The Ringer NBA Show - The Knicks Are (Almost) Back, Baby! Plus: Listener Questions and Mad Hoopers! | Real Ones

Episode Date: April 19, 2021

The Ringer’s Trudy Joseph joins Logan and Raja to tell them why she’s so mad (0:22). Then, in the wake of New York's six-game winning streak, Logan and Raja talk about how the Knicks are (almost) back (4:54) and Steph Curry’s one-man show (23:15). After that they get into some listener questions (27:28) and find out why you’re all so damn mad (44:18). Thanks for sending in your questions, everybody! You can email us questions at [e-mail], or tell us why you’re so mad by leaving a voice message at 510-469-0294. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guests: Trudy Joseph and Jomi Adeniran Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join author and former vibe editor-in-chief Danielle Smith and Black Girl Songbook as she celebrates and uplifts the talent of black women in the music industry. Tune in for in-depth discussions with your favorite songwriters, producers, and artists, as well as anecdotes from Danielle. Plus, you'll hear the songs of black women who change the landscape of American music forever. Check out Black Girl's Songbook exclusively on Spotify. What's up, everybody? We're here with The Mad Hooper. Her name is Trudy Joseph. She works on Black Girl's Songbook. She works on higher learning. I can't understand why she's so mad. I just don't.

Like, she's having a great life. Baby hairs are popping right now. I don't get it. Trudy, why are you so mad? You know, I just think being a true Boston sports fan, you know, we go through some things. You know, in order to be a champion and elevate at the levels of which we elevate, you know,

it's not without sacrifice. It's not without compromise. and is not without mess. And I'm mad about the Celtics. Now I know you're on the 6th Street, the 6th game winning streak. Jason Tadam was playing like a man possessed. Jalen Brown is stepping back into his bag.

Marcus Mark is a legend. Shout out you mass. You know, he came and recorded or did a music video with his friend, Trey Davis. So he's a UMass legend. For those of you that don't know. But I'm mad because I just feel like until the Boston Celtics

through right by Isaiah Thomas, it just is what it is. It will always be an almost team. Now, today, I know they're playing the Bulls. If you look at that injury list, it's a little ridiculous. The season was really just giving ghetto. Like, Logan has hit me up about the Celtics time and time and times again this year.

And I was like, bro, I'm just not acknowledging them. And it's because it was giving ghetto. And we will consistently give ghetto. It just is what it is. And I feel like the way that Danny Aange, I mean, I know he's a genius in some ways. And Brad Stevens did as IT. It just can't happen.

Like, you can't do wrong to somebody and think you're going to come up. Like, that's just not what this is. So that's what comes that something's always go kind of deep in the east and then let us all down in the end. So right now, IT's back. You know, he's back in the league. I don't think he's going to get a real up on that 10-day contract. So Celtics, if you're listening, bring my man back. Because the fans want it.

We need some more. brow boost. I know that South is, you know, they had a little personality issues going on in the season. Bring back the person we all can rally around. That's IT. Love you. Bring it back. But Trudy, hold on. Let me get it. Let me just get in here. Why you mad? Come get in. Listen, yeah, I know NBA clubs. Like, they're going to pressure you to play hurt. They're going to do what they do. They need to get every ounce of the penny out of you that they can. But like a player's got to know, like at the end of the day, there's no allegiance from the club. So I'm not rolling out there as half of a player. And then I would ask you, the Celtics didn't just give him away.

I mean, they traded for Kyrie Irving. And at the time, I mean, I'm weighing Kyrie or Isaiah. I'm probably taking Kyrie too. And now I didn't work out. But I can argue it like I was trying to get a better player in that deal. Yeah, close but no cigar. It's just something that didn't work out. You know, they shot and it was a brick. And I love Kyrie. Like, let's just put, let's just get this one straight now. I'm a Kyrie stand. I've been a stand. I've been a stand since, you know, his days playing in high school. I was a hoophole legend queen, always running through hoopaw. And I'm a Dutant. I'll just put that out now. So I'm really, don't do that face. Don't do that face. I'm a Kyrie Stan. And I'm going to admit, I was excited.

But at the same time, like, given the year that Isaiah had and really being in the MVP conversation and then just really shifting the culture and the chemistry, it's just something I don't think the Celtics have ever been able to recover from. And granted, I know that they're a team that was probably the most impacted by COVID this year. But again, like, you need somebody that people can really rally around believe in. And Kyrie for, you know, like it or not, just like really wasn't that person. He's an acquired tease.

I'm like Kyrie. I'm not for everybody. But IT was for everybody. And I really think that that is the thing that we're missing. We heard those rumors of people throwing chairs and shit in the locker room. And I already know Marcus Smart probably cursed people. out because he's about that life. But I'm saying I really feel like, you know, it was they just, it was the glue that held the team together and they just subtracted that and this is what you

get. Like, I fully believed in Lil B's curses and I fully believe in this I in this IT curse. It just is what it is. Real ones up next. It's popping. Real ones. Logan Murdoch here, Raja Bell. Roger. What's happening, bro? It's just me and you today. No, no guess. Just me and you. Bright and Sulla, a little mail bag time. How you doing? What? No, but I'm really excited about this mailbag. I'm excited too.

Right? I'm just really excited to see what people want to know. Yeah. How was your weekend, my guy? How was your weekend? Let's see, man. My weekend was actually really good. My mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and my three nieces are in town.

Steve Nash and the Brooklyn Nets were in town. And I wanted to catch that game, but I was coaching my sixth-grade son's travel game. So I couldn't make the game. Nash and I were supposed to get up for a cocktail after the game. but, you know, my coaching duties got in the way, bro. Oh, so you were the one that ducked this time. You were the one that had responsibilities missed out on an opportunity or something like that, right? Was that one?

