The Ringer NBA Show - Kyrie’s Statement, the Collapse of the Brooklyn Nets, and Tampering in the NBA, Plus Logan Gives Russ and the Lakers Their Flowers | Real Ones

Episode Date: November 3, 2022

Logan and Raja discuss Kyrie’s statement and the collapse of the Nets (0:43). Next, they talk about the state of tampering in the NBA (28:05). Later, Logan gives Russ and the Lakers praise for their much-improved recent play (35:29). Finally, the guys end the episode with their Real Ones of the Week (37:50). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Associate Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An Instagram post gets an unexpected boost. A TikTok catches in the algorithm. Sometimes that's all it takes to launch someone into internet fame. But then what? This blew up is a new podcast documentary that reveals how social media stardom is made. It's a different kind of fame. That's not always as glamorous as it looks. From Spotify and the Ringer Podcast Network, I'm Alyssa Boresnak.

You can listen to This Blue Up on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. What's popping? Real ones. Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bell there. Roger, we are here after, I guess, less than 24 hours, after Kyrie Irving releases a statement and also announces that he's going to donate $500,000 to the Anti-Defamation League to combat hate and intolerance. He also releases statement.

This is also getting, you know, a lot of takes throughout, but I'm just going to read the statement that Kyrie posted. He says, I oppose all forms of hatred. and oppression and stand strong with communities that are marginalized and impacted every day. I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility. I do not believe everything said in a documentary was true or reflects my morals and principles. I am a human being learning from all walks of life and I intend to do so with an open mind and a willingness to listen.

So for my family and I, we met no harm to any one group, race, or religion of people and wish only to be a beacon of truth and light. He stopped short. There was not necessarily an apology. It was very Kyrie talking around an apology. And I just think, I don't know. What are your thoughts on that? We'll start on that and then we'll get to the rest of this week from the Nets.

It sounded like an apology, right? Like, it felt like, and then he didn't apologize. Like, how Kyrie can you get, I guess, is my question with that. Like, that is Kyrie and then the beacon of hope at the end. This is cut and dry. The pods we've done in the past haven't been necessarily. focused on this topic, right? They were like, how was Kyrie as the distraction affecting the Brooklyn locker room and so on

and so forth? This one is pretty simple to me, right? If you're not anti-Semitic, just say, I apologize. I am in no way, shape, or form anti-Semitic. I posted something ignorantly and without fully understanding the scope of it. I'm sorry for offending everyone I've offended. And I will be better in terms of understanding my, my subject matter and better about what I post in the future.

If you're not, if falling short of that, I'm not making any accusations. I don't know, Kyrie. I don't know what's in his heart. I will say this again. People don't like to hear me say this. From the dude that I know, from the guy who I've seen do work with indigenous communities and people of color and so on and so forth, I believe him to be a compassionate person with a good heart.

These are my experiences with Kyrie. all right that that that that tweet if you won't denounce that and and and explain yourself as to why you messed up making a tweet or a or a post like that on instagram then that's that's that's something different that i have to take into account but from what i've known from him in the past i believe in to be a compassionate person that that is that is is lost that can be my belief and he can prove me wrong and if he's not denouncing these things and saying yo this is this is not how would i stand for This is not who I am. I apologize.

For who I've offended and for what this is caused. If you weren't willing to do that, then, you know, I don't know what to tell you. It's pretty simple. You either do apologize and say you've fucked up and you don't stand for that and you're not anti-Semitic or you don't. As of right now, he has not. And you can say he, oh, man, he donated 500K to ADL. Yeah, that's cool.

But like, what do you say to, you know, there's a Jewish community. within the Brooklyn Nets, right? What do you say to them as an organization when your lead guy doesn't say I apologize? Doesn't say all these things. It doesn't seem like it's when you read the statement, you don't see accountability necessarily. Yes, I did that. But all people want is an apology from you. They just wants you to say, I apologize for doing that.

