The Ringer NBA Show - The Gap Between Team USA and the World, the Lakers' Quiet Offseason, and NBA Player-Rapper Comps | Real Ones

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Logan and Howard discuss Team USA’s performance, the gap between the U.S. and the world, and whether Joel Embiid needed to be on this roster (04:40). Then, they touch on the lackluster offseason from the Lakers and Paul George’s comments regarding his exit from the Clippers to the Sixers (16:25). After, Raja and producer Kerm hop on, and the guys answer your mailbag questions (28:12). Email us your questions at [e-mail]. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out rg-help.com to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Logan Murdock, Raja Bell, and Howard Beck Producers: Jonathan Kermah and Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're a fan of the inner workings of Hollywood, then check out my podcast, The Town, on the Ringer Podcast Network. My name's Matt Bellany. I'm founding partner at Puck and the writer of the What I'm Hearing newsletter. And with my show, The Town, I bring you the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. Every week, we've got three short episodes featuring real Hollywood insiders to tell you what people in town are actually talking about. We'll cover everything from why your favorite show was canceled overnight, which streamer

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This is Big Kermm saying, raise your chalice for the realist. Peace out. Peace out. Peace out. Logan Murdoch here. Howard motherfucking Beck in the cut. Rajas, Steve, his ass. It's in the second segment. To answer some questions.

This is the season finale of real ones. Howard. How do you feel? This is your first, this is your first season with the gang. How are you feeling? We're here. First season finale. It went by fast. You know, the NBA season sometimes goes by quick. Our season went by fast. It's end of July. You will explain later in the show, but this is the last, our audience will hear of you for a while. So I'm going to try not to get a little emotional about that. But no, dude, this has been a blast. Great, great first season, I think, if I do say so myself.

We've had, we've had fun. We're going to try to talk to some Olympics stuff. We're going to just pull some analysis out of our keister. But first thing I just want to say was it's been, I was kind of nervous to see, you know, because you're so, like, amazing that what you do? I was kind of nervous to bring you into the fold and how you would react to just be and rods a shenanigans.

and then you kind of just added to the shenanigans somehow. Like, fuck. Like, it's crazy. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I knew it's going to be part of the antics too, Howard. I didn't know that was going to be part of the gist. You weren't aware that I was pro shenanigans? I didn't know.

I didn't know, you know, you know, because I see you in press conferences. You're super fucking serious. You are, you're, you're, you're speaking truth to power, you know, and so I didn't know. I didn't know. You know. I mean, nice, all fair, complimentary. I appreciate it. But the flip side is you didn't see like me and Ken Burger and Alan Hahn and all of us idiots hanging out at like two in the morning during lockout steakouts in 2011 doing like Beavis and Butthead impressions and other assorted nonsense talking about mutant pizzas and stuff.

Shout out to the lockout followers from back in the day who understand the reference. But no, man, you guys make it easy. You really do. And, you know, I just try not to get in the way half the time. Well, let's see how we get through this last segment before we make this season, deem this season of success. You know, we don't have much to talk about. We just talk about LeBron. So let's just go talk about LeBron.

I think there's been a lot of storylines within the Team U.S. say, right? Anthony Edwards, I have a story out on the ringer.com, which you can read. Anthony Edwards coming into his own, the Steph versus the Steph's first and last Olympics, how he's going to integrate with Steve Kerr and KD, and then there's, is Embed, is Embed somehow not an international center? There's all these things, but the thing that has just been constant, death taxes and LeBron playing really well in a tournament setting, Like, is this the perfect setting for him? There's like no bad setting for LeBron, other than maybe, well, we'll get to the other

team he plays for. Yeah, we're going to get that in a second. Don't worry, guys. Sorry, Carr. It was like almost almost too easy and too obvious. No, there's no bad setting for LeBron. And I don't, you know, I get it that there is some, there is something to who is best in an international setting.

versus an NBA setting. The game is a little bit different. But somebody like LeBron is just great in every setting. Like there's no bad setting for him. I do think to the extent that this Olympics, we always go in with the same framework, right? Team USA is expected to win gold. Anything short of that is a failure.

And if they win it, it was just expected anyway. And it doesn't, you know, we can talk all we want about. The world's caught up. And it's an international game now. And a fourth of NBA players are international players and all that stuff. All that's true, but it's still gold or bust for the U.S., and it's still a failure. If they do anything less than that, I think they're probably going to win it. So there's nothing, there's very little suspense most of the time.

I don't want to say no suspense. There's not a lot to talk about in terms of like that aspect. We know what the framework is. The interesting thing for me is LeBron has been their best player through all the friendlies, right, through the exhibition games. Let's see if that holds up when real play begins on Saturday. And the fact is, we're, we're, it's another with one of these changing of the guard moments for, for basketball, certainly for the, partially for the NBA, but certainly for USA basketball, because this is it for LeBron. this is it for Steph, his first and last Olympics. This is it for Kevin Durant.

And there's a bunch of young guys on this roster who are the NBA's future and Team USA's future. And let's see how much we see from them, right? Because right now, it's the 39-year-old who's overshadowing everything to an extent. You've got the great piece on Anthony Edwards is up on the ringer.com, and he certainly wants to make his mark. But I think he also is respectful the fact that I'm playing with some all-time greats here, who have already, you know, carved the path. So it's interesting. And yeah, I'll be curious to see how much they get challenged along the way.

But I'm more interested in what happens when they all come back and where their teams are. It's, I know, I know. It was back and forth to the pre-pod of like how we should talk about this. I'm just going to go fully Olympics really quickly. We'll talk about the Lakers in a second. But the thing that is fun to watch or to see, I was around Team USA for about a week in Vegas. And it seems like this team is what we wanted the 2004 team to be, right?

