The Ringer NBA Show - Realness Scale, No Embiid Back to Backs, and Mailbag | Real Ones

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

NBA Tip-Off is a week away! With that, Howard and Raja break out the “Realness Scale” to rank some of the most notable preseason storylines and quotes to see how REAL they are, 1 being “fraudulent” and 5 being the “realest of the real” (08:30). After, producer Kerm hops on to answer some of your mailbag questions (51:00) and they end off with their Real One of the Week (1:06:00)! Email us your mailbag questions at [e-mail]. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. 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

Look, it's not that confusing. I'm Rob Harvilla, host of the podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, except we did 120 songs. And now we're back with the 2000s. I refuse to say aughts. 2000 to 2009. The Strokes, Rihanna, J-Lo, Kanye, sure. And now the show is called 60 Songs That Explain the 90s,

colon the 2000s. Wow. That's too long a title for me to say anything else right now. Just trust me. That's 60 songs that explain the 90s, Cole in the 2000s, preferably on Spotify. What up? It's the real ones. Howard Beck, senior writer at the Ringer.

He is Raja Bell. He's already fired up. I'm not sure about what. There was something about Christmas lights and cheating refs and things. I don't know. He might explain. Roger, we're a week out from opening night of the NBA season. And the hurricane, thankfully, missed you and your family last week. How's everything in South Florida?

Please explain about Christmas. lights on October 15. Yeah. Well, first, let me start off by saying, like the hurricane did miss us, but there were millions of people affected by that and no laughing matter because it's some tragic stuff. I lived through Hurricane Andrew. I was in the heart of it. And so my heart goes out and prayers to all the people affected, you know, in one way or another

or family members affected by that storm. Like, you know, for people that just see it on TV, it can be kind of surreal. And while your heart probably goes out, you really, you really. have no idea what that is until you're in it and then you've lost your house and all your worldly possessions because of it. So first and foremost, let me start there. Secondly, we got lucky. We were missed by it. So that's what I was saying. We have Christmas lights going up today. So it should be a festive, joyous day. But just generally speaking, today's some fucking bullshit, Howard. I'm sorry to come in on that. I'm sorry to come in on that. But huge football game last night. Sorry, listener.

Sorry. Huge football game last night. A district deciding football game between two of the the best teams down here in South Florida. And it is just a pet peeve of mine. It will always be, you know, like, let's just be honest. Everyone knows. Let me preface it by saying, I don't love refs. But, you know, I especially don't love cheating-ass high school fucking refs. Like, I don't love them.

And I think it's a sin and a shame. And it's not just me. I can bring a hundred people that were at that game last night. And even people on the other side whose team won, like, there's no reason to do that to kids who are all pouring their heart out out there on the field and, you know, trying to compete for what's rightfully theirs if they should be the better team that night. And that was a disgrace. I'm from South Florida. I was, I played in Dade County. I went to those games. We now live in Broward. And what those refs do from Dade County,

every time you go down to Nathaniel Tras Pall Stadium, I'm going to call it by name, they fucking cheat you. And it's irresponsible. It's unethical. And you should be better than that. F-H-S-A-A, better than that. Damn. Raja coming in hot. This is not like we can't we can't find. There's no coverage of this anywhere, right?

We can't go and look at this for ourselves. Oh yeah, it's all over Instagram. It's all over Instagram. Go look like, you know, we have a touchdown early in the game. Kids clearly got a foot in bounds. Like the ref calls no touchdown.

I mean, it's clear as day. He's got every angle. Everyone's like, yeah, touchdown. Like we lose. Dias scores a touchdown. We get the ball with three minutes to go. Down six. We've been cheated all game. Dia rips a 75-yard run.

I don't even know where he got them wheels from. He must have got him from his mama. So, like, he rips a 75-yard run to put us up one with 245 to go and a clock. They have no timeouts. Like, they were stopping the clock. The team had no timeouts. They were allowing them to go over to their other sideline and essentially have fabricated timeouts.

Mind you, they have no timeouts. Not to mention the last play of the game where it's clear as day, but he bobbles it and doesn't. it in the end zone. And the same jackass they called an incomplete on our touchdown gives him a touchdown. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't come on here to do this today, but I'm triggered.

Yeah. My bad. I got you. I got you. Only on the real ones, folks. Do you get intense, deep basketball analysis plus high school football adversies? High school football, yeah.

Damn refs. Have some integrity, people. Come on. I mean, it makes you appreciate NBA officiating all that much more, doesn't it? Hey, all jokes aside, all jokes aside, it does. It does, definitely. And we have a cultural issue down here with betting. It's, it's, it starts in little league football in South Florida, tens of thousands of dollars that are bet on the sidelines on some of these big eight, nine, 10th, you football games. Like, it's a real thing. Like, so just have some attention. That's all I'm saying. Have some damn integrity.

All right. The preceding was brought to you by Raja Bell and only Raja Bell. If anybody wants to file any slander lawsuits, remember it's Raja with a J. Raja, we are a week out of opening night, which is strange because it feels like training camps opened yesterday. And I think it's because, frankly, I guess my brain has never adjusted to the fact that when you, in your career, and most of my like beat writing career on this league training camp was a month right eight preseason games which is too many frankly but teams had a lot of ramp up time and now it's like this the preseason goes by just in a flash which I think on the whole is probably a good thing you don't need eight preseason games they play more like four these days but um I don't know sometimes it's

it seems like especially with the way that they're resting stars or the way that that uh rotations are being managed, you wonder whether they should have any preseason games at all, like, if they should just jump right in, because nobody comes to training camp to get in shape anymore. I think we've discussed us a little bit. They generally guys come in already ready. But yeah, it is very strange to feel like opening night is so close already. Yeah, the clock kind of snuck up on me too. But I would say that what I grew to forget about as I became more of an established pro and was using training camp for different reasons was who I who the younger version of me was and what training camp meant to him and that month

those eight games were in some years the only NBA experience I would get so like every single second of it was valuable to me like whether you know it was just time spent with a player development guy on the side trying to prove to him that I had a work ethic or if it was three minutes in a random gym in Providence when I was with, I don't know, Atlanta, just trying to go in there knowing I wasn't going to make the Hawks team because they didn't have roster spots, but auditioning for whoever else might be in there. Or if it was just generally learning, which I needed to do at that point, you know, how to play in NBA sets and how to acclimate to playing with NBA size.

And so while I can agree that your seasoned veteran, your stars, like, it's not worth much to them, your fan who really cares, to a young me, to a young undrafted player that's trying to make it right now, like every second they get to spend around an NBA team is critical. Yeah, no, fair. We're going to have the mailbag at the end of, in the last segment of this show. Producer Kerm says we've got some spicy ones. Real Onesmail back at gmail.com.

Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. Real ones mailback at gmail.com. Look at that. What? Hit us with what you got. We'll get to that at the last segment. But for the bulk of today's show, Raja, since we have gotten through most of preseason,

guys have had a chance to play, to talk, to tell us about their off seasons, tell us about all the muscle they've gained, all the fat they've lost. Everybody's going to shoot a billion threes now. Everyone's going to play up-tempo. All the usual preseason nonsense and platitudes. I've been kind of saving some choice quotes,

just interesting little tidbits along the way over the last couple of weeks. And I figured we would go through these and rate them on what I'm calling the realness scale. Like how real? How much do we buy each of the? statements. So it's a one through five. I texted these to you, but to review for us and for the listeners, a one on the realness scale is like fraudulent. Like not real at all. We're not buying it. Two is a highly suspect statement. It's not fraudulent, but like we're not sure. Three is kind of somewhere in the middle neutral. We'll believe it when we see it maybe. A four is like plausible,

sort of real. Five, realist of the real. So there you go. One through five from fraudulent at one end to the realist of the realist of the real end. In some of these cases, it's whether we believe it. In some cases, that may just be like, this is a good thing or a bad thing. So we'll start here. Joel Embed, this is the most recent tidbit here, tells our buddy Tim Bond, Tempts to DSPN the other day, quote, if I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career. Raja's got stink face going.

Raja on the realness scale. Is Joelle Mbine saying he may never play back-to-backs again? one, two, three, four, five, with one being fraudulent and five being realest of the real. This is a tough one. And if you would allow me, I'm going to answer it in two different decades maybe of playing career. When I played, this was as fraudulent as you could get. What the hell are you talking about, bro? Like, we play basketball.

You got a job to do. There could be a situation where we need. need that game. Maybe in ideal circumstances, you don't. But like, if one should present itself, you're going to get out there and play. Like, you're an MDP candidate. You mean that much to us. That would have been the old answer. In today's, so I guess like, I humored myself with that. But like in today's culture, that's a three. That's a three for me. Howard, like, I wouldn't doubt that he's got enough leverage with the organization. I wouldn't doubt that they would err on the side of caution with him at every turn given his injury history.

And I wouldn't be surprised if it worked out like that. Yeah. It sucks to hear. Let's be clear about that. It sucks to hear that Joelle Embed, one of the best players in the NBA today, a former MVP, a perennial MVP candidate, a tremendous talent. And on a team that is trying to win a championship, it sucks that this is the case. But if I'm rating it on the realness scale, I'm actually giving him a five realist of the real

for just being up front about it, if nothing else. Like, you don't have to like it. People don't have to buy into the sports science that drives this. They don't have to buy into the idea that load management or fatigue management or injury management, you don't have to believe it. The franchise clearly does. Darry is also quoted in the same story saying, quote, we're going to be smart about it.

Part of being smart about it is having both Paul, meaning Paul George, who just got hurt last night, and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs. if any. Teams play, I don't know what the Sixers have this season, but usually somewhere between 12 and 14 back-to-backs per team per season these days, which is way down from what it used to be because the league has been trying to have fewer of these situations in which teams feel like they have to rest anybody or where guys might be vulnerable or might fatigue might degrade their performance. I get it, but I am a little torn on it, though, at the same time, Raja.

Like, Joel M. Bede says in the same story that he's basically, I've accomplished everything individually. There's one thing missing, which is to win a championship. So on the one hand, pacing yourself, saving yourself, trying to manage the season so that you're at your peak in late April, May, and maybe June, does make sense. On the other hand, the Sixers, I don't know if they can afford to mess around much. The East has gotten really good. It's really competitive at the top.

I always say that a veteran team doesn't know. necessarily need home court advantage. If you can't win a critical road game, then you're not a title contender anyway. But I am torn on this one and thinking like the Sixers sort of need to figure this out with a new big piece in Paul George, getting those guys as many games as possible together. If you're resting back-to-backs, I don't know how much it interrupts the four of things. Very presumptuous, Howard, very presumptuous. Like, like, what do we, you know, like, you hit the nail on the head. Like, we're not, no one's penciling you in as having a five game lead comfortably

through the whole season. Like, you'd be an adult fight. Like, I just don't see how, you know, I don't see how that's realistic as a starting point. If we get into the meat of it and it looks like there's an avenue to that and you're telling me, like we've said many a time on this pod, like the biggest risk to that potential, you know, championship is a catastrophic injury, and you can mitigate that. Like, I mean, I've said before, I said, okay.

But, like, I don't know how you could just come out and make a blanket statement like that. I, the old school in me has a hard time listening to that. Yeah, I totally get it. You know, a couple quick, just, you know, bullet points on this. Joel Embedith is turning 31 in March, right? So he's, like, it's hard to believe he's already 31 almost. But he is, he's deep into his career, still in his technical prime.

but the number of injuries he's had makes me sensitive to the fact that if this is what he and the Sixers think they need to do, I get it. This is a guy who missed the first two seasons of his career while rehabbing from foot and back things. He has, this was from Bon Tamp's story, he's played in 433 of a possible 637 games over the last eight years. So that's a lot of games missed. And notably, too, across the past four seasons again from, from Tim's story. The Sixers have been at least 10 points per 100 possessions better when he's on the court than when he sits. This is part of why they picked up Andre Drummond in the offseason, trying to mitigate how far off they drop every time Embed sits. Of course, having Paul George and

Tyrese Maxie around should help that a little bit too. And in that playoff series, they lost to the Knicks last spring. They outscored the Knicks by 46 points over 240, 248 minutes when Ambide was on the court in that six-game series. The Knicks won the 45 minutes that he sat by 47 points. That's a lot. So it's like it matters to have Joel Embed healthy and available. Noteworthy to Joel Embed said on Media Day that he lost 25 to 30 pounds since last season. It was trying to manage his just general weight overall to try to mitigate the amount of wear and tear. So it's all of a piece. It makes sense.

I hope Joel and Bede can get through this season with, you know, if the only games he misses are the ones he's load managing and not hurt, that's huge for them. For sure. For sure. All right. Story number two. Clay Thompson goes 0 for 9. I think this was last night. It was last night.

0 for 6 on threes in a preseason loss of the Clippers. In two preseason games, Clay is now three for 18 and 3 for 11 on 3's. This is the quote from Jason Kidd. Quote, it's preseason. He's working his way through with a new group. And so be patient, keep working. As shooters, you miss some, or excuse me, you make some. You miss some.

No concerns. Raj on the realness scale, how much are we buying Jason Kidd's no concerns messaging here from one through five? How much are we buying his no concerns? Highly suspect. This is a two, Howard. Highly suspect. And forgive me if I'm getting like the essence of,

No, that's right. Of the game role. Yeah, that was too. Like, highly suspect. Yeah. Like this, this has been a trend over the last few years. And, you know, it happens to all aging players as they continue to push and try to find that level. It just typically you don't get healthier.

