The Ringer NBA Show - LaMelo Ball Is a Rookie Sensation. Plus: A One-Year Retrospective on the League Shutdown, and Meyers Leonard’s Anti-Semitic Outburst.

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

Logan and Raja start off by remembering where they were when they found out the 2019-20 NBA season was suspended (3:00), then they talk about the NBA’s response to Meyers Leonard’s anti-Semitic outburst on a 'Call of Duty' livestream (22:02). Finally, they get into the rookie sensation that is LaMelo Ball and the other rookies who defied the common logic that this year’s rookie class had a dearth of talent (34:52). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On TV concierge, the ringer staff delivers a guide to the vast streaming landscape by discussing one show or movie per day, including premieres, the latest surprise Netflix hits, periodic check-ins on favorite TV shows, new movies available for streaming, and the host's favorite shows to watch right away. Check out TV concierge exclusively on Spotify. All right, so we're back with the Mad Hooper Sasha, our producer. She's really successful right now at The Ringer, and I'm trying to feel. figure out why a legend like herself herself is so mad. Sasha, why are you mad? You know, not only am I successful, but the Lakers are really successful, you might wonder, why am I so mad? Why am I so mad? Well, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you why I'm so mad right now, is because everybody on the internet, all Lakers fans, all y'all media, media,

are so hot and cold on one Mr. Kyle Kuzma, who doesn't deserve all the hate that he gets. all the time except when it's love. That's what I'm talking about today is that Mr. Kyle Kuzman gets all the hate all the time except when it's love because y'all just want to be hot and cold on this man all the time. You loved him when he was playing lots of minutes all the game, but we were winning 35 games

a season with bad Luke Walton, bad Luke Walton, don't even get me started on that man, crusty, bad Luke Walton. And we had 35 wins and we loved Kyle Kuzb because he was Because wavy, I mean, he is just so great. He puts a little spin move on all the time, a little 360. He loves to do that, and I love that. But now you're always getting on his ass about his outfits,

that his outfits are going to distract him from the game. It doesn't make any sense. And I don't like that. That doesn't even make any sense to me because you guys see how PJ Tucker dresses out here. It's got like 3,000 pairs of sneakers. Like, I don't understand why you have to get on Kyle Kuzman's eyes. And you know what it is? It's because he wears fur coats.

It's because he wears furline coats. and he wears crop tops and he wears all kinds of things that you guys don't like and let me tell you there's some homophobic undertones to this shit. Now let me tell you that I have noticed that over the past three or four years that there's homophobic undertones

to the Kyle Kuzma hate on the internet and I see, and let me tell you that I see you, that I'm seeing you when you do that. Okay, now you all want to love him and now it's all Kyle Kuzma and now we all love him and we tell you that I saw I saw before

that I was seeing She has the glasses on her And I still And I still see Tell them why you mad And I see the flip-lops And I see the flip-lops A real one's up next

What's popping? Real ones here Logan Murdoch here Roger Bell here What's popping Roger? How you doing man? How was your weekend up? You really want to know

Are you just saying that shit Because that's what you have to do To start the show Because I'm going to tell you how it was Like, if you want to know, I'm going to tell you. You ever done some shit that you knew you were unprepared for? Yeah, that's why you're bad. That's why you're getting on my head right now because you were not prepared for that question.

Yeah, listen, I rolled a team out in the youth basketball scene this weekend against all of my better judgment. I knew we were unprepared. But, you know, everybody's thirsty to be back out in these streets and play some basketball. So we roll back out and we promptly got our head beat in by teams, teams that, you know, in the past haven't really posed much of a threat. to us and like South Florida, our little bubble down here was like on fire because our kids got beat up and people got their licks in on us. And I'm just a little salty because I knew better. I should not have rolled us out. So that's how I'm feeling today. That's why you didn't want to tell me about your weekend. That's the real reason why you didn't want to talk about your weekend.

But I told you. I mean, I told you. Hey, man, you sent me a video at a little homie, your little son who's a quarterback. Man is a beast, bro. He's a beast dog. He was playing seven on seven and he threw a corner route and I'm like, okay, I need him. He's the number one recruit in the country or the world. Somebody needs him on the roster, bro. You know, check him out. Yeah, he's okay, Logan.

We're trying to keep him, you know, you're at a point where you're trying to find out if kids have real passion for stuff or if this is just something you do because, you know, you like to do it. And that's what separates, you know, kids or gives him an opportunity to play moving forward. So that's where he's at.

He's 13. Check him out on Twitter. Twitter followers, dog. He needs a little following. Shameless plug. What's his name? Dia. Just look up Diabelle.

He's something like that. Shameless plug from my young butt. For sure, man. Yeah, man. I saw that. He was doing this thing, bro. But I'm sorry that you had a not good competitive weekend. That sucks.

I'm sorry. It does, though. But you know what happened to me last night, man? My nine-year-old who kind of gets lost in the wash because I got a 13 and a 12-year-old who are really heavy into sports. He got his first taste to travel ball last night. and some third grade like 11 to 10 final score shit

and it was straight. It was just the comedy I needed for the weekend to end, dog. It was fantastic. And he was loving it, like flexing on people. And so it ended on the right note. That's what's up, man. So this weekend, I watched, I started Bridgeton on Netflix. Yeah.

And let me tell you, Roger, Sasha's on the line too. She knows what's up. The messiest show that I've ever seen in my life. It is the messiest show. I love Bridgeton. Isn't it awesome? I'm on like episode five right now. It's awesome.

I watched that shit in two days. I was like couldn't stop watching it. I didn't think I was going to like it at first. Like, what is this? I'm literally here just to support Shonda Rimes. It's it literally why I'm here. That's it. Right.

I'm not going to like this. And I'm like, oh, my, the shade on that show is like, oh, my God. Oh, oh. They said what? What? The Duke isn't going to marry her? What? The Duke.

I haven't watched the whole thing so don't spoil it yet. Oh, you don't know what the comment. Oh, okay. I don't know the comment messages yet. No, no spoiler alerts. Very messy show and I'm very excited that I made that choice to watch it. So shout out Bridgeton.