No, not. Yeah, what happened was they had a team like a coaching dinner at a certain time, and I wasn't going to be able to get down there before the coaching dinner. So it didn't work out. But it was a good weekend, all in all, man. We, you know, kicked it a little bit. I got a house painting issue going on. I've told you about that.

I'm not going to get into that on the pod. Homeowners, I hope you feel my pain. Like, it was so much easier when we lived in an apartment. and just, you know, paid the building to take care of it. Some bullshit. But all in all, you know, not bad. You? I'm good, man.

You needed to get that off. I know you did. Anyway, I had a really chill weekend, man. Just really chill. Yesterday I went to the farmer's market, got some hummus, you know. No, you ain't going to do that. No. I'm so serious.

I'm serious. This is what I did. It's what I did. You don't like hummus? What's wrong with you? I love hummus. I love hummus. Is it?

Was it just an original hummus? or was it like an olive-infused hummus? It was an original hummus. It's probably, I got it a few weeks back. I forgot the name. I don't feel like walking to the fridge and getting the name right now. But it was, I got it a few weeks ago at the Lake Merritt Farmers Market. And then it was some of the best hummus I've ever had.

So I've made it a mission every weekend to go to the farmer's market. I went to a different farmer's market to get some hummus. And it's really good. It comes with peter chips. And what's good about this company is crazy, I don't even know their name. It's like when you, I have, we have the, we have jars. And when you bring in jars back, you get a discount. And I came through and I had like four or five jars.

I was like, yo, don't worry, it's all there, player. It's all there. So you got free hummus essentially for all your jars. You traded your jars for hummus? No, I got so, I re-up with so much hummus on the back end that it just like it was the same price. It's phenomenal. But, you know, I went to get some hummus. That made me feel good, Ra.

No, that's great, man. And I love when you find a thing, like we have a farmer's market right up the block. I love there's a vendor that comes in and it's like only on, what is it, Wednesdays. And he makes his own pesto. Like, it's a really fresh, like vibrant pesto. But if you don't get there like early Wednesday, by 2 o'clock Wednesday, it's all gone. So it's like my Wednesday gig. Like, I'm running up there to make sure I get this pesto.

It's great when you find something like that. Like, I got to have it. So sometimes full disclosure, we do podcasts. that on Wednesday we have a guest that, you know, to adjust with their schedule. So I ask, I say that to ask, do you ever just like, let's get this fucking interview over, what I got to get my fucking pesto? I got to get my pesto. I have to, I'm looking at the clock.

I need to get my pesto. Pesto's got to eat. I've got a pretty good, I've got a pretty good rapport with the people at the farmer's market at this point. Okay. So I can, they'll usually reserve me a pesto. You know what I mean? But if I want a few of them, I am looking at the clock like, yeah, we got to get the fuck off the spot. Got it.

Got it, got it. This is the first time. Usually we say this with an aggressive tone, but let's get to the shits, Raja. I love your tone today. Now you're just so mellow. Let's get to the fucking, let's get to the fucking shits, man. New York Knicks. Monica McNutt told us about this, Raja.

She told us about this. One six straight. Just beat the Pelicans in New York. 112, 12, 12. can we put our Tims and can we clap them together because the Knicks are balling right now? Are we, is it time to just say the Knicks are back? Blue and Orange Skies are back.

We need to get back to the garden. It's rocking like it's 95. Is Anthony Mason, the ghost of Anthony Mason here? Are we ready to go? Is it just like old times, Roger? Or do we need to chill? Hey, take those wheat Tims and pump the brakes just a bit. Just pump the brakes just a bit.

just pump the brakes a tad bit. They look good. And I said my brother-in-law is in town. He lives in Massachusetts now, but they've been raised Nick fans. And so we had this conversation the other day. Like he was like, I was out on the Knicks for years,

and I'm actually, you know, kind of coming back in. I think there are a lot of Knicks fans that are like that. They are trending in the right direction. There are some things to be really excited about. The nucleus, you know, is in place. I think they'll make the playoffs. But they're not back, Logan. I don't think there's the ceiling for that team.

I don't believe they be super high right now. Like I think they're playing great and we should be excited, but I don't know how high the ceiling is for that particular group, if that makes sense. I think that it doesn't matter, Roger. I don't think it matters about the ceiling right now. I think the Knicks have been so bad over the last, what, decade. They've been so bad.

Yeah, they had the Carmelo years, but even in the Carmelo years, it just wasn't happy. It just was not a happy time. in New York, you know, even kicking out the OG Charles Oakley during a game, not a good look, you know. Kicking out Spike from the garden, tough look, right? And that's what the headlines are for your organization. And then the product is terrible on top of that. The fact that they are, it's fun right now that the Knicks are even a story is good in itself.

Julius Randall playing just balling with the single braids in looking, you know, looking real nice with the single braids, balling. I think it just matters that there is some hope, right? I don't even think it matters that we don't even know yet if Julius Randall is a bona fide, you know, top 10 player. It doesn't matter, though. It does not matter. I'm happy with what I'm seeing because even Julius Randall is balling. I remember him with the Lakers. Remember him with the Pelicans was always a guy that was slept on,

but I think it also a guy where it shows that development helps and just give someone time. You will be rewarded. Just give them time. What do you think about Julius Randall's play, Raja? Julius Randall has been phenomenal. I would make the argument that not everybody is going to see the type of progression as a player that Julius Randall has had.

Not everyone has the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, talent like dripping like Julius did. I mean, you know, it's situation is is big, Logan. Like we talk about getting drafted to a place where there's kind of a blank canvas for you to be able to explore who you are as a player, give an opportunity and time to kind of figure out what works for you and develop as a player. That's really, really important. But even still, you could have a situation like that and a guy doesn't reach expectations. Julius Randall has continued to add to his bag and his game. He's continued to kind of stretch,

his ability to be out on the floor. And I don't think, I don't think this can be overlooked at all because I believe it to be a huge part of what he's doing now. He looks like he's in the best shape of his life. I don't know how many pounds lighter he is, but he looks like a completely different body than when he came into the league.

