's a season ticket holder in Dallas he sits right there on the court side like he's very very close to the franchise and I talk to him about the mads all the time and like he's you know he's the one that'll send me shit like you believe they're they're bumping our ticket prices up and this X, Y and Z and he's just not not enamored with the ownership group there or anything that they've done and he's very disappointed in where the franchise is at and so is it in

play yeah it's absolutely in play and it's unfortunate like I you know Nico's my guy like I've known him a long time and and I'm and I'm fond of Nico but yeah he's got them in a really tough spot right now whoever whoever whoever uh you know at face at face value like we can have the argument about about the trade and and and what you should have got for it and we could do all of that like I think we all agree that for Luca you should have gotten a lot more but you know the way this has played out in the situation they're sitting in right now they're in a world of hurt man It is a world of hurt. As you say, they were free trade deadline.

They were four games above 500 before they made that deal to trade Luca Dosh. They are now 33 and 36 in a free fall. And Biko Harrison said he made this deal to win now. They probably won't make the playoffs this season or the play-in for that matter. It's looking pretty grim right now. a game out of the playing race. If I have that correctly, where are they are right now? They do own their pick, so there's that.

Then they're slotted 13th right now in the draft. Let's get lean, baby. Let's do it. Let's get lean, baby. Capture the flag. How low can you go? This is a limbo right now, bro. How low can you go?

Oh, my goodness. It's, it's, I was going to ask the questions, who's the most down bad the most? But I think we already answered. It's the Mavericks. It's going to be the Mavericks for a very, very long time. Let's go to the mailbag. Hello, Cliff. How do you feel, buddy?

How are you doing? What's good, man? It's good to know that there's a team that's more down bad than the Sixers. Shout to Quinn Grimes, though. He's starting to freak me out a little bit. I mean, he got to chill out. You're like, no, no, we got a pick to protect. Relax.

I thought he was going to win the game. I was terrified last night, man. I was terrified. But let's get to the real part of the pod to everybody wants to hear. Let's start out with Robert. McKell Bridges trade worse than Luca Donkjish deal. Hi. Jesus.

Calm down. I have been wondering all year why the scrutiny of McKell Bridges' deal has been so minimal. The Knicks traded five first rounders and an unprotected pick swap. In 20, a guy couldn't average 20 on a horrible Nets team last season and who was now averaging less than 18, with three boards and three. a game. The Knicks could have just looked at every other deal like this. KD. Trades, Paul George Tray to Clippers or the KG and Paul Pierce trade to the Nets to know this is way too much to give up even for actual All-Stars. As much as the Mets have been

destroyed for the Luca deal, at least they got an all-MBA caliber player for him. You may not agree with the logic, but at least there's some rationale. Gutting your whole future to go from second to third place in the Eastern Conference and to look further away from a title seems like it should be more frowned upon. Thanks, Bobby P. Good. Bobby Portis? Robert Paul. His name is Robert Paulson.

Bobby Portis. When is Bobby coming back? Oh, no. Oh, my. Can I handle this? Go ahead. Go ahead. You got it.

Bobby. My guy. Children. Seriously. Holy crap. First of all, nothing. Nothing this year. Last year, the last 10 years, the last 70 years has been worse than the Lucas.

Donchage trade, it is quite likely the worst trade in NBA history. So let's not put McHale Bridges in that category. They gave up a lot of draft capital. They probably gave up too much. And I think even at the time it felt excessive. But the Knicks problem is not offense. First of all, the Knicks have been a really good offensive team. The problem is defense, which, again, you got McHale Bridges in part because you wanted his defense. And it's fair to scrutinize him along with everybody else. They've not quite had the season that they hope for, but there's a lot of different factors going into that. And I've said many times, the biggest thing that happened last summer wasn't for the Knicks, wasn't getting bridges and towns. It was who they lost, and specifically

Hartnstein. And then on top of that, having Mitchell Robinson out for the first four months of this season, they just didn't have enough size. They didn't have rim protection. So their issues are, like, whatever's happening to them this season, that might be a disappointment to Nix fans, is not because they got McHale Bridges. Whether they might eventually regret trading as much draft capital as they did for him is a fair question because it does limit other moves you can make. But also just note, since Brunson went down, Bridges is balling. And Bridges is, like, he's doing what I thought he could do for them when they got him in the first place, which is become this like, Raja, did you just do it again? Well, what did I just hear? That's the grand slam. Bates.