Shout out to Bridgetton for sure. And the only reason I'm also, it was Team Shonda and I had ran out of stuff to watch. Like, I had been through all the Netflix stuff. So I had like kind of glossed over it four or five times. Like, I'm not going to watch that now. And then finally. But the hooks were in, dude. Like after the first episode.

And I'm going to tell you what, last chance you, basketball. It's East, East L.A. Community College or something like that. East L.A. Community College, yes. Yeah, yeah. Shout out, because I'm into that, too. Three, three episodes in. Okay, shameless plug. I already watched the whole, I watched Bridgerton this weekend, and I watch all of Last Chance You because your boy and Shay Charano is going to do a TV concierge.

Recording that tonight. It's coming out Tuesday. So, say, this plug. You know what I mean? On Last Chance You. Let's get to the shits. to the shits, straight to them. We are a year removed from the NBA getting canceled,

suspended for the year after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. I'm even thinking about it. We're having all these COVID anniversaries, and it's part triggering, part, like, weird, illuminating, all in one, because you're seeing, you know, when you're in it, it's different than how you are looking back at it, right? That was a very tough, tough, tough day for a lot of people. You know, we were talking about this on the pre-show, me and Sasha.

How was it for you? And I want to get into what you think, version, and we'll get into an overall of how COVID has affected the league and how it was also that night affected a lot of things. But, Roger, how was it for you when you got the news that first Rudy had tested positive for the virus and then three, four minutes later that the league was getting shut down. Oh, man. Personally, like on some superficial stuff, it was kind of, you know, it was, I felt a little vindicated

because I shut down a trip to Park City skiing like two days earlier. And everyone was like, oh, man, just go and have a blast. It's not, you know, like you're going to be able to. And no later than like 24 hours later, you know, Rudy tested positive after. the microphone situation, the league shut down. And I think the world kind of took cues from that. Like when the NBA shut down, people were like, uh, like, yeah, it's time to stop going to work.

It's time to, so like that was just really, you know, kind of superficial and not really deep. But at the time, we had a big decision to make them go. And then I'm not in the league. I wasn't doing a pod. I wasn't blessed enough to be potting with Logan Murdoch and Sasha in the ringer. So it didn't really affect me, um, my work situation because I wasn't really involved in the league anymore.

You know, I just remember feeling like, what is this going to be? I kind of felt like the walking dead early in that process where no one was in the streets and no one in my house would leave the house except me and I'd be all like gloved up, masked up, sunglasses on, just fighting for people in the stores for like whatever was on the shelf that day. And it was just the weirdest, the weirdest little vibe. And then it just felt like time was standing still to some degree because we, you know, we weren't hit by tragic loss. luckily, and it didn't affect my work.

We were just living Groundhogs Day every day, you know? Yeah, yeah. I remember, that's crazy you said that because Costco looked like Hunger Games. A year ago, bro. You had the hazmas gone. You had the, remember the gloves? You had the gloves on. Yeah, bro.

You were Windex. You were doing everything, bro. You were sanitizing all the groceries, bro. Like, you were. Oh, my God, wiping everything down as it came home, right? man, yo, that was a journey, bro. It was such a journey. We had an assembly line when I would come home with groceries by the garage.

I would open a trunk of the car, and we would assembly line each item with kids that we could trust not to put their hands in their mouth. So the two older boys, my wife and I would assembly line all the items. We'd get them stacked in the garage cleaned and wiped down. Then I would put all of the bags into one bag and make sure I wipe my hands down. and then we'd run it all into the house. It was crazy. Bro, it would take like 30 minutes to get in the house. For you to finally just be cool and chill.

I remember that night vividly, the Rudy Gaubert night because I was in the Bay, but I was covering the Warriors. And it was the first time I was really traveling on a regular level. I felt like I was really catching my stride covering that team. And, you know, we remember back then it didn't really get serious until the Rudy Gobert night. So before that, you know, we're traveling. I think we had a, we had a, the Warriors went to Phoenix, and then they went to Denver.

And, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm grooving. I'm like, yeah, man, I'm traveling. I'm going across the country. This is fun. This is cool. And we had a, we had a trip on the horizon where it was Toronto, my favorite city in the league. I think it was Milwaukee, so you got to see Janice. It was, I think Detroit was on that trip, but it was New York, was New York Knicks.

The New York Knicks was to end that trip. It was going to be the first time I got like a floor shot at Madison Square Garden. I was doing TV at the time. I was like, man, you know what I mean? I get to do it. I get to do a hit from the floor of Madison Square Garden. This is a big deal. So I'm really looking forward to this trip coming up.

And, you know, I'm talking to my bosses and I'm talking to the people. the higher-ups and we're like, you know, they're asking, like, yeah, what do you think about this COVID? I'm like, because, you know, we don't know as much as we know now about it. I'm like, man, I'm good. Let's do it. You know what I mean? Let's go. Because everything that everyone is telling us around this is like, man, it's just, you know, it's not as bad as the flu. It's not that bad for younger people. Like, it's going to be fine. Like, we're going to, because remember, even when we shut it all down, we thought we were going to be outside, at least back in May or something, you know. We thought we were, there was a chance of that. And so, you know, we're not thinking about how bad it is.

And I remember we had gone to Denver for a roach or like a quick in and out, you know. And one of the guys on the Warriors, Chasing Randall, had come back from China because of this virus. So we didn't even, we still, even after that, he had signed a 10-day because he had to, this Chinese Basketball Association had, had canceled already. Okay. And he had come to the warriors. And we're like, oh, okay, well, I guess, you know, that just means he's coming to a war. This is something that is happening just far, far away from us, right? Right.

