The Ringer NBA Show - Making Sense of Michael Malone’s Firing. Plus, Western Conference Carousel Trust Meter

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Following the shocking firing of Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth, Logan Murdock and Howard Beck try to make sense of it all. How long has the tension been building between Malone, Booth, and the Nuggets brass (1:20)? What happened since the championship run the Nuggets had just two years ago to now that caused all of this friction and dysfunction (11:55)? Have the Minnesota Timberwolves underachieved or overachieved based off of the Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle trade (25:28)? Logan has one question for each Western Conference team as we head into the final weekend of the NBA regular season (36:31). Plus, the mailbag! Could a team comprised of foreign stars beat an all-USA team? The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hit the mailbag! [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Howard Beck Producer/Audio: Clifford Augustin Video Producer: Victoria Valencia Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-dash-help.com. What's popping? Ruins. Logan Murdoch here. Roger, wait. Nope, not there.

Howard motherfucking Beck. It's in full effect. He is here after 36 minutes or so minutes of technical difficulties. I apologize, Howard. Not my technical difficulties. Let's be clear. Logan's technical difficulties. Absolutely mine.

Absolutely mine. difficulties right now. I'm trying to just figure out this mic situation and troubleshoot myself with the limited tech experience that I have. Sheesh. Anyways, a lot to talk about on real ones.

First off, we had a show and then all of a sudden, Roger's not here, so we haven't, I'm doing this differently on the fly right now, but when we, the last episode with me, you, and Raja, the

news had just come down that Michael Malone was fired. And I want to get to that to start off the podcast. We'll get into the playing stuff later on in a Western conference because I really think that deserves its own segment that will be happening in the second segment. But we got a little bit more clarity on the why Michael Malone has been fired along with Calvin Booth. there's a really good article in The Athletic from Tony Jones and Sam Amick, a friend of the show, basically laying out the why

and the how and all these things. And I wanted to read a segment of their piece about the rationale of this firing. And it says the rationale was twofold. In making this move, the nuggets would eliminate much of the negativity that team officials had struggled to navigate all seasons.

in an emotional rollercoaster that appeared to be bothering Nicole Yokic in particular more than ever. And throughout the days, I'm not sure what you've been hearing, Howard, was kind of the same thing

that has been percolating league-wide is that this move was made because Calvin Booth and Michael Malone couldn't get along and it was affecting everybody on the team,

including their face of the franchise, Nicole Yokic, and management said, upper, upper, upper management was like, we can't have this anymore. This is just not sustainable and it's not good. Based on the more of the clarity that we've been getting in recent days,

do you think that this was still a good move to do this around this part of the season? And did it have to be done at this point, based on the context that we have gotten over the last few days? My first instinct on these is always, if you think you still have a runway in the playoffs, firing a coach with days to go, or in the case of the Grizzlies, you know, weeks to go, is just inherently destabilizing.

Like the timing of it, having a change in leadership, a change in voice, maybe not a change in system, because no one's installing a new system at this late date. But still, it feels destabilizing. And so my instinct on both of these incidents has been to say, I just don't understand why you would do this now. If things are going south, I get it. If you think you're going to fire the coach anyway, I get it. But you're potentially

short-circeting some semblance of postseason success by throwing yet another variable into the equation. That said, in both cases, and we talked about the Grizzlies thing last week. I explained what I had heard about that. put them aside. In the case of the Nuggets, it's not just that Malone and Calvin Booth were at odds. And as our colleague, Zach Lowe, I love being able to say that phrase, as our colleague, Zach Lowe, said on his pod yesterday that he did with our buddy Mark Stein, it's been described as a cold war, but like cold is almost the wrong adjective. It's like, I don't remember what Zach said, but it's like, it was like a flaming hot, you know, feud. It was bad. It was really bad. But you don't fire the coach and GM with three games left in the regular season when you have the best player on Earth and still have a plausible case to make a run for the finals. You don't do that just to sort out the GM versus coach tension. That cannot possibly cast enough of a poll over the locker room independent of anything else, which brings me to this. Michael Malone was fighting battles in every direction. Definitely with Calvin Booth in the front office,

but there were problems in the locker room too. There's no question about that. I've heard multiple versions of this in the last few days. And I think, you know, I think you have to conclude. It's the only logical conclusion that what ownership saw in deciding to make this move was we do still have the best player on Earth.

We do still have the core of a team that won a championship two years ago. We do still have the semblance of a team that can make a run. Like, okay, maybe the Thunder are the clear favorites in the West. They are by record. But everything else is a jumble. We've got as good a shot, the Nuggets, as anybody, to at least get to the conference finals and maybe even win it. The only reason you fire Michael Malone at this stage is if you think he's an impediment to that.

not just because he's fighting with Calvin Booth. Like we got to use just logic here. Forget Intel, forget anything I've heard the last couple days of talking to people around the league. All of that's relevant, of course. But even just basic logic tells you the Nuggets concluded that we needed a new voice right now for this playoff run. And we think we have a better shot with David Adelman right now than with Michael Malone. That's the only conclusion you can draw. Well, it's not even just that.

I mean, from a coaching perspective. I mean, there was a lot of classing within, you know, Booth and Michael Malone. But a lot of that was, at least in the locker room perspective, based on the story and based on stuff that we heard, is like the insistence on playing Russell Westbrook above other guys that have been more successful in their roles, specifically during the back half of the season. Right. And you have that coupled with just the nuggets have been bad post all star break just for whatever reason. One of the reasons obviously is the infighting, but not giving enough of a lease to younger guys and guys that can really help the team. I mean, a lot of that, you know, the nuggets get a lot of a bad rap for having short rotations. But that's kind of a Michael Malone thing, right?

