The Ringer NBA Show - ‘Real Ones’ New Year’s Mailbag | Real Ones

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

In the final episode of the year, Logan and Raja are joined by The Ringer’s finest and ‘Real Ones’ chief meme officer Jomi Adeniran and we get deep in our mailbag to answer some listener questions. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guest: Jomi Adeniran Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends. It's Ariel Hawani of The Ringer MMA show. I'm Chuck Mindenhall. And I'm Pizzie Carroll, and together we are three-pack. Follow and listen to the Ringer MMA feed exclusively on Spotify for all the latest in the world of mixed martial arts. And join us live on Spotify Green Room after every big event. See you then. Love you.

And we are back. It's been a minute. Me here in Raja Bell, here on the Ringer podcast network. And Raja, we just have a, somebody that's really upset. Let me go out to the audience. We have a guy in a stay mellow hoodie that he probably made himself.

And that, you know, he's been going through it with the Lakers and he called me and he said he's really mad. Sir, why are you so mad? You know, there's a lot of reasons to be mad right now. There's a lot of people to be mad at right now. But you know what I'm really mad at right now? You want to know who I'm really upset.

Tell him why you mad, son. Tell him why you're mad, son. Why are you so mad, son? I'm mad at myself. Because I got on here last year. I got on here a couple times this year. And all I did was praise the praise of one, Tallinn, Horton Tucker. And now, if you look at you go, you look at the stats sheet.

You look at the plus minus. You look at the points per game. It's looking scary out here, fellas. I went and I talked my talk from the mountain top. I went, I screamed. This guy was going to be an all-star. This guy is the future. And now he's looking like the past.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. I think we have one more Matt Hooper in the building who has been saying, who's actually an NBA player and who has been saying this. But Rajabelle, what do you have to say as a rebuttal to show me? We're going to come in really soft and monotone here. There's no reason for me to be upset or argue or be angry. All I will say is that I still believe Talon Horton is a good professional basketball player. He's just not what you and Sasha Mac said he was going to be.

And I asked you guys at the time to just give us a little bit of time, not taking any shine off with a young man, still a really, really good basketball player. Just don't see him as the future of the Lakers. Listen, listen, I just want to make it clear. I still believe in my guy. I still believe in THT. But in this moment, right now. I can't hold y'all.

I'm getting cooked. I'm looking silly out in the streets. People bringing up my old tweets like, Hey, Jomi, you was talking cash. What's good now? And I'm like, yo, after he went another O for last night, you know? And it's just like, ah, that's my guy. I'm writing for my guy.

But I'm looking dumb. You got Stanley Johnson. You got Stanley Johnson coming off the streets, putting up better numbers. It's not looking good. My agenda, let me be. clear. If it's not dead, it's dying.

It's in the street bleeding out. It's looking grip. I love you, T.HT. I know you're listening. You're a big fan of the Real Ones. I'm riding for you always. Bro, I got your back. But please. I need help. Please. My brother. Let's get you

me some help. But in the meantime, Real Ones up next. It's popping. Real Ones. Logan Murdoch here. Roger Bell there. It's a special. A special. End of the year, end of 2021 edition of real ones. So you know what we had to do. They'd take it back to the streets.

Rha. You know when we take it back to the streets where we go, Rai. You already know what we do. We get in that bag. We get in that bag. Maybe you know we get in that bag. When we go to the streets, we always got to take it to Jomey. Jomey's in the building.

Jomey. How many shows do you do? What do you do? Because we had to, this is the first time. What do you do? No, no, no, no, Raja. What do you do? No, no.

He was getting a little Hollywood on us real quick, I just want to play him on the summer jam screen. You know what he said to us, Raja? But right before you got on the pod, you know what he said in the pre-pod meeting? You know what he said to me? What do you say? Because he ain't saying that shit to us. Because I have a cap.

I have a cap on how long I can be here because I have another show to do. I have a hard out. So now, remember he used to kicking with us the whole time? And now he can't even fuck with it. So that being said, what's you doing these days, Jomey? What's going on? You know, first I got my actual day. job, which is running some of the socials at the ringer.com at ringer, at ringer MBA,

at ringerverse, go follow those accounts on Twitter and on Instagram, right? And then I get on here, I pie with you guys, my brothers, my fellas. Also got Ringerverse, The Midnight Boys, Pugh, Poooooo! And House of R. And House of R. Right. Go follow those podcasts on Spotify wherever you get your podcast from. I got to do that as well.

I'm a busy guy. You know, so you know how much I love y'all to take some time out of my schedule to come see y'all. What's going on, fellas? What's up, man? Good. chilling, bro.

