The Ringer NBA Show - Steph Curry Proves He’s Still On Top. Plus: Nikola Jokic’s MVP Case and New WNBA Kits | Real Ones

Episode Date: April 8, 2021

After feeding the streets Mikal Bridges, Steve Kerr, Vernon Maxwell, Greg Monroe, and Monica McNutt, Logan and Raja take a Thursday to catch up themselves (0:27). They get into the Warriors-Bucks game that Logan attended on Tuesday (5:29), Nikola Jokic’s MVP case and what makes Aaron Gordon such a special role player (31:18), and the newly fired-up WNBA kits (50:00). If you’d like to tell us why you’re so mad, record yourself using the Voice Memos app and email the file to [e-mail], or leave us a message at 510-469-0294. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join Justin Charity and Micah Peters and Sound Only as they discuss their deepest, darkest thoughts about the millennial lifestyle, rap music, video games, anime, YouTube, social media, and their underlying themes. Check out Sound Only on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. What's happening? Real ones. Logan Murdoch here with Raja Bell. Raja, no Thursday guest show today. It's just me and you. It's been a while, but we're here. But grudgingly, there's no guests. And I don't. to talk to you for 45 minutes. How are you doing, sir? I'm good. I'm well. I'm well. Thank you. Let's see. First of all, it's master's Thursday, right? It's master's week, but the master starts today. So like as a middle-aged man with four kids, like it's one of the only times a year where I get to just say, hey, I'm going to be over in this room. Don't bother me. I'm watching golf. So I'm

excited about that. I recently started my Pilates again, bro. Try to get this core straight, my back tightened up. Ooh. So, you know, I got things rolling. My trajectory is trending. Oh, you about to get right for the summer. That's what we're doing. Yeah, in Florida, you over here, like, I got to get the Pilates going.

I got to get the body right. We out here in these streets. It's beach season. Hey, I'm 44, but there's still some vanity left in this, okay? There's still a little vanity left in this. Man, you know what I'm talking about? We all here in these streets, bro. You know what I mean?

We're ages, though here on the real ones. And to your point, bro, I mean, if we can tap like our own back, we have been laying down some real tracks. Like, we've been giving you the great, like, the greatest hits lately of guests. So, like, can we explore our creative artist side with one day of just me and you? I mean, are we allowed to do that?

I think we are, but we, I'm just, just to say, we gave the streets Vernon Maxwell, right? We gave the streets Steve Kerr, okay? We flooded the streets with Greg Monroe. We have given you guys content. Now it's time, you know, lock in with the real ones, man. It's just, you know, back to the basics. Logan, do you know how many people hit me?

about Vernon Maxwell? How many people hit you about Vernon Maxwell? No, Vernon Maxwell's people's favorite person right now that I know. I mean, I've had at least eight to ten people hit me and say, I've never really heard him speak. He's fantastic. He was the OG at the barbecue, bro. That's what he is.

He holds court. We didn't have to talk. That's what he is. Just get a plate and sit down when Vernon Maxwell was on. That's actually a great call. That's exactly what he is. Exactly, right? So, I mean, we're back at it with some guests very soon. Just relaxes me and Roger talking today. Little housekeeping stuff that we have to get out of the way. We have an announcement, Roger Bell. We have an announcement for the real ones out there. We have two things. We have a new email for a mailbag where you can ask us questions about the league. And also, tell us why you mad, son.

Oh, no. So it's a twofold. For the email where you can email us at Real Ones mailbag at gmail.com, give us, you can either tell us why you mad, you can either be a mad hooper, or you could just ask us about the league. We will be doing a mailback really, really soon. Also, we have a voicemail that's strictly a mad hooper, tell us while you mad, okay, where you can call us at 510-469-029-2-94. You see we pander into the Oakland region.

That was not agreed upon, by the way. I mean, I'm just, I will concede, but it was just full disclosure. It was not agreed upon. It was just selected. And I feel a little. I have a question for you. I have a question for you. We live in a democracy, right?

Yeah, I'd like to think so. Me and Sasha both voted for the 510 area code. And that means process of elimination. You are out. So there you go. So, oh, dang, okay. So you can also record, you can also, producer Saucicist said, we can also record a voice memo onto our phone and email it to Real OnesMailbag at gmail.com.

So we're going to tweet that out. We're going to do that. We'll probably be answering your questions in the very near future. Tap into that. I'm really excited about this. I'm really excited to hear the real ones, some voices from the real ones. And, you know, just to hear what they got to say about this. I am too, bro.

I am, you know, Logan, I mean, you know NBA players or former NBA players who are, you know, to some degree not approachable. And in some instances, I completely understand because if they were, they'd be flooded with people. They never get to live their life. So you've got to be guarded to some degree. I'm not one of them. I like to, I'm my ears on the street, baby. I like to be in it. So I, you're slapping hands at kissing babies.

Is that what you're doing? No. So I want to hear what's out there. I need the people to talk to it. Yes, I'm excited about this, man. I don't envy Sasha for having to cypher through all of this, but I'm excited to see the finished product. Well, yeah, man, we will be looking forward to that.

Bag time, time to pay the bills. We'll be back. Let's get to the shits. Let's get to them. So I recently went to an NBA game for the first time. in about I'd say 13, 14 months it was

pretty cool. It was the Warriors bucks. I get into my car, Raja. I'm excited to go to this game. Then I find out that Janus is not playing. And we had to go through all this protocol. You have to go to get tested. You have to look through all these things to get into the building.

I'll go to the full detail of what went into going into the building as a media member in a second. But then I find out Janus is not playing. And mind you, there's been a lot, like a month's worth of work to get into this arena, to get into Chase Center. And so when that happened, I'm in the car after we take our tests and I hear that Janus isn't playing. And I just want to go home. I'm like, yo, it's time that like, what are we doing right now? But then I'm like, no, I came.