And you when this statement went all the way around and said everything, But I think that speaks to just the latest chapter in this last week for the Nets. And I think the NBA overall, because I see what is happening with Kyrie in the wake of posting this documentary and offending the Jewish community. I juxtapose that with a guy like Myers-Lennard, right, who says an anti-Semitic slur on a live stream, right? what happens with him? I'll tell you what happens with him. He is suspended from the team, has to pay a $50,000 fine,

and has to go through courses to better learn about anti-Semitism and hate and all of these things, right? And then you see what happens right now with the Nets and Kyrie Irving, where he hasn't missed a game yet. The only comments we have of him outwardly is an exchange from Nick Fidel where he goes back and forth,

doesn't show any contrition, doesn't show any remorse, and basically says to Dick Ferdale, you're dehumanizing me for asking me questions about something that I did. And then the Nets, all while this is happening, at least there are reports out there that they're planning to hire M.A. Udoke for two months into his suspension, for as far as we know, and this is this was been reported, as an improper relationship with the female subordinate Stafford.

That is a very broad thing to say, right? We don't have all the facts yet, but when you see that and whatever he did, it was bad enough for him to be banished by the Celtics for at least a year, right? And you bring him on into this toxic organization. And I'm all for rehabilitation. I am all for you, for people doing the work, getting, you know, getting some level of, you know, and I want them to get another opportunity, provided that they do the work. And I just don't believe that M.A. Udoka has had even the time to do the work with what he is,

what he has been accused of doing or have been doing. I don't feel like he has done the work. Here's my thing with that. I don't know what he did. We don't, but like, we don't know what he did. But here's the thing. You can't tell me that, and I agree with you, we don't know what he did, but you can't tell me that whatever it is in two months has a tone for that, right? Like, I don't think you can say that. I don't think you can say that. I don't think you can say that, oh, we're just going to bring him in. And I just don't, I don't think that's a good thing to do for this organization. I don't think. think that's good. That's okay, but I personally, as Rajab, I like to know what someone's, I'd like to know what it is before I pass judgment on whether or not I can hire him somewhere. I don't know. You know, I don't know. I have been someone who did something, tried to tell people like, yo, that's not me. That's not exactly me. I had a moment. Like, and then I'm labeled for the rest of my career as being, you know, this kind of player or, you know, and so I like to understand what I'm

dealing with, have the facts, be able to make an opinion on it. And only, at that point, would I be able to talk with some level of education about it? And in this case, I really don't. And I'm not saying, I'm not trying to marginalize anything that happened to anyone there. I just don't know what happened. Yeah. And I think that that speaks to, and honestly, we don't know what happened. And I think that speaks to one, and we talked about this in past podcast, how this has been reported out, this MAUDoka situation as a whole has been reported out. But when you see, this is why transparency is so important, right? This is why it's, especially for, you know, teams and the league in general,

the reason why transparency is so important is because all you see is what's been reported out as an improper relationship with a female supporting it. If you're a female, if you're a female, someone that works in the front office or in sales or something like that and you see that the guy, like say female for the Nets or a female for any, any organization in the league, if you see, all you see is that he had an improper relationship with a female support in it, you're going to have some level of pause, right? And that's why, and that's my biggest thing with this situation where

there hasn't been accountability on either side because there hasn't really been anything transparent from the Celtics, from the NBA, and by extension, the Nets right now who are saying we're going to do our due diligence and trying to find out what happened. But we're not going to tell you. We're not going to tell you what happened. We're not going to tell our staff what happened. We're just going to say that we did our due diligence.

I just don't think that that is enough, especially for this organization. And it just seems like this whole week has been a pattern of things like that, where Josai goes out and says and condemns anti-Semitism, and I condemns it in the league does. And then their star player basically gets a very expensive slap on the wrist, right? Where we have also seen a president for other players who have done similar things, get a harsher punishment, right? At least lose games, right?