You don't, like for jump shooters, right? Forgive me. Let me just get into a into a little bit of a. a bag um what happens is you have you have a certain amount of lift in your legs right like and you know shooting's about timing and timing up your you know the moving of the ball with the lift from the ground the release point as it relates to the amount of lift you get off the ground and then timing all of that up becomes like your your your sweet spot right like that's your that's your bread and butter like him clay i mean step those guys have just that

that timing of how all of that flows together mastered. Well, as you get older, your legs don't have the same amount of bounce and lift. Like, use me, for example, like I go into the backyard now, bear with me. I'm not an NBA player anymore. But I have zero lift now, like not even a fraction of lift. So when I go to shoot jumpers, it's way different than when I was shooting jumpers, you know, 10 years ago because the lift is gone. And even the fractional amount of slippage that he would find from year to year in that lift can create percentage points off of your overall shooting percentage, right?

And that was a long and detailed way for me to explain like it becomes harder and harder as you get older to play those minutes and keep your legs under you in a way that would support you shooting the ball the way you did when you were younger. I'm not saying that he can't do it. I'm not saying that he won't find his rhythm. I struggled mightily in pre-seasons at times when I went to new teams just to get my footing. And then when the game started and everything got more real, if you will, it would come back. So I'm not telling you, but in terms of if you're an organization worried about what you're watching, I think that would be a fraudulent statement to make. I hope Clay plays well.

I think he will play well. But I think if I was in that front office, we'd be like, hey, wait a minute. Because we were having that conversation about LeBron. When I got to Cleveland and LeBron showed up that year, he hadn't eaten meat all summer. His body wasn't the same. Like, everybody had confidence, but the conversation was being had because he just didn't look like himself. We were like, wait a minute. What is this?

Yeah. So fraudulent. I'm with you. It's a too highly suspect. And I say this, listen, like preseason, you don't want to place too much stock in it. And a veteran like Clay, you kind of give the benefit of the doubt ordinarily. you know, less we forget, you know, the guy had Achilles and ACL surgeries, obviously, back-to-back years. He's been healthy the last couple of years, but he's turning 35 in February. And even if

you'd never gone through those injuries, a shooter reaching that age for most of NBA history, you're expecting some slippage and sometimes significant slippage. And I always say, like, especially with guards, this is more about smaller guards than someone at clay size. But I've always noticed over the years of covering this league that there's this unforeseeable cliff, right? Like one year you're still really good. You make an All-Star team. And I remember this like, you know, and some of these guys had injuries too, but I think of

like Penny Hardaway or Tracy McGrady, guys who, you know, late in their career. This is just like, you know, it's covered the Knicks, right? So they're coming to the Knicks. And it's like, oh, you know, he was an All-Star as recently as two seasons ago. maybe it was a year and a half ago, whatever. And it's like, it doesn't matter. There's a certain point where sometimes you just, you fall off the cliff. That's it.

Like one day you were still really good, really effective or even great. And the next day, age just all seeped in all at once. And the lift is gone, as you noted. And I don't, like, I hope Clay's not there yet, Raja. And certainly the Mavericks, like, they've invested a lot. 50 million over three years they signed them to. And this was the pivot point for the Warriors, right? we'd love to keep our core together until they all walk off into the sunset together.

That would be really nice and poetic and cool. Three years, 50? Okay, we'll go sign a few other guys instead. And so the Mavs have a lot invested in Clay still having that elite shooting left in him. I will say, real quick, he averaged almost 18 points a game last season, shot 38.7 on threes at high volume. He was attempting nine shots of game, nine threes a game. he was still pretty damn good last season. And, you know, I know he finished on a down note in that playing game.

But it's, you never know. You never know. I'd be concerned. Be concerned. And there would be good reason to be concerned. And again, Clay fan kind of tend to think he's going to be good this year. I believe that. But, you know, like shooters, you know, it becomes about, you know, the volume.

right? Because you said he shot a high volume, you're shooting nine, threes a game. You could still be an effective shooter, but that volume's got to drop. Like what they're asking you to do around the edges of the shooting that you're going to provide sometimes becomes the factor as to whether or not you're going to be able to shoot the percentage they need you to shoot to be effective and efficient. And so they're going to have to tinker with that. Like what is his role as it relates to can we still get that shot? production out of him. And if if the defensive load or what have you, you know, doesn't allow him to

shoot it, then we'll have to work around that. But that's the recipe as you get an older player. Like you want to ask him to do a little bit less in some areas to give us that shooting. And the thing is, Roger, this is a team that, though they manufactured enough defense to obviously make a good run to the finals and kind of be respectable at that end, plugging a 30, almost 35 year old clay in, he used to be a net plus on defense. You've already. got two guys in Luca and Kyrie, your stars who are not necessarily known for being consistent on that end of the court. If you're one, two, and three are all going to be a net minus. You're putting a hell of a lot of pressure on lively Gafford, PJ Washington, everybody else,

or anybody else who's on the court. I will say the potential saving grace for the Mavericks here, I really like their off-season pickup of Quentin Grimes. They swapped out Tim Hardaway, Jr., a really streaky volume shooter for Quentin Grimes, who's young. was charting as a good 3-and-D guy when he was with the Knicks until he got sideways with Tibbs. They trade him in that deal that got them Bogdanovich and Berks at mid-season. But Quentin Grimes, he shot 38% on threes his first two seasons in New York. He slipped a little last season, but it was a funky season for him. I think that's the good news for the Mavericks.

I think they got themselves some nice insurance. Like Quentin Grimes can play some big minutes for them. You hope that they're able to use him mixing and matching, and it's not in place. of Clay, but they do have a fallback. Yeah, no, that's a, it's a great point. And you just kind of hit on what I was going to say, which is like in that scenario, we're looking for the yeoman's work, if you will,

from the young fella. Like, and then, you know, Clay, give us championship pedigree, hit big shots. Do you know what I mean? Like, give us timely big shots. Let this guy, let him do the heavy lifting. Like that, in that world, you know, I think you're in a, you feel much better if you're the Mavs.

And when I tell you that's a two, I'm really suspect. I wouldn't feel that bad about being that suspect. But asking him to carry all of it, that it would be highly suspect. All right. Story number three, speaking of Clay and his former team, Steph Curry said, I think this might have been on Media Day, quote, I think we're at a position where we can be a relevant team early and give ourselves a chance to compete.

Pretty modest prospectus there on the Warriors from their superstar, Steph Curry. We can be a relevant team. and get ourselves a chance to compete. Raja, how are you rating this statement? A relevant team. I mean, that's four. It's plausible. Like, plausible.

I think you'd be relevant. And, you know, at the end of the day, most sports, if you'll just come out there and compete, especially early on in seasons, we talk about Howard, if you're just going to go out there and be more competitive, more feisty, have more legs, have more juice in your opponent, this is without the brilliance of like Steph Curry and and some of the things they can do individually. Like you could be relevant.

