The Ringer NBA Show - Paul George, Jayson Tatum, and the Summer of Disrespect | Real Ones

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Howard and Raja are back to discuss what seems to be the biggest theme of the NBA offseason: DISRESPECT. They start the conversation with Paul George's and Klay Thompson's feelings that they were slighted by their former teams' contract offers (06:48). Then, they go into Jayson Tatum’s playing time during the Olympics (30:24) and the criticism Tua Tagovailoa directed at his former coach Brian Flores’s coaching style (39:52). After, they share their Real One of the Week before answering your mailbag questions (53:37)! Email us your questions at [e-mail]. 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. Hosts: Howard Beck and Raja Bell Producers: Jonathan Kermah and Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the fall of 2014, a group of hackers pulled off the biggest Hollywood heist of all time. They broke into computer servers belonging to Sony Pictures and released hundreds of thousands of top secret documents. The attack would cause an international incident, upend thousands of lives, and change the movie industry forever. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, I'm Brian Raftery, and this is the Hollywood hack. Listen on the big picture feed. It's the real ones. Our back senior writer at The Ringer. With me is Raja Bell.

Our guy Logan, he's on hiatus for a little bit. We'll get back to that eventually. So I get to play substitute teacher again, sit in the big chair. Raja, what's going on, man? It's been like a month since we last potted because absolutely nothing is happening in the NBA. We missed the Olympics entirely. The real ones just skipped the Olympics. We'll probably hit that a little bit later anyway.

What's going on? It's been a month. What have I missed in the Bell household, the Bell world, recruiting visits, scouting trips, just jaunts around the country. What's like what's going on? We're hustling and bustling, baby. I hope I remember how to do them. Assuming it's like riding a bike or shooting jumpers or something like that. So forgive me if I'm rusty. But we're doing what we do. Kids all back in school, except for DIA goes back Tuesday. They play on ESPN tomorrow. If anybody wants to tune in, 7 p.m. Milton. Milton versus American Heritage should be a hopefully, hopefully should be a good one. But that's it, man. We're in full swing, dude. Just doing what we do chasing kids, four schools, drop-offs, you know, busy. Did you guys get away? Was there a trip? Did we get away? Did we get away this year? Not really. I mean, the wife and I went down to the Bahamas for a quick sec. Took the kids to the keys to hang out and fish for a couple days. It's, so difficult just getting around everybody's schedule. You know what I mean? Like, and for all that football has been to our house and like I love football and it's, it's been a blessing to DIA. It's all encompassing, dude. Like they work all year round. You get like a couple days right when school ends and then you're back at it. And what I didn't know to all the parents out there that they're in this, this basketball landscape, you know, I had always coached the travel team up

until most of the kids were in ninth grade and then I let him go to the shoe company teams or it's not that I let them go they just go um this is our first time around the block on a shoe circuit and tie schedule was crazy bro like it was worse than anybody so it was it was a difficult navigation but i enjoyed all the time and it trips with everybody and i'm happy to be back bro let's let's let's get it popping we miss you logan shot out we'll hold it down for you though we're holding it down. I'm going to just try to get through this show

and then the next time we podcast, by the way, quick show, programming note, I think we're not back for another about four weeks from now unless something crazy happens and maybe we'll jump in. Is that what's happening?

Wait, is that what we're doing? We're doing a single pod and then we're just going to take four more weeks. Okay. We're just going back to sleep. We're just taking a long nap again. Why not? It is the dog days of the NBA offseason.

There really isn't a whole lot going on. In between all that, today's show and the next one, in fact, days away, we're sending our daughter off to college, and she's my only. So we're about to go straight, empty nest. I'm already in the back of my head an emotional mess, Raja.

It's only going to get worse. I will try to get through this pod. By the time we reconvene in a month, hopefully I'm through the emotional distress and composed again. So next time you'll hear from me, hopefully I'm good. But yeah, this is a big weekend for us here. That's a blessing.

What is the plan, Howard? Is it going to be Band-Aid, drop you off one day, set you up, give you kisses and we're out of there? Are you guys going to linger around for the weekend and stretch it out? What are you going to do? No, you know what's really, it's worse than that, Rajah? Here's what's happening without saying where she's going. But like she's going to go, the college she's going to in the year,

US will start with spring semester. Her first semester is going to be abroad. So on Sunday, I'm actually driving my wife and daughter to JFK. Oh. So my wife's going to escort her overseas just to make sure the handoff is good and just help her with the luggage and all that stuff. So I'm going to just be like bawling my eyes out at JFK on Sunday. My wife then can ball her eyes out in, you know, overseas with my daughter.

I got a tear right now, dude. like no BS. That's crazy. What an amazing opportunity. Godly, that's going to be tough. Awesome. Awesome opportunity. I'm thrilled for my daughter. I am absolutely so excited for her. It's great.

I am already an emotional mess. And then we're going to do this all over again because what happens is she'll come back in December after doing the study abroad part of it. And then late January, we drive her to her actual permanent college destination. And I'm going to do this all over again. I'm going to be a mess all over again. So, yeah, I have invested heavily in the Kleenex Corporation. I'm going to need a lot of tissues.

I hear you, man. So there's where we're at. All right. Well, listen, I mean, I remember that time. I'm sure you do when the rentals took me. Very cool time for her, man. But I'll be thinking of you, dude. Like, shoot me a text if you need a phone call and a beverage.

I may need a virtual shoulder to cry on over Zoom. You know what the funny thing is? So I'm the middle of three boys, and I don't remember my older brother leaving us being that big of a deal. I don't remember my parents being particularly emotional. And I asked my mom recently. My dad's passed. But I asked my mom recently. I'm like, when Mark, my younger brother, like he's two years younger.

I said when he was out and it was the last one and you guys were then empty nest, like, was that a big moment? Was that a big moment? Like my mom was like, nah, I think the house was just kind of quieter. You know, we got used to it after a week. Damn. Jesus. Different world, too, though. Different world all the way around.

That's crazy. For sure. All right. So got a lot to get to, and we're going to have some mailbag questions at the end here. We will, of course, have our real one of the week. But, Raja, let's talk about respect or even better. Disrespect.

Because I feel like this is kind of suddenly the unofficial theme of the 2024 offseason. Like, disrespect sort of drove Clay Thompson to Dallas. disrespect certainly i think drove paul george to philadelphia and away from the clippers um disrespect became weirdly the theme of the gold medal winning u.s olympic team because of how steve cur handled jason tatum's playing time and so instead of us talking about gold medals we were talking about disrespect um you know already because like we've we've i've ranted about this for few times like this is like my least favorite genre of sports discourse in the modern era is this this grievance culture.