Where you do have this mix of old and young. But there was a lot of chemistry issues on that team. There were criticism of how that team was coached. I believe Larry Brown was the coach of that team. Could be wrong, but I do believe Larry Brown was the coach. of that team. And Larry Brown is night and day difference from his style of coaching to Steve Kerr's style of coaching. Steve Kerr is a guy that's just like all vibes and is like, hey, guys, yeah, let's just figure it out. It's going to happen. You guys, you guys have ownership with the team.

LeBron, you want to run track? Great. You want to, Anthony Edwards, you want to be a number one option? Let's see if you can do it. Let's do it. So much support here, right? Whereas Larry Brown was a very hands-on turn turned the modern NBA athlete off type of coach, right? He was very much someone that was hands-on.

But I think that you're finding a great balance here between young and old. And I think you could see this team becoming a team in a real time, whereas the 0-4 team, which had similar characteristics, broke apart at the highest moments, right? I think like, you see the

clips of like, and then bring this back to LeBron, like when he, kind of does his little, when he goes in his little run against South Sudan, who's the one that's the most juice to see it, to see that happen? It's Anthony Edwards, right? You see, just that's one specific example. But I think this is just a good mix. And I, I, this team really loves each other.

And they're becoming a team. And that's been the funnest thing to see with the Americans right now. Like, I don't know what that's going to do, but I do, I will say this is the preview when I saw them play against team Canada and I know it wasn't friendly. It was one of those things where no matter how good that team was,

their best player wasn't as good as somebody coming off the bench for Team USA. Like, Shake Yuga's Alexander is good, but they also had, the Team USA had Jason Tatum coming off the bench. Like this, what are you going to do with that, right? Serbia is going to have Yokic, but then

the anecdotes that, they're going to play with Anthony Davis and then you have Bam out of bio coming off the bench, and then you have Joelle and B. Like, it's, part of me is like, yeah, the rest of the world is caught up, but then also I see the roster

and I see what the team of USA can do it down the stretch, and I'm like, oh, I don't know, this is going to be it. It's going to be tough to beat this team. Right. So, like, here's the thing. When we talk about the world has caught up, okay, there are approximately,

like 110, 120, whatever international players in the NBA today, right? So there's about a fourth of the NBA players are non-U.S. citizens, right? But Team USA is all NBA players. Like every person of the 12-man roster is an NBA player, whereas all these other nations that are in the Olympics, they have some NBA players, but they don't have 100% NBA players. So Tom Haberstro, who does a great work on Substack and Yahoo and other places, this is. was off of his substack, he compiled this. So I'll just, I'll read this down real quick.

US 12 out of 12 are NBA players, right? The next best is Canada with 10 current and one former NBA players. So close, and you're probably not playing all 12 anyway. So Canada, you could say at least on NBA experience is almost on par with the US. But again, if you start going best player to best player, second best to second, it's going to fall off really quick. But you're going like Lou Dort, who is a really good role player. And you're going with like Dylan Brooks, who's a really good pro player. And then you're going up against Norm Powell.

Yeah. Who's a who's a backup center? Like it's not the, it's apples and oranges here. It is. That's exactly it. So like their best players for Team Canada are Shea and probably Jamal Murray, right? And then it's like a bunch of really good players. Like Lou Dort and Dylan Brooks and RJ Barrett and Aquila Alexander Walker and Andrew Nemhard, Kelly Olinick.

But that's not that's not David Booker, Jason Tatum, Kevin Durant, Steph, Kurt. Like, it's just not even a fair. comparison. And they're the closest with 10 NBA players. Australia's got eight and two former NBA players. France has six current, two former. Serbia's got five current, one former. Germany's got four current, one former. And then it keeps going down. Spain's got two, Greece and Brazil have one NBA player. Japan's got two. Puerto Rico's got one. So like, yes, the world has come way up. But like, it's not equal. It's still not equal. And the U.S. is still the overwhelming favorite for a reason.

And the only other advantage that some of these international teams have is that their core groups have played together longer. That's the problem that the U.S. was trying to solve with the program over the last 15 years or so. But the talent gap is still considerable. Yeah. I think the other thing is like just, I don't know. I guess I'll use this to go into some of the arguments that I've seen. seen just throughout the last couple of weeks. But the gross amount of talent is just ridiculous.

Like even having a guy like Joelle Embed on the team, and I want to get to him just a quick second. I have to at least acknowledge his presence right now because this has been such a big storyline. But like, Team USA did the equivalent of like what the Warriors did with getting to Marcus Cousins on like an international stage getting Embed, right? Like it's, I guess the question that I would have for you is I get why Team USA

did what they did to get Joelle which was a little murky you guys can go read about it how they took them away from France and it was a lot of deception going on but like I see why they took him away because like

an Embed Wemby front court is devastatingly great but does this roster need Joelle Embed on the team? Because I don't believe so. Every time I watch them I just feel Like, it's just very, I get frustrated watching that group. He's clearly not cut out for this roster.

And I just don't, like, I know Steve, I know there's the part of Steve that is like, we need to keep team chemistry. We did all this to get him. He needs to start. But at a certain point, playing for it gold, right? So you got to, you have to weigh those things. I don't know how he's, how Steve is going to be able to manage that. It's going to be really interesting.

So the centers they've got are, M. Bede out of bio and Anthony Davis. And LeBron, if he wants to play center, which is sure. Center international LeB. I mean, look, nobody is, is stopping M.B. Among the, the opponents. Like, there's no center who's going to be able to stand up to him, but it depends on how the NBA or how the, how the, the, the U.S. wants to play. I think the thing that's interesting is that among those three bigs, if we're going to talk about just the traditional sense, centers. Embed's by far the best three-point shooter.

