The Ringer NBA Show - Team USA Fails to Capture Bronze, No More Load Management, and More | Off Guard

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

Austin and Pausha are back to discuss why Team USA came up short in the FIBA World Cup and the potential dream team that will be heading to Paris for the 2024 Olympics (07:30). They briefly discuss the Lakers' signing of Christian Wood (25:00). The guys also share their thoughts on the NBA’s new rules regarding load management and sitting out games (28:00). Later, they address Kevin Porter Jr.'s arrest on assault charges (36:00). Hosts: Austin Rivers and Pausha Haghighi Producer: Jonathan Kermah Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone. I'm Mallory Rubin and I am thrilled to tell you that House of our has a new podcast feed. Joanna Robinson and I will now be with you twice a week with more of the deep dives you've come to know and love on the ring of universe. In addition to exploring all of your favorite nerd culture new releases, we'll have nostalgic revisitations, hype meters, hall of fame inductions, tropes courses, drafts, and more. All bad babies are welcome as we dive into Star Wars, Marvel, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and beyond. Follow the new House of Our feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up everybody? Welcome to another episode of Offguard. I'm your host Pasha joining me as always my guy

Austin Austin Rivers how are you doing buddy so yeah it is Austin Rivers All good man seems like a lot of news a lot of stuff going on a lot of headlines some positive some controversial yeah I know you want to get into that stuff I want to start off with football season though just started you don't have a team I do have a team who's your turn you it's bad You're a Falcons fan. Although we won. How'd that happen? There's three teams in Florida. You grew up in Orlando. I think we won. Yeah, you did. That was a true fan. You know what? Everybody always asked that growing up in Florida, how am I not a football fan? I think it's just because in Orlando, we didn't have one. You know what I mean? So it was like some people are Jacksonville fans. Some people are Falcons fans. Some people are dolphins or buccaneers. I just never really gravitated towards anything. It's always basketball. Probably if I grew up, and I think, I don't know, there's like resentment there early on. I think because Florida was such a football city growing up really. And even now, Florida still, we have tons of basketball talent, but it is a football state.

College football really runs the state, I think. Yeah, it does. The UFFS. Yeah, it does. It does. Absolutely. You're 100% correct. Yeah.

So it's just like, you know, growing up, I just never was like, man, I don't like football because I was a hooper. And then as I got older, you know, I did. I think I started getting more of an appreciation for the game of football and I understand and like it. But I was always naturally, like, if I was to watch another sport, it would be like tennis or soccer or something like that. I never really liked football. I still can't watch like a game.

Like, I can watch like bits and pieces, but like me sitting down and watching a full football game is, I can't do it. I don't think I understand all the rules. Maybe that's why I'm still, I just, you know, it's hard for me to kind of follow along. I'm not really, there's a lot going on. I just, the game is so slow, man. There's a play. And I just don't, there's like a million positions.

But people are not going to like this. People love football. But I'm not saying, I'm not saying I dislike football. I'm just saying I'm not a guy who follows it religiously. Yeah. Like some people do. I walked in on my buddy's fantasy football draft and they were naming all these guys. I didn't know anybody.

I didn't know any of the names. That's how to touch I am, I guess. I did see what happened to Aaron Rogers. That was when I used to play Madden. When I used to play Madden, I knew every player. Yeah. That's what it is. The video games really helps.

You kind of get to understand. Because these guys have their helmets on. You don't know who's the second string quarterback for the, you know, you wouldn't know that. So that helps. But yeah, I don't know. Never was really a football guy. But then Vic came along and he was such an electric fire. Like just such like a showman, man.

I mean, that guy, you went to one of his, well, I never went to one of his games. But if you watched his highlights, he was like the first really of his kind. Since then, obviously we've had a lot of players. like him in the league, but not as good as him, in my opinion. Lamar would be the closest thing. Yeah, I was a huge big guy. And then I just kind of stayed on. We had good years of Matt Ryan shortly after that.

Obviously, heartbreak with the Super Bowl, which was brutal. But I've always been a Falgut's fan, so I'm just going to stay that way. We'll want to know. So, yeah, man, it's all good. I know you saw Djokovic win the U.S. Open. And ever since he won that, people are saying, you know, obviously he's, I think he's kind of separated himself. Now he's to go in tennis.

I think he has. You're saying, want to know why he isn't the best athlete of all time. Why would he be the best athlete of all time? But you've definitely seen people chirping a little bit about it. Who? It's, it's been out there. I follow, I'm on tennis Twitter. You'll find one tweet or comment.

I'm like, yeah, it's spreading around out there. So, you just all. You know what I say? Everybody's saying it. Yeah. Do I think Djokovic is the best tennis player of all time? Yes. Hard to argue now.

And after him, you know, you make that Roger, you know, comparison or argument. That's fine. In terms of overall athlete, that's just, that's not in the cards for me. So who is? You're Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Dionne Sanders. You talk about like athlete? Like, you know, those are the guys like I think of. Bo Jackson.

Right. This is just overall athlete. Yeah, just like you're talking about best athlete. So have you seen Tom Brady, did you see him working out with Chris Brickley? I did. form was unreal. I like the form, the little dip. It's still an awkward trial.

People are just like screenshoting this. They're like, yo, his jump shot's perfect. Elbow in. But like the rest of the jump shot is just, it's nuts. He does like a squat when he catches the ball. But listen, he was, he was training it up, man. His jump shot looks a lot better than me throwing a football. I can promise you that.

I've seen that and I can attest. Yeah. Yeah. So I got to give Tom credit for that. Michael Jordan LeBron James I think and I'm not even being biased

I generally think NBA their most NBA players are the most amidextrous skilled in terms of being able to use their left use their right having to use the left having to use their right

slide their feet footwork that there's a reason why so many NBA players make the transition into the NFL and zero NFL players make the transition into the NBA players I'm not being disrespectful that's just a fact

I know tons of basketball players that play basketball players and they go to college, you're not getting enough minutes or it's not working out. Like, you know what, let me go try this football thing. And they go dominate it to Tymey Graham.

There's a lot of them. There's a long list of guys. There's a lot of Titans that used to play. There's a lot of basketball players that played basketball and chose football as wide receivers. I don't know an NFL player that's like try to go to the NFL

and then like hasn't worked and they're like, let me go play the NBA. I want to throw one guy's name in there, Mookie Betts from the Dodgers. Apparently he's like a hooper, I heard he's a real deal. Well, he's an incredible bowl.