If you had asked me something about championship or something else, this would have been a different answer. But four, plausible. Yeah. I'm actually going five because I appreciate just how honest, the modesty is there. Like it's, you know, there's a lot of braggadocio in this league, as there should be, especially from players of Steph Curry's caliber. And obviously, that's not him. Steph, he has his moments. He has his shimmies and his night nights and everything else on the court.

But off the court, he's not one to necessarily like stick out his chest a lot about himself or his team. But I just, I appreciate the fact that he is being so blunt in a way. Like it's, it doesn't sound like a modest statement on at first glance, but it's like you look at it and you think of the words he's using like relevant team. That's a pretty low bar for a guy with four championships. Give ourselves a chance to compete. actually think to an extent, like the warriors are almost like laying in the weeds on this, because I actually think, Rajah, they have a chance to be much more than relevant and much more than just a chance to compete. I'm not saying they're contender. I don't expect them

to run through the thunder or the Mavericks or whoever next spring. But as much as Steph is not over-promising here or trying to raise expectations too high, I think they actually could have a damn good season because there's a lot of factors. here where, like last year, think of last year, Draymond Green misses all these games because of suspension, some because of injury. They were 13 and 14 in the games Dremon missed last year. So if he just plays at a normal pace without the suspensions,

the Warriors are winning like 49, 50, 51 games, and there may be a top four team in the West. Like they weren't that far off from that top tier of the West, and Dremont's suspensions, his volatility, were kind of what sank them. That's not happening every year. I know people are just cynical about Draymond, but like literally the course of his career, that's not happened before to that extent. They had a breakthrough from Cumminga. There's still growth to go there.

But if Kumiga takes another step, Pajemski looked great. Trace Jackson Davis looked pretty good. They've got all these guys, like I don't, you can't account on all of them all making a leap. But if even one or two of those guys does, and then the guys they picked up to backfill Clay's spot, basically, De Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson, buddy healed. They just got a lot of interesting pieces. I don't know how it all fits yet. Steve Kerr doesn't know how it all fits yet because he still hasn't settled on a starting five.

But I don't know. When you look at that morassive teams like Denver, they lost Contavius Caldwell Pope and Minnesota, how's that trade of towns for Randall going to work out for them? The sons, like, okay, they improved, you know, with Tyos Jones and they've got a new coach. Like there's just all these teams that all have a lot of question marks. And out of that big group, I think the warriors have enough factors that could bounce their way that they could be, as I say, more than just relevant. Yeah, that's interesting. I could see that.

You could convince me, like that argument could convince me of that. I would also say hearing it, I could say it would be a catastrophe with all of those pieces if none of them, if none of them hit, right? Like if they just don't work together because that's a lot of, someone has to. But, but yeah, I could see where you're coming from. And I do love, you know, that's really, really cagey and, and, and, and just a savvy pro in your wording if you're a step, right? Like, you know, you're, you're touching on words that are, that are backbones and, and, and like, like, DNA of teams, right? Like in competitive and, and give ourselves a chance. Like, those things are, are, they sound corny.

and people take them for granted. But if you can instill that in teams, that that's your DNA, we are going to be competitive. Right? Like when you boil that word down, you're like, oh, that doesn't mean shit. You're like, yeah, it means a lot, man. Like that means, I mean, and I mean competitive.

Like, I will compete from the jump ball for the jump ball, for every loose ball. I will compete for this boxout position. I will compete, you know, for that inch and this, like, if that can be your DNA, And I just find, you know, you said it, but the wording of that really interesting from Steph as an elder statesman making a statement that he has to know his teammates are going to see, right? Like competitive is a word that if you have a group like that, while you're searching for the right lineups and so on and so forth, competing and competitiveness keeps you afloat and will have you winning games especially early in the season that you might otherwise not have a chance to on paper. Yeah.

Last thought on this. So I think everybody agrees. It's the consensus that the Thunder have the best team in the West. They'll probably finish first in the regular season. Benefit of the doubt to Dallas as the defending Western Conference champs, maybe they're the number two team. But as I was noting, like Denver, I think, has taken a bit of a step back, unless their young guys pop.

The Timberwolves have changed up the chemistry quite significantly by bringing Devenzo and Randall and shipping out towns. so I don't know what to make of them. The Sun's, so to health dependent and age issues, Lakers, clippers, kings, pelicans, all these teams with so many caveats. Like, is it crazy to think the Warriors could be top four, top five? Like, I'm not going to put them ahead of, obviously, Oklahoma or Dallas. But are they that far off of a deteriorate, I don't want to say deteriorating,

but a diminished Denver team or a uncertain Minnesota team? Like, they're probably still behind those two, probably. But I don't know, man. And like, you know, Phoenix, Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Pelicans. Like, all of these teams could go so many different directions. Yeah, that's the thing, right? Like, if you ask me right now, I'd say they're behind a lot of those teams. But because of the volatility from their side and those other team side,

and you just kind of alluded to it, it could very easily be like just the opposite. They're sitting ahead of those teams. So, like, this is going to be fascinating, you know, first couple months to see how that stuff kind of plays out. The NBA is back. And Fandul, America's number one sports book, wants you to catch all the action. Because right now, a fan duel is giving everyone three months of NBA League pass. Three months of NBA League pass for free, folks. All you have to do to catch every tip-off and buzzer-beater is place any $5 bet on the NBA.

And look, this is a season where because of NBA parity, I don't know. Is there a bad bet? There's so much intrigue this season. The Eastern Conference race alone is going to be absolutely fascinating Celtics. Of course, the defending champs, but the Knicks have loaded up to chase them with Carl Anthony Towns. The Sixers went out and got Paul George. The Cavaliers are trying to make some noise. There's no end to the intrigue in the Eastern Conference.

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No refunds. Terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply. Limit one pass per customer. See terms at sportsbook. Fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. All right, because the Lakers are, it's a legal mandate that the Lakers be discussed for an extensive amount of time on every MBA podcast, every MBA show, YouTube, TikTok, whatever. I've got back-to-back Laker items.

All right, let's go. Because they're the Lakers. And I promise, Raja, I am not going to discuss. this first one very often. Maybe this is the only time we'll discuss this one, and then we'll leave it alone. LeBron and Brony. Story number four, LeBron and Brony, that playing together is, quote, cool. LeBron described it as cool, pretty cool, he called it, when they got to make the preseason

debut together, first time in NBA history, a father and son up play together. And JJ Redick, rookie head coach, J.J. Reddick, said he was thrilled to be part of it because quote, it's cool as a basketball fan. How cool is this, Raja? It's a five. I mean, it's a five. It's real. That's cool.

I mean, we can have a debate and everyone can have their own feelings about, you know, how Brani got in and whether he should have been drafted. And, you know, we can do that. But seeing them on the court together, father and son, like I have, you know, obviously I talk about my sons. you know, my dad's my best friend, like to have had it go either way where I could have played something with him like that or I could play with one of my kids like that, that's real. Like, that's really cool.