You know, fans do it. Players do it. Pundits like us do it. It's like 90% of sports talk now, I figure, is just driven by who's been disrespected somehow or slighted or whatever. Personally, like, I'm never offended by anything. It's not my job to be offended by somebody's pay or their pay offer or they're playing time. But you, Roger, you played in the league, right? And it's just not to say that all players feel about these issues the same. way, but you know what the vibe of the locker room is and discussions amongst players

or I can sit here and mock the idea of disrespect being this, this tool that or this, you know, the word to bust out every time you don't like the way something went. But I understand too, like some of this stuff is real, maybe a little exaggerated at times, but it's real. So let's go through some of these. It just can be like the disrespect meter or the, you know, how real it is for some of these. Like Paul George, let's talk Paul George first,

because that was the biggest move of the summer. On his podcast, he called the Clippers initial offer to him, quote, kind of disrespectful. So he used the word himself. And they made bigger offers later in the process. He didn't feel great about those either. He signs with the Sixers for the Max. This one falls into the category of money equaling respect.

Is money respect? Is that fair? And is it fair for somebody, especially in Paul George's position, who's late in his career, you understand when a team might say, we got luxury tax concerns and second apron concerns and age concerns and injury concerns, it's logical for them to not want to go all in on Paul George at this stage, but to him this became a matter of respect or disrespect.

Fair or unfair? Well, I mean, fair on both sides, fair if and not necessarily disrespectful if the team has decided at this stage for whatever. their situation is financially, they can't warrant paying you the way you see fit. Like, I don't think that's necessarily disrespectful from their side, but from a player's side, you know, it's a little bit more nuanced than that, right? Like, you're always going to feel disrespected when someone doesn't view you as the type of player that you view yourself as, right?

And there are more things at play sometimes than just whether or not you're capable or your age isn't allowing you to do something. For instance, if you've been signed to a team where there are multiple people that are doing to some degree what you do, scoring or facilitating or playmaking. And so going into that situation, you know, and you acknowledge that you have to take a step back. And if that's used against you,

the next time you come up for an extension and they're like, hey, man, your numbers have dropped. You are 30 X years old. And you're like, yeah, my number is. numbers have dropped, but it's not because I'm 30 X years old. It's because I signed to a fucking team that's got three other guys that are really good. And I gave up a part of myself to do that. Like now you're throwing that back in my face. That could be disrespectful in the eyes of a player. So, you know, it gets, it gets a little dicey when you are, when you are on these

teams that have players that duplicate skill sets in the quest for a championship that doesn't get accomplished and now we're back at the negotiating table. It gets dicey on both sides of it. So I think that's however you want to call it either disrespectful in both ways, but I see it as like not really disrespectful. Like it's just, hey, we made a business decision. And as a player, you know, I don't know that you should be disrespected by that. It was the situation. Like teams aren't going to hamstring themselves and put themselves in like irreparable holes in terms of financial situations moving forward if you haven't produced a championship yet. I don't necessarily see it as disrespectful.

Yeah, I would say, like, on a just practical level, you know, everybody wants to make as much as they can and an NBA career is finite. So I have absolutely respect to bring the word back yet again. I respect Paul George's decision to say if Philly's offering me a total, you know, max deal worth hundreds of millions and the clippers only want to, you know, make a short-term investment. Like, I get that. Like, that's fine.

But to me, that's about money or if you want to call it, or, you know, taking care of your family for generations to come. I don't, it's hard for me to see it as a respect issue because everybody understands, as you just laid out, even the players understand teams have to make decisions, especially in today's environment, that sometimes are about just the pragmatic aspects of building a roster and staying flexible and, you know, having to play it conservatively sometimes because of players age and health. So to me, like, putting in terms of respect or disrespect is just weird. Like, just say it's about the money. Just say, like, listen, I appreciate what the Clippers did.

I appreciate what they offered. I enjoyed my time there. Let's be honest. The Sixers offer me a lot more money. And I like the idea of playing whatever in this market or with Joelle and Bean and Tyrese maxi or however you want to frame it. But I think the interchangeability of compensation and respect, I think in some contexts, including this one, grates on me a little bit. It's really just about the money. Well, it's a blurred line, right? Like, because it is, it is about the money, right? And, you know, to some degree, that perception of disrespect is dictated by the market, right?

Like, if the, and the market, the teams that are in that market might not have the same, you know, issues as your current club, right? But ultimately what it boils down to is the psyche of the player. And we always feel disrespectful because you are choosing, right? Like there are people on that roster that you are choosing to do things for and put yourself in these situations where you cannot sign me. And that's your choice. But then it is my right to feel disrespected by that, right? Like whoever that player is, whether it's a top-tier free agent

or someone you've brought into supplement around the edges. And you've spent to the point where, you know, know, I now can't get what I can go get on the market from other clubs that aren't in this situation. That was a choice you made as a club. And part of that choice in the decision making is you saying, I'm not worth that. So then that's where the disrespect comes in. Yeah. Did it ever come to pass for you? I think we've probably talked about this in the past, just some of the contract decisions you made or moves you made. And for a player in your position who's a role guy who's trying to get a piece of somebody's mid-level exception or their cap room

or whatever. And because your career earnings are not going to be as high as a Paul George, like for you, I think on a practical level, probably really was more money than anything else. But did you ever feel like it was a matter of respect? Yeah, there were two times where I felt disrespected. And you're correct. Like in my situation, I was trying to pay mortgages and make sure that my kids were going to have something after I left. But there were two times. And interestingly enough, both of them were, when I wasn't commanding much money in the market, right? Like, so the first time was when I played for Dallas, 2003, I believe it was my third year in.

Nelly had this weird thing with me where he like started me half of the games that year. He started Adrian Griffin, the other half of the games. And like the ones that I didn't start in, I didn't play in. It was like the weirdest thing. But I had come into favor a little bit in the playoffs. And I had played in a lot of the series. I played in the King Series. I didn't play much in the Portland series.

but I played a lot in the King series, and I played a lot in the Maverick series. I mean, the Spurs series. And I was at the point in my career where I was making the minimum. And this was the first opportunity I was going to have to secure myself like a guaranteed. I played for the MAVs on a non-guaranteed.

So I was like, man, I want a guaranteed contract. And I really wanted to be a MAV. Like, you know, Steve was my buddy. I love Finn and those guys. And Mark Cuban just would not offer me anything other than the minimum. And he just was, he would not. And I remember telling my agent, and I, I cannot corroborate whether or not this got to cubes or not. So, but I said to my agent, you tell him that if he offers me $1 over the minimum, like I will stay with the Maverts. Just give me more

than $1, like $1 more than the minimum so I can feel good about myself. He just, for whatever reason, that never happened. So I wound up signing for, I don't know, 2.5 over two years with the jazz, which was the best thing that ever happened to me. But at that time, I felt really disrespectful. For someone who hadn't done anything, I mean, clearly it's in context. But I was like, damn, I'm not worth more than the minimum at this point. And then the next time around was the end of my career, that free agent summer when LeBron was making his decision.

