The Ringer NBA Show - Should the NBA Mandate That Teams Play the National Anthem Before Games? Plus: The Utah Jazz Continue Their Rampage. | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 15, 2021

Logan and Raja are joined once again by the Mad Hooper, Bleacher Report’s Barflaan Tedoe, who’s gonna tell them why he’s mad, son (0:01). Then, Logan and Raja take a look at the first very early rumor of trade deadline season, that Andre Drummond may be headed to the Raptors (7:00); what the Utah Jazz have been doing to hold on to the no. 1 seed in the West (14:00); the NBA telling Mark Cuban he has to play the national anthem at Mavericks home games (22:30); and Jeremy Lin’s journey to get back to the NBA (39:30). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guest: Barflaan Tedoe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Logan Murdoch, and we're here with the Mad Hooper Barf of Leecher Report. Barf has been hitting the real ones for weeks now about how Pistie is about the lack of Minnesota coverage from us at the real ones. Mad Hooper, what's going through your mad? What mind? Why are you mad? First of all, I want to talk to the acrylic, I mean, Cuba's a conia. I mean, y'all are real ones, but y'all haven't been real lately. I got some real issues with y'all.

First of all, first of all, we've been bamboozled, hoodwink, led astray, run amok because y'all are not covering the Minnesota Timber was the way y'all need to. Roger, I'm disappointed in you. You're a vet. You're supposed to know this. But really, we have Anthony Edwards, the number one pick in the NBA draft, not getting slided on the acrylic ones? What are we doing here? I mean, at the end of the day, he's averaging 17, 4, and 3 over the last 10. games and y'all not even say one peep and the thing is you know at the end of the day

i know logan and at the end of the day he's from pemock to me now he's his open he's a peatman he's a peat man to me because the wolves are the team of the future you got a record is six and whatever you know we're getting there but the 10th seat is still in play i'm just wondering man what a love at raja what a love at logan first of all wait wait wait wait wait wait wait we have another mad hooper here raja bell who has some things to say he is best. He's ready to come for you there, Barth. First of all, brother, Barth, let me in this conversation, dog. You went here talking about

Anthony Edwards. Yeah, he's all right. He's all right. He's all right. But we've given no love to any real rookies this year. There's been very little rookie chatter, right? We're yet to get to that. So a little patience, but secondly, and I love the way you tried to come in here and downplay the fact that there are only six wins flying around in Minnesota. Six damn

wins. Six wins and nobody aside from Evans that we should be talking about. There's No one doing anything in Minnesota worth discussing right now. So that would be my rebuttal to that. Like, yeah, we need to get a young bullsome love. We'll give them all some love at some point.

But if you can sell me on anything else in Minnesota worth talking about, then I'm going to let you continue to rant. Okay. Okay. Can I say, can I reply? Can I reply? Absolutely. One more reply.

What? What? What? You know, I don't want to overstep. You know, I'm black. So it's just y'all house. But they can let me in. So we got Malik Beasley doing well.

He's the best shooter in the league right now. I think he should be in three-point contest, really good shooter. That's about it, man, catback. So we're going to see. I'm going to be back soon one day. We're going to talk about when we get that temp seed. All right. Well, that was a very uninspiring mad Hooper right there.

I'm not convinced that we should talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves anymore. But Real ones up next. Bobbin, Real ones. Logan Murdoch here with Roger Bill. We're potting. We're potting. How's your Valentine's? How's your Valentine's, buddy?

It was pretty solid, man. How was your valentimes, buddy? That was yours. I had a good one, man. Yeah, it was good. You know, I do have beef with hotels. Can I get this off my chest? Like, I don't know where we're allowed to go with the show to start.

Like, bro, that's what editing is for. Like, I go to a hotel, you know, to check in. We get a night away from the kids. Like, go out and do adult things. And, you know, guaranteed check in at four. Don't come any earlier. I'm like, bet. We show up at five just to be safe.

Sorry, sir. You know, we had a block of rooms check out late. Your room's not available. I'm like, well, that's odd because you told me to be here for guaranteed. It's now five. I gave you an hour. How long is it going to be? Roughly two hours. Are you serious? I'm dead ass. So I'm like, my man, like with all due respect to the hotel and I've stayed in it, you know, them a lot, like the chains of hotels, like, what is one supposed to do for two hours during like this COVID pandemic when you're like, what am I going to do? Like, we want the room. He's like, well, unfortunately, sir, is not available.

I can give you a, like, guest credit that you could do what you will. And I said my man. Fucking death credit. I have four effing kids, dog. I get one night a fucking every two months or three months to, like, do something. I need the room. So we go through all of this shit. And finally, I threaten to take my money back.

Like, hey, just give my money back. I'll go home. I don't give a damn. Guess what they do, Logan? Find a room within two minutes. I bet they freaking did. But, like, my point is, dog, you have. Had rooms.

Wait, I have a question for you. Like, why are we doing this? I'm loving this hotel talk. I have a question for you. Are you, are you, are you, are you, are you on the membership on this hotel? Do you have a membership with this hotel like that? Do you have status with this hotel? I've stayed in enough of them.

I probably have status within the hotel. Do you have, you don't know if you got status in the hotel. I don't flex like that. Like I just show up to the hotel and just go, man. I know, I know, I know. I'm just saying, and this is being. But they treat you like shit when you don't have status, bro. They treat you like shit.