I bowled with him in the CP3 charity game and he was like literally like a scratch pro and I've seen his basketball highlights and he's pretty actually actually moves like a hooper like he like play you know like the movement like he has it down he can actually hoop

um like I see guys dunk but that's not impressive because like wide receivers all can like throw down there's super athletic guys that could jump so like throwing the ball in the air catching it and dunking is like that's cool but like knowing actually actually how to play basketball, have rhythm, have like actual fundamentals of like, you know,

yeah, that's a totally different thing. Mookie does have all those things. He might be up there. He's just not as iconic as the other name. So like putting his name in the mix is crazy. But he is from what I hear in hell of an athlete. The biggest thing that's happened since our last pod, USA loss, obviously we've been covering FIBA for the last few pods.

We've had our concerns with the team. Wait, everyone's had their concerns with the team. Yeah. When the team was put together, we were looking at each other like, but we still believed because compared to other rosters, we're still the team with the most NBA players. And there are young all-stars and talented players in that team. But concerns were very high. Yeah. I, for one, always said they were going to, I thought Canada would beat them.

They'd been without Jamal Murray. I don't know how, you know, it's a third place game. So I don't know how motivated USA was. But it's just tough. Do you think it's like, we still should have won. we were favorite. Yes, we should have won the FIFA tournament. I knew right around.

And you know what? Even though the team wasn't what people wanted it to be or thought it would be or could be, it was still a pretty well put together team in terms of having a mix of defenders, shooters, your go-to guy, some hustling, you know, shot block and rebatting. We just like didn't get what we wanted. But it's still, you know, I like every player that was on that team. I just think as what we all think, there's just much better NBA teams that we could put together. So when that team doesn't get it done,

they've been taking a rough, those guys have been getting killed. I just don't, yeah, here's the, I don't want to get to a point where everyone's bashing them because then no one's going to want to do it. Brother, if you don't win a medal, not even a, not even the brown one that you probably want to keep, because like Canada's happy they placed, but like, really, you can walk around with your bronze medal. No one gives a fuck.

No offense. If it ain't gold, they don't want to care. That's a fact. And again, I respect Canada for placing and beating USA. That's a huge thing. Dillon Brooks went nuts, by the way. We'll get into that. I don't even know how. I mean, he's a good player, but fuck, 39 points is insane, bro. Insane. But, you know, he was the most motivated out there.

All the shit that he's been, guarding him. All the shit that he's been going through and everything, for him to go against USA and basically drop 40 is, I think for the next few months, maybe a year, I don't think you can really say anything to that guy. Well, no, he's going to go out of training camp in the Rockets. He just signed 80 million. Yeah.

It might be 88, I think, with incentives. So he's going to be making $20 million next year in Houston. income, state income free. So he'll be paying only the federal tax, which in his bracket, I'm sure, will be in the upper 30s. So this guy's bringing home 60 to 65% of that check every year. So he's making good money to live in beautiful Houston, Texas. And he's coming off.

He's a national hero. He's coming off. He's coming off their first time placing in a FIFA game, and he led them in scoring that game. We win the best part in that team. Everybody knows Shea, like, will go there. the best player in the whole tournament. Shea literally willed that team.

I don't know if you watched those games, but he had them like on their back. But he got defensive player at the fucking tournament, bro. Defensive MVP. So like there's really nothing you can say to Dylan right now because everything he's saying

at the moment finally he's backing up. The problem is the NBA season is where it gets a little murky. Yeah, but let's for, okay. Think about where we left them off in the regular. And the playoffs. In the playoffs, he calls out LeBron,

maybe the best player of all time. Bad idea. Bad idea. It looks bad. As soon as they lose, you and me have never heard of this before, the team announced it came out that they were not bringing them back under any circumstance. Never seen anything like that. So this day, people don't talk about that enough.

Yeah, that was crazy. Just like happened. His value, I thought, couldn't have been lower. He signs the good deal. That was way more than what anybody thought he was going to get. Scores basically 40 against USA. National hero. I think it's a great summer.

He's doing his stuff right now. It turned from what was dark turned into like a really solid suburb. For sure. Now with that, I think LeBron saw that, and now he's assembling. Well, now he's like, yeah, you know, we're going to come get you. Yeah. And I saw the team you threw out there on Twitter. I didn't really agree with some of those players.

People don't like two of the players I didn't. Go ahead. Do you have the list? I can name it right now. I have. You have Steph Dame Kyrie, Tatum, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, LeBron, K.D., Jimmy Butler, A.D., Bamm, and Triple J. Love that team.

The only thing that people have a problem with is Kyrie. and people don't like Jared Jackson Jr. on there. Average 2.9 rebounds for the most time. He really, he didn't, he didn't do enough for, I was, did not like the way he played in the USA. Right.

Because he is a good player, but he didn't, I just, for whatever reason, two points, whatever rebounds. You love Draymond. I just think that's, I mean,

when you're going, I like Draymond, by the way, when you're going for that bench at the USA team. You need a corner piece to a dynasty. Like, I got nothing of respect for Draymond, man. Like, so that wasn't intentional or I just figured,

by 2000, it would be next year, you know. It's about bringing toughness, though. It's about locker room presence. I don't think, you know, the bench guys are going to make a big impact. You know what I mean? So, Triple J, I thought was a tough pick over Dremont. Okay, so, okay, put Dremont on. You see you're going to play in the final minutes of the game over,

over Anthony Davis or Bam? No, man, because everything, Bam can't do tough, bam can't guard a center or be a tough guy. That team was, I put that thing perfectly. I put Jared. I think you left Deerrneur Fox out. I think he's going to be on there. So the reason I put Kyrie is because if you get Kyrie on a team with those guys,

like Stefan Curry and LeBron, really mainly just those two. You put those two on that team and you have like a full motivated. People have this thing because of the way Kyrie's acted and I get it. You know, people are creatures of habit. So however he's acted, has maybe warranted people to look at it with a side eye a little bit and not trust him. But the end of the day, if you get like a. Kairi Irving focused.

