The Ringer NBA Show - Reporting on the Bubble With Raja Bell | Real Ones

Episode Date: August 3, 2020

Logan Murdock is joined by Raja Bell as they break down the start of the NBA season. They discuss the kind of play they are seeing inside the bubble (11:30), which teams to keep an eye on (39:15), and Bell's transition to the media side of the industry. Then they choose the "Real One of the Week," a segment that highlights a player of the week who they believe stood out from the rest (1:01:10). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to a new edition of The Ringer NBA show. I know this is a new voice you're hearing right now. This is Logan Murdoch, the newest staff writer at the Ringer. We're doing something a bit different Monday show. I have my co-hosts. I'm really excited to join me on this, Roger Bell. How you doing, bro? I'm good.

I'm not a staff writer. No, have you written? Are you writing? I didn't know. My bad. Are you? No, no. I mean, we can put you on, bro.

We could do something if you want to do it. You want to get on your writing? No, no, I'm good, brother. I just, I wasn't fully aware of my title, man. I didn't know what I was. What do you want your title to be? I like, hey, co-host works for me. Co-host works?

Yeah, it works. All right, all right, for show. I mean, I'm down for whatever, man. If you want to do like, like, vibe curator, you know what I mean? I think that. That works for me even better. Okay. Yeah.

All right. All right. So I'm the newest staff writer. Okay. At the ringer. And we got the newest vibe curator. Curator. Bell, you know, former NBA player, you know what I mean, done some good things, done a little bit of things.

I just want to say, though, before we get into this stuff, I feel like we need to get this up right out the way, Raja. We need to get this right out the way. 12-year-old Logan has a beef with you. 12-year-old Logan, for full disclosure, was a Laker fan in the Bay Area around 2006. His favorite team was Los Angeles Lakers. His favorite player was Kobe Bryant. Yeah, that's tough. And I remember, you know, just, it was a big deal to watch Laker games, especially in Oakland, because, you know, we didn't get a lot.

We didn't get a lot of Laker games. It was only on national television. And this great team, who I didn't think was great at the time, I really didn't like them, the Phoenix Suns were playing against my Lakers. And this guy right here, you know, gave a close line in my favorite player. So I don't, personally, at this age, I don't have a beef with you. but 12-year-old Logan just has a problem, man. And I just feel like we need to fix that right now before we go. Well, I can appreciate 12-year-old Logan's beef with which would have been like a 31-year-old, like, Rajah at the time.

I appreciate that. There's still a lot of people, though. Like, I can appreciate you saying you're over it. There's still a lot of people that aren't. What I can say is at that moment in time, like, you know, like one of the things I always prided myself on was just keeping it real. and it got me in trouble at times. At times it was really valuable to teams I played on. And at that moment, you know, I really felt like it was,

we were at a tipping point, whether I was just going to keep kind of getting run over or whether I was going to have to do something to have him, you know, have some sort of respect for me just as a man. And I could have read that situation all the way wrong because I've broken this down a lot. And Kobe and I became really good friends. But at that time, that's where I was at.

And again, I was like 30. So 31, you know, and with a little more respect. Was that when keeping it real goes wrong, no, in hindsight? Was that, was that, was that, that needed to be done? Well, it needed to be done. And it could have went wrong. But my teammates really held me down in game six, I think, in L.A. Because I was suspended or it would have went like really, really wrong.

But we fortunately were able to come back. And I don't mean to open up all wounds, but that was a 3-1 comeback for the old. Okay, you can chill on that. Okay, bro. You don't have to, you don't have to do all. all that. But my question is, you know, when you, when you're in that phase, like, after you close line of man, how do you feel the reaction from that dude is going to be? And what was it afterwards? Yeah, you know, honestly, I was, I was prepared to fight. I mean, once that

happens, you just expect, A, I expected to fight Kobe and then B, I expected to have to, like, you know, duck and fight most of his teammates. So that's just kind of where I had gotten to with that. You know, Kobe was a bigger man than I was in the moment. He had, you know, a whole franchise on his shoulders. Like, I just was playing a role on a team. So he couldn't afford to engage me like that. But, you know, I've said this before. And, you know, I was on Doug Gottlieb show once, and he asked me.

And it was really interesting that none of his teammates really wanted to, like, square up after the fact. You know, I found that interesting. Yeah. And did he, you know, did he feel any sort of way? Like, what did he do in an immediate aftermath of that? Nah, Code was completely dismissive of the situation of me as, you know, the opponent and the perpetrator of the clothesline. Like, he played it in the most infuriating of ways for like, for me. Because you're like, yo, punch me, bro.

Like, do something to me, bro. Like, at least do something to make me, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I want to know that I'm under your skin. And he played it really, really, really shrewdly, which was, you know, completely in character. him. But, you know, after, I mean, those playoffs passed by the time we went through the next preseason, we had played each other in Vegas. When I saw him for the regular season, it might have been the opener in Staples. By then, we were cool. Like, it was, you know, kind of touch and go for me, but it appeared when I saw Kobe that he had kind of squashed it. He

introduced me to his family. And from then, like, you know, I respected the brother. I always respected him. But from then on, we were pretty cool, you know? I can imagine, though, like, when you're trying to, you know, you know, after you do that, and you're right before the next time you about to see him, it's like, you're probably all in your head just like, you know, like, what is he going to do? And then he introduced you to his family. Like, yo, this is Rajah. What's popping? Yes, real talk. It was on site for me just because that's where I'm from. Like, you know, I would expect it would be, you know, kind of that way. And so if you, if you know, the Staples, when you leave the visitor's locker room to get to the bus, you have to pass

the Lakers locker room. So as I come out, you know, Kobe is ahead of me walking with the group at a slower pace than I'm walking. So it's inevitable that I'm going to pass. So I'm just prepped like, okay, if it goes down and it's got to go down, it's got to go down. And when I got right by the side and he turned and looked at me, I realized it was his wife and his mother-in-law and a couple of his daughters. And he couldn't have been nicer about it.

So, you know, I really respected him. And, you know, obviously to have gotten a chance to lock horns with him whether I was able to have success or not. That's besides the point. He was just the ultimate competitor. Yeah. And I think we talked about this before we started this podcast of, you know, I know you, I didn't just know you from that.

I just want to tell you a full disclosure. I didn't just know you from that moment. You were a guy that killed it on the Sixers. You're the one that scrapped for what you had. I remember watching you in the 01 finals. And you're a guy that scrapped. When you have a career that you have, I know. that you and Kobe are cool, but sometimes it's annoying the fact that you were tied to this

person, tied to somebody when you worked hard to get through this career? No, I mean, not really. Honestly, and I've thought about that because I've had people ask me, it doesn't bother me at all. First of all, there are a lot worse people that I could be linked to for one reason or another in the NBA than Kobe, you know, and so that in and of itself again is kind of a, it's kind of an honor. And then, you know, to the point you kind of made about me,

scrapping and clawing. I never thought I was going to play in the NBA. I just hope that I can make a living playing basketball, you know, whether it was traversing the globe and doing it or, you know, playing in the minor leagues. So my career isn't really affected. I was able to kind of feed my family and provide for my kids. And so I don't really get caught up in that. I guess I, you know, I don't really even feel like I have a legacy, so to speak. So it's just, it's cool for me to just say, I played in the NBA. I played over a decade. And I was able to compete on the stage with the Kobe's and the best of the best.