And in the international game, having that asset, I think, is important. Anthony Davis kind of comes and goes with the shooting. Bam, not a consistent shooter. So, Embed is so much more than that. He's not just some stretch five, but he's by far the best long-distance shooter of that group. in addition to being a phenomenal shot blocker

and just all around presence in the paint defensively. So I think you still roll with it. Chemistry or not, I think it's just, the guy was MVP a year ago. I know, the international game is different, but we'll see. Curse certainly has options if it's not working and if it's looking like MBE just not comfortable

being this sort of complimentary cog, which it seems like that's been a little bit of a challenge for him. Just don't file out against Norm Powell, Joelle. Let's don't do that. Please. It's been worth,

one of the things that you did bring up pre-pod and that we're just, I've been trying to just push this out, just not to break Kerm's heart, but it is what it is. LeBron and the Lakers, and the inability to make any moves

seems to be just piquing your eye right now. Let me know. What are your thoughts on what the Lakers are doing and just their competence? Is that the word? What is the word that you would describe the Lakers off-season right now?

Non-existent? Have they had an off-season? No, what are you talking about? They re-sign LeBron. And they had a really interesting polarizing draft. They had to the Migs. I mean, the Lakers have

not made a single move that you could say significantly changes their prospects for next season. There's not a single thing you can point to and say, they're going to be better because of X. And I say that with all due respect to JJ Redick, who I have immense respect for and who I like a lot and who might turn out to be a great coach. And who knows, maybe he'll be better than Darvin Ham, but we don't know and there's no way to know. And that's the most significant change they made was that coach when in fact their biggest issue last season has been remains personnel it's the supporting cast around lebron and anthony davis i know they tried i know they chased clay thompson i think they were in the mix for a couple other players but they didn't get clay they didn't get to marterosen they didn't

get they didn't bring back alks caruso who clearly was available um they didn't move de angelo russell they didn't get de jante murray they didn't get you know we could keep going with this we didn't get they didn't get Trey Young, if he was available or not, is, is, is, is a question. But they didn't get anybody. They've done nothing. It's the same exact team plus two rookies. And unless you're counting on some huge leap, just, just internal growth, like, you know, Austin Reeves takes a leap or Max Christie takes a leap. Rui Hachamura takes a leap. I don't know where. Kerm, how much are you betting on those three things happening? I just want to hear Kerm's thoughts. How much, how much, how much are you betting that what are the chance that Max Christie, Austin Reeves,

and Rue Hachamara make that all-star leap next season for the Los Angeles later? Are you confident in any leap? I think there's possibilities for leaps specifically in like Max. I think one, just giving him more consistent minutes, I think he could really be a solid 3-n-D player in a rotation. And Austin, I think there might be a little bit of a leap as like a, you know, as a score and playmaker. Rui Hachamora is Rui Hachamara, man.

I don't think we're getting anything more out of him. I think the player he was last season is the player he is. But not enough growth where I feel like they're, that we're going to make any more noise than we made last season. I'll say that. This is the point, right? And Rui Hachamara just threw in as like an extra name. The young guys who you expect to see leaps from are probably Reeves and Christy.

But like, LeBron is, duh, another year older. And Anthony Davis is another year older. in both those guys have injury histories. They just had one of their best seasons together health-wise. You can't count on that again. You have nobody else to lean on. You have way too much on the older guys. I ask this question semi-retorically,

but when you look at the moves they have and have not made, do the Lakers themselves, I don't mean LeBron, I mean the organization, do the Lakers themselves even believe that they are contending, that they're trying to contend? Are they even trying to contend? Do they think they have any chance of contending? Because they were a 47 win team last year, guys.

47 wins and 7th in the West. And there's nothing they have done that tells me that they're ready to leapfrog Oklahoma or even a slightly weakened Denver because they lost KCP or that they're going to leapfrog Minnesota or Dallas, who actually improved after making the finals. The pelicans were right on or excuse me, the pelicans, not on their heels. Pelicans were actually technically above the Lakers. the standings are flipped because of the way that the tournament played out.

The Pelicans arguably better than the Lakers and maybe even getting better because they picked up DeJante Murray. The Kings might have gotten a little better. How are the Lakers anything other than a play in team at best? And if that's the case, and I think it is, what are they doing? And I want to quick, one more stipulation. It is July 25th. We have seen in past years, Dame Lillard be traded in October and James Hardin betrayed in October. And once upon a time, the Lakers got Dwight Howard in August 10 years ago, more than 10 years ago.

There's time for things to happen. I am under no impression that anything is going to happen. And if this is just the team they're running back, I got a question what they're trying to accomplish. All right. Let's talk about, I want to talk about before we get out of this. and push out of the segment and get to Raja. I want to talk about Paul George really quickly because you talk about L.A.

and he made some really just interesting comments that I just roll my eyes at. And he got announced to Philadelphia Media along with Tyrese Maxie, but beforehand he said on a podcast that he felt like he was playing for the B team when he played with the L.A. Clippers, right? And all that is true. It's very well documented on this program that we do believe

that the Clippers are the second team, second basketball team. You can make the argument for third or fourth basketball team in Los Angeles, right, in terms of just fandom and all those things. But like, you knew that when you signed there and you're trying to throw salt on the wounds and you are trying to save faiths and all of these things. And like, we haven't heard this side of Paul George in a while. But the guy that where the flip-flop Paul George is coming back right now where he just tries to make make himself feel better for the decisions that he made. And I just feel like it's just so tacky to just say something like that, man. And I just, that just just grided my gears. And I think just even from, I don't want to go from the legacy

standpoint, but it just was just off-putting, man. And I feel like Paul George, there's going to be, and this, you know, Kerm might clip this when I come back, but it's just going to seem like a lot of diminished returns when he comes to Philly. It just doesn't, he's talking to this mess right now. He better ball out in Philly because if he talks this tough and they go out again and mid-May, it's going to be some problems. He's going to see what it's like to be in a market where the team is actually cared about

and the vitriol that comes with that when it doesn't work out. I'm just, I'm really, I was really frustrated. I just saw that quote Howard. And I just, I was just rolled my eyes to the point where they almost got stuck. It didn't bother me. Can you guess why? Go ahead. Because it was accurate.