And so we're like, whatever. Like, this doesn't affect us. And then, you know, I remember I wrote the story and I'm not really thinking about it. I'm on the John Hopkins website. Like, okay, this is fine. Whatever. And we get back and my boss at the time, Justin Hathaway hits me and is like, yeah, man, it's not, we don't know what's going to happen. But I just wanted to make sure you were good to go on this, this, this, this, uh,

East Coast trip. And I'm like, we're good. Yeah, I'm fine. It doesn't mean anything, right? Toronto, New York. Yes, I'm fine. Yo, I am ready, bro. I got my hotels.

I'm grabbing my thing. I'm like, no, we're going. We're going. We're going here. This is what's going to happen. And I remember I was driving, and I remember he hit me with that news. Like, yo, hey, are you going? And then 10 minutes later, he hits me like, yeah, just to be safe.

We're not going to send you on this trip, right? So I'm like, crushed. like, oh, man. Like, I really wanted to go. I wanted to go. And I remember he called, and then 20 minutes later, the Rudy Gold Bear News hit. And I'm like, oh, that's when it, like, got serious, serious, right? And then the league shuts down.

And I'm like, oh, okay. So then another thing goes in my mind and is like, damn, am I going to have a job, bro? Like, yeah. I worked for, I worked, I worked for NBC sports at the time. And, you know, NBC sports, a lot of their add revenue, a lot of my salaries based on teams playing, right? And I'm like, man. And the first thing I thought I was like, okay, contracts through such and such time, I should be fine, right? I should be good.

But what about beyond that? And I just felt like, yo, my career is going to be at a standstill right now. I don't know what's going to happen. Sports might not be here for a long time, and that's how I make bread. That's how I make a living. What's going to happen? And a lot of things were,

it's a tough time for a lot of people, man. And I know, like, you know, us, you know, we ended up being fine, but like, it was tough for a lot of people out there. It's still tough for a lot of people out there. And I think that's the, you know,

the lasting thing that I'm seeing is like, man, you know, the NBA bigger than just a lot of things. And I remember being in that moment like, yo, it's going to be a tough, tough time. And it has been a tough, tough time. And, you know, it's still going. But man, that night was triggering, bro. Man, seeing all that stuff was just.

And even last chance, you, you're not, you know, you were talking about this earlier. You haven't seen it. But just the whole time I'm watching it, it's like the buildup to an inevitable cancellation of everything. Right? Because you're thinking, you know, they're. January there in December like, oh, man, it's cool. And no one's knowing what's about to happen. You know, people went to All-Star game, NBA All-Star game. Like, it was, that was like, people said that was the last time everybody got together. And, you know, to see that and see

these COVID anniversaries, it's really triggering because it's like the beginning of the end for a lot of ways, a lot of the life as we know it. So, yeah, man, I say all that to say, man, that was tough. And that Rudy Gobert anniversary is kind of tough to even see, man, just because, you know, a lot of people have lost their lives, lost the loved ones lives since then. Yeah, it's been a tough journey, man, since then. It's been, I mean, I was saying it to somebody the other day, just personally, because I know, like, you know, God bless, we haven't experienced that tragic loss in the immediate family.

Like I know I have friends that have been affected by it. You know, I know people have been affected, but I can say this because it didn't affect us like that. But it's sitting here now, it just feels like time kind of froze, right? Like I have a, you'll be talking to someone about something that happened. And you're like, yeah, man, that was a couple months ago. Like, bro, that was a year and a half ago. You're like, what are you like? That wasn't that long ago.

And you're like, dude, that was a year and a half ago, right? Because this whole time has just been kind of this weird twilight zone of a, of a, of a haws in the middle of what's going on, right? But, you know, the way I see it unfolding the most or the way I see it affecting people the most, Logan, aside from the health and the financial, is these kids because I'm in the high school arena now. And all of these seniors that are, you know, in this weird spot of I had an abbreviated senior year, which in and of itself isn't super fair for recruitment.

but colleges are granting their seniors another year because of COVID. And so there are not a lot of scholarships available. Do you know what I mean? And so now all these seniors are affected in a way where, you know, usual scholarship athlete in a regular year doesn't have a place to go to school. And so these families are now scrambling to, you know, just the trickle-down effect that it's had. That's where it affects me because I'm dealing with the high school kids the most, right?

and trying to, you know, trying to kind of counsel people through prep school years or, you know, taking a D3 look instead of a D2 or D1 look because they're not available. So it's just been kind of crazy. Yeah. I mean, even on the community college level, you're talking about last chance to you, just a lot of those guys just, you know, a lot of people that go to community college, whether grade, circumstance, all that stuff, they get a second chance through that. and those types of sports and those types of, you know, even academics and especially academics, and they can't get the opportunity that's already hard, the second chance, is even more

harder because of this virus, because they can't see people in person, because they can't play sports, because they can't be in front of these coaches. A lot of these guys are taking, you know, offers without even taking visits, you know, they're not, they're just accepting offers and going into a situation where, where they haven't even met a lot of these coaches yet. Only time they met them was on Zoom. And they're trying to make a livelihood. They're trying to get an education.

And it's tough right now, man. So, yeah. All of that. All of that, all of that, though. You know, we joke a lot, right? Because I'm down here in Miami in a place where I've made, you know, no one's wearing a mask. We're all out on these 707 fields and stuff like that.

And it's bananas. And I was in the gym this weekend. And my dad said something that stuck out to me, right? like because we were out there together watching one of my sons, my other son play. And he was like, these kids, they need this. There's so many of these kids that, you know, even if the risk is, what would they be doing if they couldn't be out on these fields running around participating in these sports? And you just see them.

They're happy to be back out. They're competing. Like there's a, there's some camaraderie going on out there. And I have, I've had kids in my program mentally, you know, parents, voice concerns for their mental health after spending their junior year isolated from anyone they know. Now, it's what we had to do, but they're real ramifications that went with that for kids, you know, people trying to, you know, socially figure out who they are. So, you know, I've kind of my perspective on it's changed a little bit. I've been all over the place.

Yeah, me too. And also just the, you know, we talk about how we live, right? Like, we have the luxury of being able to work at the crib, right? Right. You know, we have the luxury of the, of to be able to talk from the house. There's a lot of people that didn't have that luxury. It was on the front lines. Those, you know what I'm talking about? We talked about Costco.