I'm in fucking safety. I'm in COVID safety protocols right now, man. I'm in health and safety protocols. I'm just full disclosure. Don't come over to the crib. I'm actually like, I don't mean to be a downer dog, but like I'm in protocols right now.

So, cooties, man. I'm sorry, big dog. I'm sorry, man. It is what it is. You know, I didn't mean to bring the show down. Sorry, I apologize. You asked what's all right. Let's bring her back. Let's, um, all right. Well, with that being said, let's get to the show. We have Jomey here to go to our mail bag. Jomey. What's up, man? How you doing? Do you ready to get to this? Let's get to the shits. Yeah, I mean, if you, if you're all tapped in, you already know, I'm locked in. Let's go.

Our first question comes from Zach. And Zach wants to know If all the ringer personalities went out to play five on five, who would you choose for your five-man team? I'm gonna look, Roger, you're that, you've been in the front office, you've been doing,

you've played basketball a long time. I'm gonna let you answer this question first. The answer is, give me four of whoever to fuck you want and let's rock. Okay, that's the answer. Okay. It begins, it ends there.

You throw me four people, whoever you want, let's get busy. Okay, see, that's the NBA player's perspective. I actually did some research on this thing, on personalities and looked at, and scouted, dude, scouting reports. This motherfucker fuckers, the LeBron of the,

of the ringer verse. It just says, just bring everybody on. So I have been thinking about this question. And so I was thinking, man, who do I want on here? Do I want, I was thinking, you know,

you know, we work at the ringer, Bill Simmons, but nah, he's washed. I've seen his game. We don't want him on here. But I think I might have, Ben Simmons. He's part of the ringer verse. Not Ben Simmons the player. Ben Simmons, the son. I seed him play. Nice little point guard. I have him as my point guard.

I, of course, some shooting guard. Roger going to take the three. I'm going to go Van Lathen at the four. He's a little stretch four. I saw him. He's pretty good. I think I'm going to take, and I think I'm going to take Cecee Sabathia as my center, as my five. I think we're going to be good. I think we'll be good if we have, if that is a five. So just so we're clear, you take him the only person. with real extensive basketball,

like knowledge, know-how, and participation, and you've taken him off the ball and put him at the fucking three? You know your general managing days are over, sir. You're on the fucking team. We are in the age. You got me standing over on the wing

hoping y'all give me the ball. We are in the age of positionless basketball. There's nothing more frustrating. There's nothing more frustrating. I promise you this, Doug. I work out with my high school kids sometimes. I'll hop on the second team sometimes because we don't have enough kids all the time. And like our number ones don't always get a great look.

So I'll hop on the two team to help them out. And I don't handle the ball a lot and shit like that. But I start losing my shit halfway through a practice just like I did. I'm like, yo, y'all going to have me out here, get in all your buckets every time I touch the ball. And you go ice me out. Like let me touch it every time down the court. I will get one of y'all look. We just said you was LeBron.

We just said you was LeBron of the ringer verse. What does LeBron play? He plays the three, the four, the five. We just, it's just when we do the starting lineups, my guy. I got you. Okay. So I'm point three. I'm point three.

You're whatever fuck you want to be. You're the only NBA player on the squad. But there you go. I was just saying, all right, I didn't say, I said, what I didn't say that this is what, we're in the age of positionless basketball. Why are you doing this, Roger? Bill, can play with me, bro. He signs the checks.

Bill, you got a home on team belt. You come on over here, bro. That's fine. And I'm going to get you shots. I'll go rebound that shit and get it right back. All right, man. Have I ever told you that story? Have I already told you that story?

It's mailbag time. Let me just get in my bag real quick. What's that the story? What's up? There was this really famous artist that used to come down and rock with us at FIU, right? Like, he may or may not have been an R&B singer. I don't know. He used to come down in an RV, right?

And they'd come down and he'd hop in our pickup games. And he had an entourage of people because obviously he signed the checks. Like, and he, you know, he kept the mouse fed. And their jobs would be. to run around offensive rebound for him and kick the ball out. It didn't even matter if they had a layup, like game point, game to 11, 10, 10, point blank layup. They get that off the rim and kick it back out for him to shoot a wild-ass jump shot.

And so I can be that to Bill Simmons. That's all I'm saying. Listen, man, I just seeing, I've seen Simmons play recently, man. I don't know. I'm just not going to do it. That's why I put the sun over there. I think the sun's going to be good. I don't know.