We're going to go watch the game. it felt really, really, really good to see basketball, to see live basketball. We talked about this about a few months ago, what it would be like the first time we go and see an NBA game again. It was amazing, Raja. And I realized that throughout this process that I really was hurt that I couldn't go to games and it really affected how I saw the game of basketball. I was really resentful of a lot of things of not being able to go. And I think all of that subsided watching the game for the first time on Tuesday, Raja. Pretty cool that you got to attend.

I don't really attend games anymore. I think there was something about doing it for a living for so long. And the ease with which when you play, you can get into arenas. Like, obviously, you're performing, so you just drive up. you know, they know you, they let you in. Full disclosure, I can't stand the process that it takes when you're not currently on a team to get into the arena. Even if you got the plug at the Miami Arena and you can, you know, you can go into the garage

downstairs. But I just don't like that. I'm so spoiled. Like, if I'm not, like, with the team getting off the bus, it's really hard for me. So I probably rob my kids of that experience to some degree. That's pretty cool, though. I'm glad you got to go back. What I took away from that amongst a lot of.

of other things was the complaint, and I understand it, when fans are upset that the star isn't going to play when they're coming to your town and it might be the only time you get to see Janus. But you saw a damn good basketball game, Logan. A damn good basketball game minus Janus. So what I take away from it is I understand the disappointment at times when Janus isn't going to play. But in the NBA, man, they're all great players and you never know what you're going to get. I want to get into the game for a second, but first I want to get into the game.

into the protocol. First of all, I had to recognize a game I wanted to go to, right? Which was obviously the Bucks and Warriors because the Bucks come once a year,

you know, Yonnas versus Steph. It just, it made sense. I just, and it was, you know, outside,

it was, it was during a time when I was comfortable with going outside, right? And so I go to the game. I ask, first I go to my,

um, bosses figured out on the Spotify side, you know, get a little clearance from, from our side. Then, I, um, X the Warriors,

you know, get a credential. They send me their testing protocols. Now, what they do is they, um, you go in, you go take a,

you go in, you sign up at a designated area. You go take a test for, uh, and it's a rapid test. So you get it from 45 minutes. It's, it's like in 45 minutes.

But after you take the test, you have to, um, go to your car or a designated, uh, room until your test comes back, positive or negative, right?

Once it comes back, comes back positive, you are good to go to go inside the building. Once you get inside the building, there are designated media zones. There's like tiers. I think there's a red zone, which is the tier where everyone can go, right? Well, not everyone. We're like players and people who are on the court. That's the red zone.

You have a yellow zone, which is us who get tested, but we can't go to the red zone. So we're in the yellow zone. And then you have to wear a mask at all times. socially distanced from every other media member, but you're next to other media members. You can get something to drink, but you have to drink that into the designated area. They give you cans.

They don't even give you anything to light. They don't even pour anything for it. Just give you straight cans. And then you watch the game. After all of that, you watch the game. The game is really, they pipe in crowd noise. So there's still an energy there. There's still stuff in the, in the,

the videos like, you know, like the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, there's cheerleaders. They didn't have cheerleaders on the court, but they still, you know, they had the dance routine outside and it was pre-recorded and they put that in. And then, um, and then, yeah, it's, it has all the feels of a game. Now, it doesn't have the organic crowd noise, but it has all the feels of an arena when it's going on. So the warriors did a fantastic job, man. And then now we can get to the game, but I would just want to say that, It was a really, I felt safe most of the time, if not all the time. I felt, it's the first time I could really just put my shoulders on it to be like,

whew, I'm good, I'm watching an NBA game. And then Steph balled out. So the game was amazing. And so I had a blast. And we could talk about getting to the game because it was one of the, honestly, the best games of the season, in my opinion. Yeah, it was a phenomenal game. I do have a question before we get into the game, though.

You said it was like a real game, right? And do you think there's any part of you that is over exaggerating it because you haven't been in so long and you wanted to go so bad? Because what you just described to me, while I would get used to it as a player, certainly the players at this point are used to it, right? That's what you're doing. You know, we adjust pretty quickly to things like that. It doesn't sound like a real damn game. Could you be skewed? I mean, like, okay, to what percentage, Logan?

We're all, we're dealing with things on scale now, right? because the world isn't what we remember it two years ago. So, I don't know, 85% real game feel, 50% real game feel? I'd say about 65. Okay. 65%. It's like, okay, I would equate it to like a preseason game where there's not a lot of people there.

Did you find yourself able to concentrate either more or less on the product on the floor because of the lack of other stuff going on out there? A bit more I was able to focus. Like, bro, you would have been proud of me. I was calling out coverages. I was like, yo, picking roll coming here. He's dropping to the paint, you know. They're putting, you know, I was really into that.

I was really into the X's and O's part of the game in a way that I wasn't before. And that was a lot of ways because I kept learning to get. I've learned the game a lot since covering it, but also I've learned. I could pay attention to it more because I don't know how often you watch it as a fan or a media member, but there's so many distractions within an arena, right? You see the popcorn man, you see somebody maybe fighting over somewhere somewhere. You're just people watching more than your game watching when there's a packed arena, right?

Who's here? Oh, Beyonce just showed up? I'm locked eyes on Beyonce right now, or I'm locked eyes on Jay-Z right now, seeing what they're doing and how they're interacting with things. And so, yeah, that was a fun experience. But yeah, it was probably 65%. And I know the Warriors are, I think later this month, are planning on bringing a limited amount of fans to games. That's what I heard around the Chase Arena.

So that California has just, they're in the process about to open up fully. That's not going to happen until June, but indoor arenas are going to start opening up. And I think the Warriors are going to start, they're going to have a game with fans later this month in April. So that should be, that should be cool to see. But it was, overall, it was a great thing. And I realized how much I loved basketball again.