The homies at Costco out here working. Yeah. Two weeks after, we don't even know what this virus is. We're over here having the hazmat suits and wearing the gloves and stuff like that. No, this is every day for them, right? Yeah.

This is every day for them. And they had to go through a lot more than we did. You know what I mean? and the mental health aspect of that, I can imagine, is just tough. You've got to deal with something, and this is your livelihood, and there's not a guarantee

that you're going to have a job, and you have to have that on your mind. You have to raise a family, and, you know, it's been a tough time all around, and I just want to say, man, like, you know, we see you, you know what I mean? And I don't know what else to say, but, like, you know, we see you,

and it was tough, and it is tough, and we, you know, Yeah. Absolutely, bro. I think you, hey, that's all it needs to be said on that. That's real respect for those people that were out there putting it on the line every day in the midst of all of this stuff, bro. Facts. Ooh.

Let's take a quick break. And let's get some NBA talk. And we are back. Roger, I'm not sure, you know, if you were seeing this, but Myers-Lennard. Oh, I live in Miami, sir, for a lot of days. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Oh, I've seen that.

Myers-Lennard said some wild stuff on a call-of-duty stream. Mm-hmm. He said some wild stuff. I'm never going to repeat that. But he said some wild stuff on a stream and a video game, which I've never really, like, gotten, I've never gotten that culture where, you know, you care so much about this as you're going to speak. one out of pocket to speak out of turn on somebody's name but then say all this wild racist homophobic all this stuff on for a video game bro um right yeah go ahead go ahead okay let me let me let me just lay it out and give the context right so he says the wild stuff

gets fined fifty thousand dollars by the league and suspended for a week but gets to keep his full salary because he is injured, then has to go through a cultural diversity training and then put out a statement on his Instagram. I don't know if you saw the video Raja, but when he said that, he said it like he was in the corner, like it was a corner three and he had so much time to shoot it.

He took a dribble. He looked around. He pumped baked. Then he shot the shot, right? He was there. right? He says he didn't mean it. He says he didn't know what the word even meant, Raja. But now he's going to go through cultural diversity training and everything's going to be well, right? He's going to get suspended for a week and everything's just going to be hot.

Just fine. Do you think that this punishment matches the, the transgression, Roger Bell? No, I don't. I don't know Myers-Lennard. I don't know. I can't say that, you know, he's anti-anything. So first, let me put that out there. he said the word in the stream because I did see it. And I will say to you this, my son is a big call a duty player, the one you were talking about, the one place. And I stand outside of his room and he says some wild stuff. I have to say to him, hey man, your nine-year-old brothers across the hall. Like you got, you got to check that, okay? Because he can't be privy to that. So I've witnessed people get like fired up about the game. But the things that come flying out of your mouth in those

instances aren't things that you never say. Like you're not drawing for a word at that point. You're not searching your word bank for something to scream at someone. What comes flying out is something that you say on the regular, something that's in your vernacular at that moment. And so that's what I know about that situation. I don't know Myers-Leonard. I hope he is not anti-Semitic or anything like that.

But what you said was all kinds of wrong. And you just kind of illuminated to me. another situation with with Draymond Green calling Kevin Durant a bitch and the fine that was levied, you know, by the club for Draymond. Was it a one game check? You said? It was a one game check. Yeah.

And so, no, the punishment does not match the crime. I'm not calling for him to be blackballed from the NBA or anything like that. I don't, I don't act like I know what the appropriate, but I know that 50 racks. Now, there could be some letter of the law and some. something in the CBA that prevents them right now because he's injured from doing more. And if there is, then, you know, that's fair. I don't know the ins and outs of that. But I do know that the current punishment for that does not fit the crime.

No. I mean, like you said, it doesn't match the crime. And if you are talking about being a more inclusive league and everything like that, and you are talking about this is a league where everyone is welcome, you would want to get that right, you know, you would just want to get that right. You would want to make sure that the punishment matches the transgression, right? You want to because, and I don't know,

I think we're gone of the days where like, oh, he's going through a cultural diversity program. Everything should just be a okay. I think we're gone from those days, man. I'm going to need to see real tangible work being put in. And, you know, this is also a guy that, at least outwardly, the last time we saw him deal with things like this, it was in the bubble when he stands up for the National Anthem while his black teammates are kneeling beside him to protest, you know, racial injustice, police brutality and all these things. even looking at the visual of that of that picture of a white man standing up while black men are kneeling beside him is very wild and problematic to me right because he wanted to take a stand because he said his his family was in the military which is also wild because Colin Kaepernick the reason why everyone is kneeled because a green beret told him that that would be more respectful to the military right but that was a the last time we saw him talk about anything about equality or anything is that he went against

his black teammates and was like, I'm not going to kneel for social injustice. I'm not going to do it. I'm outwardly not going to do this. And so when you see those back-to-back instances, it gives you a little bit of pause. Like, okay, are you really about, are you really about this life? Are you really about it? Do you say this on a regular basis? Do you say these types of things? And it's one thing to do the cultural diversity training, but it's another thing to put it in practice. And that is where I'm going to judge Myers-Lennard.

Are you really going to put into work, bro? Because it doesn't seem like you do. It doesn't seem like outwardly. It doesn't seem like you do. I think that's fair, Logan. I, too, ask the question. Just the optics of who he is as it pertains

to the anthem and the stand that he takes. It's okay, man. That's your stand. I'm not here to judge that. But when you then double down with this, you know, this mistake on the call of duty, I do think it's fair to start wondering if there's more to it than you would have originally, like, claimed there was. Do you know what I mean?

Like, I think that's fair. I'm not saying that without a doubt, unequivocally, there is. I'm just saying it's fair to start wondering as embers, you know, continue to pop up. Like, I got to wonder now. Do you know what I mean? Julian Edelman wrote him an open letter the same way he wrote. I think it was Deshawn Jackson when Deshawn Jackson had put out some some anti-Semitic tweets, I believe it was, inviting Myers-Leon to a shop at dinner in Miami and just for some educational purposes.

