The Ringer NBA Show - The Brooklyn Nets Are Falling Apart | Real Ones

Episode Date: June 27, 2022

Logan and Raja speak on the breaking news of the day: the rapidly developing and rapidly devolving situation in Brooklyn, with Kyrie reportedly asking for and receiving permission to find a sign-and-trade deal and Kevin Durant reportedly not speaking to the Nets front office at all (0:45). Then they talk about Malik Monk saying he’d take less money to stay with the Lakers and the Knicks’ pursuit of Jalen Brunson (26:25). Make sure to follow ‘The Ringer NBA Show’ on Spotify to get all of our free agency coverage and listen to Logan and Rob Mahoney at the deadline this Thursday. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to a golf podcast unlike any other. This is Fairway Rowland on the Ringer podcast network. I am your starter. Joe House every week on Fairway Rowland. It is myself and our PGA tour correspondent on the ground, Nathan Hubbard, talking all things, professional golf, amateur golf, amateur betting, professional betting, amateur drinking, professional drinking by Birdie Buddies. If you want to hit them straight out there,

please check out Fairway Rowland every week. Available on Spotify. It's popping. Real ones. Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bill there. How you doing, bud? Yeah, I'm good, bro. You?

How was your weekend? Weekend was good, man. Got cursed out. Okay. Yeah, you're cursed out. Yeah, you care to elaborate or you're just going to leave it? I think we'll just leave it at that. But other than that, you know, sunny skies in the Bay Area.

Went to go see some family. Went out, saw some summer basketball. Some, you know, like some high school summer basketball. So I wanted to go see my little cousin, like for the summer league and things like that. He plays for Silesian. It was fun to, like, watch basketball in a non-professional competitive capacity, if that makes sense. It was just high schoolers hooping, right? it was the purity of the game

and it was great to see that. It was, I think it was Moreau Catholic versus Salesian, one of those summer games. And it went down to the wire. And it was funny because I was just watching the last two minutes of this game.

And it was cool to like see like, oh, this kid is good. Oh, this kid's not so good. Oh, why did this kid think to just shoot this three-pointer down the stretch when his shooter was right there? He's being selfish right there. It was cool to just see that.

I was basically like, walked into Raj's world is basically what happened is to see like the innocence of of of of of very young high school basketball players well i'm glad you could appreciate it because when you when you when you're in it for as long as i've been immersed in it that becomes very frustrating to watch that because like no it does at times just because you know you're used to seeing a more refined product you know what i mean and what you're describing are just kids earlier on their trajectory than what i'm used to you know like you're used to having a little bit more polish I was, that's what you asked, but I was in Louisiana.

I was at the Manning Passing Academy with my two sons. Yo! Yes. How was that? Yeah, it was very dope. It was very cool. Now, Louisiana, I thought Florida was as hot as it gets, but apparently not. Louisiana was super hot.

And it was really cool, too, to see all of these young kids. I mean, they had a thousand kids there probably on their, you know, path and quest to try to fulfill their dreams. I got to say that the boat demanding brothers, all three of them, sorry, do a really, really good job of being accessible. You would think that they just come check into their camp and kind of bounce. Like, you know what I mean? And checking at lunch, they do not. They're on the fields all day circulating around, letting these kids have access to them, which I applaud and commend them for that. They have a bunch of great dope college coaches, like the who's who of a dudes you're going to see on Saturday

this year as counselors. So, uh, that's awesome for the kids that have access to them. And I met as I was walking around. Spencer Rattler had taken a picture with my boys. And so I went over to say what's up to him. And I turned around and Craig Young was standing there. Craig Young is Bryce Young's dad. You know, I didn't know they'd like basketball as much as they do.

But we struck up a conversation and he's a big Laco fan. So, you know, that obviously gets us moving and stuff. And so he was super cool and, you know, asked, us to come back and meet Bryce. Bryce spent a few minutes with my boys and I, and he's super polished, man. That kid's just going to be great at whatever he decides to do after football. Hopefully he's got a great football career, too, and he's already a Heisman. But point being, he's way more polished than any football player I've met at that age. So I could see him doing anything in the world he wants to do. But it was really, really cool, man. And my kids had a blast.