And then on the back end of that, you see something, you see a coach that has, you know, we don't exactly, we don't know what happened. But you see a coach that has that blanket on him of having an improper relationship going into an organization. The baggage that, the baggage that comes in. I just feel like we have, for a league like the NBA or in these teams who say, you know, we're a forward-thinking league and we're about diversity, equity, and inclusion. And we're all of these things, you would expect them to do the work on the. backed in. And my point on this one is, I don't feel like the work has been done on a number of levels from people that are in charge during this week. I think that's the bigger point that I'm saying right now. No, I understand. And I think I can agree with that. You know, I said on Bill's Pod that

minus the baggage, I thought EMA would be a great candidate and the type of person that you would want for that job. The baggage does change things. Like for a franchise like the Nets. I mean, it has to, right? It has to be factored into the equation. And I want to be clear, I don't mean to offend anyone or marginalize anyone, any victim or anything like that. That's not, that's not, I'm simply saying, as, as me as an individual, not knowing the scope of what happened, I can't cast judgment on email. Can you dig what I'm saying? Like, I don't know the particulars. And so I'm not going to judge that, man, with like, without any type of support to do so. But from a Brooklyn standpoint, it doesn't get any messier. Yeah. I mean, what you're in right now doesn't get

any messier as an NBA franchise. Like, think about all the, the messes that have been NBA franchises over the last, I don't know, five to ten years. Can you think of one that's had this much going on? In a span of five years, I don't know. Like, I just, I don't know.

It's been, it's one of the worst, I think over the last five years, man. I can't think of, like, a more badly run system just top down than the Brooklyn Nets right now. I mean, the proof is in the pudding right now, man. Like, there's just so many, different things. And not to mention, man, like, we're talking about even the Kyrie with the

anti-Semitism. What about his, I'm trying to say this the right way, but like, what about when he talks about not taking the vaccine and having an army behind him on the heels of his words bringing out demonstrators to Barclays Arena, Barclays Center last year, and bringing out demonstrators who were so forceful that they tried to break the barricades of Barclays Center, putting a lot of people at risk. You're putting lives at risk, and you're not even speaking on that, Kyrie. You know what I'm saying? Just things like that that has happened throughout this time.

It's been a very dysfunctional, is it four years now? It's been very dysfunctional for you. Dude. Very dysfunctional. To say the least. All of these things, right? And after all of this, you're going to say, well, we're going to bring this coach with all this baggage in

to coach this type of team. It's just a mess. Well, from the Nets perspective, all right? Let me play devil's advocate real quick. If you're the Nets and you are at ground zero, like, of a shitstorm, you're on the bottom floor. It's not getting any shittier. It's a mess.

And this is like your 10th shitstorm. And right. So like, we've run out of shit storms and we're on the, bottom floor of this particular last shitstorm. So where are we going from here? Where do we go? And I would just, again, playing devil's advocate, like, what other coaches are out there, whether they have baggage or not?

Could they help us right now? Who has, because you plug somebody in, right? He's not the guy because you got this vacancy. And you stay in this shit show, like for the next three years because he can't handle it or get it done either. or we're already pretty low. We're as low as we can get. We bring in a guy who we know can do it,

even though there's some baggage, but it quite frankly can't get much shittier. So why not take the swing? Now, that's not me saying that. That's where I imagine Brooklyn is at with that. Like, I mean, look, guys, look where we're at. Like, fuck it. Let's just, like, he may, we can all agree, right?

Can we agree minus the baggage? He's a hellified coach. He's a really good coach. He's a really good coach. Like, he took that team. and, you know, even through the struggles, and we were on our podcast, Logan, talking about at one point last year, whether or not you were going to have to make a choice

between Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, because it just looked bad. And all he did was take that and keep molding it and keep working with it. I'm sure he was frustrated and kept developing relationships and tweaking defenses and establishing philosophy. And before you know it, they're in the finals. Now, obviously some people played great, but the point is he can coach. So this is me playing devil's advocate with maybe that's where they were at. My retort to that, Rob, is that that is the type of mindset that has gotten the, down the

Brooklyn Nets into this situation. We're all, man, we're so fucked. We need to do this because this is a quick fix. We think this might happen, you know? But that's not a quick fix, though. I understand what you're saying completely. That's what makes them the Brooklyn Nets right now. But what I'm saying in that scenario is the quick, the quick, that's not the quick fix. That is the, hey, this is going to get worse before it gets better. But after it gets worse, we have it right. That's just what I was trying to say. I'm not trying to sell you on that. Let me just, no, no, no, you're not trying to sell me.