Like we were playing some of the better teams in the NBA at the time and giving them a run for their money. Yeah. And, you know, I do want to get into, you know, later on down the line, I do want to make this sure that this is a podcast to where, you know, we talk about the NBA. But we also talk about your experiences. You've been around a lot of players, you know, not just Kobe, but Alan Iverson. You've been around the jazz and things like that. I do want to get into that as we go forward throughout this journey. But another thing I do want to ask you is, why media for you?

Because, you know, we know that, you know, I've been a beat writer for, you know, past publications. And I've been around it. There is a gray area that we share with each other, right? Like there's, you know, there's, it's sometimes us versus them. Sometimes it's not. How do you, how are you sensing this transition into being, lack of a better term, one of us? a staff writer, if you will. Yes.

That's an interesting question. I always felt like, from a player's perspective, if you didn't have a friendly voice in the media, like if you didn't have somebody necessarily on your side, it would be really, really hard to kind of get the message that you wanted to get out there to people, right? Because so much of it was controlled, you know, by the media and by the club that you played for and so on and so forth.

So I always thought that given the operative, I could be that kind of friendly voice in the media for guys, you know, that could relate to what they were going through, maybe more so than someone else could. Like, not saying that if you didn't play, you can't relate, but I've been in the locker rooms. Like, I've been on the planes. And so I started very early in my career just taking the opportunities to hop on with different people and to do different shows and to just try it out to see if I liked it. And I kind of got a taste for it. And then, you know, I did take a year off and I went to try my hat at the front office gig with David Griffin and Kobe Altman and Trent Redding with the Cavs. My family was really young at the time.

So it didn't kind of fit with my lifestyle. And I was just kind of blessed with opportunities to keep trying and spreading my wings in the media. And I really do feel like I got a unique perspective on it. So given the opportunity to have guys put some trust in you and tell you some things, you know, you can get their message across. in a way that sometimes I wasn't able to do. Yeah. And how do you do that in a locker room while not just, you know, spilling company secrets? You know what I mean?

How do you do that and just be candid? Because, you know, we love when players are candid. Right. But you know, you can't be too candid with us. You know that. Yeah. No, there is, there are definitely things that stay within the fraternity that are just, if you're not in the fraternity, you're not privy to.

Having said that, you just try to be genuine. And it's like any relationship you have, you know, in life. Like if you can keep it a butt, guys know that that's kind of how you roll. They get used to it and they respect you for it. You know, you certainly respect people's lives and people's privacy. But at the same time, guys know who you are. They know you're somebody that's always going to keep it 100. And even if they don't love what you're saying all the time, you know,

they respect that that's a genuine way for you to roll. Right. Well, again, man, I'm happy to be doing this with you, bro. I mean, let's get into it, bro. We're talking about, we're here during one of the wildest times in the world's history. We're in the middle of a pandemic. With that, we have the NBA going back into their season. You can call it a bubble.

You can call it the NBA would prefer us to call it a campus. Whatever you want to call it, you know, it's been there. We had a lot of great games starting with the Lakers Clippers and the Pelicans game. But what have you saw throughout, you know, this first few days of the bubble? Have you been impressed with how it's gone? And what do you think overall? Yeah, look, I got to be honest. I didn't know what to expect coming in.

I'm sure not unlike, you know, a lot of people. But the quality of play has been, it's been pretty high. You know, guys have been getting after it, you know, from opening night, you had those two games go down to the wire. I am surprised at the shape that guys are in for the most part. Now, I know some people are. Yeah, right? Me too, bro. I was thinking about, because of my first year interning was the lockout year, 2011, 2012.

And I mean, and then all the present, they weren't, not everybody was in shape in that year. And even going back to a bigger example of 98, 99, like, nobody was in shape. And it's crazy to see that people are in shape now, especially during these times, because there's a very convenient excuse like, bro, I just don't have the facilities right now. Right. We're in a middle of a pandemic. but I mean to your point. You know what though? Like brothers have come a long way in terms of understanding their bodies.

Like when I played, you only had a few cats on your team. Like they were really, really conscious about what they were eating, you know, how they were fueling themselves. Everybody lifted, but it was on a different level. And so, you know, when I left the calves a few years ago, I was blown away by the type of instruction that they were given by the club in terms of how to fuel yourself, what type of rest you needed. You know, just they have it dialed in so specifically that it shouldn't be a surprise in me,

but still I'm surprised the guys look the way they do. You were one of the, you were at the, with the Phoenix Sons who had like an incredible medical staff, an incredible thing. Were they one of the, in your opinion around the league, were they one of the first teams to have that level of care when it comes to their players? Yeah, I think there were teams doing it, but the sons were kind of on the cutting edge of some of the soft tissue work that was being done. Like if you remember, they got Antonio McDyce and he was on like, you know, I don't want to say the scrap heap, but there were real questions about whether he was going to be able to ever return to the McDice of like the Nuggets, right?

So they kind of rehabbed him and got him back and he had some great years in Detroit. You know, you had Grant Hill come in after I got there. Again, Grant was coming off of like who knows what Grant was going to be. Grant had a bunch left in the tank. Aaron Nelson, Mike Elliott, were able to get that out of him. Even Shaq, when we got Shaq. You know what I'm saying? So they were doing really good things with that medical staff.

Interestingly enough, and I don't mean to hijack this whole conversation, but Aaron Nelson is in New Orleans right now with the Pelicans. And Griff is my dude. And I wanted to call him yesterday, like, my man, what are you doing with Zion? Yeah. Like, I mean. That's another thing. I mean, you just put on a great point.

You know, when we have these rundowns, but I was getting to Zion, so please do your point, please. Yeah, like, what do you? I mean, I know you're protecting the asset. and we can get into like what his if they get into the playoffs and then you play through you know i don't know uh october you got turn around and play in december and sure there's a lot of wearing tear on his body but i mean you're there you have a shot at the a seed like i feel like playing him just for the first three minutes of quarters like i don't i don't understand that i just hope the thing though they had a legitimate chance to win opening night

word and he's not playing down the stretch 100 there's i just feel like i get it and i get minutes of and I get all of that. You know, that is, but I feel like you should tailor your miniature restriction towards your best player and towards the win the game. You know what I mean? Like if it goes two overtimes, like in something ridiculous, I get it, right? You know what I mean? I get that.