Because I was just, I was really like, I was really resentful of a lot of things because I couldn't be there, man. And because, you know, that, and it made me appreciate the game a lot more. That's what I was. That's what I always found when I was in, you know, an executive capacity with, the calves. When we were at home games, we had a box, right? Um, not, not a high box. Like this was a low box right off the baseline where David Griffin, Kobe Altman, Trent Red and myself and whoever else would sit. And you would be dialed in to, to the game, right? And I felt in that arena, in that space, um, I could really focus. When I would be like Griff's proxy

on the road and you'd sit in the general manager seats, which are just in the middle of anyone else. They're good seats, but they're in the middle of anyone else. Too many damn distractions. I was the, I, to your point, I'm all over to place, bro. It's very hard to kind of put your focus on the product on the court so I can understand that 100%. It's funny because it's like, and we're going to get into real like first world problems and things like that. It might be privileged of me to say this, but we've gone to so many NBA games. And honestly, when you go to that many NBA games, the television is a lot, you learn a lot more when watching it on television than you would in an arena. Because at least for my profession, you go to the games, you don't

necessarily go for the game. You go for everybody that's at the game. You go to, if Roger Bell's coming to town, I got to go see him for a story, right? I got to go, I got to talk to him. I got to make sure I have my finger on the pulse of the league, you know? Once you got out of the B-Writer's side, you really just, that's what you go there for. You go there for every. You go there for, everything but the game. And so it kind of is a weird, it's a weird phenomenon that you go through, but it's, I can totally see your point of when you're in the arena and you're amongst the fans, it can't get a little bit of distracting because you can't really watch the game. You're watching it everything else. But it's funny because you're not necessarily there for the game because

you watch film because you watch film. Yes, I want to touch on your exes and notes because this is, look, we don't have a guess, so I'm just going wherever I want to go right now. Sorry, just bear with me. You have a son. He's 12. He's in my program, right? This is what we did the other night. And I will want your genuine opinion because some parents think it's over the top.

Some people think, hey, wow, that's really. So we introduced the set to him that was high-level stuff, right? So we went slot to slot, strong side to weak side with a dribble handoff. So ball's coming back to the strong side now. We back toward the wing to see if we could get that quick back. door pass. While that's happening, we lift the big out of the dunker spot on what was originally the weak side so that there's an opening for the back door, right? Sure. Yeah, sure. If it's not there, it's a quick reverse dribble. We hit the big on the reversal. Original guard who started

the DHO back doors now on the strong side, see if we can get that back door. If we don't get that, wing from the original weak side lifts, we swing it and then we go into a naked ball screen. So this is what we're doing, and I'm breaking that down. Like, there's a naked ball screen. We've got a backdoor cut who's in the dunker spot, and we've got corner and wing filled, right? This is so wild shit. Like, and I was in my zone the other night because I was throwing it at these kids to see, like, can they comprehend this? Are they going to be able to understand what I'm breaking down and execute it?

And they did, but, you know, there are a lot of parents that don't understand, like, that their kids are able to soak that up. I don't know why I'm going here, but you were talking X's and O's. And I was trying to explain to those folks, like, look, trust me, even if it's a lot for them now when they come home talking about, like, I don't really dig it. We'll do it every night. And before you know it, they're going to have concepts down that, like, most high school kids don't know. You know what I'm saying?

I'll be real. Well, I think that one, that's a great thing from a coaching standpoint to teach kids that young. And I want to say a quick side note, I'm proud of myself because three years ago, that would have been a different language for me. I don't quite know everything you're saying right now, but I know about, like, I could get like 90% of it. You feel what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah. And I feel proud of myself. But I will say this, it's good to, I think we, a lot of times we underestimate how smart kids are. Kids are smart and they soak up so much knowledge. They soak it up. And so. And to your point, to your point, real quick, I want you to finish though, part of the,

part of their journey is understanding the vernacular that you're talking about. So when they get where they're going, when someone says that to them, they're speaking the language already, you know? Have you seen the movie Drumline? I have seen Drumline, yeah. It was on the other day. Yeah, so, and I equate this to writing a lot, right? You know when Nick Cannon's character couldn't read music, but he was a very raw talent.

He needed to learn how to read the music, though. He had to learn how to see the music. I feel like there's a lot of professions. I know this for writing, and I'm still learning to read the music. And you have to know the structure of a lot of things that you're doing. And I say that to say, when you have younger kids, you're teaching them right now to read the music so it's second nature. They don't have to even worry about it when they're in high school where I feel like a lot of kids right now can't read the music. They don't really know.

They just know a quick screen and roll and that's it. And they don't know, you know, the treble handoff that way or they don't know elevators at a young age, right? And also it makes it's twofold. I think it makes the kids smarter and also in turn to parents smarter, but also it makes it a funner experience to watch the game with basketball when you do know,

oh, did you see this elevator? My favorite play now is elevators because that's a set that the Warriors ran historically to get Steph and Kevin and Clay open for threes, right? And I love that aspect of it because it's way different than just thinking when I was a kid

and I just saw Kobe like, you know, just passed the ball to Kobe offense. And that's what I thought it was. I didn't even think about the triangle. I just thought it like, well, I was just passed it to him in the post. But it makes it a very great experience when you see the totality of an offense and the totality of a defense and you know the game through. It is cool to watch it, right? Like you, as you, like you said, you're breaking down X's and O's. Like, it's, I love your analogy of reading the music, though. Like, that's a really,

that's a really cool way to put it, even to relate it like to kids, because it's easier sometimes for them to see it outside of the scope of basketball. But it is, man. When you watch a game and you know what you're looking at and you can really appreciate the movements and why something happens. You know what I mean? Like, what did he do offensively to create that? And I'm not just talking about a dribble drive or something like that. Like, what action took place to trigger that response that led to that bucket? Like, it can be a beautiful thing to watch, but it's getting lost. Yeah, I remember watching, right. I remember watching basketball in high school and you see a great cut or whatever and someone ends up being wide open and your first response is,

Why are we playing good defense? It's like, nah, man, this set was just so ill that it just got this person open. And this team is just so smart that they were able to. It had nothing to do with your physical ability. It was more so of the smarts of the game. But in high school, I'm thinking, why are we playing good defense? This is simple because why would they be that wide open? And now that I'm sensing the game a lot more and covering it and being around it, you're seeing, wow, this is why they are doing this.