And that allows you to kind of get out on that floor, be more explosive and do things that you see him doing. He's a problem. He's a bucket right now. It's been fantastic to watch. And RJ Barrett, I said this when he was drafted, I think he's got one of the highest ceilings of that draft class. I mean, I think he is going to be a really, really good pro for a really long time.

RJ Bear was a guy that was, and this is something that pretty much that annoys me sometimes, RJ Bearer was a guy that people were like, oh, it was like a punchline his first rookie, his rookie year. You know, in some circles, because I don't know, he was 19 years old trying to figure it out. And in an organization like the Knicks, I mean, he had some. spurts and things like that, but I remember hearing like, RJ Barrett isn't the guy, isn't the guy. Relax, okay? It's just, you know, you had your first year.

You went through the Panini, and you're, you're coming out the light of the end of the tunnel. I'm really happy to see RJ Barrett ball out. Now, do we know if he's going to be a superstar? I don't know, but it is cool to see the progression happen. And that's how it happens. And at least, you know, I remember a time where there was, you know, development.

You wait for the, you have to take some long. It's not going to happen overnight. I think that there's a rings thing. Everybody chasing rings, obviously, rightfully so. I think in some ways, it's curtailed the development of certain guys because you're saying, you know, the asset time where like the Knicks, yeah, we're just going to get a big free agent. We're not going to draft or do anything.

We're just going to make sure the cap space is good. And we're going to figure it out from there. And it's just like, draft well, do the right thing, and it'll work out. And I think that R.J. Barrett is an example of that. It's definitely an example of that. Player development is a critical component, you know, and the best franchises have great player development in-house. Guys now have the opportunity to go out and find, you know, trainers in the off-season.

If they don't have great player development in-house, they'll connect with the guy, and you can see him on Instagram getting trained all summer, working on their bag, kind of, you know, expanding their offensive repertoire and so on and so forth. But look, the Knicks, what kind of gets lost in the NICs, because we talk about how good they are offensively. Everything we've said is about their offense. They're their top five defensive team in the league. And that's Tom Tidot, right?

Like that's what their DNA is. That's what his teams are going to hang their hat on. And it's just the old adage. They're like, if you defend, like you'll have a chance to win games. Even on nights when Julius Randall isn't a top 10 player in the league offensively or R.J. Barrett isn't, you know, necessarily living up to the hype of the draft. But if they're defending and you've got a team bought into doing that, they can kind of like stay afloat those nights

and give themselves a chance to win a game. And so, you know, I think, like, to your original point, I do think it's a great story. I think it's cool. I think New York should be excited. And then my point was, I don't know what the ceiling is for that. They're going to have to keep that defensive DNA

and continue to add, like, really explosive offensive pieces, you know? Because the reality is, I mean, we saw it with Memphis. They grind you out defensively for years, but they just couldn't score enough in today's NBA to be a top end championship like caliber team, right? And that's going to be interesting to watch the Knicks try to navigate the next few years. Hey, we've got these defensive chops. We've got a coach.

We've got some young stars. How do we get good enough offensively to put the two together and be possibly a championship contender? Yeah. And I think you brought up a good point with Coach Tibbs. The last time we saw him in a developmental type role as a coach didn't work out so well. The news wasn't built like that, man. They weren't built like that. They weren't for Tis.

This is time for you to talk. This is time for you to get it off, man. Just say it. We say it. Say it, Roger. Which, listen, I, what I'm going to say is, and I'll double down. Like, those guys in Minnesota, for one reason or another,

weren't built to take what Tibbs was preaching and the style that he wanted to play and buy into that. Not everyone is built for that. It seems like he's got a hard-nosed group of cats in New York that are buying into what he's preaching. And not everybody in today's MBA buys into that. I mean, like, it's, it's a generational thing. I'm going to come off sounding like an old cramudgeon. Not everyone bought into it in my day and age either, but I think you had more people buying into that style of play because it was a more gritty, more grimy style of play back then. And I'm not

arguing that aesthetically, that was better to watch. I'm not saying that. Like, it's really cool to watch these guys with their, with their offense. But guys want to play in tuxedos now. Like, Those are crying as soon as they get touched. Though I played in a six, we played a sixth grade game yesterday. Big, tall, lanky Anthony Davis looking kid, handling the ball, shooting jump shots, like knocking down three. He's tallest kid on the court. He got boxed out on a free throw and immediately starts looking at the ref crying about getting boxed out. And that's kind of what I'm saying.

The generation has been bred to like play in tuxedos. And when, you know, some people can get over it and some people can't. Tibbs wasn't built for them dudes. I ain't saying no names. He wasn't built for Minnesota. You saw Jimmy Buckets. Jimmy Buckets had to get out. Like, these cats ain't built like that.

A real one. A real one, Jimmy Buckets. Yeah, well, it's fun to see just it all come together in this way. I'm ready to get back to, I'm ready to get to New York and go to the garden and go to a game. That's the point that we've gotten to. We can get all back out and go to the garden. And it's one thing to go to the garden. We've both been to the garden.

It's a damn another thing to go to the garden when the Knicks are good. It's just a totally different energy, man. Speaking of the garden, after the game, and this is why I'm mad. We're going to get to the tell them why you mad on the call, but I just have to give a quick preview right now. Roger, can I tell him while I'm mad? Tell him why you mad, son? You know what, I'm going to tell him why I'm mad?

I am mad because after the game, After the Knicks game, they asked Zion about the garden. And it's just a set up question, what do you think about the garden so you can get a soundbite to call Zion a future Nick? Okay? We know what it is. And the timeline fell for it. Once again, we had, there was all the Tims were in the air, the orange Tims, the Blue Tims, the Wheat Tims, the Wheat Tims, the Black Tims, the White Tims. They were all out in full force.