Yeah, no. I'm not going to, I don't think so. Maybe he could coach or something. I don't know. I think he's out. I just think he's out. Maybe be the GM of the team or assistant GM. I just, I'm not putting him on there.

I'm actually really glad none of you guys mentioned me by name because my basketball playing days are done. I mean, you could throw a bow though, right? Like a little Chuck Hay's bow? Not really. You know, I play three point line of three point line now. You know what I'm saying? spot up shooter or you just getting right past me, blow by on defense.

So I'm just really glad, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't named. You're just going to yell obscenities from the, you got a home over here too, bro. Straight. You got a home. Just like, you know, whatever, whatever you could chip in. He's just, just, he's just so confident in the abilities because he's the only NBA player. That's really what it is. He's like, you know, take every you, you, you, you just,

NBA players just want a challenge. It's like when I play against, like, fucking first graders. I just want a challenge real quick. I'm just going to go to the gym like Jimmy Butler. Right? It just dominate that practice. Exactly. I'll ask you a dead ass serious question then, Logan, dead ass.

What's up? You could give me any, any people from the ringer. Do you have a five that you think could be me and four of any people of your choosing? I don't. I'm just making the distinction that you, that you're an NBA player and that anybody that you pick, you're probably going to win. Some people do, though, straight up, though. Some people will be like, yeah, we can win that. Well, you got accomplished enough basketball players.

You know what, man, fuck it. You know what I'm going to do it. I'm going to say it. See? See? I'm going to do it. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do.

It's going to have to be we'll put C.C. Sabathia on you. He's the only other athlete. Now you're thinking. Now you're saying that he's getting in shape. I'm going to make sure his ass is in good shape. But what I've seen on there, put him on you. Right.

I'm going to. I'm never going to be in that good of shape to play against you. So I'm just going to be the coach. All right. And then I'm going to... I think you have to roll yourself out. I'm going to be honest. I think you'll go CC on me.

And then you're going to have to roll yourself out. And you got to have three other... And I think... I'm just going to get like... Who else would just kick the shit out of you? Just like just wear you down while guarding other people. That's what I'm going to do. So I'm going to have Joe on the team to do that.

I heard Rachel Lindsay's really good. I might have her on. I don't even know how many players I have. But I just know C.C. Sabathie is going to guard you. C.C. And any NFL players on ringer staff... James Jones. James Jones. No, James Jones. James Jones, the wideout. We're going to have him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going to, we're going to double team new with them too, and I'm just going to tell him to kick the shit out of you. Call your own foul. You might get it up. You might get it done. All right. What's the next question, Jemey? All right. The next question comes from Dexter. Who, in your opinion, past or present, is the most dirtiest and the most nicest players in the NBA? That's, there have been some dirty dudes, man. John Stockton? comes to mind. I'm sorry that hurts, Roger,

but I've heard a lot of, I've heard, I've heard some, like, NBA stories about him just being just a dirty player. Not, not saying,

and I'm not going to say that, okay, dirty is dirty. What is dirty? What is, let's define dirty right now. Let's define that, though, because I often get,

like, that I was really dirty for what I did to Kobe. And I guess it falls under, like, what's the description of dirty? Like, for me,

it wasn't dirty. Like, I just decided I was going close. the motherfucker. Like, I didn't try to, like, I didn't put my foot under his, like, foot and try to, like, break his ankle or anything like that. I just had enough and flipped out. But there were guys that played that would, like, try to hit you in your junk when you were shooting or try to throw your foot, throw their foot under your foot when you're coming down for a jump shot trying to break your ankle. Like, that is what I define as kind of dirty, you know? I want to do this. Let's do this one. I also want to do the distinct. John Sox is a legend, Hall of Fame. bro. I'm just saying, like, that's what it is. But I would like, let's do it this way, a caveat. The guys that were dirty, but just lets you know they were fucking dirty. They were just like,

yeah, motherfucker, I did it. Bill Lambert. Yes. Yes. Kevin McHale. Yes. Trying to think, man, there were some big, like they were goons, like, some great basketball players, but they were out there. Who would tell you right now that, yeah, I did it. Like, after they, they would tell you, I just did it. Yes. That's my job. And word. Yeah. I don't know. There were some good ones out there. Bill and Beer would probably be my most, like, Rick Mahorn, Rick Mahorn. Rick Mahorn.

Oh, gee, I've met Rick Mahorn in a coochine. He's actually cool as fuck. If you want to say nicest, you want to say nicest and dirtiest in one, it's Rick Mahorn. Rick Mahorn is my guy. Who's a nicest? Played with some great, some great teammates, man. One, Boo Boo, Boris D. Al, is probably up there. Yeah.

