The Ringer NBA Show - NBA Vibe Check! | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 28, 2026

Logan Murdock and Howard Beck are back with another edition of Real Ones to do a vibe check for a couple of contending teams as the season gears up for the final stretch. Will the Lakers pass the vibe check coming off of two crucial losses late in games? What are the vibes in Denver and OKC, as both teams have dealt with significant injuries? Do the Cavaliers have the highest vibes following the James Harden acquisition? Plus, Real One of the Week!(0:00:00) Intro (1:33) Vibe Check: Lakers (18:53) Vibe Check: Nuggets (28:02) FanDuel ad break (29:13) Vibe Check: OKC (39:40) Vibe Check: Celtics (50:02) Vibe Check: Cavs (53:59) Vibe Check: Pistons (58:44): Real One of the Week Hit the mailbag! [e-mail]: Logan Murdock, Raja Bell, and Howard BeckProducers: Victoria Valencia and Clifford AugustinAdditional Production Support: Ben Cruz and Conor Nevins 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

Spavin, Real Ones, Logan Murdoch here, Howard Beck at a second. We do a vibe check for the six teams that we just find really interesting at this moment in time. What else do I have for you guys? Real onesmailbag at gmow.com. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. We talk about Luca today. We talk about the Lakers.

We basically live up to all your stereotypes that we talk about the Lakers. We've talked about it for like 18 minutes. I haven't talked about them in a while. So we had to live up to the stereotypes. Then we talk about the Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the calves, talk about the Pistons, who is a favorite of the real ones. Then we get into a couple other things, center around DeAndre Aiden. A lot of Laker talk in this discussion. So have fun with that.

Also had the real one of the week. Real ones mailback at gmail.com. Room wasmail back at gmail.com. Rulwasmail back at gmail.com. Yeah, man. Talk to you guys soon. Episode next. Cliff, play the theme music.

It's popping. Real ones. Logan Murdoch here. Howard Beck there. Beck, it's Friday. No, uh, Roger, he's on the recruiting trail, but I still want to keep the rundown the same. I want to do a vibe check of teams that we just find interesting

in the backstretch of the season. See where they're at. Not necessarily come to any conclusions, just where are they added in the season? How do we feel about their vibe? What's going to happen? Um, and I promise this wasn't, well, it was planned. But I didn't know that they were going to catastrophically collapse last night

in the way that they did in Phoenix. But the first vibe check is the Los Angeles Lakers who have had a hell of a week. They lost, they began the week losing to the Orlando Magic because neither one of their stars, they were just playing hot potato. And LeBron, it was like the first real, the first, like, real controversy between LeBron and Luca,

like, for real, for real. And then, you know, we get all this noise, McMinneman's story on DeAndre Aden, who's not Clint Capella, and then we get last night. Okay, I would start off by asking you, how's the vibe in L.A., but we're very clear what the vibe is.

Can the vibe be resurrected in time with the next few weeks of the season coming up? You said we weren't going to draw any conclusions, but that's a conclusion-drawing question. The answer is no. Moving on, next team. I mean, boy, vibe check, bad. If we were trying to find the right physical manifestation of the vibes in L.A.

You ever use an electric toothbrush? I use one every day, every morning. All right. So, like, if you don't change the head out on some of these, like the sonicare, especially the old school sonicare and the water's been building up in there. And the new Sonic hairs as well. Yeah. No free ads on the pod.

Sonicare if you want to sponsor us. We're right here. The water build up, like, then the calcium and all the like, whatever, like all the stuff that's left behind. It's just, if you don't clean that shit, if you don't change the head, it just gets all gunked up and then there is no vibe. You turn that thing on. They haven't changed their sonic hair head in like a year.

So it's like the Lakers are a hunked up electric toothbrush. That is the vibe right now. like gunked up electric toothbrush that when you hit the button, it's just like going, mm. It's not like like vibrate. It can't get anything off your teeth. It's just like, like, light hum. That's, that's the vibe in L.A. right now at best.

I don't know about the hot potato thing because like hot potato requires both guys passing it back and forth. And this was just like Luca going like, uh, am I going to shoot it? No, I'm not going to shoot it. Ooh, I'm like short circuited. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, there's just like. And then last night, like you can't.

I'm sorry. A team, let's just sum up the, how bad this lost to Phoenix last night was. Luca, Luca Donchich, perennial MVP candidate Luca Donchich. LeBron James, perennial all-time great. Austin Reeves, perennial now very, very, very good player. Lost to Colin Gillespie, Grayson Allen, and Royce O'Neill. That's essentially the sum of it. No Devin Booker, not even a Dylan Brooks.

Jalen Green played, but had like nine points. what LeBron, Luca, Austin Reeves lost to Colin Gillespie, Grace and Alan Royce O'Neill. The Sons had scored 77 and 81 points in their last two games, which were both losses, and they've dropped 1-13 on the Lakers. This is not great. I agree with, I want to credit him, but I had the same feeling. But I agree with Tim McMahon, our buddy from ESPN, who earlier in the week basically said, like, this just looks like a team that just already knows they're destined to not be together. and they're just kind of like, I don't think he said it this way specifically, but I'll say it. Like, it's like they're playing out the string.

It's kind of like they're just like, you know what? This is all temporary. Logan, they're caught between eras. They never intended to get Luca Donchich. We have to remember that 13 months ago, he was just gifted to them out of the blue. And they've done nothing since then to build around him. And lest we forget, Rich Paul issued a statement last June 30th, July 1st, whenever it was, saying, we respect that the Lakers want to build around Luka,

but we kindly ask that they also consider LeBron's timeline, which is very short. They're caught between eras and that they will not be uncought until this season ends. And LeBron possibly walks away and is off the books and they figure out how much to resign Austin Reeves for and they figure out how to construct a roster around Luca Donchich. But for a year and a half, they've just been, you know, marking time. They don't have a functional rotation that is. is meant to maximize Luca Donchich,

and certainly not a lineup that can play defense at any sort of level whatsoever. Yeah, and I mean, that was before the vibes were asked. But like, to add to your point about them in a transitional phase, they're also in a transitional phase behind the scenes. And I think that that is another thing that we really don't discuss enough when we talk about, what is Rob Polinka gonna be doing in six months, right?

Like, he is, right? there have been a lot of there's been little hires here and there around the margins right um lon rosen has been hired by the by the team um there was an advisory role from the virginia coach uh that has been taken on what else is happening behind the scenes and is that going to happen fast enough for the when we get to the time around the off season when these things need to actually be put in place right like who is going to be to be to be driving the ship by the time we need some driving on this ship. Yeah. I mean, it's been clear for some time, I think, that this team was not a serious contender this season, right? Like, they'll be lucky to maybe win a playoff series.

At this point, they'll be lucky to stay out of the play in, you know, the sons are barely in a position to pass them, but Booker's coming back soon. Like, nothing guaranteed. They're a game back. They're probably, they're not going to, they're a game back. Phoenix's, Warriors are three and a half games back. So, like, they're probably, if they fall, it'll probably some sort of like Lakers Warriors playing, which isn't bad for the league, but it's, talk about two teams that are just sad. Sad. It's just, yeah, it's just, it's just, that's just a sad outcome.