This is why this person is such and such as wide open. This is why they have to cut. This is why you need more movement in an offense. Oh, this is great. This is great, dude. Do you want to hear how much I've learned since we've been potting together? What's that? This is my professional segue, right?

I do want to talk about the, I do want to talk about how watching step up close first. Because that's where I'm going. You're talking about a player who incorporates everything that you just talked about and can do it all individually, like with the ball. That's how you become one of the best on the planet, which brings me, to Steph Curry.

Yeah. Talk to me about how he looked in person the other night. Oh my good. So like I've watched Steph play in person since. The first time I watched Steph play in person was his second year in the league, was 2010, right? The evolution of how players guard him is insane, bro. Talk to me, tell me, explain it. So right now, let's be real, man.

Let's be frank. The warriors are just not that good of it. a basketball team. They're not. There's not that many, from an offensive standpoint, there's not that many shooting options in a way that there was during the Warriors' glory years. So they're literally not guarding Dreemont. They're not guarding Drey. They're not guarding, honestly, last Tuesday night, they weren't guarding for stretches anybody but Steph. They weren't guarding anybody but Steph. So you're talking about, you put Drew Holliday, who's one of the best defenders in the league on him as a primary defender, and then they're

putting three other guys just blitzing him every time off of screens. I think he finished 14 of 21, bro. That's how cold he was. That's how cold Steph is. And honestly, it was one of those games where if he doesn't ball out, they lose by 30. Because no one else is, everyone's afraid to shoot. There wasn't movement on the weak side. He was literally getting all the, he was their offense.

And it was insane to watch. They were down like 12 points in the fourth quarter. He comes back in, they win by one. Because he has that type of effect on a game. So when people say, yo, man, Steph is falling off. No, bro. He's literally keeping them afloat. He's keeping this organization afloat.

And it was insane to watch it in person. So I want to, I guess it's a millennial term, casuals? Like that wasn't a term when we came up, right? It wasn't a term. I don't want to insult anyone, noobs. I don't want to insult anyone. But. people don't understand.

Like, people can watch that game, Logan, and I'm sure they did, and say, man, Steph was tough, man. That was a tough 14th for 21. He played great. And still not understand the depth of which that greatness reached. When you're doing that and you don't have other offensive threats on your team, it is hard enough to score to that tune and be that efficient in an NBA game when you are one of five and you might fall in the number four slot.

right in terms of game planning from the opposition no one's worried about rajah getting 15 points you know added a corner necessarily except the spurs and the maz the teams that beat us they would take away all our 15 point guys and make make stephen and amari kind of score but the point is they're not really game planning for you the game plan is for the stars right so it's hard enough to be efficient and effective when you're not a star when you've got four sets of eyes looking at you at all times and trying to take you away and your Steph's size and stature, no disrespect,

to be able to do that is amazing. It's not even like dope. It is amazing. It made me appreciate a lot more also not only how smart Steph is, but how smart those championship teams were. Right? And just even how they play the game.

I remember, and I think I took that, watching that part for granted, because when you watch tonight, or watch on Tuesday, I'm seeing some of the younger guys on the team, like a Jordan pool, who's been playing great this season,

but also just doesn't know a lot of the game just yet, right? Like, he has a, there was one play where he had a full lane to drive, right? But he's more concerned with drawing a foul that he's not going to get because he's a rookie. I mean, he's a second year player, right? Or whatever he is right now. And he's, he has a clear lane to the basket

and tries to step into the back of a player to draw foul, during the fourth quarter and he misses a shot, right? He doesn't get the foul call, misses the shot, and that messes up the whole rhythm of the offense because this is a team trying to come back. You're trying to come back from a deficit. So when you shoot a bad shot like that,

you mess up the whole organization of the offense and you mess up the rhythm of everybody. And that's just small things, right, where you miss a shot that where you're trying to make a run and you miss a shot that's a run breaker, and now you have to re-get those types of things. And you have to regain your composure and regain your rhythm. And back in the day, Andre Godala would, he probably would pass to the right guy who passes to Clay.

Or he'll take that drive real quick and get a dunk. And that's easy. But for a younger team, you have to figure out how to get your rhythm back. And the Warriors just don't have that. They're still trying to develop a lot of guys. And to see just the evolution of how you have to build a team is really, really, really just illuminate. in a lot of ways. And I saw that, and I saw Steph have to cover a lot more mistakes than he would have in previous years. And it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was cool to see.

Yeah, that's pretty, that's pretty interesting. You know, it takes, and it takes players a while to acclimate, even with great skill sets, um, yeah, and super upside and potential to be a star, there's still a period of time when you hit the NBA and you're figuring things out. Because you just, you haven't played in NBA games against all, NBA talent for as many games as you have to play in the NBA. So there's still a learning period and learning curve that you have to go through. Like I use myself, you know, when I played on those Sixers teams and they kind of threw me in the fire, like it was cool. I was able to have a little impact on the game here and there. I had no idea what I was doing, Logan. If you watch some of those

clips from Game 1, like the T. Liu game for AI where he steps over him, like I hit a little lefty scoop shot over Shaq and I got an one on Kobe. But if you watch the rest of that game, I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I just don't know where to be. I don't know what to do. And that had to be so frustrating in retrospect for like, you know, AI and DeKembe, Eric Snow, Aaron McKee, the same way it's got to be at times for Steph because it is a well-oiled machine when you're running offense.

Like to your point about the old Golden State teams, like, you got to know what I'm going to do. I got to know what you're going to do. We both know what the good shot is. Everyone feels when a shot is out of character and out of place for the team. time of the game that we're in. And I was that asshole running around doing all of that. And so it's got to be super hard.