Like that he does have a bit of a short least put a bit of a short lease on his rosters. He didn't do that necessarily with a veteran group, but as he had a younger guys, it was hard to get into his rotation. He trusted Russell Westbrook a little bit too much down the stretch even after egregious mistakes and kept him on the floor, which is another twofold thing because Calvin Booth brought him in, right? So like it's kind of a convoluted thing. but the biggest thing that I'm getting is it couldn't go on because of, you know, the, however you, I like Michael Malone, but, you know, I was told from somebody like, it's just the old school approach that can't be brought into this new school that can only go to a certain, in this modern NBA, Michael Malone's style can only go so far. The fact that it went, what, eight, nine years says a lot about his coaching document, but I think a lot of people just got fed up and just, you know, the, you know, Pat Riley went through this with the Lakers, right, where people were just burned out with your messaging.

Now, the other part of that thought that was interesting, Howard, is the stealth recruitment of Tim Connolly maybe to come back to steer this ship, which is also an interesting thing. right because Connolly's also the guy that brought in Michael Malone and put into this group. So there's that element of it as well. How attractive is the Noges job and who do you think will ultimately fill it? You think Connolly will come back or do you think that there is maybe going to be more of a nationwide search for a new GM and thus an extension of coach? I mean, it's interesting because, you know, Connolly also, he hired Michael Malone. He also hired Calvin Booth.

Calvin Booth was his right-hand guy and then replaced, you know, Booth replaced him when Conley left for the Timberwolves. Look, the Denver Nuggets do not exactly have a glorious history of paying people at a lot of levels, including their GM or president of basketball operations. Conley got an incredible deal. I think including, didn't you get a, like a share of ownership or something? like he got equity or something in the Timberwolves when he took that job. My understanding of that has been all along. Like that was not so much Glenn Taylor. Like Glenn Taylor, you know, we know Glenn Taylor is not exactly.

You're talking about not wanting to pay somebody. Yeah, talking about not wanting to pay somebody. Also, not not somebody who would know that Tim Connolly is the guy you should go poach. That was by, I think, every indication, the new ownership group of Mark, Lori and Alex Rodriguez, who really like obviously Taylor was on board with it. but I think those are the guys who really went hard to get him. And they have now finally just won their battle with Taylor to take over, to take ownership fully. I think when there was still an ownership dispute in Minnesota, as long as that was going on,

I think it was fair to wonder whether Tim Connolly would want to be there for the long term, given all just the static and politics that was going on there. But they may finally have stability here soon and with a new ownership group that for all the doubts that have been raised about, them and they're financing and all this. Like, I think they're fine. I'm going to guess that Connolly's going to stick it out there. And unless the Nuggets are going to reverse years and years of being cheap skates, I don't see them making the kind of offer that would lure Connolly.

Hey, man, Stan Crocky got an NFL team to pay for, okay? He has, he has bigger expenses. They have a soccer team, too, or something. Yeah, yeah. Nuggets are just there. Yeah, it's, no, I don't see it. But it's a good question. Like obviously people immediately started speculating, like, would Bob Myers take that job?

You know, I don't know if Bob would take that job. I'm a little skeptical to. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. There has not been a lot of scuttle butt yet where I think everybody's still processing. Bob likes attention. You know, Bob likes flashes. You know what I mean?

Pun intended. He likes. Bob likes California and who could blame him. Yeah. So I don't know. It's still so fresh a couple days later. there hasn't been a lot of scuttle butt yet, and I have not really poked around on this

as to who people think will get the GM or president job of the Nuggets when they get to the offseason. But, you know, listen, there was a really tough, it's been a really tough two years since the championship, in part because,

and we went over some of this the other day, they couldn't resign Bruce Brown, even if they wanted to. Like, the cap rules prevented. They couldn't keep Jeff Green. They could have kept KCP, but like, arguably they made the right move in letting KCP walk. But still, the erosion of the championship core has been difficult. And now that leads you to a place where the front office under Calvin Booth is saying,

wait a minute, we've got good young players. We think Peyton Watson and Julian Strother and Pickett and all these guys, we think they're the guys who can replace the vets. And Michael Malone, you won't play them. You won't develop them. You won't trust them. And yes, Calvin Booth is also the one who brought in Westbrook, which then gave Malone a veteran to crutch to lean on instead. But the divide between coach and front office leads directly from we won a championship.

We couldn't keep the core together partially because of CBA rules and payroll rules. And so you, you know, I'm not going to say that the front office did a great job of backfilling those spots. Because you could have found better veterans than the young guys. And if the young guys weren't, like, you have to trust the coach at some point to determine whether these guys are worth those minutes or whether you're sacrificing too much in the regular season. This is always attention, right? You've seen this every day for the last like 10 years, right? Steve Kerr, there's a constant push pull there, not with him in the front office, but between Kerr and the fans, play this guy, play that guy. And then Kerr gives a guy a little bit of rope that, you know, they flame out.

And then it's like, he dismisses them. And it's like, oh, Kerr didn't develop him. Well, Kerr's actually done a pretty damn good job, like overall. like could he have started giving Moody more rope sooner? Maybe, but like it's working out pretty well right now with Moody and Pajemski and Cominga, but they had to earn their way there. And it's always a tricky balance for any head coach of a championship caliber team or a high playoff level team to decide how much rope to give your young guys when the expectations are win every game, make deep playoff runs. And the guys who usually do that for you are veterans. So it's tough.