Yeah. So, like, in the short term, again, playing out the string, maybe they make the playoffs as a sixth seed, maybe it's as a seventh seed, whatever it is, I don't expect them to be advancing very far around at best. And then, yeah, like, low-key, this is a huge, huge summer for the Lakers. I don't think enough has been said about it because we've been caught up in the day-to-day of, you know, LeBron's out, LeBron's back, Austin Reeves is out, Austin Reeves is back. How are the three of them coexisting?

How are they doing? Like, there's just been a lot of just, I think we've been concentrating on the present, which is probably good as a news judgment matter. We should try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. but in this league and with that team, you always have to think about what's next. And the Lakers are heading toward what might be the most consequential offseason they've had since LeBron arrived. Or maybe since Anthony Davis arrived to join LeBron, at least. As I said, they've done nothing to build around Luca.

And like, you're on the clock. It's time. You better start building around this guy now or, you know, he may not want to stick around. And I'm not saying that's any kind of intel. That's just like, that is the NBA in the 21st century. If you do not do right by your superstar, it doesn't matter what contract they signed or how many extensions they signed or how much they're being paid, they will eventually get tired of things and ask to move on. So they're on the clock. And to your point about the front office and changes, yeah, it's been kind of like, you know, Lon Rosen is technically on the business side of this.

But for those who don't know, Lon Rosen, long time agent, advisor, conciliary, whatever, to Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson and Rob Polika, who don't have the most glorious history together. And Lon has been running the Dodgers and where Magic is a part owner, along with Mark Walter, the new majority owner of the Lakers. So look, I'm not predicting anything. I don't know what will happen in the offseason. Lon Rosen did give a press conference recently where he assured everyone that Rob Polenka was going to remain as the head of basketball ops.

that's fine. Those statements are made all the time in this league and in other professional sports leagues. I will believe it when I see the offseason whether or not they actually retain him. I don't like speculating on people's jobs and I think I just did it. But it's reasonable to wonder

when a new owner comes in and has spent $10 billion, even if Jeannie Bus is still the governor for the foreseeable future under the terms of their agreement, it's reasonable to wonder if the new owner who just spent $10 billion is going to want to make substantial changes.

And that front office, you know, has a lot riding, whoever the front office is, the whole franchise has a lot riding on this summer. So it is something to keep an eye on regardless. Oh, God, there's my famous last words again, keep an eye on. Yeah, there you go. There you go. You go get a segregation and get yourself in trouble again. But I, like the point that you say about Magic and Lon Rosen, like, I'd be really scared if I was Rob Polink at this point, right?

Because what you need when you're in a position like Rob Polinka, you need allies. And he is increasingly, increasingly losing allies as we speak. Right. And, you know, to be honest, before he got Luca, a gift of Luca, he was kind of, we were like, how long is Rob Polina going to be here? Because he hasn't had like a great, great track record of building teams other than, you know, players and agencies gifting him stuff. like Clutch just gifting him

Anthony Davis and LeBron James two generational talents at the time. And then now he just has, you know, just friends that just give him stuff and ages that give him stuff. And like, and just like, here is a lifeline. It's a charmed existence.

Jeez. But I would be scared if I was Rob Plink. I want to ask a question just about Luca though. He has been raked over the coals this week by everyone. It's one of those things where It's like his flaws were all there But when things go bad

People just eke at your flaws Like I'm just looking right now Stephen A is like Austin Reeves and Luca Dotsis Are getting called out for being Defensive Liabilities and I'm like Have you not watch the Lakers this whole season Have you not watched Luca and Austin Reeves their entire career?

But there is something to be said about One of the things with Luca is It felt like over the summer There was a very concerted effort for him to change the narrative of what we think about him, right? He's going to lose the weight. He's going to play better defensively and be better on that side of the ball. He's going to be an MVP candidate, if not MVP. We got the stats on that for him. Like, he has played really, really well. And I think it's a, it's two things. One, the roster just isn't great. around him, right? Like, there's no real big, there's a big to speak of, but he doesn't want to play

within the confines of the office that they need him to do. They don't want him, he doesn't want to play the role that they need him to play. And then you have an aging LeBron and all these things, then you have Austin Reeves who's been injured. Where do you fall on the criticism of Luca Donchinsch? And is it kind of overblown this week, or is it right where it needs to be for what his season has been so far? It's fair. And it's not really that different from some of the criticism that was leveled at him during his time in Dallas. The difference there being the Mavericks are never quite as, you know, the spotlight's not as bright on them as it is on the Lakers because no, there is no brighter spotlight than the Lakers. And especially a Laker team that still has LeBron on it as well. So I think some of this stuff, it's not that it was overlooked in Dallas. It was flagged at times. But really like the most criticism you heard about Luca was the source. stuff after the Mavericks traded him and they were leaking all the behind the scenes reasons why they had concerns about him, right? His weight, his conditioning, his commitment, his defense,

da, da, da, da, da. I think a lot of the backlash this week, why it's sparking again. It's not, it's not just that the Lakers are struggling. It's that, you know, Luca has, you know, after starting the season in incredible shape, looks like he's backslid a little bit on the physical side of things. They're losing and that it's going to highlight everything. But also like he's right back to as Zach was noting earlier in the week, as everyone has noted, he's right back to being as bad as he's ever been with every single call and every single non-call chewing out the refs and then not getting back on defense as a result. And those are fair observations. Those are fair criticisms. I saw some like pushback by some fans out there who are like, oh, the media is being

so mean to him and why are they picking it? Like, because you're a perennial MVP candidate. That's the scrutiny you get when you're a perennial MVP candidate. They all get it. And And especially when you carry yourself this way. Like, even the greatest players in the NBA will have their low moments, right? Bad shooting game, bad defensive game, whatever. But it's how you respond to it. And it's also the way you carry yourself. And where Luca makes himself a lightning rod is by also being the biggest complainer in the entire NBA. And what it projects is like this almost sense of entitlement, like how dare you not call that foul or how dare you call that foul on me. And it's a really unattractive quality. You and I talked about this with

Tyler Parker when we did our show a few weeks back at AllStar Week. It just makes him a lot less likable. He's super fun to watch. And he's incredibly talented. And he's had a lot of incredible moments in the league. But at some point, it becomes, but you haven't won yet. Right. You've been to a finals. Cool. You got to get back there. And I don't, look, let's be fair here. It's not Lucas fault that the Lakers roster kind of blows. And it's not his fault that the Lakers are caught between eras because they still had LeBron and didn't expect to get Luca. So that's not on Luca. That's on the front office. And they've had multiple cycles here to address that part of it, right? Like LeBron was going to be there regardless, taking up a huge amount of cap room and that

is an anchor. That does make it tough. But you got Luca well before the trade deadline in 2025 and you didn't do anything else except trade for and then rescind the trade for Mark Williams. You got to the offseason. You didn't do anything around the draft or the offseason itself to really markedly improve the roster. Aiton, Marcus Smart, Jake Laravia. Eh, eh, eh, eh. And then you just had another trade deadline come and go. And the stories that came out afterward were, oh, they're holding their powder, you know, keeping their powder dry for the off season. Cool, fair. But that's like three cycles that you've had go by without really actually improving the roster or restructuring it around Luca. So Luca is bringing a lot of this on himself, but the bigger picture of the Lakers not being good enough is on the Lakers. Yeah. I mean, I think, I mean, and there's president for even Rob Polinka building around the margins for LeBron in order to get time for a stretch run.