But they were going down the stretch. You know what I mean? They could have won that game. I'm with you. So if you even said to me, like, you know, I heard Griff come out and say, you know, he rides the bike. And so we want him warm and he knows when he's going to play. And look, man, Griff is as smart as they come, man,

really thoughtful about the way he approaches it. Sure. And I have all the respect in the world for that. But maybe, just maybe, we roll him out for the first three minutes of the first three quarters and just give ourselves a little bit of leeway in case we're in a situation like that. And we can warm him up through the first four minutes of the fourth quarter and let him ride out. I don't know. But it just seems silly to me, you know?

I do. And I really like that Pelicans team, too. I really like to see what they do going forward, just with Brandon Ingram and how he's playing. and just the partnership that they could potentially be. You know, we'll see what happens. But you've got to play Zion down the stretch, bro. Especially if you're especially if you're trying to get a, if you're trying to get a postseason seed, you know what I mean?

There's not a lot of games left until we get to that point. I mean, bro, they put the whole bubble together to get Zion. Because of him. I mean, what is the NBA thinking? What is Adam Silver sitting there saying when you're not playing Zion down the stretch? Listen, man, somebody got to make that call and just be like, hey, yo, yo, check this out right quick. But I mean, I did like that.

Another thing that stuck out, and you know, you're a player, so I'm sure you can attest this, is a lot of, you know, you talk about LeBron and AD, they're not shooting well, they're not doing that. How do you get, and, you know, Jason Tatum ball today, but he was also struggling and shooting from the field. How do you get a rhythm in this type of environment? You just do what you know how to do.

So the routine, you know, players are creatures, habit and of course just being in that bubble in and of itself is going to hijack, you know, your ability to have a normal routine. But you have to quickly figure out what your bubble routine needs to be. Like how many shots I need to get up, you know, how much, how much extra time do I have in between our practice versus, you know, someone else's practice? Can I get my normal working? And as much as you possibly can, you have to, you have to stick to that routine as if you were at the at the home facility. And then in games, bro, you just,

you just, you, you take the opportunities to, to force it. Like, I wasn't mad at Jason Tatum for going two for, what, 18 or, or something like that. You have to shoot yourself into a rhythm, especially, like, I didn't have to shoot myself into a rhythm. Because it didn't matter whether I scored 20 or seven.

Like, my value laid in other places with the team. But for those guys, like AD and LeBron, like when they took LeBron off the court, was it last night? that team crumble. Like you've got to force it. Their sheer presence makes you makes you a better team, right?

Absolutely. And so you got to force it. You got to force it. Yeah. And sometimes it'd feel like, you know, I think when you play with Nashville, even Iverson, I think Ivers is probably a better example of this

where guys just have to be on the floor, right? Like, Ivers is not going to shoot 50% every night. But I'm sure he made things so much easier just for his just being there, right? Oh, no doubt. And you fall into a, you know, NBA guys fall into different categories. And, you know, you're either complimentary or you're a, you know, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, you're a, let's say.

And I'm, I got a lot of experience with Dion. Like I had to, you know, I was responsible like for telling him he got traded from the Caz, which is a whole other story. But a guy like, we get into that, bro. We get into that. We will. Let's get into it. But Dion regards himself as a carrier of a team, but he's more complimentary, right? So when you throw him into that role of having to carry, it just throws everything off.

So like that team that AI was on, none of us could carry. So even having him on the court just gave you a sense of security. when you took him out of the equation, you had cats that were scrambling to play roles that they're not accustomed to playing. It throws everything out of whack. Sure. I mean, and I'm guessing, you know, with Dion Waiters is he,

I feel like he had to refine that role into being like, okay, I can be aggressive, but only aggressive right in these instances. Like, I can't be aggressive. I can't try to carry the team when Kevin Durant is the best player on my team or LeBron James is the best player on my team. I just can't do that. And I guess he's fine. He's playing well during this bubble time.

He's playing really well. I like Deion and I like Deon for the Lakers. They don't have a lot of guys that can create their own shot. You know, again, I talked about myself in being like 30 versus 44. Dion's just got a little more perspective now. You know, Dion was, when he first got paired with LeBron and Kyrie and Kevin Love, there was something to prove there, right? And you weren't going to be the guy.

And I think with a couple stops along the way, you know, you gain a little humility and you start to figure out, you could be a really, really good player. You just might not be the number one option. And there's no real shame in that, you know? Yeah. But like, and how do you, you know, it's different when you're younger, right? When you're a top pick, there's so much pressure on a top pick to carry your team and do that.

No doubt. And, you know, and then you put LeBron to the equation, you're not going to carry the team on LeBron is there. It's just not going to happen. How did you take the news when he got traded, though? Oh, man. This was so my job when I got to Cleveland was amongst other jobs was to really try to get Dion to buy in to what was going on. Because they had more experience with Dion and they knew that this was going to be a tough pill for him to swallow. Not just having to work around Kyrie for his opportunities, but maybe having to come off the bench and then you have Kevin.

Had he gotten paid yet though? Was this like that's another thing too. Yeah, yeah. Correct. So my job was to have these conversations. which I would have with Dion, like, listen, if you can just buy into the role of six-man, it solves a lot of problems, right? Like, you don't have to fight to eat because you're going to be out there with, you know,

different players. So LeBron's not going to be taking shots. Kyrie's not going to be taking shots. This is going to be yours. Secondly, you're going against second level, probably defensive players, which is going to give you more of an opportunity to get buckets. If you can provide that kind of spark on this team that should go to the finals, that's it.

brother, you've made your money and you could go somewhere else and the team can be yours if that's ultimately what you desire. Dion just, it didn't work out. And they traded this brother. It was the it was the toughest thing I ever did in the basketball world. He was at home in Philadelphia. Kyrie didn't play. LeBron didn't play. So it was his show. He had bought, I don't know, 40-some tickets. They traded him while the national anthem was going on. So as the anthem bro, as the anthem finishes and they start to announce our team, they say Dion Waiters

from Syracuse and I've got a whole Dion back from going on to the court and take him in the back and tell him he got traded. I can't tell him where he's been traded for the next two hours because per league stipulations, you know, all of that, the ink has to dry and so on and so forth.

Did it get, did it, did it, like, was there a Wodes bomb at that point or whoever bomb at that point? No. No. Like, did you already know it? Okay. No bombs. I had to beg David Griffin and them to let me tell Dion because I was like, look, man, this is, this, this couldn't be worse for the kid.

Like, we're going to have to tell him something. Like, let me at least tell him he gets to co-play with KD. And I believe Russ was still there at the time. So, you know, we worked it out where I told him prior to the, to the Wodge Bomb happening and whatnot. But it was just a tough thing to do. He did. It was in Philly, bro.