Yeah, he's a really good dude, super nice. Like, I made this joke before, but when they suspended him for running out there, like with the, with the, Amari Boris suspension against San Antonio. I've always said, like, Boris, if he was running out on that court, he was running out there to protect somebody

before he was to, like, fight somebody. Like, you've got to know the person you're dealing with. So he was super nice. I don't know, man. I wasn't nice. So it's hard to say. Like, I don't know. Niceest player that I've encountered.

Steph Curry. Staph's nice. Yeah. Yeah. Steph also hit me with his backhand when he came off the court one time. I've told that story before. What does you mean? Like this.

Like when you ask somebody for a dat when they're coming off to court and they give you like the back at her hand type of deal. You guys don't, you guys get mad at that shit. That shit's not nice. Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. You know who else?

Austin Rivers, one of the nicest guys ever ever been. Quinn Cook, one of the nicest people that I've ever been around. Okay. I think that that'll do. I had some great vets, though, like dudes that you wouldn't think were, I mean, just like happy go lucky nice, like, but would go out of their way to hold you down as a young player in the league. Like, you know, Dekemeh Mato. Yeah. Aaron McKee.

Even cats like Vontigo Cummings. You guys probably don't remember Vontigo. No, he went for the Warriors. What you mean? All right. So, Vontigo was with the Sixers, man. And, like, I remember vividly. Like, I hadn't been in the league long enough to get a, to get a license and check.

And for those who don't know, like those licensing checks used to come around. I don't know if they still do it. They come around twice a year. And you're not really banking on it, but it's like, I don't know, like, I want to say between seven to 10 Gs that just get dropped in your locker. And everybody in there. From video games and stuff. Yes.

So everyone in the locker room is like, yes, sir, license and check. And I'm sitting over their mind in my own. I don't have a license and check. And Vontigo was like, you're coming with me, young. And we hit the streets of Philly, like South Street and all of that. and I got Ava Rexes and jeans and Tims and all kind of, so like nice,

like super nice, you know? Yeah, yeah. No, that's what's up, man. Man, shout out some nice dudes. That's dope. Shout out to nice dude. Me, not included. You're nice, bro.

You're all right. You cool. I fuck with you. Jummy, what's the next question? All right, so this next person didn't provide a name, but I love this. Right? This is more of a trivia question.

But for each player, basketball reference, as the players someone has played the most games with and the most games against. Can Rajah Bell named the three guys he played the most with and the three guys he played against the most? We're going to start with teammates. Roger Go.

Oh. Boris Diao? Yes. Steve Nash? Yes. The third is going to be difficult. I'm trying to... The third is that difficult.

That wouldn't be Vladdy Romanovich. Did he also, he had to be a son, right? Was he a longtime son? Yeah, yeah, I'll give you that. I'll give you that. Leandro Barbosa? Boom! Three for three!

Hey, yo. Okay. And then played against? Yes, sir. All right, so it's got to be Western Conference. Someone I played in the playoffs a lot because those games come. somebody with the spurs, maybe Manu-Janoly, Tim Duncan or Tony Parker,

one of those three? Two of the three, not Manu, but Tim and Tony. Those are, Tim is two, Tony is three. Word. Your number one opponent. Kobe Bean Bryant? Yes, sir. That makes sense.

That makes sense. That makes sense. That was really good. That was really good. Good job, dude. Thank you. It was a really good question, though. So shout out to whoever posed that question.

They didn't provide a name. Shout out to you. You're listening. We'll try to shout you out, man. That was awesome. All right. What we got next? All right, from Kedel.

How often do NBA players deviate from the play call by the coach? Is there more one for reeds in different sets by players in today's game or when Raja played? Can I answer this first? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, they do. All the time. All the time.

To the point where they don't even run an offense sometimes. Okay, go ahead, Roger. No, I think that's a good answer for today's game. So I think it depends a lot on the coach you have, the system that you're running. But I've told this story again before about Darren and Jerry Sloan. Darren's told the story about the night they got into their big beef and it revolving around a changing of the play call. And not a fundamental changing of the play call, but just on what side of the court the play was going to be run. And because that happened, Jerry kind of lost the shit.