Okay. So I got to be. I do. I am, you know, I'm going to chain Marriott. You know, I'm with, I'm with, I'm with, I'm with, I'm with Marriott. And I just know until I got status, bro, they didn't treat me like. They just was like, yo, man, I can't stand in a special line or anything. You know what I mean?

They take heck along to take my. And then you got, you have to raise hell. to before you get status. And even when you do get status, they'd be playing you, bro. They just, that's what they do. So I got to get my status up, number one, and number two.

Yeah, number status. Status is what it is. Was the room straight when you raised hell? Was the room straight? The room was cool. They brought up, like, hell of stuff trying to apologize and stuff like that because the dude who ultimately came out

recognized me. Like, and so it became like, oh, like, you know what I mean? Like, everything changed. But, like, why I got to do that to get a room? Like, what if you don't recognize me, but I still have a reservation? I've still paid my money. What if you were like an NFL player and they don't even know what NFL players look like?

I just find that to be some real BS, though. I was salty, but we salvaged the night. Okay, that's good. Man, happy Valentine's Day to do you and the Queen, man. I'm happy you guys did that, bro. But like, yo, BS, dude. Because I felt so triggered when you were telling the story, my guy. Thank you.

No, I feel you. I just said they just don't, even when you do get status, they treat you like, shit, man. It's a really helpless feeling, bro. I was like, I haven't been out in a while, like, real talk. And, you know, like, just the last thing I wanted on Valentine's. But again, I mean, it's water under the bridge at this point. I had to get it off my chest, though.

This is my platform. Like, this is, you know. You had to tell him why you're mad. Okay, right? Tell what I'm mad. Yep. Ready get to the shits? Let's get to the shits.

Let's get to the shits. Anywho. Um, so. So, so, so, everyone would record in this pod, Choms of the athletic. Drop something. Says Andre Drummond.

There's a little active trade talks to get Andre Drummond to the Tampa, Toronto Raptors. Uh-uh. Two sides have talked over the last few days. And Andre Drummond was pulled from the lineup for this very reason. There's been multiple talks with J.B. Bicker staff. Just sit down talks with Andre. just to talk about that he, you know,

about his attitude and play of late. Yeah. And he's on the training block. And what do you think if he goes to the Raptors, man? I don't, I mean, I think this would be a pretty good pickup for the Raptors if it, if all goes to plan. Be a really good pickup for the Raptors. They're a pretty bad rebounding team right now. And defensively is where I've seen most of their slippage.

I mean, that's going to happen when you, you know, some of the pieces that have left leave. But he's going to, he's going to bolster both of those areas immediately. And I think, you know, a lot of times when you hear about a trade, it's kind of you're wondering how that came to be leaked. And is there any real substance to the leak? And what can we, what can we look for or expect and how you're reading these tea leaves? The one thing I would say is a real indicator that there's real juice behind it is when someone gets pulled from the lineup. when someone sits, then you know there's validity to it

from their camp because they're trying to protect the asset from getting hurt, which means they have some kind of something cooking. I just think that it's, it has to be too far gone now because it's not,

it's, we're more than a month away from the trade deadline, bro. Like if they're trying to get him up out of the building now, either it's dire or they have a good deal on the table. You know what I mean?

I don't, usually trade guys, and you try to, you know, push up a little bit leverage towards the trade deadline. Right. For them to do it a month earlier, I think that it's probably come to pass, right? Like, it's this probably going to happen. Ultimately, Logan, do you think this, does it really factor into the Eastern Conference conversation? I mean, do you from Logan's perspective?

Yeah. Not really. Not really. Because I just think that, you know, the Raptors are the Raptors. The Raptors are, I don't know, a Kuwaiter away from winning the title. They're just, they're a really good. team, but they're not a championship team, in my opinion. They're not well-coached, but not a championship team.

I do think it's interesting, though, that Andre Drummond is at a point in Cleveland now where you're hearing things like you just kind of spoke to, starting to take place, where coach has to have conversations about who he's been lately and stuff like that. And I'll just say this again, because it's been me multiple times. You can be in a situation that's not great and dysfunctional. And even though everything in you says be a pro about this, it can bring out real bad sides of pros. I'm sure people have been in workplaces

where it's just not a great work environment and despite how hard they try, it's just going to bring out a negative vibe. And I think that's interesting because you don't hear that about Andre Drummond a lot. Yeah, I mean, also, no offense, Roger, I know you've been there. But Cleveland has been one of those, historically been one of those cities

and one of those franchises where it's very dysfunctional, you know, stuff doesn't, it's not by any means, means just like a model run organization from the top down, historically speaking. Like it just hasn't been. You know, you talk about even last year with the head coach. And I would love for you to push back on this. You know what I mean? I would love for you do that. But go ahead. Go ahead. No, but I think I think you, I think that's fair. Everything you just said. You know, I was there with David Griffin. I know they were run well then because I watched that.

And, you know, obviously LeBron being there plays a huge role in the success of a team and whatnot. But the family type of atmosphere that was kind of fostered was the right one to be in, even from a player's perspective, even though I wasn't one at that point. It hadn't been run well by all accounts before Griff got the job. And I can't really speak to what Kobe's doing, even though Kobe Altman is a Griffith disciple. But what I will say is sometimes it's hard when ownership is overly involved in the day-to-day of what's going on in the building. It's hard for it to be run. Was it overly involved when you were there,

though? It was heavily involved. I don't want to say overly because who was I? I was just learning that side of the business. All I know was it was very heavily involved. Okay. Okay. You know, and that can make people's jobs hard. Heavily involved how, Raja? No, just heavily involved in the day to day and what's going on with the team and what decisions are being made, whether they be large or small, just and a presence that, you know, in order for one to do his job, you would hope wouldn't be hovering over the building at all times, right? Like, we could check in and run stuff by you, but you don't, like, it doesn't have to be there all the time. And it was just there all the time.