And the other thing is an ego thing from Calvin Booth. part, right? Because he's like, he's trying to make a splash as a general manager. And he's like, yo, man, play my guys so I can be proven right that I made the right decision. Right. Like, it's, and then Michael Malone is like, I know what I'm doing it every time. It's, it's the classic ego class between two guys. And I just, one of the things that's just so interested in me, like, I never seen an owner be like, well, yeah, both of y'all gone. You know, like, all right, all right. guys can't settle your shit both of you guys are gone right and that's the most jarring thing in all of this right where uh you know i and to your point about the colloly connolly stuff

i feel like that was put in there just to like for the nuggets are probably saying that through back channels just a safe face at this point right like this is not necessarily like a great move league wide like it shows and this is what i was saying about the memphis thing and why this is this is doing it around this time is not good for the rest of the league because again we're in a perception-based league lifestyle world right now right even if this was the right decision to do doing it right now shows that you have instability right not only from you know outside from inside as well because and I don't know how much Nicole I know Nicola was very frustrated about this

right but like there's no reporting or any sense that I got that he was like you'll make this move right now right it was more of just like hey everybody's frustrated let's make a move of some sort. But like, you can't just do stuff like this and expect every, the next person, say a Bob Myers, which is probably not going to be Bob Myers, but say like somebody that you're trying to attract, they're going to see what just happened and be like, yo, you just did this. You just fired this person. What is really going on here? And I think the nuggets just like the Grizzlies, whether it was the right or wrong, quote unquote, decision, the time. timing of it makes the rest of the league go, hmm, is this organization really as stable as we think it is?

So, you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. I don't know what the next coach is going to me. I know that they want to groom Adelman, son of Rick Adelman, the legend. But they want to groom him. And I think they've always kind of wanted to groom him as well. Like from the beginning, there was the Nuggets always kind of looked at him as a guy like, hey, he's in the weeds. He can be something one day.

let's just give him a shot. But on the other hand of that, like it's kind of hard to give a guy a shot with a few days left in the season and you're going to give him a playoffs with a playoff audition, if you will. That's hard. It's going to be really hard for him

to make a good impression either way at this stage of the season. I don't know. I mean, in some ways he has nothing to lose, right? Because he was thrust into the job with three games to go in the regular season. And listen, he's obviously got a great pedigree. As you mentioned, son of Rick Adelman, long-time NBA head coach in various places,

notably in Sacramento during their best years. And many other places. But like David Adelman's been on that staff for, I don't know, seven, eight years. He's got a long track record with all these players. He knows them well. He knows what they've been running well. He has the trust of the players. is my understanding is that, is that Adelman has, has good cachet in that locker room.

And so I think the Nuggets obviously felt pretty comfortable being able to turn this over to him, even though he doesn't have, you know, head coaching experience and it is late in the game, again, the only thing you can conclude, I mean, if you want to conclude that it was just like, oh, we're just throwing up our hands, like get rid of everybody because they're all fighting. Fine, that is an explanation. But again, I don't think the Denver Nuggets with Nicola Yokic on that roster are firing Michael Malone with days left in the regular season just because of infighting. You could have solved that budget by fire. You can fire the GM.

That's the thing. It's, I don't want to put too much on this. I don't want to overstate this. You can fire a GM in April and not have it be that bad, right? We're past the trade deadline. We're past the time when you're signing guys to 10 days or everything. Like, you could operate with just your assistant GMs or whatever. and if you thought that the problem was just tension,

you could just remove the GM and keep the coach. That they fired the coach to, again, tells you it's not just about the relationship with the front office. It's about the relationship with the players. One last thing, no, on Adamman, that is, that I just want to note terms of an assistant coach is turning head coaches. It's really easy to, you know, be a really great locker room guy and really good with the players

when you're an assistant coach versus when you're a head coach, right? Because you don't have to be an asses. You can actually just be like a guy that players lean on and be the good guy. When you're thrust it into the head coaching role, that immediately changes because you have to be both the asshole and the good guy at the same time. So there's going to be some sort of frayed relationship where like maybe you had a good relationship with a young guy and then you got to play another role and they're like, oh, I thought we were cool. I thought we were like there are different intricacies that go through the change of being going from that assistant coach seat where you got your armor. around a lot of guys versus like you have to make tough decisions as a head coach. So that's just one of the many things that Adam and will have to deal with.

Yeah, he has nothing to lose, but also he has to navigate these things on the fly while it's, you know, you're competing for a playoff spot and ultimately a championship. It's a really hard balance. Like I think about Joe Missoula, right, who had to do that balance, but he had a whole season to figure that out, right? And they still kind of flamed out. Now you're talking about having an assistant coach being thrusted into something. it's April 11th, right?

Like the playoffs start in a week, that's really hard to do. And yeah, he does have nothing to lose, but also he has everything to lose because the same thing is swept. Like, are you going to just go do a coaching search? You're going to say, oh, we're good with David Adelman. And if you say we're good with David Adelman,

what are you going off of the eight years of him as an assistant or the four-game sample size that you saw in the playoffs? So, like, it's really, that's why it's so hard to do this. move at this time? The cliche among coaches is, you know, it's like the move of 12 inches to the left on the bench, 12 inches to the right, however your bench is configured. But that 12 inches that you move seats from assistant to head coach makes all the difference in the world.

And it is a different job. So you're right, Logan. And if you're now the one who's benching a guy in the fourth quarter or you're the one who's curtailing a guy's minutes or whatever, yeah, instead of you. being the voice of empathy as like, hey, man, sorry Malone didn't play you, but da-da-da-da-da-da. Now you're the guy who has to make, make the hard call and possibly piss off the players. So there's that part. But the other thing is, you can't underestimate just the personality element here. Michael Malone's a really great coach. And again,

somebody I like a lot personally, I've known him since he was an assistant coach in New York 20 years ago when I first got here. But he's old school. He's old school. And he's kind of a hard ass. And we know in this league that you can only, coaches who are who are built like that and who, who, uh, lead with that kind of, of, of style, there's sometimes a shelf life. I don't know what David Adelman's approach will be. I don't know what his coaching personality will be as a head coach. We'll see as these days and weeks ahead unfold. But I think this is one of those cases where the old school approach just wasn't working anymore with this group of players. Yeah. See what happens.