You're talking from the perspective of what the Brooklyn Nets might be thinking. This is not Raja Bell talking. This is what the Brooklyn Nets might be thinking in the situation. My retort to that is like, damn, dude, you already did so. You've already done so much. You have alienated the fan base that you have. There's been so many different things that have just popped up with this organization. I just think that they're at a place where this is not the type to double down.

and try to try to fix this honestly this is just the time to just break it all down bro and just start from the bare bones you've done it you know especially if you're sean marks you've done it before right you've done all this before with under a different regime you've brought that point up in past episodes but why would i want to deal with this headache when i'm two and five consistently i've only gotten to the second round one they'll talk about on basketball thing sure on the basketball court. We have not been good. In the front office, we have not provided an environment where people want to play here or play with a certain guy, right? Why would you want to keep this going? I am of the mind. If I am a GM, I am breaking this down from the bare bones and just starting over.

There's nothing that suggests that they are going to continue to be, or they're going to be good again. There's nothing that suggests that they're going to be good again. Well, you're operating, you think you're operating from the GM mindset. You're actually operating from an ownership mindset. That's where ownership should be. Hey, listen, this is, I mean, it's a wash. We took a swing. It didn't work. This is so messy. We've alienated so many different segments of the population and our fan base. Let's take it down to the studs and let's get it straight. General managers don't quite frankly have the time. Sean Marks don't have a clock for that. Yeah. I'm telling you right now, Sean Marks doesn't have a clock for that. There's like something breathing down his neck every

day. I'm sure, you know, I saw him in his press conference. He was looking a little aged. Like, you know, like, there's a level of stress and of having to get this right now that would entice you to keep doing what we're talking about, throwing the band-aids on trying to figure it out quickly and getting it turned around. He alluded to the window that they're in, you know? And so that's the way the general manager feels because he's tied to that. And he's coaching for his job. I mean, he's not coaching. He's, he's managing for his job. He's managing for his job. He is tied to the wins and the losses in the immediate present and immediate future. And so while I understand completely what you're saying, I just thought that while you

are correct, you were speaking from Joe Sy's seat. You were speaking from the owner's seat. The general manager can't see it like that. The only way that a general manager can think like that is if he wasn't a part of all of the shit that just happened, that general manager was fired and now I bring in a new general manager and then that's his mindset, which is an alignment with the owner. And I don't think that this has been, I'm quite frankly, frank with you, I don't think that this has been a great ownership job by Josai. I mean, just systematically, over the summer, you have a guy that, you know, KD comes to you, it says it's either me or this coach. And you think that just one kumbaya conversation in L.A. is going to change that. Like, no, it's not.

And you put out this statement, I just seem to just been a lot of grandstanding from Joe Sai and no action behind it. You know, we stand against anti-Semitism. It's just one example as a tweet, and this is bigger than basketball, and you don't suspend your guy, right? That's one example. Or you, KD. talks about wanting to get a trade request, and you say, we stand by this organization. We stand by our coaches in our GM.