And, you know, I wouldn't even try to argue the other side of that. It is cool. The other conversation, like if we ever have it, we'll have it. But that is cool. Yeah. I'm like split on this one almost. As a father, I hate that. I always sounds so protective.

It protects us right. As a father. As a father. As a parent. No, it's cool. Like I, like, you, as a human interest story, Raja, it's just a human thing. Of course it's cool. And it's not just cool for them. It can be cool for us as spectators, as fans or media or whatever, to watch that go, damn, that, that's amazing. This doesn't happen very often at all, in part because people don't play as long as LeBron does in this league, and especially the level he's still playing at. and usually the second generation guy is not going to be good enough to make it to the league at the same time that their father or mother are still playing, right? Like that's just, it's rare for a bazillion reasons. It doesn't happen often. We can appreciate the human interest part of it and I can give it a five, but I could call it a two highly suspect on a basketball level in that this is a very manufactured situation. We know this. And Brony, by every assessment across the NBA, no matter who you talk to, just not an NBA player yet.

That's fine. That's not our problem. I'm not running the Lakers. I don't care what they do with their 15th roster spot. And if Brunny spends most of his time in the G league this season, which is probably the wisest thing, that's for them to figure out. That's for the James family and the Laker family to all discuss and figure out how to best develop Brunny at this stage. In the preseason, we can enjoy this. and then the basketball debates and all the stuff that has gone with that since the moment that they signed him or drafted him, you know, that stuff can come later.

We'll see how it develops. More intriguing to me in some ways, and I thought this statement kind of flew by everybody. This was Rob Polinka, I think right before Media Day, Lakers president, GM, Rob Polenka. When he was asked if the Lakers are title contenders, Rob Polenka said this, Raja. Quote, I think that's a really a question that will have, I'm reading badly here, I think that's really a question that I think we'll have a better sense on after 30 games. But we believe in this group and the 15 guys that play the games are going to control the wins and losses with their effort, with how hard we play, with the pride we play with, with how organized and detail-oriented we are. So that's Rob Polinka's response when asked at the Lakers, our title contenders, Raja, How do you rate that statement one through five? I mean, I want to give it fraudulent, but I can't give it fraudulent because, like, in fact, that's probably what's going to happen. But it's a highly, highly suspect, highly suspect.

Like, that is not a ringing endorsement of the team you put together or what you think they're capable of. And, you know, I wasn't a guy that was reading everything that my general manager said, but I also wasn't a guy living like in this social media world with access to it. I'd have a little beef with that. Like, yeah, I would. This is why I was, I was like stunned. This kind of just like, I felt like it just slid by. Maybe it, maybe it riled some people in L.A. I didn't notice, but like, yeah, I'm calling this a one.

This is fraudulent. Like, you have the greatest player of his generation still playing at an incredibly high level of LeBron James, who just led the Team USA to the gold medal at the Olympics. And Anthony Davis, also part of that Olympic team and your team, who was also, also a top whatever 10, 12, 15 player in the NBA. And you're saying we'll have a better sense after 30 games as if you're some like middling, like developing young team. Hey, we're just trying to figure it out. You literally have the same roster.

Like almost every single player, aside from Ronnie James and the other rookie, connect. Like, it's the same rotation from last season, the same team that won 47 games and lost in the first round. and your best players turning 40 in December, you should not be an emotive. We'll see, actually, but the part of it actually, Russia, I think that bothered me more was where Polinkas says the 15 games that play the games are going to control

the wins and losses with their effort with how hard we play. Again, like, that's not the stage. This is not a rebuild. No. This is a team with two all-time players anchoring it, and you changed nothing in the off-season. You gave them no new help after they lost in the first round. If they're not a contender, which this meandering quote would indicate,

then that's on the front office for not supporting your two stars with more talent. Like every part of this quote just stud me. Yeah. I want to ask you what context. What was he? Where was he? Was he in a media scrum? Was this like an article?

This was prior to media day, a lot of, of like GMs and coaches, they'll do that a few days earlier, right? So this is essentially their media media day. So it was a press conference. It was a press conference with Polenka and he was asked if they were title contenders and that was the response. The other thing is, by the way, I thought it was just kind of like understood when you have LeBron James, even at this stage of his career, when you are asked about being a contender, it's like, of course we're contenders. We have LeBron fucking James. Immediately. Anthony Davis. It's in the handbook, Howard. It's what, hey, here's what you're going to say when

someone asked you if we're a contender. Yes, we have LeBron. Brian James, when you have him, we're always a contender. Bullet point. Just stunning, stunning. Yeah, that's crazy. That's great. All right, a couple more here before we get to the mailbag. Number six, Damien Lillard, Milwaukee Buck, Damian Lillard, says, quote,

they're going to get the real version of me this year. Where are we ranking this one? I've yet to go on really like the polar, you know, the ends, like the top or the bottom. I'm going to go with five. I'm going to go here. I'm going to go Realist of the Real with Dame Liller. And here's why. I think if I recall outside of a move, a major move from like the only city he's known

professionally to, to, you know, Milwaukee, I think he was going through some personal stuff last year. If I, like he had some things going on in his world, the bucks weren't very stable. And in year one, you can find yourself out, independent of all of that stuff I just talked about in a world where you're just trying to like find ways to fit in and you're not your organic self and because you're not being true to yourself, it's not the best version of yourself. I think he's in a much better place in all of those areas now. And like I don't know what that translates into in terms of wins or losses for the bucks or ultimate like championship

level. But in terms of who he will be as a player, I'm putting my money on realist of the real with that one. I'm going to fall just shy. I give him give it a four. plausible sort of real. Because I really appreciate the candor. And I think that he's being honest about the fact that, yeah, last season was tough for a whole mess of reasons. And a lot of personal stuff that went on. I'll get into a couple of those things that he talked about with Melissa Rowland at Fox Sports. But he is still like 34.

And I'm just not sure how much of that other gear is also left there. It's like that's tough. He shot 35% on threes last year. He's a career 37% shooter from three. Obviously, that's, you know, his bread and butter. His effective field goal percentage was a few points below the league average. Still average 24 and 7, 24 points of seven assists. They had the coaching change at midseason.

You know, they're now starting off on day one with Dame and Janus and Doc Rivers and everybody mostly healthy. Chris Middleton's issues notwithstanding. But they've been, like, they had a good offseason, I thought, and some of the guys they picked up. So I think the Bucks overall, because you noted this too, like there's the stuff in Dame's own life, just dramatic change in his career and a divorce he was going through

and all this other stuff. And then there was the fact that the Bucks themselves were just kind of volatile too. So Lillard told Fox Sports.com a couple weeks ago, quote, I would probably have to rank it at the top, probably the toughest year of my life. And then he says, I think a lot of times people talk, about revenge seasons, it's like they're going out for blood with everybody else, but I think

it's the revenge of something I need to take back for me, not for everybody else. So I, like, I appreciate the fact that the way he's kind of framing this, that it's his personal disappointment. It's not like I'm on, you know, need to like, you know, show you guys again. It's more about himself. He changed up his diet. Apparently, I went dairy-free, gluten-free, no processed food. again, that's from the interview with Melissa Rowland at Fox Sports. And he did some training with a former Navy SEAL, did all this other stuff. Dame's one of the most likable stars we've had and has been just so much fun to watch over the course of his career. I hope there's still a little bit of that magic left that he and Yannis can find it.