So in Jerry's offense, that did not happen a lot. But in today's offense and the way the game is played now where it's a lot more free, there are less actual structural sets and more just kind of wide open floors and playing, I would bet that people turn down a play call all the time. Now, your good PGs, they have the, you know, kind of the autonomy to do it. They want, get you into play. They don't got to check with the coach. And really, really good vet PGs, even if the coach is yelling at them that they want a certain set,

they'll just act like they didn't hear that shit and get you into what they want anyway. So there are a lot of different answers to that same. question. I'd like to, I can make the argument. And Rajah, obviously correct me if I'm wrong, um, for like some of the best offenses and some of the most, like, difficult offenses, you wanted to get to a point, I think in a perfect world where the offense is just running itself, you know, you're talking about the triangle, you're talking about the, the, the Princeton, things like that. Like, you want to get to a point where it's just second nature, right? So to a point where you are, you can deviate, but it's still within the offense.

Am I wrong for that to say that? No, because, I mean, as a coach, right? Like, I try to tell our high school kids, like, I'm not calling a play every time we get a rebound. So if we don't have a primary break, which is a numbered, you know, 302 or two on one, something that we know we're going to get a really good look, then we should automatically be in our secondary action. We call it auto, right?

Because we should automatically be in it. So as you hit your lanes and we run the floor, we're in auto. If you don't hear from me, then we're doing a, exactly what you're talking about, Logan. Offense is just running. Within auto, there are options and their wrinkles and stuff like that. And if I need something to get done, you'll hear from me. But ideally, you get that thing off the glass we run,

and you're in whatever system you guys run in terms of a secondary break, and you just play out of that. A follow up to that question. With now, with like the oversimplification of offenses right now where it just resorts to pick and rolls, do you think we'll ever get to a point where like, what do you think the reasoning for that is? And do you ever think we'll get to a point where a lot of,

of teams are just running sophisticated offenses or that just depends on the coach what does that depend on so the reason you i mean teams just started switching everything as a defensive principle um that makes it harder for your actions to to create the type of advantages that they they did traditionally so to counter that you know what teams started doing was getting into the pick and roll getting that switch and then spreading the floor to attack the mismatch, right? So as long as that's what defenses do, I think you're going to see a lot of people still keep the floor wide open. And kids are getting trained to be really good in space.

So that's going to be the way the game's kind of played for a while. But what I would say is when you watch Golden State play, they run a lot of sets. Yeah. You know, they freelance a lot. And there's a lot of people movement because they have some really high basketball IQ type of players. But they do have some really good quick. action that puts people in tough spots.

That's fair. I think there's a caveat to what Golden State does, though. The caveat is they've had guys there for a long time and not a lot of teams. They have a lot of core guys that have been there for a long time, even people they've brought back, whereas a lot of teams just don't have that. You know, they're a lot younger. They just or like they've been pieced together in this, you know, this, this superstar joining at the hip age where, you know, like the Brooklyn can't have this.

same thing as Golden State because they've only been together a year. That's fair. That's fair. And as a whole in the NBA, like when I played, not everybody on your team was a playmaker. Like, you know, I, in college, I was a playmaker and the CBA, I was a playmaker. And then when I got to the NBA, like, that development kind of stopped a little bit. I was put into a role and I wasn't going to be able to make plays at a high level at the NBA level. So I fit, I fit into a role. We weren't trained the same way these people are train now. So on your team now, you're 12th guy on the roster. If you give him the ball in space, he can create because he's been trained to do it. So in that world, you don't have to run a lot of

offense because you got a bunch of cats that can kind of cook off the bounce and get their man. Like, you had to run offense for me to get shots. You had to bring me off of multiple screens. Like you had to let me, you know, screen something, get my man to help and then come have me flying off of something else. Like at high school, I always have this vision of like, let's open the floor up and rock. That's the way we want to play. It's the way I see it played on TV, right? It's the way the game is morphing. But we don't have a bunch of guys that can all cook. So then I got to put you in sets that create open shots. Do you know what I mean? Because our talent level and our skill level isn't the NBA skill level, you know? And so that's, it's kind of a bribe product of that too.

Got it. For sure. What's the next question, gentlemen? Okay. I love this question because it comes from one of my favorite people in the entire world. Keith Fujimoto. Keith? He works at the ringer, socials with me. I love this dude. So we're going to get his question off real good. I got you, Keith.

Real ones brethren. Which team logos needed immediate revision? Also, who would be in your starting five of underappreciated players from the late 90s, 2000s. Wow. Wow. Okay. Put it on for the 9-9 and the 2000s, fellas. Wow.

Logan, by all means, you go free. Okay. Team logos that need to get revamped. I'm going to take a hot take here. I think the Charlotte Hornets need to have a revamp in their logo. I think I would say that they do. I think it needs to be meaner. I'm going to go, I think it just

needs to be meaner. If it's a hornet, I want to be, I want to be, I want to be, I want to be scared shitless of a hornet. Okay? It's supposed to sting me. All right? Do you, do you, do you have anything on me? I mean, I have a couple, I have a couple thoughts.

