The Ringer NBA Show - NBA Midseason Awards! | Real Ones

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Logan, Howard, and Raja pick their midseason award winners as we approach the midway point of the NBA season. Find out who the guys picked for MVP and Crashout of the Year so far. Plus,  Anthony Davis will undergo hand surgery and is expected to miss several months. Will the Mavericks still be able to split from Davis before the deadline? (0:00:00) Intro (3:35) Midseason MVP(13:49) League Pass Player of the Year(24:52) Rookie of the Year(32:50) Crashout of the Year(42:09) Coach of the Year (48:38) Breaking news: Anthony Davis to undergo surgery Check out Logan Murdock’s new feature on Chet Holmgren:https://www.theringer.com/2026/01/13/nba/chet-holmgren-profile-oklahoma-city-thunder Hit the mailbag! [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock, Howard Beck, and Raja BellProducers: Victoria Valencia and Clifford AugustinAdditional Production Support: Ben Cruz, Conor Nevins, John Richter and Chris Wohlers The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out ⁠rg-help.com⁠ to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping? Real ones. My name is Logan Murdoch, aka Logie Boone, not the two, aka Lolo, aka All the Above. And I just want to introduce myself, Rajabelle, and Howard Beck into your lives. In this new journey that we have on Netflix, we're really, really excited to bring the Ringer NBA show here and really, really excited to bring Ruins, the show that we have been doing for close to six years now. We do this every Tuesday and Friday, and we try to bring a little levity to the NBA conversation with also experience and measured takes. Myself, I have been covering the league for about 10 years now.

Howard Legend has been covering for close to 30. Raj, a former player, we just bring all of that together, and we try to bring you guys a great show twice a week. So tap in with us today. We are bringing our mid-season awards into the fold, and we're going to give out some funny awards. and we have some breaking news with Anthony Davis, who is out for the remainder of the season

and somehow that is built up a trade market for him. It's pretty wild. Anyway, all that and more on Real On Real On Netflix, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcast, Cliff, play the theme music. What's popping? Real Ones. Logan Murdoch here. Howard Beck there.

Rajabell in the Cut. It's a whole new era, y'all. Real ones on Netflix. Man, it's crazy. Are you nervous, Roger? How do you feel? Are you okay? I think I'm okay. I will say nothing's really changed here

except for the camera setup, which did have me very distracted for the last three episodes. So I think I'm coming down off of the nerves of that. I should be fine today. Howard, before we get into this mid-season awards, are you okay? I'm a little rattled.

if I'm going to be honest, you know, did not expect our respective, especially for you and I, Logan, we'd begin our journalism careers in print, did not anticipate a world where these faces, this face would be in 4K on somebody's like six-fit living rooms. So like, I'm just going to make a quick plea to our listeners and our viewers now, because we love you. But that 4K, if there's a way to crank that down, it's like 3K, 2K, 1K, K, half a K, I don't know. Less K's. And, like, watch me, like, by all means, watch us on Spotify, watch us on Netflix.

But do it on your phone. Just not the fucking six-stallated living room. This face ain't made for that. I'm just, for all of our sakes, smaller screens, please. Less resolution would be nice. Yeah, the more pixelation, the better. I mean, you know what I mean?

You want some grainy footage. Hey, man, speak for them, bro. I'm right here. This is the facemate for television, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get to the award. Let's get right to it. So, Raj is fresh off a plane. Howard is about to get on a plane.

So I don't know how this episode is necessarily going to go. But for all the viewers out there, the new viewers, this is how we roll, man. So this is the first category that we have set up for the midseason awards. Maybe it should be the last one, but I think we're going to go. We're going to go first. I'm going to start with Howard here. Who is your midseason MVP? of the NBA.

We're starting with the heavy, the heavy hardware right off the top. This is a really interesting one, right? Because Wembe missed a bunch of games. Yokic is currently out at the moment is going to miss a lot more games to come, too. But we've got to judge them on the totality of the first half of the season.

I think there are eight guys you could consider on a five-man ballot, but we are just going MVP of the first half. We are not doing ballots or fake ballots or anything else. And I think it's Shea Gilders-Alexander pretty clearly right now. You can't overthink this. He's been absolutely dominant, just as dominant as he was last season.

He's averaging 32 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists. He's shooting almost 40% on threes and almost 60% on twos. Super efficient. Yeah. Super efficient. And he's played 38 games out of 40, so he's only missed two games. So he's played more than most of the other guys that you might want to consider. But, you know, Yokic, Donchich, others, Wembe.

But also, like, even if the Thunder have, like, slipped a little lately, and they have, they're still on base for 68 wins and that's despite missing Jalen Williams for 19 games Chet for six, Dort for nine, Hartenstein's missed six, Caruso's missed a dozen games like Shea is the constant.

Shea is their engine. Shea is dominant. He plays both ends and he's just done the most, I think, to substantiate his case over the first 40 games. Yeah, that's a good call. That's a good call.

What do you think, Roger? Do you think, are you... Yeah, I mean, I mean, who was your pick? I mean, I think this one's pretty easy, right? I mean, if we had a healthy Yokic and Denver was keeping pace, you know, the way we expected him to when he was healthy, if you had had more Wembe to the point you made early when you picked Wemby, Logan, strong case to be made there.

I just think it's really Luke, I mean, sorry, SGA right now. And I agree with Howard for all those reasons. I mean, when I was going through the numbers a little bit, just trying to, he's just so efficient. I would have never guessed that he was playing at that efficiency level with the volume that he scores the ball. I just didn't see that. I'm kind of blown away by it. You know, I make a case for a lot of guys.

I really like Kate Cunningham's case for it. You know, he's a guy that I would look at. But given the fact that OKC is doing what they're doing again at 33 and 7 on pace to have another remarkable year as a team in general, and he leads that for sure, I go with SGA. I mean, SGA's case is pretty tight. at this point, you know, especially like what he's been able to do. Like, he's mentioned the injuries. But to do this also without J-Dub, who was supposed to come into this season as being a solidified number two.