Yeah. I don't know if it's, I can't, I don't know. I know as soon as last year, you know, their last coach was saying some wild stuff, man. Their last coach was saying some wild stuff to players. You know what I mean? and that's up until last season. So I don't know. Like I can't really speak on.

They have a new coach, J.B. Bickersdap, who is a respected coach around the league? You know, I can't really speak on that. But I've always been curious about Andre Drummond, man. Like, he's in a,

I feel like his game would be perfect in the 90s. Right now, it's, it's not a, he's not a jump shooter per se. He can rebound his ass off. It just seems like he's, he's in the wrong era.

And it's just we, it's, it's sometimes weird to assess his career because I just wish, you know, he was playing in 1998 or 1997 because I think he would be looked at a lot differently than he is now. I agree with you. The days of the Twin Towers, when you had the Davis brothers and you had, I don't know, Ewan and Oakley and then you had, you know, you just had multiple bigs on the floor for a bunch of different teams when there were true, like, powerful. words that didn't stretch the floor. He is a throwback type of player. And he's so good at what he does that it's hard to marginalize it and not pay it. But it's not the way you want to build a team. You don't want to build a team around that at this, at this, you know, point.

So I think you're right. Yeah. Let's switch some, let's switch gears a little bit. Something near and dear to your heart. A team near and dear to your heart. Nah. Talk about the Utah Jazz. You're a former Jazz.

What do you mean? Nah. What do you mean? I don't know, man. Like, are they near and near to your heart? They're not the Phoenix Suns and you didn't, you know what I mean? Like, you've told real stories about the jazz. I had a rough.

In your time, man. I had a rough end of my career with the jazz. But Utah and the Jazz, Salt Lake specifically, is always near and dear to my heart. I had great time there. I wouldn't, I wouldn't have gone back to play for Jerry Sloan and the jazz again if I hadn't enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. So I have no beef. I got a little funky at the end, but no beef at all. Okay.

As a former jazz man. Yeah. I love saying that because every time... You've said that, like, wait, for anyone listening right now, you're not privy to our pre-taping before we hit record on these bad boys. This man has said jazz man to me. How many times they over under... Like 17 times.

Like 17. Every time, every time, like, someone comes to my mentions from Utah or I went on the Utah Jazz Pod a couple weeks ago. They were like, former jazz man, Rajapel, you do a podcast with. But you didn't tell me you were on a jazz pod the other day. I was on a jazz pod, man. I was on a pod. You know what I mean? It was a vibe.

You know what I mean? But anyway, they're number one in the West, dude. Yeah. They're playing really well. They're very versatile. Diamond Mitchell is playing well. Rudy Gobert is playing well. You know, I kind of held on to this topic.

I wasn't, we weren't really talking too much about the jazz. I just wanted to see what they did. but the number one in the West. Are we buying this? I'm not buying this. Before we get to you, I'm not buying this in terms of they're going to win a title. I don't think that they're in a,

I think they're an elite team in the regular season. I'm not sure that they're going to beat the Lakers when it or the Clippers when it's, maybe Clippers, because the Clippers rumbled a bag, but they're not going to beat the Lakers to go to the final. But I am happy to see what they're doing right now, Raja. Me too. It's pretty,

it's pretty cool to see them spread it around the way they are. everybody kind of getting involved in that. You've got obviously Donovan Mitchell leading the scoring attack, but they're good on both ends of the floor. I mean, they're one of those teams we talk about when you look at, you know, historically whether or not they can be in a top 10 in both, and they are. They're number two in the league in terms of defensive efficiency,

and they're in the top five, I believe, offensively. So it's pretty cool to see that. I would say to you, though, as far as the Lakers series goes, while I'm not picking them to win a championship, I'm not going to say that. I do think they're going to be a problem for even a team like the Lakers. And I would pick the Lakers to beat them. I want to be clear.

I've been on the Lakers for a while if they're healthy. And that's if AD's 100%. And I'm sure we'll get into that. But if he's diminished at all, the Utah Jazz are a problem. They're a problem just from the way they play. And when you have guys like Janus coming out like he did last week, I believe, and singing their praises about how tough they are

and how well they play and how they share the ball. And it looks like they're having fun. And they're keeping it sick. simple, but it's effective. I think watching, that kind of speaks volumes. And when you watch them, you know, that's what it, that's what it is. You know, they got a bunch of guys. They can get a bucket. They shoot the hell out of the ball. They got a bunch of playmakers. And then they have guys who, you know, like, even a Royce O'Neill, who's a fantastic, fantastic defender. He's only averaging about eight a game, but he can light you up too, given the opportunity. So they've got a lot of

weapons out there and they've all bought in. You've all had a great point with the Lakers health because AD, you got to look at that Achilles, man. You got to continue to monitor that. And that's something that's keeping him out. Especially, you know, after the quick turnaround in the season, you know what I mean? Like LeBron is year 18. There's a lot of question marks. But if healthy, I still see the Lakers winning it all and beating the jazz in the process.