They're going to stay in place. And then what happens two weeks into the season? You fire your coach without any, like, real accountability at any point. Josiah's not been, I just don't think he's done a really good job at this point in steering this ship at all. Well, I mean, I guess if I'm going to go on a podcast and say dysfunction starts from the top, then I would have to agree with you, right? Because let's say we're in this organization and we got a bunch of players that can't get right. Not the Brooklyn Nets. Let's just say any organization, right? In the NBA, a lot of times it's not the coach

that doles out to discipline. It's not. But let's just say that the coach doesn't do it. it. Well, then the general manager should definitely do it, right? And let's say the general manager misses and isn't able to do it either. Well, then ownership has to step in and say, hey, general manager, coach, listen, guys, what the hell are we doing here? There has to be some level of punishment. Otherwise, this is going to turn into chaos. And that hasn't happened, right? So, like, then I've got to agree with you because if Sean Marks and Steve missed the boat, and I don't know, I've said this before as much as Steve is my guy. And everybody says him out here politicking for him.

But I've said this. If he was part of the reason why people were skating on their on their punishments or or being held accountable for certain actions, if he was part of the reason, if he was lobbying for those guys not to be held accountable, then he was part of the problem. He is culpable in that. Whoever the buck stops with in terms of deciding whether or not you hold people accountable. I don't think the buck is going for miles and miles.

then you're all accountable and I have to agree with you with Josai because from day one, we've been talking about, you know, Brooklyn and some of the antics and nothing has ever really been dealt with in a way that would suggest to one of those dudes, hey, you better cut that shit out. And this is another example. The Kyrie situation now is another example. To your point, you come out, Josai, you say you're disappointed, you're this and that, you're whatever. Tell that man, he can't play for a couple games.

Sit him down. Do whatever you got to do. But like, be about that. Like, let's not talk about that. Let's be about that. And I'm not lobbying. I'm not lobbying for it. I'm saying if you're really serious about it as an owner,

or a general manager or even a coach, shit, if I'm serious as a dad, man, if I say, hey, bro, you do that again, and they're going to be consequences.

And you do it again. And I just say, hey, man, consequences. And he's like, what? I'm still playing my video game, dad.

I'm still playing my, I still got my cell phone, dad. Like, that's literally what's happening right now. I still got my stuff. Yeah, you're literally just saying the word again,

consequences? I'm like, yeah, I told you. There are going to be consequences. And so here they are, consequences. Now, that's not how that works, dog. You got to start, you got to start stripping.

And that's what I'm saying, like, especially like even with Kyrie, right? Like, you talk about, like, if I'm Kyrie, I'm not thinking about any repercussions because there's never been any repercussions for me. I left the team. I left the team without, with, he leaves the team without any explanation. I don't know if we're going way back to, like, 2021. but like the game after he left the game after he left i don't think steve got a text to like the hours leading up to the game do you know how wild that is man do you know how wild do you know

how wild that is you ain't text nobody on your team you think about like just an instance like that no real repercussions right you think about um just even kairis saying i'm not going to play without the vaccine fuck it i'm just going to sit my ass home i guess i'll play road games if that's what y'all want. They, they stood up, the net stood up and stuck their chest out and said, well, I guess you're just not going to play until midseason and say, well, Kyrie, I guess you're right, you can play road games, I guess so, right? While they're lobbying with local, uh, politicians to try to get, to get Kyrie to play home games and circumvent the fuck, the law that is in place. At what point is it like, dude, there's no point. There's no point, Logan. What you're

describing is, what you're describing is a failed, um, relationship, a failed attempt at this, it's just too, it's too messy. It's too much. It's too much. Like you've, it's too much, Logan. You don't come back from that. You don't come back from all of what you just. And you can't expect a championship or any sort of success when there is no accountability at on all fronts of the organization. That's why I think that like, dog, this, this, this, this, even with a new coach, it's not going to change nothing. They're not going to be good. They're not going to do that.

It's too far gone. I don't expect the Brooklyn Nets to do anything after this. There's not going to be a trophy handed out at the end of this season. I will believe this. I will believe this forever. And I genuinely believe it. Maybe there's part of me that has to believe it because if it weren't true, it would just, I mean, I don't know.