And they didn't really have that throughout the first part of the season. And then you watch their games to start this season. It was very much SGA-centric. And that's sometimes a really hard thing. We talk about ball-heavy guards and we talk about Trey, we talk about Ant. and for him to be able to not only, you know, keep the ship going, but push them to historic heights in OKC. That's been really, really impressive.

I want to just put out another name real quick, just for the sake of, because I knew somebody was going to pick SGA. I do probably both of you guys were. But there's another name that I think we should just at least document in the most season awards. It may not be MVP, but I put him into this category. But Jalen Brown, I think Jalen Brown has to. to be, he's definitely in the conversation of it. He doesn't have the record necessarily,

but we do have the surprise of the Boston Celtics this season and what they've been able to accomplish. And a lot of that has to do with him, right? Like, they have his second option is what Anthony Simons at this point and he'll knock to Anthony Simons, but that is a... Eric White, fairly, I think. Okay, okay. That's his supporting cast, fair.

I apologize. Derek White ahead of Anthony Simons. I'm just saying further. All right. They give him out of me. for cutting y'all off and then here you go Howard um but uh just a little cross correction but then you talk about but then you talk about uh just what those celtics have been able to do and he's been the face of it i think that he should be getting his flowers too i don't think he necessarily

will get the MVP because it's it's record it's MVP is a is can be a vibes award um i know that uh howard tends to roll his eyes of that but i firmly believe that it can be a narrative award and i just don't think that he would have all of the things put in place to necessarily get that award this season based on what OKC has done and based on a lot of other factors. But I do think Jalen Brown, when we think about this season, when we look back on this season, it looks like he's putting together a campaign that is MVP worthy. Yeah. Go, Ross.

Well, my bad, Howard. Hold your thought. Realistically, I agree with that. I had him. I also had Jalen Brunson in the mix if we were going to be, you know, we were talking about, you know, people that could be hovering around, you know, give or take an injury here or there, chips fall their way. Yeah, he was in the mix. Luca was in the mix. There were a few people in the mix. I don't know. Where do you, where would you draw the line, I guess, Howard,

of the names that we, you know, Wembe, Luca, Nicola, Shea, Cade, Jalen, Jalen, Jalen, you going anybody after that? Did you mention Anthony Edwards? He's the only other one I really even considered it. That's the borderline, right? Yeah. And yeah, like I think I said off the top, there was like eight candidates. And if this were the typical, what's the end of the season, we've got a five-man ballot to fill out and you're trying to figure it out. And yeah, probably it's like Shea and Yokach at the top again. If Yannis doesn't miss too many games, he'll, he may get back into this conversation. I didn't consider him really for this exercise because of all the games missed and because the Buck's record is horrendous.

But that's the group in some order. And yeah, some of those, there are tears here, right? like Shea and Yokic are kind of the go-away top tier and then everybody else is just chasing for the lower spots on the ballot. But I'm glad Logan mentioned Jalen Brown and I apologize for cutting you off, my friend. I just, you know.

Even though you were right, but it's fine. That's the important thing. No, like Jalen Brown, if, like people have all these different constructs and it's fine. I have the beholder for how you define MVP. There are some people who define it as kind of like, well, if you took player X off of team Y or the guy whose team depends on him the most.

Jalen Brown has almost the strongest case for the, if the exercise was who won with the least amount of help around them, all due respect to Derek White and Anthony Simons and everybody. But like, dude, the drop-off is steep. Derek White and Peyton Pritchard are your returning guys from their, you know, their title team. You've got Anthony Simons imported as just like a kind of a cap placeholder, and he's become really important.

Nemeus Ceda, Luca Garza? Like, they've just got, they've just got random dudes. Like, I'll do respect to the random dudes, but like outside of, they've got a deep guard core, but the front court is just a bunch of guys. And that they have won at the rate that they have, huge testament to Jalen Brown, also to Joe Mozilla, who we may name check again later. But, yeah, I think Jalen Brown has a really strong case based on just how far he has taken them. with his production and his leadership.

And I don't think most of us saw that coming in the absence of Jason Tatum this year. I think that Jalen and Shea at this point are two sides of the coin when it comes to what you think about with MVP, right? Like Shea has the dominant numbers, but also has the, you know, based on record at this point, dominant team.

And then you have the other side of Jaylen, who kind of tracks his like 05-06 Kobe, right? We're scoring a lot of points in his team is kind of overachieving because of his performance. And I think another thing that we need to point out is the elephant in the room, which we get in, which we have to before we get away from an MVP discussion, is a 65 game rule, right?

Because I think that that is the thing that is kind of, you put Jalen, not to say Jalen isn't a MVP candidate, he absolutely is, but when you take out the Yolkich's and you take out the potential of Wembe, right? He missed a lot of games. But when you take that out, you don't. really get a full sample size of what you should be picking. Because if they are in the mix and are legitimate candidates based on the games that they played, I'm picking, I'm probably going to pick Yolgich, to be honest with you.

Or I'm probably, and it's either going to be Yokic or Shea. But the fact that we're robbed of that is it rears this ugly head when we have to do award season or this type of exercise. I just want to point that out. Yeah. And we've covered that on this pod a couple of times, I think in recent weeks after Yokich went down about just what it's. shame it is that, and it's not just about Yokic. And by the way, I know we should never like

worry about clapping back at the people who clapped back at us in like the comments on Instagram. We were getting clapped at? But people who are like, oh, you guys didn't say the 65 game rule was a problem with M. B. And do, like, stop, folks. Personally, I was against the 65 game rule from the time it was invoked. I don't like it for a variety of reasons, which we have covered on this pod. Folks, go back, listen to the back catalog. You can hear me rant about it from a couple weeks ago. It's not about Yokich. It's also for this season, not even just about Yokch. Yokic and potentially Wembe and potentially Yonis. You have multiple guys who are perennial MVP candidates who may all get knocked out by the 65 game rule.