But I'm just, I'm really impressed by what they're doing. that the gradual evolution that they've done, right? I think there were six seed last year. Donovan Mitchell goes off in the bubble. But we kind of like, it wasn't something to bring us over the top where we're like, okay, this is the factors. It's like, oh, Diamond Mitchell is coming into his own right now. Right.

I like that. I'm seeing that they're taking that next step in the evolution. And I think that this just shows, I think that they could be a team a year and year out if they continue this trajectory atop the Western Conference. Yeah, you know what's interesting about this and it kind of goes to, you know, I had a point before you just said that. I want to address your point. But, you know, you'll say something about a team and then the team will turn their fortunes around and then you change your opinion on it and people are like, oh, well, you run it. This is a fluid conversation. So, yes, it's fluid. Like as teams change.

As it's as of right now. And as teams change and get better and string together a bunch of wins, so will the conversation around them in regards to winning a championship. As injuries pop up and stars go down, the conversation around their chances to win the championship change as well. So, you know, I think interestingly enough in the bubble last year, they caught probably the hottest team in the bubble in the first round, which was the Denver Nuggets. Like, they, it was, and it was a fantastic first round. series. Like it was, it was maybe my, it was, I don't know, probably yours. Who was my favorite series

in the bubble to watch? It was just, it was phenomenal watching those two go at it. But had they not caught the Denver Nuggets, like we could have been singing a different tune about Utah to end last season. Right. Because they were, they were playing really well. I mean, they could have went to the conference finals, right? Based on what we saw what the Nuggets did with the, against the clippers. I mean, absolutely. And I think it's in support of the point you just made about like them being in the conversation in the Western Conference for the next few years, you could make the argument that that window started last year, and they just caught a horrible matchup in the first round against Denver. Yeah, that's fair. Listen, man, I just want to give them a shout out. Utah's playing

really well, bro. You know what else they have going for them, Loeb? See, this is tough. I haven't been there. And I, the fan, Utah is one of those places. Well, they have their fans in the building, so they're one of those things. Are the fans are in the building? Are they full? The fans are in the building. Not full, but they're in the building. Utah presents a lot of challenges as an opponent. So when you're going there to play play playoff series, it is a... The fans are

literally on top of you, bro. They're literally right on top of the right on top of the visitor's bench. It's crazy. Right on top. There is no escaping what's going on in that arena. They're right on the basket, like right behind the basket. They're right behind your bench.

They're everywhere you turn. And you know, you just factor in altitude and you just, you know, every little bit makes a difference. It's a really, really tough building to play in as an opponent. Fantastic environment to play in as a jazz man. Yeah, you like that, right? You like that. You like that.

But no, it's a tough building and they're playing very, very well. I would take them, if Anthony Davis is not healthy, they beat the clippers. I'm not even tripping off that. I have them beat in the clippers. Yeah, that's fair. We'll see what happens. Also, fluid conversation.

also, man, Salt Lake City. Very underrated NBA City, by the way. Very underrated. Salt Lake is a vibe. Like, they got, they got our spot. They got Walters there. And they also, the media hotels

across the street from the arena, which is beautiful. It's beautiful. I love it. Yeah. You don't even got it like Uber 9. You just right across the street for shooting around it.

Have you ever hopped up to Park City? No. I've only been there. I've only been to Salt. Lake twice. I think one might have been a back-to-back. I'm not sure. But like not enough to just,

I didn't know nobody to. Oh, this is why also I love Salt Lake City. My man Tony Jones from the Athletic. I don't know if he was there when you play. But anyway, he covers the Utah Jazz. Right. Has a hoop league. It's hilarious, bro.

Whenever we go, it's like a late-night hoop league in Salt Lake. They're talking shit. They're throwing balls. It's like all the black people in the whole state. congregate right here at this high school. And it's a vibe. It's very fun. So Zadal Salt Lake.

I'm happy to see the Jazz are balling. Let's take a quick break and we're going to tell you why we mad. And we are back, Raja. Let's go to a segment called. Tell them why you mad. I don't know how long we're going to do this segment, but this is a good segment. The NBA and the anthem. Last week, it came out that Mark Cuban,

after consulting with Adam Silver had canceled the anthem in the Mavericks Home Games at the AT&T Center not the AT&T Center excuse me, the American Airlines American Airlines Center. I got my

airlines mixed up. Apologue. But there was no anthem. And I believe it was the athletic that broke the story that this was all happening that before the season Mark Cuban consulted said, hey, we're not going to do this. Adam Silver was like, cool, bet. All right. And we all know that the anthem has been a source of controversy over the last few years with players kneeling and all these things and the connotation that it has, quite frankly, for black folks, right? It is not a nice song for black folks and people that have been enslaved. This is not. And so when the story broke, Adam Silver immediately said, nah, you got to put the

anthem back player. You got a reverse course that said you have to do this. And we all know that we all know how polarizing the anthem has been on both sides, whether you are for the anthem or against it. If you're a black person that has kneeled for the anthem that has seen what it is what has said about people of our lineage. And we've seen that it's been a polarizing thing. For me to see this has been I was reading the story that you guys go check out

on Yahoo Sports from Vinnie Goodwill and just talks about the hypocrisy in all of this right from the league when they talk about

yeah we're about black lives we're about ending racism and things like that we're about all of these things and we are the most

forward-thinking league we are all these things and you say that and then you try to take the anthem out of the game, which is, I feel, will be an appropriate stance. Just for the simple fact that,

like, if you don't want politics in your game, that's one of the things that you take out, right? Like, if you don't want anything that's polarizing, um, you could take that out, you know, on both sides. If you don't want players kneeling,

you could take out the anthem. If you don't want the controversy that comes with players kneeling or not kneeling, uh, kneeling, you could take out the anthem. But to, take the anthem or put the anthem back in and then rip apart like take black lives matter off the court and stuff right like if you don't want politics in your game then take it all the way out right or make a decision but i just feel like there's a real hypocrisy to this ruling as soon as public pressure went you just no oops my bad put it back in this isn't you know what i mean that's been my biggest problem with adam silver is that