But I give those guys credit the same way I give Steph. Their job is to hold the fort down. If they see a little talent in said player, keep grooming him, keep teaching him. You can get frustrated, but don't kill him with your frustration so that in a year or so he can be productive and help you. Yeah. And I think it really showed, because there's all these cliches that are in the NBA,

like be a superstar on your role. Right. You always hear that from guys. It really rings true, though, because you guys, you know this as an NBA player. You guys know everyone's sets. It's not about, it's, you, I looked at so many sets from the warriors that I, I just knew from the back of my head, you know, the, the weak side pick and roll between Kevin, I mean, between Steph and Jermont, that they've been running for years, still works. And if that doesn't, if they do the, this week's eye pick and roll, they have the big coming from the other. side for Alley U in the Dunker spot. You see what I'm doing about here in my bag right now. Yeah, you're breaking it down. Okay, I got you. I got you a little accent out. All right.

But it works because of the execution. Everybody knows it's coming. And what I'm trying to say is you need superstars in your role to figure that part out. You need the Andre Iguodala or you need an Eric Pascoe to learn to get to that level of just knowing the game because when you're smart in the game, everyone knows the sets, but the execution has to be there. It just has to. And so that's what I'll say on that. We don't talk about the words so much. We did a lot right now more than I thought we would. But they're still working out the kicks in a far away from a championship level team. You can just see they're

just so far away from the execution. Yeah, but put some respect on Steph, though. Like, let's cut the shish with that. Let's put some respect. Ridiculous. Come on. Come on. Yes. Ridiculous. Also, James Wiseman can't believe he's 20 years old, bro. That dude has a freaking man body, bro. Like, he's fucking crazy. And I think he's going to be really good, bro. He does some things. He missed a dunk, like a dunk the other night.

But the fact that he got there, I'm like, what is going on, bro? Like, the fact that he, the move he did before that, I'm like, I see spurs in your game, bro. I see it. You know who else is like that for me? And I didn't, like, I don't know why I did not know this, but he just looks older. Maybe it's because he plays like he moves older. Nicola Yokic. Yeah.

He's 26, bro. He's 26. I thought, like, I did not know he was such a baby. I don't know. Maybe I'm a casual. I don't know. I didn't know he was 26. I love that you said that talked about Yokic because that's a great segue.

We'll talk about that after the break, Raja. It's called the T's, sir. And we are back. Raja touched on Yokic. Let's talk about Yokic. Yokic is bawling right now. 27 a game. 37 points a game, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, frontrunner as the MVP right now.

The Nuggets have won seven straight since the trade deadline. We'll get that in a second with Aaron Gordon, his contributions to the team. Nicola Yokic, though, MVP candidate, probably going to be the MVP right now if things shake out. He has the narrative on his side. He has the health on his side right now with Kevin Durant being hurt, with James Hardin being hurt, with a lot of guys being hurt right now that would otherwise be MVP. So, Nicola Yokic,

what have you seen from him that you haven't seen from other seasons, man? What have we been missing on Yokas and how has he improved this season? I mean, that's a tough question, Logan, because I'm sure he's gotten better across the board,

but I want to say that to my naked eye, and again, I don't watch Denver every night, it looks like he's doing what he's always done. Now, I mean, I know he's improved. Don't get me wrong. But it doesn't look like he's been in this conversation. It might just have been slept on because he's always been dope. He's always filled up a stat sheet.

Let me just go through like you told the numbers. He is top 15 in scoring. He's eighth at 26 and change. Rebounding he's eighth at 10.9 a game, roughly 11. Fifth and assists. 11th in field goal percentage of 57%. He is number one in overall efficiency in the NBA. Like these are staggering numbers for a big dog.

You're talking about a big who's eighth and rebounding a fifth and damn assists and scores 26 a game, Logan, and you talked about it. He's played 51 to 51 games for the Nuggets. Here's the deal with Nicola from me. The injuries to other people, while no one hopes for them, they certainly are going to help his case for the MVP, right? Because, you know, LeBron went down, you know, Joel and Bede went down, Hardin went down.

KD went down. Janice is still lingering, but I don't think you're going to give Yannis MVP three years in a row, but statistically he's still lingering. I need Denver to just keep winning. Because right now they're at what, 33 and 18,

fourth in the west, they cannot slip any lower than that. I mean, I'm not suggesting they will because the addition of Aaron Gordon, which I'm sure we'll get to has been dope for them, but they can't slip because that's That's the last component in the, that's the last ingredient in the recipe for MVP to, for me.

I would disagree with you. I would disagree with you. Because one, he has the narrative on his side. The narrative always works, just like Steve Nash in 2006 over Kobe Bryant. I'm just saying. That's now. So he has the narrative on his side.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's go ahead and just clip this. Let's clip this right here. You're saying that Steve Nash won the MVP in 06 based on narrative alone. The narrative being on his side is why Steve Nash won the MVP over Kobe Bryant.

We can move on. So basically, I said what I said and I'm not really open for debate at this point just because I just, I've put this in my head and that's just what it is.

You can bring all the numbers or whatever. You'll probably make a compelling case. I'm not going to do that because I don't know them. I'm just, comma, however, comma however,

I'm just, are you rolling with show guns and I'm rolling with minds? Narrative is a thing. I can, I can, It's fair. It's fair. I would disagree. But narrative is a thing. I can give you that. I say, I'll let to say the teams above them currently right now don't have a legitimate MVP candidate right now.

You're talking about the clippers who are immediately above them. You're not going to say Kauai is going to win the MVP. Phoenix Suns. You're not going to say Devin Booker or Chris Baller in the MVP conversation, will you? Probably not. The number one team, the Utah Jazz. Are you going to say Rudy Gober is MVP? No. Are you going to say Diamond Mitchell is an MVP candidate? Not necessarily. So I think with the narrative being on his side, I think that he is a frontrunner for the MVP. I think that started also, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong. Rerwin's out there. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think I start seeing a shift in that when you talk about when Russ won it, when he had all the triple doubles. You know, he just, he had the narrative on his side. I think they were a 7-8 seed. They were, at the very least, they were at the bottom of the postseason race. And so. It's because they exceeded expectations. That's what the narrative was. I'm agreeing with you, but if they slip,

then you're not exceeding expectations if you're Denver because last year you were dope. Yeah. But again, there's no all the other players that you say, I guess you're talking about the Western Conference here. Yeah, I guess so. You're right. You're right. I would say you're right.