I mean, the hornet, the hornet does have some, it's got some angry eyes. I'll give you that. There's some angry eyes. The eyes look. Are you scared of that hornet though, Raja? Pump's fear in my heart. Listen, calves. Caves.

Okay. They need a new, they need a new logo. I don't, I don't know. Like the, the, what would you call that? Is that a saber? What would you call that? Is that a swashbuckling type of, sword through the sea. I don't even know what you call that. But I don't love that.

I know Detroit basketball is like a thing. Detroit basketball and the pistons and nostalgia and all of that, but just a ball with Detroit Pistons through it. You want the Grand Hill joints, huh? You need the Grand Hill joints. I mean, I don't know about that horse logo either, but I mean, I just, I think they could do better with that. The magic. They're just in the abyss. Yeah, I mean, this is a magic. And then, yeah, I'll leave it there. I mean, the Rockets. I of the Rockets ones. I don't love the R. What? I don't love the Rockets one. Wow. I don't love it. Okay, I like, so like

the Rockets one. So those would be mine. All right. Players that I like, late 90s, early 2000s. Okay, so I have LA Clippers, Lamar Otum. Okay. Yeah. I have Lakers, Eddie Jones, like 95, 80 Jones. I have Phoenix Sun, Starberry. I liked him. When he got, before he got,

when he got, after he got traded for Jason Kit. And this is for the streets, Jemey. This one right here in Keith, this is for the streets. Atlanta Hawks, Rashid Wallace. Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta, Rashid Wallace, yes. And then...

Deep cut. And then Charlotte Hornets, Anthony Mason. I'm going to go with that. That's going to be my team. All right. I don't have a... I'm just thinking about cats that when we were in a locker room

and you were about to play them, we were preparing for them, and they don't get a lot of national, national love. This is in no particular order either. Kevin Martin. Yeah. Kevin Martin. I used to have to guard him.

Yes. I think he started with, did he start with the rocket? Did he start with the Kings? I think he started with the Kings. And then he got, he got traded to the rockets. My man was a very hard guard. Like he was really, man, really tough to guard. And it had this weird looking shot.

But never really got that national, national, national buzz. Like, definitely. Elton Brand. Yeah. You know, E.B was a, he, you go back and watch that 06 series against the Clippers, unguarded. Like, it was, it was ridiculous. You couldn't do nothing with the own brain.

Antoine Jameson. Anton Jameson, but we called him Anton out here. Anton. I don't know if he's Antoine or Anton. It is Anton. It is Anton, but I, like, yeah. But yes, a problem, a bucket. What's that?

Three? How many do we need? How many, what do I need, Jomey? Two more, two more. Two more. Josh Howard had some moments there in in in in in in Madsland when they were good man he was tough Josh I'll go with Josh Howard as a bucket and then generally speaking Pagia Steyakovich oh yeah that's yes he was in you know all four he had MVP votes he was a beast no no no a monster but like no no no no I get what you're saying he's for the streets he's for the streets the streets the streets know about him so I'll go with those okay what we got Joe him what's next shout out to Pager man I you know I was a late Baker fan growing up. So he couldn't even be out here

a room for Pager like that in these streets. But that boy could shoot. That boy would cook. He was a cook. No, I got one more. I got one more. Tim Thomas, Phoenix sons Tim Thomas.

He kicked our ass. He kicked the Lakers ass, man. That's not fun. I just, that's not fun. I can say it now, but I hated him, but he was,

he had some buckets. Patterson's finest. Yeah, absolutely right. All right. This is from Jonathan. Hey, Raja, you were part of the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers team that went all the way to the NBA

finals. But how was it to be around Alan Iverson at the height of his peak? From city to city, he was the big ticket that everyone wanted to see. I'm from Seattle, Washington. And as even as late as 2005, A.A. had a huge following every time the Sixers came to Key Arena. It was a fascinating time to see as a fan. But how was it as a teammate to see it firsthand? Well, Jonathan. Jonathan, it was, right? Yes, sir. Do we need a paywall?

It was not, it was, it was not conducive to, no, let me stop. Let me not. No, it was phenomenal. It was, look, as a young player coming into the league, when I was supposed to be sleeping, you know, nine hours a night and, you know, focusing on my task at hand, let's just say it could be really difficult to do that. AI was, I don't have any rock star friends or rapper friends or anything like that, but he was a basketball star and a rap star slash rock star combined.