And it's going to put us in a position where, look, She may just claim it outright anyway and it'll be fine. But the ballot is going to look a little warped based on guys just being eliminated by rule. And I just think that's a shame. But we don't need to get back into it again. But people on IG go back, listen to the whole presentation, because this is not just about Yokach. Look at us getting out our ops this morning on Netflix. Anyways, I know we had ops like that out here, Howard.

Thank you. I'm just trying to look out for the integrity and rep of our show. You know, it's. Yeah. All right. I'm just going randomly on this thing on this list. This is one of my favorite ones that I have, that we picked out yesterday in the pre-pod meeting.

Let's go League Pass Player of the Year so far. Who was your league past player of the year, Raja Bell? Player of the year? When you sent it, it had like player slash team. Yeah. Yeah, it's a tough one because you could go with, you know, I like to watch a certain style of basketball and, you know, some of the, like when Denver's humming, I like to watch the way they play, right?

They like the way the ball moves. I like to watch that style. I love watching Golden State and how that orchestration of an offense works when it's firing on all cylinders. like that's cool for me to watch too. You know, but I chose to go with two, if you would forgive me, right? I went with two teams and two players that I enjoy watching. Both of their teams are bad, but within the bad stuff, like you could see some very wild

and cool stuff if you're like a basketball fan. One would be the Brooklyn Nets and Michael Porter Jr. some of the shot selection, tough shot making barrages of scoring that he goes on is pretty cool to watch. The other would be Charlotte. You're going to pick Charlotte. It would be Charlotte, right, because of Lamello and Concanipple and the other players that they have. They're young. They get up and down.

And you could just see some wild stuff, like the shot he hit against OKC the other night. Like, you could see some stuff that you normally don't see in NBA game. So for me, it'd be those two teams and probably those three players. That's awesome. I knew you were going to pick Charlotte. And they are hilarious. They're fun to watch, right? That's what I'm saying.

Like, the ending against Philly earlier this season, right? The random win against OKC. Yeah. Lamello shooting off of one foot while falling out of bounds and over the backwood and shit. Just like doing like trick shots. Hey, hey, Roger, new year, new me. Same me, though. Yeah, no doubt.

No doubt. Now, forgive me for anyone, too, like, I know they're bad teams, and I love good basketball, but when you're talking about league pass, right? Like, typically my night, you know, I will be really busy, and then I'm going to catch whatever game

I really need to watch that's like a good quality basketball game in the morning when I'm not, like, fried, and I got these fresh brain cells to watch the game and really see what's going on in it. So if I'm sitting there on the couch looking at league pass, I want to see some cool shit. Like, I'm probably going to tune in to see.

I want to see the wildest thing I can potentially see in a basketball game. That's where I'm going. Hey, man, if you fried, you want to watch the Charlotte Hornets. That's, that's kind of what you want to do. That's the, no, the Hornets have, like made that move from a team that you might cringe at just how wild they are with the ball and the kind of stuff they try to pull, especially the mellow, to actually being like, oh, they're actually kind of fun and entertaining that? Like, I get, there's a whole part of the audience that always thought

they were fun and entertaining and think that I'm just being a cranky old man, which I am. But, like, the Hornets are actually competitive now. Like, they're winning some good games. And they're a more complete lineup now that Miller is healthy. And Concanipal has been outstanding as a rookie in that lineup. And, you know, between those guys, Miles Bridges and Lamello, like, you've got some semblance of talent there where they're still a little wild and they're not attentive defensively all the time. And you never know. where it's going to go, but that's kind of part of the fun of watching them. So if you don't care about, you know, like, Roger was alluding to like kind of like the beautiful game basketball of like

Denver or Golden State. That ain't Charlotte. That's fine. It's a different kind of beauty. It's a different kind of beauty. They can still be fun. So I'm with you on that one. I, you know what, Victor Wembeyanama is going to probably be the answer to this question for me just forever for a very long time here. So my, my, my, my main answer here is Wembe because he is the, the guy in the league right now who most often, first of all, I don't want to miss a second when the spurs are on when he's playing, but he's going to be the one who most often makes me like either hop up off the couch or yelp or wop or just make strange noises. I'll go, oh, what the fuck was like, he's, he's, the guy who's just like exploding your brain and make you just go like, oh, all the time. And so like

where, you know, like, I'm startling, like, my wife and daughter and the cats and stuff. Like, what's going on in the other room? It's Wembe, and it's just the things he can do at his size and the amount of floor he can cover and block a shot at the perimeter and at the basket on the same possession within, like, 1.2 seconds. Everything he does. That all said, Logan, you mind if I throw a second one here with a little bit of a curveball? Let's do it. Let's do it.

my real league pass hero the first half, and especially right now, because we're about to miss him for a while, it's Bill Kennedy. Yes, everybody's America's favorite referee, Bill Kennedy. No, listen, so the league happens into this replay thing in the bubble, right? Oh, we got to explain to the fans at home what's going on. Now referee's going to speak directly into the camera,

explain what the call was, explain what the replay was, explain, the overturn or whatever, the coach's challenge. And everybody, like, some of them are like nervous and they're uptight there. some of them are just very, very, very, by the book, by the rule, they're just literally stating the rulebook that they've memorized. And then Bill's kind of coming in, like, looking at you with the puppy dog guys, like, hi, America, I'm going to explain some officiating to you. And then he's going to do these timely pauses and everything.

It's to the point where, like, fans and broadcasters are actually calling it out, like, oh, guys, we've got Bill Kennedy on the game tonight. Can't wait. I hope we get a lot of coaches challenges. And there was a time when the, when the NBA was trying to get away from, like, the old Joey Crawford, Dick Bavetta, we're big personalities ourselves in the game. They want all the referees to almost be like, you know,

no personality or all interchangeable automaton. Bill Kennedy fucking just breaks all of that. He's thrashed it all, and he's so good at it and he's so much fun. I don't think the league even has the heart to try to tamp it down. So if he's hamming it up a little bit, it's just fun. If you can make an officiating review fun to make it must-see TV, you've accomplished something. So anyway, Bill strained his hamstring the other day.