You know, things like that, Myers, like if you're really contrite, you really want to understand what's going on. You really want to know why it was what you did was so egregious. Take them up on them. You know what I mean? And to your point, like the, what did they call it, social sensitivity training? Well, yeah. Come on, dog. Culture diversity.

Ain't anybody worried. Come on, bro. Like, let's keep it a buck. That's what they got to say. Like, that's just something in place to put everybody at ease. But, you know, take Julian Edelman up on stuff like that, you know. Immerse yourself in the culture and learn about it. And if you can do those things, again, I am not a canceled culture, dude.

I don't believe that your life should be over and you shouldn't. be able to earn a living again because you made a mistake. Now, if you don't learn from that mistake, you keep making that damn mistake, then, you know, that, that's where we have the problem. Right now, he made a mistake. I do not think the punishment matches the crime. I'm going to say that again. But what are you going to do from now? Like, how you can go about mending those fences and making it right? We'll see, man. I don't know, man. I have nothing. I have nothing. I think we've said, I think we've said, oh, yeah, does that? I don't know what to say. Have you ever been in the midst of like a heat and just yelled some stuff?

Have you ever searched for a word in your head while you were emotional? Why were you were emotional in the heat of a battle? Have you ever said, no, no, no, no, let me search for a word. Or does what you say sometimes just come flying out of your mouth? I mean, yeah, but it ain't no wild stuff like that. But that's my point. Yeah. It's something that's in your vocabulary.

I didn't even know, I didn't even know, like, pardon me for not knowing those racial slurs. I didn't know that slur. I didn't even know. Right. So for you to say that, like, he gave like an album cut of racial slurs. Like, it was like a deep album cut. You know what I mean? And he just came and then to go back and say you didn't know that? Bro, we, none of us do that. I'm sure, like, none of us knew that was slurred. I wasn't in my vocabulary. So I don't necessarily believe he didn't know that word. I don't at face value. I just don't. But that's either here nor there. The fact is we got to see what he come, what Myers does from here. We have to.

Like, that's, that's just what it is. You know, we have to see if he's really about that action and really, if he's really taking him classes to heart or not even taking him class to heart. Is your mindset change, dude? Like, you're going to have to do like a whole bit of soul searching or something to, like, figure that out and, like, really show you're different, you know, just show that this is different. Here's my thing. I know Eric Spolstra personally, right? I know

Eudanus Haslam, since he was in the I don't know, ninth grade. I know some of the people around the heat personally. They worked at FIU, some of their, you know, strength and condition of people and training staff. Like, these are people that I've known outside of NBA circles, so I know who they are.

They don't, they don't strike me and never have as a bunch of guys that would be tolerating a whole lot of of the things that that word represents. Do you know what I mean? Like the hatred that that word represents. I don't believe the Miami heat culture to be that.

So I'm just going to say again, like Myers-Lanner has to figure out how to actually prove the people that this was a one-off and that he's about making up for it and proving to everyone that that's not, you know, exactly who he is. Because I do want to give the heat credit. Like I know those people not to be like that.

Do you know what I mean? end, you know, you're talking about strong personality, strong, strong people in Eudonis and Jimmy Butler and people like that. You know what I mean? Those those cats aren't having a dude in the locker room who is displaying those type of tendencies on the regular, you know? So, you know, Myers just, hey, bro, take some people up on their offers to get educated and, and have a little awareness about what's going on. Yeah, man. So the jury's is still out on Myers, Leonard, man. They will see, you know. We'll see in a few months or at least, some years now how you really felt

if you really about this action. All right. The heater playing well. The heater playing well. The heater playing well. Somebody was in the Twitter sphere, right? Because I'm on there sometimes now asking if we were going to ever talk about the heat. And I put like a little laughing.

What is it called a gif or a jiff? What is it? Is it a jiff, bro? I don't know. I don't know. No, but it was a little. It was a little. It was a little animated thing.

Like it was like somebody shrugging. Like, I don't know. But here we are, and the heater, Myers-Lennard, for all his transgressions, has brought us to the heat. And the heat are playing well. Jimmy Butler's ball in. They're on the move. I mean, it makes sense, man. They had, like, their older team and they had a short turnaround, bro.

And they had injuries. Yeah. The heat are fine. I didn't really, I wasn't concerned about the heat, okay? I think once they get into the postseason, they'll be fine. They're a veteran team. And also, Jimmy Butler's a real one, bro. I want to see in the playoffs, I'm taking Jimmy, man.

You know what I mean? I'm taking Jimmy. I don't think he's going to go to the finals, but man, like, Chippy Butler and and Bamadabio and Eric's was a great coach, an elite coach. But figure it out. I'm sure they will. Heat talk. Ah, you feel me?

All right. Let's take a quick break, and we are going to talk about the rookie class of the NBA. And we are back. I'll talk about something that we normally don't talk about here, Raja. Mm-hmm. The NBA is rookie class. I know you don't like, you don't be talking about rookies, you don't be talking about young ins.

You know what I mean? You'd be really just behaving. That is not, that is such a, that is totally not who I am, bro. I am not that guy. And I felt it necessary to hit you with a bro there. Sometimes it's just, sometimes I, sometimes I just say at that time, I felt like it needed to be. That's not me, bro.