Like I think about 23 when, you know, they traded for Rue Hachamora and, you know, they just made moves going down the stretch. There just haven't been those types of moves at the deadline. I think another thing that would be scary for me at this point, and I'll leave it at this. With Luca, when he was with the Mavs, it was one of those things where you would have that fear that no matter who is on Luca's roster, he's going to bring them up to heist that they've never seen, or he's going to elevate this team. He hasn't really elevated this Lakers team in the way that we thought that he was supposed to, right? or at least, you know, recent history would suggest he should, right?

Roster be damned. You put the ball in Lucas' hands. He is going to elevate. And that's why, you know, there was always a take. Maybe he's better than aunt. He's better than all of these guys because, you know, he had such great success early in his career by lifting teams that wouldn't otherwise be where they are without him.

Similar to like, you know, that's why I get the early LeBron comparisons because he was able to do that. And you haven't seen that. I saw a stat recently that basically he had. hasn't been, you know, getting it done in the clutch. It's usually been Austin Reeves or LeBron that have been doing that. And he hasn't really been taking over games in the way that you would like to. I wish I had this stat in front of me.

I should have put that in the rundown, but I did not. But it was a very interesting stat about his clutch play. And that's really illustrative of where we are right now because usually it's, let's keep it close. Luca's going to bring us home or keep it close and LeBron's going to break his home. But the vibes have been so terrible bringing this all the way back that, you know, They're just trying to keep it together. Everything right now on the court is just trying to keep it together, not winning games.

And, you know, that's where we are right now. We spent 18 minutes on the Lakers, which, you know, is not going to keep us from the allegations that we only talk about them, even though we don't. So anyway, let's talk about another interesting vibe check in the Western Conference of Denver Nuggets, who they had the offseason. I spent some time with them over the weekend. They had the offseason, you know, where they go and they flip MPJ for Cam Johnson. And they get Bruce Brown and they get Tim Hardaway Jr. They really round out that roster around their core of Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Nicola Yolkich. They get off to a great start, 12 and 3.

And it seems like they are going to push OKC for their throne. And just injuries after injuries after injuries have happened. happened to them. But they've stayed afloat a lot because Adelman and his staff has done really, really well. And they have been able to develop players as the injuries

have accumulated. You know, you talk about Spencer Jones, who's done really, really well. Peyton Watson coming in the form, even though he's injured right now. But right now, they're in a weird place where during a stretch run, they have to

both find a rhythm and implement new pieces back into the fold and like Aaron Gordon, right? And that is a tough balance to have. On the way this morning, I thought of two teams that are comps that are like kind of cops. I thought about the 01 Lakers, which you talked about, which you covered, excuse me. And I thought about the 08, 2009 Boston Celtics. And the Lakers are the best case scenario in this situation because they were injured

for most of that year, stayed afloat. Went through a lot of like L-A-B-S, but they stayed afloat and then went on the best run in NBA history. And then think about the 0-8-09 Celtics where they're off of a title and they're just chronically injured. We could also make this case for the next team we're going to talk about. But I don't know what they're going to be right now, but I know if they're fully healthy, I'm really scared of them.

And if they're not healthy, that really sucks for basketball. What's your vibe check on the Nuggets? That's mine. What is yours? Um, it's a, it's a much newer, cleaner electric toothbrush. Um, I'm not going to make electric toothbrush jokes for the entire pot, I swear, I promise. Uh, so they're fourth in the Western conference at 37 and 22, half game behind Houston for third, half game up on Minnesota. So, like, it's really tight in that, in that stretch of the Western conference. And they're, they've all been

kind of up and down. Um, the Nuggets still have the number one offense by, uh, by rating in the NBA. Um, their 20th in defensive rating for net rating of seventh. But over their last 17, they have a losing record. Eight and nine with the fifth best offense, the 15th best defense net rating of 10th. So the Nuggets have been kind of meh recently. Yokic hasn't quite been as sharp since coming back from injury himself. And yeah, no Aaron Gordon, no Peyton Watson.

He hasn't been as sharp, but he had 30-something, 20, and 12 on Sunday. But he hasn't been a sharp. He's getting there. The entire stretch of it, not just the most recent games. He's getting there. He'll be fine. But yeah, this team at their best was never a great defensive team, but they became respectable when they won the championship, and they've been able to maintain that more or less for the last few years

when they've got the right personnel out there and when they're healthy. And Aaron Gordon is huge for them. He's so important. And Peyton Watson has become incredibly important as well. So you're not going to be a respectable defense with those two out. David Adelman has hinted recently that those guys are going to come back sometime with maybe around 20 games to go. So that's soon. We'll see.

They both have hamstring injuries and those are tough. Aaron Gordon, by the way, who's like had, he had one of the finals. In both legs. In the playoffs last year. Yeah. But not both legs last year, but like in both legs, like he's gone back and forth. He has had hamstring injuries in both legs. It's chronic.

Which is, yeah, it's really scary. Um, but if we assume good health, if we assume that Gordon and Peyton Watson are back soon, yeah, I'm not, I'm not particularly worried about the nuggets. The vibes will be fine. The games, the winds will be fine. It'll all follow. But, you know, they're, you know, they're in a little bit of a delicate spot here. Um, there's not much room for error. You know, the good news is, like I say, that's that zone they're in in the Western Conference, everybody's a little wonky right now. So, um, they are one of those teams as a veteran team. As a veteran team, as a team that's won a championship, as a team that's made many deep playoff runs, I think they're one of those teams where you don't worry about their playoff seating, right? Like, they could be the two, the three, the four,

even the five. And as long as they're healthy, they're going to be a threat to make a deep run. But, you know, you do, like health is, is the first priority. Just get there. I mean, last year, they were a four seat. And then they played OKC and probably pushed them to the break.

and they're probably Aaron Gordon Hamstring away from going to the conference finals. To your point. I want to read you a quote really quickly. This is from David Adelman over the weekend. He said, you have to play a different style sometimes. And he's talking about guys coming in and out of the lineup. You have to play a different style sometimes when you have certain people out. But I think we get people back.

It's hard for people that have taken on more responsibility to fall back in their role. It's human nature and they're trying to do it. But they also know that, let's say over two, two-week stretch. They had the ball in their hands constantly. And now someone comes back and that changes. So there's these little incremental stretches where you just have to be a little bit more patient with the group. Even when Nicola coming back, it's just not him coming back. It's him getting back into rhythm. It's guys understanding that the style of play on both ends is very different. Now, I saw them in Goldenstay when they came over the weekend and you could see, and granted,

this is a third game in four days. They had, it was a vaunted 1230 start, which you love Howard Beck as a beat writer. But players and teams don't necessarily love that, right? So it was the last game of a three-game road trip. And then they had to, you know, play through that. And you could see the ups and downs against Golden State where they came out flat. De Anthony Melton had a game. And then they get back into rhythm, get back in the flow.