That was the report from Chris Haynes afterward. He's out indefinitely. I don't know if we'll see him again this season. But get well, Bill Kennedy. Call your head. We can't wait to see you back. That's great. That's great.

Also, man, make, I want referees of big personalities, bro. This is, at the end of the day, this is entertainment, dog. You know, like. Hell yeah. No, you don't. I don't. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay.

The former player does not. Let's be clear. Okay, okay. You were not a Joey Crawford fan? Yeah. Check that person. I love Joe. No, actually, weirdly, you think.

I think I wouldn't be a Joey fan, but Joey and I were really good. Yeah, no, look, I shouldn't have said that. Personalityes are fine. As long as you understand that, like, you meant that shit, though. You're a part of a shit. I did be, because some of them will forget, given, you know, the allowance of the personality, that this is a show that they are a part of and not their show, right? Sure.

Right. So, like, I'm good with the personality. Do you mind it if they're hamming up a little bit for the, or at least not hamming it? No. having a little bit of fun with the replay camera. Is that cool or is that detract? Nope. I think that's,

I think it's great. And honestly, the personality is far less deterrent to what you're trying to do as a player. Then, then the stiff, I have no personality and I can't communicate with you type of ref, right? Like they become very difficult to work around or work with as a player. Like a guy with a personality tends to have communication because he wants to be in the show.

And that guy usually you can kind of work with. And not for not. Tony Brothers. He also happens to be one of the best officials in the league and, you know, does the finals every year because he consistently rates as one of the best. So he can back it up. Yeah.

Tony Brothers is one of those guys that'll give you some shit on the court. After. Yeah, Tony Brothers. I don't know all the ones. Johnny Goebel was good. Shoot, a lot of the guys that I was, that I, Zach, Zach Zarba. Zach Zarb was kind of young when I was leaving.

Yeah, those guys are good. How were you with Steve Javy? Javi and I had our moments, but are ultimately good. We're Facebook friends now. But like, he's a lot of awesome. He's a few times. He's actually a really good dude. Like Javvy and Joey Crawford were notorious in their era, right?

Because those are the guys with the quick triggers. We're going to throw guys out, coaches, players, whatever. But off the court, like great dudes. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay. I'm going to go a little random on my, it's going to be a player, league pass player that I've just fallen in love with this season.

It's going to be so random. Jack Laundale. I have fallen. It's a league pass player of the year, right? It's your league pass player of the year. But Jack Laundale, every time I turn on league pass and I watch the Grizzlies, I'm like, who the fuck is that? How was he bawling?

Right? It started earlier in the season against Minnesota. And he randomly, I'm checking the stats. He had 20 and 10, 30 minutes. He was 8 or 15 from the field. And it was one of those things where I was just like, oh, he's killing. Who's this cooking?

It's Lando? Oh, shit, right? But you know, the first time you be hating and you be like, how you let, how you let John Londell ball out, right? And then I'm looking, then I'd see him against the nuggets and against Yokic. He's fucking balling against them. I'm like, oh, shit, he outscored Yokens in a game. Then he goes and out and then plays against Wimby, balls out.

He had 19 and 9 against Wemby. He had 26. You know, he outscored, hold on on. He outscored Yokich because he had 20. 26 and 10 in November. This dude is a real deal of Holyfield, okay, ladies and gentlemen, if you guys are sad about what's going on with Jollyall right now, go watch Jock Laundale ball out against your,

who is supposed to be a superior center. Go watch it ball out against the other center, okay? It's fun, it's great. When you're washing dishes after you put someone to put the little homie to sleep, go watch some Jock Laundell highlights. That's all I say. It's going to make you happy, all right? That's what made me happy.

You think that's going to keep Grizzlies fans happy after they've traded John Morant. Like, Jacques Lawndale going to be their, like, their consolation prize there. Their, they're like little security blanket. I don't, it may be a stretch. Maybe a stretch, but I'm just saying, hey. He is fun.

There's light at the end of the tunnel. No, maybe. No, maybe's about that. Let's let's stop. He's brought me Joey. We're not, we're not lying to people. No. He's my favorite, okay?

That's all it is to say. We don't end up any more than that. We just got moved to the sci-fi section. All right, all right, all right. All right, all right. This is a, this is the next, make sure you guys choose carefully, carefully on this next category because our producer Cliff has a vested interest in this category. This is rookie of the year, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to go first on this one.

I'm going to go VJ Edgecombe, mostly because I want to discuss it, right? I think that he is in the 0-304 Carmelso category where, you know, he's playing for a good team, so that might overshadow the impact that he is making. But dude is just bawling right now, right? Like, he's made himself a part of the Big 4 in Philadelphia. He has in the clutch been amazing. He hits 58.8% of his three-point shots in the clutch, which is second in the NBA, in the category, according to NBA. dot com.

He's obviously very, very energetic. He's Raj's of Raj's ilk. And I enjoy watching him play. Like I enjoy watching. He makes,

he is made the Sixers very fun to watch in the beginning of the season along with Tyreys Maxis and others. And he makes sure the future is bright in Philadelphia. So I'm going to go with Vijay Edgecombe. I don't know,

I don't think he's going to win it necessarily just for the factors that I laid out in the beginning. But I think that he is, very much in the conversation and in my opinion should win it. Should. That's strong. Very strong.

I like it. He contributed to winning. Well, that would be his, I mean, that's his case, right? It's like he is, he's doing, because we all agree it's a three-headed race right now. Like we got three main potential. Yeah, probably him. Candidates for this award.

Yeah. Howard? Right. So. Yeah, I think so. I mean, look, there's still room for like Cedric Howard or Dylan Harper, other guys, I think, to maybe squeeze into this, depending on the second half of the season.