He's still with the baddest man's on the planet. I don't know if you all remember what Kairi did in the Fiba. Oh, he was unreal. Unreal. He did what Shay just did with Canada. He literally put that USA team on his back and won that gold. So that whole thing,

like, Kyrie can't fit in or can Kairi play over it? Bro, he dominates anywhere. There's a basketball bouncing. That guy would dominate. And he was like, his highlights are insane, actually. He was like going nuts. We all know you think his game is sexy, so. I don't know why you're going to throw that.

winner. But anyways, I think if you get a motivated Kyrie Irving, along with Damien Lillard and Steph, I don't know what other three better guards you could put. And I love Deerner Fox. He was, he's a hooper. Also, you got to think about the future too. If you put Deerfox now, then the next Olympics, he'll be maybe more of the guy. Yeah, I get it, man. But if you're just trying to do a redeem, the whole thing was a redeem team. If I'm putting like the best players right now, Kyrie Irvin, like, fully in shape what she would be, like fully motivated, bought in, a locker with other big time vets in Hall of Famers, guys like Steph Curry and LeBron James, are the greatest players of all time. You got these guys in there, like telling him, you know,

counting for him, he's got to come in, like, he's not coming in bullshitting with that team. This isn't the Brooklyn Nets, bro. This is a fucking Olympic team where the whole world's watching you go redeem the team that just didn't place. Like, he's going to be on some prideful shit. And if anything, it'd be an opportunity for Kyrie to, like, be a part of something again and show that he, like, is capable of doing that. For sure. And if Kyrie has a drama-free season, which hasn't had it a long time. No, he hasn't had it. And the Mavericks do really well.

If he has a clean season, the magic do, I mean, Mavericks do better. Like, he's right back on people's eyes in terms of, like, people. Then he puts on the USA and then it's. I think okay. And then they talk about his age, this is that. He was like 31 years old. He's my age is 32.

He's still young. And he's still one of the, he's still one of the best point guards in the NBA. His issues have always been on everything else. If he removes those issues for this season, I don't understand why people like looked at me crazy for having, having Kyrie Irving as if this guy hasn't been like the top five point guard for the past 10 years. I don't know how do you know. I think it's yeah. He says off the court.

Yeah, bro, get the fuck out of here. Those those won't be issues with him. His off to court issues, by the way, have always been, it's a certain type. He's not like a dainer to a locker room in terms of like, he's not like cancerous in terms of getting other players to do bad things or he's nightlife or drinking. Like, Tyree has like his, it's more of a personality thing of things that he chooses to be a part of or thinks he stands for his stand you know good or bad it's caused his issues you get a motivated kairi on a u.s.a team where he's going to be held accountable and you get full locked in kairi that's a guy that you want to play with again go look at his feedback highlights just a few years ago and then tell me this guy can't go dominate international basketball

so with that team and if we're imagining i know it's all you know speculation right now but if you have all those players on the team lebron gets everyone together yeah is there any chance they lose any game. Have you learned any lessons from the last? Yes, yes, yes. Yes, you could absolutely lose a game. Okay, because if Yolkits goes to Serbia, they just got, you know, the silver medal, Yolkich goes to Serbia, it's one game. He could beat U.S.S.S. No, no, no, no. Anybody could beat anybody in one game. It's just one game. Anybody can beat anybody in one game, especially, you're still talking about pros, even though they're not, again, and that's a true statement. You see Steve Curry, steal, you know, a lot of these coaches allude to that, that the game has evolved

overseas. Players are better. Are they NBA level? No, but you talk about one game and these guys, you know they're going to be pumped to play USA. They play out of their minds versus everybody plays their best basketball versus the best team. That's usually the case, especially in an Olympic game. You're getting the best from some overseas guys. Most of them, some of them are in NBA players themselves. Do you agree with Rudy Gay's comment where they should do the whole pool and get the 50 guys together again? It was the best take. I think they stopped doing that because they didn't want to cut people. I know a lot of guys were getting cut and getting mad because though it spent like a, you know, a couple weeks in Vegas and then not make the main team.

It was the best take of all, it was the best take, I think, of all this USA talk. I was so busy trying to put together the dream team. Which is fun. Which is fun. And that's what everybody's doing right now is putting, like, the team together. And I think Rudy went from the standpoint of like, I think it's deeper than that. It's not just about the team, which it is. So I don't know what I'll say about that.

But it is like, you know, the trial aspect of getting guys who, want to be there knowing that they might not make it, but they're there to outwork someone to get on this team. There's something to that. There's like a level of pride. And you will remember just as well as I do, everybody used to go to Vegas and they'd cut most of the guys there and they'd take their team. So I think that'd be kind of cool if USA did that. Now it feels very political. It's very political. Why can't Trey Young go to go try out? That's what I'm saying. I think they used to do it. They brought a bunch of guys in there. It was like 50 guys in there in Vegas. at a scrimmage.

Now it's all they choose. It is all politics now. They choose who they want to be on the team. There are some guys who feel like they should be in the team who don't get a shot to be on the team because they didn't get, they didn't fit the script. It's like, bro, let me prove. I can't. I mean, it's just, you know what I mean?

Right. I like the trial aspect. Also, when they're building the super team, you know, every year we've had the Tyson Chandler's, the Deshaunas, the Tashon princes. We're not adding any of those. Carl's losers. Yeah, you're throwing it all in with. just all kind of all-stars, all NBA players.

But they'll still take their picks. They'll invite guys like that there. You know what I mean? The Josh Hart's, the guys who like, no, I'm saying Josh Hart's a good player, but he's not an all-star or anything like that. Like him being on the Olympic team would be, do you understand what I'm saying?

Him being on the Fibba team was crazy. That's why people had a problem with the Fibba team. These guys are all good players. Josh Hart's a hell of a player. He's great for the Knicks. Austin Reeves is a hell of a player for the Lakers. Them representing our whole country, like for the Feeba games, bro?

Like, considering who we have in the league, that's why people are like, yeah, what are we doing? And then now we didn't place a fucking medal. Right. Brandon, Brandon Ingram was, that was insane. And he's a hooper. That guy's an automatic bucket in the league.