I just want to say a collective, relax, okay? We do this every single time a player comes to the garden, every single time. Oh, man, we do this also whenever time, every time someone comes to Staples Center, right? Every time, oh, man, future Laker, future Nick, watch out, eyes, relax. I feel like I just get annoyed by that

because I feel like it takes away from the game sometimes. We don't even watch the game. We're just like, oh, such and such, he's going to play here next year. I just feel like it's lazy and it's just, it's kind of tired now. Because right after, you know, we get the, after he says what he says, even he and the answer is like, no, but I like New Orleans too. I like New Orleans. And it's like you put him in a weird position because he can't really stay in the garden like

somebody does without someone saying he's going to play for the Knicks one day. Let's just appreciate these guys for right now. When the Knicks thing comes or whenever that comes, it comes. But like, let's just relax on that. I just, that just makes me mad. Fair. Can I say you have a great point and then also plays devil's advocate for just a second? You do that all the time, Roger.

What's stopping you now? It was a great point, though, because I do, like, yes. There was a level of excitement in Zion's voice, though. I'm just saying. I can also say to you that I know 100% that he said next to playing in New Orleans. I don't imagine he will be a Nick anytime in the near future. I'm validating all of what you just said. However, I have seen interviews with Zion,

and he very rarely gets giddy like he did when talking about how exciting it was for him to play in New York. I'm just saying that is fair as well. Roger, you just said, I feel you, but I don't feel you. Like, what are we doing? No, I do feel you. I think your point is correct. People need to pump break.

he's not going to be a Nick. The man's not going to be a Nick right now. Like, that's not happening. Right now. I'm not saying that. All they're saying is just live in the moment, man. Let's just live in the moment. I'm with you.

But did you, you saw the interview, Logan, apparently you're talking about it. You told them why you're mad. You didn't see how excited that man was talking about the garden. We can't. He said he was talking about the garden, man.

He's talking about the garden. Okay. He wasn't excited. I mean, you didn't see genuine excitement in his face. Is all I'm asking. I did see genuine excitement. man. Okay.

I mean, I gave you your flowers. I can't get a, I mean. Good job. Good job, Roger. You're right. You're right. You're right, Roger. Fuck, okay?

You're fucking right. But the thing is, I just, I just want to, I just want to get to a place like, I just miss good old NBA propaganda, man. I just miss it. I miss 90s NBA on NBC propaganda where it's like we're living. These guys are just living, breathing legends in that moment, right? You remember when you used to watch NBA on NBC where it would be like, would Bob Costas would get in his bag about a Milwaukee versus Seattle game,

and it would make you feel like, damn, I might want to play in Milwaukee. It looks lit. It's time to go, you know? And now every time I watch television or I watch or I listen to a podcast, it's, you know, such and such might be playing here, huh? Watch out for that. And I'm just like, dude, I want to enjoy what such and such dude is currently doing on his current team. Can we just talk about that?

Can we talk about that instead of always, it's just such a predictable storyline now. And I don't care if they do end up going in free agency. Can we just talk about the now season now and what makes things important right now? That's all I'm saying, Roger. Fair. Fair? That's it. That's it.

Oh, you were saying something else? I was like, I don't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. All right, man. Before we get to questions, man, I just want to do a quick. It doesn't even have to be that long. Steph Curry's balling.

That's all we have to really say. Steph Curry is balling. He's on another level right now. I was watching the game on Saturday night. If he's not in the – I think he scored 47. If he's not in the game, the Warriors lose by 30. It's not even a question. Something – he's in a different bag, Raja, in a way that I just –

I never seen that. I ain't never, I'm looking. I'm like, I ain't seen you be like this before. Everything that everyone has said bad about him, or not bad about him, but saying just critiques, oh, he can't create his own shot. This motherfucker's shooting left-handed.

He can't. What is he going to do offensively when he doesn't have Clay Thompson there to, for spacing purposes? Doesn't matter. Put four guys on me. I'm still going to shoot a three and make it in everyone's face.

Give me a box in one. Don't worry. I'm going to still be the most efficient guy you've ever seen. I'm still going to go 14 of 21, which you shoot throwing six, seven guys at me. It's just incredible, man. It's incredible. It's incredible. And it left me the other night, I watched it, and the crowd started to gather around the TV because he was doing what he was doing. And I was left feeling like, man, I hope this isn't like the best basketball he can play and it's wasted. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like, I mean, there's something to be said.

for their team being so lean offensively that it allows him to just go ham like this. But I really felt like, damn, dog, if this is really his prime, it's going to take him a year. Like, you drop Clayback in next year, and it ain't going to click right away. You know what I mean?

Like, I really hope they haven't squandered the best because he is playing on another level. Yeah, man. And Steph is like one of the guys that when he's doing something, you have to get to your television. And that's in a league with LeBron, Yonis, Kevin, Kyrie.

James, but when he, it's a different level when Steph is cooking though, right? It's just a different thing. When he's cooking, you have to get to a television and watch it. And I know you, have, you've seen Steph play live, just like I've seen sure play live. The gravity in which he brings to an arena is just different. When he start, have you seen him, I know you've seen him on the road. Have you seen him at home at Oracle? Yeah, man. I was, I was there for the finals. Seaman. Okay, yeah, you were there for the fire. Yeah, yeah, we came out. I watched, I watched what he did. In fairness, I said squandered, that's probably, there's nothing. The Golden State didn't do anything to squander anything. I just hope that what he's doing now isn't, isn't going to be like for nothing. Yeah, he is incredible to Logan. I do think there's something to be said for, you know, people being able to relate to a dude who's more, you know, the size of a normal person walking around than a six, nine freaky athlete. Like, he's, he. He, he. You know, gives people some like, lay, look at this shit, man.