Damn. I just want to say for the record, that's four fuck-ups for Raja and three for Logan. Okay, he broke the tie record just now. Just want everybody to know that. Go ahead. McKill Bridges, last five games for the Knicks, by the next, by the way, averaging 23 points,

four and a half assists and three and a half rebounds. Shooting well from the floor, 63% from the field, 47% on threes. Like, Bridges is doing what you need them to do, with Jalen Brunson out. And I thought this was the way that they might use them all season. And I've been surprised that they weren't where Bridges can be your secondary or third

playmaker, a guy who can run the offense at times, who can handle the ball. We saw it in Phoenix when he was their third or fourth wheel with Booker, Chris Paul, DeAndre Aiton. And we saw a little bit of it when McHale Bridges was with the Nets. And the Nets just didn't have enough talent around him. And I don't think he's a number one. And you can't build around McHale Bridges. but as the third fourth guy, which with the Knicks, that's his role.

There's plenty he can do. I just, I think that, you know, he hasn't had enough latitude and had the ball in his hands enough to do it, but we're seeing it right now. Like, they're surviving pretty well. They've won three out of five, I think, since Brunson went down. And a lot of that's bridges, including that game winning shot. So, like, whatever happens with the Knicks this season, I don't think the bridge's trade is going to be the definitive factor.

out. Next question, Cliff. Next question. This is from Hannah Brown. Headline. No one in sight for the Bulls. Hey guys, been listening to you all for a while now, but finally getting around to asking a big question that's been on my mind for years. Are the Bulls perpetually stuck as a franchise while the Rhinesdorts are still around? I'm sick of riding the co-tells of six championships from 30 years ago and the owners being okay with mediocrity. We seem to always be in a state of rebuild from the end of MJ to D. Rose than Jimmy Butler and beyond. Is there any hope for us going forward. Be honest. No

mercy. Signed Hannah. Just another sad Bulls fan. P.S., thanks for keeping me saying at work twice a week. Bless. Shout out, Hannah. Shout out, Hannah. They're down bad. We're going to give this to Howard, huh? What do you think, Roger? I'm going to give this to Howard. Let him go. Take it away.

I'm cooked. How many rants you want one day from me? All of them. We believe in you. The Bulls, the Bulls have been one of the most unimaginative, least ambitious, most frustrating franchises in the league for at least the last five years, right? I think that's fair to say.

They seem, their goal seems to perpetually be like, let's chase the eighth seed, or at least the eighth seed back when we had eight guaranteed playoffs seats. Now it's let's just chase a play in spot. Like they started to tear down finally, finally, belatedly. You know, finally got rid of DeRosen and Zach Levine, who now are both weirdly with the Sacramento Kings. that's a whole issue to itself. But Vouch is still there.

They still haven't really, they've kind of picked a direction. They decided to finally break up their mediocre core, but it's not clear what it's all leading to. So I don't know. Like the bigger issue of like, you know, whether this is just who they are under this ownership. I mean, look, it's the same ownership where they also won six championships back in the 90s.

That's ancient history. I get it. But I don't know if this is about ownership or this is just about the front office, if it's about a combination of the two. But they certainly seem like they have been just mired in mediocrity almost by design. And that's a terrible place to be in the end. I'm just mad because this question made me look at the Eastern Conference playing race. And yuck.

Absolutely nasty, dog. Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are tied for the ninth seed with a record of 29 and 39. Oh, let's do one more question. Let's do one more question and see. Bruttle. I don't know, man. Let's do one more question. That was brutal.

Sorry, Hannah. Like, I, shit. I don't know what to say. All right. Last question is funny because, ironically, last week, somebody asked about SGA getting calls. So this email here, Doug Beck. Love the ride. No relation.

Sure. Love the pod. Why doesn't he get more calls? He drives so much. Oh, my God. Sorry. He drops a much, he doesn't

get rewarded like other stars do. Oh my God. Is it because he doesn't throw tantrums for a fox? Stop. I don't want to hear this. Stop. This is ridiculous, bro.

What do you want him to have? 30 free throws a game? Like, I mean, what are we doing? If he earns them, if he earns them, I guess, you're supposed to have 30,

right? No, I'm just saying. I'm just saying, you can be, come on. We can't be crying. We can be crying for a shying into a free throw line. He's for SGA and free throws.