It was in Philly. Dog, he was at home. Again, all he ever. wanted in Cleveland was the team to be his. No LeBron, no, no, Kyrie. And I want to say no, Kevin Love, but I'm not sure. So it was his show. And I had to hold him back from being announced. I can't imagine that, man. That's like, he is Philly. You know what I mean? They call him cheese. He's Philly cheese, bro. You know what I mean? Like, that's, that is Philly. If you want to say, you know what I mean? He's like top five Philly people right now. But I can only imagine,

And when you're buying tickets and you got to tell. And you know as a Hooper, it's a special thing when your family there and when you're going home. Like it's something different. You know what I mean? And you got to go like, hey, bro, I'm not playing. You got to hit them like from the locker like, hey, bro, I ain't even playing right now. Bro, I could not have felt worse.

I like Dion. So it was already a hard thing to do. But just knowing to what you're talking about right now, like when you're at the crib and you've told people, hey, I'm getting shots tonight. like this ain't going to be like me coming in and getting like eight minutes and like this is my show I got tickets for everybody yeah and then they shut you down that was tough damn did he take how you take it he take it on the chin like a G or like how did he take it seething seething now he is a G so like it was you know he didn't take it out on me necessarily but he was and I felt terrible oh man that's

I can't even imagine doing that man I can't even imagine but I'm glad to see that he's doing well right now. He's doing well so far on his, on his, I don't know, second, third chance, but he's getting it right now so far. So I'm happy to see that. One of the biggest things also that happened is the, is the protests. I don't know if I, honestly, full disclosure, I don't even know if I want to call it a protest because I feel like it's more bringing awareness to a protest. And when I say that kneeling and, you know, these demonstrations have come a long way since Colin Kaepernick did them, since a lot of these other people do. I think that nearly now is a lot more accepted than it was back then,

especially when you collectively bargain your way of getting awareness out. And I think that this has been a great, I think this has been a good start for the league. But what I will say is I'm taking a wait and see approach on how I feel about these demonstrations or whatever you want to call it. because I think that this is just all, maybe getting it right for all the times where, you know, the dress code came in, right? Or when all these different things happened and the league didn't necessarily have its players' backs.

And I think that this is a, this is a thank you for, or a, or, you know, just retribution for that. But I think the next step is, okay, Adam Silver, you did this. But are you going to go to Congress and speak on these initiatives on behalf of your players. Are you going to put money into these causes? That's what I'm at. I'm kind of lukewarm on these performative gestures right now. I want to see action and money put behind these causes. And also, you know, a lot of these owners going to making these changes with the access and privilege that they have. So that's what I'm thinking on this,

on this, these demonstrations are, I don't want to call, like I said, I don't want to call them protests because they have been collectively bargained. And I don't think that, you can have a protest if you are like if you are going if you are in with your employer i don't think that there's a protest but wait and see for me what do you think yeah um i i agree with you um on on some of it like i actually i i like the fact that the NBA has come together as as a fraternity um and i i especially like the fact that a lot of you know the the the the coach coaches that aren't necessarily African-American and, you know, the white dudes in the league who share locker rooms and our brothers and whatever are all standing arm and arm and supporting

the cause. I'm one of those people if you chose not to. I wouldn't necessarily think that that meant you weren't with the movement. Like, you know what I mean? Like, but I am with you 100% in that like it's great that that we were able to do this and people were able to come together and not just the NBA like this has been for the most part um you know around the country where you know people are standing arm and arm to stand up and and try to affect change what are we going to do next though and I'm I'm with you with the NBA in that you know Adam Silver um owners what are what are you going to do and you know to some degree players have to realize, and I think they are starting to realize, not just your LeBron's.

Like, they have a real, real voice. Like, there's real leverage in some of these situations to force the hands of the Adam Silver's and of ownership to try to get some of the things done that you want done. And so that, I'm with you 100%. Like, where do we go from here? It's a good start. Like, I appreciate everyone being hand in hand. And then what's next?

Yeah. And another thing, I do feel, you know, just for the simple fact that they had to go and just agree on what, and I know the business aspect of that of agreeing to what names to put on the jerseys in the back of the jerse and stuff. It did feel a little weird that you didn't put the names on when you see the WMBA putting Brianna-Taylor on their jerseys and stuff. I know that they write these things down. It's just, I just felt a little weird about that.

I don't love the jerseys. I don't love the jerseys. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, like, you know, because if they're going to do the jerseys or stuff, it just honestly, in my opinion, just felt too safe. Like now, you know, Black Lives Matter was a revolutionary term. It still is in a lot of respects, I believe. But I feel like it was a lot more revolutionary.

And now it's a lot more people are comfortable saying it now. It's not as revolutionary as it once was. But it is a great message, obviously. But I do feel like, you know, if a player wanted to say defund the police, you know. Right. There's that thing where I feel like I don't like policing what, you know, revolution you can say on a platform. that's just me.

No, I can dig it. You know, business is business at the end of the day, right? I know that. And that's what you get, right? That's what I feel like makes weird when you're trying to collectively bargain, and I'm doing this in air quotes, at protest, in my opinion. Right. But overall, I do think the NBA has done more than a lot of sports leagues.

But I do want to see them, and I do want to see the powers that be speak, put their name on And if they do, that means going to Congress and saying, hey, man, these black people are dying at the hands of police at a higher rate than other races. I want to see that happen as the next step. So I think that's my piece on that. But I do want to get back to the bubble. Like, how would you prepare for this? Like, what would you do? Like, how do you do that?

Well, I'll tell you like this. Right now I got four kids under the age of 12. So you can sign me up for the bubble like right now. Right now? I'm in. Okay. But I really don't know. I've been trying to,

I've been trying to kind of wrap my head around. Like if you were a team like the Lakers or Milwaukee, the Clippers, and you'd have to be in the bubble for the amount of time that you would hope to be in that bubble, it's just unprecedented. I mean, we traveled a lot as players and, you know, as staff members, but you always were coming home in, you know, five or six days.

You know, you always had that built in. I'm going to see everybody's face. I don't really know how I would prepare for life away from my family for that long. I'm just being honest with you. I know that Steve Kerr, I know we both know, as always said, he always told me this. He always said that the road is the great equalizer, under normal circumstances, is the great equalizer because right when you think you're at home for a long time, boom, you're right back on the road.

Right when you think that that road trip is damn, I'm in like eight months. I, you know, four city and five nights. Okay, it's time to go back to the crib. You know what I mean? Yep. Now they don't have that. Now it's like, yo, if you're going to be here, you're going to be here for some months. And I don't know how you mentally prepare for that.