And he like, and again, I don't know if it was Fiba, per se. Maybe it's just his role in the team or his fit with the guys. Like, I don't, I wasn't there. But, yeah. You know, I don't. I will say for LeBron Ron, there was a little while there where I thought his career might end a little bad when, you know, the Lakers came off on these, you know, like two and ten or one in whatever nine. And I was like, man, is this the rest of his career? He's just going to keep missing the playoffs. I thought I was going to end bad.

And obviously they turned around last year. If they win the title this year, which I think they're a top five favorite, I would say that had a great, you know, they were top 14 last year. We were in the final four last year and we'll get in the great summer. We'll get in the Christian Wood in a minute. If they win the title this year and then he goes and gets a gold medal, I think you kind of call it, right? Like that's a great way to end a career. A title and then the gold medal? How many does he have? He has four titles. If he gets another one, five, and then goes and gets another gold medal on his way out. That's a great.

If you win the gold medal, if you did the championship and the gold medal, I think, forget, I know you don't want to play with your son, but I think that's got an amazing way to end it. Yeah, that's a hell of a way to go out. Yeah. And I think that's kind of maybe the motivation. I don't know. I saw someone's call up the last dance. but I know that LeBron and Steph

never played together in the Olympics before so Steph hasn't played in the Olympics yet he's only played in the World Championships he's never played in the Olympics No so I think he definitely count him in next year too Another guy that redeemed himself during this Who people were down on was

Dennis Schrooter was in all these memes about Fumbling the bag and didn't take this Didn't take that ended up being MVP of the tournament Gold medal That was I mean I thought Well he had full control of his own team So his numbers are going to be like You know I mean?

Yeah but it was kind of a Dylan Brooks category of great summer for him. Kusma tweeted yesterday's like, uh, people didn't need to play in the USA team. Need to know how to play with superstars. Can't just be all superstars. You need a guy who's okay going to the corner.

Playing defense and going to the corner. And for a couple possessions and not touching the ball. Yeah. Everyone was like, rather relaxed. They're not calling you. Devin Booker tweeted him back and said, I'll do it. Yeah. And then suddenly killed his whole thing.

He's like, oh, brother, he's doing it. Because everybody's like, All right, Coosin' bad. Maybe we do you get Coosier. And Buck comes right after, I'm like, all right, I'll do it. Everybody's right. Bye. Thank you, Kuzma, for nominating Devin Booker.

Yeah, that was crazy to do that. Book just comes right up. I don't even think you meant it like that. It's just like, I'll do it. Everyone's like, ah, man, this guy, this guy's doing it. We don't need you anymore. But I actually agree with what Coos is said. No, for sure.

You know, you need guys who understand. And that was the whole point of that dream team, that redeemed documentary, actually, you know, Kobe, who arguably was the best player at that time, him or LeBron, came in right away. It was like, you guys would be the scorers. I'll do all the other stuff. And that, like, set the tone for like, oh, man, everybody's really in this to win. Once you got the best players coming in saying, you know, I don't need, it just changes everything. You know what I mean?

And that's why I think people are, while with LeBron have been starting on this team, this and that. That's because he is like the alpha. If he's, you know, he goes on the team, he starts, teams built around him. It'd be just like the Michael team, the dream. picking, I mean, they went to Michael and was like, yo, do you want this player in the team? Everybody knows Isaiah Thomas story. I mean, if Michael wants Isaiah Thomas in the dream team, Isaiah Thomas is on the dream team. You know what I mean?

LeBron is going to be hands, you could say, you know, who's running the USA team now? Grant Hill. Grant Hill. LeBron would be probably doing the most or the majority of that selected. That's why I think Kevin Love would make it over Triple J at this point. Kevin Love's for the vibes and the outlet passes. He won the gold medal in 2002. He was great. He was great in 2012. Kevin just doesn't have the same body. That was a more

heavy set Kevin. That was like 20 and 20 Kevin. Kevin's now like traveling the world. Abercombe and Fitch, you know. Abercrombie and Fitch is insane. I feel like he wears like, I don't know, he's like such like a, I don't know. He's like an outdoors. Every time I see him, he's like on the top of a mountain somewhere. This guy's man of the woods. This guy's life is incredible. Abacominy Fitch is just not bad though. That's like that place that Smelt really bad at the mall. It was like overwhelming odor. Yeah, yeah, Abercombe Fitch is nuts. More like, I don't know.

He dresses really well. Kevin's like a dapper dude. I mean, I think he's been featured in GQ more than once. More than once. He's always in GQ. He has like the whole look. That's what I was trying to say. Like I said Abercomby Fish. He's insanity. They're in GQ. No, but I was doing, man, you give what I'm saying. I'm saying like he's a fresh guy.

So I brought up Christian Wood joining the Lakers. That happened right after we were recording last week. Cut the fresh guy part. It was weird. he's a well-dressed i think he's a well-dressed guy cleans himself up pretty well and ever since the kary's sexy like highlights comment you've been a little on edge about things uh i don't like the way people took that comment about how i said his game looks sexy people really took that and ran with it and i didn't like the direction they ran with it they made me out to be a weirdo yeah and i don't like that he's got to own it so no i'm not going to own anything i'm not doing that um what did you

say what were you talking about christian wood joining the lakers that happened right after we were been recording last week. Listen, right now we don't have to talk about the Lakers, so I'd prefer not to because the rest of this upcoming year is going to be like every episode is going to be something with them. Christian Wood signed there, great late late signing. They had the best summer. I just think when Anthony Davis, you know, when he missed his time, which you probably

have like a worse, you have like a, you know. That's what I'm saying. Anthony Davis missed his time for chap lips or whatever he missed his time for. And then Krisha Wood just comes in. I think that's going to be, I think that's going to be huge for them. That's the first thing I thought about when I saw the signing. Yeah. And he needs obviously.

you know he's going for a bag i know he tried to do that last year i think he signed for minimum so well now it's in a different situation because they're trying to win so he's going to be placed in a situation where for the first time of christian's career houston wasn't that when he was there and dallas was like an okay team that he didn't really fit into that well last year right so when they lost brunson they picked up but they got woods it was they kind of thought that was going to be yeah it didn't it didn't yeah it just didn't work so this is going to be the first time in his career where he's got to go somewhere really and like really fit in and prove that he could be a part of winning basketball. And if Christian can do that, he will get paid. It's not

about Christian's numbers. If Christian goes into the season thinking, man, I got to put up this, this, and this, he's already setting himself up to fail. You're playing behind Anthony Davis. You're playing with LeBron James, a bunch of young other talented guards. You're not going to have the ball in your hands all the time. Probably not even a lot. If you can go play winning basketball, make plays, block shots, use your length, use your ability, hit open shots, attack the basket, don't settle, be a great pick and roll guy. Be a great pick. and find the open man on the opposite side, not always looking at the basket, like just make things happen, especially defensively with his length.