We can't come back. What do you want more do you want? Do you want the game and just be like, oh, hey, we're going to go see the Thunder game. It's just no one else in the court is just fucking SGA shooting free throws. Yeah, we're not going to argue that. I will just say this real quick. I don't mean to. But I was watching the game the other night and they caught Luca with a mic like as he was coming down the court.

Usually you can only lip read kind of what he's saying to officials. But the mic caught what he was yelling at this dude, bro. he says some wild if you ever watch that dude man like and i'm sure he's not the only one and he might get a lot of texts and then it might be the reason he doesn't get the kind of treatment that people his fans think he should get but he says some wild stuff to referees bro are you all cognizant that there are mics around the court raja like when y'all be when well there there weren't there weren't nearly as many when i played right but like yeah i mean we knew about the cameras that's why you see when anybody's over there on the bench or when

people are having conversations they have their hand over their mouth back in the day, right? So, because we knew that. But the mics, you were rarely caught on, on, on, on, on Mike. But he had to be running right by like the scores table or maybe by like the broadcast table in this game. I forget who they were playing against. And he had just something that happened was one of those like, man, he didn't get foul. But like he wanted the foul.

Oh, bro. He, he, he, mother F that dude all the way. Also with social media, like everything that happens, let's even interesting on the court. That wise, it's getting picked up. up. Like, you know what I'm saying? That's the other thing. Let's do. I'm sorry. Let's do one more. Because that was, oh, sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. We're on video now. They saw you. They saw it. They saw what you said. Cliff, let's do one more question for Raja Bell. This is for Raja Bell specifically, actually.

Oh, you gave me to me. I think you gave it to me. So this is from Aaron Anderson. The email line is, take on Mo Cheeks National Anthem. Hi, Ruins crew. Big fan. You're all the best NBA podcasts out there. Thanks for doing your thing. I'm a Blazers fan. A touching moment from our history back in the day was in 2003. When the girl singing the national anthem forgot the words,

and Blazers' coach Mo Cheeks went up to help her finish the song and get everyone, including players and coaches, to sing along. Turns out that was against Rajas Mavs. Does Roger have any memories about that moment? This came to mind because Cheeks and Knicks were in town, and they had the woman, Natalie Zito, sing the anthem 23 years later and meet with him. And she sent links to the video and then Roger's face was on it and whatnot.

So yeah, you were there. Aren't you happy? Aren't you happy, Roger? Aren't you happy that we did an extra question? Sit your ass down somewhere, boy. Yes, that was actually an incredible, like, that was an incredible moment. I do remember that, man. Like, that was, yeah, that was, it was, it was heartbreaking.

Like, and you just felt helpless. Like, I don't even feel like I could. go over to her. I'm sure a lot of people wanted to like go over and give her a hug and help her. But Mo Cheeks was the only one they put that into action man and like, you know, especially having kids now. Like, you know, I don't know what age she was then. Pretty cool that she got to come back out and do it again as, you know, as an adult. But at the time, I remember her being an adolescent. Like, I don't know if she was like 13, 14, 15 or something like that. I think she was like 12 or 13. Yeah, man. Like how lonely she must have felt out there,

how her parents were probably feeling because they couldn't do anything either, like watching her go out there and just not execute something that she clearly executed all the time. Like that had to be heartbreaking. And Mo was a champion, dog. And I had, like, Mo was with the Blazers, but I had, I had, I had Mo in Philly, I think. Had I had Mo in Philly? I thought I had. Was he a coach or an assistant in Philly when you were there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, like, I knew it. Like, it was just a, that was big time. Yeah, I'm glad you did. I'm glad you did. And I'm actually excited to hear that she was back out there and she got to do it and, you know, all this time later again. So, like, that's pretty cool.

I saw Mo Cheeks a few days ago when the Knicks were in town and pregame. And he did a full sprint on the court. And everybody was doing it like that? Most still doing it like that, bro. God, God bless you, Mo. Yeah. You got that 5-640 speed. Locked dude.

Hey, 5, 640, bro. If I could run that right now. I read a four nine once in high school and I felt like the shit. I was like, yeah. I was like, let's fucking go. They could go. My nickname in high school was slogan. But that is the program.

Shout out to Ross. Shout out to Cliff. Shout out to Howard. Shout out to Victoria. That is a Tuesday vibes edition. We will see you guys on Friday. All the shits. Charles, my evil twin, show me my evil twin.

Real ones, talk to y'all soon. Bye.