They play really well against the Kings, but that's the Kings. So we'll see how they do going forward. They have a matchup against the Grizzies, I believe, tonight or tomorrow night. That's going to be really fun. So we'll see what happens, man. They're going to roll with this, and it's going to be interesting. No new coach and no GM. What's the worst that can happen?

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See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-HELP.com. And we are back. Howard, this episode of Clutch Plays, was brought to you by Amazon Business. And speaking of Clutch Plays, we're going to talk about Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves who got a big win over the Memphis Grizzlies. One of the things that me, I'd be hitting Cliff at like 10 at night,

or 10 at night his time because I know he wants to talk about. Either I'm talking to him about what's going on with topics, or I'm hitting them with like some random West Coast rap. Just nothing but a link. But last night, me and him got to talking, and I wanted to bring that to this podcast, because we're talking about the Timberwolves. And we're talking about relitigating the trade

that happened preseason with the New York Knicks. And obviously they got rid of Kat. Obviously, they took back Julius Randall and Dante Divencenzhenzo. White Dante. Sorry, guys. I covered the guy and still don't know how to say his last thing. But anyways, one thing I wanted to ask you, because, you know, Timberwolves are playing

really well. They're one of the hottest teams post-all-Star break. And it's playing well. And they've really done a good job. I know they're eighth in the West, but big win and they are trying to get into the mix. But what I wanted to ask you is, based on the trade and your ex-examination. expectations of the trade, the expectations of the trade for the Minnesota Timberwolves, did the Minnesota Timberwolves underachieve based on what you thought they were going to be

or overachieve based on what you thought they were going to be post-trade in the preseason? Overachiever, underachieve based off the trade, not based on what we saw like them going to the conference finals last year, but like, but resetting our expectations. Resetting our expectations based on the trade. Yeah, because obviously there's a, there's a pretty severe dip in wins. And so my most people's assessments, you're going to say, you know, year to year, they took a pretty big step backward. But no, at the time of the trade, I think, I was really, I went round and round that week, Logan. Like, you know, it was obviously made for financial reasons.

They didn't trade Carl Anthony Towns because they thought that Julius Randall was going to be a better fit. That's not the case. This was absolutely a financial deal. And not because they were being cheap, but because they're worried about second apron concerns and being able to keep resigning Nas Reid and Nikila Alexander Walker and all these guys. Like they had to get their books right. That's what was pushing this through. But then you get to the basketball fundamentals of it. And it's like, well, you're definitely a step down going from

towns to Julius Randall. No offense, Julius Randall, but that's a step down. But you're picking up DeVincenzo, who great three-point shooter, feisty defender. A guy had a lot of great clutch moments for the Knicks the previous season. Great locker room guy. Great locker room guy. Can handle the ball a little bit. He's not exactly your backup point guard, but like he can, you know, take some of the pressure off of Ant and Mike Conley. So I got it.

Did I expect the Timberwolves to be as great this year as they were a year ago with Randall and Devencenzhenzo instead of towns? No, I didn't. I think there are, like, I don't remember what I would have said preseason or if I did address this preseason. about where I would have expected, maybe a little bit lower, but only, but only lower by, by like, the image of looking at the standings, right? They're close to 50 wins right now. They're like, they're on pace for 49 wins. Yeah. And, and they're, they're seventh, but they're seventh by being

in a three-way tie with the Warriors and Wolves, six, seven, eight. And they're only like one win behind the nuggets who are in fourth. So it's not that bad. Like, if they win one more game, we're going like, oh, well, they're in fourth place. Like, they didn't, you know, they didn't do too badly. It's still a step back. I think they won, like 56 games last year. So it's still a bit of a step back. It's going to end up being seven, eight fewer wins.

But as you noted, they've been pretty good since the All-Star break. They've got like the fourth best offense since the All-Star break. Defense has been 13th since the All-Star break. So net rating seventh since the All-Star break, 16 and eight record. that's pretty good. That's pretty solid. And Randall has looked better in the back half than he did at the outset. Devencenzo, I think, the same. Ant has been pretty damn good. Um, like, defensively, the rating doesn't look great. But like between Gobert and Ekeel, Alexander Walker, Jaden McDaniels, and himself, like they've got a lot of guys who can play D. Like, we don't know where this was this playoff race is. going, right? It is an absolute jumble. The Timberwolves could end up in the conference

finals and we'll say they didn't take a step back at all despite downgrading from towns to Randall. Like that's on the table. I believe that as well. And I think we'll look back on this season from Anthony Edwards. I mean, obviously there was the stuff that we've said with maturity, I think still tracks in the backlash in terms of like how we feel about his actions on the court that have nothing to do with basketball. Well, I think still track. But I think we'll look back on this season And as this season that really, like, showed at least me something about who Anthony Edwards is as a star player, right? Like, and a guy that can really carry a team higher than the expectations that we have for them. Now, for you, like, I think we had a difference in the opinion of the trade when it went down.