Christian's looking at, you know, 15 to 20, $25 million a year. He can get that type of bread, but he's got to help himself out. So we'll see what he does. On the flip side of that, if it doesn't work with LeBron and the Lakers, you can take that tag. It's a big, big what if. You go play with Braun and it doesn't work, and it looks like you can't play winning basketball.

People start looking at you funny. That's kind of how it was with the Warriors a couple years. Like Kelly Uber was making 15, 20, 15, 20, 15, 20, And he goes and plays a Warriors has a couple of weird years there. And now he's like in Charlotte. It's like weird. Do you know what I'm saying?

Even though Kelly's like a hell of a player. I played with Kelly in D.C. He's talented as shit. You know what I'm saying? So like some things can make you look a certain way, even if it's the truth or not the truth. You know, I think this is a big test year for Christian Wood. And if you can win with LeBron,

look at Tristan Thompson's still signing with the Cavs. Yeah, just based off of him being able to. No, you're just based off of fitting in and being a part of a winning team. You're like, we know you've done it before. So you can do it us. That's what you get looked at as. Again, whether it's true or not true, it doesn't matter. Perception is everything.

So I think this is huge for Christian. All right, let's take a break. So another big thing that's happened this week is the NBA is trying to get rid of load management, as they should. And they're going to put in some rules that, you know, two-star players can't miss time at the same time, same game. What were your thoughts on that? I mean, I love it. As a fan of the game, you know, you want that kid and his dad who probably worked all week. to buy these tickets to go see their favorite player play.

We're going sentimental. This is, yeah. Well, no, you want to see the guy play. I mean, that happens all the time. I can't tell you how many times you go on a road game and, you know, you sit because something's going on and like somebody came there to see you play. And it happens at all levels. It's not just stars.

There's a lot of fans of like even other guys on the team. I mean, these are all the best players in the world. You know what I mean? You'll see a guy at a game with a Dylan Brooks jersey. You'll see a guy at a game with a Fred Van Fleet jersey. You know what I mean? I mean, you'll see a guy with, it's other guys too. And they sit down and they got something sore.

They don't fight playing that night, whatever. The guy's in the game, like, you got kids, parents, whoever, fans of the games, and they're like, fuck, you know what I mean? So you have that side of it. And then you have the side of it of, you know, them finding, what is it, 250, 500 and a mill, then a mill plus after each repeated offense. I mean, it's just going to force stars to play more, which is the day of the day. it means better views, better basketball.

So I don't have a problem with the rule. I like it. I mean, the clubbers are going to be interesting this year because they got two guys. Well, Bomer will pay those fines, but. He would pay those fines. No problem. I don't think he sees or would feel those fines. But, yeah, maybe it puts them in a position where those guys are playing a little bit more basketball.

I'll give you an example. When I lived in Memphis and LeBron was in Cleveland, obviously Cleveland only goes to Memphis one time. One time. And LeBron didn't play in the whole city. I mean, people, that was our only time you get to see LeBron. When you're living in Memphis Take the win right out of the game It was

People were really upset Those are actually a lot of backlash from that So I totally see that side of it But what if the two guys are actually injured If they're actually injured Then they don't get fined man You know what I mean It's if you're like resting guys

That's the issue It's off a back to back I'm gonna be tired tomorrow I don't fly like that's the issue And players are getting paid so much And players have so much power as they should, that they're kind of calling the shots now.

It's not so much like the 90s or only 2000s where like you had to get a whole medical test and doctors had to look at you and then you had to ask the trainer, the trainer had to ask the coach like, hey, can I not play? Now, if a guy's not feeling well, bro, or it doesn't feel I want to play,

that dude will walk in the locker room, like, I tell the coach, I'm out tonight. I've seen it. It happens all the time. That's the biggest difference that you hear about guys from the 90s and stuff, they just play through anything. Yeah, yeah.

No, you have a bruised knee. You're just like come out for two weeks. Yeah. That's insane. So I think this is going to, it's not going to correct that. You'll still see that. When you're paying guys $60 million a year, you're going to want to be very, you know, obviously hesitant about it. You're going to be very cautious about how you handle it.

Yeah. That's the other side of it. What's going on with Kai Jones? We talked about this earlier. We got to get into it. The video, him going out of his own teammates. I just saw Mark Williams responded. The 50-7 things like,

first off, Mark Williams, great response. That's how you take the high road and also be funny at the same time. It's a Duke Brotherhood right there for you. Yeah, good on you,

brother. That's exactly what you're supposed to do. That's why he's going to end up playing this year. Somebody needs to get a hold of little buddy. Well, yeah, the whole team is, I don't know what they got going down there. But that video of Kai Jones,

like when he's like on his Instagram live, something's going on in there. And I'm not going to throw stuff out there because I don't want to do that. But like his energy and what he had going on was not of normal substances. I don't know what he's doing in that video. But there's something going on with him. And then there's other rumors of other things happening out there that we won't get into on here. But like there's other things out there.

And then him going at his own teammate, it's just like it's weird behavior. I would never respond to like a heckler or a fan talking shit about my own teammate. Right. Like, he can't do that. He can't do this. Have you ever seen a video of Anthony Edwards? No, that's weird behavior, bro. For sure.

You know what I'm saying? That's why Mark was like, the video. He's his own business. Yeah, like, what are we talking? What are you doing, bro? Does someone need to make sure he's cool? Because he's talented as shit. I went to his game this summer, game one of the summer league,

when he went against Victor, when he punched on him with the lob. He's super active, freak athlete, tons of talent and ability there. don't squander it on some bullshit, man, or like some of the guy, again, I might blame this on any of the guys in Charlotte, but like they have a plethora of this. It's like just bullshit that has nothing to do with basketball. Is it constantly going on there. Every season, there's somebody that does something stupid.