Did they meet Peyton? Did you meet Peyton? How did you feel? Because I don't, I don't, I don't, Peyton is like the legend. Yeah. So, like, how did you, how was your interaction with Payton? I didn't meet Peyton. My son's did.

They, they, my older one spent a few minutes with them. And my younger one takes pictures. Like, he's the dude. They don't just walk up and take a picture with anybody. So he had, he was walking around there like he owned a place.

But I was just chilling, man. I was off in the cut, just watching and being a dad. That's what's up, man. That's dope. Okay. So we're like in, we're in fully camp season right now.

where we're in this dead period. We're talking about this before in the pre-pod meeting, which was very entertaining. You know, we need a paywall for the prepod meetings. It was, it was very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very very very, very, very, very for, very in the, like,

so we're in this dead period right now, like, just after the draft, right before, uh, right before the free agency period in summer league. What is this dead period like for a young guy and also, like maybe a free agent type player. Well, how do you guys kind of go through this time where it's off, but it's like the calm before the storm? Yeah, that's actually an interesting question.

That's a good question, Logan. So it depends kind of on, I mean, obviously, let's just go from a free agent perspective, right? If you're free, this is just, I mean, you're so excited for an opportunity to secure your first bag or your real bag or whatever, you know, your last bad, like you are just really right now super excited about what Thursday could hold and whether you're going to get that call Wednesday night at 1201, right? There's a tier of free agents

they're going to get, they're going to get the call at 1201 the night before, right? So like the first minute you can get a call into Thursday, they'll get a call. That's really, really cool. Then there's a faction of people that'll wait around and they're in that next wave of free agents to go once those deals are signed. And so right now it's just anticipation, right? Like you're, you're kind of working. I'm sure you're working out to some degree. You're probably not in full, full swing, but the anticipation of the next couple days is, is, it's crazy. Wait, so, Sasha Mac, and I want to get into this in a second. We're in free agency, but Sasha Mac just put in some, um, some breaking news, rah-rah.

Karee has requested and received permission from the Nets to find sign and trade officers from other teams. Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, which is what I've said last week on the void, still hasn't spoken to the Nets front office. Russell Westbrook to Brooklyn remains unlikely. That's from Christian Winfield of the

New York Daily News. And I have another tweet for you, Raja. This is from Wojch. Outside of the Lakers, there are currently no known teams in pursuit of sign and trades for Nets Kyrie Irving. No sign and trades can formally be discussed until after 6 p.m.

Thursday. Brooklyn isn't believed to have interest in available Lakers packages. When you hear that, what are you thinking, Ron? Not surprised, Logan. That is where this was headed the whole time. I mean, I guess we just keep coming back to Kai because he's the biggest story out there right now. But like, where did you think this was going? Where, like, if you, you know, I'm always fascinated by, it's not just NBA players, but it's, it's anyone who's really like at the top of their profession and, you know, is used to having people kind of bent towards their will. Like, what did you think was going to happen if you treated this like your own personal playground, so to speak, and you didn't win the chip?

Like, what did you think was going to happen, right? Like, if you were just a complete, let's say, on a movie set, you're a really, really difficult to deal with. You give everybody a hard time to make up people. And I'm, like, just let's say everyone's like, my God, it was so difficult. and then the movie is a bust. Like, what did, and then your next movie is a butt.