And then you would see just stupid turnovers from Nicola, where Nicola is as great as he is just sometimes just has brain farts where he'll airball a layup and just wide open in transition or he'll just throw a lazy pass into the post and both of those things were catastrophic on Sunday. But then, you know, they have a day off and they have a big game against Boston and they just kind of wiped the floor with him in the second half, right? And we'll talk about Boston later on. But you're starting to see those, okay, we can get there.

We see the light. And on the other hand, ah, we're our own. enemy. And I think that that's just going to be the push and pull for this team. Because if I'm in the Western Conference, I don't want to face Denver fully healthy. I think that they can go into the finals and win the champions. I think anybody who is coming out of the West is winning a title this season. But if the nuggets get to anybody, they match up with everyone. We'll talk about this little bit later when we get back in person in L.A. later this season. But they're going to be right there in the mix. They just need to figure themselves out and just figure out this.

Like, that's the other thing. How many times have you had to see a team just as great as they've been still have to figure out themselves in real time? I feel like that's a thing that you, you tend to see even with the great teams. Yeah, I mean, the nuggets have a fairly consistent identity, but they do have like significant new pieces this year, right? Like Bruce Brown coming back, you know, actually like that's kind of a seamless ad. Kind of stabilizes them. Yeah, but like Peyton Watson's taking on a bigger role, but he's been around for a while. You know, Cam Johnson, you know, has not been quite as impactful, I think, as they hoped or as he had hoped. But it's mostly the same crew, right?

You know, it's Yokic and Jamal Murray and a healthier in Gordon when he's back and Christian Brown, Bruce Brown. So, like, I don't worry too much about their identity or them finding themselves. They just got to kind of get healthy and catch their stride again. They're at, they're at Oklahoma tonight, right? we're recording this, you know, midday on Friday. So that's a huge one. She's coming back. So the thunder will be closer.

You know, they're not at full strength either. J.W is still out. But like they're closer to full strength, getting Shay back. The nuggets are, you know, getting there. You know, none of these games are, you know, necessarily like the gauge. But that's going to be a fun one to watch. And yeah, it's like we're getting to that point of the season where all these teams got to get their guys back out on the court and start tuning up for the playoffs. The Ringer NBA show was brought to you by Fanduil.

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Let's talk about O'KC. Kind of the same, better record, but kind of the same problems that Denver is having, right? Just has to, their rhythm is all messed up because of all the injuries. It's so funny because at the beginning of this season, is this going to be the greatest team we've ever seen? And now they're just a really, you know, good team that's on track for 60 wins. But San Antonio might catch him. There's a real possibility that San Antonio could finish after all of this has happened,

after all the injuries that have happened with San Antonio that they could catch and have the best record in the Western Conference. What's your vibe check on Oklahoma City right now? I think it's pretty straightforward. They've been injured for a long time. And they have to just kind of figure out this new identity on the fly. test for them. I would say that. Yeah. It is wild to think back to when they were 24 and 1 and we're talking about. Are they going to like, you know, break the Warriors record? They're going to be one of

the all-time great teams. You know, they're going for 73, 74, 75, 78 wins, whatever it was. They were 24 and 1. Like, it was fun to get carried away for a bit. Since then, they're 21 and 14, which is still very, very good, but that's like a 49 to 50 win pace, 49, as opposed to 70 something. So, you know, SGA's missed the last nine games. They were five and four in that stretch. Jalen Williams has missed the last five and 15 of the last 17. He's only played in 26 games out of 60 this season. So they haven't been themselves, like literally.

Like literally they just haven't had their group on the court enough. They are 45 and 15 still first in the Western Conference. Game and a half ago up on the Spurs, one in the lost column. Six best offense in the NBA. number one defense, number one net by a lot. Their net is 11.2 per 100, which is three better, three points per 100 better than than Detroit. But last 15 games, Thunder are 8 and 7, 10th in offense, seventh in defense, seventh in defense

for a net of ninth. So they've been kind of eh also. Like everybody, I mean, we talk about the dog days of the NBA season for a reason, Logan. In this era, it's often because guys are just all banged up. In the past, it was more just like that January lull. Everybody comes out hot at the start. It's season's new. Everyone's fresh.

January, you know, those weeks leading to All-Star break, you're just kind of like dragging through. This goes for beat writers, too, by the way. January is always the part of the year where I was always like, oh, my God, why do we do this? Especially when you're like back when we always had like four games and five nights and you're like somewhere in the middle of a road trip and like Cleveland or somewhere. And it's one in the morning and you got to get up five hours later to catch another plane.

like, you know, it'll, it'll wear on you. And if it wears on us, you can only imagine how much more it's wearing on players who actually are doing all the physical exertion, albeit they get to fly on private jets while we're catching commercial planes, but whatever. We're getting through the end of the dog days here. And like all these teams we're talking about today, like the records, especially of the teams that are supposed to be great and everybody's kind of like hovering around 500 over like 15 or 20 or 30 games. Yeah, there's a little bit of that midseason lull. But you expect a team like the third. thunder as with the nuggets when healthy, I think they're going to be fine. I think from a human level, though, I feel for Jay Dub, right? Because it's supposed to be, you know, he had a breakout season last year.

It was an all-star. But this was supposed to be the season that he capitalizes on that, right? Where he's supposed to be a really certified dude in the league. And, you know, it started last, it's all of what's happening right now, Gazist's roots last year when he played through that ugly hand injury. Have you seen that?

There's footage on it on, on that hand injury. Like he, the, the Gen Z thing now is like filming everything. And so like he, he, he,

like, filmed what his, what his x-rays look like and stuff. And I've been locked in on YouTube on his YouTube channel. And it, he had to have surgery on that, you know, that pushed him out.

He wasn't able to work out in the way that he's supposed to. And didn't really, and didn't really get to really work on his game this summer. And now is trying to find his way, then pulls his handstring, is like an injury that you get when you're not really working out that much and have to ramp up. And so he's about to come back. Seems like it.

He spent a lot of time in the Bay Area over the All-Star break. But I feel for him, right? Like I feel for guys like that because that's what this, this, a season like this for a team like that is supposed to have guys that are really just trying to find themselves. And hopefully they find themselves within the playoffs. I just, one of the things, whatever I watch. them, it's just, I'm happy to see the young guys do well, and I'm happy to see, you know, the AJ Mitchells of the world and the, you know, the Isaiah Joe's of the world kind of come into form. But when I watch them, I just, I do feel like there is a ceiling. They're not as

good as their records suggest. I don't think when they, like, when we go to the playoffs, I'm going to be really curious to see how they match up with the San Antonio's and the nuggets of the world. And that's what I'm kind of curious about. I think they can beat the Houston's and the Minnesota's, but it's going to be really tough sledding. It's not going to be easy for them in the postseason. It's not going to be a cakewalk by any means for the thunder. No matter how good and talented that they are and where they can reach, there's going to be some question marks.