But great players, people, people who are collectively trying to accomplish a goal while they might not always like the person who's in charge and the rules that are in place that are designed to help them stay focused and get them to that goal, and they might buck every now and again and there might be some ruffle feathers. But ultimately, Logan, they will respect you. They will respect you. And if you can then get them to where they're trying to go, they will appreciate it. Right. So you cannot waver in the face of that if you are, you know, if you're trying to accomplish that, yes, they're stars. They've been pampered.

They've been coddled. We all were when we played. I'm not pointing any fingers. So we're used to getting things our way. They're used to having say in how things work. But that can't be the case all the time. You can't capitulate to that. Not when it really matters.

When it really matters, you have to plant your feet in the ground with some firmness and say, this is it. And here's now what's going to happen. It's going to be brief. You are going to be punitive. and then you're going to come back. And if you don't do it again, we're good.

If you do it again, I'm going to punish your ass again. And people will figure it out. They will get in line and they will do what you need them to do. Even the great ones who people tell me don't want any. If they see weakness, they make a living on smelling weakness and attacking it. It's what they do. So they smell weakness in you. What do you think they're going to do?

Every time. All right, let's take a quick break. And I also want to talk about, I want to talk about tampering. The NBA season is underway. It's the perfect time to download FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook, because right now, new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. Plus, FanDil is the only sports book that's giving all customers three months of NBA league pass when they make a $5 bet on the NBA.

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And we are back. Rajah, we have talked about this in past pods, the art of tampering. and if it's ever going to leave the NBA and we're talking about okay I got to set it up for the people no that's it no that's it Roger let me set it up damn it let me set it up damn it

all right the 76ers are slated to lose their 2023 and 2024 second round picks as a result of an NBA investigation into the free agency signings of Daniel House and PJ Tucker the NBA confirmed that Philadelphia engaged in

free agency talks before it officially opened Wode's reports that the NBA is planning to revisit the rules that punish teams that have had discussions prior to the opening of free agency. And they also have an open investigation to the next signing of Jalen Brunson. So I would re-act the question to you is tampering over, Rajabelle? Tampering is never going to be over in the NBA, Logan, because players have relationships. We've played with guys. They're now on other teams.

we're free agents we've got relationships our lives are cool like the same agents have multiple I've told this story before when I was my last year in Golden State I mean I started out year in Charlotte

I got traded but I had surgery on my wrist and so I wasn't fully healthy I couldn't come back and really play after surgery but I was going to be a free agent for the last time and this was I don't know April maybe May May probably May we would go to different arenas and my agent would tell me, yeah, such and such, I'm not going to say any names.

They said they're going to really have interest in you coming around, you know, in July. They're one of the teams that we think is whatever. Just keep that in the back of your head. So I would make it a point to go out there and just have a fantastic pre-game workout. Everyone's sitting out there watching, right? And so this is my audition. You haven't seen me live in a year. I already know there's some interest because someone from your camp has 20,

my agent who got it back to me, that's, that's tampering. That happens all the time. And so you can't, you're not going to be able to get that out of the game. That's just one example. Like, I mean, shit, the year, the year that I was, my last year with the jazz, like, I knew people on different teams that we talk all the time about, you know, I was, I had finally become more than just a defender when my two years in Utah the first time. Jerry was letting me shoot a little bit. I was doing a little bit of this and that and my points went up. And so you become a different tier of free agent at that point, right? Before that, I was always a minimum guy last to eat at the troth. Like, I pick up whatever team had an open spot. You know, I'd slide in there and get a like minimum

deal. That was who I was. But in this particular free agent cycle, I had had a good first year and I was having a good second year. And I was already having dialogue with dudes that were on good teams. I was, I mean, what do you mean? Like, we're doing that the whole time. So, you know, I hadn't signed a deal or agreed to anything, but, but trying to gauge level of interest and so on and so forth happens all the A great philosopher once said, if you are starting your recruiting process, when the job is posted, you're already behind the eight ball. You're not doing your job. You know what I'm saying? And that's just in work, but it extends to the NBA. If you're a general manager or you're a assistant or you're in a front office, if you're not targeting guys, if you're not like sending tea leaves in January or in whenever, you're not doing your job. And here's another thing, Roger. This is another reason why this is never going to change. This is never going to change. Because you can litigate all this stuff you want to.