But, like, yeah, go, Roger. But, yes, I think it's probably a two-to-three-man race at the moment. Yeah, I mean, for me, his case is, like, he's electrifying, by the way. And given the platform of maybe Coup or Kahn to a lesser degree, maybe producing even more than he's producing right now. And I don't even think that's a maybe. Like, given more opportunity, he'd be going crazy. And his highlights are, he is definitely rookie of the year

in terms of highlight production type of plays for me, Dung's. But I think the rookie of the year for me is Cooper Flagg. And I personally, I've said this before. I'll just say it again. You know, when we were having those debates and those arguments about how do you structure a team, what's going to be safe for him as a first year player, like how are we going to maximize his growth in year one?

Where does Dallas go after that? You know, I always said that his game was one that I thought might produce, you know, or contribute to winning really, really early. But I didn't know what the top end give him the ball, put a saddle on his back and ride him to victories as a primary score what his top end level in that category would be. I think he's continued to prove to me that like we are getting or we will get to that point with him, he is going to be a very, very high-end, number one, scoring the ball.

And I think, this is going to sound crazy. I don't know why I'm doing this because I usually don't do it. He reminds me of a Scotty Pippen type of talent, but without MJ in his way of growth, if that makes sense, right? So Scotty stayed in Seattle when he got drafted, basically, or something like that. Yeah, but, like, you know, when MJ left for those couple of years, Scotty, you got to see that Scottie could carry, right? Like, Scottie had a whole lot of stuff that he sat to the side because he had MJ.

And Coop reminds me a lot of that. He's a Swiss Army knife in terms of size, length, what he can do with that size and length offensively in terms of like handling the ball, creating and facilitating, scoring. And so I mean, statistically scoring the ball, he's number one in the race. The platform is right for him in the absence of everybody else there in Dallas. But I think he's the rookie of the year. And I'm just, you know, I think I really, I didn't miss because I knew he was going to be a great player. but what he could potentially be,

I think I was a little short on that, on an eval, if that's fair. Sure, sure. I do still wonder, like, how it would be, though, like if Cooper played for the Sixers, it was in a situation where he just slotted right in and could just do what he wants to do, like him and Edgecombe switch teams, that would be just a fascinating switcher room.

Sorry about that, Howard. I cut you off. No, no, not all. But this is, This is why I love this particular rookie of the year race right now because the case for these guys is going to be very different. It is right now and it probably still will be in a few months, right? Like, VJ Edgecombe among all the rookies who are worth noting

is the one who's doing it for a team that matters. Like the Sixers matter again. Like they're really good and he's a really big part of that. Although shout out to Colin Murray Boyles in Toronto. Like he's been playing an increased role there. And I don't know if he's going to end up in the rookie year discussion. But like those are the two rookies who are doing a lot. for teams that are actually going to make the playoffs or that are near the top of the standings,

whereas Cooper, he's, you know, he's going to make his mistakes. He's going to, you know, and he's, and he has. It's been a wild ride for him so far. Dudes keep going down. Kyrie may or may not come back at some point. There's been a lot of responsibility putting Cooper Flags hands because he's on a Dallas team that's just racked with injuries, missing high-end talent. Somebody's got to do everything and it's on his shoulders.

So he's going to be a little less efficient. the warts are going to be a little bit more glaring, whereas VJ gets a playoff of Maxi, and when everybody's there, playoff of Paul George and Joelle Embed and a bunch of vets. So he's got like a little bit more room to kind of just do the things he does best and not have to carry it all, right?

I will just say though, and this was not to be different. This is actually on my dock that I wrote down. We're all going different directions here. I had con canipal by a hair over Cooper Flag. Like, Flagg is getting a lot of benefit of the doubt by being the guy who came in as the number one pick and a shit ton of hype around him and the expectations are super high. And I think he's largely lived up to that. But it's funny

because statistically, they're neck and neck. They literally have the same scoring average as we record this, 19.1 points per game. Flag is leading an assist 4.3 to 3.6, not a massive difference. Flag is leading in rebound, 6.4 to 5.1. Cooper's got like a half more blocks and steals per game and he gets to the line more. But Conkinepple is shooting 43% from three and making three and a half a game. Not a strength of Cooper Flags game. He's shooting 29% making just one per game.

Two point percentage. Concanipal's got a little bit of a lead there too. And true shooting, Khan is just like lapping the field on true shooting percentage. So there's a case for him. And he's a really big part of what we were just talking about a few minutes ago about why the Charlotte Hornets are now like a league pass, darling.

Because like, and it's not just his score. or his shooting. Like I think everybody fixates on the shooting, but like he's, he's actually a very good passer. He's been a great secondary playmaker for them. And yeah, the Hornets and the Mavs is about the same record right now, too. So like if people are going to judge it based on record, which I don't think we should in the rookie of the year, that's going to drag down his case a little. But I think on production and efficiency and just the role he's playing, the amount of, just his usage rate, the fact that the Hornets actually need him. Like, he's a really important part of what they're accomplishing right now. And I think this is a true two to three-man race. And again,

like Dylan Harper's been outstanding when he's played. He missed a bunch of games. He's playing a lesser role because they got a really crowded back court in San Antonio. But like I think other guys are going to be in this conversation before it's over. All right. Let's have some fun with this really quickly. We had to get to this category. Crash out of the year, ladies and gentlemen, which I'm very excited to do this. I'm going to go first out of fear that somebody else is going to take this pick. I'm going with Jeremiah fears of the New Orleans Pelicans. And this is in a very positive light.

He has, this is the list of players that he has gone at, whether he has had a light skirmish or a yelling match. This is all in his rookie season. Jimmy Butler, Dylan Brooks, although that was a little light. Luca Donchitz and PJ Washington and Rui Hachamora. I think that was all in the same game. He, and on top of that, he's a really good basketball player. And we talk a lot of stuff about what New Orleans did in the draft and what Dumars did in the draft.

But he got two good players in Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fears. Jeremiah is averaging 14 points, three rebounds, three assists on 44% from the field. You talk about league pass. New Orleans is like kind of, they're very disappointing. But because of Jeremiah Fears, kind of a league pass team, I don't know what he's going to do. Also, funny thing. And it's kind of cheating because the player that I'm about to reference is probably like named after this award. But Jermon Green called Jeremiah Fears, one of his fire starters of the month, which is a hell of an endorsement.