Like, what do you think is going to happen? I mean, so I'm, I'm not surprised. Like, if, again, I mean, I think this goes to show how important people in professional sports think culture is and the chemistry in their locker room and on their team, that you could have a talent like Kyrie out there. and people would be apprehensive, you know, about bringing that in. And it just shows you that, like, whether teams have said that publicly or not,

people have been watching over the last few years, and it's been shooting himself in the foot in that way. This is in that situation is such a mess, man. I mean, it's just, I don't like, and it starts with the Kyrie stuff. And, like, it goes to what do you think was going to happen, man? You know, when you have that much, dip on your chip like something

something's got to give bro something has to give right I mean at a certain point like and this is funny because you know this about this league it's not always about talent

bro it's not talent will only get you so far Kyrie is great is one of the most talented hoopers I've ever seen but the leverage play isn't working

And I'd be curious to hear from him in general. Like, was this all worth it? You know? You got, you accumulated all these pieces, right? You get on a team with Kevin Durant, bro. You get on a team with him and James Harden. All paper, you guys should be great, right? How does this not work out?

You know? When you say, I'm just trying to break this down, like, worth it, right? I imagine there's part of Kyrie, right? if you're talking about winning a championship, not worth it, right? We didn't, we didn't do that. But there's a part of Kyrie in his enlightened, like, type of sphere where he would say, yeah, worth it. Like, I stood for what I believed in.

I, you know, champion for a cause that the voiceless can't champion for. Like, that's his rhetoric sometimes when he's talking, right? And so in that, in that, you know, regard, worth it. And this is kind of what I said last pod. Like, if that's worth it to you, I can't sign you. because what you've then told me is that and that's where your priorities are. They trump everything. And so even if it's in complete juxtaposition to what like we're trying to accomplish and what I'm paying you to do,

that's where your priorities lie. And then I'm beholding contractually to pay you these tens of millions of dollars. No, no, no, no, no. Like if you're at this point, you're at, just, just reading it, he leaves. And there's a point of no return with this Kyrie's stuff, bro. You can't ask like for a sign in terms. trade and then be back on the roster next season. It just doesn't seem plausible.

I already told you that. That's not, I don't know that either side would, that's untenable. I think that would be untenable. I don't think anyone would be able to survive in that. You know, let me,

let me just, can I say this shit, bro? I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it now. And I want to make sure that I'm clear about it because I am pro player all the way. Mm-hmm.

I am pro player. I always see things to a player's lens. So the power that they're able to wield now, like some of the, leverage that they're over to hold over teams. Like, I never begrudge them that. I would still say that if I were consulting anyone in the front office, which I did at one point, or these franchises need to stop capitulating to the demands of stars and their request

in terms of teammates and team building and all of that. Like, unless it's, like, I would, the caveat would be to the LeBron has proven that if you give him what he asks for, he can win with it. I still make the argument that as LeBron continues to change as a player, that recipe changes. So LeBron has to understand that. And if he does, then he's earned the right to do that. I don't know anyone else in the league who has.

So it has to stop. Like, that's why it's your job. Like, you are a player. I am as the general manager at the apex of the food chain in my respective field. I've worked my entire career to get to this point to build a team the way I see fit to build it because I believe I'm really good at this. I'm doing it my fucking way. Now, I do think it's in people's best interest to at least have dialogue with their stars, right?

Like, you have to know, like whether or not, hey, man, like, you like, you like that guy. Like, is that those are conversations that you have for sure. But you don't, like, give up yourself and everything you believe in in terms of building and what makes sense to put together. And all of that just because, you know, you've got this incredible talent. Like, no. I just think that, like, specifically, I think the biggest thing we learned in during this empowerment movement, aside from LeBron, because LeBron is one of one, right? We can, me and you can both agree with that, right?

But aside from that is, like, the teams that have been the best over the stretch, by and large, have just been partnerships, right? Right? Like, look, let's look at the Spurs, right? Tim Duncan, R.C. Buford, Greg Popovich, right? You have a, you have a group that figures it out. The successful teams have a group that go together as a team, you know? And I don't think, and I don't want to speak for you, but I don't think you're saying, yo, man, we shouldn't have input from our star players.

That's stupid. I don't think there should be input from the star players. It also should be input from the scouts. There also should be input from the head coach. The assistant GM, it's a partnership, right? You see the Spurs. You've seen the goal to stay warriors over this last few years of just figuring out how to pick players. You've seen the Chicago Bulls do it.