You know, you want, that was a big all-in move for the bucks this time last year, right? I'm curious to see if they can find the best version of that. Yeah, me too. And I'm selfishly, I want them too because I'd like to see, I'd like to see like just heavyweight battles in the East like that. Like I'd love to see them be really threatening in that way. I just, you know, what people may or may not. I mean, obviously everyone deals with things in their own lives and it takes its

respective toll on you. But often we look at our athletes. or entertainers or people that are getting paid these kind of, you know, these sums of money that we can't imagine at times and think that that because they're making that or because we see them on TV and there's no real connection to them that they can navigate those things in a way that that is independent of them being able to do their best at their job and just compartmentalize like that. And it just doesn't, it doesn't work like that. Like I, you know, I was no Dane Lillard.

But one of the toughest years of my life, I've talked about this before, was being traded to Charlotte. And, you know, I had, I had just had my second son. My wife was at home with two little boys under the age of 18 months. And we had just bought a home and furnished it. And we had just started a business there. And you're told you're hopping on a plane and you got to go. And there, they can't come with you because they have to, you know, get your stuff. like this isn't a sob story for anyone but like think about the toll that would take on you as if you

had to leave your spouse somewhere like you're just not going to be the best version of you do you know what I mean and so when those guys have all of that stuff going on um I do think it's it's fair to say that like that was probably a huge drain on him physically and emotionally and so you know I just give him the benefit of doubt I think you're right and the age and everything like that and maybe he's not vintage dame in that way but man I mean I think you're going to get a much more laser-focused, refreshed, you know, present Dame Lillard, if you will. Yeah.

Not to go down this tangent, but I thought it was interesting when you talk about Raja, just like the upheaval to your life and whether it does when you get traded. And we all, especially as fans and even as media, we can get a little numb to this. It's just so baked into sports. But Tim Connolly, you know, president of the Timberwolves, talking about the town's trade, said that trades in general, he feels are weird and gross. those were his words. And it's, yeah, it is, it is. We're trading people. Like, it's a very strange. That's crazy, right? It's a very strange concept. Thank you, Tim Connolly, man, because I've always,

I've said this before, not to go on a tangent, but I've said this before, like, that was the most foreign part of being in a front office for me, man, was just how, how it didn't feel human. Like, it felt like you were moving stocks or, you know, game board pieces or something like that. And the, Great people I was working within the front office, but you become numb to it in that way. Like these are great human beings that I'm working with. I'm still really good friends with all of them. But because it's their job and it's been so long,

like you're numb to the fact. And I'm in there just kind of fresh off a plan like, hey guys, this is a, this is a human being. Like there's more, there'll be more emotions attached to this. They're more moving parts than just, you know, shipping him off to X, Y, and Z. And that's a really, really, I really appreciate Tim Connolly for saying that. because it is kind of a really weird thing to be trading people.

I had not put his quote on this list, but I think we both would give him a five for realist of the real for that one. No doubt. Last one before we get to the mailbag, Zion Williamson tells the athletic, quote, I'm out for straight vengeance. Back to vengeance. But like the Dame model,

he says, not against any particular person, just for myself. Now, this one's kind of funny because, like, you don't have vengeance against yourself. So if you're going to define what you hope is like a big season or trying to like get, get it all together and have it blast from day, you know, night one through game 82,

whatever it is, straight vengeance implies against somebody else. So when you say it's just for yourself, I'm not sure. Redemption, redemption would be better. Redemption. Yeah, maybe. Anyway, all right, what's, how do you feel about Zion talking about a vengeance season? I don't really know how I feel. I'm going to give it a plausible.

for health reasons, if you'll allow me to, right? Sure. I like my Zion mad and angry and an attack mode. It's what I like to tune in and watch. So if he's going to be on that, then I'm all for it. I think you're at a kind of pivotal point in your career, if I'm being honest. And I think the approach is the right one. Like, let's come out and remind everybody.

And so I'm going to give it a four, but I want to see it. And hopefully you stay healthy so that you can actually enact it. I'm somewhere between a two and three on this. Like it's a little suspect only because Zion has been, we've seen this story before, right? It's almost like the Ben Simmons offseason shooting threes videos or whatever. Zion coming to camp and saying I'm in the best shape of my career. This is the year. This is the year.

Like we've seen and heard versions of this. Right. So I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. But like it was an interesting season for him last year, right? Like he played 70 games most in his career. Average almost 23 points a game, 5.8 rebounds. I have assists. He was pretty damn good.

He had the hamstring injury in the playing game against the Lakers, and he was rolling at that point. They could have won that game. And then he ends up missing the playoff series against the Thunder. They get smoked. He got embarrassed in that playing, or not playing the in-season tournament, the NBA Cup, the whatever the hell stupid thing they do in December now. he got he got embarrassed in that game because he was not in great shape they lost by 44 points to the lakers so he's like he's had just enough of a sustained you know great season and just enough like you know just low moments along the way to kind of keep him like sharp and he's coming he says he came in at 281 pounds lowest since duke intends and he's shooting to be even lower closer to like 272 this season we'll see it's a big dude man it's a god that's a big person. I know.

So we'll see. I mean, frankly, the Pelicans are just confusing anyway, right? Like, they're going with, it looks like Herb Jones is their de facto center. They're not even calling Zion the center. It's Herb Jones, because I guess because he's taller. Yeah. Yeah. I get my man Griffitha call. Yeah. Interesting. They still got the Brandon Ingram thing to figure out. But all right, that's all for another show. All right, that wraps up our realness scale. That was fun.

Producer Kerm, who in the chat says his Lakers are about to be the coolest nine-seat ever. Yes, sir. The coolest 19-ever of all time. What's up, guys? We won't torture you with any more Laker talk today. How about that? No worries, man. I actually have a special announcement to make myself.

For the first time ever, I'm going to be producing a podcast with my son, little Johnny right now. I'm playing. I don't have a kid. Let's do this male bag man. First question. First question is from Chase. It's labeled a spooky season. Real ones.

In honor of spooky season, what's one player's past that will come back to haunt their individual season or be detrimental to a team's season as a whole? For example, turnover, shooting problems, and lack of being a team player. Thanks so much. Chase from Buffalo.

Wow. That's a good question. That's an excellent question. That's a tough one on the spot. Yeah. I'm scrolling through teams right now. I got one that Raj's not going to like. Yeah, all right.