In June, we were saying they're champions. And my gosh, they just might be the next dynasty in a league that had forgotten dynasties because of all the parody of the last seven, eight years. And they go out to 24 and one start. And it's, wow. Yep. Oh, shit. Here we go.

Yeah, here we go. They're not only going to go back to back, not only going to become the next dynasty, they're going to set records along the way. They're just going to set the entire league on fire. And here we are. We have a legit race, partially for the wrong reasons, partially for the right reasons, right? Like, injuries are a big part of why it's suddenly suspenseful in the West. And I always say, like, give me suspense, give me an open race, give me a mystery going into the postseason.

It sucks that it's often because, or in this case, it's largely because of injury. but it's also because the San Antonio Spurs, who I think even internally, they were just here in Brooklyn last night. In fact, they are still here. They're here for like five days. The Spurs should send a big fucking gift basket to Evan Wash at NBA headquarters for the scheduling. They've got five days in New York. And they've actually got a nice five days, right? Like the snow is melting.

It's sunny out right now. It's kind of actually semi-pleasant for a late February day. And the Spurs have five days here. We'll see what kind of shape they're in by the time they put in. You live there, you're jealous. I'm just saying it's a gift. They were granted, like, like, Spurs officials, like, all brought their spouses on this trip. This is definitely a spouse trip. There are people and I haven't, I'm going, I'm going to this one. I'm on the plane. Dude, there are people in the Spurs front office who I saw at Barclay Center last night who don't normally travel, but they're on this trip. Yeah. I haven't seen you in five years. What are you doing?

here. Literally, at least five years for some of them. So yeah, they're enjoying this. But the spurs are, again, conversations I have with some of them. They did not expect to be here at this point. And second in the Western Conference, shouting distance of the Thunder with a chance to catch them and having manhandled them during the regular season so far with all the reason the world to think that they can knock them out in the playoffs. This was. they're so far ahead of schedule and I think ahead of even their internal expectations. Being a playoff team, a solid playoff team, not a play in, but even a playoff team would have been the ceiling or just the reasonable expectation this season.

Their young guys have just taken such big leaps. Deerrin Fox has been fantastic for them on the veteran side of things, right? We don't think of them as a veteran team, but they do have Deeran Fox and Harrison Barnes, kind of anchoring and Luke Cornett anchoring around that young core with Wemby and Steph Castle, Dylan Harper. Vassell is kind of like even like a, you know, early vet at this stage. So they're young and they have no playoff experience so far as a group. But I think they're actually built to do this.

They have a weird like roster in that, you know, we don't talk about this. But Deera Fox was a number one option on a playoff team. That was his team. That was a four seat. And he's just one of the guys here. He's just one of the guys. Like, what a great come up for him. Yeah, and they're so much fun to watch and they seem like such a great group.

It's like the spurs are really easy to pull for. And I think too for anybody who like, you know, if you're looking for real rivalries and just real competition and don't necessarily want the thunder to just like roll everybody for the next five years, like the spurs are I think your best hope there. But yeah, we've got a race. Spurs, nuggets, thunder at minimum. Rockets? Maybe rockets. I don't have a lot of facing them. Minnesota would, I think, be the other one too.

Zach and Michael Pina talked about this the other day on the pod, and I agree. Like, I think the next team after that top group would be the Timberwolves. Yeah. The story of OKC season. We talk about them and inevitably the spurs come out and come up and just, yeah, we don't want to talk about you no more thunder. It's fine. It's fine. I'm going to talk about the darlings of the league instead, the new darlings.

Yeah. It's always funny knowing NBA history how that happens. It's just always funny how, like, anytime we have plans for something, you know, the NBA guys just take it away, right? Like I think about 2014 when it was supposed to be the Bronze League and San Antonio Spurs League and the Warriors like,

no, stop. OKC is like, hey, man, we're going to be a dynasty. You know, it's our second time. We're going to push the Warriors record and the Bulls record. San Antonio's like, yeah, not so fast. Yeah. Relax. Yeah. It's good for the league, though. It's fun.

Yeah. The Pistons were like in the 80s. Lakers, Celtics, hold on. We're going to get our titles. Just one second. Yeah. It's funny how the league works. Minor interruption. Yeah, yeah. Speaking to the Celtics, let's talk about the Celtics. Currently second in the east, eight and two in the last 10. Jason Tatum might be coming back. I don't know. Can they win the East? Jalen Brown MVP? they got a great office. Here's the other thing that I think about with the Celtics. They're great as an Eastern Conference team,

and the Pissons also found this out. Whenever they go to the West, they get pummeled. Right? It's a weird barometer in this Easter conference because you do have legitimately really good teams until they see Debo. Or they see the Western Conference. And it's like, oh, the gap is still there.

What do you think about the Celtics? They're the rare team on this list, Logan. And by the way, they had a pretty good Western Conference swing, right? Like they beat the Warriors, they win at L.A. against the Lakers, the Suns. Not like the toughest teams in the world, but still, they went what, like three and one on the road trip finished with the loss at Denver. They played against the Warriors without Steph. They played against the Lakers who we just said was a dumpster fire. The Lakers without vibes.

Without vibes. And they played against the Suns. Sons without Booker or... Without Booker or anybody, right? And then they play the Nuggets who, you know, at home in Denver, which was a real measuring stick and they got dog walked. Yeah, you know, shit happens. They are Celtics 38 and 20 second in the Eastern Conference

with a two-game lead in the lost column on the Knicks. Second overall offense, seventh defensively, and the net rating of their third in net rating behind only the Thunder and Pistons. Pretty nice. Their last 19 games, they're 14 and 5. So they're the rare team we're talking about today that has not gone into one of these lulls. Joe Mozilla won't let them. Taylor won't let him. Joe Mozilla's stare alone is scaring them into being professional every night. Last 19 games, eighth overall offense, third overall defense net rating of fifth. So they're consistently just competitive and really good. And yeah, now we've got this

Tatum thing looming. The reports are that he's been going five on five. So this feels like in any day now kind of moment, right? Like any day now, we're going to hear he's been cleared and he's out on the court. And it's going to be super interesting. There's no analog for this, I don't think. Logan, you mentioned a couple teams earlier. And I think these are great examples.

A Laker team that was banged up in 01 and they go on to win the championship. Celtics, the year that KG got hurt after their championship. like there's some other moments where guys have come back but Jason Tatum is a perennial MVP candidate, perennial NBA player who was, even with Jalen Brown having won finals MVP,

Jason Tatum is the guy we think of as their number one. And nobody thought he'd be back this season. Everybody said gap year. They're number two in the east. They're in position to actually contend. They're in position to actually win the East. And their best player has not even played a game yet. I don't think there's any analog for this.

I don't think there's any precedent. I don't think. And because of that, it's absolutely fascinating because in his absence, their number two has become a clear number one. Like, Jalen Brown was on my fake straw poll MVP ballot to Bontemps a couple weeks ago, right? Like, I think I had him fourth. He doesn't have the dominant stats of the top guys. He doesn't have the gaudy box score numbers of Shea and Yokic or Cade.