Look at this dude. Yeah, I remember when I was, when I was intern in like 2015. And it was during the playoffs. And for, like, at my level at that point, didn't get a seat in the arena. You would have to, you would get a credential, but you would have to chill, like, in the auxiliary press room or the press room. Mm-hmm. But the way Oracle was set up, like, obviously you could hear when the crowd would go crazy even in the, you know, especially. in when you're in the bowels of Oracle Arena.

You can hear everything. But me and a couple of the homies would make a joke was like, there's a cheer and then there's like a Steph roar. When Steph does something, you don't even know like who's, you can't hear who scored until the crowd goes. And there's just a different crowd noise when Steph goes. So I say all that to say,

if you guys have a chance to watch Steph when we're coming out of this, go get tickets, bro. Go get, go watch Steph Curry play basketball. because he's one of those. Yeah. So that's all I got to say, man. It's crazy to watch. He was bawling on Saturday.

It's giving him his appreciation. All right, man. Let's get to your questions. But first, I'll take a quick break. And we back. What's Haddon? Time for a real one's mail bag, Raja. I'm really excited about this.

We've gotten a lot of emails that Sasha, who was also here with us, had to cipher through. and she got some of the best. Sasha, how are you doing? I'm good. And I really wanted to jump in when you guys were talking

about the farmer's market because I have the same thing as Roger every Saturday where I have to like jump on the J if I want strawberries I have to go really quick because the strawberries are coming in now. Okay.

Okay. Yes. It's in season. Yeah. So how was it? Okay, before we get hit. It's in season. It's in season.

How was it to get through all these questions? What was the problem? process like for you? Was it, was it fun? Was it good? Did we get any, any fuck shit? What was going on? What's going on? We didn't get any fuck shit. And I enjoyed a lot. I do this from the mismatch, too, and I like doing this. It's very fun. It was very fun to go through the voicemails, too. People are mad. Let me just tell you that people are mad in the world out there. Are they mad at us? Or they just mad in general? No. I mean, there's one person who was mad at Raja, but it was sort of an old thief, lightly ancient beef

but we might hear from him later why he's met at Raja I don't know if he's still read it much and you only got one of those because I'm imagining there are a lot of those out there I mean there's at least however many kids were involved in this incident we're going to have to hear from that later now

so we got some written ones and we got some you got some boys memos, right? Yeah, we're going to start with questions, and we'll start with one from Stefan Gray. Okay. Oh, shit. Jomi's here. Jomi's here.

Jomi just appeared. Jomi just appeared. Jomi. Oh, shit. Keep this part in, too. Celebration. All right. Jomey just appeared right as we're doing a mailbag.

This should be fun. Okay. Okay. Hey, let's assume Terry Stott's getting that ass fired at the end of this year. What potential moves would you make if you're the GM? what kind of coach would you look for? Would you be pro breaking up the Damon C.J. back court? Raja.

I think I'm going to take this first. I think I'm going to take this first. I think it's a hard thing because I don't want to necessarily do this. But yes, you have to break up the CJ Dame back court. If you want to get any better, they have run its course. It kind of is what it is. They peaked at the Western Conference Finals in 2019. You got to break it up.

You got to break it up. If you want to do something really good, I think break it up, a potential move, which would be fun. For years, the Portland Trailblazers have won Draymond Green. For years, bro. For years. Like, you could hear it during the Western Conference finals when they were playing. You could hear it in the stands how much this fan base wants it. I'm not saying trade. Bro, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not telling him to trade

for it. He's old now. I would just like to see it. I don't know how to trade would work, but I would just like to see it. That would be fun. If he gets rejuvenated and actually plays hard every thing. single night, you're happy to see it. But you have to break up Damon, CJ. Yes, one, you have to do that. What do you think, Rajah? I mean, I'm cool. I think they're both fantastic, but I've always said when you got two small guards like that, there's a cap on what you can, what you're going to be able to do. So yes, if championship is the is the goal, then you're going to have to break them up. And no one's fault. It's just, you know, size is what it is. As far as Dremont goes, I would disagree. I don't think

Dremont gets them over to hump in any way, shape, or form. No, no, no, no, no. I said I would like to see him when he's not going to get him over the house. I got you. But if you gave me Draymond and some other kind of starpiece that could get buckets and do his thing, I'm with you. But I do think I'm with, I'm with Logan. They probably got to break the record up. Hey, what if you traded C.J? And I'm just, I'm just, I'm doing the annoying thing.

We're in a vacuum. We're to vacuum. Let's go. All right, cool. Let's go. Like, what if you traded C.J and swapped him and got like a fully healthy Clay Thompson and Draymond in Oregon and Portland? That would be fun. team. That'd be a fun team. Now we're talking. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying

I'm just throwing shit. I'm just throwing shit. That's too much money, right? That is. I'm saying, I'm also saying some other people from on the Portland side. Definitely. I'm just saying like, I'm not good honestly. Full transparent. Just for shits. I'm not good with the deals and the picks and how the money would work. All I'm saying is if Dame fully, I was also saying fully healthy Clay Thompson, which is also another thing that this might not happen. But I just say like a Dame Clay backcourt with Draymond doing Draymond shit. You get a big, I'd like to see it, just to shake shit up. I'd like to see that.

That'd be fun. Something we talk about here is CJ for Ben Simmons. CJ for Ben Simmons. We talk about that in this house. You would throw that, you would, hold on, hold on, hold on. We got Jomey. Jomey, get your, get your mic. What's going on?

I heard what did you say? What's going on? There's no way they would trade Ben for CJ. That's, that's a pipe dream. That doesn't make any sense. The Sixers would never do that. Thank you, Roger, for clarifying. The Sixers would never do that.