And so I got to go. Jeremiah Fierce. I wanted to get that name out of the way. I didn't know if you guys were going to take it or not. But that's my pick for crash out of the year so far. And all positive vibes, because he's a great player. And I love that he sticks up for himself and his teammates. And he's not afraid of shit.

So Jeremiah Fierce. Love it. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm always pulling for somebody that's got a little backbone, especially when you're young as a player. You've got to stand up for yourself, bro. Like, I mean, I know there's a place, like, so-called place when you're a rook and you're not supposed to get the calls that everybody else gets

and stuff like that, but we're all lacing them up the same way, bro. So like, don't try me like that. Um, it this is a, I mean, you could go, for me, it's a hard one. You're going to fall back on the usual suspects. Um, the Dylan Brooks of it all with, with, you know, what he does on the, you've seen like the viral stuff of him, like walking into free throw lines early on LeBron and just trying to get under people skid and then they hate on Steph Curry. You know, he does his things, but ultimately, I think I'm going with Draymond storming out of the arena mid mid like time out. Just leaving.

We covered that. And I want to just be fair again, I said if that's a tactic that he uses when he finds himself at that boiling point and he's been instructed to just remove himself from the situation that I understand it, it's still a wild and crazy look that I've never seen before. And for that reason, it's the only place I could go and take. terms of crash out of the year and it's going to be draymond green totally fair logan's dying over there i think logan yeah Logan do you need a minute are you going to be okay it was just too easy but yes we kind of got it was really it was really easy yeah it was easy yeah it's ridiculous but i mean

again i've see i have i ever seen wait for him to have this hold on i just want to say just like it's very impressive for draymond on this season to have a crash out of the year because this is a kind of a light season for him like the 23 24 season was was like an all-timer. We weren't doing this mid-season awards back then. But this is kind of, I don't know. I want to say one more thing where we get to Howard. The Dillon Brooks of it all, it's becoming kind of endearing.

I'm not going to lie. Like him, him slapping, like, LeBron's hand and, like, going into a free throw line and him kind of, like, doing his act. It's kind of funny now. Like, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of, I've changed how I felt about it. I'm sorry. Yeah.

He's in the Lance Stevenson zone, right? Yeah. Like, look, he's blowing in LeBron's ear. I don't know what the hell that's all about, but fuck, why not? Sure. This is interesting. I had to go with our guy, I had to go with our guy, JJ Redick.

I think I called this out at the time. But if we're talking crashouts, JJ Redick, like almost every post game is a therapy session. And he's just, everything is, we can't play any defense. Our guy's like, nobody's doing, doing the, like, the right thing. They can't follow schemes or whatever. Like he's talking about like the quote from a couple of weeks ago that we flagged at the time. Like, I'm not doing another 53 games like this as if it sounds like he's ready to just like walk away.

I don't think that's what he was implying. I think it was more like we have to fix this so that I don't have to witness this for 53 more games. But I love how raw and honest J.J. Reddick is, especially as a young head coach in this league where most young head coaches, guys, and there's been a lot of first year head coaches in the last like 10 years. so. We've had a real turnover and a lot of guys coming through the G League or from overseas or from the film room or whatever. And when they get in that chair, there's this huge weight on this huge responsibility. This league now more than ever, always has been, but now more than ever about the superstars. So a lot of these coaches play it so close to the vest. They

don't want to step on anybody. They don't want to upset their players. They don't want to upset anybody. So they just talk X's and O's and leave it at that and they're very dry and very reserved. and JJ's just like, I don't give a fuck. I got Luca, I got LeBron, I got vets, like, I don't care. I'm just saying it, I'm going to tell it like it is every time. And I appreciate, as a media person, of course, I appreciate that candor. And maybe it's partially because JJ post career for himself was a media guy for a little bit and just can't help himself.

He's going to be honest. But he's also very thoughtful. And I think he does this in a targeted, measured way. but within that, like, he is being more candid, I think, than 99% of head coaches right now. So I'm not going to say keep crashing out, JJ, because if I say that, that means they're still struggling. I'm not wishing that on him or anybody else. But, like, keep being you. We appreciate the candid.

I can't. I don't ever understand. Like, I don't know if they're winning or they're losing after every press conference. I seriously have no idea. Like, they lost last night. They didn't play great against sack last night. and he was he was just the same as if they win by 20. Like he was talking about that we're missing shot.

Yeah, that was going to lead to my question to you though, Roz. Like how much is he going to, how much can they do this before the Lakers tune him out? Because I do think that that is in play here. Yeah, it's a good question, Logan, because I was going to follow up with what Howard was saying, which is like, that's entertaining. But there's only so many times you can get up at the podium. The same college. Yeah, man.

Like there's only so much that that message can be beaten into people via the media and press conference before people are like, yo, this is some bullshit, bro. We're not even— He's calling out Dalton for not knowing a playbook and stuff. Like, he's just wild. Everything that's on his mind is coming out in the post-Games. Yeah. And I guess, like, you know, as players, I've never played for a guy that would be as that candid in the media about individuals.

player's lack of you fill in the blank, right? In a locker room, we all know who doesn't know the place. Does that make sense? Like, we know that. And we will say in the locker room, yo, Logan, get your shit together, bro. Like we, hey man, when we run this dude, like you keep screwing it up and we can't get this bucket

because you're not doing your job. We police that. Clearly, JJ, with his playing background, you know, that's the way you would comport yourself. But as a coach, it's a little different. It's a little different to use the vehicle of the media. And I haven't had anyone do it to me. And so I can't speak to how long you have doing that before it becomes an issue.

But it just feels like there's a shelf life on being able to do that with guys before there start to be some ramifications from the player's side. Not that he cares. It just feels like that to me. I did want to, can I give like an honorable mention on the crashout? Because you mentioned, you were talking about Jeremiah Fears? and the New Orleans Pelicans? Yes.