You can't talk to a certain person around this time, around this time. But what's just say, you know, in another life, I'm just a great basketball player, Raja. And another life. And you're Raja Bell, the great basketball player. And we meet and we're, we just, I don't know, happened to be in L.A. Or we happen to be on vacation in the south of France, right? Like, I'm with my family, you're with your family, and I just happened to see you, right? Or I happen to see you at a greatest doubt.

I don't know, like a nobu or something. I don't know. I see you. And you're on a team. We've been cordial. We've been friends. You know, we've been cool. And we respect each other's games.

You're not going to, you're not going to just drop a hint that you would want to play with me one day. You're not going to just do that. You're not going to say that. You're not going to be like, oh, or you're just going to be like, nah. It's against the NBA rules. Hey, tampering is at stake here. We can't talk. We can't talk about this.

We can't have this conversation. Or I don't know, an agent who has multiple clients on a team that has another client or like, this is why, this is why we just saw this when KCP went to the Lakers a year before LeBron. you know why he went there is so not because he isn't a good player because KCP is a really good player you see that right now in Denver he's doing really well played really well with the with the Lakers he earned that deal I'm not saying that he didn't earn it

at all but what I'm saying is a reason why he got signed by the Lakers early is because the Lakers so the Lakers could have ongoing conversations with his agent you know who his agent is Rich Paul me oh it's Rich Paul who represents LeBron James right?

dog that's an isolated thing but the reason why I got so much publicity is because it's rich paul you know who else does this every other agent in the NBA every other agent you see their client list best believe they're talking to they're talking to a general manager when they come in town to see their guy hey who else what is he thinking about where's he going is he a fit is he a fit for this organization this happens all the time bro any any any any any bar that's that's in the arena, any suites, these conversations are happening.

So just for the league to even say this and just to like, just to act like this. It's just so silly. It's just so silly, bro. We keep doing this every year. Honestly, the tampering, I'm going to keep it a fuck with you. It's very entertaining.

It's so entertaining to see all the Knicks brass in Dallas to recruit Jalen Brunson. It's like wrestling. It's great. I love it. Michael, the question I always ask is what did, like, how egregiously did you have to rub it in the MBA's face to have them come down and actually penalize you for it when it, they know that it's its common place as you've just laid out? How, how crazy must it have been? Like, what did you do?

Otherwise, you know, it's usually, I mean. It's just funny that they're saying that there's an open, there's. an open investigation on the Knicks for that when you hired Jalen Brunson's father to the staff and then you go to Dallas. Like, how long is this investigation? What are you watching? You're watching ESPN clips? Like, what are you doing? Are you watching, are you going on House of Highlights and see it? Oh, we saw this clip of these. It's a cut and dry investigation. I'm just, I'm tired of the cap. Stop the cap, Roger. Stop the cap. Stop the cap. Before we go and we get to real one of the week. We have to give flowers because

Akila Kerm said, and Thirdai also demanded in our group chat, the one that's separate of yours, the one that you're in because you never text us. Yes. They said that I need to give flowers to both the Lakers and Russell Westbrook for the for the performance last night at crypto.com arena. So I mean, I guess I have to do that. We have to do flowers. Kai, Kerm, I will accept them on behalf of Russ.

You're going to take the reward on his I will take that. Thank you. I don't have a speech prepared, but I'd like to thank his family. I'd like to thank all his agent, all his fans that stuck with him, namely real ones,

Raja Bell, all these people. Yo, I will say this. I watched the highlights. I didn't get to watch the game for sake because I was out chilling last night. I was kicking it last night. I was kicking it last night.