That'd be a fun, sorry. That'd be a fun team, though. No, we know, but like, that would be good. It'd be fun for you. It wouldn't be fun for the Sixers. Also, Terry Stott's. of the beginning of the question, assuming Terry Stutz gets his ass fired. That's a big assumption, man, considering he has been in Portland through hell and

high water. There's been a lot of times where he probably should have gotten fired. It has not gotten fired. Yeah. For the shelf life of an NBA coach, he has been around. So I don't know. I don't know. Can we be fair?

Like, they've navigated a lot of injuries this year, man. It's not like they're, I mean, they're hanging on. Absolutely. But that's just every year now for them. Yeah, I guess. It's like last year was the same. And the year before that. And the year before that, they just like, like, at a certain point,

you're talking about, like, how many guys do you have on a team who can't stay on the court? Yeah, so trade one of those guys for Ben Simmons. Yeah, you know, it's just, it's simple. It's simple. Simple. All right. All right, all right, all right. So there you go.

What's the next question? What's the next question? Okay, I have a great question for Rajabelle, from Ed. Edward Vanda Brink. Oh. Yes. Oh, okay. Oh, yes.

Very European. In 2006, Raja hit the game-tying shot in Game 5 Western Conference Finals against the Clippers. Was that play called for Raja? How did it feel to have the pressure of taking a shot like that? And how big was the missing of Amari Stademey during that play of Ron? How much did you miss Amari? That was a really good question. Isn't that a really great question?

Send it more like that, Be like Ed. Edward. Edward. Vanderbrink, it was. Yes. Van Denbrink. My bad. I think Van Denbrink.

Van Denbrink. Missing Amari was huge that whole season just because there was another Hall of Fame type finisher around the basket we were missing. But it also allowed Boris to kind of be Boris and have the ball in his hands and kind of helped our offense. So we missed him. Boris stepped in and did an admirable job. He was great.

That play, I believe. There were two timeouts called. So when we came out of the first timeout, the Clippers kind of took away what Mike had drawn up, and it wasn't for me. And in the next time out, when we went back, I had one of those moments where I was like, I'll make the fucking shot.

And so Mike called a play where I faked like I was coming up to the ball, and I slipped to the corner, and Boris hit me right on my hand. So it was drawn up for me. I told him I was going to make it. And I think after the play, you can see me mouthing, I told you I'd fucking make it. And it was pretty cool moment.

It was a big shot. Follow up on that, Raja. You said that you were the primary option on that play. Were you the guy that get the ball to is get the ball to Raja? Yes, correct. So on a play like that, that's very interesting because your name isn't Steve Nash. I don't know if you know that. Your name isn't Steve.

No, that's strange. Who is the second guy? What was it? Tim Thomas on that team was making big? shots that year, Tim Thomas? Tim. What was it about Dan Tony? I see Jomey over here looking hurt because Tim

Thomas crushed a lot of souls in L.A. But what did it say about Tim Tom? I'm not Tim Thomas, Mike Dan Tony that he would just give a role player, a guy, like, you got the hot hand, boom, you take the shot. What was that? Did you have the confidence? Did he have confidence

in other guys to take the shot? Yeah, we had multiple, like, game winning opportunities. Like, Mike would spread it around. If you had a hot hand if like he had confidence in all of us and not to not toot my own horn but i ray allen and i led the league in threes that year like i was shooting over 40 some percent and had more makes no was it me it was sorry it was me and gilbert arinas so mike wasn't afraid to put the ball somewhere now clearly steve is our best player and given the opportunity i think the first play was probably for him but they were selling out to take that away so then that opened up like an opportunity for

me to slip to the corner but i always say that was the beauty of mike he As soon as you got there, empowered you to, like, do what you do by just showing the utmost confidence in you, right? And so, you know, he didn't give a damn. I remember going 0 for 9 in Oklahoma City and being just dejected. And Mike came to me in the locker room after the game. First of all, he encouraged me to keep shooting. And after the game, he was like, don't worry about that shit. He was like, you're over 40% shooter.

He was like, if you let it shut you down now, you're never going to know. But I'd be willing to bet that you go on a streak of like eight in a row. The next night in Staples, I was like seven for nine threes. It's just the way he rolled. Synergy. That's pretty dope, man. That's pretty dope. I really like that in a coach, man.

So, yeah. And also, man, I give you a lot of shit, Roger. Pretty decent basketball player in your time. Bro, get out of here. Bro, get out of here. No, my way to hear Logan, talk that shit. Get up out of here. Roger fucking sucked.

Go ahead. Let's do this one. fun. So this is from John P. Desero. I recently did this illustration for Vanity Fair for the April issue about the most fashionable Hoopers in the league right now. The article picks Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, in order, PJ Tucker, Jason Tatum, Sergei Baca, and then they added Kelly Ubre as a sixth man. Okay, man. So do you have any thoughts on this? Maybe Raj has some fashion stories from back in the day. I don't know, just a thought. John P. Desero.

Go ahead, Roger. You got the most swag in this thing, man, allegedly. Hold on. We need to talk about this list. The Kyle Kuzma disrespect is just out of order. The Kyle Kuzma, disrespect, Joe. It's out of order. It is out of order.

His hair is too bleached right now, and I think that it's, I think it's messing with his brain. I think the fumes got to him that first game, and it's just too, it's a little too bleached right now. But he's always dripping. Always. And he gets disrespect because I think that people don't understand that L.A. fashion is always the cutting edge. that in like five years, you're going to be seeing everything he's wearing in Minnesota.

Yeah. You're saying when Carl Anthony Towns goes to the Lakers. That's right. Anyway, okay, so I am with you on the disrespect of one Kyle Kuzma. Okay, man, let's relax. who, Vanity Fair, like, is this person 35 years old? Man, Chris Paul number one? I'm going to need them to relax.

Like, no, we need Kelly Ubre to be number two behind Kyle Kuzma. We need him to be that. Jason Tatum, I mean, he wears sweats. You know, nice sweats, designer sweats. Also, you know, he did wear one of my potting his brands during the bubble. So, you know, run the world. Vic, he did wear one of those shirts. That was cool.