And we had had talks with the heat. And they had started back channels from when I wasn't even playing for Golden State anymore. Golden State released me and I thought there was going to be a real opportunity there. And Eric Spolstruck actually shot me a text that morning. And he was like, you know, it's finally time for you to come home. But they had spent all of their money. So it was they had given it to Mike Miller and they had given it to Eudanis and really good players. And I mean, hey, whatever.

But again, they were off for me. I say, hey, coach, just so we're clear. Like, I think the only thing you have room for is the minimum. Like, that's what you're offering me. And he was like, yeah. And I was not trying to play for the minimum. The market didn't dictate that at that point. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel disrespected at that point, too.

And I could have been crazy, right? Because I didn't wind up having a whole lot left in the tank, to be honest. I think at a better situation, I would have been better. But the reality was I wasn't ready to play for the minimum. And it bore itself out because there were multiple teams out there that were willing to pay me still. So you held out for more and got more. in that situation. Yeah, so I wound up going,

I think I went to Utah for three for 10, and I had a two for 10 with Chicago. And so, yeah, at that point, you know, like, that's a huge, you know, when the market, again, Howard, like the market's kind of going to tell you whether you should feel disrespected or not, right? Like, so if my only options after that were like two-year deals for like three or four,

I mean, then you really, I mean, that's not totally disrespectful to think I'd take a little bit less to play for a, a team like the heat were going to be, but like when I could still make, you know, a few, a few million a year at that time was a lot for me at the end of my career. Like I, yeah, I felt a little disrespectful. Okay. So it's not always about money when it comes to respect. It's sometimes about role and relationships or just the way you, you know, I think the way you're feeling about a team. So Clay Thompson, there was a money element here as well to be sure, right? Um,

The reports where the Warriors had offered him two years, $48 million in the preseason last year. He ends up signing with the Mavericks for $50 million over three. So more years, but significantly less on a per year basis, whether the Warriors were still going to have like a two-year 48-type deal on the table. I'm not clear on that because it got murky, right? Like they told him, hey, wait, we're trying to chase Paul George in a sign and trade. I think, I was going to be a sign-in trade. It was maybe it was going to be a straight trade or whatever it was going to be. But they were doing other stuff and Clay Thompson basically at some point.

And this was telegraphed anyway, right? Like it was clear that Clay really wasn't happy. Like he had lost his starting job. He had been kind of marginalized in general. Like he had just slipped a notch in their, you know, in the rotation, in their in their priorities. So this one's murky because I think it's a little bit of money and a little bit of role. story about E that ESPN had posted last month by Ramona Shelburne and Kendra Andrews said that Thompson had felt disrespected.

There's the word again. Sources said that the team didn't offer him an extension the summer after it won the 2022 championship. So first, he wanted to get the extension at the same time that like Draymond got his. Feeling only deep into the following summer when Gold State was only willing to discuss two-year contracts instead of matching the four years. hundred million that Draymond Green got.

And so then Clay gets to Dallas and in his opening press conference there says, quote, coming here is such a fresh start and feeling just wanted again. And this is a case where I feel like wanted and the respect, disrespect, sliding scale like that. That's like it's almost interchangeable, wanted and respect there. So, and he says it wasn't as joyful as it was in the past with the Warriors. So I don't know. this one it feels to me it's it's a little different than the paul george situation clay wasn't getting the max from anybody he didn't get more money from dallas but clearly his standing had slipped

with the warriors and and i kind of get that one more yeah i'm with you that's that's when you're talking about blurring the lines between like disrespect and getting more money um i could see that and we can have that conversation this one is about like i've been here a long time i've done a lot for you. You've chosen other people within the organization, at least from my perception over me. And I now feel disrespected, which is what we said about it. Like I think we did a pod on it way back when before the season ended. Like that's a real thing. And that's, you know, that on scale, kind of it's all relative, but it's like the way I felt in Dallas, right? Clearly a lot less money and I had done nothing for them. But we are talking about the minimum versus what he got.

and he's had a career with Golden State helping, you know, this dynasty, like, kind of be what it is. There are real feelings there. Like, those are real emotions. Like, and in some instances, you probably can't even think clearly through that, Howard. Like, you're in an emotional state, like perpetually, right? Because every day you wake up, you have to go into this office and into this locker room. And you've got to look around at people that, you know,

in your mind, at minimum, you're their equal. In some instances, you probably feel like you're a bigger factor in that than they were. And that's a difficult thing because it is a family. You don't ever want to really be like envious of your brother in that situation. Like I was never in a locker room counting somebody else's money. But we all understand who we are in this machine when you're on a team and what we mean to it. and, you know, we're not stupid. So when we see things happening and moves being made and you're counting what's still

available, like you start to put the pieces together. Like, oh, shit, they value that more than they value me. It's hard not to be disrespected in that. Yeah, I get all that. I guess, you know, as I was thinking about this one, you know, Clay has such deep roots with the Warriors, not just because it's the entirety of his NBA career, but, you know, it's the four championships. It's the Splash Brothers partnership with Steph.

It's the partnership with Steve Kerr. It's the, you know, just the trio with Steph and Draymond. It's, there's just so much history and so many emotional ties. And I guess there are times when, you know, I'm a hopeless sentimentalist, right? Personally, this is just how I'm wired, right? And I always love the idea of a guy spending his entire career, especially when they've had the kind of career that Clay Thompson has had with the Warriors. You know, I grew up in the Bay Area. This is not me being a Bay Area guy.

I don't have any emotional ties to the NBA at this stage of my life. But I bring this up because I grew up on the Niners. And it just crushed me when Ronnie Lott left the Warriors, when Roger Craig left the Niners, when Roger Craig left the Niners. And it was the practical thing. Joe Montana needed to make room. The Niners needed to make room for Steve Young. And Joe Montana ends up with the Kansas City Chiefs in that weird number nine.

uniform instead of his 16th. And so like that to me, as a fan in that in that time of my life, that hurt. And you want to think that the players who you're rooting for feel that same way, right? So you want to feel that Clay's deep roots and emotional ties and all that history with the Warriors might overcome whatever misgivings he has about, you know, losing time or losing a starting job to Pajamski or whatever it may be. But that's projecting. That's me as a, you know, formerly as a fan, now as a journalist who happens to be overly sentimental about things. I think I'll be so cool for you to stay there and you must have these great emotional

ties. You should want to stay there, Clay Thompson. But that's obviously not for me to decide. But I still, I still see it a little bit through that lens. And so I guess what's, where's the balance there between, I don't even want to use the word loyalty, because that one gets thrown around too loosely in sports. But where's the balance, Raja between like, okay, you have a partnership with Steph and Dremont.

Forget the organization or what Steve is doing with the rotation. But like, I don't know. Isn't there a bond there with those guys that matters as much as the rest of this?