He doesn't have the advanced stats. In fact, some of the advanced stats kind of, you know, are kind of weirdly uninspiring for him. Yeah. Yeah. This is where,

like sometimes we just have to throw the stats out the fucking window. This, and that applies with Jalen Brown. The Celtics have been amazing and they're amazing because of him. It's like Derek White's great, Peyton Pritcher's great.

They got some nice role players, yada, yada, yada. They are where they are because of Jalen Brown. And so somewhere in there, without any of the numbers, advanced, traditional or otherwise, we have to just acknowledge that the Celtics, have been great because of Jalen Brown and he is therefore worthy of MVP discussion.

I'm not saying put him at the top of the ballot. I probably will not. But he's been fantastic. And now Jason Tatum is coming back. So we get all these questions. Like, what will he look like? How will they reintegrate him? How will Joe Missoula play this?

How much can they really expect out of Jason Tatum? And all of that is super fascinating with 20-something games to go. And the Celtics in a position to actually try to make a run. to the finals. So I can't wait to see this. It's absolutely fascinating. It's so fascinating. I think the biggest thing that is fascinating is Jalen Brown because he's on one hand he's gotten every single thing that he wanted. And on the other hand, he may have to either seed that control of the offense, depending on how Tatum looks, but he also could, it's just going to be a big test for him, right? Because he's going to have to seed spotlight, no matter what happens,

or Jason Tatum just falls in line. But again, that's really hard. It's easy for me and you to say or do, but it's really hard when you're talking about somebody that's in an NBA. And as wanted this as much as Jalen Brown has really wanted this. I can't emphasize how much he has wanted everything that he is getting this year. And then to be validated that this team could be a winner or any team for that matter could be a winner with him leading the helm has been really cool for him.

And it's really been, honestly, just been really cool to see. And so on the back end for that to at least be potentially taking that all away, because that's the growing pains that me, you and Rajah talked about that's going to be really hard and what makes it so fascinating. And also part of the reason why, at least I don't want Tatum to come back this soon, because you're just messing a lot of things up. But it could go really well. Chances are, I don't, it could go really bad, which is that what I,

where I lean to because it could go bad for Tatum's health. It could go bad for team chemistry and not necessarily people not liking each other, but trying to figure stuff out. Like what we just talked about with Denver right now and integrating a piece like Aaron Gordon into the fold and guys having to figure out their roles on the fly, right? Celtics have had deal with this in the 17, 18, 18th season, or excuse me, the 18, 19 season with Kyrie and having to figure out their roles on the fly. And that didn't work out very well.

Jalen Brown was also on that team. But it's so fascinated for all those things, but the biggest test is going to be how does Jalen Brown respond to this and how does he figure this out on the fly? Because he's going to have to cede something after getting everything he wanted. It's strange to say this,

but I think the fact that Tatum is coming back from one of the toughest injuries in sports and certainly in the NBA, the Achilles, I think actually puts everybody in a position to not have to strain to make this work. I agree with you. There's still a lot on Jalen Brown to kind of like empower Jason Tatum and make him, you know, feel comfortable coming back after missing, you know, two-thirds, three-fourths of the season. And Jalen has gotten to enjoy being the number one that he kind of always envisioned himself as for all this time. but those guys have a ton of history together already.

They know how to work together and play off of each other. I think the mystery is how to play off of each other when one of you is not 100%. Because there's two definitions of these percentages, right? And I want to make very clear what I'm saying. Jason Tatum will be 100% when he comes back. I have absolute confidence that he will be 100% in terms of healed from his Achilles and 100% ready to play in an NBA game. the medical staff and the organization will not allow it otherwise. He will be 100%

but he will not necessarily be 100% of himself because the history of Achilles injuries is pretty clear on this. Some guys who, especially All-Stars, never get back to All-Star level after an Achilles tear. Now, he's young enough that I expect, in my professional medical opinion, that he will. But you don't get there on day one when you come back. It's been 10 months or whatever since the Achilles. Like chances are if Tatum gets back to exactly as explosive and mobile and effective as he was before the injury, that moment will still be down the line. That may be in October.

So when he comes back now, he's probably going to have to ease in a little bit and probably can't expect to be 100% of himself. And that's the biggest, I think, challenge for him to deal with, Logan, is that this is a matter of psyche as much as anything else. You have to be, you have to find a comfort again. to trust your body. And then you have to find a comfort in playing, knowing you cannot be as awesome as you have become accustomed to being. But because of it, it means that I think he has to lean on Jalen Brown more. And Jalen Brown doesn't have to worry about seating anything or

like, oh, what's the power sharing arrangement? No, like, Jason Tatum has the luxury of Jalen Brown playing at a number one level. And he can lean on that. And Jalen Brown can do everything possible to empower Jason Tatum and help bring him along again. But I don't think this is a case where you have this tug of war or something or, you know, just that that ego battle we sometimes see with co number ones or uneasy star alignments. Like these two, I think are going to be fine. And Tatum needing to get him, his legs back under him, I think actually helps that process. Yeah. That sounds great in theory. We'll see how it is in practice. Yeah. And I think you brought up a really a lot of great points. Another point on that, Achilles injury, the surgery of Achilles and has been just light

years better than it has when, you know, we first started really getting Achilles injuries and how it could just be a death blow to your career, right? Like, you know, just the, the heights that we've seen in the medical field over the last few years has been astounding. But let's, let's move on. Let's go, we're staying in the Eastern Conference. Let's go to the Caps. They're five and one since acquiring James Hardin, who has a fracture in his hands. Still going to play through it. That's going to be a fascinating thing to see James Harden trying to play through injuries because he has so much on the line in this postseason. He wants a new deal.

And we'll see what happens on that one. But again, James Hardin's on and off numbers defensively are the worst in the NBA according to Clean the Glass. As opponents have been 21 points per 100 possessions better on offense when Hardin. is on the floor. Not very great. Was it? It was about the same when he was on the Clippers.

I think their vibes are great right now. I don't know how long this is going to last Howard Beck. What do you think? In part, because of the stat that I just gave you. Yeah. It's not like Donovan Mitchell is much better defensively. There's always been skepticism about this iteration of the Cavs,

and there's always skepticism about James Hardin, wherever he is, and especially when it comes to the postseason, on both counts, Hardin and the Cavs, and now we have them together. So, yeah, I get it. However, however, the Cavs are like the sneaky best vibes team we might be discussing today in the bigger picture. Listen, they had that really rough start. It's a great honeymoon phase right now. Not, I'm not, like, so even predating the Hardin thing. So here we go. Yeah, yeah. They started the season 17 and 16 and we're all like, oh my God, and there's speculation about Kenny Atkinson's job security and all this of their stuff. They're 20 and 7 since then.

They have not lost two straight games since late December. Six and one in games that Hardin has actually played since the trade. He's missed a couple of them. Last 27 games in which they've gone 20 and 7. In that span, they have the second best offense in the NBA, eighth best defense for a net rating of fifth. they have been sneaky really good over that span since the really rough start

and that was pre-harden and that's with Hardin and Hardin definitely makes them better, right? Like we'll see what happens in the postseason but James Hardin is a better player still than Darius Garland and he's certainly better than a Darius Garland who's constantly injured and as of this recording still remains out for the Clippers.