It is accurate. I know you like accuracy. I like, but I like what guys tell the truth. It was just the, but like, also bro you had the opportunity to go to the lakers you knew what this was going to be you know yeah you know he chose that you over here side of you chose that and then you want to just like oh it felt like what did you think was going to happen bro yeah no you're right he chose that because paul george does this all the time where he will go and say some like out of pocket

stuff after the fact when he the ball was all in his corner and just trying to make it seem like oh this is like i'm cool up cool paul george i can say no man Like, it was like a big, duh. We knew that was going to happen. And I just, it just made me really annoyed to see something. It is. To see the messenger say an accurate state. It is interesting, though, like Paul George has say, like, you know, after the fact,

leaving the Clippers and like, yeah, we were just the B team. And McKell Bridges, who didn't choose the Nets, but got traded to the Nets and now has been traded to the NICs to go play with all his Villanova buddies had kind of alluded to something along those lines, right? Like, or maybe they said he said it or whatever. There's just, there's a lot around that, right? So you've got the two teams that made their big splashes in 2019 together, the clippers and nets, the little brothers in their markets.

And five years later, it didn't work out for either of them and there's still a little brothers in their markets. But even if Durant and Kyrie had won a championship or even if Kauai Leonard and Paul Georgia won a championship, you and I both know, Logan, like they're still second in their markets. Like that's, you've got too much history, too much built up over decades to just change that overnight or change that even in five. years.

Durant and Kyrie, just like Kauai and Paul George, had the opportunity to go to the big team. And they did it for reasons. Like, I get why Kauai did it. Like, I don't think he wanted that spotlight. Paul George wanted to play alongside him. But, like, it just seems weird because, I mean, Paul George is the only reason why you're going, you're even in Philly right now is because the Clippers didn't offer you the bread

that you wanted. It wasn't that you didn't like being there. If you put truth to him, he would have rather been in Los Angeles. It's not one of those things. And so to shit on him on the way. I was kind of whack and tacky. I get it. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I do think in Philly, it's different, right? Like, and this, listen, Philly beat the hell out of like Tobias Harris. Philly will beat the hell

out of your third option or your fourth option. I'm not saying he's shielded entirely, but he is going to a team that has a recent MVP and Joelle and Bede, a perennial MVP candidate in Joelle Mbibb. Tyrese, who was just bursting into stardom, Paul George only has to be their third best player and a upgrade over Tobias Harris, which I'll do. respected to bias Harris. Paul George is. I think he's a perfect fit there. I think he doesn't have nearly the responsibility of the burden to carry things or to ensure success. He just has to be the best version of himself at age 34, I think, and compliment those other two guys. And, you know, the offense isn't going to be run through him that often when those two guys are on the court, but he can certainly

do it when one or the other is not. He's got the defensive versatility still. I think he's, I mean, was the best acquisition of the summer. I don't think there's a close second, right? Like the Sixers kind of won the offseason by getting him and then by getting Caleb Martin and bringing back Kelly Uber and Kyle Lowry and everything else. They got Eric Gordon. Like, they had a pretty damn good offseason. But you're right, Logan.

Like, you know, it's championship or bust these days in Philly. And if Paul George, for whatever reason, doesn't live up to all those expectations, it's going to be a hard. He's going to have a harder time. a third option in Philly than he would have had as a second option or one B to Kawhi's 1A

with the clippers because in L.A they don't get nearly the scrutiny. Yeah, it's sorry Paul Jordan. That really pissed me off. I love your game. But like that was just ridiculous. I'm sorry. I had to just make even like a mini segment just to rant.

Raja has a great rant in the second segment. So like I just wanted to say it doesn't even match is, but I just needed to give my due. That's just all it was. All right. Well, I guess on that note, let's take a quick break. And let's see what Roger got to say. And we are back. Roger Bell is here from a hotel room. He's looking like he is under siege somewhere in South Carolina. He looks like I think we need to go out there and get him. I don't know. Are you good, buddy? It was a long night. Logan, the streets are quiet right now. Local. say that it happens

every day around 3 p.m. So is there a ransom note somewhere around there, buddy? Definitely got a hostage situation vibes there. Listen, we've got the lobby's fully stocked with water and non-perishables. It was a long

evening. We got a little bit of sleep. We've got about an hour and a half, two hours before it begins again. Oh, wait. Blink twice. If you if you feel unsafe right now, Roz. it's okay. Blank twice. They won't know.

It's been a long summer, guys. Oh, man. We've missed you, buddy. You've been on the recruiting trail. I've seen you're in Austin one day and then you're in fucking South Carolina and your Atlanta. Like, what the fuck?

Where are you been at? Yeah, man. Listen, like I got young Hooper. So right now we're in Rock Hill, South Carolina at a, it's at a Team USA Club Championships. So it's all of the shoe circuit teams that, like the top, teams out of each shoe circuit for 16s and 17.

So you've got some teams from the Adidas 3SB, you've got teams from EYBL, you got teams from the UA Future Circuit, and then there are actually some Puma teams here too. So it's where the best of the best come to knock heads. And it's critical because there's really no 17 U participation. So all of the college coaches, I mean, you know, I saw Danny Hurley yesterday and, you know,

Duke and those guys are here. They're all watching 15s and 16s. So it's a pretty cool event. They do a great job with the families. So I am a little late. They have meetings that are exposing parents to the NIL situation, the dangers of agents, financial literacy, you name it. So they put on a really classy event. That's cool.

I will say this. I've seen highlights of Ty Bell over the last couple of weeks just looking at your story. I'm just going to say this. I don't want to put too much on them, but I'll just say this. You can tell he's watched a lot of Kyrie Irving film. That's what I'll say. It's his guy. He's got, look, he's tough.

I appreciate that. He got a lot of work to do, man, but it's been fun traveling with him. You know, usually would deal, but it's been fun to watch him and just see his kind of growth over the summer. But I am excited for the summer to come to an end. I can imagine you've been running around. Well, let's bring some fun to your life because clearly you are getting ready for the purge. So it's time for the moment you guys have all been waiting for. Kiggity Kerm out of the motherfucking cut once more

here to bring us some questions or comments or anything from the listening audience about back in the day. What do you have, Kerm? You kind of couched it. You didn't give us any confidence that this was going to be good. I don't know what's going on, man.