I don't know. And you can't go anywhere. You can't go nowhere. You can't do anything. But they, I'll tell you what, they got, they have a stocked lake. Like, and I'm a big fisherman. So, you know, they're going to be, they've done their best to put together a campus if you will, of activities and stuff within the bubble that will keep guys,

you know, keep guys engaged and active. It's just, you know, it's like everything going on in the world right now. None of it's perfect, like, because there's so much uncertainty. So you're just kind of rolling with the punches. But whoever gets it together and gets, you know, stabilized, gets their routine down the quickest, like those teams are going to have more success because it's, it is going to be a huge adjustment. And I'm sure if you asked a lot of players right now, they'd be like, man, this is crazy.

talking about that like how do you from a standpoint of preparing that's one thing for life but also in the games right there's no fans it's glorified pickup with crowd noise getting built into it like how how important is I know you know the the saying is fans are important

we wouldn't be here without the fans but I mean more so on a level of like routine where you're getting an and one and you got to build your own energy yeah yeah that's um that would be a hurdle to have to overcome because a player like myself, I fed off of the crowd, whether it was the love from a home crowd or, you know, if I was, you know, the villain in 06 in LA.

If he was getting booed by like 12 year old Logan. 12 year old Logan, right. So like that was that was what I kind of love, the energy in the building, right? Like got me moving. And there are guys that aren't going to need that. But there are a lot of guys that are going to miss it and it's going to be hard. Not necessarily right now when you're getting back in a swing of things, man, but you're talking, you know, another two weeks or something once it becomes normal and you've played some

games and the excitement of playing the games kind of wears off. Like, how do you get up for those games, you know? And that's going to be interesting. The other point that I don't know that's been discussed a lot and I think is interesting is referees tend to be influenced by crowd. Like, yes, right? 100%. That's going to be interested in the playoffs because there is no crowd and those refs are just, they're going to be calling it, you would think, straight down the line. And that doesn't always happen when you have a live crowd. But here's another thing, though.

And I think I will kind of push back on that point because we also know that refs are, they're humans. And I think you still have that element of like players, you know, talking shit or like yelling at a ref. Because I know yelling at a ref, whether you like it or not, like it does have an effect. Like if they know they were wrong and you told them on it,

it still will be there. So I do think that there's an element. of that too, or also, as you know, like, when Phil Jackson used to get in a, played a refs through the media and where he would just be like, you know, this is happening, this is happening. You need to watch out for this. I think there's still that element too. No, you're going to, yeah, I mean, you're going to have that, right? And relationships are huge between refs and players. Like, I didn't, I knew when I saw certain guys coming because of our past, like it was going to be a long night and vice versa, right? Like, I had a friend

or I had an enemy. So, you know, those things certainly still exist. But, but, you know, I was going to be a long night. I was but I can tell you for a fact, bro, like when you're on the road in a playoff game, maybe not a regular season game, but in a playoff game seven or, you know, game three, the first game on the road and you're up to zero and that home crowd is live in the staples and you're playing the clippers. Like those refs, when those clippers go on that, you know, that 7-0 run, those refs are swept up in that sometimes. And that 7-0 run can become 13-0.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but before you know it, it's a four-peer. point game at the end, you know, that could have swung to balance, not intentionally just because they are human nature, yeah, you know, for sure, for sure. I mean, I do, I do agree with that as that I do think that they're still like, you know, I mean, I'm sure we agree on this is the fact that, you know, they can still get influenced. 100%. 100%. But you did touch on a great point, though, about home court advantage. There is no home court advantage. Is there like, is like, I saw watching one of the games where there is this crowd noise pumped in

with like booze and stuff but like after a while it just seems like it trails off that really doesn't matter. No. And so how do you, does it matter? Like if like say for a clippers team who is in the second seed but they're not that's not promised for them. You know, there's still

Denver's lurking. There's a lot of other teams lurking. Does it matter like hey, we slip and we slip a few times and we just don't get home court advantage, whatever that is. Does it matter? I don't think it matters as much now as it would if you weren't in a bubble. You know, I go back and forth on this and I've flipped and flop on my opinion. I tend to think, and I'm back to this, is where I started and I'm back at it.

In a sterile environment like that where you're not going to have, you know, the effects of your home stadium. Role players, you know, are going to be just that. I don't know that you're going to have them popping up like you do in home playoff games where a true role guy is going to have 25 or 27. It will probably still happen. But I tend to think overall, like if you played it out, the teams with a better talent and the better player is going to win. Now, again- But that's usually how it goes anyway, though, right? Like usually in the playoffs, it comes down to the best players, in my opinion.

It does. It does. But you get, you know, like, maybe I'm saying there will be more. more like five games and four games series. Like you're not going to get that, that three seed against the six seed and the six seed takes them to seven. Because, you know what I mean? Like if we're talking about true talent prevailing,

I think that's the way I feel about it. But you asked me two days ago, I would have told you, man, you know, it's going to be flat in there. And so you'll get some hungry guys hop up and it'll be like a pickup game where like if the better players fall asleep and you get some hungry cats like me show up, we might knock you off. Yeah.

You know what I mean? I feel you, but like I have, I will say this, though. I have been impressed by the television of it, though. I have been impressed by the presentation. Like, you know, it doesn't seem as boring as I thought it was going to probably seem, you know? Because, you know, when you're just, it's different when you're watching basketball in a pickup setting. Even when it, like, I've even seen pickup basketball among NBA players. It's different there versus in the arena when they're playing for something.

Like, it's different. And I was, I've been very surprised. pleasantly surprised with the quality of play though quality of play has been great i'm i'm with you on the presentation by the NBA i think you know they've done a they've done a great job um i think you're starting to see like i was watching today like the first few games players look like they were really really afraid to interact like on the bench like it almost looked like you know they were like hey we can't and today you started to see like the bench is liven up like when when cats were hitting threes and they were falling over the like this you know the support like

going crazy. And I think, you know, as they ease into that, that experience and start to figure out what they can and can't do, it's only going to get better from the viewing perspective. I was with you, though, bro. I didn't know what to expect, but pleasantly surprised for sure. So who are some of your, you know, surprise teams? Like, who do you think is going to, we probably don't know yet? Like, who do you think that is somebody that's probably going to make some noise? I know that the conventional wisdom is, you know, if the Portland Trailblazers get in, they going to be a problem for the Lakers. Right.

What do you think in that realm? You know, Yousef Nerkich changes their team. Definitely. You know, like his presence is definitely going to help them. I don't think they're going to be a problem necessarily for the Lakers. But they could be. Like the team that, and I watched them last night,

and I don't mean to be like knee-jerk reaction to what happened with the Lakers game. But Toronto is a really interesting team, man. I was going to say Toronto, but here's a thing, though. I just don't want to get caught up in the, when everyone says, y'all not really, y'all sleeping on this team, but like everyone's saying it so you're not really sleeping on the team. Yeah. I think Toronto, for me at least, falls into that category.

They are a very, very interesting, like, mix of guys that can do a lot with the ball. Like, a lot of them can do a lot with the ball. You know, whether Pascal Seacom can be really, really consistent. in that in that like a one a and one B role with Kyle Lowry is I think what's going to ultimately be the decided factor but like over the last I don't know 20 years right like every team this won the championship has been like top 10 defensive efficiency and offensive efficiency right there are two teams there are only like five teams I think this year that really fit that mold it's the ones that you would expect there are two teams right on the outside of that looking in you're talking about

Toronto who is like offensive efficiency 14th in the league defensive efficiency there in there. The other team is OKC, bro. And I don't I don't know what it is about. They were like the hottest team in the league going in before the shutdown. There again, what are they, ninth in defense. You know who they remind me of?