He's trying to just build consensus. And when he tries to build all this consensus, he's wrong. Both sides, he has failed both sides. So you and I have had this conversation before. It revolved around COVID last time. And I'm just going to double down on what I said.

And you corrected me. Like, and you were correct to do so. It's not that he's telling you what he's about. He's showing you what he's about. And I don't mean it in a, in a, in a political way.

I mean it in a business way. Adam Silver can't afford the backlash and the league, in his mind, can't afford the backlash of not having the anthem in the NBA. And if he lets Dallas do it, it opens up the door for other teams to do it, right? Like there's got to be some uniformity

from his perspective and the league's perspective to be able to control. You can't just have teams like stripping the anthem for their business, right? Because there's going to be backlash from that, Logan. Like conservative people and not just like people who love the anthem, whether they're conservative or not. People, some people love the anthem and they love it in their sports.

I don't happen to be one of those. The anthem doesn't bother me per se. I don't know why it needs to be in every sporting event I participate in. But like, you know what I mean? Like I'm pretty indifferent to it. But there's some who aren't. And I think Adam Silver is showing you again. Look, this is bottom line.

And it is. is hypocritical, like, because you're, you know, there's no way to avoid that. But he showed you, like, he, he has no problem operating in that space, you know, when it, when it comes to the league's bottom line. Like, you know, all right, let me, I've told you this story before. I never, I didn't come out for the anthem. Really? I didn't, for most, most games, I didn't come out. I was out, so indifferent, like, I could stand out there for the anthem. Why didn't you go out? Was it, was it a conscious thing? Why didn't go out for the end? It just started as me having like BGs, like bubble guts early in my career, being really hell and nervous.

and having to go calm myself down. And, you know, I would go back and listen to something in my locker and stretch out. It wouldn't be right as the anthem started. Like I would leave with, I don't know, 10 minutes on a clock. And I just wouldn't come back out until after the anthem. And I did that for most of my career. And, you know, there were some nights where early anthems, like in Toronto and stuff like that, where you're going to get both anthems.

I'd be there for the anthem. It wasn't a problem for me. But I'd just assume, you know, be doing my own things. with that time anyway. I don't really need to be out there for that. Do you, if I gave you, if I presented two people to you, I want you to guess who would have more of a problem with it, and I hope I didn't give it away. Jerry Sloan or Tyrone Corby. I would assume Jerry Sloan. Jerry Sloan did not give two shits about me not being out for that anthem. Wow. As soon as, as soon as Tyrone Corbyn heard about it, he made it his life's mission to make me come out for

the anthem. I even talked about finding me. Um, and so, The thing about, and that's my point about the anthem is you never know what it means to anyone. You know what I'm saying? Like you can't really assume. So it's one of those things where from Adam Silver's perspective, like, we just got to have it. And it is hypocritical. I agree with you. But the thing is, why can't you just like, because all those feelings you feel right now,

I'm just talking about from a business standpoint and being a commissioner, right? All those feelings you have right now probably could have had those feelings when Mark Cuban asked them in the beginning of the season. Right? Yeah. I don't know what changed. Mark Cuban is what he does for vets, and I can't speak for every organization in the NBA, every franchise, right?

But I've been there when Mark Cuban does the seats for soldiers initiative, where they're honoring, you know, soldiers, and they get all the season ticket holders or have those front court seats to give their seats away to soldiers so they can come down there and have that firsthand experience, and then they honor them on the court after the game and they get to mingle with the player.

He's got huge initiatives in place, And that's just a real, like, superficial one. I'm sure he does a lot behind closed doors to support that as well. So, like, questioning, whether it shouldn't be a question about patriotism or anything like that. Mark Cuban and the Mavs do as much as anyone does to support vets and what that flag is supposed to represent. You know what I mean? Like, but again, I'm one of those dudes, Logan. I don't need the anthem in my games.

Like, I don't, I never understood what the purpose of it was at the game. Now, I get, you're going to tell me. well, you know, it represents and the freedoms that you have and you're allowed to live in this country where you play this game. And like, I got it. But like, I can spend that time warming up, bro.

Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I don't need that. The thing is, though, like, it was very on brand for Silver to do this because, I mean, one thing we've learned about Adam Silver, he will do the thing, he will do everything up until a point, right?

Like, for instance, over the summer, yeah, you guys can protest. but under our terms, right? You guys can put names on your jersey, but on the list that we have given you of names to do that are very safe. You know what I mean? Education reform.