So I don't know with that. And Michael Jordan sold the team. He's washing his hands. Yeah, he's like, I'm out. I don't want them to do with this. So, like, hopefully the new owners are, able to like get new people new faces new ideas i don't know so who are the vets there you got gordon heyward gordon is begging to get out of there by the way and that's been a that's a known thing

i don't blame him the fuck is he doing in charlotte so how would you remedy the situation would you bring in vets he got paid there though yeah he got a bag after some weird years in boston he still got paid um i don't know i'm not an owner i'm not even gonna get i'm not going to put that hat on right now. I got this hat on. You feel me? I don't know what you want me to say because I don't want to be personal and I don't want to say like who needs to go who needs to because that's like there's not just basketball players. So I don't want to I don't want to do that. But that team, that organization needs some cleansing and it needs to be done sooner rather than later because they have like young talent who's just like being affected by some of this stuff. Like surround the mellow

around fucking people that can help them tap. into his potential, not depleted. And I feel like that's what we're getting right now. Troubled youth is like what's usually described. It's tough because it was Lamello and Anthony Edwards kind of, I'm not going to say a robbery, but they're coming to lead together. Lamello won rookie year over, oh, yeah. Ant's over here fucking playing on the U.S. Ate.

And Lamele made the All-Star game before him too. Yeah. And it's like, now it's like, what's going on? It's like, Lamello hasn't done anything wrong, but it's like, what is the standard that's being set there of professionalism? I saw Lamello this year signed his max contract. He walked in to sign his max contract, guy had on a fucking,

I don't even know what he's wearing in there. He had like Jim shorts and crocs. I don't even remember. It's just like the whole thing there. It's not Lamello's fault. How old is he? He's got to be 22. He's like 22, 23 years old.

Like, bro, it's not on him to be doing this, man. His job is to go out there and be like a really young, talented player and like dominate what he does just about every night. He just needs help in terms of like. Also, the NBA is just younger now too. Exactly. It's just a really young. It is.

So when it is this young, you put yourself at cost of like this shit, but like there's still teams that do it right. I don't see this problem in OKC. That team's pretty young too. That shit don't fly there. It's not even like in the air. Wouldn't be possible. They have good players who are good young men who act the right way and treat the community

the right way and approach people and approach their work with respect. That's how you, that's, that's why we're called professional athletes. Like this shit they got going over here and it's not just them. There's a couple of organizations that like are running like this. it's like bro the fuck are we doing here and lamello's a good kid his dad was on his hat you can say whatever you want about lavar but he had a strict house without none of his kids got in trouble growing up with the exception of the china thing when they went i think it was like liangelo stole some shit but like the exception of that shit all of his kids are still good kids

zoh's a good guy leangelo's a good guy all he's a good young man man like lemello from when i've heard and the conversations i've had only brief with him even on the court but people that know him like good dude bro he needs to be surrounded by talented players but more importantly high character i think it's essential they need good vets man seriously this shit is getting out of hand i'm tired of talking about shit going wrong in charlotte it's not basketball related it's like garbage bro definitely a team that we weren't even like a league pass team last year for me like we just don't even tapped in no man just for Kind of just floating around a little bit.

The other unfortunate news, Kevin Porter Jr., domestic abuse, with a former WMBA player. Yeah, man. I mean, that's – that door's got to be close. I don't even want to be that guy. But full me once, shame on you. Full me twice three times. That's why his contract was built away. Yeah.

We're like past chance seven at this point. Yeah. I remember talking to guys in the Houston Rockets organization higher-ups. they were talking they were having issues there they're like we don't know what to do with him this is when he just got there from Cleveland I mean Cleveland traded him for nothing for nothing

because he's young town everyone was like confused by him. That's because they're having issues there. Yeah. Yeah man it's really unfortunate man I'll say this I want I want Kevin to get the help he needs I'm hoping it's not jail

I know that's crazy to say because I know his offenses weren't that I just want him to hopefully get the help he needs and I hope that she heals up and is able to return to basketball because she hasn't played since 2022 she stepped away for I think other family reasons personal reasons stuff off the court so whatever's going on over there it's not as of where it sits right now it's not

healthy so Kevin's a really talented player that's why he's been able to stay on the league that's why Kevin's gotten multiple multiple chances by the way it's because he could fucking play some basketball this guy put up 50 against Drew Holiday I remember even Damien Lurter said he's one of the horror guys the guard he's quick he is he's talented he's quick, he's herky jerky, he's very shifty. And when the jumper's going, he's really hard to guard. The thing with him, too, is that Rockets have so much young talent. They do have young talent.

So at this point, they don't need to, they don't need to take chances. So it's, he's, you don't need a guy like that in the locker room, I think, is probably with a, it's very hard for me to see him in a basketball unit. Well, first of all, he's got to worry about dodging prison. Just walk away. You know what I mean? You just squandered everything by touching this poor girl. And you mess up her life.

you're going to scar her for the rest of her life. It's very unfortunate. I hate these news. I hate talking about it. I hate reporting it. I wish we were talking about Kevin Porter had a really great summer and he looks great in shape. And he's going back to Houston with all this new signings. And he wants to prove himself like that.

These are the things I want to talk about. I don't want to talk about him beating up his girlfriend at Fashion Week. Like this is silly, bro. So, I mean, I hope he gets to help he needs. I hope she gets the help she needs and she heals up and she's able to get back to herself, strong, physical, mental, and whether it's play basketball or do whatever she wants to do with her life. You know, gets it back to a place where she feels safe and happy.

So, I mean, I don't know what else to say about it. Yeah. Our prayers go out to her. And we can just leave it at that. I'll leave it at that. All right, I have a rapid-fire question for you. Let's get here for a minute. I told you yesterday, I saw one of those throwback accounts,

NBA throwback accounts, was Nick Van Nexel getting dunked on by Rashid Wallace. I said to Nick and he said charge, whatever. And then you brought up that you've never been dunked on. then you said maybe you have. Have you ever been poked on? Let's talk about. I got dunked on once in high school. I'm not trying to bring light to this because no one really knows.

It was like an underrated video that people. It was like a two hand like flush. You go two feet two hands? No, one two feet two hands. Getting dunked on by two hands is insane. If someone dunks on you with both hands, you should never be trying to block a shot ever again.