Like, I thought that I really liked it for the Timberwolves. I know that, like, it was a downgrade in terms of, like, Carl Towns. but I thought in the long term that this could be good for them in the locker room or on court and make them go, you know, I don't know, maybe deeper in the playoffs, but definitely have an effect of, there were times where Carl Towns got played off the floor defensively, right? And that was definitely a detriment to them in the postseason. I thought that this could, you know, give more minutes than I was read when he's supposed to get them and not really have a class in the locker room when that does happen.

and I thought that this could probably catapult them a little bit more. I did not expect this Carltown season, right, where he's having these outbursts offensively and things like that. I didn't know that that was going to happen, but I did have a bit more of an upside. That being said, based on what has happened in the early season struggles that the Timberwolves had, for ants to really lead this team into where they are right now

is really, really impressive, right? Like, you talk about how good he's been since the All-Star, and we put some stats to that. He's average nearly 28 a game, five boards, nearly five assists. He had a monster. He was so good last night in Memphis in a game that they had to have. And I always gauge games from superstars on that level, right? Like you look at what Anthony Edwards did in controlling the game and meeting the moment,

especially in that first half. I think he had like 23 in the first. And you juxtaposed that. But what Jha didn't do in that game, where they absolutely needed him, and that doesn't give me any confidence that Jock could do anything against the nuggets when they play them tonight. But when to see Anthony Edwards be able to carry a team in the way that he has been really,

really impressive. And I think we're going to look back on this season, maybe not one of his best ones, but one of those things where it showed the rest of the league, oh, this guy can continue to carry a team no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what the roster is, there is a standard that this guy can keep us at while we figure everything else out. Yeah, and listen, like, stars get defined by their post seasons in particular, right? So I think he's had a really solid regular season.

He's going to be somewhere, you know, in the top two all NBA teams. I'm trying to remember where he finished last year, but he'll be first or second team this year, probably second. And, like, Anthony Edwards has done everything that's been asked of him, I think. like there's always a little bit more you want from your superstars right um yeah could you know a little bit more consistency defensively um you're always going to ask for a little bit more and there's been i think a little bit more on him because you know he to his credit he empowered towns to do a lot even while he took the lead and then he had to adjust to like well what is what is my you know what's my

what what what's my responsibility now with randall instead right another guy who's going to do a lot with the ball in his hands, maybe sometimes too much with the ball in his hands, and then figure how to play with him, empower him, but not over empower him, because Randall will take that to the limit. Cliff reminding me, Ann Edwards wasn't back second team last year, and I think he will be again. But we'll judge him on the playoffs. We'll judge him on the playoffs. He's still really young in his trajectory. I can't wait to see what this run looks like. Unfortunately, or fortunately, actually, I mean, as we sit here on, you know, the last weekend of the regular season, we still have no clue. Are the wolves a playoff team or a play in team?

And then what's their first round matchup going to be depending on where they land? We don't know. But I think all eyes are going to be on him to see like, okay, this is your encore, right? You got to the conference finals last year and, you know, trade or no trade, we're going to judge Anthony Edwards based on what we see now in the postseason again. Timberwolves of Rockets is very intriguing is what I will say. Yes. Very, very, very intriguing. Yeah.

And that's on the table. It may not happen, but it's very impossible. Oh, man. I'm just like, you put my money on, in terms of the young guys, like the Jaws, the, I shouldn't even say this, but the lamellos of the world, the, the, the, the Lucas of the world. Anthony Edwards is right there, man. And he's probably like of the young guys.

And it was really interesting to see the Mavericks play to Timberwolves last year. It showed that the Timberwolves do have a lot. And Ann has in particular has a long way to go. But I think he's like second right there. He's right up there with Luca in terms of the guys that you want as a young guy. Shea obviously is there. I mean, he's in a class of his own this season. But really, really impressed with Ann.

I just, I really want him to just get a suitable co-star. Right. Like Julius Randall is obviously a second option, but like he's not really the true second option that you would want on a championship team. It just is what it is. Right. And that'll be probably his biggest contribution to the team is being traded for eventual second type option. But I really want that for him.

I really want that for him. Just to have that secondary guy because so much is put on his shoulders, right? I think even more so than Shea, right? Like at least Shea has J-Dub. There's really not a guy. The gap between the talent level. of Ant and the rest of the roster is pretty jarring, and I just want that to be closed a little bit.

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and keep your business in the game. Visit business.com to learn more. I live in the Bay, Howard and there is no there there there there there there there there there I don't know all right I want to before we get to the mailbag which I'm sure all of you guys are looking forward to including myself I want to give you a list of teams really quickly I want to kind of I have one question for each Western Conference playing team that matters okay I don't want to talk about the the Dallas Mavericks or the Sacramento Kings or Kangs because this would be too much negativity I want to talk about the

the teams that can actually do something in the playing race if they actually get into the playoff. So I got a question for you for each of these teams. We'll go down the list. This is Western Conference only. This is West Coast bias. Forget Cliff and the East Coast. Forget Howard in this context, too, because he's a Brooklyn boy.

We're going all to the West Coast, baby. All right. First team is the Clippers. How much do you trust Kauai's health throughout the next two months? And can the Clippers back door to a championship? Is this the year somehow? Do you trust them? This is like an excruciating one.

Everything the Clippers have done on the court, especially since Kauai came back, suggests very, very struggling that this team can make to the finals. it just does like Tyler should get some coach of the year consideration I'm just saying he's not going to get him but he should get some he should get some votes he was he was um in the running on my ballot but then like the rocket surge and I may like it's just going to be tough like between bickerstaff Kenny Atkinson and I may um I feel like that's the ballot in some order um but Lou Lou should get a lot of a lot of love too and he's done a phenomenal job um you know like if we could just stipulate, and the problem is we can't, but if we could stipulate,

Kauai Leonard, staying healthy from now until mid to late May, maybe into June, I could see the Clippers in the finals. I could. Like James Hardin's had a really good season, and I know all the, you laugh what you want about James Hardin's postseason record in the past. That's what I was going to ask you, Howard. Can, can, can Kauai be good enough to, to overcome a James Hardin-on-Court crashout. He doesn't have to overcome it. The fact is that the roles are reversed or reversed for James Hardin. Hardin always had to be the lead guy in Houston and, you know, co-lead in Philly.