But he wears sweats, you know, like cool sweats. You know, it was very cozy. PJ Tucker, solid number three. Okay, solid number three. We could say that. Sergeant Baca, see him at four. Definitely could see him at four, okay, with the scarves and things like that. No Shea Gilgis Alexander love?

No SJA love? Huh? What's going on there? He's tapped into the streets. All right? He has all the palms angels. Okay, he has all the designer stuff right now. He's wearing the 85 Jordan ones from then.

Okay, he is the centerpiece of Converse. Put SGA in there, okay? Also, I think my sixth man, who I'm going to say is, and I don't know what I'm going to get for this, I think someone that's been bringing it, honestly, Kevin Durant, I really like what he's been wearing. I like what he's been wearing. He's been rocking the Grinch Kobe's, been rocking the dunks.

I really like what he's been doing, man. whoever his stylist is right now, or maybe it's just him doing a great job because I remember in the beginning of Kevin, he might get the most improved player of the fashion thing because in the beginning of his career he was trying way too hard, okay? Kevin, I know you listened to this. You were trying way too hard in the beginning. And now you are just in your bag right now. I respected this real bohemian vibe right now. A lot of Bob Marley T-shirts, you know, a lot of Barack Obama t-shirts. I like it now. You know, back in the day, it was just, it was like, I don't know. I don't know. But now I like what you're doing. So, Katie is the sixth man on here. That's my list.

I have nothing to lend to that. We haven't even talked about Jared Dudley's tan sweaters. We don't have to. His knee length tan sweater. No? No one, no one acts for that. You know when I get into that.

Are they half zips? Are they half zips? Also, also. They have powerful buttons. That made me think of Phoenix. Devin Booker, great dresser. Devin Booker,

out of the stars, great dresser. How do you see? what all these cats are wearing. Like, where the hell are y'all looking to see? Because I follow a place called League Fits and I'm actually followed more than 18 people on Twitter and Instagram. Okay? I'm actually tapped into the streets. Yeah, Roger. You're not outside. You're not outside. Let me just keep it a buck with you. Knowing what an NBA player wears is, ain't tapping you into no goddamn streets. There's no street tapping there, bro. That's not knowing what's going on in the streets, bro. You know what NBA players are wearing. You don't know anything that's going on the streets, Roger. That's why we have a younger

people to tell you what's going on the streets. You old as fuck. Dog, when, what, listen, when, I guess, maybe you're right. You wear ankle socks, my G. What are ankle socks? What are ankle socks? What are ankle socks? What are ankle socks? What are you just regular socks that are on your ankle?

Fairly explanatory. Yeah, you know, no show socks. They go up to your ankles. This is why that I answer this question alone, because Roger doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about about anything. He wears underarmament with Nike. You're a bugging. bro.

Hey, you're a bugging. And, and in fairness, we did wear big baggy sweatsuits and jeans and shit like that. I'm simply saying, my guys, nobody gives a fuck what people are wearing the games, man. They actually do. They're supposedly do. They literally do. Then they're bugging to. All right.

This is a whole market. That's what I'm saying. I give a fuck. It cares what nobody's wearing in no goddamn game. Fuck out of here. All right. All right. Swaggerless Roger here.

Next question. Sasha. Wait, wait a minute, wait a minute, hold up. Hold up, hold up. Oh, what's up? What's up? So you were on my Instagram yesterday talking reckless as normal, right? I get my shit in my DM.

And so I put something up on mine, right? Like I threw you up on my story. And I had a homie that I haven't spoke to in a while. Find a picture of you in your outfit and actually hit me with like, yo, bro, anybody looking like this can't even make their mouth up to say they can beat you in a one-on-one. So your swag I'll be real with you

isn't tapped into the streets as you think it is Hey hey As tight as As tight as them jeans was I probably couldn't play basketball You would kick my ass bro So

What else we got here? What else we got? What's going on? I'm ready to go This has been fun This has been fun Let's do a mad Uber I'm going to do the like written one

And then we have a bunch of We have a few of the voicemails to do. So this one is from Chris and he says, let me tell y'all why I'm mad sons and lady sons. The stipend rule, full disclosure, I have no idea how to say that.

Could be stepion, could be steeping, could be stipend. We can't come to a group decision on that. As there's Houston Rockets die hard and trust me, we are dying all caps right now. I am furious that my bum-ass franchise couldn't get more for one of the three to four, four best guards of the last 25 years, all because of some boneheaded owner in the mid-80s

that traded all of his picks away. I'm sitting here watching an assortment of G-League players Chuck Bricks every night in a hopes that maybe all caps, we keep our top four protected, but only 52% chance of being protected, even if we are one of the four worst teams' first-round pick. But Brooklyn can get all caps, my favorite player of all time, and all they really gave up is four picks and three pick swaps. They don't give a fuck about because they're about to win a ring. If I want a return

for that ring, paid in full, I want my relevancy back, I want good basketball in a Rockets jersey again. I can't have that, but at least more picks instead of these meaningless pick swaps. Please, Chris, the hopeless Rockets fan. Sheesh.

I feel your pain, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was tough. I just want to say, man, I feel for all Rockets fans. I didn't think I would think this, but I do, man. I loved going to Houston for the conference finals,

and I loved watching good basketball out of Houston. Houston has been historically one of the best franchises in the league for decades. When you go from the Twin Towers, when you go for Ralph Samson and Akeem Olajuwon to just Akim Olajuwon, they've always been relevant to James Hardin, to Tracy McGrady, have always been relevant. And to see that, I've never seen the Houston Rockets just give up. as an organization, and they just did that right now.

The fact that you didn't want to trade and potentially get Ben fucking Simmons because you had a beef with your old general manager? Yo. That has goofy ass fortita written all over it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Chris. Mike DeAntoony, Mike Deontoni used to say this.