Huh. They remind me of last year as Clippers team in a lot of ways. Right? Just for the simple fact that like, no one necessarily took them seriously until they took them seriously, right? And I think that that would be my sleeper team over the Toronto Raptors, because like I said, beforehand,

You talk about a lot of other than Kauai, who's a monster, he's different. But we've been talking about them being a sleeper so long that I don't think they're a sleeper anymore. I just don't. I think when you talk about the sleeper mode, who I would give people problems is definitely OKC because they're just such a fun team to watch. And say Gilgis Alexander is a problem. He's a problem. He's a problem. He doesn't get nearly the type of national respect that he should get, at least amongst his peers for the climate.

You know what I mean? Like he is a real problem. The only thing, and I, you know, I'm happy you like them too, because I do think they have one thing going for them and it's going against them and then they have the antidote for it, right? Their pace of play, like these boys are scoring a lot of points in that bubble, man. They're hanging up some numbers. And OKC doesn't do that.

They have to play a specific way. But if you had to pick one NBA point guard to completely control the tempo of a game and make sure that your team didn't run, when it wasn't supposed to run, who would you pick? Chris Paul. And there you go. And so I think they have, I don't know that they can win it.

I ain't saying that. I'm saying they're going to sneak up on some people. I think they're going to sneak up on some people. I think that this is the, I saw this last year with Chris Paul. He's getting to that stage of his career where he's getting a little older. I'm not talking about his skills of diminished, but he's getting a little older. And you know when you get a little older, there's a little bit more oomph in your game. You know, because you're seeing towards the end,

a lot more. You're seeing that in his game. You saw it a lot last year in the semifinals against the Warriors. And now you're seeing that now with the Oklahoma City Thunder. I'll be curious. I don't think that they think that, you know, maybe they're sealing if they do sue. I'm probably second round. I think that would be something where they're like, oh, man, they did something. We'll see what happens next year. I do like, I do like that team a lot. I really like the pelicans, but I don't know what they're going to do with Zion, bro. I really like, I like, I like what they do. I just, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. I mean, I'm with you.

The Pelicans were like my favorite team to watch. Even when Zion wasn't around, I liked how they got up and down. I'm a big Lonzo ball fan. I think he's the type of guy that people just love to play with. His value doesn't necessarily come across in like in his stats all the time. He's just a giver of the ball, right? Like he doesn't care if he gets the assist. He's just going to ignite the break.

Guys like to play with guys like that because they know if they run, they're going to get buckets. I love Drew. and Brandon Ingram is a problem too. He is a bucket. But to your point, if you're not going to play to young fella and we're going to be squandering these valuable games, like, you know, what are we doing?

I just feel like if you're going to, and this has just been a thing with Zion this whole year, if you're going to just keep the training wheels on, I don't know, like, just you play him? Like, if you're going to do it like this, do you play him? Yeah, when do you stop with the training wheels? Yeah, for sure. Sure. Like, right? Is it going to be next year? I mean, like, what are you waiting for? I'm with you on that.

Yeah, yeah. And another guy that has been really good is Gary Trent Jr. I know this is very random, but I do, there is a connection here. I promise you. Okay. He's been killing in the postseason, but he's a guy kind of like you that is, you know, that kind of had to work for a lot of the things that he had, similar to kind of like your 01 series where you just came out of nowhere and started, started bawling. And we talked about this before. I want to use this platform to also talk about the NBA, but also talk about you and highlight what you've done. And the 01 playoffs, you're playing for the Sixers. You're barely on the roster, bro. You're barely on the roster.

Yeah. But you ball. And you give a lot of great minutes in the finals and all that thing. Can you take me through that season for you? How was that season for you? Man. So that season started the summer before when I went to Summer League with the Spurs. and I was having a really good summer league in Boston.

They signed me. Alvin Gentry was like, look, I've been instructed not to play you anymore because we signed you and we don't want you going out there and like, you know, trying to get any more than we're willing to give you. So we got a contract meeting, let's get that done. They promptly cut me the day before the season started, so I went back to the CBA. Like the fourth game into the CBA. You remember a cat named Jamel Thomas or are you too young for that?

Played at Providence. You know I'm like 13, bro. I got it. So Jamel caught me with a blind. screen in the back court and he broke like my my fibula. And so I sat out that entire year. Like, um, and what had happened was Philly pulled a trade with Atlanta for Dekheumbe. And they weren't able to get Pepe Sanchez back in time to make the playoff roster. So I had just reported to Sioux Falls to try to like play the last seven games of the CBA season.

Sure. And I got a call from Philly. They needed a body for the, for their roster. So I show up in Philly just completely... It took like six planes from Sioux Falls to Philly home. Six planes. After eating at Denny's and getting the call, we hopped on six planes. And I showed up just completely unaware of what was going on around me. I didn't even know Philly was the number one seat in the Eastern Compe. I didn't know anything, bro.

I was just happy to be there, you know? And the rest of it was a blur. It was having the best seat in the house to see like Alan Iverson. Okay, I want to cut you off real quick. So what's the feeling like when you first get there? Like you said it was a blur. Yeah. But like the day you leave Sue Falls and then like, well, I don't know, like 27 hours later because you took, you know, six planes.

Then how does it like that end of that day, you're like, I'm in a locker room with Alan Iverson. Yeah. What is that like? Yeah. I felt guilty. I really did. There was a level of guilt that I felt because. I was at breakfast when I got that call with some teammates of mine,

guys that I had known for four and five years, and we all were on the same grind, which was trying to get some NBA love and some NBA money. And I hadn't played a game because I was coming off of an injury, and, you know, they had been grinding all year. And so I'd be lying if I didn't say there was some guilt. Like, you know, but, and then when I got to Philly, I didn't know what to expect.

there was a level of fear, but I think that helped me because, like, it was like fight or flight at that point, right? The adrenaline was rushing in the first practice and I was lined up against Alan Iverson. And if I couldn't at least do a serviceable job of keeping them in front of me, like one, 10 day wasn't turning into two. So when did you get signed just for April? April. Okay. So, like, right, right before the playoffs. Like, they had to give me a three day to get me to the playoffs.

Got you. Okay. Right. So it was, I went through the guilt. I went through a little bit of fear like, damn, man, like, you know, am I good enough to be here? And then that quickly turned into like, all right, I do deserve to be here. Because, you know, you look around and you're like, I can do that. And I, you know, I can do that. And I might even do that better than he does that. And so then it was like, all right, I should be here and I'm happy to be here. And then it turned into like I want to play. Like, and all that happened within like three weeks. Like it was like, all right, I'm happy to be here. Like, now I want to get on the court. Now I didn't really expect to get on the court.