And it didn't last that long there. But most of like the rap on Hardin is a really rough postseason record in Houston. And when I say record, I don't mean win-loss. I mean his shooting numbers. I mean his just poor performances, him just like fading. But that's because he carried such a huge load. and because they were so heliocentric and Hardin centric. And this is not that.

Hardin just has to be a really great second fiddle or even some nights third fiddle because they've got Norm Powell. They got a great defense. Like just stipulate health, the clippers can go really deep. No question. What about Zubots being the new David Robinson per cliff? That's been awesome. Zubotch should get some all defensive team love too, by the way. Absolutely. Absolutely, man.

Okay. I agree with you. I mean, I always think the clippers are fools gold, but they're so good right now. They are really, really good. And they're coming on at the right time. Kawhi. And I don't blame anybody, Logan, if they say, like, I just don't believe. It's totally fair. I don't believe it. I think they could, but I don't believe it. You know, I think that they have all the- Yeah, it's not even that. It's like, yo, man, Kauai's going to play bro. I was at the game, I think it was game one of Sun's Clippers. a couple years back in the playoffs. And like, Kauai was so good in that game. I think it was the first two games. He was so good.

He won the first game. And I thought he was the best guy on the planet. And two games later, he's out for the rest of the playoffs. That is the Kauai experience, right? Like, that's just what it is. We'll see. You know, we'll see. They'll see if they can get to the finals.

And if they win the finals, I'm curious to see the two people on figureover that's going to show up to the parade. But, you know, that's easy to be there. Billy Crystal and Michael Pina. No, he's going to be crying because the Celtics lost. All right.

Let's talk about the Grizzlies really quickly. In a word about the grizzlies, yuck. But did the Grizzlies have enough mental fortitude to overcome what their front office did to them with the firing of their coach? I don't like the framing of this question. I'm not, like, the Grizzlies did this to themselves. The players did this too. Like, let's not like let them off the hook for the Taylor Jenkins firing.

They play a role in this. Okay. Can the Grizzlies just overcome themselves? Let's just put it that way. I don't have any faith in them. I just don't. the way this season has played out, you know, the, they can't settle on, well, they have settled on now,

an offense that's a little bit more jaw-centric again after going away from him. But he's had a really goofy season, partially just, I think, lack of engagement at times, partially just he wasn't available for a lot of the season. He missed a lot of time because of injury. I just, like, I like, like, John Morant is a really fun player. and I think can be a winning player when he's when he's locked in. Jaron Jackson Jr. is a really good player.

Desmond Bain's a really good player. This is not though your classic like big three of superstars. Like I don't know that any of those three guys are like none of them are perennial all NBA. And normally you need like an MVP caliber player to lead you. None of those guys are in the top 10 of the NBA. I see man like we were talking about this pre-pod. I historically have just not liked the Memphis Grizzlies roster, man.

Like I don't, and I'll just echo what I said pre-pott. Like, I don't like, I don't like Jaws game for obvious reasons, right? He goes to the cup so much. Doesn't really have a jump shot. Kind of gets predictable in the postseason. Hasn't worked on his game. All those things, right? Doesn't stay healthy.

Then Jaron Jackson kind of is who he is, fouls all the time. Can't be a good defensive player, but doesn't. isn't disciplined enough to be that good of a defensive player. I think Desmond Payne, as great as he is, is going to be really, really good on another championship team in a couple of years, right? Like, I just think that he is miscasted as a third best player on a roster when he's really like four or five maybe, you know?

Like, if he's fourth or fifth on a championship roster, I think you're in really, really good shape. And I think they kind of hit their course. I think they are who they are. I think their peak was in 2022. and I think there might be at their very peak a second round team. I think we talked about this. I have no face in the Grizzlies.

Anything you want to say about the Grizzlies? Howard, before we get to the next team? Anything you want to say to people? No, the only other thing I'll say is, the only other thing I'll say is I do fully expect there are, at best, a first round out if they make the playoffs. and I do think without getting into details, there's going to be some changes this offseason.

Whole lot of changes. They need to tear it down. I mean, honestly, if the changes that I think you're talking about, they need tear it down to the studs. Anyway, let's go to the Golden State Warriors. Will the real Jimmy Butler please stand up? Will he ever show up, Howard? Will the real Jimmy Butler ever show up?

Are you confident even after this? I know that there was a really, really good into the season, aside from Harry B out here getting buzzer beaters, you know what I'm saying? But that was cool. But Jimmy Butler, we haven't had a Jimmy Butler game down the stretch of the season that would give the Warriors fan base and the Warriors as a whole confidence that playoff Jimmy still lives. So are you confident that Jimmy Butler, playoff Jimmy Butler, will appear at just the right time? Because honestly, they need down the stretch Jimmy Butler right now, and he hasn't really shown up. They need extra alpha over these last two games that they're going to avoid the playing.