First of all, 19 jerseys are always cold-blooded. Let's just get that out of the way, okay? Sorry you had to see him rocking in a KC, but 19s are always cold. Yes. There is a bond, which makes it even more difficult for the player to pallet what he sees taking place with an organization when they are choosing to prioritize two of the other ones

in a way that's going to jeopardize your ability to stay there at the number that you think is fair, right? Whether that's right or wrong, whether you're at that point in your career or not, like, these are the emotions that are going through a partner's mind. Like, wow, like, you know, I see the moves that you're making to accommodate stuff and to make sure that Draymond is taking care of and I see the moves that we're making. And as my agent does the math and I'm sitting there looking at the books, this looks like I'm going to be the odd man out. And so while yeah, we have that partnership, I mean, that hurts. Like that really hurts

when you've invested. And I'm not saying they didn't invest in clay. Clearly they did. But when you've bled and been injured and sacrificed your body to accomplish the things. that you all accomplish as a group there in Golden State, that's naturally going to hurt a little bit. And I think, you know, I've said this before, like perspective, being able to sit back now and look at my career from the view that I have now, there are things that I would have done different.

And I would have said to my younger self, like, hey, man, take this into account when you decide to make the move that ultimately gets you traded, like, or whatever. Like, there's a part of me that wishes that I had signed, a contract for two terms in a place. And I had the ability to do that because it would have given me some like roots in a community. But Clay's already got that established. He's always going to be a warrior.

I don't give a shit where he plays for the next few years to finish his career. Like he's a warrior for life. So he doesn't have to worry about that. It then becomes, you know, really about your day to day. And so the fan, and I'm a fan too, like the fan that wants that player to stay, you don't have to wake up every morning knowing that you're going to be miserable walking into somewhere knowing that like when you see your general manager um it's very weird like and and you know like you want to mf him and you know he wants to mf you but you guys just kind of throw

your hands up in there and you keep it pushing right there's just this underlying tension every day you get in you know to the building and that starts to wear on you it starts to take the joy out of whatever's left in your career from you. And that sucks too, right? Like happiness is a thing. It's not just financially all the time. Sometimes it's emotionally, mentally. And what you can't quantify as the fan is what's that guy's day-to-day like in his workplace? And has it lost the joy that it used to bring him? And that's the thing. And that's, I think what I think really sold me on like this, obviously he made the right move. Like whatever the, whatever move a guy makes is obviously the right move for them in that moment. They may

work out, it may not, but like, you know, we can't say what's the right move for Clay Thompson or anybody else. But when he said in that opening press conference with the Mavs that he was talking about last season with the Warriors, that it, quote, wasn't as joyful as it was in the past. Like that, like, that's what really hits me where it's like, okay, this, for him,

this really isn't about the money. Maybe it's a little about the money. Maybe it's a little about the playing time and the role. But it's also just, it's, it's the combination of everything and just feeling like if it's not as joyful for whatever reason or combination of reasons like that's the most important part if you're not if you are not happy where you're working or in your in your day-to-day life whatever it may be like that's a sign to to make a change so um i'll be really curious to see like i think he'll be great in in dallas so i agree with you at some level though right because you know good for clay but you made enough where

you don't have to suck that up. Like, you know, like not just in the NBA, this is life, baby. Like, there are a lot of people where they go in there and they hate where they're at, but that's putting food on the table. That's keeping clothes on the kids going to school. Like, you got sucked that up and do it. Like, he's good for him. He was at a place where he could make that call for emotional, you know, emotional health and stuff like that.

And it's, you know, it's a tough one because I'd like to see him in a Golden State uniform too. But ultimately, I think it was time. I'm just bummed. There's no real big boss. of water for him to cruise across to get to games. You know what? He needs to call friend of the show Sean Matrix Marion, because I've seen that Joker's house like on some lake in Dallas, and that shit looks like a huge.

It looks like an ocean. So maybe, yeah, maybe you can live on that. We need Captain Clay. Like, without that, it just, we lose a little bit of the overall Clay charm. Last couple of respect items here before we get to some, the real one of the week and some emails. Jason Tatum Let me just

I'll be say my piece on this real quick, Raja, and then if I'm an idiot and I'm wrong and I just don't get it because I'm not a player, that's fine.

I already see where you're fucking going, Howard. Oh my God, go. Here we go. Roger, this is the most overblown controversy of not only the entire summer but possibly the year,

the decade, the millennium. Team USA won the fucking goal. Gold medal. I mean, wasn't it, Herm Edwards, you play to win the game. You play to win the gold. They won the gold. Isn't that the point?

With me, with me. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. But like, everybody who joins the U.S. national team, you talk about sacrifice and the honor of being part of it, of winning for your country, of winning with USA across your chest, and all this, you sign up to be on a team with pretty much nothing but all stars. And this is a team where, like, look, they subbed out Kauai for Derek White, Derek White, depending on the year and in another era, could be an all-star.

So you're basically on a team of 12 all-stars. They play 40-minute games in the Olympics, so there's fewer minutes to go around anyway. You need the right mix. You need guys who play roles. He's at a position where LeBron and Kevin Durant, he's behind those guys. He's legitimately behind those guys, even at this stage of their careers. LeBron, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry is the oldest guys. We're also the most important guys on the team.

So Tatum is at the position of Katie and LeBron. on Alzheimer's. He's great, but he's not transcendent all-timer great. And you have to have the right mix of guys to play roles and guys who are willing to not take shots and to just play defense and all this other stuff. This is not an all-star game. This is not an NBA game. It's the Olympics. They also have fewer games to play. They won the gold medal. I don't, if Jason Tatum or his mom, who I think Wade did, have feelings about it. I sort of get that. Where other people were offended on his by half, I have a much bigger problem with. But in general, I just think this was, this was terribly, terribly overblown. And I can't wait for you to tell me how many different ways I'm

wrong. Oh, my God, dude. Thank you for letting me go. Listen, I can, here we go. I'm just going to sit back a little bit away from the computer screen so I don't feel the full brunt of the, the backlash year. Here we go. This man is a three-time consecutive all-NBA first team. and you're sitting me, bro? Now, yeah, all of that can be true. Like, I'm on the Olympic team. I have signed up to try to put on for the USA. I do understand that there's a part of me

that's going to have to sacrifice for that. And ultimately, I think that Jason Tatum played his part well, despite feeling completely disrespectful, but he was disrespectful. That was utter disrespect. Who? Derek White? you're playing Derek White.

They don't play the same position, Raja. Yeah, listen. They don't play the same role. Stop, stop, stop, stop. Those dudes, Jason Tatum does just about everything. Like, I don't, you know, he's an all NBA defensive type of player. Like he might not have made first team, but he straps up. He's six, eight, long, shoots it, handles it, can facilitate.