The Jose Alvarado of it all with who did he get into it with? It was like our only fight, like real fight punches were thrown in that, right? Oh, yeah. That was just like last year. Yeah. Somebody who was, I think, twice as size too. Against Mark Williams, yes.

Mark Williams, there you go. So like, yeah, got to, I mean, that's got to be in there, right? Also, Jose Alvarado is one of my favorite players to watch, just in general because of that notion because he can ball out, but also like he doesn't take shit. and he's also an antagonist. It's perfect. There's a lot of great characters

on the New Orleans Pelicans at this point. Some we're going to describe and some we just don't really have to talk about. But moving on. You're talking about your reference to coach Howard. I want to go to Coach of the Year. Who is your coach of the year? So long list of possibilities here as it usually is.

you can usually like give it to like a third of the league, either guys who were doing an outstanding job on a great team or just guys who just surprised the hell out of us all. And this is both. It's it is Joe Missoula who we referenced earlier. And I picked him like narrowly over Jordan Ott of the Sons. But like the fact that the Celtics, as recently as a couple of days ago,

we're in second place in the Eastern Conference. I know this is, you know, the East is wide open year and all that stuff. And the Knicks were struggling and that was part of it too. But like this was supposed to be a gap. year. This was supposed to be, oh, hey, let's spin off a bunch of our veterans who helped us win a title so we can take a step back and maybe we'll get a lottery pick as a recent champion and then welcome Tatum back and we'll still have our core plus like a top five, top eight player or something. And they're not doing any of that. Like they're like, fuck the draft. We don't give a shit. Like Jaylon Brown's just out there. Derek White Pritchard, like they're holding it down. You watch the Celtics and it still looks and feels like the Celtics. And that is, a huge credit to those players, but also to Missoula,

like who he's like the most no, no nonsense, like all this shit is the most serious thing in the world, right? Joe Missoula coaches, like, world peace is at stake. And he's consistent as hell. Like, this shit is serious to him. He's not fucking around.

And there are no gap years. There are no gap quarters, no gap minutes. Every minute of every game feels like life or death. I'm not sure that's great overall. Work-life balance, anybody? but it is helping. He's in the NBA. There is no work-life balance.

Some coaches better than others at this. I'm going to guess he's at the bad end of the spectrum on the balance thing. But they are playing their butts off. They're consistent. They're, you know, per usual. They're taking like 43-3s a game, which is just like a slight bit behind the Warriors for the most in the league. But this is a team that not only is down Jason Tatum,

but again, let Drew Holiday. Chris Staps Porzingis, Al Horford, Cornett, all go in the offseason. They have just a bunch of dudes in the front court, and they're getting by. They're more than getting by. They're winning a lot of games to the point where we're all now sitting here in January going, huh, if Tatum comes back,

these guys can actually make a run at the east in a year that was supposed to be a gap year. Don't come back, bro. It's not worth it. Don't come back. It's really not worth it, dude. I'm just saying it's in the ether. Anyway, Hey, hey, we told OKC not to go for the record.

And guess what, Rosh? We were right. So listen to us. My bad, Howard. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just, go.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm with you. I think it's Joe Mazzul. I had a very short list of, I mean, J.B. Bickerstaff, I just think he's done, he's done a really good job. But I think I think I will go with Jordan.

I very much like the Celtics, but who knew what they were going to look like? Like they felt kind of like a, you know, I was talking about that like roadmap, like how are we going to get from where we are now and the vision and talk to me like detail and lay out for me how we're getting to where we're trying to go. And I didn't see the clear picture for the sun. So I didn't know what my expectations were for them this year. But, you know, they've exceeded it. they far exceeded it.

Defensively, they're really, really solid. Dylan Brooks, obviously, in the step that he's taken offensively to help, to help D-Book has been huge.

Grayson, Gillespie. Like, I like what they're doing, and I think you have to give him a ton of credit for taking, I mean, what were we saying about the suns coming into the year?

A lot of things that, you know, their front office isn't very smart right now because they just trade it for all, these picks is going to be it. I don't even know if it's going to be a gap year. We feel sorry for playing at best. Yeah, and playing at best, right? Yeah. And so, I mean, it's, I with you,

I actually, I lean. If you hadn't picked Missoula, I probably lean there just because of where they are in the East. But I think, you know, since you did and I was splitting hairs anyway, I'm going to go with Jordan. That's a good pick. I was going to pick Joe Missoula as well, just for the simple fact that, you know, he is a guy that kind of gets a victim of the Celtic success and that he is a coach of a very, very talented team that is supposed to be doing big things that he inherited, right? And the things that come along with that are, oh, I mean, this is just the players championship. Oh, this is, they're going because he has great players. He has, you know, they put a roster. He better do good with that. But I think this is a year where he's actually

proving what a lot of people, I think, around the NBA world, new already, but that he is a really good coach and a very smart coach with the Xs and O's, but also the players tend to really like him, right? I mean, we see the dry sense of humor and the hilarity that comes with that, but his players really ride for him, and he gets the best out of that, and I'm glad to see that for him. I just want to just, since where he's my pick, but I just want to put somebody else out there, J.B. Bickerstaff, doing a great job right now. and I think that he is one of those guys that for a long time has,

and he has another guy that has a lot to prove, but he has been a guy that has seemed to have ceilings on his teams. And I think that he's breaking through that ceiling right now with the job that he's doing. So, J.B. Bickerstaff would be somebody else that we should look out. Totally agree. I had him actually at the top of my actual coach of the year ballot last season. And just for the rest, just for the sake of naming him, the other guys who I think are just worth noting,

like Darko Ryakovich and the job he's doing with Toronto, another team we didn't expect to be here. Nick Nurse managing like this weird, we're a maxi edgecombe team, but we've got, you know, Embed and Paul George here still, and we've got a lot of guys hurting it out of the lineup. Mark Dagnold, obviously just doing the usual great job with the Thunder. Mitch Johnson and San Antonio, David Adelman with Denver,

and then we mentioned Ott. So like all those guys, I think, are going to be in the mix when we're talking another couple of months. We have breaking news. Oh. This is from Shams. I think this has big ramifications. Dallas Mavericks, Anthony Davis, is likely to undergo surgery to repair a ligament

damage in his left hand and will miss several months. This Dallas season is essentially over, given the prognosis and where the Mavs are going as a franchise. I think this has huge ramifications because a lot of people were trying to trade for Anthony Davis and also the injuries have reared their ugly hand to get. again, I, this is just, this is just pretty tough all around. I feel for Anthony Davis and just the season that he has had, just with injuries, not this, not just this one, but what he's had throughout the season.