But like that's where my mind was at. Like I wanted to get a little taste and see if I could, you know, have some success. Well, that Sixers team, y'all were some Gs, man. There was a lot. You guys went through a lot of, I think, what, two game sevens, two seven game series. You went through Toronto Raptors and went through the Bucks. Yep. And then before we get to the lake,

conversation. What was that playoff season like for you guys? Oh, man. It was incredible. I believe we played Indiana in the first round. And if I'm not mistaken, at the time, was it like five in the first round? But I think we played every single game that you could play. Like we went the max in every and I don't remember Indiana that much because it was,

I just don't remember it. But Toronto, man, like Toronto, Toronto, all time great city, by the way. All time. Great City. You know, 100. Great city. But the matchup between Chuck and Vince was some of the best one-on-one, like, basketball you know, I had ever seen, man. Like, they were really going at it.

Well, that was when Vince went to go get his degree and they came back up, right? Missed the shot, yep. What was that like? Because when he goes to go to college, it goes to North Carolina, what are y'all thinking? Y'all be like, oh, we got it in the bag, bro. It's all good. He's cadden off. He don't even know what he's doing right now.

I didn't even know he had went. until I didn't know he had went and that got to me like at half time of the game but I hadn't really seen any I don't remember what his stat line was from the game I just knew he missed the last shot so I couldn't like I don't know if AI and Eric Snow and those guys knew

but I didn't know I just knew Larry Brown and Herb and some of those assistants had been asking me because he was scoring so many points like if I could guard it and they had asked me since like game two and I kept telling him like I can guard

I can guard him. I know in you, I don't think you would say no. Like what players? Like, bruh, nah. No, he different. Yeah, I don't know if I could handle that code. But they wouldn't, they just weren't ready to like roll the dice on that yet. So that's what I remember for that series.

Just watching him and just trying to study him because if they called my number, which like I didn't know if they would or they wouldn't, they had been asking me about I needed to be ready to go. Okay. And then you guys beat the, beat the bucks. Yep. And then game one, y'all. I'll beat the Lakers. Y'all put a fear in a, what, a seven-year-old Logan?

Y'all put its fear into his heart. What is your mindset during that, going into that series and then after that game? Like, what are y'all thinking about? I'm thinking I'm in L.A. Like, this is really happening. Like, I'm at the Beverly Wilshire. This is really cool. And then hitting stable.

This is baller. This is happening. What the Beverly Wilster? What? I was just a Sioux Falls. I don't know what you're accommodated. I was like at a holiday end. Now I'm at like, now I'm at the Beverly Wilshire.

Get room service and I'm not got to pay for it. Right, right. So we hit Staples to play. And we didn't practice at Staples. So I had never been to Staples. So coming out onto the court for game one was unlike anything I had experienced. And we had been through seven games with like all of the teams you just mentioned. So I just remember.

But L.A. is different, though, man. Like, especially when it's L.A. and the Lakers, the Lakers one, when you go into Staples Center, and I'm not trying to be a Homer, but when you go on a Staple Center, it's different when you go for a Clippers game versus when you go for a Lakers game. Absolutely. There's just an aura when you go for a Lakers game. It's just, it's different. Absolutely, man. And, you know, look, the beautiful people, if you will, were out.

Like, you know, everybody who was somebody was there. and you know those faces. And for me, I was like, oh, this is, this is where I want to be. This is what it is about. And so, you know, I remember sitting there like just watching the game go by having no idea because he didn't really play me in game six of the Bucs series, except like in the fourth quarter. And then just for a few minutes in game seven against the Bucs. Like it was just to spark a run.

And, you know, I sparked him running and I was out. I still didn't know whether I was going to play but I was like man I want to I want to see this cat like I'm watching I know Kobe like let me give you already had your mind it was Froby at that time right it was it was you already knew like you're trying to I'm trying to check him

I need this in my life I want to I just want to see what this is about and so he called my number like I might have been I think he played Todd McCullough maybe George Lynch and then I might have been like off the bench late first quarter which was just out of left field but But again, this is the Lakers team that hadn't lost.

They were like dominating fools. They was dominating teams. This was like, this was Pete Covian Shack. Yes, Kobe and Shaq. And I remember not really knowing where to be on the court. Like if you watch the clip of like, the famous clip of AI stepping over Ty Lou, like if you watch that whole clip, you'll see me like number 11, just like ping pong balling around the court. Like just trying to. Yeah, just like.

You're like saying, yo, I. got him, but you run in the other way. I'm running all over the way, man. I was bugging out. But we really thought we could win that series. Like I told you when we spoke last, we almost had game two. Like people sleep on that. We almost had game two. And that could have, you know, that could have changed history there, but we, you know, it was what it was. Yeah. Yeah. And then what's the like guard Nat Kobe versus the Kobe that you guarded in 06? Did he know, like I know he was great. He was an all-star, obviously. But he was 21, 22 years old at that point.

Like what do you see in that Kobe versus the one that matured into what he was? Yeah, just way more cerebral as an older player, way more able to conserve his energy. Like the young Kobe was just full of energy, man, like rip the rim off. I don't want to take away from how skilled he was because clearly he was just an Uber talent for forever. But he was just, you know, fast and athletic and, you know, balls to the wall, so to speak. You know what I mean? Like, he still picked his time because he was

playing in the triangle, but it was just super bursty, like fast twitch all over the place. And he was still like that when he was older, but he conserved it and he doled it out like when he needed to do it. And so I, I remember Kobe late in our career. He had me down in the in the low post. He had sealed. He got positioned. And he went and he didn't. He still throwing elbows? Yeah, always throwing elbows, bro, always, even when we were cool. And so he hit me with like a little left shoulder bit and he went to come over his right shoulder with a little fade away and my hand was there because I had timed that up pretty good.

And he looked at me and he said, man, I forgot you got quick hands down there like that. And he didn't show me the ball in that position again the rest of the night. But that's how calculated. Like he was really dialed in to who you were as a defender and what he needed to do to counter that. What kind of like, when he is dialed in, And, you know, because there's, you know, from what I see on the court and what I'm, I see on TV and what I've seen, you know, like seeing him play in person, sometimes he's smiling. You know, sometimes he's talking shit, smiling though. You know what I mean? But sometimes he's serious. What is the different ones you see, the different personalities you see when you are on the court way?