It is a partnership. Now, there might be some budding of heads, but at the end of the day, that's what it is. It's a partnership between. It's a team. That's what it is. It's a team. Now, you're correct. Maybe I didn't articulate that clearly enough, but I, I,

a general manager and his brain trust, having identified targets and what they like, should then go to their star player and at least get some input from that star player about what's going to happen, right? Like, that I think is a prudent way to handle that. You want a little dialogue. What I'm saying needs to stop happening is general managers, front offices, and organizations just forget, what's important to them, for getting culturally what they stand for in order to make a star feel happy, not want to be disgruntled. Like those, that's, listen, you have, you get paid millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars to hope.

I get paid, whatever I get paid to help you win a championship. This is, we are in this together. Let me do my job, right? And we can have dialogue, but I can't have you doing your. job and my job. Yeah. And so this goes to an overall point. And it's not just the, I think the nets are an example of this,

but it's not just the nets that have done this, where a team has done good enough and has built good enough to attract star talent, right? And free agency and things like that. And then when the stars get there, the whole makeup of the organization seems to shift. and it seems like they switch how they go about running their organization or another or the player start running the organization and it ceases to be ceases to be what it was. What is the best way of going about start to getting start out?

What is the best way of doing that while keeping the makeup of your organization? The makeup that made you a successful organization to begin with. That's the balance, right? That is the balance. I don't have a great answer, man. I'm not sitting here telling you I was, I spent a year in the front office. Like, I don't have the recipe for that. If I did, shit, I'd be sitting somewhere trying to do it and win championships myself.

But I will say that selling your soul usually isn't a good idea. It's not. It's just not. Like, you know, building, making sure that you can keep flexibility in terms of financially. is important. Having a good balance of youth and age and experience is important. I think having good culture in the building from the top down is really important. And I think you have to be very, very careful when you start bending rules,

allowing people to step outside of that culture with no real ramifications or punishments because, you know, that's Pandora's box. Once it's open, it's open. And now we're back into that. I'm sacrificing what I believe in to keep everybody happy. So I think all of those things have to be in play. And I do believe, again, that players should have some input into the star that they're going to play with, right? Like, I think that having that dialogue with the front office is important.

But I also believe at the end of the day, the front office is paid to do a job. And so, like, you go with your gut. Otherwise, I mean, are you really doing the job? Or are you just collecting checks? Okay. So say everything we've seen out there, just bringing it back to Kyrie real quick. The Lakers are the team that seems to be looming the most, right? Whether it's, you know, trying to get a sign and trade or something or just wanting to be in the Kyrie thing.

What is your early impressions of if that happens? What do you think is going to happen? And do you think that's going to be a good thing? Like, is he going to fall in line because of, you know, his relationship? Is he going to do that? Okay. It's, we talked about it last week. You asked me about the teams.

And I signed off on the Knicks just because I think that would be really fun. We just wanted to see that. We just wanted to see the spectac to Cooper. Yeah. That was what we wanted to see. Really, the only team that I felt really comfortable with if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, honest is the Lakers. And it's because, you know, I, this is, I've said this about some people.

I'll say it about Kyrie in all of, in all of, again, his brilliance as a player. It's tough for me. And I've said this behind closed doors in executive meetings and stuff like that. I said it to Steve Nash. Here's the problem with some players, the really, really good ones. If they don't really lead and set culture, it's okay. If they will follow someone who will lead and set culture,

where you run into a problem is if that star won't or can't lead an established culture but won't follow anyone else who's trying to set culture or lead. That puts you in a really gray area because this is an individual entity just there for themselves. And they might talk about all the right things and say all the right things, but are you doing all the right things? Right? Like, and so I'm, this isn't, oh, this isn't a Kyrie conversation as much as it's about a, I've seen players like this where you're like, you're in a weird spot. like because they don't really lead great people don't follow them i think the track record suggests that

like and they don't really you know like get on board like you see what happened last year like he didn't follow did he yeah i mean i don't know if he necessarily led either well he didn't lead i mean he didn't shit but did he did he follow like when everyone said hey we're going to do this bro we're going to follow and that's okay but it puts you in a really weird spot so you can only really especially when you're that good you know especially when you're talented when you're that great. Well, when you're not that great, you're not in the league, right?