So I like where the Cavs are at right now. Hardin seems to have, like Hardin Donovan Mitchell alignment seems to have been almost seamless, right? Two guys who are both used to having the ball in their hands a ton and high usage rates historically, but both of whom have had partnerships that they've had to manage before, right? Like, Donovan Mitchell did a pretty damn good job of it in Cleveland the last few years with Darius Garland. Hardin's done it in the past with, you know, Chris Paul, with Kauai, Paul George, with whoever. Like, I feel like, you know, that part of it I'm not worried about.

Whether they can come through in the postseason and in big moments and in clutch moments, that's the real question. And this team has had a lot of injury issues as well. By the way, quick footnote, cabs at Detroit tonight, another big game. Yeah. Also, calves are of the fourth easiest schedule coding tank ath time. So vibes are going to be continuing to be great. And yeah, and they can still, you know, look, they're one loss behind the Knicks and the standings.

Another, but also another team that's in the Western Conference, I would say, they played against OKC without any of their starters and, like, it couldn't pull it out. Like, there's also those tea leaves that are there as well. Little alarming moments along the way. Yeah. Yeah. But the honeymoon is great. It's great. A lot of great alley-oops, a lot of great pick and rolls.

I love the Mobley Hard and Big and Roll. It's vibes. Detroit, what's your vibe check on Detroit? I mean, immaculate, or as immaculate as we're going to get in a league where everybody goes through like some awful little lull. And like for them, it's just, you know, they had the scuffle with the Hornets. They lost Stu and Dern for a while there. 43 and 14, first in the Eastern Conference, five and a half game lead on the Celtics. They're going to be the number one seed in the east, no question.

Since they had, the only lull the Pistons had was they lost three of four in late December to early January. Since then, they're 18 and five with the fifth best offense, the number one defense and the number one net rating. Number two in net rating, so in that span, last 23 games, Pistons, number one rating, number one net rating in the NBA. Can you guess who is number two? Is it the Thunder? It is not. They are the like six. or something in that span.

Is it the Celtics? No, they were just ahead of the Thunder. Okay, go ahead. The second best net rating over the last 23 games during which the Pistons have been number one. Oh, is it Spurs? Spurs? Their third, behind the Hornets.

Charlotte, a plus 10.7 net rating. I just wish Charlotte was just, I just wish they were like a five-seat. So I can really be excited, you know? I know. They're still climbing, and they've got to sustainless, but still. Still, wild, man. Wild shit.

Yeah, yeah. The Pistons also haven't lost two straight since late December. Like, they just keep chugging along. They're great. They're really fun to watch. Kate is getting legitimate MVP chatter. This MVP race could break any number of ways, especially when the 65 game rule comes into play. We'll see if Yokic makes it.

We'll see if Wembe makes it. I'm holding on. I think Wemby has to, he can only miss like two more games, but I'm holding on in my pick. I'm holding on. That's right. That's right. Yeah. So I got nothing like we could nitpick the pistons about shooting and we did in fact nitpick the pistons earlier in the week about shooting and secondary playmaking, shot creation and some stuff. Or they're very bad loss to the spurs at home. We could pick that, you know. Or just barely be. leading okay C without any of their starters. But I mean, all fair, but still, dude, they're the number one team in the Eastern Conference. I can't believe we're still having discussions of should they be the favorites in the East? Like, all right, they may not win the East,

but yes, they are the fucking favorites in the East. They are number one in the East by five and a half games and have been the most consistent team. I think it's two major three team race. It's the Pistons. It's the Celtics, and I guess I could put the calves in there. But I don't believe. with the caveat that I don't believe in the cast,

but I think it's three team race. If I'm ranking them in terms of confidence in them, it's probably like if the Celtics were a whole and they may be soon, and again, asterisk upon asterisk because we don't know what Tatum will look like. I think even without Tatum, I think I'm,

I'm a pick Boston. I have high confidence in the Celtics because of who they are and what they've shown in the past, even though it's not the same team, right? It's not just Tatum. It's, you know, Horford, Porzinger, Drew Holiday, Le Cornet.

Like there's a lot of new pieces in the rotation in place of those guys. But like Boston and Detroit in one order or another are the two teams I have the most confidence in. And then it's down a couple notches to the Knicks and Cavs in whatever order, right? But the pistons are the favorites in the East. Like we got to stop doing this. Are they actually like there's no favorite? No, they're the favorites in the East by definition. Well, I mean, we haven't seen.

But here's the thing, though. We haven't really seen them do anything. Right. Like last year they had a good year and they lost in the first round. Right. We don't have any proof of concept. Yeah. But they were a six seed that had never been in the playoffs before.

I'm saying that's fair. I'm giving you the other side of it, though. They haven't won a playoff series in this current iteration. And before that they won this playoff series, they were terrible. So we have to keep that in mind that we don't have any real proof of concept other than winning a lot of regular season games this year. They may not win the East, but they should be favorites as of this moment based on everything we've seen. Yeah. And that's going to be an interesting dynamic because I think San Antonio is going through this as well, where

it's one thing to get there but the mindset to get through is going to be so much harder and something, it's always the practice of trying to prepare something for something that you've never done before and we'll see what the business do. It's gonna be, it's gonna be fun.

I can't wait to see him. Friday, you know what time it is, time for a real one or the week. Howard, do you have a real one of the week? Did you come prepared for this? Of course I do. Were you aware that it was a Friday show? Of course I didn't know.

I didn't know. I didn't know. So go ahead. I'm a professional, Logan. I know what I'm doing. Okay. Yeah. I'm doing this for a while. A little bit.

You alluded to this earlier, but we did not get into it. The real one of the week, for me, Clint fucking Capella. Like, yes. Can we talk about that really quickly? Because you had some thoughts over the phone and I thought that what Aiden did was insane. I just thought, just even to say that, whatever context it was in, to say that in fruit of a group of journalists, What our messy asses knew we was going to write about that.

All right. We'll start with the quote and then we'll get into it. So Dave McMedeman, great story that published yesterday, right? Yeah. About D'Andre Aiton and just kind of the enigma that is D'Andre Aiton and his time with the Lakers so far. And it gets into the highs and the lows and everything in between and some really fun and occasionally wacky anecdotes about D'Andre Aiton and his time with the Lakers. Cartwheels. Just making everybody's.

scared in the building. Come on. Cartwheels. Seven foot are doing cartwheels. Like he's a playful dude. Like that's part of his persona and that's fine. But it's also part of why we all look at him and think he's not a serious person. So he gives, you know, his postgame interview after a win the other night and, or maybe it was a loss, but he had a good game.