Look, I'm not saying that Derek White isn't better or even, even some of the other players in some, you know, parts of. the game than Jason Tatum. I'm saying that if you got a guy with that level of skill set and he's that good a player as the head coach, you figure that out. You don't embarrass him by sitting him out again. You don't do that. You don't do that. And I'm, look, I'm with Steve Kerr. Like, I'm completely torn, if you will, Howard. Like, I'm with it. We're just there to win games. And if Steve Kerr says, like, this is the only way I know how to do it by playing eight or what have you. And I couldn't figure it out on the fly,

and this is what I had to do to win games, I hear what you're saying. I don't agree with you. I don't think that's correct. I don't think you take someone like Jason Tatum and sit him for games on. I don't think you do that. I just think it's too good of a player.

And I don't agree that some of those dudes are that much and significantly better than him. I don't. He didn't exactly have a great tournament either. I mean, he didn't shoot particularly well. So even when he was in in the earlier games, as they're kind of figuring this out, like as soon as Durant got healthy,

Durant was on fire. Like you were absolutely going to play and ride Gerard as much as you could. And LeBron was the most important. LeBron won MVP of the tournament. So like there's no disputing that. And yes, Tatum three straight, all first team, Olympia, whatever,

Durant and LeBron have like a hundred between them. I'm not arguing those two, but let's be frank, Steph Curry didn't shoot the ball well until like the last two games at that tournament. He was shit. Yeah, sure. So like there were,

They're not playing the same position. You could. I'm saying Tatum was behind LeBron and Kevin Durant specifically. But what I'm saying is there's no reason to have him behind anybody. Like all of those guys are positionless, except for Joel M. Bede and Anthony Davis. Like, you don't, like everybody else out there is completely positionless. Though five mofos out there that understand the assignment defensively. And they weren't running shit.

It's not like they were getting into these super cool actions like some of the other countries where they were running real. they were running light work like most NBA games you watch now. They're getting the light actions. And then someone's making a play. The ball's moving and we're knocking shots down. And I'm saying you don't need to have guys penciled into positions and have a true depth chart because he's a one. And Derek White is you don't need that.

You didn't have to do that. That's just me. That's just me, Howard. Like, you don't need to do that. No, I guess, look, if Tatum had gotten the minutes and overall role that like Tyrese Hallibur, I could see where people would be like absolutely aghast. And in Halliburton's case, right, he's going to take it in stride and he did. He had the really funny post about, you know, doing the group project or not participating

in the group project and still getting a or whatever. I loved that. And it's easy for him to say because he's younger. He's just now entering his kind of stardom. And it is different. I'm not looking to compare the two because Tatum has certainly earned more respect. but, but, it's a 12-man roster. They're all, they're all fucking studs.

And there's only X number of games and X number of minutes. It's not like Tatum was benched. He did play significant minutes and a significant role in a significant number of games. Did Anthony, did Anthony Edwards, like, forgive me, because I ain't watch every single Olympic game. I'm not that dude. Did Anthony Edwards? Did he sit out any games? I don't think so.

Okay. So look, I love, you know my affinity for Anthony Edwards. No. He ain't no, I mean, Jason Tatum's just as good as that. But I also, okay, so let me pull back. I think whereby I have trouble with this whole thing is that this is not about, is Jason Tatum better than Anthony Edwards or better than Derek White or better than any given other player on the U.S. Olympic team?

It's more to me about like, you've got a collection of 12, you've got to mix and match and find ways to be effective in a different format because FBA games are different. The U.S. has already got a disadvantage in that these guys, well, while the U.S. has more more talent than anybody else top to bottom, more all-star caliber players at an NBA level than anybody else, their players have not been together year after year after year since they were 15 years old the way that like, you know, Serbia, Australia, Canada, some of these other teams are. So it's a challenge.

And I do think that to me it's still like at the end of it all, it's about winning the gold medal and whatever got you there. If they had not won and, Now it's like, oh, man, I can't believe not only did Tatum have to sacrifice all this or he didn't, you know, he got disrespected. And they only got silver. They won the gold medal. Whatever got them there to me is justified. Well, that's fair.

And two things can be true, right? Like, it is about winning the gold medal and we won it. And I'm proud to say we did win it. But it's also true that you would have probably wanted a Jason Tatum played the minutes that Anthony Edwards played. Oh, sure. I'm not suggesting otherwise. So, yeah, no, no, I know. I'm just saying you got where you needed to be.

Yeah, you did. team. So like from a team perspective, if your team USA and I'm in the team USA camp, like, hey man, like if Steve Kerr saying that's what he had to do, okay, I don't fully support that it couldn't have been done without playing Jason Tatum. And I'm saying from a, we're using the word disrespect and the theme is disrespect, I'm too good of a player for you to take me to an event like that and decide that of the people we have here, I'm the one that needs to sit multiple games and get dnps i'm too good of a player for that i feel disrespected and while i'm not like all up in arms as a media member about it like i wasn't like tweeting about it

and shit like that if you ask me was it disrespectful my answer is yes all right my answer is yeah i'm listen man like you figure that shit out steve ker i'm too good of a player yeah i love steve care Shout out to Steve, but like, you figure that out. All right. Before we leave the topic of respect, disrespect, when we were texting this week, unrelated to this because I hadn't really, we hadn't really settled on a rundown yet, but you were just saying like you were really intrigued by what was going on in the NFL with, to a, I'm going to screw up his last name.

Tagavaloa. I get that right? I don't, or tugavala. I don't really know. And Brian Flores, his former head coach in Miami, who's now defensive coordinator for Minnesota. Taga Voloa goes on the Dan Lebitard show, calls Flores, quote, a terrible person. And then there was this quote. And maybe this is the part I think that maybe got your attention. And I'm really curious to hear what you thought because you were the one who mentioned this to me.

But Tua says, quote, if you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right. and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, dude, you're the best fit for this. How would it make you feel listening to one or the other? So he's contrasting his current coach with his former coach, Brian Flores, who he says was, quote, a terrible person. What caught your attention here, Rajah?

Just, I mean, I think it, first, let me just say how it relates to Jason Tatum. Like you had said, Jason Tatum didn't particularly play well. I think that it dovetails right into this conversation, right? Like, even the best players on the planet, like Tula was one of the best players on the planet coming out of Alabama. It was tank for Tua down here was the motto with the dolphins. Like that's how good of a prospect he was. Even those guys, and so it would be Jason Tatum, you know, in this conversation,

if you have a coach that's messing around up top in their head and sitting them and not playing them, any little seed of doubt can have you not looking like yourself. So like I'm not saying definitively that. what happened to Jason Tatum, but I could make an argument where, like, you know, you didn't play the man, you sat him for whole games, and now he's trying to get out there and show the world why he shouldn't have been sat, and now he's just pressing and he can't make it. Like, the difference between being successful and not in these, you know, highest levels is really fractional. Like, it's really just a matter of being a split second off in your timing or

just fractionally distracted, like, from, you know, your normal level. level of concentration. And so when I saw the Tua thing, you know, it was of interest to me because, you know, I'm kind of torn. I'm torn because I played for both coaches. I kind of bridged the, I lived the bridge of that gap between that old school disciplinarian, hard as hell, MFU, tough love. And then the more, you know, cyclical. psychological, you know, upbeat, positive affirmation type of coaches, right? And honestly, when I coach, I probably default to the first one. Like, I'm a lot tougher. I'm a taskmaster. Like I am, but it's what I was raised on. It's, it's kind of what I know. And as I've coached and as I've