So talking about the rookie class. And Lamello Ball in particular, Lamello Ball, by all accounts, if he keeps playing like this, rookie at year. Like, no question, rookie of the year. Ball and I sent you the clip of him doing a little spin cycle, turn around, pump-baked three-point shot,

all the swagger. Real Shino Hills out here. Never lost. Never settled. but Lamello's playing really good man And I think that Lamello's playing really good Anthony Edwards is playing really good Tyrese Halliburton is playing really good

But this was supposed to be a rookie class Where it was supposed to be the off year, remember? It's supposed to be the year that everyone was saying Oh, I'll just wait until 2021 We were wrong about this rookie class, weren't we? If you said that, you were wrong I don't know that we said that on this show. But if someone, if that was the narrative around the draft,

then yeah, you're probably wrong. I think rookies are more prepared now to be impactful players than the NBA than they were 20 years ago. The league's younger. You know, you don't, you know, the physicality of having those double bigs with, you know, 2, 611 plus guys, 270 plus. That's tough for a young frame. to handle, right? Because typically when you come into the league, like you look at

the mellow ball, I mean, he's going to add weight. He's, but he's skinny right now, right? Like, he doesn't have that grown man body yet. And so it was tougher to navigate through an NBA game with the rules that were in place and all of those bigs running around banging you. Like, it's wide open and in space now. And the league is a lot younger. So I think, you know, it's set up now for rookies if you're, if you're good enough player, you know, not just any rookie, but if you're good enough to come in and be successful. And, you know, you're seeing it play out that way. Lamello, you know, Lamello is different for me.

Anthony, Anthony Edwards is phenomenal. Tyrese Halliburton again to double down on what you said, is having a great year. But Lamello's swag is just off the charts. He's just, I mean, it's, and I say that, like, with affection, it is, it is just completely swagged out. Like, and, and, if I would say 20 years ago, people would be trying to touch him up for that.

But in today's MBA, today's NBA is not like that. And it's okay. I'm not complaining about it. But his swag is off the charge. So when you're voting on that, like, he's got, he's just got moments where you're like, bro, you remember that move that moment made? Like that was crazy, man. Can I keep a G-Rue?

Yeah. It was a lot of Lamello hate, just straight hate because of that swagger, him coming into the draft. It was just, in hindsight, it was just so ridiculous, man. If you see, I'm sure there's going to be like a YouTube video. Let's keep it a buck, though. That was hate for his dad and all, you know, that was, projected on the kid, bro. Which is not cool in general, which is a whole other thing.

Just to see, like, I'm sure there'll be like a compilation soon about like, probably around the rookie of the year conversation, around all the slander of that Lamello got. Like, is he an NBA player? Bro, dude is 6'6 and can dribble and can is really good. He just hasn't been in a structured environment. But dude played pro in Australia. scored how many like 100 points as a sophomore in high school? Yeah.

And real competition in California? Yeah. Are you like, are we serious right now? If all the theatrics around him weren't around, he would be a five-star recruit, number one player. It wouldn't even be a question. But the questions that Lamello had to deal with was in hindsight a little much, just a little bit much, a tiny bit.

I think you are right. I also think that if you could have question marks about Lamello coming in because of the style that he played, you know, that happens to a lot of players. I think it was extra with Lamello, but sometimes you can look at a player's style and not really know how it fits in, right? I like, I like Lamello. I also like Lanzo. I think Lanzo is a great player. I think Lanzo, somebody just has to, you know, I think. He's playing better now.

Maybe Stan Van Gundy's the guy that figures out exactly who he is and how he likes to play. But I'm a fan of both of them. I do, again, think that the dad, the brand, and all of that, and the level of vitriol that some people have for that is projected on the kids to some degree. You saw it with Lonzo. You see it with Lamello. And all I can say to that, because I'm not a hater of the dad or the brand, is those two young men handled themselves phenomenal.

They do. In the face of all of what's going on around them and all the hype and all the narrative and all the hate, those two handled themselves like pros. And they're, you know, and they're succeeding. So shout out. Kudos, bros. And when we talk about this, how much stock do you put into a rookie year like this so far, right? Because on the one hand, he can be all world, which I think he's going to be. I just want to just, just for the sake of conversation, I think Lemo is going to be really good, have a really good career. But how much. much stock do you put into a Lamello season versus, say, like, a James Wiseman season, right? Where it isn't, has it been as successful injuries have played a part? Is the verdict, I see like on the time, on the TL, as the millennials call it. The TL. The TL. You know, everybody's writing Wiseman off and things like that. Is the verdict already happened or should we wait at least three, four more years, man?

No, yeah, no verdict, no verdict on that. Hey, great job of taking the bull by the horns for some of these rookies stepping into opportunities and producing, right? James Wiseman did not play much last year. You're talking about Lamello being over in New Zealand and Australia and playing, and before that being in Lithuania playing against men in pro leagues, whether they're great or not is besides the point. and James Wiseman played high school ball

and then played what one or two games at Memphis and sat you know and so you know there's going to be more of a learning curve for him it might take a little bit longer I'm not telling you that he would be he will be a superstar but I'm telling you the jury is still out and you're going to have to be a little patient and you see it play out from draft class to draft class some guys have a great first year can't duplicate that

kind of wind up that's their peak that's who they are you know some guys it takes a year or two and now here they are as something that you never, you know, could have imagined after their first year. And so everybody's different, man. You just got to let it play out. You got to let them get acclimated to the NBA, which everyone has a different time frame for that. And then, you know, you can figure out what they're going to be. What do you, what is the big learning curve that every rookie needs to know, right?

Because it's one thing to say he's 19 years old, but what does that mean in the locker room? What does that mean when, yeah, what does that mean in a locker room? when you're around all these older millionaires in this different life. It is a completely different world. I talked about being in Phoenix, which was a veteran locker room where we were, you know, nobody really played video games and we, you know, we did more adult, if you will, quote, unquote things. That doesn't mean every, but we were, you know, and then I went to Charlotte and it was a, you know,

holiday party and everybody was playing video games in a movie theater. So if you fall into a locker room that's kind of split and you're a young player, it can be confusing to figure out, you know, how do I fit in here? Who am I supposed to be with? Like, what, you know, how am I supposed to conduct myself? And you'd be naive if you didn't think that played into whether there was success on or off the court because, you know, you can't sometimes compartmentalize and separate the two. You're trying to figure out how to live on your own in some instances, figure out how to, you know,

who to trust in terms of your finance. There's a lot of things that go into being a pro that can weigh heavily on you and distract you from doing your job. Do you understand what I'm saying? A lot of things that have nothing to do with basketball. A lot of things that have nothing to do with basketball. And you're trying to manage all of this as a kid that should be maybe a sophomore in college, you know? And at a sophomore in college, I wasn't prepared to do anything on my own.