If you're not a, I mean, you're going to, brother, you're either like an emotional leader who we can count on in the trenches up, or you will get in line and follow, or your asses out the league. But his talent is so intoxicating and really so high level that,

that it puts you in a weird spot. And I believe the Lakers to be uniquely set up. I told you, there's another place that I think would be able to handle him, but I don't think that they would touch him. That's the heat, because their culture is so strong.

I'm just talking from a cultural fit, not from a playing fit. LeBron sets culture. You get in line with LeBron. Everyone on the teams that LeBron plays. What does he do that sets the culture in a way that like this? What does he do that sets culture in such a great way? Well, he's a he's a tireless worker. Like he's there working on his on his body, on his game.

He is vocal in a way that that that isn't over the top. but it's consistent enough that you know what's going on in his brain and you can respect the IQ and basketball IQ and just team building IQ that he has, right, because he's vocal. He's also a leader in terms of team building things. Like, hey, man, we're, you know, we're, we got this table. We're going to sit outside in the courtyard. We're going to drink a couple bottles tonight. Let's talk about what's going on with us.

Like he is organizing and doing things like that. And, you know, on top of just being available and being a warrior all the time, Like you really don't have to worry about LeBron pulling up because he's got something, you know, marginally wrong with him. Like if he's sitting out, he's hurt, you know. And so, I mean, you're just, I'm painting a picture and I continue to add things to this pot of what makes a good leader. But he's got all of those things.

And so, you know, people follow LeBron. I will say this, though, man. If Kyrie is locked in and engaged in a system with LeBron, that puts the least. Lakers in a really good position. Absolutely. Man, you know? Somehow they could get, they can get, they can get, they can get Kyrie out of this. And the Kyrie that's focused, the Kyrie that was on the cabs, wow.

And it puts, it puts Anthony Davis in a much more comfortable position for Anthony Davis. Sure. You don't have to be consistently great. Am I, okay, so if, said, all right, I was just hypothetically. If Kyrie and LeBron are on a team, in terms of like alphas, does that put AD at number three? Unquestionably. No, it's not even a question. It's not even, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, LeBron is going to be number one. And then, you know, Kyrie. Kyrie don't take a backseat to too many people, bro. So like, if he's going to take the backseat to LeBron, I'm going to almost guarantee you he's not taking it to anyone else on that team. So yes, that puts AD in the three spot. But that's okay. Like, I don't see AD as the personality that really wants to be the number one. I've said this before. Like, I don't, that's not like skill level or game or ability. That's just like he doesn't seem to have that personality. So I think it puts him in a way more comfortable space where he can just be fantastic.

And if he's off or he's not playing great or he goes to a little thing, like there's no big deal. We still have two dudes doing it. And then there will be nights where he's your best player, plenty of them. but, you know, it's just a more sheltered, like, safe environment. Yeah. It's going to be interesting, man. Kyrie never, he never disappoints when it comes to stuff out there in the universe, right? This stuff that just comes out. Yeah.

Yeah. My bad. My bad. Wait, wait, say that again, bro. I was reading. I got it all fucked up there. My bad. I was trying to read the group chat.

You were talking. I didn't even hear. There was a chat. Sasha, like, called me on my shit. It was like, you literally said this. the Lakers are capped at 50 wins with Kyrie. I said that I did, but also Sasha had her little diatribe. And, you know, listen, she convinced me, okay?

All right. You know, it could be something. It could be something. I mean, yeah, I look, the question is, what are you going to do around them? That's always the question. That was the question in Brooklyn, right? Like, can you get guys around him? Also, if they get Kyrie and don't get them in a sign and trade, like some world where they

just sign him to the mid level, like that six mill? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, those are, you're getting. And that was, ultimately, that was Brooklyn's problem.