raised kids and as I've seen, you know, what some of that can do to kids and how they respond to other things, I'd like to think that I've gotten a lot better. And so as I watched Tua talk, I felt him because I had coaches that did that to me, that when I walked into their building, I was so confident what I had done the summer before and all through preseason for every other person that had done stuff like that, the projection was I was going to be really good. Like, the trajectory should have been pretty obvious. He's going to be really good. But because of the messaging I was getting and because of the way I was handling that messaging, it tanked me. Like, and it had me, it had me, you know, questioning whether I could or not. And a complete

frame off restoration had to be done. Like, I had to be completely rehab, mentally, emotionally, physically. And so I felt to a. And I also then watched Brian Flores, you know, get to the mic. And I felt what he was saying because I've been that guy too, which is like, hey, man, it's what I know. know any better. I thought I was doing right by you. I thought I was trying to get that intercompetitor out of you, you know, in a way that someone did for me. And I had no idea what that was doing to you. And I, quite frankly, apologize and have to look at myself and I need to be better, right? Because I'm growing as a coach, too. So I felt both sides of it, but I thought it was interesting, you know, Howard, because you can have someone that if the messaging doesn't work with you, it could work for

Howard. It could work for, you know, Logan. It could work for Kerm. But the key to coaching is understand how everyone responds. And everyone responds to stuff differently and have a really good feel for that. So you can, you know, kind of pull the strings the way you need to pull them and make sure everyone is firing on. I go MF Howard before this game. Howard, Howard, Howard's going to come out on fire. You know, I got to go over to Logan and calm him down maybe because I know he's already like He's already flying so high that he's crossed the line already. And then for Roger, I got to give him a little bit of a pick-me-up.

Hey, man, reassure him that he's got this. Like feeling that and understanding that really truly is the art of coaching, right? Especially at that level. And that one just hit me because I went through that as a player. We're like, man, a year and a half ago, I was really questioning whether I could do this at all. And I wasn't before I dealt with someone. and now I'm dealing with someone else

and I'm as confident as ever that I can do this, you know? And it wasn't anyone's fault other than really, you know, probably, you know, it was two people's fault. It was my fault because as a pro and as a player, you know, and this is why I find this fascinating as I ramble because I wasn't all the way on Team Tua. Like, hey, man, sometimes you got toughening the fuck up. Like, I talk to my kids about this.

Like, you're not always. going to be in a situation where that coach is exactly catering to the way you need to be catered to. That's unrealistic. So like, you know, you got to find some thick skin. You got to put your head down. You got to keep working. In some instances, you might have to let that shit go in one ear and out the other. But that's part of being mentally tough enough to do what you want to do.

You know, and I wasn't. And so it sunk into a point where it kind of took me off of my spot. And then it was kind of on the coach because like the reality is like your job at those higher levels isn't always to break someone down. Like we're pros at that point.

The breakdown rehab like rebuild a player, that's college shit. Like at the pros, that's not your job. I also think though isn't there a difference between you like you can be old school, you can be a taskmaster, you can be demanding.

tough, all that stuff. Critical even. But there's a line between that and telling a guy, and again, this is what Tua said, that Flores had said to him, that you suck, that you don't belong doing this. Like, you can criticize a guy and get on him and try to get more out of him

without necessarily, like, as you were just saying, tearing him down, and telling him you suck. Like, that's, I think there's a line even within the old school approach, isn't there? 1,000 percent. Now, you know, I couldn't just go off of what Tuas said in regards to what what Brian Flores told him I wasn't there. But I can live in a world where I would see a coach coming over to you and saying, hey, that sucked. Or you stunk yesterday. Like when that's not necessarily telling someone that they suck, right? Or if he was like, yo, hey man, if we can't make that play, like we don't belong here.

you know like that that's a real conversation that I probably had with people and I didn't walk away feeling like well that someone said to me and I didn't walk away feeling like that person told me I didn't belong here what was said to me was like if I can't get that right that I probably can't be here right and that's again that's where like you know I wasn't there I didn't hear exactly what was said you know there is a line clearly there's a line to be drawn you know Howard between completely believe littleing someone and, you know, mentally abusing them, if you will. And, and, you know, coaching with a heavier hand and being more of a task master and stuff like that. I wasn't there. I would just, you know, it was just very, very interesting to me to watch both of their interactions with the media because I felt both sides of it, you know? And I had, I had things that I could agree with on both sides of it. And I had things that I would say on both sides of it, I disagreed with where I was like, hey, man, like, you know, you're running away from your responsibility in that space.

It's interesting because you don't get a lot of this in the NBA anymore, right? Like, we're, like, you know, Pop is still around, but even Pop, like, one, Pop has kind of softened, but two, pop has always been able to kind of like flip the switch between, you know, old school, hard-ass taskmaster and the guy who puts his arm around you and pumps it. Like, he's, he's always been able to kind of toggle between the two. And maybe that didn't work for everybody he had, but it feels like Pop has always been able to kind of calibrate that or again toggle between two different versions there carlyle i think is still kind of old old school um i think michael malone though younger than those guys is is old school in

his temperament and demeanor and is really just a very fiery guy but like i i look across the league and i think that it's not even like player friendly coaches it's just more like we have more technicians now than big personalities we're we're not into phil jackson chuck daly pat riley kind of kind of era anymore. Like the coaches aren't the, you know, biggest presence in the room by, by far they're not. They're not, they're just not a presence. Like you, you've got to like great coaches like, you know, when Brad Stevens was coaching the Celtics, but he's, he's kind of an even keeled just very fundamental. I mean, you know, Missoula's like that too. Dagnola is like that. There's a lot of coaches. It feels like they're just, they're not, they're not big personalities

publicly, and I don't think they really are behind closed doors with their teams either. They're more about just putting guys in the right positions, trying to set them up for success. And so it's, it doesn't lead us into kind of the places that we're talking about with the Tua example. I feel like the NBA coaching landscape and the style or the kinds of guys who are being hired now has just changed dramatic. Well, you're 100% right. And there's a real, you know, the culture, the two cultures are different, right? Like basketball and football are two completely different cultures anyway in terms of coaching and what one might hear on a practice field and the way someone might, you know, berate a player if they, if they made a mistake, like what you would typically get

on a football field is a lot different than what you would get, you know, in a basketball arena. I do think that guys today are much, much better and understand the job much more than we might have understood it when I played in terms of, you know, the responsibility, not just from the X's and O's and everything like that, but the, the mental side and the, the emotional side of the people and just the management of personalities, agendas, so on and so forth. Like, I don't think that was studied in a way that it, that it needed to be back then. So you wound up with a lot of, you know, a lot of dudes that were just in there like, ah, but the balance is always this. And I, you know, I figured it out, you know, I don't know what ever teaches you how to coach. But as I started working,