Go ahead. Russell Westbrook on the fucking Denver Nuggets. They're going to regret it. They're going to regret it. Listen, listen. First of all, you're going to take the base up out your voice when you're talking about Russell like that, okay? Like, we ain't going to be up on this pot.

I didn't told you once, man, Howard. But, hey, honestly, if I react to that, like, that because of their style of play. Now, here's where I think Russ could be okay with them. Like, because, because Yokic is such a brilliant passer, if Russ will just be a great cutter, like, I think, I think he'll produce in a way that, like, Like if you just make him stand and catch and shoot, he can't. So that would be my only retort to that. But I could see it.

I can see where you're coming from. I'm not totally mad at that. Even though I don't like it. But again, when Russ's name is mentioned, base out of the voice. That's fair. That's fair. He's one of the greatest point guides ever. I shouldn't disrespect as much like me.

But Rush is a tough fit. And especially from the moment he started to like, whatever, lose a step, a half step. whatever he has lost as he's moved into his mid-30s. Like, it's hard for guys who have had the entire world revolve around them, the entire offense run through them and who have had all the latitude in the world to adjust to being a complimentary player. And we've seen that. Like the Lakers, the clippers, like he's, it's been fits and starts.

And like with the nuggets, you know, clearer than ever, this team has a very specific style and they revolve around Yokic. Maybe it works. I'm not particularly optimistic either. The other guy that comes to mind as we're talking about this actually to the readers or the listeners question, Julius Randall, Michael Paine and I talked about this a little bit last week, but like Julius Randall in Minnesota with Nas Reid there as an actual like freaking folk hero in the Twin Cities at the same position.

That's a good one. And as a better shooter, like Randall's the better overall player, I suppose, does more things. but and Randall has been known to to Pout a little bit when he was with the Nix. So how he fits with the Timberwolves or doesn't or what his attitude is like and whether they even want to keep him long term, I just feel like that's the kind of stuff that could maybe eat away at the chemistry a little bit there. Yeah, that's a good one. It's such a tough question.

It's a really good question for that reason, but it's a tough question because you have to have, you have to be enough of a quote-unquote player, if you will, to really affect stuff in that way. So, like, it's a really good question. All right. Next question we got is from Jake, and it's titled Classic NBA Seasons. Real ones. Appreciate the defense last week of the Mavs off-season moves dismantling of my perhaps out-of-pocket, Clay's watchtake. Huge fan of the pod.

I've been on a big kick lately watching the oldest NBA games I could find on YouTube. What classic NBA seasons would you recommend digging up and diving into? Keep in mind, your boy is born in 98. Shut on Jake, 98 babies, man. We win him. 98. Oh, my God, bro. What?

I just aged five years hearing that set. Oh, my God. Holy, holy. What? What? I don't know. I'm not like a NBA historian like that. I mean, Howard, what was the 01 season? Like, that was like my first, that was my first in. And it was like, I just remember our playoff run and how exciting. Like, I was in some pretty cool playoff runs, but like that, the Western Conference wasn't very good that year, right? The Lakers kind of skated. The Lakers went undefeated through the playoffs, through the Western Conference. part of the playoffs until you guys beat them in game one of the finals.

Yeah, maybe not. Yeah, they were like 11 and 0 because that was best of five back then. So they went, yeah, three zip, four zip, fours it. Oh, what about 02? So 2 when the Mavs, O2 the Mavs and the Kings had it popping out in the Western Conference. I think so. And that's Lakers Kings and the conference finals, which the Kings fans don't want to revisit for a variety of reasons.

I'm trying to think of ones like right before he was. would have been like tuned in you know what i mean like something that he wouldn't know about yeah i was thinking that too right well they'd do like his his his his like toddler years um that like like you know that 99 2000 season um spurs are defending champs the lakers are there in their first year under phil jackson and and so like they're that's a they become a 67 win team uh and shack and cobi's breakthrough year and the trailblazers were awesome so that like i always say that that western conference finals in 2000 of all the series that i've covered over the years was probably my favorite that one and maybe

Lakers Kings two years later like just in terms of just all out just war and teams that freaking hate each other and they were just fun but that's those are playoff runs specifically I don't know if our if our listener is going to be diving into like all 82 I don't know how much you can find on YouTube but right right those are so interesting the only drawback to all that

early 2000s weren't exactly a great time for NBA aesthetically I don't I don't know, maybe go back and go go watch like Raj's sons teams. 06, 05, 06, 07, like, yeah, that was, oh, Steve Nash, Sons teams are those are, those are some fun ones. But yeah, I don't know, man, that's a really broad question. That's a lot of teams and a lot of games to try to assess it once. No, no. What else we got, Carl?

All right, now it gets the fun mailbacks, you know what I'm saying? Is there anyone, is there anyone asking about the officiating and Nathaniel Traspel Stadium? night. No. No. There none of those? God, don't.

Shit. We will next week, Raja, along with the lawyers. I called no one by name. I don't know any of them. I don't know any of them. So this next one is not a question.

It's titled Silence of the Lambs, and I'm putting in parentheses, Howard let Riley down. It's from Riley. He says, Howard. I've been a, for a long time, over a decade, but sometimes someone has an opinion that's so bad,

so illustrative of their completely broken, artistic, aesthetic, intellectual facilities that you can't view them in the same glowing light you once did. Your silence of the lamp take is one such opinion. I just turned off the episode and unsubscribe from real ones. Not even sure. I'll be able to listen to your experience. appearance on whatever podcast redacted has next.

Not even he can save you. Shame. I remember the good times. Yours. Riley. Wow. This space right here, Howard, is where, you know, if you want me to play, whether it's Tupac's hit him up beat or Nas's,

ether, whatever your favorite disc record is, we can put the beat under you and you can say, motherfucker Riley. And if you don't want to do it, I'll do it. Can you guys give me some context? before we go? Like, what was, what was, what I miss? Well, uh, so last week had Michael Pina on pinch hitting for you, uh, while, while you were prepping for potential hurricane issues. Um, and we mostly talked about the GM survey and the results of that, which were fun.

But along the way, I happened to mention that I was at the rewatchables live taping the night before, uh, are, our guys, Bill, Sean, Mallory and Chris were discussing silence of the Lambs. That was the rewatchables of the week. They did that here in New York. I got to attend. It was a blast. But I did rewatch Silence of the Lambs in preparation for the show. And my conclusion, which I hesitate to repeat now, lest I offend Riley or anybody else again, was that great performances, not a great film. And I know it won like a bazillion Oscars and it's considered an all-timer. And I know everybody on that stage at the rewatchables who are all much more astute in evaluating pop culture than I am, I know they would strenuously disagree.