And this changes a lot of plans for people in the trade market. That's a minimal thing to how I feel about how it feels to see Anthony Davis go through this, but Anthony Davis out for the season. Thoughts. There's a follow-up tweet from Shams, by the way, that says, the Mavericks were having renewed Davis trade talks with multiple interested teams. So despite the injury, I guess teams might want to grab him for next season. Huh.

Interesting. It's a fascinating development, Howard Beck. I will say it clarifies Dallas's season. They've been kind of straddling this line where we're like, we're not a tanking team, we're trying to compete, Kyrie might come back, we have Anthony Davis, we got PJ Washington, but like Derek lively's out. Gafford and Washington keep getting hurt. Now Anthony Davis has been in and out of the lineup

and has now gone for the rest of the season. Like this clarifies things. This is the last year that they controlled their pick for quite a while. They, I hate to endorse this, but they should be going to. Lose for booze.

That's it, man. Are you boozer over DeBancet and Peterson? Losers for boosers. No, I mean, it could be the bans. I just think DeBance and Coop look very, very, very, they look duplicative. Yeah, like a little bit.

But I mean, you know, I'd have to go through the process. So naturally, I think like Booz works with him a little bit better. Put the two dookies on the floor together and just build culturally from stuff that you know. Lose for booze. Lose for booze. And with Kyrie, yeah, that's crazy. Lose for booze. Losers for boosers.

Losers for boo-boo for juju. It is their wisest path now. And for that matter, you know, don't let Kyrie come back. Just play for next seat. Like, just do not. Like, there's no point. Like, let Cooper just take his lumps. Play for the lottery balls.

That's it, man. Like, the Mavericks need something else. Like Cooper flag was a godsend for them, for them to jump from 11th to winning the lottery, to get them in the first place after their disastrous, disastrous, lucre trade. But to the extent that you are going to have a future with all these picks gone and everything else,

and who knows what Anthony Davis's future is there or elsewhere, like play for the lottery balls now. Not that we could have predicted this when it happened, right? So like this is just, you know, but if someone had told you when the Luca trade happened, we all can agree that the way it went down and what you got for him and how it was negotiated was not the right way to handle that. But if you had said, you know, Luca with who he is as a player,

you're going to move that, wind up with Cooper flag, and the number one or two pick in this year's draft, does that make it, that makes it a little bit more palatable, no? Would you have, like, if you could have predicted that up front, would that have worked for you? I'm just asking. We'll see. Like, you couldn't at the time, so it was ridiculous.

But like, if you could have, if somebody was saying, hey, you're going to get cool, and then you're going to get one or two the following year. I think Mavs fans would still be pretty apoplectic, reasonably. What was that saying again, Roger? By lose for booze. Are we out here? I'm about to go print that right now.

Oh, my goodness. I'm texting his mom and dad like in a minute. Hey, man, hashtag that. Let's get that printed. Let's go in on a trademark. Yeah, let's go on a trademark, me. Let's do it. I'm sure Carlos would love that.

Hold that. No, I think this is a clarifying move. Like, I agree with everything you guys say with this, right? I think that the thing that was just tough this season, and I've felt for Cooper Flagg, and I've said this all season is because there wasn't a clear path, it was really hard for him to fit into a goal, right? Because, you know, I'm trying to develop,

but I'm also trying to develop within the structure of a team that says they want to compete, right? Do we think that they were going to compete preseason? Probably not. But that is the expectations of everyone involved. I do wonder, though, like with this clarifying injury, what that means for everybody else, right? Like, if I'm Kyrie, I don't come back.

Like, don't come back this season. There's no real reason to do it. But also, it's very clear that everybody is trying to rally around Cooper Flack. What does that mean for Kyrie this off season? What does that mean for Jason Kidd who is a coach that presumably wants to coach four titles? And you have to have a different infrastructure if you're competing for titles versus if you're developing to get to be a team that is competing for titles. And the Mavericks have to figure that part, the rest of that out.

But I think, you know, the decision has kind of been made for them. I don't know what they get for, especially now. It's wild that that tweet came out from Shams because I don't know what you get for an injured Anthony Davis that is just injured for the rest of the season who is always chronically injured. Like, I just don't know what the market is for that. He's a good player, a great player when he's fully healthy. engaged and its shape, but I just don't know, I just don't know where that is going to like line up

at the same time? It lined up in 2020 and that was that was very fun to watch. But I mean, it hasn't really lined up since. So, um, um, yeah, I'm sorry. I just made Raja very sad. Um, okay. No, no, no, no, I mean, listen, I'm on record. I think Anthony Davis is, is a, is a really, really good player. But that's a lot of stuff to have to line up. Um, that's if, if was a fifth was a shit. Was a, was a. was like, ah. You know, that's basically Roger watching the Charlotte Hornets. The whole fifth.

All right, man. We're a little off the rails here, but that's what you're going to get on Netflix when you watch Real Ones. What a great first episode, ladies and gentlemen, Roger Bell, Howard motherfucking Beck. We on Netflix and we ain't changing shit. Yeah, that's all I got to say. me and Raja next on a on Friday.

Make sure you tap in with us. Real onesmail back at gmail.com. Real onesmail back at gmail.com. Real ones mailback at gmail.com. We will do our first mailback of the new era next week. Sorry, we had a little time crunch. We couldn't really get to it with the midseason awards. And now a breaking news story.

That's what you get here. We will see you, me and Raja, I believe, on Friday. Tap in. I, uh, all the shits. Excited for this journey. Talk soon. Bye. Bye.