Do you want to have a disclaimer to our real ones of what they should be asking us or how they should preface their questions? I just want to tell. Yeah. Y'all need to wake the fuck up. and lock in Whoa

And one We need more questions from y'all We need more participation from y'all And for those that just send sentences Without questions They probably not getting red, bro Like I need any questions What's an example of a question

That just was a sentence that was dumb That just that just That just fucking fix your eye What was going on here? Well now they are getting right I mean they may This is what not to do. This is what not to do.

So, I mean, one person came on and, like, I don't even know. I'm confused. I don't even want to really give this that much light. They were complaining about a female sports reporter's dress, like they're dressing to the club and not work. And this is a podcast for it. Go to Joe Rogan for that shit, dog. Like, that's not what we do here, okay?

We love women on the spot. We love women and whatever they want to wear, and we support women journalists. So shit like that, whack. So let's get to. Let's get to a hole you having a mailbag today. First, first, first, first, mailbag entry is from Stefan or Steve. I'm going to go with Stefan.

I like Stefan. And it's entitled Rappers to NBA players. So it's no question, but it's something we can bridge off of. So here's the list he has. Jay-Z equals Jordan, M&M equals LeBron, Biggie equals magic, Tupac equals Bird. Raq Kim equals Russell

I'm assuming that mean Bill Russell LL Cool J equals Wilk Cool G rap equals Kareem Knaz equals Carl Malone Andre 3000 equals Tim Duncan

Lowellane equals Kobe Kendrick Lamar equals Yokic Thoughts Are those terrible Takes First of all I have a question

to the question Howard do you want to sit this one out or do you want to like participate Do you want to be a Guys I think I have some technical difficulties here. Let me mess with my connections

and my chords and buttons and stuff. And yeah, carry on while I okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Let's rock out,

Roger. Okay, so can I do like this? Can I just start, Logan? Because I, like, you're going to have way more

of an opinion. Like you're way more into music than me. Like I, I mean, if we're saying the only, the only one that I really understood was the MJ one. Like you're saying he's the goat,

right? Like I don't see Jay Z as the goat. So for me, I'm out. Who was your goat, Roger? Who's your goat, Roger? My goat's biggie. Like, so. Okay.

Yeah. Like, for me, that I would just disagree there. I don't understand, though. I would need a little, like, like, context, like Eminem, LeBron. Like, what are, it was, dude. So I actually want to change. I said his name was Stefan. It's definitely Stephen.

Um, he's definitely white. He's definitely white off of the Eminem to LeBron comparison. Right there, you show it your name. Wait, hold on. Hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Did Steve Kerr, like, coming to the real one's mailbag? Because this definitely looks like a Steve Kerr rap list.

I'd like to hear your, I'd like to hear your thoughts on that, Logan. Like, what, I mean, you've got a way more well-versed rap. Okay, so I get the, I get the Jay-Z comparison. Jay-Z is not my goat necessarily, but I get the argument of him being a goat and being compared to MJ because he is a guy that, you know, in the way that Michael Jordan seemingly did everything right before he obviously had the second retirement. That's the allure that Jay-Z had, right? He has the albums.

He has the moments. He has all of these, he has the longevity, right? So I can get why you would say that. And, you know, he has purported himself to being above reproach from the rest of the rap game and the way that the MJ has purported himself to be, right?

Wouldn't you argue, though, that the long, no, I like that, though, because now I'm, you've pulled me in. This is the brilliance of Logan. Yeah, yeah, but the longevity, then I'm going LeBron, right? Like, if we're going to say Jay-Z with all of that, then I think it's a better comp to LeBron personally.

But anyway, go ahead, finish. Sorry. So I'm trying to stretch and trying to get on their level than that. But the M&M to LeBron makes zero sense. Like, it absolutely, just style of play, just all of the ways. Like, I just, I can't get behind that one. I don't know that. Eminem is not as versatile as motherfuckers like to pretend.

That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. No, he only has one. He has one. He's like the Russell Westbrook. He has one style that he sticks to. You know, that's what, that's what Eminem has. And he goes hard at that one style.

Westbrook is DMX-ish. Okay. I'll go with that one. Trying to figure out who LeBron is because we're, you know what? You can make the, you can make the case. And I've made this for someone else before, but you can give the Snoop Dog argument to LeBron and or Kareem, right? Where they're just here for a long time, maybe got, got, maybe four. for championships there, right?

Just if you're going to do the longevity argument, who's still making records at this point? What was the Magic Comp? What was the Magic Comp again? Oh, the Magic Comp was Biggie. And then they said Tupac was Larry Bird. So I see what they were trying to do there, but Tupac is Larry Bird.

Something's just off, dog. I don't like that. The thing that's hard, though, with Biggie, and I get why he's the go. Obviously, he is. But he only had two albums. So, like, I just don't, like, it's hard when you're doing an NBA player-type comparison.

And I think that's why they did... I think that's why they did... Howard M. Fing back. I think that's what they did. I think that's what they did. Magic and Bird for Biggie and Tupac. Because it's like Magic and Bird, they had a decade where the world was theirs

and then kind of in the 90s drop off due to injuries due to, you know, situations. So I guess like that's the equivalent of, you know, Tupac having like really like two, three albums, Biggie having two albums and then kind of, you know, disappearing because they were,

you know, killed. So I see what they were, what they were trying to do there for that. I'm not saying it's right, but I see what I kind of like that. I can see that. I can appreciate that and I kind of like that. And let me expand a little bit, right?

Like, because magic, biggie was flow, storytelling, like, you know, had a charisma about it, even though like you could argue

magic's game was kind of flow a treat, right? Like it was storytelling-ish. Like, it was a lot of, and I don't, I don't hate Bird and Tupac. I don't hate that because Larry was a genius on the court like Tupac was,

but Larry was a little nastier than magic, like a little shittier, had a little bit more like anyone you ask about. He had to hit him up in his game. He had to hit him up. First off, you know what I mean? And the click you claim. Yeah.