Education reform. How many more? Like, you know what I mean? And whereas, you know, usually illegal at WMBA who was like, nah, we putting Brianna Taylor on our back the whole season, right? But it just seems like he does it up to,

He does all this stuff up to a point to where it just, he doesn't get in trouble with the other side, right? Just enough. Just a very enough. And I'm sure, like, it was just a lot to even do the social justice stuff on the back of the judges. I'm sure that was even like, you know, to a certain, you know, demographic, he was probably like, oh, man, like, this is, this makes me nervous, right? You know, the same people that are mad about the, um, the anthem will probably be mad about the jury. I want to, was there a backlash, like, from.

from the Mavs not having the anthem? Is that how this all... No one... But here's the thing, no. No one really, like... I don't think anyone really... Was it... Complained or...

Nobody complained or anything. Nobody... It wasn't until the story was broken that... Everyone was up in arms, right? Everyone was like, oh, my God. But nobody... And that goes another thing, like...

Who goes to a sporting event, aside for maybe the Super Bowl, right? The anthem at the Super Bowl, you know, with the... The fighters flying overhead and stuff like that. Like, that's a scene. You know what I mean?

Like, but in your regular 33rd game of an 82 game season, you're telling me someone's there to see the damn anthem? No, they're not. No one's there for the anthem, but nobody, but here's the thing, though, that goes,

that goes strictly to the argument about like, no one is tripping off of politicizing sports unless it's not their politics, right? Right, right, right, right, right. Like, if you, you could do the anthem, but you better not like protest about black lives or something like that you know what i mean you better not do that but you can you know you can't talk about all the anthem it's it's it's about our

freedoms and things like that but when you try to be free in other ways it's just it doesn't work and i think this is just another example of that because what bro we didn't talk about that one time and this season is going on what the second month right and it's been happening throughout the whole season no one and no one was tripping um i just think it's ever critical man I hear you. And I, and it's on brand. I think it's interesting that you're having these feelings about Adam Silver, who by all accounts is more player friendly than David Stern was.

And David Stern to do some shit. David Stern, but David Stern was a G about his. He didn't really like waft or waver on his shit. So he just told you how it was whether you liked it or not. And there was no vacillating. Like, that's what's rubbing you the wrong way about Adam Silver, right? Like, because David Stern, the people paint, David, David, David was great for the NBA. But the guy rest his soul.

Like, he was great for the NBA, made him a lot of money, got it, got it in the league to a place where, you know, they're able to kind of, you know, make the money that these guys are making now. Like, like, salute. David Stern could be a real. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh. people in general who play the offense with me. Right. I just don't like it. If I'm going to be disappointed and I'm going to be disappointed in it because you told me everything that was happening, I just don't agree with you, bro. Yeah.

But I'd rather you just show me who you are. I'd rather you just show me how you're feeling. You know, don't be like, you get what I'm saying, man? That's where I'm at with it. I know. And I think it's funny. It makes me laugh because I hear the heat in your voice when you're, because I think you know that he has to do that.

But you just don't like that he tries to like play both sides of the fence. with it. It makes me good. Why would you, but why would you, um, why would you? Logan, we can agree. We can agree that he has, the anthem has to be there, right? Not that, not that we want it there, because I'm telling you, I don't need it there, but for a league that, that is, like, it's an entertainment product. It's, it's, it's depending on people to make the money. Like, he can't take that out, right? You agree with me. Come on. Say you agree with me. I agree. I agree with that. But here's another wrinkle, though. I agree with the fact that, like, he had to do it, bro. Like, but why you also had to do if you had to do it now you had to do it then you was over here trying

to be sneaking be like yeah it's cool but when it got hot you threw your owner under the bus it was like it was like no you need to put the anthem back if i'm arc you and i'm like come on bro you i literally i did it the right way i did every i went through every uh i checked i checked every box that you wanted me to do and you said cool right yeah well here's this is a point it's not mine. This is Sasha, our producers. It was a great point. Mark Cuban is usually not the dude to go quietly into that dark night, if you will. If that's the saying, I don't know. I tried to quote some shit. I don't know. But he is, he's not the dude. So it's interesting to me that like, Cubs was just like, all right, bet, we'll put it back in. If you know what I mean? Usually

Cubes is, nah, bro, this is what we're doing. If you need to find me, find me. I feel strongly about this. I'm going to voice my opinion on it. So I find it a little interesting, at least to some degree that Mark Cuban hasn't really spoken up on the heels of them saying that he had to have the anthem. Yeah, well, it's funny because Cuban also said, and this is from producer Sasha, shout out to Sasha,

always holding it down. And this decision, initial decision, was made with the fans in mind. Like, in this quote to Rachel Nichols, he said, we were talking to our community. That's something

that everyone's stands for and is assistant upon becoming a core part of who we are as a Dallas Maverick. And listening to community, the community, there were quite a few people who voiced their concerns, really their fears, that the National Anthem did not fully represent them

and that their voices were not being heard. So he, talking to his fan base, was like, nah, we don't, there's people that this doesn't fully represent all of our fan base. And honestly, it doesn't, man. Like, it doesn't. Yeah. For your league, the National Anthem

doesn't necessarily represent all the views of your your Black League that you have. It's actually speaking against the black folks in the league. And this is something that I learned after the Kaepernick stuff, right?

When you actually read the, you know, I was just singing the National Anthem Blind like I'm sure a lot of people were, right? Yep. But then you read with the the verse that they don't put out and they're like, oh, damn. How you just go delete a verse out of a song and they deleted a verse?