No. Anything. That just got prepared to do anything like six months ago. Yeah, I'm still working on myself, bro. Yesterday was not a great day for me. So, I mean, we're work in progress, you know. Yeah. But, you know, and so some guys feel.

figure that out quicker than others. Some guys hit a firm footing and they're in a great locker room and their stability and they're able to hit the ground running. I think Lamello having been in the spotlight for as long as he's been in and dealing with the kind of dysfunction of a spotlight, you know, not anything created necessarily by family, but the spotlight in and of itself is dysfunctional. There's a lot of stuff going on in that and he's navigated it since he was, what, 14? Yeah. He's going to have a much better foothold on NBA surroundings and what and what that entails than like somebody else. He's also in the unique position where, you know,

he's seen his brother go through this already, you know? It's different when you, when you have all the answers to the test because it's right there. Absolutely. You know what I mean? You see, you know, both of his brothers, right? You see what not to do when you're overseas at UCLA.

You know, you see what not to do there. You see how to navigate your first few years because, you know, your big bro is a Laker, a Laker. his rookie year with LeBron James or the second year with LeBron James. And you're seeing all this stuff go on. So I think he's in a unique position. One thing that it hurts that we can't really see is we can't see his game play in full arenas yet. And that's something that I'm really excited to see at some point.

To see, I know when Lamello comes to the bay, I got to be at that game. I have to be there. I'm not sure when he goes to South Florida you probably want to be there so I just feel like it's I feel like almost cheated that when he makes a great play or makes an alleyup to

bridges you can't really see like the real reaction or when he gets booed for the first time and he just and he goes through that that's what I want to see from Lamello because he's such a polarizing figure and such a

great player for this type of game and such an entertaining player. I want to see him in an arena. I want to see the booze, the cheers, and all that when we come back. Yeah, it'd be great to see. This is an interesting question or an interesting topic from me. Because we typically talk about stars just being guys that get you 30 every night, carry a team to a championship, so on and so forth. I wouldn't make the argument.

Lamello is a star. At 14 and a half points a game. on a team that I don't know where they stand in the East. I wasn't doing the research on that pre-show. But he's a star for the very reasons you just articulated. You want to see him. You want to be there when he makes those plays to see the wow play, the swag, the drip. You want to see that.

And that, you know, there's stardom. Their stardom there. Even it's polarization, right? People want to hate, you know, sometimes, you know, bad press is good press, they say, right? Like, he's a star. People want to see what's going to happen with that. I think it's interesting. You know, the other thing I thought about with James Wiseman,

and I just want to touch it before we move on, is the other part of acclimating to the league is all about the speed of what's happening around you. Right? So you have in high school, like you might have for an open shot to be taken, let's say you have 0.75 seconds to get it off, right? One second.

You get to the college level, high Division I level, that might go from one second to 0.75 seconds, 0.60 seconds. when you get from that super high D1 level to the G League, it's slightly less. 0.5 seconds from 0.6. But when you get to the NBA, even from the G League, it goes from 0.5 to like 0.3.

And that's just speeding up everything you do fractionally. And that makes you think. And when you have to think, and you're not just playing off of this is what I do, it can kind of make you look like a deer in headlights or like you're lost a little bit. It takes different people, different amounts of time to acclimate to that. Some people never do.

And that's why they can't be successful at the next level, right? Some people are able to slow down mentally and get to a point where even though it's happening really fast, to you in your mind, it's just, I mean, it's just what happens. So you're moving slow in your brain while the game is moving fast and now you've acclimated to the speed. And so that's sometimes on the court in the midst of what's going on, what's happening to rookies that aren't reaching the level of. success that some people think they should. Wiseman is an interesting case because he was balling at the beginning of the season. There was the dunk that he had against at Detroit where he's going to cross court, does a euro step and dunks on like two people, bro.

Like the game is there. One thing I want to ask you, did you see that he got, he got benched for a game recently because he missed two tests against the Clippers? He missed two COVID tests, like just straight up missed it. and Steve Caird sat him for the I think until the fourth quarter

because he missed two tests and there was some talk on the timeline about how that was not fair and how he should have played. What? Yeah. Yeah.

How, you know, that, why do you take it out on the kid and mess with his minutes and things like that? That's his job. That's his job to be at the COVID test. Look at that's his just,

Boy, don't get me started on that, bro. You give me started with my coach, well, coach hat because it all, it all. Coach, Coach, Bell, what do you think? Steve Kerr's job is to hold James Wiseman accountable for doing his job. And part of your job as an NBA athlete right now is fulfilling your COVID-required testing

or whatever else that looks like. And if you're not holding up that end of the bargain, then by definition, you're not doing your job. and it becomes Steve Kerr's job to hold you accountable. Otherwise, you stay being the immature, you know, young kid that's not being a professional. And Steve Ker kudos to him for having backbone to be like, nah, bro, like, this is what we're doing. Like, you missed that, and there's got to be a ramification for that. Now, the argument was a few years back when Clay Thompson hit, I think, 60 and three quarters.

The practice before that, I guess he overslept and didn't make practice, right? And there was a juxtaposition of, well, you know, Wiseman missed this and he didn't get to play. But Clay Thompson, hold on. I know I see your face. Go ahead. No, go ahead. I'm listening. And Clay Thompson did get to play after missing a practice.

My argument here is, James Wiseman probably will, I don't know, probably. Might be a Hall of Fame or might have be a great talent, maybe. But he is not Clay Thompson in 2016-17. That's what it is. He's just not. He hasn't proven enough to do that. And that's just how it is. You can't.

There are levels. shit. There's levels. And I brocissed some players and they were like, you know, we got to stop normalizing how, you know, normalizing this kind of punishment of taking away game time. And you're killing Wiseman's confidence. You're killing all these people's confidence by benching them. I'm saying you hold them accountable, you know, I think that you're holding these players accountable for at least in a rookie because let's get, let's be real, man. In this life, People get special treatment. Superstars get trusted treatment.