But I'm sorry, that's just where I fell on this. It just, I watched it and it, Roger, it just, I, so much of it felt like just didn't hold up for me. The performances, though, like Anthony Hopkins is fucking amazing. Amazing. Jody Foster was great. Jody Foster was incredible. I just, I just don't.

note the movie is a whole. I'm sorry, Riley. I'm sorry to support you. I'll try to make it up to you if you're even listening anymore. Hauer. Fuck you're gone. You don't talk about my man's Howard like that. Fuck out of here. There's a basketball pod. Nass-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-hack you. You can't do that. You can't do that. I definitely can't. I probably shouldn't need that that word there. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. Yeah, go ahead, Howard. If you need to, if you need to do what you need to do to Riley. I'm good.

All right. Let me just say to Riley. Riley, if it is any consolation, I totally respect Howard and he has some great takes. For me personally, that wasn't one of them either. I'm just saying, Riley, I'm just, what's the last time you watched? What's the last time you watched the movie?

I actually, I was thinking about that. Like, I popped in probably three months ago. It was running on like AMC or something. And I popped in and it kept me in for, I don't know, I picked up like three quarters of the way through when I stayed. Yeah. All right, moving on.

All right. Our last email is a lot more positive. It is titled, or it's from John, and it's titled, Fatherhood, Life Advice, and My Gratitude. You know, so much better than Riley already. So much. Logan, Raja, and Howard.

What's going on, Real Ons? This isn't a question, but a comment on how much I've enjoyed being a listener of Real On's podcast since its inception. I started listening during the midst of COVID to get me through these long days, sequestered in my New York City apartment. The banter, basketball knowledge and personal stories between Logan and Roger were genuine and refreshing. Your chemistry has gelled over the years into something great.

And Howard joining last year was a seamless addition. So the continuity. Logan's pronunciation of the pod. The segment a couple weeks back when Roger and Howard were speaking about The early years of fatherhood had me in my feelings. I was literally nursing my 15-month-year-old daughter at 1230 a.m. the morning when you were talking about these sleepless nights of early parenthood. You were both spot on that there's no greater joy in the world than becoming a father, despite the challenges that arise. My wife and I are expecting our second daughter in January, and the life lessons, Rajah, and you all have spoken about over the years, will be taken to heart as we raise our girls.

Logan, big congratulations on becoming a father. Enjoy these precious moments with your family. And I can't wait to hear you back on the pod with Raja and Howard. Looking forward to a great 24, 25 NBA season. John from New York. Howard. Damn. Yeah. That was nice.

Thank you, John from New York. Yeah, John. No, that was genuinely really nice. Funny that this is the third, fourth time. Fatherhood has come up on this podcast. So shout out to LeBron and Brani. but that's why right like you you you talk about this stuff you you live this stuff you feel it you have to view certain things differently including in the world of sports right you have

to set aside cynicism at times including for for lebron james and brony because this this shit this is what it's all about this is the most meaningful stuff in our in our lives and um i can't wait for logan to come back on the pod too because i can't wait like i like our the first show back i I don't know how much NBA we're going to talk about. I just want to hear, I just want to hear how it's been for him. Rasha, you and I have, you know, we were through those stages so long ago now. But like, I love hearing anybody like, like, like, starting to like kind of like just, just experience it for the first time.

Yeah, man. John, like, yeah, real talk. Like, I mean, thank you so much for that. We had my daughter's eighth birthday party yesterday and just seeing, you know, she was our baby, watching her run around with the. all of her friends and how excited and just in heaven she was like it goes fast. So like soak it up, enjoy it. Be as present as you can, man.

That would be my advice. And then lastly, like just real as that one gets older that you have in your arms and and the new one gets older and you're able to watch them run around on fields and courts and stuff like that, you will know what I'm talking about when the rest robbed them of shit that they were supposed to rightfully have one. I'm out. Let's be end on too feisty of a note. I'm going to bring it back with the getting of my feelings from it.

Just a note that, as I've mentioned on the pod before, we sent our daughter off to college in late August. She started her college career abroad. This is the longest period of her life that I have not seen her in person, but she has to come home for something so random that I don't even, I won't even go into it. But she's coming home Friday afternoon. I can't wait.

This whole week, I'm just, I cannot wait to see my daughter for a few days before she has to pop back over to school. It's the best. Just, just, just parent is the best. That's exciting. You got my happy dance going, Howard. That was kind of exciting, bro. I got the juice for you there. That's pretty cool, man.

No, I can't wait. I had to bring it back, Roger. We can't, we can't, we can't end on. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. And that brings us to our Real One of the Week. Real One of the Week is presented by State Farm. Would you get a new car or new home?

Your first reaction might be to say things like, oh yeah, or I can't believe it. What you really want to say is the one thing that can get you the help you need. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Raja, who's your Real One of the Week? Howard, my Real One of the Week is going to be a rookie quarterback in the NFL. by the name of Jaden Daniels. Jaden Daniels, we got to know his story a little bit on the recruiting trail with my son Dia as we visited with LSU.

And they gave us a lot of insight into who he was as a player and how he prepped and the things that were going to make him great in the NFL. And all that's cool to hear until, like, you see it actually produce and it go out there and come to fruition. And he's just hit the ground running. He's got the Washington commander sitting at four and two. He almost outduled one of my favorite quarterbacks in Lamar. Jackson in Baltimore last weekend.

125 completions and 166 attempts. Miss 75%, 1,400 yards. He's just exceeded all expectations for the commanders. And it's a pretty cool story, especially having known his backstory at a position that's really, really hard to come in and be good at right away. There's so much that you need to learn. And so for those reasons, Jaden Daniels, real one of the week. Nice.

my real one of the week, Raja, it's going to be one of our emailers, but not the guy who called out my silence of the lambs take. No, John from New York, you're my real one of the week because we have a lot of fun on this show. We can get critical on this show. We can get a little snippy, little cynical,

little off the rails, as Roger did earlier in this show. But bringing it back to, you know, why we do any of this, right? Like, we love basketball because of the human experience. John from New York emailing us to talk about why he loves when we do have these detours to talk about parenthood, fatherhood, and all that it means to us. That's what all this is really about sports, life, everything. I just appreciate someone kind of grounding us in the things that matter. The basketball talk is fun, but there's a lot more to it. So John from New York,

you're my real one of the week. Thank you for that awesome email. Today's real one of the week was presented by State Farm. State Farm is there with the coverage you need for your car, your home, and even boats, motorcycles, RVs, and other things that matter to you. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you choose the coverage you need with so many coverage options. It feels good knowing you can find what fits for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, that's it. For the real ones today, we will be back with you next Tuesday. Next Tuesday opening night. Ring night. And our final show of the preseason, we will be doing some previewing, maybe some predicting. We've got to do some predicting,

Raja, because if we don't predict now, there's nothing for Kermm to haunt us with later in the season. So we might as well get our stuff on the table next Tuesday. We'll be back then. Must be 21 and over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over and present in D.C. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helphelp.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblinghelplineMA.m.m.m.m.org or call 800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. or call 1-8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y in New York.