If we're, like, that's the problem. We're being frank. I mean, they had a lot of problems, right? But like, at the end of the day, you know, you didn't, do you see the roster they were rolling out at the end of the year? I was there. You were there too, Ross.

I mean, we were both there. I don't mean any disrespect, although it is disrespectful. Like, what were you going to do with that? To be fair, to be fair, that roster was built around James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Cran. And there's not a lot of money to go outside. Like, there's not a lot of money to get people outside of that.

Yeah, and the Joe Harris, the Joe Harris going down hurt. And so that is fair. Like, I agree with you. That is fair. But once you don't have James Hardin and now you don't have Joe Harris, it just illustrates like how important. those pieces around like Akirae and Kevin Durant sing like two great players like how important it is and they didn't have enough help. We'll see what happens then. Apparently LeBrona's very open

to the possibility that is per Sam Aang in front of the show. We'll see what happens. I think this is a good time to give advice though. Here's a time to give advice. Malik Monk had a great year with the Lakers and we're talking about supporting casts. He were talking about that a mid-level taxpayer exemption that the Lakers can offer Malik. And this is a, quote from Malik. They might not be able to pay me as much as I want, but I could be here and be way more comfortable as a Laker than going to another team and they're paying me $5 million more.

So it's just me trying to figure out what team would really want me. What do you think about him wanting to take, be open to the possibility of taking less after he had one of the best seasons of his career? And we all know about earning power in this league. You really only get one or one time to get a stupid bag, two if you're lucky what advice would you have for a young player trying to take less to roger oh malique so without knowing what the market would be for malik it's going to be unfair

for me to really say this because if it's a couple million dollars a year over four years and you're going to make six or seven like what's the mid-level right now what is it six point three right so if you're telling me i'd rather stay in in LA for 6.3 over four, then take, you know, eight. I mean, I don't know. Like, I ain't in the habit of giving up millions and millions and paying the taxes in LA, but I can dig it. Like, you're saying, hey, man, I'm going to win championships out here in LA. Like, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to be a Laker. I'll have association with the Lakers and all of the things and perks that are being a Laker and being with LeBron. I understand that. Like, I'm not going to knock you for that.

But if you're talking about making 6.7 or $11 million a year to go play anywhere else, and that's over three or four, you better get the bag, bro. Take your money and keep it moving. And there are no guarantees. There are no guarantees, right? Like there are cases scattered across the damn. NBA's history of dudes who didn't play the handwrite and thought they were getting something or would get something and it didn't work out. And so you gambled on yourself this year to a certain degree, right?

One year deal with the Lakers? Yeah. Right? Yeah, that's a gamble. Like you say, hey, man, I'm going to play my way into some bread. And now you're sitting here at the table ready to eat provided, like if it's apples to apples were close enough, then I can co-sign on that. But Logan, I'm telling you now, if it is not apples to apples. if that other tray comes out and there's a peach or an orange or a nectarine or a pear,

I'm out. And he spoke to, he said this to the homie Yovon from the afflater. He said this. But my thing is, why would you say this before pre-agency? Why are you negotiating before a free agency like this in the open? If I am an agent, I am not letting my client talk at all until the press conference after you signed a deal. I don't get it. I don't.

And also to say that you'll take less. Even if you were going to take, like even if you were going to, why would you say, why would you say this on the eve of free eight? Why? I don't know why you would. I mean, I could only speculate, you know, sometimes people front offices, that is, people around the organization would have a player feeling as if they're friends or they had their best interest at heart or like, you know,

making you feel like this is everything other than business. And at the end of the day, those would be the same people if given the opportunity and it was in their interest to would tell you, hey, sorry, this is just business. So, you know, you just got to be careful about, you know, being led to believe certain things. Now, I don't know that's the case with Malik, but I've seen it happen before where, you know, players are like,

oh, no, man, like, you know, I love me here. They love me. Like, this is, dog, don't. Don't get caught up in that, especially if you're not like a megastar. You know, when your money is and your family's, you know, future isn't already secured in a way that you feel comfortable with, like, if that's not already done, then you've got to be really careful, man. Like that's for me. I wanted to win the championship.