And they need Jimmy Butler in a real way. I don't know if he's going to show up. Do you think he's going to show up? I mean, a dude took off enough games this year through suspensions and other stuff that he should have plenty left in the tank. Right. I do think that the Warriors, including Jimmy in this, expended quite a bit after Jimmy got to. there, right? Like, they were, like, they had this new energy. Like, everybody was energized by Jimmy's arrival. Um, and they've played their butts off. But like, yeah, they've had to expend some

energy just to get back into the thick of things. And my, like, it's just, the rough thing about the West is like, yeah, one loss, one Harrison Barnes, you know, uh, shot at the buzzer, um, all of a sudden drops you possibly to play in range. And, you know, now you're down to the last as we speak today where, you know, there's two games left. Uh, Portland. the schedule. The Clippers on Sunday. Yeah. And it's like you probably have to win out just to make sure you don't fall into the

plan. I think we'll see the real Jimmy Butler. I think we'll see playoff Jimmy. I think playoff Jimmy is a real thing. Now, playoff Jimmy's a real thing, not just because of what we saw in the couple of times that he like almost single-handedly dragged the heat to the finals in 2020 against the Lakers and then again against the nuggets a couple years ago. It's that there's an.

two things about Jimmy that fascinate me. One is like it does sometimes seem like he doesn't take the regular season as seriously. So playoff Jimmy is really more about like I'm just kind of like marking time until I get to the games that really matter. Because I know we're going to be there and that's when I'm going to expend the most energy. So you're not going to get 100% Jimmy in the regular season. So that's part of the difference. The other part is like I've noted this before that part of what I've actually really loved about his game over the years is that he does not insist on like trying to do everything. I don't have to take every shot.

have to have a 30, 35 usage rate. And he's on a team where he can be just complimentary to Steph. But as we've seen in some recent games, including in that loss to Houston, when the Rockets just had Steph locked up, that's when you need Jimmy to come through. Now, that's the question, right? If there's a night like that in the playoffs where Steph is locked up or Steph for some reason just doesn't have it, the defense has taken him out, can Jimmy step into that number one role? and look, he's got a lot of miles on him, too. Let's not forget. Like, he's, what, 35 and hard miles on him.

So I think it's fair to wonder. The pivotal miles on him. It's got some Tibbs ears. There's some Tibbs years in there. So I think it's fair to wonder. I think he'll be there. I mean, to your point about, and I was going to bring up that Houston game

because I was at that game, and there was just a confusing of like, this is why the Warriors brought you here, right? And I know there's been talk about him being Iguodala or being a version of Iguodala. This Warriors team doesn't need Iguodala. It needs Jimmy Butler. It needs a high volume rate of Jimmy Butler. Since he got with the Warriors, he's only averaging 10 field goal attempts per game.

And that game you speak of against the Rockets, he only had seven attempts at the basket. It's not good. So he's going to have to figure that out. I know the coaches want him about 17 attempts per game. That would probably be where you would want him in the postseason. And they're confident that he'll get there, but I think that they, there's a bit of like, well, which Jimmy are we going to get in it? We need aggressive Jimmy down the stretch, particularly through these next two games,

because it's a matter of the playing or the play or getting to the playoffs and having, not only the thing about the playing is if you get to the playoffs, you have a whole, week off as opposed to the plan where you have to play maybe one or two games and that puts a toll on an already old team so not to bring ageism into this i do that enough with howard but you know older teams you got to got to figure it out um you'll see playoff back he'll be there okay i mean shit you're a little bit more aggressive during the regular season that jimmy butler is i'll just say that um last two get teams on the list you are talked about the wolves and a nuggets um so uh nothing there Let's get to a motherfucking mailbag.

Cliff, my guy. What's going on, man? Howard, man. What's going on? What I'm Cliff? Had a lot of technical difficulties today, but we're going to get you out of here. Howard, I don't know.

You got a nice little... I got to hit the road. Yeah, you got a nice little East Coast drive. You got there. A lot of traffic. Yeah. Killing me. Killing me.

All right. This first one is from Adam Bow. I hope this match just finds you all well. and satiated by life. Question with a dramatic and, dare I say, ill-advised coaching firings of the past few weeks, which team would you say is better prepared to maintain competitiveness

and satisfy their respective star going forward? Thanks for considering my question, sincerely Adam Bo. So he's referring to Denver and Memphis? Correct. I think Denver. I think Denver's more prepared. I think they have more of a veteran locker room.

I think there's a little bit more symmetry between the star player and the front office in this point, right? Like, based on what Howard got aggregated for earlier this season at our live show, there is definitely a divide in Memphis between the star player and the front office, right? Like, I think that this was, that Denver can make the argument that, hey, we did this in service of our star player, as opposed to as an indictment of our star player. So I would say the nuggets are a bit more equipped in the postseason and beyond to, figure things out than the Grizzlies.

No, I think that's really well put. I think that's really well put. I mean, we have no question about, and granted, it's sometimes hard to, like, speak to, like, the alignment of the Nuggets front office and coach, or front office and Star Player when they don't really have a front office. The owner's box. The owner's box, excuse me.

Yeah, listen, the Nuggets as an institution, know what they have in Nikola Yokic, know what he needs, and know that they're going to do everything possible. within reason and within their salary cap constraints. So I don't worry about, like, whoever's leading that front office starting this summer or probably sooner because you want to get somebody in place before the draft, whoever they put in place, it's going to be very clear.

We do everything possible to maximize the rest of Niccolo Yokic's career and make sure that he's in a position to try to contend for titles every year. The Grizzlies can't say the same because John Morant has not been reliable as a player, as a personality, as a face of the franchise. And we're seeing that again over the last couple of weeks. And we don't need to go down this rabbit hole right now. But come on, like everything that he's done defying the league on all this stuff about the finger guns and going to a mock grenades thing.

Somehow he said the launching grenades is better than, you know, shooting guns. Jesus. I have made the argument that the launching grenades, while grenades, I guess could probably be more deadly than a gun. Grenades are comical. No one's, we don't have a society. we actually have people running around throwing grenades, at least yet, thank God. We do have a gun epidemic in this country.