Wait, so another question, though, really quickly. And this is a comparison from the streets. And you can talk to this a little bit, Rajah, because we do have to get to the next question. But I do want to end it on this real quick. they're in the streets. There would always be a comparison between Tupac and Alan Iverson.

How much do you see of that? How much of a comparison do you see of those two guys? Just in terms of, and this is the argument that I would see, right? They were both cultural phenomenons. They both came from a certain, a certain socioeconomic background.

And they also had like a very quick rain at the top. That would, that would, that would, what do you think of that comparison? Yeah, I mean, I like that. Um, you know, I could see that. I think there are other people, you know, they might not have ascended all the way to the top and had their reign on it kind of like like Tupac did or AI did. But there are other people maybe in the rap game that I would, that I would like to kind of draw a parallel to AI. But I'm not mad at the Tupac.

You know, both of their effects on their respective fields, you know, can't be denied. Like they were, they were guys that for one reason or another, sometimes good and bad could be. polarizing and just captivating all at the same time. So I'm all right with that. Did you know that, like, obviously, you watched AI, but did you know he was that polarizing before you got into that locker room?

Like, did you, was it like a difference of like, oh, shit, I'm in the, I'm here now. Like, this guy is a fucking legend in real time for whatever that means for everyone, right? Like, was there like, oh, shit. Zahar. Well, I mean, I was a fan.

The polarizing part, I don't think I really experienced that way. Like I wasn't, I didn't see him in that light before I got there. And then being there with him originally, I mean, I don't know what period of time it took me to get over my just pure fandom, like an excitement to just be around, you know, cats like that. But once I was over that and I got a chance to be, you know, I would never use the word equal, but a teammate, right?

Like I was, I was really, you know, respected as someone who. who could come in and contribute to winning. I was a little bit more in tune to like what, what people were saying about the team and what people were saying about him and so on and so forth. So I thought, you know, like for a guy who had as much shit going on as Chuck did, I, you know, he clearly made mistakes,

but like in our safe haven on planes, on on buses, on, you know, in locker rooms, on the floor, like he was, he handled it great. Now, you know, I wasn't with him for every hour of his life outside of that. And everybody does what they do. But like in our places, like he was fantastic. Sure.

All right. I just want to just point out before we go to the next question. The winner of that question is clearly Howard Beck for fucking Akim Olajuwon Biggie, bro. Like, we were, that's from the top rope. Fantastic. That's all of fame shit. Quality not quantity, right? I hear you.

At you. Right. There you go. What's the next question or comment or whatever the hell we have? Before we move on, though, I do want to say the LeBron one, I think the correct answer, and I know we don't want to say it because he's a loser now. It's Drake. I feel like LeBron and Drake is really the right answer there, especially with them also say,

Yolk it's Kendrick. Like, it works. It works. We'll move on from there. Jay Cole as Kendrick. Jay Cole, excuse me, as Kevin Durant is also a great. That works. That works.

That works. It's a great comment. All right. Next one is from John Huppie. I'm just getting all these out. Next one is from John Huppie. He says, Hey, guys, a bit of a fun one.

If the NBA had an MVP race for players whose first names are Jalen, no specific spelling. Who would be your top five players for the trophy? Here's a quick list for reference. Jalen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Jailen Duran, Jalen Green, Jalen Johnson, Jalen McDaniels, Jalen Noel, Jalen Smith, Jalen Suggs, Jalen Williams, and Jalen Williams, you know, there's two of them. Cheers.

Good Lord. Where's he from? Where's he from? Do you know? He said cheers. So I'm going to assume he's from Australia, but like we don't actually know, so I didn't want to put the accent. And then he hits me up here and like, yo, I just like the word cheers, you know? Oh, man, I'm just from Detroit.

Howard, you can start this one off. What up, dope. This is just the Jalen MVP, the MVP of Jalens. Yeah, I mean, it has to be Zalin Brown, right? That's Jalen Brown. I mean, the guy just won finals MVP, conference finals MVP championship. Like, how is it anybody other than Jalen Brown with Jalen Brunson, a solid number two? Probably followed by Guard Jalen Williams from OKC.

After that, who cares? Roger, would you have crashed out if you were Jalen Brown and the way that Jalen Brown crashed out when he did not get the Team USA nod? Would you have done similar to the same thing? Would you have given like the I, the tweets, the emojis? How would you have approached that? Yeah, I don't know. Again, right?

Like this falls into the space of I'm very glad that I didn't have these type of social media platforms at my disposal when I felt slighted back when I played. like it would not have ended well. It just wouldn't have not. Now, I was never going to be in that situation. Or if you were Derek White and you get the nod to fire back. Yeah, would you be like, fuck you. Would you get, would you probably just.

None of that would have ended well. It wouldn't have ended well. But, but I mean, I know I wasn't on the episodes where we talked about that. But like, that's, that's ridiculous. Like, come on, man, what are we doing? What are we doing? Like, I'm not, I'm not going to take you guys all the way back and cover it. Go ahead.

We haven't heard Raj's rant at a while. It's just pure foolishness, though. Like that's utterly absurd. Like this man, look, I can forgive a lot of shit. You tell me you're going to take Jason Tatum and I'm his running mate. And I was, I just came off of like, you know, the season I came off of, I was slighted in my mind with the all NBA. But then I redeemed myself and was the finals MVP and probably meant more to that overall playoff run than Jason Tatum, like debatable. We were really, really close.