Like I signed to go back and play with Utah. You know, when my last time around the ball. lot, right? I didn't want to go to a bad team again. I have been on a bad team in Charlotte. I knew I didn't want to do that, right? But that came down to like LeBron's team with the Miami Heat, Kobe's team with the Lakers, right? And I think the LeBron's and De Wade and then were a lot closer to winning the chip, although in hindsight, they didn't win it. And they were offering the minimum. So I would have taken the minimum to chase that championship. And maybe I don't play that year. I don't know. And that kind of seals my fate. Or I had multiple years for more money from Chicago,

who was a solid team and Utah, who was on paper supposed to be a good team. Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Darren Williams, all that. And so I wanted to play on a good team. It might not have been a foregone stamp them as a champion. But I still have bills to pay, Logan. Yeah. And you don't want your next check to be your last check, bro. No. So I was trying to- You don't want that to happen. I was trying to secure And for anybody, I had a dude follow me around a damn water park right after I did that. We were up in Palm Beach. This jackass followed me around for 45 fucking minutes asking me about how I couldn't sign with the hometown heat.

Like, you're about more about your money than you are about a championship. Like this and that. I was like, this guy is a clown, bro. And so, you know, I broke it down to him. I said, man, you work at a warehouse or something, bro. And one of those warehouses says, hey, we're the best warehouse on the planet. and we're going to give you a trophy at the end of the day saying that we are the number one warehouse on the planet,

but we're only going to pay you $20 an hour. And the other warehouse says, hey, I can't guarantee you we're going to give you that trophy. No guarantees here. You'll fight for it, but I can't guarantee it. But I'm going to pay you $50 or $60 an hour. What are you going to do? Go to the other one, bro.

Figure it out. So leave me to fuck alone. Come on, man. Oh, man. Okay, so I want to run this by you. because I was on I was on the void on Friday. Boney Boyd with KOC. Shout to the homie. That shit was hell of fun.

But we talked about Jalen Brunson. And Jalen Brunson, other than Kyrie, is probably, I guess I'd say the biggest story in free agency right now. And the Knicks are clearing cap space to sign him, got his father on the coaching staff. and all sides point to they're going to at least try to overpay

to get Jalen Brunson from the Mavericks, right? And I feel like my stance on it is Jalen Brunce is a really good basketball player. There's no if fans are buts about that. Really good basketball player. Alster, I'm not sure. But I don't think he's the, I don't think he is the guy that you overpay for

if another team wants to take him off your hands, especially in the position where Dallas, And we've talked about this throughout the season where we would, we would like to see Luca get another all-star office. Right. And I think Jalen Brunson is a really good player. And if it was the right price, you should keep them on your team.

But I think, and I said the words that the Knicks would be doing them as a favor if they overpaid to get Jalen Brunson on their roster. Was I, speaking of the guy that's been in the league front office and knows the game clearly better than I do, Was I off base and saying that or should or what was the nuance I may or may not have been this? Well, Jalen Brunson is a winner. Yeah. He is.

He wins everywhere he goes. Always been here. He wins. And he's from a pedigree that is, you know, really, really good. And so it's hard to put a price tag on someone who just overcomes all the odds all the time and wins. It really is. And I think you could be right in what you said. But what I can't really quantify is just what he means to Dallas behind closed doors.

You know, what he means to the fabric of who they are as a team? I don't know. I don't have the answers to that. I thought he was brilliant this year. And I would also say in the next breath, though, I don't know how much better that kids. I don't know that that's going to be like who he is moving forward all the time. you would kind of have to be the guy he was in the playoffs, like, to warrant getting max money, right? And I don't know that that's actually a possibility. So I have mixed emotions

because I want Jaylen to get that bag, bro. Go ahead. And I just told you. Secure. Secure it. Secure it. Get it. Lock it down. But on the flip side of that, I don't know that I'd pay him max money. So if you're making the argument that Dallas is dodging a bullet by having to pay him max money and can allocate those funds somewhere else, I could co-sign on that. Yeah, and this is not like an indictment on. Bro, Brunson, go get your bag. No, bro. Like, go get to the baggage claim, bro.