Well, I think you're right, too. I think you're right. You're right, too. Yeah. So I think that Yok is just a front running right now. Now, the Nuggets, and I said this when we had Chris Ryan on for the trade deadline podcast, did you guys go check out in hindsight, see how we did. Me and Chris Ryan were talking about if Aaron Gordon, who got traded at the deadline from the magic,

if he will make the Nuggets a championship contender. Right? And I think that Brian Lange now he has, because like I said, since the trade deadline, the nuggets of won seven straight games. And I want to go to Kevin O'Connor, who we'll get to this in a second, shoot his shot from three-fourth's court on Hallie Berry. Wasn't expecting that. Now, what he did was on his quote tweet of Hallie Berry,

the queen that she is, talked about Aaron Gordon's touches in Orlando versus right now. Now, in Orlando, he had 64 touches per game, 3.4 dribbles per touch, and they had 0.9 points per chance that he had the ball. That was in Orlando. Now, in Denver, he has cut his touches in half, cut his dribbles in half, but now instead of 0.9 points per chance, he has 1.2 points per chance. he has become better with less right now. And what I say all that to say is, how has in your eyes, Aaron Gordon,

been great for this team where he has to do less? How has that been for you to see? And do you think that that can make them a championship contender, Rajah? Well, it's interesting, because I said when he went over there, that the two styles that he was coming from were going to be different. And that was going to ultimately,

his ability to switch styles mid-shunders, midstream was going to ultimately determine the ceiling for Denver, right? Like if you can go from a system where you have it and you get into some ISOs and you're able to create off the bounce and it's a little slower ball movement to a system where the ball's flying around and Yokic has it and Murray has it and there's a lot of off ball movement and Yokic is wheeling and dealing, if you could do that, they're going to have a chance. And if he couldn't, then, you know, that was going to probably be a failed trade for them. What he's done is basically accepted what you were talking about earlier, which is being great in your role.

And his role has changed now that he's gotten to Denver, or at least in his mind, his role has changed, right, to a guy who's going to try to tie it all together, meaning I'm not going to be the focal point offensively. And every night, I'm not going to get the same amount of touches as I would in Orlando. You pencil in touches for your number one and number two offensive options. Logan Murdoch is going to get 22 shots a night. Sasha is going to get 18 shots tonight. Myself and other peripheral players, we can fluctuate. One night we might shoot 15,

one night we might shoot five. And we got to be okay with that. And then we got to do all the other things around that that are going to support you guys in your 22 and 18 shots. And I think he's doing a great job doing that. When I get it, when I get it, and I make the most of those opportunities. But if I don't get it, I'm going to be bored and I'm going to be defending.

I'm not going to have the ball sticking in my hands to slow this offense down. Like, he's really bought into doing those things for them. And I do think this gets them at least on, at see, on paper. Yeah, because in the playoffs, all kind of shit happens. You can't predict, like, what's going to happen in a series. But they are better. They're a step better than they were last year, for sure. I think that Aaron Gordon,

is one of those guys, and I equate this to historically like Andre Aguadala or I think I think this is a good comparison. One of those guys that started off as maybe we thought he was going to be the franchise guy didn't work out because Orlando was trying to make

Aaron Gordon a franchise guy for years. And he just wasn't that. And that's fine. It's fine. He is an overqualified. This team is an overqualified role player. And that is, I think that is the perfect. opportunity for him because he'll make a good team great. He's not necessarily going to make a

bad team good, but he's going to make a good team great in the way that Andre used to with the Warriors back in the day. And I honestly think if he, my biggest, I think that he can make them a finals candidate. My biggest thing is there's something to be said for being there before. And you know this. The playoffs are a totally different beast than the regular season. It just is from the energy, from the execution, just from the style of play. I remember talking to a coach and they said, you can, you can, if you think you're out of shape in a regular season game, you won't even be able to last two minutes in a postseason game. It's just that rigorous of a change. And that's my only concern because I don't, because Aaron hasn't been that, this Aaron and the Nuggets

haven't been finals deep before, right? They haven't been, they haven't gotten to that level. But I think with talent-wise, I think that they're right there as a finals candidate. And I don't think they don't necessarily beat a full-strength Lakers because they just have to prove it to me that they can do it. But on paper, they're right in the conversation. Yeah, he definitely helps them get into the conversation. I would not rule them out beating a Lakers team if they're firing on all cylinders offensively. I would not pick them to beat them. I'm just saying I wouldn't necessarily rule it out.

I think they could beat anybody else in the Western Conference. Like I, including the Clippers. Including Clippers. I think they could be, I think, you know, they present some real matchup problems. And the benefit of having a guy like Aaron Gordon, who is an overqualified role guy. And I just wanted to, look, I was looking at his plus minus just now from when he's been there. Or since he's been in Denver, it's like off the charts, man. Like his plus minus is plus 17, plus 19, plus 12, plus 12, plus 9, plus 2.

And in some of those games, he was only getting like nine, nine points. Like he had 13, 6, 14, 24, 9, and 9. That means you're doing a lot of shit right, right? You know what I mean? You're doing a lot of things correctly. The beauty of having an overqualified role guy on a team like Denver, when the playoffs specifically come into play is another dude who can get a bucket. Because sometimes in the playoffs, and it's why I argued when everyone told me,

Golden State didn't need Kevin Durant. I was like, well, need is one thing. Use Kevin DeRen. Could they use him? Absolutely. Because it gives him a dude who you could give the ball to when all else fails. And that whole game plan is structured to take away Steph or whatever it is. And he can get you a bucket. And so Aaron Gordon is a bucket. Like if you need a third guy to get buckets, he can do that.

The overall point real quick about, I remember that narrative about the Kevin and do they need Kevin, bro. He is a top 10 player ever, bro. Yes, you would need him on your team. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? What do you even mean? Yes, you would take Kevin Durant on your team. Anyway, but yeah, I do see that.