And you leave me off the team. I'm going to feel a certain type of way. I can get over that. But if there's another fucking spot, if there's another fucking spot and you take fucking Derek White, I'm flipping this whole shit over. I'm burning it all down. I'm burning it all down,

which is a, I mean, basically what he tried to do with his socials. You said you're flying to Paris. Don't make a mock. You're officially unnoticed. G Hill is my dude G Hill is my dude and G Hill like G Hill knows

knows me pretty well G Hill would not have been surprised to see me in fucking Paris At the door To Mia, to me I need to see Grant Hey Tamia I love you Tamia

Send fucking Grant to the door I'm gonna need to talk to him real quick That's crazy man How did you get a hotel room, Roger? That's crazy man No all jokes aside man Like that's just, I thought that was nuts, man. I know Grant's great, man.

Grant, to me, everyone's fantastic, the whole family. But like, all jokes aside, like, Jalen Brown, if I was Jalen Brown, I'd be really, really hot at that. You're going to take Derek White? I love Derek White. But we're going to take Derek White over me? In what world? It's crazy. And then, Roger, you got to say, are you going to say, what are you going to say to

what you going to say to Derek White when y'all see each other in training gap in a hypothetical, as your hypothetical Jalen Brown? I don't hate the player. I don't even get down like that. Like, I'm not good for you, my boy. Like, I ain't got no beef with Derek White. I don't count other people's money and I'm not gonna hate that dude

for that opportunity. You know what I mean? Like that's not the way this game is played. But to the people running the game, I do have a beef. Like I will and I will always have a beef. So like don't ask me to wear no fila shit. I'm not drinking no sprite.

Grant. Hey, Grant. You know what I mean? I'm not, we're not doing shit at Cameron Indoor. Nothing that benefits Duke. Don't talk. to me.

What's the last question, buddy? What we got? What's going on? Last question is from Darrell. He's from New York. I'm just going to throw a lot of dead asses in these sentences. That's what I'm going to do. A.O.B. Shout out to Kermm's accents, be dead ass. Question for Logan or anyone who is who? I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Sorry. What's good, son. Yo, son. What a kid? What a kid? Question for Logan, son. Or anyone who was a fan of run CMC, if they didn't break this trip,

trio up in a trade of Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens, dead eyes. Would they have made a legit run through the West? Come on, B. Would they be more successful in today's NBA with the focus of spacing and threes? And was this one of the OG big threes? girl from NYC. That was so good. Shout out.

Shout out. Shout out to the God. That was so good, Kurt. Good job, God. I see you God. I will say this about Run TMC. And I'm really glad this is the last show because I ain't trying to hear nobody from the bag

trying to question me, but they know what it is. Run TMC was a bit overrated. Let's be honest. Let's just let's be honest. Let's just do it. They weren't. successful when they were good and their ceiling was probably a second round like that's just what it was and especially with what they was it the early 90s i mean they lost the lakers they weren't that

they weren't that great guys relax i know and i think the run tmc being as mythologized as they've been is honestly a result of the fact the warriors weren't very good for a lot of the 90s and early 2000s, and Warriors fans needed something to rally around that was good, right? Because before, we believe, the two biggest playoff moments was Run DMC performed before a Boyer's game in the playoffs, them getting...

And then the other one was like Sleepy Floyd. And that was Sleepy Floyd? Was it Sleepy Floyd? Yeah, Sleepy Floyd. And him getting a going off in a third quarter and a series that they lost against the Lakers. Like, it was fine, you know? Sorry, guys.

They didn't, they would have been fine in this iteration. It would have just been another team that was really good. But they didn't play no defense. They didn't have no big man. They just weren't ready for prime time. It was very entertaining, but that's just all it was. Sorry, guys. Wow.

Love you, Chris Mullen. You know I love you, Chris Mullen. I got a joke in, Roger. because Logan and I are the two Bay Area guys on this show. And I was actually, unlike Logan, I was alive during Run TMC. Old ass. They were fun. I always say about the NBA, right?

Like only one team can be the champion, blah, blah, blah. You can only have a few teams that are true contenders in a given season. But if you can't be a contender, then at least be super fun. And like, when Rajah was on the Suns, like, I thought they were a true contender. I think they legit had a shot. But even when they didn't, or if you didn't think they did, guess what? There was nobody more enjoyable in the league to watch. The Mavericks, when it was Nash Novitsky and Michael Finley, the Sacramento Kings.

And again, like the Kings, at least one of those years was probably, it was definitely a contender that made Game 7 of the conference finals. But like, it's okay to just be a really super fun team that wins a bunch of games and wins a playoff rounder, too. and you want more for your team. But if worst case scenario, you're just a team that wins a bunch of regular season games, has a nice playoff run, and it's fun to watch, that was them.

By the way, if Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullen do not have the initials T, M&C, are we even talking about them? Like if run DMC was mid to late 80s, those guys were mid-delayed 80s, so we got a cool, clever nickname that we could call them.

It lasted two seasons. those three guys were together for all of two seasons. They won one playoff series. There's just not a lot to go on there. Like, it's fun. It's great. It's a nice little chapter in Bay Area basketball history, but let's not make it more than.

We're about to get a group text from Raymond Ritter, all three of us after this game. I'm never going to be able to go back. It's good thing I live in Brooklyn now. I'll never be able to go back. Ramon, I ain't say shit about Run TMC. I'm going to sell some stories. Look, rock, like Chris Mulling.

I got familiarity because I'm in New York a lot with my wife's family. I play with a lot of things from New York. So yeah, Chris Mullins a guy. Mitch, the Rock Richmond, is from Fort Lauderdale. So, like, you know, I've seen him. I watched him for a long time. But I want to tell two, I want to tell two stories about Tim Hardaway. Tim Hardaway used to start, he started coming in the gym.

Or he'd probably be in the gym already. And then I started coming in the gym. But he started coming around more when he, right after he kind of retired. He had a bad, he's got a bad knee. If you ever see him walk, one of his knees is like Kenny the Jet Smith knee. Like Kenny's got two. He got a pin walk for show. He's got, Kenny's got two, but like, but like, um, Tim Hardaway.