I got dunked on about like the six eight lefty. It was an awkward. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't like some right hand guy jumping off his left leg. Did you jump like half up and then put it? hands down? No, no, no. I jumped up to block his shot.

And then at that point, when I was up there, I was like, uh-oh. Because I didn't even jump hop up. It might have because he was left. You know, those are tough. I didn't think he was, but I went to like just contest and like, and then he went, I mean, he just rose up. So I got dunked on high school once. That's the only time I've ever been dunked on.

So does that mean an NBA, you've never been dunked on? You haven't, you've played the NBA 11 years so far. Never been dunked on NBA. You've never contested. No, I've contested it. But if I see someone's like even in the realm of that, it's either a heart foul or I'm, yeah, I don't think it's that big of a deal to get dunked on. I don't think it's a big deal either, but if I'm not going to block the shot,

I don't need to be in the air and be a part of the poster either. I don't need them to get an animal on. If I'm a weak side and they throw a quick overhead pass to the opposite side, Anthony Edwards, per se, rips baseline takes one job. When I see him launch, there's nothing I can do in the air that's going to prevent him from dunking that basketball. I can't jump up to where he jumps. John Morant launches from the, unless I'm in charge position,

or I'm in a position where I can contest and foul, then that's the only thing I'm doing. Otherwise, I'm not jumping to go block it. That's not my job, bro. No one has ever signed Austin Rivers and been like, yeah, we need you to go block some shots down there. It doesn't happen. If I can, I can, but I'm not going up to try to block fucking John Moran and...

Well, I'm not saying John Moran. I mean, that's... Name a team. Did your teammates and ask you give you a hard time for getting dunked on? They can't really say anything to you back then, huh? It wasn't really like that. No, no one said anything to me. It was actually like really awkward.

Everybody was like, whoa. The whole gym was like, because he was like, the guy couldn't play any basketball. He wouldn't. Might be the highlight of his career. It has to be. I've never heard of him since then. He couldn't play it like a ball.

I remember him. He was like a lefty, tall. All he could do was he's like, I don't know, he didn't do anything. He's just athletic. But he got that thing on that fast break. He was dribbling. I met him at the rim.

I jumped up and he put it back here. So like it wasn't like up here. So I couldn't. That's what I was like, this is bad. Just body to body? I fell. No. Yeah, I ducked and I fell on the ground.

He punched on me, bro. No, you fell that. That's to be a video of that somewhere. There is. It's on the internet, but people just don't look it up and they don't need to. I don't want anybody looking.

I don't want people like, I don't want this video restart first of high school. I don't really give this shit, honestly. But what's like, so what's the most embarrassing moment your NBA career thing?

I don't want to go there. I know I want to talk about Daniel Lurlard you prang when he finally met. That's not embarrassing, I don't think that's embarrassing. I had 18 that game and we won. comedy. I don't think that was, that's not bad. People don't get up though all the time. I always look at when you tweet things, the right things. If you talk about Damila,

people are like, remember this and you praying. I don't know this. I'd be able to do it all. Oh, I don't think, I pray because I thought it was funny. And because he had missed, that gave me at 55 and was not missing. So when he, he like, banked a three one time over me twice. So when he missed one finally, I was like, thank God. Whatever. Those are people like, don't hoop and like don't understand, like, competition. And they had that like gift ready to go. They just send it out. Remember this? These are people that were picked last.

They don't understand the concept of sport. So it's hard to explain it. The most embarrassing moment of my career, I have two. It's hard. I can't decide between the two. My first game playing for the clippers, my first game playing for the pops.

It was an atrocious. You came off the bench? I got traded two days prior, a day and a half prior. And my father, being the way he is, calls me up and goes, why don't you play tomorrow? I go, Pops, I just, I just got trade today.

Like, I don't even know you're, I haven't met anybody on your team. I don't know what, mind you, this is like Chris, Blake, this is a prime. They're trying to win a championship at this time. So I'm just like, bro, you know, let me, can I just come in? Like any other trade, you know, they come in, they watch the first game, have a couple practices, and then they go out there. Mind me, they're playing the Cavs. This is the year that Cavs won.

Oh, okay. So we got. Kai, Braun. This is a problem. This game's on TV. It was on T&T. This couldn't be set up to be. This is either going to go really, really well or really, really bad.

I remember, like, specifically talking to my brothers and sisters, and they're like, do not play tomorrow. He's like, this is just, my dad calls me in. He goes, why don't you just play, man? He puts the pressure on me. I end up playing. I don't think I'm going to get in the game. I'm hoping not.

But because this is my first game, like, I don't know anything. I don't know plays. I also, this is at a time period where in New Orleans. I was sitting out before I got traded. So I hadn't played in like three weeks, four weeks. So like I just, I needed a practice or two. You should not have played this game. No, but I'm a hooper.

You know me. And your dad threw you in the fire. Yeah, I'll play anywhere. I play at LA Fitness. If there's a ball bouncing and people want me to play, I'll go play basketball anywhere. So he's like, go, he calls me my name's awesome. I'm like, holy shit. He goes, uh, you get guy, Kari was cooking.

He goes, go go, carrie. I'm like, bro. I thought I was, I thought I was being set up. I thought my, I thought, first. second that my pops was a part of the script. I check to this. I go to the scores table, man, and check in, bro. And I remember even like Blake and them looking at me like,

and they respected it though. They're like, these guys really gonna come who? It didn't go well. I was like over five. And there was like a couple ISO plays with Kyrie that didn't go my way. And like the crowd was there. Some people were there, they're hoping it wasn't going to go right with me. You know what I mean?