And make it to natch. Like, come on, bro. Come on, man. I'm just saying, man. It doesn't. And I feel him on that. When you talk about it's in conversation with the fans, man, like, come on, dude. I get why you have to do it Adam Silver.

And this is something that the real ones have always said. Just don't lie to us, bro. Just don't lie. Just don't lie, man. He can't afford that. He can't. He can't afford. I'm with Mer Cuban.

I'm going to make my stance again. Like, I can dig. that. I support that. I know Mark personally. So I know that he is progressive in that regard, trying to get, you know, do what's right by his fans and by his players, like first and foremost. Like, he's about that. That league as a financial, you know, institution, as a business, they cannot afford what would happen if you had teams pulling anthems left and right. They're going to be, listen, not that all black people hate the anthem and all white people love the anthem, Logan.

But there are a lot of conservative people to buy tickets and spend a lot of bread and, you know, supporting the NBA. If you alienate those people by their local teams stripping the anthem from their nightly, you know, routine, they might not even give a damn about the anthem, really. But like, the fact that you took it away in an effort to be like, I mean, clearly, clearly they don't care about the anthem because it was going on for two months and no one cared. Right.

just saying he can't afford that like the league can't afford that they can't so he had to do it I get it I get it let's move on I'm just you could see my face right now you're really irritated you're you're

yeah I just hate when people beat around the bush bro just hate when people do that like yeah anyway um a little self promotion right here we got a I have a story coming out this week on

Jeremy Lynn with Jeremy Lynn I talked to him last week about he's in the G league right now balling out of balling too in the in the G league bubble he of a thousand hairstyles respect

I did a story with him just basically talking about it was a Q&A it's coming out sometime this week talking about just his his fight to get back into the league and he talked about

going through a therapy because quite frankly he didn't know how to deal with the early success he was going through and in Linsanity and things like that. And we'll get to that in a second because you did play against him during that time. He also talked about forgiving Carmelo for the beef that they had when Mello was like, he ain't worth the money player. But it was a really insightful read.

It was really cool. You guys to go check that out. It was really great and really candid. But I want to ask you, what was it like to play during Linsanity? What was it like to play him? I think you guys played him at the garden. We did play him at the garden. What was that like when he was balling?

You were at the second game of that seven game winning streak. So, okay, yes, we were early in Linsanity, right? Overall, it was, even from our perspective as players, or at least mine, we were tuned in. Like, you wanted to see what was going to happen. every night, whether you were playing against him or not. So we were caught up in the Linsanity too. I'm sure some of that had to do that it was just all that anyone ever talked about on your local sports stuff, but we were tuned in to see what it was.

So after game one, we were on deck and we had conversations like, bro, this is not, this isn't real. Like, it's not sustainable and it's certainly not real enough to happen to us. So it was like, not going to happen. And then it happened. And it happened. And Mike's offense was basically just kind of let him do what he did, put him in pick and roll. It was really tailored to let him cook. And he lit us up.

Like he lit everybody up. And it was, you know, it was one of those tip of the cap type of like, hey man. Did you, did you guard him that night? I didn't guard him. You know, it wasn't my assignment. I'm sure I guarded him. I don't remember the game, you know, every play. But I had to have guarded him and been switched.

But that wasn't my assignment on the night. And I don't remember what he had, but he cooked. He didn't, it wasn't his best game, I don't think. But he cooked and you couldn't do anything. But again, tip your hat to him. You're like, I hear you, bro, like doing your thing. Man's dropped 28 and 8 assists. No, he balled.

He was 10 for 17 from the field, bro. He, he bawled. He cooked, y'all. He cooked. What did, what were like the Jazz Guard stats that night? We got roasted. We got roasted. Yeah.

You know what to know what you did? did that night. What I do? I saw 15 points, four rebounds, four of seven from the field. Okay. Okay. I was starting. Plus two. Plus two. That was in the beginning of my like seven, seven FGA's.

That's efficient, bro. That's efficient, man. Four for seven. How do you get to the line five times? So, savvy vet at that point. No one I can't finish in the lane, but I'm going to run into you and like yell and throw myself on the ground. Okay. For sure. All right.

Also, I think Mello got hurt this game, bro, because, like, Jeremy Linn had 28. Mello only played five minutes. Jeremy Laine played 44 minutes, bro. Mike, I talked to Mike D'Anne Tony maybe two years after that. I went out and visited him. We just coached the Lakers, and I sat in his office with him, and I asked him about the Lentanity and Mello. And I'm not going to divulge everything Mike said, but Mike was basically like, Mello wanted no parts of that. Like he was behind the scenes

undermining that as best he could. He was not on the Linsanity train. It's funny because, like, Jeremy was perfectly fit for that offense. He wasn't, he wasn't like, this is another question I was going to ask you, but I think I know what it was. Lynn just got scouted, bro. You know what I mean?

There's a reason why he went down there and played Miami and they just cracked the code on Jeremy Lynn, right? Right. But they were going to pay him like he was a top flight point guard. They were going to pay him as such. But it's weird to hear that, man, you know? Because why, like, why do you not want to, why would you not want that to be your point guard? Like, they didn't have a good point guard situation at that point. Why was that the case?