We do have a gun violence problem. So mocking that. And a gun violence problem, not for nothing, a gun violence problem in the city of Memphis, bro. Like, that's not something to play with, man. You know, like, it's, it's, right. That's why it's so annoying with you, bro. That's why this shit is so annoying, man. And also, it's annoying because he tries to take the enlightened route about, like, oh, yeah, like, I'm just, I'm just making a point.

This is far. This is not even that bad. Like, bro, like, you're. He's also trying to play victim. His quote the other night was about the fine, which he finally addressed. I wasn't surprised just for showing people what's pretty much been evident for the last two years. What's been evident that like the league has it in for him? Like, come on, man.

You brought this all on yourself. And nobody told you, wait, hold on, bro. Nobody told you to put a gun on IG Live, bro. Nobody told you to do that. Twice. In your private life. We didn't want to see that. That's not something that we wanted to see.

Yeah, the persecution complex is just ridiculous. And I think, again, shows a lack of maturity and a lack of self-awareness. And it also indicates that he probably has not learned anything since all those things happened over the last couple of years, which brings me to this. Like, I'm not going to do anything to get re aggregated. I've already gone down this road once. But are we sure? The Grizzlies want to hang on to him and make him the star, their franchise face for the next

however many years. Are we sure that that is what's in the best interest of the Grizzies as a franchise? And I don't think that that's clear. So the answer to our emailer's question is very clear. Like Denver with Yokic is easily the choice here. Yeah, he just, Gloria got to get him in check. This next question is from Henrik. Did you say Glow really got to get him in check?

Yeah. She can't. She ain't even in there if she's on tour. Hey, man. She popped back. She popped back up every once in a while. All right. Henrik Lewenham from Stonk.

Yeah, Glow. This is sure is sweet. Greetings from Sunny and Cold Stockholm. Are we sure Chris Fitzfitch is a good coach, Henrik? That's it. That's the question. First of all, shout to the Motherland.

You know what I mean? Shout out to Stockholm, Spotify headquarters. Great place. Fun place. Cinnamon buns, man. Yeah, love those things. Phenomenal. Love Stockholm.

I think Chris Fitzh is a really good coach. I don't think he's a bad coach. I don't think that's even a question. I don't think it's a question either. Yeah. Also, without any elaboration from our emailer, I don't know what exactly you're calling into question. He's calling in his coaching his question.

Shout out of Sweden. Shout out Sweden. For sure, shout out of Sweden. All right, this last one, USA versus the rest of the world. This is from Gerard Carlione. Hey, high, real ones. As an Australian who has followed the NBA for the last 40 years, I watch with interests with the non-Americans rise over time.

With the state of the NBA and international play, do you think the best American players can still beat a team comprised of the best international players? I think the rest of the world would now win pretty easily, but interested in the real ones take. Thanks, Gerard Carlyone. So is it like Janus and Yokic and like one world team like that? Whimbee? Or whoever decides.

Yeah. Can it be getting on the court? Can it be good at court? Will he even make a game? Can he actually like play a full game? Listen, man, he just went surgery. He's going to be all right. He'll be back next year.

You could take him beat. You could take him beat out of this. He's an American. What do you mean? Wait, is he French? He's American. Is he making the American team? Is he making the American team then?

No, not a prime Anthony Davis is there. If you're just constructing a team, if we just went five on five and you're starting five for the world, take and beat out of him. it, but like, Yokic, Wembe, Janus, Shea, who's our fifth starter? Luca. Luca. That team might smoke whichever five Americans we put up, yeah. Straight up.

And like, I don't even know, like, we could. I could get five Americans. Five American players. I can do this on the fly. I can get Ann Edwards, right? I can get Ann Edwards. Yeah. I could get, as a center.

Tatum? Oh, yeah, Tatum. Cat. Wait, can you get Jalen? No, wait. Actually, no. Thank you and let it happen. No.

What about a healthy carrie? Can I get a healthy carrie? Steph. Well, Brian. Steph. Brian, Katie. But no, no, no. I would say this.

The caveat, though, is like under, like, 35. That's what I would say. Okay. Under 35. The emailer didn't give any age requirements or restrictions. Wait, so no, Brian, no Katie, no, Steph? No, Steph, A.D. Tatum, Braun.

Who's our center? Cat. Ooh. Defensively. They put a cat on Nicole Yogan's dog. I mean, look, Doug. Cass band of that production. Would you want Bam over Kat as far as production?

We got scoring. Yeah. I want rim protection. I want defense. Olympian Bam. Yeah. I like that. Not the Bam's a class of rim protector, but still.

Damn, dog, we might need Asia Wilson. Yo. Maybe Draymond's at the bottom. Yeah, we might need Sarah Strong, yo. I would just say this, though, Draymond did not have a good international career. And that fucking 2016 Olympics, he was not good. And I don't know if there was, like, extra things. He didn't fit it within Coach Kay's offense.

But like, regardless, the international team that we just, like, did off the top of our heads just looks insane. So, like, I hate to say it. I think America's getting its butt kicked. I might be closer than anything. I'm trying to go to Australia, man. Yo, all the real ones. So send me some place to go in. I'll show you, bro.

I'm trying to go. You know what I mean? Let's go. All right. We got to get Beck out of here, man. I want to do one more. We've got to get back the hell out of here. Let's get them on our 95.

All right, that's been another edition of Real Ones. As always, Realones, Melbaq at gmail.com. Rules, mell back at gmail. com. Realismelbeck.g.g.com. You thought how it was just on Zach Lowe. Real one first. We'll see you guys on Tuesday.

Happy, all the shit. Shout out to Cliff. Shout out to Victoria. Shout out to Roger wherever you are, buddy. Talk to y'all soon. Bye. Must you're 21 years and older and present in select states

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