And I think people forget that when you have a guy, people think this is a star-driven leading, and it is. It absolutely is. But stars alone aren't going to get you a title. They're not. You need the Andre Aguadala. You need the Draymond Greens. You need these other guys that can take the pressure off of these stars

and that are also very smart, man, that can get you a quick cut bucket, right? Like, okay, Aaron Gordon's at the top of the key. Somebody gets double team. Boom, I'm going right to the cup. Someone that's just smart enough in a second nature to be like, yo, I know what I'm doing right now, instead of being so indecisive. And not only that, I would agree with that. I think it's a good point.

But guys that you trust not on the offensive. side of the ball, but the defensive side of the ball. Like, guys who you know unequivocally understand the game plan, will execute the game plan, and, you know, we'll be standing tall in the face of, like, an seemingly unsurmountable, like, you know, obstacle, which would be like, I don't know, down eight with two minutes to go, game six. Like, we need guys who've been in that, guys who've been tested, guys who, who you trust in that. And a lot of times, you know, defensively is where those vets prove, you know,

they're worth as much as it is offensively, especially in the playoffs. This guys that you can really trust on the defensive end. You saw that last year. Like, Danny Green, like people, you know, we had him on front of the show. Like, people were, you know, giving him shit for a shot missed here and there. But what they didn't talk about was like, you know, the value that he brought defensively at times, right? You know what I mean? Like, KCP, everybody talks about his offense.

There's real value there defensively. Like those dudes, you know, LeBron and AD and we'll knock down some threes, but you need cats that can lock down and execute those game plans defensively as well. Especially when you talk about, because, you know, I know there's like, there's always the superstar real of them missing defensive assignments. There's LeBron one. There's a James Hardin one that's famous, right? But a lot of that is you need them to rest on defense.

You need them to chill because you need their energy for offense. And sometimes that sometimes that manifests in them. giving up on defense or not putting as much effort on there. And I know that you get pissed off about that. But I also know that you know that that is true, that sometimes you need their legs when they old and stuff. I don't get pissed. You don't get pissed?

Okay. Yeah, I can dig it. I don't get pissed. No, I can dig it. But I say I'll let to say you need guys like a Raja Bell or you need guys like that are shut down defenders or people on the other end that can guard the other team's best player because you can't have the other team's best player guarding each other

because they're both going to tire out of you. You can't have them on offense. But those other guys don't get enough clout or clout and shine for their contributions to the team. I'm giving you guys. At times, yeah. At times, at times, at times. I mean, like, I can dig that. I wanted to recount, like, you remember Al Jefferson?

Great teammate, man. Like, Al was a good dude, bro. So we were sitting there one day in Utah. I talk about this. You could see I spent a lot of time in, like, the world pool in Utah towards the end of my career. It's how injured I was. So I, because I tell the Darren. story with Kevin O'Connor. I'm in the whirlpool, but I'm in the world pool with them,

Al Jefferson. We're talking about CJ Miles. And we're talking about like, CJ was really gifted offensive. He's been a good player in the NBA. And something that had come up from a coach about CJ playing defense or something like that. And so I was talking to Al as a vet, like, yeah, but this is why he's saying that, dog. Like you got to, you know, you have to be invested on that end of the court. Like if you can't just play one side of the ball. Al Jefferson looked me straight in face, he said, hey, sometimes plan B just takes away from O. And I said, you know what? I can't fucking argue with that. I've never been cast in the leading man offensively role. And so you probably have a point. Amman Shepard told this story about him and Mello. And he said something

along the lines of like, yo, why are you shooting, bro? I'm wide open. You're shooting over three dudes and I'm wide open for three, and Mello responds something to the effect of, they pay me to shoot that shot. That shot is a better shot for our team than some along the lines of that. Basically, that shot, I get paid to take that shot. And you get paid to go play B. Right. Right.

And it was so real that a mom was like, okay. I mean, yes, there's, yes, that's real. Hey, look, I'm not going to argue that. You can put that down the line with Kobe. like, yo, why are you shooting over three defenders when Shannon Brown is wide open and right there? It's like, bro, I'm Kobe. I'm shooting this shot.

This is what I made my whole career on, right? Yep. And that's just how it goes sometimes. Sometimes you got to just sometimes the right basketball play is to shoot a shot over three defenders with the game on the line. It just is what it is. Depending on who you are, yes, if it's Kobe or someone like that. and what separates and what allows people to trust Kobe in that capacity is he makes enough

of them to win championships. So it's proven. It's bare fruit. It's born fruit. Like I don't know what the, what the tense of bear is in that regard. But there's fruit there. If you're doing that and you're not winning anything, now you and I got to have a conversation, right?

Because I was open in the corner. And I too can shoot it. And I shoot it over a 40% clip from three. And so if I'm open in the corner, I need you to trust me because I've been trusting you and you ain't got us no damn chip yet. So I can co-sign O'Cobb because I know I'm going home with you, bro. Like, yes, dog, we're winning. We're going all the way to the ring ceremony with this.

You can co-sign Cove. You can co-sign Steph doing that stuff. You can co-sign Kevin doing that shit. LeBron doing that shit. Yes. And that's that fine line between the guy who should be doing it, to your point. and some people who, you know, I think Mello deserved the right to do that.

I would put him in that category, even though he don't got a chip because he was good enough to do it. But some cats, you know, think that that's their job, and it might not be their job. All right, man. Raja, we put it in the chat earlier today.

Put in the chat. The WMBA put out some new jerseys and merch. And now I've had, throughout the years, I have had a critique about the WMBA that put it on the timeline. I've said it to my WMBA partners. Your merch needs to get better because I'm trying to buy in. And they were like, we know.

We want better merch to come out. And give me a bit more context about, you know, the deal with Nike and how that has not been great for the WMBA. And they should be, Nike should be selling these jerseys for the WMBA. and they should be putting out more effort into the product that is the WMBA. Now, I say all that to say, Nike did that thing on this one. The Nike and the W did their thing on this rollout, man. Do you have the tweet in front of you? Ariel Chambers from Highlight Her put out a great thread about the Nike WMBA collab right now.