Everywhere we went, it was AI mania. It was a really cool and fun time to play. I told the story the other day, I was taking my sons over to a football practice, and a band for TV came on. And I said to them, I was like, man, this was like 2000, 2001. I don't remember when it was released, but I told him about Capone and Noriega, and I said, you know, I remember this song

because in 01, we had just beaten the Lakers and Staples Center, and me, AI, Aaron McKee, and somebody else were jamming to this song. I'll always remember it for that reason. And my Youngbuck was like, Dad, that is such a cool story. You were hanging out with Alan Irisson

listening to this song. And it just struck me. Like, yeah, I actually was. That was pretty fucking cool. And so when you ask about AI, it was unreal, man. We just, my rookie duties would be to get to the city, drop a bag off in my room, go back downstairs to the truck, meet our equipment people, Scotty Rego and the like, help them get the bags up to the rooms, make sure all of those were, you know, put where

they need to go, and then quickly go change my clothes and meet everyone down in the lobby to catch the limo to where the party was at. Yo, I got a quick story. From state to state, city to city. That was my grime. I had a quick story. I may have been about six or seven. And, you know, the next, I remember my pops went out in Oakland.

And, you know, he probably, you know, I stayed. I was a little, I was a kid, but I stayed up late. I remember he came up at two and I went to go use the bathroom. And he goes, he was like, yo, man, yo, I just went out with Alan Iverson. What year was this? What year was this? It was, I don't know, man, probably like, oh, 101, two, one. of those things. And he said, he said, I went out with, hey, I was like, and you know, I was a smart

assist guy. I was like, no, you did. He was like, no, bro, I did. And he was like, no, I was waiting outside the club. And there was this swath of people that walked in. And he just went in with the, he went in with the swath of people and he went and party with Iverson for the night. He always went back to that story. I probably kicked it with your pops. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out. You kicked it with pops. I kicked it with Mr. Logan, Mr. Murdo on the Joe dog yesterday. Oh, my God. Small world.

All right, we got time for one more question, Jemmy. What we got? Make it good. Make it good. All right. Our last question comes from Peter in New Jersey. I want Raja to say if and explain how role players can be leaders on their teams. What are some of the challenges when it comes to becoming a guy who,

others look to for leadership. And how do players exhibit leadership other than the stereotypical motivational speech before a game? Yeah, well, the first challenge is like not everybody wants to be led. You know, some people consider themselves leaders. And you're in a room full of alphas normally. So, you know, it's not always easy for someone to accept the fact that they might not be the leader of that team. So you're met sometimes with a little bit of, you know, a little bit of reluctance. Being a role player and being a leader presents its own challenges, right?

Like, namely, if one of the stars isn't a leader by nature but wants to be a leader and you're not as good as them, like in terms of scoring and franchise like marketability and you wind up being the leader. Like there can be some feelings involved in that. you know, that's a hurdle to overcome. Like you're not as good a player like, my fucking guy, I'm better. I'm nicer than you, dog, what the fuck you? Like there's, there's some of that on bad teams for sure.

What I would say about leading is, it's just, it's an organic thing. Like you either, you either can or you can't, right? Like, so you get in there and you don't try to lead. You just, you're who you are. You work the way you work. You, you hold people accountable when you see it fit to hold them accountable. Not for any type of like production.

or anything like that. You just, you do what you feel is right. And in the process of, of working every day and standing up when you believe it's right to stand up

and not folding in the face of whatever the obstacles are, if you do all of that and people look to you for leadership, then you're a leader. And if, if they don't, then you ain't. And so, like, that's what it is.

You know, and so, you know, you can't be fake when it's time to lead. You got to be who you are. And if people follow you, you'll know you're a leader. You know, straight up. No, it's funny because, like, people think that the star player is a leader on all teams.

And, I mean, maybe sometimes. But, like, it's the person who has the most respect in the locker room. It's not necessarily the person that is the best player in the locker room. Because we all, I mean, Roger, you've seen this before, man. Like, when it just, it matters who is the person that, when they say something, like, David West is the perfect example of a guy like that. Is he the best player on the team? But when he talks, you're going to listen.

You're going to listen to David West. And so it's, I used to think before I started covering the league that it had to be the star player to be the leader on the team. But when you get around, it's mostly not the case if we're being honest. Well, yeah, in a lot of cases, it isn't. I think it has a lot to do with toughness and your grit. Like your ability to stand in the face of whatever's coming down the pike, you ain't buckling one way or another.