I didn't get to see the highlights, but I saw him this morning. and damn it is magical when the Lakers win the way that they win, dog. Did you see that's great? Did you see the lefty dime off the bounce, though? With the. Russ felt accepted.

He's talking his shit. Darwin Ham seems to have like just put his arm around the rest. And I, it seems to be, it seems to be temporarily paying off. The jury is still out on the Lakers right now. We don't know. We have no idea what's going on.

There was one win. Jury is definitely out. Like, let's, but do you remember what I said to you and Sasha, when we had Sasha Mac on for the last time, and we were talking about how some of the things that needed to happen for that to even have a chance. And I was admitting that the jury was still out. Do you remember what one of those things was? I said, what did you say? You've got to make him feel welcome. Like it's part of the team and the coach's job. It's his job to figure out how to

get in. So if that means coming off the bench, then again, I said, hey, Rush, you better figure that shit out. But it's also part of the job to put your arms around and, man, bring him in, make him feel like he's a part of it so that you can see if you can get the best out of him. Joy is still out, but I'm accepting today's flowers on behalf. Okay. All right. All right. And we'll see.

We got a lot to talk. We got some stuff to talk about when we get back. We have a guest scheduled for next Monday. Thanks. We've got the great Howard Beck coming in. We'll have a lot of to discuss next week. So before that, let's get to a little segment we like to call Rewin'n of the week where we point out a person, entity or,

organization that won the week. I'm just going to go, we'll go with Kaylani from, from, from the singer Kaylani. I went to a little podcast interview with her last night. It was great. Gabe a lot of great answers. She was great. One of my favorites, and she's from the Bay. She's on, she's, she's killing it.

Saw her the other week. She was, she performed at halftime of the Warriors game. Just been killing it. So I'm just going to give a, uh, ruin it a week to Kaylani, man. Shout out to her. Shout to the town. All the Bay Area propaganda was, I, you weren't at this, this little interview. All the Bay Area propaganda was on, on deck.

Glad I missed it. I was a nigga. Say less. Glad. Um, can I give out, all right. I want to give out two real ones. Can I get out two real ones? Would you grant me?

Go ahead, buddy. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, one is to all the real ones that have been hitting me up lately in regards to all of this craziness that, that, that have, you know, adult mindsets about stuff that we could disenfess. We could explain each other's stance and maybe come to some middle ground.

Like, we don't always have to disagree, but we could keep it cordial, keep it a buck, keep it adult-like, right? And maybe if more people did that and tried to see where other people were coming from with their perspectives, we'd live in a better place, just saying. Okay? Secondly, probably less importantly, this young man comes from my son Diabelle's High School American Heritage, High School here in Plantation, Florida. He is a young sophomore receiver at Syracuse who is having a nice season, both individuals. individually, and Dino Babers has the Syracuse Orange playing pretty well. His name is Arande Gadsden. The second. You might know his dad, or Ronde Gadsen, who played for the Miami Dolphins. But he just was added to the Boltonicoff list, the Billetnikov Award list for college. The watch list. Yeah, 41 reception, 671 yards, six TDs on the season. He's really blossoming, man. He's a great kid. I see him around campus when he's in town and he's always, you know, when you get a feel, some kids, some kids don't come off like great kids. Some people come off like great kids and you know that they, they're just like really good people. He's always been one of those dudes who comes off like a great kid.

So I'm happy to see him doing this thing. Real one. That's what's up, man. That's what's up, man. Shout out to him, man. We're getting into the final stretch of football season. It's about to be great. I'm really excited.

Yeah, we're up in South Bend this weekend, baby. Oh, it's out of, yes. I'm sure it's going to be freezing out there. I don't know how you're going to deal with that, bro. I said it's about to rain, too. I really don't know how we're dealing with that. Oh, man. All right, man. I'm gonna lock in on that and watch that closely, man.

Make sure you guys see us on Mondays and Thursdays. We'll see you guys on Monday. Hala, tap in, all of it, subscribe, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. See you guys next week. Holla.