And it's coming with merch. Some saucy jerseys here, man. Some saucy jerseys. My favorite so far is the Las Vegas Aces. Red, red and white, very simple color way. Pretty fire, Raja. They're pretty, pretty good. What do you think?

What are your, what do you think of the jersey so far? My initial takes on the jerseys are that I really like them. I like the mockups. I like the equality on the front of the New York, the New York mockup. the Liberty, a little jump man, is that a jump man on the, no, no, that's the Liberty logo, sorry, on the right hip and then the Nike logo on the left. Here's my beef. Here's my beef. And it's, this has nothing to do with anything other than the ad placement of one of the ads. The one right in the mid belly area, I don't love that. I don't, and I know they're dealing with multiple ads and

that has to happen and I'm okay with that. I would suggest, rather than having it right under the number, right in the middle of the gut, have it on the right pant leg, which by most of these jerseys that I'm looking at, except for maybe Las Vegas, but they don't have a mid-gut. If you needed a secondary location

for another ad or a third, put it on the right pant leg if there's open space there, and you've got action. I just don't like them right in the middle of their belly. That's my only beef. That's fair point. That's a fair point.

Yeah, and I think that's been a, that was also a critique from people with the desire of the organization, But again, you got to get to the baggage claim. You got to pay your bills some kind of way. And also, it's a bit more nuanced because you never know how much that said company paid to get their ad in a part of the jersey that's so visible. You know, so. I'm just going to say, though, like what happens in the middle of the jersey, I know this from experience is when you put something low on the jersey, if either one of those women tuck their jerseys in a little further, you lose your ad.

Yeah, that's fair. So put it on a short, and it's always. there. Yes. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. You're going to lose it. Somebody hikes their pants up and the ads gone. Yep. And then, but they're always there on the, see, that's why you should be in the, that's why you should be in the marketing things. You might not have to be a real one. But they have three different Jersey editions. They have the Explorer, Jersey edition, which is the team color. They have the Rebel jersey edition, which is the female empowerment storytelling. Storytelling. And then you have the heroin jersey, which is, the home jerseys

and that's a play on the hero jerseys that are in the league. So they are in the NBA and so they have those three ones honestly man, I know I have said that I might be pushing towards the aces this la this

this sparks away jerseys are tough. These purple ones are tough. These neck of ones are tough. I think my top three right now, I need you to pick a top three before we get out of here. My top three right now are the Minnesota links, no particular order, Minnesota links to Las Vegas Aces and the Los Angeles Sparks. I am a fan of those.

It's tough. This is a real tough. And also the biggest thing that I've had a gripe over, you can get jerseys historically, but you couldn't get merch. There's going to be a time to get merch. There's like a jumpsuit that's fire. There's a practice shirt that's fire. They're about to take all my money. It's on payday.

It's about to be a movie right now. But shout to the W for getting a new merch kit. A new merch kit. Listen, that Seattle with the block Seattle in the middle of it is hard. I'm just talking about stuff that you would throw on and it would look dope like if you just wore it. Like that's kind of hard. That Los Angeles with the black and gold. You like that?

I didn't like that one. I like the purple one. The more the one that's maybe because that looks towards the Lakers uniform. With the palm tree? With the palm tree on there, yes. Yeah, I mean, I hear you. But this is my list, so I mean, I can do whatever I want. The last one, man, I don't know.

Maybe that Aces, bro, with that. Aces is tough. Yeah, what would you call that? What's that print down in the lower, like, left half? Like, what's that? I don't know. The block is fire, though. It's fire.

The Aces have the best kit in the whole league, I think. Shout out to St. Serrano. Shout out to, yeah, man. I think I'm veering towards Vegas right now as a team right now. But, you know, they're making it a lot easier with their merch. So this is going to be a good WMBA season. I'm excited. And this is just another rollout.

And I'm really happy that Nike is putting in forth the effort towards their WMBA line. And it's long overdue, but killing it. I'm excited for the drop. That's what's up. All right, man. Time for real one of the week. I'm just going to go first. Ruin it a week.

One, Kevin O'Connor from The Ringer. We referenced his tweet on Halliberry. It was educational. It was a very subtle shot from KOC. It was great. Good job, KOC. You did your thing. It was respectful.

It wasn't over the line at all. Good job, KOC. So, ruin it a week. Kevin O'Connor, check out the mismatch. Yep. got the mismatch. It's tough to beat that when you're shooting at Halle Berry like that. But I'm going to take a shot at that.

My real one of the week is going to go to Swansea City. I think that's how you say it. Swansea City. It's a football club. They have taken a stance and decided to boycott social media for one week in a fight against racism and online abuse after a few of their players have been sent messages that have been abusive and racist in tone. And so as a club, they've decided that in support of their players,

they're going to try to take their stand in the face of racism and abuse, dealing with a bigger issue over there in the great sport of football because it seems to be something that they've been fighting against for a while and trying to eradicate it from the game and in its stadiums is important. And so shout out to Swansea City, Real One of the Week, for taking this stand of not being on social media for a week. to stand with their players. Word. Stop online hate. That's not real shit. That's whack, bro. Stop online hate and stop hates of all

kind. That's trash. But ruin it a week. We will see you guys. Those are another edition of the real ones. We will see y'all on Monday and, you know, lock in. We all here coming with the hits right now. Lock in. We have guests coming. We have segments coming. We have people coming. We have people here. Shasta's putting it down. A friend of the show, Jomey's putting it down. While I'm talking about people putting it down, shout out some other podcasts.

The Mismatch, putting it down. Group chat, putting it down. Ringer Music Show with Charles Holmes, putting it down. Black Girl's songbook with Daniel Smith, putting it down. R2C2 with who? A Leo legend. C.C. Sabathia, putting it down. We hear.

Lock in. Real ones. We'll see y'all next time.