with young kids, you know, I poured a lot of my competitive fire that I did not have an outlet for right when I got done playing. Like I got some out on the golf course, but I poured a lot of that and I didn't even understand what was happening at the time into travel basketball for young kids. And we developed some really, really, really good players and we played at a really, really high level. And it didn't work for every kid. It wasn't like every kid. It wasn't like every kid that came through wound up being that some did. But now they're all older, and the ones that I have the best relationships with or the ones that got to know me outside of practice,

the ones that were at my house that were, you know, I was making pancakes for in the morning because they slept over, or, you know, the ones that got to see me and know me outside of the dude that's just in their ass at practice every day. And that's the trick, even if you're a taskmaster at any level, is not having them over for banking, but getting to know them in a way where they see you as a dad,

as a human, you know, that you have vulnerabilities, like that in some regards you're going through shit that they're going through. Like, that is what I learned through it. So you can have the heavy hand if you're Brian Flores, like, and that's your organic self as a coach. Sure, we all have to evolve.

But what you have to do better with the Tua is have those conversations outside of the ones that make him feel. that way and reassure him like that you got him and that it's safe here and that you have his best interest at heart like if you really do all right we have uh emails to get to but before that you got to get to our real ones of the week today's real one of the week is brought to you by the peacock original mr throwback the new mockumentary series follows a down-on-his-luck memorabilia dealer who looks for redemption by reuniting with his sixth grade team

teammate NBA legend Steph Curry. All episodes of Mr. Throwback are streaming now only on Peacock. Raja, who's your real one of the week? Oh, my real one of the week. This is a toss-up,

but I'm going to go with Dakota Rain Prescott, Dak Prescott. And I'm going to call him the real one of the week because he stands in the face of another contract situation with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. And, yeah, like he's just,

in like the most beautiful position a football player could find himself in, which is he's about to hit like true free agency next year in a league that it's quite frankly hard to get to if you're that good of a player. And it's either that or the Cowboys are going to have to make a move. And so he's played it great. He's been great in front of the media. He hasn't flinched. He's a topic of conversation all the time on talk radio and TV.

But like he's played this, you know, as a career. just fantastic. And in a league where it's really hard to get to this point when you're that kind of player, he finds himself there. So like I find that, I find that just fascinating and I think he's a real one for that. My real one of the week, I think I'm actually going to throw in a second one. I'm going to cheat. But top of my head immediately when I was thinking about this this week, Steve Kerr, of course. The only person he disrespected this week, I guess, was probably Donald Trump. but Steve Kerr, of course, spoke at the DNC Monday night. It sounded like, he wasn't a last-minute edition,

but it was late-breaking news that they had invited him to speak. And, you know, you and I know Steve well, and anybody who's followed the NBA knows that Steve Kerr has not been afraid to speak his mind on political issues or issues of import to society in general. It's one thing I think to do that, you know, commenting on like the Uvalde shootings or something else in real time at a press conference in the middle of a season, as Steve has done passionately and poignantly over and over again. It's another thing to get up on a stage in front of tens of thousands of people in a

packed arena, granted an arena where Steve Kerr was part of some really amazing championship runs, but it's a different setting, it's a different crowd, and you know it's always going out to millions, and every time you step into the political arena, figuratively and literally, in this case, you're inviting criticism and backlash. I certainly have seen some of that on social media this week directed at Steve. I'm sure he is aware of it too, although I think he's on vacation with his family right now. So he's probably not paying attention, fortunately. But just a, you know, without getting too political, people know what my politics are. I think if they follow me on social media. But I just, Steve was, he was poignant. As always, it was heartfelt. It was genuine.

just ultimate respect for him taking that stage. I don't know that in my lifetime I've seen, it's probably happened. I'm probably forgetting, and listeners can correct me, but I don't think I've seen an NBA coach or another coach speak at the convention. So that was something. And then a real quick shout out to my guy, Benny Horowitz.

Benny's the drummer for the Gaslight Anthem, great band out of New Jersey. I'm wearing their T-shirt right now. Okay, okay. Benny's a hardcore, hardcore Nets fan going all the way back to the Jersey days, of course. The gaslight had to play last night in Central Park, summer stage, and took my wife and daughter with our last little hurrah before we sent our daughter off overseas. Great fucking show. Benny set us up with some cool seats during the show as well.

We got to go backstage and say hello afterward, which was amazing. And besides that, so they closed. with. So the gaslight had them have their own catalog. That was fantastic. They always do some really cool covers. They did a Billy Elish cover. But they closed with Smells Like Teen Spirit. Nirvana, which was just absolutely fucking amazing. And especially for someone like me who, like, I loved Nirvana back in the day, but like they weren't around long enough for me to have ever seen live. And so Benny got to play the part of Dave Grohl last night on the drums. And he killed it. So shout out to Betty Horowitz, my second real one of the week after Steve.

We see you, Benny. We see you. And good luck to your nets this year, Benny. He's actually, we chatted briefly about it. He's all in on the McAil Bridges trade and the tanking agenda. It's the right way to go. We can talk more about this as we get closer to the season. All right. Once again, that was today's real one of the week.

Brought to you by the Peacock original Mr. Throwback. Stream every episode of the new basketball comedy series, Mr. Throwback now, only on. Peacock. All right. Producer Kerm is not with us today. He's got, I guess, more important things to do with his time, Raja. I don't know.

We should feel disrespected. Kerm doesn't have time for us anymore. Listen, Kerm. Like, what's up with that? Kerm, duck your head next time you get in this chat, my boy. He's going to have some explaining to do next time. You come here, hot in hand, dog. But we've got the very capable producer Eddie who assures me that if we need any accents,

British or otherwise, he's up for it. I don't know where the emails are coming from today, but Eddie, what do we got? All right. Kerm asked you guys last time to step up on the questions, and I think you guys kind of delivered. So first one up from Nick, are the Knicks overrated?

A lot of experts have the Knicks as the top two team in the East. Do you agree? I think the East is going to be super competitive. Two out of the five Nick starters are extremely injury prone. Four Knicks finished the season with a season-ending injury, and they lost one of the best offensive rebounders. rim protectors for nothing. Thoughts?

Roger. Yeah, I'll go first. Top two was the question, Eddie? Yeah, top two in the East. Yeah, I don't have them as a top two team in the East to start the season. I mean, I would never count out like the Knicks, Tom Tibado, Jalen Brunson, like the Villanova culture. Like I think those guys always seem to exceed expectations, but just on paper I don't have them as a top two team in the East. Like, I mean, we got the Celtics back.