I only knew one Kobe. And maybe it was because it was me and I didn't really talk a lot. But I only knew a dude who wasn't going to say anything to you. And I wasn't. saying anything to him. And we were going at it. I mean, we started going at it. There was a game in Utah when I was, I don't know, this was my fourth year in the league. And, you know, he and I got into it and he split me with like one of the fake elbows that people say, like I claimed, but he caught me. The ref came over and had to separate us. And, you know, we went at it like from way back, you know, like I wasn't on good enough teams to threaten his team. But that was the only way I him to be. Now, we would at the tip, like ask about families and say what's up and daff each other up. But once that thing went up in the air, there was no talk. I mean, I just feel like that's

usually what people say about him. Yeah. Before we get out of here, I do want to get some predictions out, because we're going to be here throughout the whole bubble, every week, every Monday. Who is your pick right now for the title? Oh, man. I picked, I picked, but Wall all year. Okay. So I'm not going to stop now. I, they have to get it right, though.

Like, he's going to need, Janice, that is, Chris Middleton to be a number two, a true number two. And he's got to be, like, consistent in that role and let the other guys do what they do. But I really, I really like the bucks.

I got the, I got the Lakers going into this one. I like the Lakers, too. You don't fear to Clippers at all? I do feel the Clippers, but, and I want to get your take on this, because this is my thing with the Clippers. The Clippers haven't played with the sense of urgency I would like out of a first, first year team with title aspirations. Sure. You know what I mean? And I feel like they've gotten a lot of excuses from a lot of people as to why, that if, say, if it was reversed between

the Lakers and the Clippers, say if the Lakers went with this type of sense of urgency throughout the season, they wouldn't get that benefit of doubt, in my opinion. Right. And so I think the, I am, I would be scared of the Clippers from a standpoint of seven game series, but also this team just hasn't shown the type of sense of urgency that I would like out of a team, you know, gunning for a title who hasn't won a title before. I like that. I like that because I like the Lakers over the Clippers too.

I was just curious. No, no, for sure. And, but I, I, I've seen a lot, people dismissing the Lakers like they don't have the best record in the West. You know, like they haven't kind of proven what they've done throughout the entire season. And, you know, at the end of the day, they do have LeBron James and AD. Well, let me ask you, all right, bet that. Let me ask this question then. Who is more important in that equation, AD or LeBron?

AD. AD, right? AD is 100% more important. He's the wild card for me, right? He has to be that guy. Like, LeBron's going to do what LeBron does. And the thing about AD is. he hasn't ever been as far as we believe the Lakers are going to go.

He's never been that far. And, you know, he's been in playoffs. He's been in playoffs before. He's done that he's had success in the playoffs. Against the Golden State Warriors, against really good teams. Yeah. He hasn't been to the conference finals. He hasn't been to the finals.

And it's just different. There's a different energy when you get to that level. So AD is the biggest wild card. If he balls, then, you know, then it is what it is. Like there's no, I don't think you. you can stop the Lakers. If he balls and just puts up Janus numbers, there's nothing you can do.

Yeah, I like that. I like that. I like, if you, if you, I'm worried about LeBron if he's got to really carry, like he had to carry like those, those calves teams to the,

like when, I don't think he's going to have to, though. I hope you're right. Because, because if he, you know, if AD's working and he's getting some supplementation

offensively from the supporting cast, I like them a lot. But if he, if they fall into a place where AD's not working and he's got to carry the lion's share of scoring, I think they could be in trouble. Yeah, but I also think that, like, LeBron is still, he's getting older,

but he's still two years removed from just being unworldly, even against the Warriors. He was just, I mean, they lost, they got sweat, but LeBron was ridiculous in that series, and he was ridiculous throughout those playoffs. I think LeBron can still do that. You don't want him to do that. Right.

You can still do it. All right. But your final answer is the Bucks. I'm going to take the Bucks, yeah. I'll take the Lakers. And so that'll go right into this final segment that we have. We talked about this on the phone, Raja. It's a segment that we're going to do every week.

It's going to be the real one of the week. And I like that you're on this call because you have been, you know, that's something that you're a rugged dude. You're somebody that fought and scrapped for everything that they've gotten, right? So I feel like you're a good person to do this segment. Who is your real one of the week? See, this was interesting. And I thought about it a lot.

I was going to go T.J. Warren, right? Like the 53 off the bat was real. that was a real one. But I'm going with my man, Shake Milton. Okay. I'm going with Shake because Joel M.B., you know, you got a lot of, you got a lot of lit, bro, and you ain't been holding up your end of the bargain for the last couple years.

So don't come at me sideways like you came at me and just think I'm going to walk away. And I like Shake for standing up saying I'm not with that. So he gets my real one. What does that do when a guy who has a lot more to lose than Joelle Embed in that situation, right? Toss. That's why you got to be real. That's why you got to be real.

You get respect when you do that? Do you get respect when you do that from the star player? Like, how does that work? If he's real, you get respect. If he's not real, you get cut. So like, you get cut real fast. You get cut real fast post bubble. No, I think, you know, like Joel Embed is, I think is a real one.

Like, I think they'll squash that and keep it moving. But, you know, it's like any relationship. Like, shape came up out of nowhere. You know, just, you know, like, we got to get, I can't be perceived as being an underling here, man. We're in this together. Like, so you're not going to talk to me like, you're crazy. And then conversely, I'm crazy.

Like, we're going to squash this right now. And so it takes, it's a very precarious situation for a dude like Shape to stand up to a cat like Joelle. And I'm not even saying. But you still got to look yourself in a mirror when you go back, when you go back. when you go back. Absolutely. You know what I mean?

Especially when you're on national television. Yeah, absolutely. And the cameras focus right on you. Okay. All right. All right. My real one of the week, you kind of touched on it. It's T.J. Warren, bro.

Oh, yeah. What a baller, man. Yeah. You know what I mean? He got trade away for cash considerations. You know, he got left. And this is a good player. This was a good player.

Sure. He's a bucket. A bucket. And to do that the way he did it, you got to salute that. I do have an honorable mention, though. Okay, go ahead. And the reason why he's not a real one of the week is because there's a lot, there's something that I, there's some stuff that I disagree with what he did.

But Lou Williams. Uh-huh. Some of the best wings in America are named after this man. Right? He's going to be my real one for that. Anorable mention, a real honorable mention. The reason being, I feel like, and I know this, we've been around the league enough to know, that you got to have your man's go and get the delivery, bro.

You got to have your man's go get that, right? Am I right? Like, you can feel me if I'm wrong, right? There are a lot of different names. Like, yes, there's somebody other than yourself. Just like on a team and a crew, everybody plays their role. Everybody's got a role. You are 100% correct.

You can't be caught slipping like that, in my opinion. You know what I mean? Especially if the wings are named after you at Magic City, you have a lot of clout to where, you know, somebody from the establishment considered it to you. You know what I'm saying? I don't believe you have to do that right now

and I was, that's why he is honorable mention right now instead of a real one of the week. I got you. I got you. I can appreciate that. And I love the T.J. Warren. I love it. Yeah.

But again, I think we're about at time, but it was really dope chopping it up with you, bro. And, you know, subscribe on this on Spotify and wherever you get your podcast, man. This is the, the, the Ringer NBA show Monday edition with Logan and Roger Bell. There it is. Tap in.

See y'all next time.