And then as he's walking away, he shouts out to no one in particular, I guess. They're trying to make me Clint Capella, referring to the Rockets now back. Cup Center who a decade ago made his impact as a lob catching room running big on a team that made two conference finals. Quote, I'm not no Clint Capella. So Clint Capella is my real one of the week because Capella on his Instagram story, screen grabbed the quote that Aton had about not being no Clint Capella. And Capella writes over it, you got two of the best, by the way, letter U number two, shout out to Prince. You got two of the best floor general in the game, my dog. Lock in. And then he adds two laughing face emojis. Love this for Clint Capella.

It's a fair point. He's, here's a guy who he's not taking it as an insult. Clint Capella knows what he's done in this league and what DeAndre Aiton has done or not done in this league. And Clint Capella knows the great luxury as a big of having guys like Luca or LeBron or in Capella's case back in the past James Harden to throw lobs and make you look good, give you easy baskets. So that Capella decided to actually meet this head-on was really cool. The funny thing is, if you click through his Instagram story, the next slides after that are highlights from Capella that night blocking Tristan to Silva twice in a row on one possession and then taken off on the fast break. And then getting his fourth block of the game, finishes the fast break with a dunk from a Reed

Shepard lob. Clint Capella making an impact for the Rockets. And for the season, by the way, Clint Capella has 43 blocks. DeAndre Aten has 46. However, Clint Capella has played 616 minutes and DeAndre Aten's played 1,406. So they have almost the same number of blocks and Capella has in less than half the minutes. Clint Capella has been a really good player in this league. He was not the number one overall pick like D'Andre Aiton.

he does not have all the glory and the riches that come with that. But Capella's had a damn good career. People go look at Tom Ziller's newsletter this morning if you haven't read it. He's got a great comparison and contrast of everything that Capella has done that DeAndre Aten has not. This was a silly, ridiculous thing for Capella or for DeAndre Aten to say. And I loved the clapback by, it wasn't really really a clapback. It was more that just Capella being like, look, dude, realize where you are and who you've got there and take advantage. of them. It's okay. It's okay to be me. You can make a really good living this way. You don't have to be the

center of the offense or of the universe. You're right. DeAndre Aiden, you're not Clint Capella. You're absolutely right. You're not. And most teams would rather have, if you took it in their prime, they'd rather have Capella than Aten. Or maybe right now they might rather have Capella than Aden at this very moment. Quick aside on that. Like, one thing about this athletes in general, and also just like as a life lesson. If you do what you're supposed to do, you're going to get everything you want. Like if Aidan just did what he was supposed to do

and what he was asked to do on that roster and not do everything that he's been doing on previous rosters, like looking out for self and also like just having the not maturing, he'd get everything he wants. Now he's going to have to exercise his player option next year and maybe get traded. But it's just an interesting guy that is. The best thing, the best thing Aten has going for him in this context is that he has the same agent as Luca.

Yep. Yep. Exactly. That was just nuts. And I, you just don't say stuff like that. Especially like when, no, and I know you have, what were you going to say? Because we had a phone conversation yesterday. You were, you were a little pushing back on the quote. And let's talk through that really quickly. So only because when we talked on the phone yesterday, like what had happened was McManum's story comes out and it's, you know, I don't know, maybe, you know, 1,400, 400 words or whatever, all these interesting anecdotes, a lot of nuance, highs and lows, as I said. But that quote immediately got aggregated by others. And then that becomes the big thing. The story wasn't about DeAndre Aten not wanting to be no Clint Capella. It was about all the other stuff. Yes, that was the spiciest quote. No, it was not a specific like interview quote also. And so just to give people a second, I'm mistaken, wasn't interviewed for the story. That was his only quote that he yelled into a lot. Right. There was the group session. It looks like where McMamend drew some quotes from there. And then as Aiton's walking away and he says that. So that that's that's the other quote. You and I both been in a lot of locker rooms over the years. I was a beat writer for, you know, for 16 years, you know, Lakers and Nicks. And so you have these situations where you're talking to a guy in a group session or even one on one in the locker

or whatever it is. But it's kind of understood. And DeAndre Aten's been in the league long enough to know this. If you've just been talking to a scrum of reporters, then you walk away and then you shout something, say something, or even to a teammate, if it's loud enough, and it's clearly meant for the ears of everybody in the room, it's on the record.

Like, it's not part of the interview, but it's on the record. I don't know if, like, and I'm only pointing this out, like Aiton hasn't denied anything or tried to push away from that or say, like, oh, that was not supposed to be. for the story. And he probably wouldn't. He probably thinks it was just fine, despite the backlash he's now getting deservedly. But it's kind of understood in these contexts, right? If you are in a roomful of reporters and you say something out loud that is for the whole room to hear, that is all, of course, fair game. And, you know, I've been in plenty of those situations myself in the past. But it's interesting

to put it in that context. And the reason I pointed out is, If anybody thinks, like, is taking it as something where, like, DeAndre Aten's in an interview where he says this, it is a little bit different. The off-the-cuffer mark as he's walking away puts it in a little bit different light. But it also tells you something about how he's thinking about this because he's just given an interview to the group where he's talking about, I can do all these things. I can be a 20 and 10 guy. I can do all this if I've got the opportunity. Well, you had your opportunity to show that. That's the other thing.

Sorry, go ahead. Finish your point. I apologize. Two teams gave him that opportunity. you know, before this. And one of them bought him out and told him to go away. A team, by the way, that wasn't expected to do anything nor wanted to do anything in the Portland Trailblazers who had no expectations, you know, they were like, you were not going to be good for our development of our young guys. We're good.

I feel you. I understand. But I think that also, like, to your point, and I think you just made the point, you just don't say that shit in the scrub. You just don't say that. You don't say that. Plenty of times Or as you're walking away from it. Or as you're walking away from it.

There have been plenty of times even when he's in the scrum where he'll say some stuff like, why would you even say that? Like when JJ Redick said that they were going to have the tough practice and he just rolls his eyes

the day after. It was like, you all feel for that? Come on. Come on. Come on. Anyways. My rule in the week is Chris Bosch.

Just want to shout out make sure he's doing okay, man. He had a bit of a health scare that he said on social media. where he woke up covered in his own blood. Brian Winhorse reached out to him and Bosch wouldn't get into specifics, but he's dealt with blood clout issues

over the last few years. And I just want him to get healthy, man. I feel like he was robbed of the rest of his career because of these blood clots out of nowhere and then has had to continually deal with them. And I feel for him. And I think, you know, he was robbed personally, but we were all robbed as a basketball community

because Chris Bosch, one of the greats of his generation. And it's just really tough. And I hope that I'm just giving him a run one of the week just to say, man, I hope, you know, everything works out. And I hope that you're getting better. And I hope that you're getting better for whatever you're going through. So my rule of the week is Chris Bosch. And, you know, that has been another edition of, for sure.

That has been another edition of Real On the Way, Real On the Way, Real Ones, Mailbag at gmail. com. Real ones mailbag at gmail. dot com, real ones mailbag at gmail.com. We'll be answering all of your questions. Man, dog days for everybody. Dog days is the podcast. We're still making it happen.

We're not, we're not letting up. All right. Tap in, see y'all Tuesday. I, all the shits. Bye. I'll see 21 years and older and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with the Kansas Star Casino or 18 and older and present in D.C. Kentucky, Wyoming.

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