They can be late to a shoot around and still play and still start. It doesn't matter. But you're a rookie. You're a rookie. And it just is what it is and it's different, man. It just is what it is. Kevin Grant can miss something. You know, he doesn't.

Or LeBron, he doesn't. But if LeBron missed a practice, not the end of the world. He's still going to start. It's not going to get out. But they had to earn that. They had to earn it. the right to be able to do that. Damn,

damn right. First of all, different coaches may have different approaches to that. You know, another coach might let you get away with that. I would stay Steve Kerr's as successful as he is because, you know,

he's a really good coach and he has a good feel for these things. I, you know, James Wiseman, you said missed two COVID tests, right? Yep. That's two. That's not one,

right? What you talked about, not only is, are you not Clay Thompson at this point? But I've got enough of a sample size. if I'm Steve Kerr of Clay Thompson being on time, doing what he's supposed to do, not missing practices,

that if he messes up once, like, I can forgive that. We can talk about that. And if I'm satisfied with the excuse, I can forgive it. But you've missed two now. I would venture to say if Clay Thompson overslept like two days later and didn't come to practice,

then he would have never had the opportunity to have that 60-point, whatever quarter or game. Because, you know, at that point, now I have to do something because this is a pattern. Like, you've done it twice. So that's the difference for me. I'd be fascinated to know who most players that I was around and maybe this is the old crumudgeon coming out. But most of us wanted accountability.

I respected the hell out of Jerry Sloan because there was accountability. And it was for everyone to some degree. Yes, there are levels to it and a much better player than me might not have the same. But he was going to be in their face and hold them accountable to some degree. Do you know what I mean? Their minutes might not be affected like mine. But like Jerry, Jerry Sloan was the type of dude. Jerry would sit me for like two games, let's say.

Now, I wasn't playing maybe two-thirds of the minutes that I had normally played. And I'd eventually have to go to Jerry and say, you know, coach, I don't understand like what's going on. What did I do? And he looked me straight in the face as a man and he detailed what I wasn't doing, right? And he'd tell me, like, this is what it is and this is why I'm doing that. And if you can fix it, you get your minutes back. And guess what it was on me to do? Fix it.

Fix it. And if I fixed it as a man of his word, you know what Jerry would do? Put me right back where I was supposed to be. But I appreciated that. Like, that's how you grow as a player and as a team. If you're just going to let people do whatever they want all the damn time and there are no ramifications or punishments for him, Logan, you can't grow. You can't be a good team like that.

Listen, man, if you did a wild crime and got a slap on the wrist for it, you know, chances are you're probably going to be. be like, well, I'm going to do that again. You know what I mean? I'm going to do it again. My question to you is, though, when you see that argument, to play devil's advocate a bit, when you see that argument about a rookie scene, a veteran guy not get held accountable the way he is supposed to, does that mess with their, could that mess with their spirit,

man? Because if I see somebody like, man, Rajah ain't getting punished, man, Rajah ain't getting doing it. Like, Sasha's big time. She ain't getting no ramifications. There's nothing that's happening with her. but y'all laying the law on me. What's going on right here? I don't like this.

Could that mess up with a rookie psyche when he sees that? Yeah, but then he ain't built from the right stuff. If that's going to derail a rookie because he ain't getting treated like a star, then I'd make the argument that he ain't built from what you need to do to be built for to be successful in the league because there are levels to it. And that rookie has played at a lot of different levels. And at some point, he was the young buck. every level, there are different rules for different people. Now, a good organization, and I've

talked about this as it pertains to LeBron and Kauai with special treatment, good organizations learn how to not rub someone's nose in the fact that they don't get the same benefit of the doubt that Logan might get. Right? So that sometimes falls on a coach and as an organization. But as, you know, I wasn't a star rookie, but I was always a medium to low guy on the totem pole, Logan, I cannot be affected by what you let Amari Stottemeyer or Alan Iverson or Michael Finley do or not do. They're not me. That's not my business. My business is what I can control and the way I interact with my teammates, my coaches, and the

club and whether I'm following the rules that they want me to follow. I can't be concerned with what Logan is allowed to do. Fair point. You have to be strong-minded because if, you know, this is going to derail your whole career, then... Then that's something about you. I was saying, I think Wise was going to be great, though. I really think, right.

Me too. I didn't mean, hopefully the people didn't take this as a slant on James. I wasn't like that. No, no, no, no. I think, but I think Wise was going to be, is the truth and will be. He was my pick to be rookie at a year this year. And I think once he figures it out, he's going to be fine. Seven, what, seven two, bro?

Like, it's a super skilled. Yeah, he's going to be fine. Really good player. All right. That has been another edition of the real ones on the Ringer NBA feed. It's a fun. A fun, it was an interesting episode. It was an interesting episode.

I would say fun. I think that's okay. I think it was fun. I think it was a fun episode. You can check us out on Mondays and Thursdays. We got some stuff coming for you guys coming up pretty soon. I think you guys are going to like it. You can catch Raja on Twitter.

Tell them your Twitter, Raja. What is my Twitter? I don't know it. Is it Bill 19 Roger? All right. I'm going to tell you right now. I got look it up. This is ridiculous, bro.

This is ridiculous. It is Bell 19, Raja. That is my Twitter. Yeah, verify him. Yeah, go ahead and get that verified. At Logan and Murdoch. You can check out our full slate of pods. You can check out the mismatch.

You can check out group chat. You can check out the answer. You can check out R2C2 with who, Rajabelle. The Vallejo legend Cici Sabathia. You can check out the Ringer music show, which just had an emergency pod. to come out today with Charles Holmes. You can check out Black Girl's songbook with Daniel Smith.

You can check out TV concierge on Tuesday because I will be on it on Tuesday with Shay Sharano. So tap in. We will see you guys on Thursday. Holla.