Tim, sorry, Tim had one, right? So he got a pimplemp. Bro, but he'd be in the gym and you'd look at him and you know he was retired a little bit and you see the knee and you're just like, you judged the book, right? You just judged the book. And he was a classic example of why you don't judge that fucking book by the cover because he was still in there. Nobody could guard him. Just cooking. dude cooking the entire cooking the gym for years after retirement like cooking the gym really tough to guard so my two stories one um

i think mark jones has told this story before on air like a on an NBA game when when junior was playing to him hardaway junior he's probably about 12 and we were playing in a pickup game and a ball came down off the rim and my team lost and in one of those moments i kind of caught it coming off the rim and i punted the shit out of it. And it went, it didn't go high. It lined drive and it hit Tim Sr. in the side of the head at about half court. Oh my God. I thought I killed him and I knew I was going to have to fight him because I was like, oh, damn, I just fucked this up. But he was really cool. So I went over and I was like, Tim, hey man, like I guess he could see on my face like I was genuinely, bro, I did not mean to do that. And then I felt somebody start to punch me in the back.

And I would look, I turned around and Tim Hardaway Jr., shout out Timmy, had come flying off the bench and was like tearing my lower lumbar up, bro. He was not, he was not happy that I kicked the ball as dad. Second, second, second son. Great son, great son. How old was Tim Hardaway Jr. at that stage? Well, probably about 12. Maybe 11.

Damn. Second story, because as he got older, he got in the games with us. So he wasn't playing at that point. So he was definitely young. Second story, men's league, like, you know, we're all. in there to get a sweat. We're in a small gym, you know, down south in Miami. Tim, this is a few years later. So Tim is now clearly not going to play anymore. He's just out there cooking. He's not getting the fouls. I'm not in this game. I have the next game. I'm sitting there watching. I'm

sitting next to the scores table. So Tim, Tim is a, Tim is hooping, not getting the calls that he wants in the game. And he's starting to kind of get at the refs a little bit, right? And the refs aren't responding in the way he would have expected. So it's getting worse. So finally, Tim just walks off the court and he walks up like right at me. And I'm like, oh, oh shit. Like what did he's coming to me? And like right when he got to me, he hooked a quick left right to the scores table, pulled the entire scores clock, like, you know, the thing that they used to run the scores thing.

The little box the guys operating, yanked all of that shit out, uh, wires and everything and walked out of the gym with it. And we were all sitting there like, what just happened? He didn't take his ball and went home. He took the fucking clock and went home. As he should. No more games tonight. So I love run TMC.

That's what's up. That's what's up. Yeah. Everything I said is stands. I still love them. Still got a lot of love for that team or what they differ to be. But, you know, let's be real.

If they were playing today, guys, also to answer Br's last question. If they were playing today, God, they would be like the kings of the last two years. That'd probably be a good cop. No disrespect, B, but your gall was not like Kerms. Not like Kermis. Sorry.

That I'm, Sam. That ass B. Come on, son. What's the son? Come on. He got chopped cheese in his bitch, man. I'm hell of mad because I did not get chopped cheese last time I was in New York and I'm fucking pissed. But, all right, we're going to do a quick because we know Roger is the div that needs to get out of here.

Quick, real one of the week. You guys go, you guys go first and I will go last. Go start with Roger. You can't start with me. I'll start with you. Stay ready, my real one of the week, man. Golly, man.

My real one of the week's going to be a co-lab with, like, Team USA and the NCAA for the event that I'm at here in Rock Hill, man. Like, super detailed food vouchers for every parent and their kid for the week, shuttles running back and forth. Like, just a fantastic event. The basketball was high quality. The roughing has been fantastic.

College coaches, pro scouts, Everybody's in the building to watch these 15 and 16-year-olds. It's been pretty cool to watch. So shout out to the NCAA and USA basketball for this. No shout out to USA basketball for leaving Jalen Brown off the Olympic team. That's fucking right. Howard, who is your real one of the week? That sounds like a parent right there.

There you go. Who's your ruler to the week, Howard? All right, I got three. Jay Adande, Katie Heindle, and my guy CP, the franchise. I just spent an entire week in Vegas at Summer League, but teaching at the sports business classroom. We were teaching a bunch of young media students. So it was me and the three I mentioned. We had an incredible week.

It was just an honor and a pleasure working with them all. Got to make a nice impression on the next generation of media members. So shout out to them. They're the real ones of the week, along with everybody else who helped us out along the way. All right. Um, I will end it here. I'm going to say, uh, I'm going to give it to the fans, man. Shout out to the real ones all out there. Um, four years ago, me and Raja, uh, started this just by talking and I don't, and I've gotten to like, you know, I'm getting a little emotional making this statement. But, um,

it, it was, it's been a dope ride the last four years. And, uh, you know, I'm excited for the next chapter of real ones. Um, and we will be back. So an announcement to that. When Ruins comes back in October, I will not be a part of the festivities. I will be on leave, going to have a little addition into the household. So I'm going to go take care of that. So I will be back. I will be back at the top of the year. So Howard and Rogers are going to hold it down when we get back.

And we get back into the fall, and then I will be back. in January. But yeah, man, I just want to thank everybody that's, you know, kind of been rolling with us, man. And I'm passing the baton to Howard and Raja, and I know they're going to kick ass. And it's kind of weird, man, because you just fall in love with the process of, like,

waking up twice a week and seeing your homies. And, you know, it's going to be an interesting adjustment, not being able to do that. So excited for the journey, and I'm excited to see what you guys do. And I will see everybody at the top of the year. And love, man. So, yeah.

So, the real one of the week is the real ones at large. And shout out to everybody, the staff record label and motherfucking crew that make this go right. So love, I will see you guys in January. And yeah. Yes. Serski.

We'll miss you more than you miss us. We'll see, man. But y'all kick ass. We will see you guys. Howard and Rogers. See you guys in the fall. See you guys top of the year. I, I, all the shits.

You guys know the drill. Let's do it on three. One, two, three. Bye. Let's be 21 years and older, 18 years and older in D.C. in president and select states, Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas

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