But listen, I mean, let me be clear. I'm not saying that he shouldn't make a lot of money. I'm just saying when you're talking max money, that's a certain type of player for me. We'll see what happens. That's going to be intriguing, though, man, because from a next point of view, it's like, on the surface, it just seems like, oh, man, another overpaid by the name. When you have something good and you have all these things and you're clearing cap space and you're doing all these things. It seems like a Nixon move.

You know? So who knows? Maybe he winds up being Chris Paul 2.0. I'll be tight. Just a winning ass like, hey, man, you could say I'm a little small. You could say I'm not like, but I win and I'm tough and I orchestrate and I drive character culture. Yeah, who knows? That'll be dope to see.

We'll see what happens, man. All right, let's go to a little segment we'd like to call ruin of the week. I will go first because clearly Roger isn't prepared. Jeez. Jesus. I'm going to go with one Buzz Lightyear. Went to go see Lightyear recently. It was freaking incredible.

It was incredible. All the propaganda. It was like animated Top Gun, Raja. It was just all the feels. And Buzz, I've been a, I was full disclaimer. When I was like three, four years old, I was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. Okay, I'm a huge fan of Buzz. Huge fan.

Bit outside. Okay? I'm in Buzz Hive. Okay? So to see how they, how Pixar, who's from the Bay, you know, got a shout out to the Bay's own Pixar to see how they really just were very creative with his origin story and just put out a great product. I got to go with Buzz in the whole light year.

staff record labeling group. That's my real one of the week, sir. I could see that. I could see that. You should go see Lightyear with the fan. It was really good, sir. Well, we had some hours to kill, and so we went to see the younger ones who were here with Mommy,

went to see Buzz Light Year yesterday. I took the older ones in New Orleans to go see Top Gun again because they hadn't seen Top Guns. So we will be going to see Buzz Light Year. I'm going to give my real one of the week is going to be one, Serena Jamaica Williams. All right, for making. her return, you know, to competitive tennis after a long layoff. I mean, she's, she's 40 years old.

Yeah, doing it. Doing it. Like, and I think she's looking for number 24 at Wimbledon. It's been a long time. A lot of people probably, you know, didn't think it was going to be possible. And I'm just happy to have her back because I love watching Serena play tennis, man. It was my first sport and I always have an appreciation for good tennis. I turned off the Djokovic match just to hop on with y'all. But Serena, welcome back. Rie Rie. I'm going with Serena Williams. Real one of the week. It's a pretty strong cast of real ones this week.

Just a little housekeeping. This is our only real ones proper this week. I think we're going back to twice next week. But we'll be having our slate of free agency sales coming up. I don't have a fool list in front of me, but I know that me and Rob Mahoney will be locking in with you guys

on Thursday. I think we record 5 Pacific. It'll come out at some point after that. We will be having all your free agency news. Then Ra Ra, we will see him on next Monday. But in the meantime,

in between time, you know what I'm saying? Make sure you check out our other ringer slate of shows. That is Weekends with Waz. That is upside high. That is the answer. That is the boy. Boy, the boy! KOC. You guys can go live

to the pod that I was on with him last Friday. It was fun. I love locking in with him. Make sure you check out the mismatch. Make sure you check out. We're going to keep the propaganda going. I don't know what you thought this was. It's the summertime, but we still grinded. Make sure you check out Black Girl's songbook with who, Roger Bell.

Town legend, Ms. Danielle Smith. Make sure you check out R2C2 with who, Roger Bell. The Vallejo, Leyen, aka the Cresi-Ecloth. C-C-Sabathia. We will see you guys next week. Howl.