Play for my dad. First game on TNT. It was just, I remember I didn't sleep a minute that night. that's brutal what's the other one uh i guarded james hardin on a game winning play oh yeah i saw yeah he did a little step back and i almost touched i was you flew back arguing with the rap but go ahead just guys i was set the stage for me well they we we're i'm playing him and i'm guarding him it's the last uh last play the game first well it's an honor you're they put you on the best player at end of the game obviously that that's that's a standard though for me i'm usually guarding the

best, but that's one thing people don't give me credit for that it bothers me, by the way. Sidebar. All these stories have something in common. I'm always guarding, Damien-Ler. I'm always guarding the best player at the end of the game, and people do not talk about my defense for some reason. All these defenders that they quote in the NBA, I could defend better than any of them,

but I don't get the credit. Talk about that at another time. We're keeping that in, too, because that's facts. I get out-guard anybody. I'm guarding this guy at the end of the game. Hits me on a little jab, little cross going to his right step back and I didn't see the step back coming and I stop and I start just going backwards and you just can't touch earth. You just can't do it. So I did the thing that looks

just as bad and that's when you're like trying not to fall but you're like taking multiple stuff. I mean, I'm swinging my arms back like three or four times before I finally get back on my feet. I look at the ref. Yeah, I remember you argue with the ref why you're flying. back. While I'm flying back, because at that point, I'm not even, I'm not even, I'm not contesting the shot anymore. I'm not trying to fall. So I'm like falling back.

I'm looking at the breath, like, he pushed. I got, like, you push me off, bro, he pushed me, knowing that he didn't push off. And then he hit the jump shot to make it worse. James talked about that when I played for the Rockets every week. And he would like, we'd be in the plane and he'd like hold up the phone in the air and show the clip just to the team and like loved bringing that shit up. It was not cool. He's a big body, man.

And he just bounced off. That's the thing. He bumped me too. People don't understand how strong James is, especially like prime James. He was really like filled out, man. This guy used to bench press heavy after every game. So he hit me with that jab. I cut him off.

Stops on a dime, hits me that shoulder. It might not look much on TV because he's going fast. But that's 230, 235 pounds going into your chest. You're going to move back. So yeah, I went backwards and it got a little ugly. You just going to miss a shot. That's all I was praying. but basketball guys don't reward

when you're falling back and you're looking at the ref and I'm like complaining that shot goes in how come you didn't mention James for Team USA next year you just don't think that's in the cars for him I just think everything right now that he has going on he has other stuff going on again James has a great year with somebody comes in shape this this and this and this and by the way guys

you can put James in Ellis it helps that it's in Paris next year why are we talking about that so awesome where's the training camp for Team USA Vegas. And where's, where the Olympics next year? Paris.

What'd you do this summer? Were you in Vegas? Yeah, I was in Vegas and Paris all summer. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, the hell of summer. They're already, people are already going to be doing it. You might as well throw on a jersey and just go out there. What are we doing?

I'll be in Paris anyway. I'll play. It's like, man, I don't know if that was going to go, man. Kuzman's like, we need real guys. It's Vegas and Paris. They're going to be out there anyway. That's why these guys are. People are like, I don't know if Jimmy Baller's going to do it.

He's been in the finals a lot, wearing tear. He can still do his tennis. He could go to his tennis tournament. He might already. He got a French open, the little French open, the little Olympics on the side. Catch a gold medal real quick. It's...

No, Paris Olympics and Paris, it's going to be nuts. I might be there. Yeah. I might even playing. Yeah. Or I might. I might play for Germany. How crazy is that?

We don't have to get into that. Now, Germany's doing that thing. Can I ask this? Well, yeah, imagine me on that team. Yeah. You kidding me? Imagine me at the two guard spot. They had that, the guy...

Oh, yeah. He had a good game at one game, but I'm saying I can't hold me. dagger against USA, by the way. That was brutal. Halberton really just sold out on the pump fake. Big three. Side step three? Huge.

He could play, but he's not me. Yeah. It's just keeping 100. If I played on that team, maybe even better. And that guy would come up to bench. Now you got more depth up the bench. But I didn't know you were,

I didn't know this was like a thing for you in German. No, this is a real thing. I'm about to put in motion. I'm not even kidding. Mom's German? Somewhere in there. Either way, Paris Olympics, I think it's going to be.

Cali probably had more information on that. But yeah, Paris Olympics, there's definitely a little, there's a little ring to that. I think that helps. Yeah, no doubt. With the whole thing. What are the rapid fire questions you have other than my embarrassing moments? Well, we were talking about clothes yesterday.

I wanted to ask you, I know you're a big hat guy. Would you ever not wear a hat the rest of your life or not have a beard the rest of your life? Not wear a hat. I've been hair. I don't know. I'm saying, but you're always, you're a big hat guy. You rock hats all around. I do like hats, but also people don't have like a full head of curly hair.

I have no problem showing the curls. Beard is a must. Your dad still has to get a hair line. He does. He lines the little fuzz right up. It is laser sharp. It is the most laser-sharp fuzz I've ever seen. Stop calling it.

It is. People ask me all the time, they're like, what is it? What's it made out of? And how many times a week does he get that thing taken care of? I'm like, I think twice. I think once or twice a week he gets that little fuzz line up. It's like four times you called a fuzz in. I can't stop.

I think it looks good. I think that's something, that's good for you. You're going to have, it's going to be nice. I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful. My mom has good hair too. So I got that going for me. All right.

That's enough for this week. It's great talking to you as always. One more thing I want to say about Team USA and we've been heavy on Team USA. I think Dion Sanders needs to be on the bench for Team USA for them to have a chance to win gold. I don't need them coach wherever. I just need them on the bench, maybe in the locker room. half-time speeches, whatever it takes. A little motivation presence or...

Whenever that guy touches turns on the gold. Literally. They're definitely running stuff right now. Boulder, Colorado is a movie right now. I kind of want to get some gear, some merch, if that's okay. It would look... Would you kill me if I had like a... It'd be weird.

I also hate their colors. I went to University of Central Florida. Yeah, they suck. Not UCF. I'm talking about the colors. You know black and black and gold? And it's not a good gold. It's like the really like gold gold.

It's not like a... It's like we want it to be rose gold. No, I want like a black and yellow. You know, like, Black and West Califah. Yeah, like I want like Pittsburgh Steelers. It would be fire. Sure. Black and like gold gold is like, ew.

Yeah. All right. Well, that's enough for this week. We'll talk next week. Appreciate everybody as always. Yeah. This week was crazy. A lot of stuff we didn't want to talk about, but we kind of had to.

But, you know, it is what it is. We try to give you all everything and direct as we can. So I hope you all enjoy the episode. And I think next week we'll do. some kind of a season preview. We'll cover it. Go division by division or we'll just do a conference. Yeah, that'd be nice.

We'll do a little preview for everybody. Let's see what we got going on. Y'all, y'all be safe.