I don't know. I didn't get that far with Mike and I wasn't there. Maybe because Jeremy Lynn was volume to some degree, at least during that stint, he was volume. He was getting a lot of jacks up. was going to take, you know, shots away. Don't take shots away from Mello and Stademeyer. Yeah, but I think it was bigger than that. I think it was not knowing what Lincanity was going to ultimately be

and wondering whether or not there was room in the garden for both stars or three stars. Do you know what I mean? Like, I think it was some of that going on too. If I, that's just me guessing because I wasn't there, obviously. But the Jeremy wound up getting multiple bags, though, didn't he? Yeah, he bawled out, man. He got a bag from Houston. I think he got a bag from Charlotte.

He got a bag from Charlotte. He did well. Jeremy caught multiple bags. I would have shit. Yeah. That's what it happens. You get a seven-game stretch with the Knicks. And it's like, okay, especially around that time.

Yeah, for sure. He was tough. He was tough to guard during that stretch. I mean, he was talking about just the toll that it took on him, like, mentally and, you know, mentally, just being in New York and having that type of paparazzi. He said he couldn't come out the house like that. You know what I mean? It was a rough stretch.

But I do think it was a case of him just being scouted. What do you think? Do you think it was scouted or do you think that he was legit enough to be a solid point guard, like at that level for years? Well, if he was good enough to do that, he would have done it. Fair point. I mean, I don't mean he was, he's a really, really good player. I'm not trying to diminish who he is or who he was as a player.

But if you're cut from the cloth to sustain. that, you're going to sustain that, barring some kind of catastrophic injury or something out of your control. And that didn't really happen. He just, yes, there was a scout that was got, like, accumulated. And, you know, every, every NBA player, Logan, not every, but most of them, if you carve out a situation that's kind of tailor made for their game and you give them the ball and you say, hey, this is just going to be yours, they're going to be able to string together nights of really great numbers. Now, you might not be able to capture that. Like, when It's your time.

You say you got eight-game stretch. Like, you might not be able to hit it while the iron is hot and pop off, like, on that eight-game stretch that the world is going to take note. Yours might happen. I don't know later in the season or something. But that's why you're not a star-star. Star-stars do that every night. But most guys, given the ball and said, here, do your thing.

You can get a bunch of points. Also, man, like NBA players in general are just really good basketball players. They're really good. I have this argument all the damn time, dog. I don't mean to cut you off. I'm sorry. but this is this really bothers me. The dude who will tell you that the cat on the end of the Knicks bench right now,

he's better than, or he's a bum, or it is the most ass. He will cook you, bro. What? He will fucking cook you. And if you gave him the ball and took away the other stars on the court and said, hey, dog, I'm going to give you 25 shots tonight. Do you know what 25 shots? 25 shots for an NBA player, you're going to get 20-some odd, 20-some to 30 points,

dog, because there's a amount. some of that's going to turn into free throws. You're going to make a certain percentage from the field. You're going to have 25 to 30 points. Opportunity. And I think it just shows you how great the stars are in this league. Like I was watching, you watch LeBron, you watch Kevin, you watch. Like those dudes are legit because people will be like, yo, I can take away this move.

There's no taking away no move. You know exactly what's going to happen and they're going to hit it. It doesn't matter what you do. That's the difference between a super. star and it's like a regular play in my opinion well there are a lot of yeah that's one of them there's nothing there's nothing you're going to do to stop that right you know what's coming you know exactly what's going to come you give me enough shots you run me off enough screens that it's proof there's tape i could show you i get you 30 points i get you 27 points you get you 26 points but after

four games of that a la insanity you're going to be able to say definitively hey if you don't let him do this it's going to really affect his ability to get those points okay what was your scout what was your out. What will mess you up? Make it put it on the floor. I was a catch and shoot dude. Like you could run me off a lot of stuff. But when I came off of it, like, you know, and I can make a play with one dribble, maybe two. But if you made me really have to put it on the floor and run me off the three, it was going to really affect my ability to score at the same rate. Like, it was just a fact.

I was a spot up shooter for the most poor catch and shoot, maybe one dribble get to the rim. And a defender. But, you know, those guys, the ones you're talking about the stars, hey man you good luck you take this away they got that you know you take that away they got this and if both of those or all three of them get taken it away they just put you on the block and just you know footwork you to death on there's nothing you can do with them that's why they consistently produce that's one thing that i that i learned like just being really up close right just really just seeing because all these guys are really good man there's a no and then like a mere mortal

like myself y'all could just beat me i mean obviously you guys just beat me anyway but just off tricks that you know just knowing the game right like okay like the fake foul that ain't nobody gonna see right or how just how you guard me in general like you're gonna beat me right every every NBA player has a baseline of that of just i can do what i want like you're not i know more about the game than you and you're just i'm just gonna beat you just like someone that's randomly like i can write better than like any mortal right you know just because i know more Just in general. I know just the structure.

It's your business. Same when to be a player. It's your business. It's what I do for a living. It's your profession. It's your profession. Right. So anyway, Jeremy Lynn, go check that out, man.

It was a really illuminating interviews coming out later. I can't wait to see. I can't wait to see that. But show. Yeah, man. That was another edition of the Real Ones, man. Shout out to, shout out to Bar for, you know, coming at our head and just being really rude and just really mean as the mad rapper. Whatever.

It's cool. It's the way we like it, though. That's what. the segment's about. That's what's what's like what's about. So check out the real ones. Check out mismatch. Check out group chat.

Check out the answer. Check out Black Girl's songbook. Check out. Can I do one? Can I do one? Music show. R2C2 with Vallejo legend, C-C-Sathe. We will see you next week.