Like it might cost you, you know. it's going to cost you friends but that too. Like when somebody knows that it don't matter to you whether you lose a friend over this shit because that it means that much to you. You know what I mean? Like, fuck a suspension, bro. Like, you ain't about to do that to

so on and so forth. Like, people start to look around like, yo, I can get down with him. I've been watching Ted Lassau. I finally got on Ted Lassow. That's great. What's my man's name? Who's the big homie's name? Number six. You're talking about Roy Kent? Roy Kent.

Roy Kent was not with the fuck shit, all right? Yeah. On top, he wasn't with the fuck shit, right? He demanded respect. Was he the best player on the team? No, because he was washed. But who was fucking with him? Correct.

And you ain't fucking with none of his teammates. None of his teammates. Because you got to see Roy Kent. You got to see Roy Kent in this motherfucker fucking. Shout on Roy Kant. The real one. All right, man. Yo, before we get out of here, though, it is a Thursday.

So we do have to be. little thing we like to call ruin of the week. Presented by nobody. But I'll go first. Real one of the week for me is none other than John Madden. I remember when I was a kid, one of the first video games I got was Madden 2000. And I played that thing all the time.

It taught me the game of football. And obviously, you know, he was an Oakland Raider coach, one of the greatest coaches of all time. one the probably the greatest football analyst of all time i don't think there's an argument there um lived a hell of a life driving around the country on the madden cruiser uh i've been reading a lot of stuff on john madden lately man real one john madden my real one of the week rip who's your who's your who's your real one um it's a great real one um it's like a tripod of real ones here i'm gonna give you like three they all go together okay okay um brian floriz

Chris Greer and the Miami Dolphins. Now, I live in the market, but I'm admittedly not a doll fan. But I'm giving them the real ones. They started off the season 1 and no. Expectations super high. Promptly lost the next seven games in a row to sit at 1 in 7. I'm in the market. I listen to sports radio.

It's what I do. Everyone calling for heads and jobs. No one to be excluded from this. No one. He can't draft. These players suck. He's blown this and that. Flores can't coach.

This and that. Now, they've run off the last seven games, right? To put them at what, eight and seven right now and having a real shot at making the playoffs. I don't care that they've been playing under manned teams. I don't care that the schedule got soft. I don't. They're real ones. One and seven ran off the last seven in a row, hottest team in the NFL right now, eight and seven.

Miami Dolphins, real ones. Jomey, you here too. What's your real one of the week, player? My real one of the week is none other than Stanley Johnson. The boy came in, you know, not off the street. You know, he, he, yeah, picked up, but he came in, and now he's playing, like, 27 minutes a night for the Lakers, just off the defense alone.

You know, I think they're one and two since you joined, but they honestly look better on the court. So shout up to Stanley Johnson, we're up, you know, SoCal Kid, matter of the team. Modern Day, finest, Oakland soldiers finest. Oakland soldiers finest. Stanley Johnson is repping for the city.

appreciate that. You a real one. Man. Man, that was a great addition, man. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, guys. Put the claps. Put the claps here, man. All claps, man. We got another year of real ones, baby. Shout out of 2021, man. It was you guys, you gave us a fucking roller coaster, but shit. Thank you all of the real ones for holding it down, man. Thank you, Sasha Mac, Real One. Thank you, everybody that has been fans of us. sincerely love it. And who's ever been, you know,

who just showed hell of love, man, every time I come down to the arenas and stuff, man, I'd be having the mask on. I'd be like, how do you even know who I am? Because they always are going, Logan, real ones,

we love you, man. Shout out to all of y'all, man. Shout out to everybody that shows love, bro. I really appreciate it. And we're going to kill it next year, man. We're going to come back. We're going to come back with a bang.

So we are here. We will be coming back on Thursday, January 6th. Make sure I enjoy your holidays. But in the meantime, make sure you check out everything on the Ringer Slate. We got the Sunday show with Wals. We got a, we have the mismatch KOC, the real KOC, has a new Wednesday show. Make sure you check out Jemmy on the Ringerverse, which he has to get out and go.

He always, he's, he's kicking us off the air right now. That's how much power he has. Make sure check out everything on our Ringer's, like the Bari Sellers podcast. Make sure you check out higher learning. Black Girl's songbook with Who, Roger Bell. Town legend, Danielle Smith. Let's keep the propaganda going. Make sure you check out R2C2 with who, Roger Bell.

The Cresseye clown, like Belayo Legends, C-C-Sabathia. See you guys in 2022. Enjoy your holidays. Be safe. Hala.