I think the Sixers made huge strides in free agency in the offseason. Like, there are teams out there that I would pencil in to a one-two spot before I took the Sixers personally. I mean, before I took the Knicks, sorry. Here's the funny thing, Rasha. I think there's a scenario here where the Knicks are not one of the two best teams in the East, meaning they don't make the conference finals, but where they possibly have the best regular season record? because the Celtics are going to have their championship hangover and are going to try to be judicious with minutes

and everything having played a lot of games. The Sixers may take time to get the chemistry going and Beed's going to miss 20-something games. The Bucks did some nice things to shore up the rotation, but they're a little wonky. And we know that Tom Thibodeau plays to win every single game as if his life depends on it. They might actually be the number one seed,

even if they don't make the conference finals for some reason. I'm not predicting they're not going to. I'm just saying there's a scenario. The thing that's fascinating to me, and we'll probably get more into this late September, October, as we're getting toward the season, Raja. But like, I loved the move for McHale Bridges, for all the obvious reasons. And it's not like McHale Bridges coming in and Isaiah Hartenstein going out are directly related. There were different circumstances that dictated these moves. But I think the net tradeoff of losing Hartenstein and not being able to replace what he does,

does. Like they've got, they already had a pretty solid array of perimeter guys, guards and wings, and bridges makes them that much better and that much more versatile. I just think it's, it's really hard to replace what Hartnstein does. And Mitchell Robinson's always hurt. And as frankly, has, I don't think it's been as impactful anyway as Hartinstein was for them last season. Like, it felt like Hartinstein grabbed like every defensive rebound of the entire postseason that kept so many possessions alive, so many second chances. I just wonder, it's not that I think they're going to be worse. They're going to have to be just a lot different. They're going to have to win differently. And I'm not, I'm not absolutely certain that despite getting bridges, who I think is great,

I'm not sure they're demonstrably better because of the loss of Hartinstein. I'm just not sure. I don't, I'm still processing how to how to. Yeah, that's fair. All good points. And you, and you might be right. I just, I mean, if I factor in all of those, reasons with the Celtics hangover and all that I might you might be able to get me to a point where I could me but just my gut says not a top two like just roster on paper I don't know that's just my there's you know they got to reincorporate Randall and then you know there's there's a lot there's a lot I mean I think they're going to be great um where they are in that top they're definitely top four where they are in that top four may just depend on on a thousand different things including

how some of these other teams you know offseason moves worked out all right Eddie what else we got All right, we got this one from James, ranked in 1992, 2008, 2012, and 2024 Olympic men's basketball teams. Oh, my God. Not my wheelhouse. It was James. Yeah, look, James, it's a great question. So the way we do this, folks, like, we always just let the producers surprise us with the

questions in real time. Occasionally, you hit a question like this one where I think. Okay, fair question. I'm not sure if I've got a good answer, even if I did study it and we haven't studied it. So we'll table this one, Eddie. Let's make sure we don't lose track of it. Maybe we'll come back to it in a month when we do a show again. I don't want to give a flip answer on this one without having really thought about it.

I'm terrible, Rajah, I don't know about you. I hate trying to rank, even if it's just NBA teams and players across the areas anyway, because it's just impossible to compare. Yeah, like I worked here for a while. I've worked in other places. Like it is usually one of the worst days of the year for me when you're asking me to rank stuff. I am not a ranker or thing.

Maybe we'll give it a shot down the road. Eddie, anything else? Yeah, we got one more. What two teams in the West made the playoffs last season that won't make it this season? For me, I think both L.A. teams missed the playoffs. Oh, spicy. Go ahead, Howard.

All right, so to review, Raja, the playoff teams in the West, we had Oklahoma, Denver, Minnesota, Clippers, Mavericks, Sons, and then I guess it was Lakers Pelicans, right? Yeah. If two aren't making it, it means two other teams have jumped in.

Now Memphis, I think everybody expects fully healthy is going to be a playoff team again. I think that's fair to say. So at least one team is falling out. But a second team falling out means that the kings or warriors or rockets jumped in. I think we can rule out the jazz spurs and blazers. Wow, who's falling out?

It could be the two LA teams. It's not Oklahoma, Denver, or Minnesota, and it's not Dallas. I don't think it's Phoenix, even though I've been a Phoenix skeptic, and I love the Tyos Jones pickup. And I think New Orleans is still in. I don't know how you feel about the DeJante Murray pickup. Raja. This is a hard one. I mean, at least one team has to fall out.

Damn. It's one of the two L.A. teams. I'm not sure which to go with. No, that's what I was going to say. Two is hard, but if you made me pick one, I would say one of the two L.A. teams. Who do you feel better about right now? So the Clippers lose Paul George,

but they pick up Derek Jones Jr., trying to remember who else. A couple of other pieces. Everything gets fuzzy by the time we hit late August and we haven't been plugged into this all the time. The Lakers really just did absolutely nothing except fire Darbinham and hired J.J. Reddick. And then age at some point could catch up. I mean, LeBron was amazing in the Olympics, but that's a much different schedule and burden.

I don't know. Between the two L.A. teams, who do you feel better about right now? I think I feel better about the Lakers. Yeah, yeah, I do. I mean, age is a thing. might not have done much, but I think they're hoping to get a little bit more out of some pieces there. And I don't know that I can trust, you know, like, Kauai and, like, there are real reasons why I probably, if you made me pick, I take the Lakers over the Clippers just right now and who I would feel better about going into it. I think I would as well only because it's not just that they lost Paul George. It's that, you know, you're now down to Kauai and James Harden, you know, it's hard to trust. James Harden, especially the stage of his career, and we certainly, it's hard to trust Kauai Leonard's health, period.

And if he's out for any length of time and it's just James Harden carrying them with no other star on the court with him, I don't think it bodes well. So if one of the teams has to fall out, I think I would go clippers. All right. That was our mailbag. That was our show. Raja, we survived another day without Logan. That's right.

You were great, brother. Again, again, the driving. Excellent. I feel safe in this car. It's funny you mentioned because in addition to setting our daughter off to college, when you live in New York, when you grow up in New York, it's delayed getting your license. So I've been giving her driving lessons recently. So the idea of trusting somebody else behind the wheel, man. It's a real thing, right? Listen, she's done great, but you always have those moments, right? You always have those moments. So anyway, thank you for letting me drive this. car. I will be driving it for a while here.

Next up, probably in late September. So thank you, Rajah. Thank you, Eddie. Thank you, listeners. We will talk to you again soon. Let's be 21 years and older, 18 years and older in D.C. And President Select States, Fan Duel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with the Kansas Star Casino LLC. The only problem called 1-800 Gambler or visit fanduel.com backslash RG in Colorado, D.C., Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey.

New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont. Call 1-800- Next Step or text next step to 533442 in Arizona. 1-88-789-7777 or visit CCPG.org slash chat in Connecticut, 1-809 with it in Indiana, 1-8502-2-470 or visit KS gambling help in Kansas, 18777-7-0. In Louisiana, visit MD gambling help in Maryland, visit 1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-2-22470-0 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, ma.org, or call 1-800-3275050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N.