You take it for granted. You think it's like common sense, but it's really not. Like, not everybody's going to win a championship. So let's at least be exciting. Do you know what I mean? And people take it for granted because when they're exciting, they want to win that chip so bad and they give up anything to win the chip.

And you forget about your point, Logan, is we're relevant. We're playing good basketball. It's fun to watch, even though we didn't win a chip. Because the flip side of that is chasing it and falling into like the dumpster fire that you've become. And now you want to just be relevant and have some good, solid, fun basketball to watch. So when I hear that, it brings me back to listen.

And it might be like, hey, man, we're going to try to win it. But in the absence of winning it, We're just going to be as exciting as we can be. Like, what was the, the Houston's biggest rivalry during that time was the Warriors, right? I know Rockets fans hated the Warriors, but I bet they would trade places with Warrior fans any day right now. They would trade, and they would try to be a ninth seed and just be relevant every single time they play on the floor. And it sucks, man. I feel for you, Chris, because Houston's a great city.

I love Houston. love the breakfast club. I love screwed up records. I am sad that I can't just go there anymore with real stakes. I'm sorry, Chris. Shout out to Houston. Sorry. Man. Yeah, devastating to read. It sounds like a warrior fan from 98. Okay, let's all listen to this Go Bear voicemail. What up, Rob? All right, let me tell you why I'm mad. This is David making Georgia. Let me tell you I'm mad. Because I watch a lot of NBA basketball. I got league pass. I'm jumping around. I watch a lot of Utah Jazz in particular. I love watching them roll. Here's what makes me mad, though. Other night, I'm watching. Rudy Gobert, I thought for a second somebody shot him. He just went down. He got touched. Went down like he was dead. Lays on the floor like 25, 30 seconds. Gets up, act like it's fine. They want to put him in concussion protocol, and he's fine.

So here's my thing. How do we stop this? How do we stop this flopping, trying to get fouls? I mean, I get it. It's part of the game. I'm a gamesmanship fan. But at some point, we got to start, you know, suspending these guys for quarters or something, because it's nuts. As a viewer, I'm stressed out.

I'm watching this guy. I'm like, man, this is a season-ender. and then he just gets up wants to roll up to the foul line like it was nothing. So that's why I'm mad. Makin Georgia. Shout to all my people's in Georgia, man. David for Maken,

what's having him, Brody? Shout out to Makin, Georgia. Shout out to Georgia. Yo, this is something that Sasha has been telling us about. This is for Raja. I'm going to let him go, but I'm also going to call him because he do be capping sometimes.

So, Roger, go say what you got to say, but I got some shit for you, bro. David, we're talking to, same language, buddy. Like, I really appreciate that because I, too, am not a fan of the ride the round and pain move and then get your ass up five seconds later and be good to go. Like, where are we as a league where a cat like barely rolls his ankle and he's got to lay there for seven minutes before he gets up, walks away under his own like power and is back in the game five minutes later. What happened to the days where like you dislocated your fingers, you walked over your trainer,

you got them pop back in. Like you got hit in the head or you got split and you got to take some stitches and you walk over to your trainer and say, hey, my guy, I need to get stitched up real quick. You run in the back. You take your stitches or your stary strips.

Maybe you don't even get stitched up. Oh my God, that's crazy, right? I didn't even get stitched up during the game. I got stare strips. And then we'll go get stitched up after the game. These soft-ass dudes, I don't know what's wrong with them. Real talk. Now I'm losing my shit right now.

I'm all in my back because it bothers me. I got 12 and 13-year-old boys. They play football and basketball. If one of them little fools gets knocked down on the field And they're laying there That's what I tell them Get your ass up Get up and get off the field

I'm hot And you know I'm hot Because I texted you guys the other night When I saw when I saw somebody go down And I was saying it there Fucking say who Who? It was fucking Juan T

It was Juan T man It was Juan T And I'm sorry he's concussed And I'm sorry that he got stitches But I watched him fall over that damn table You have to lay there for three minutes man Bro You could have got up and walked off

bro, Roger, Razzie. He did get up and walk off. He got up under his own power and walked off. We spent so much time watching referees just go, hmm, hmm, oh, at the table. And then we're also going to spend five to ten minutes while Anthony Davis hurt his bomb and then he just gets up. Sasha, hold on.

We're changing the subject right now. Fuck this. You know I got to go in right now because this motherfucker brought up a town legend and I'm not going to stand for it. I'm not going to fucking stand for it. Juan was legitimately hurt, okay? This motherfucker, I talked to him yesterday about the shit. He fucking got a big-ass gash in his fucking head.

He has a big-ass gash and a concussion, bro. How does a gash stop you from walking? It doesn't, unless the gash is on the bottom of your foot, you can still walk. Juan is a bad example because he did. did walk off. Unlike motherfuckers from your era, Paul Pierce, who fucking got in a fucking wheelchair. And he's from your air. He's your age. Got a motherfucker and I clown him too. That was that, yes, and cried and then came five minutes later like he was fake Willis Reed, but at least Willis Reed was hurt. That's got nothing to do with anything we're talking about here. He's from your air, right?

It's got nothing to do with anything that we're talking about. Yes, that is an outlier in my area. Generally speaking, when I watch basketball games, now there are guys like Steph, Steph rolled that ankle deal in the night. Steph do. He walked that shit off. He said, get the fuck away. Don't look at me. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Now, the Donovan Mitchell roll of the ankle, that's a full roll. Like, you've got all your weight coming down on just that ankle. That's one where you get off the court.

Like, you ride if you need to. That's a bad, bad sprain. But some of these, we don't need the theatrics, dog. Like, you can just get up and get your ass off the court. Hey, all right. If we're going to talk about theatrics, Jomey, I'm going to need you to bring this clip but real quick. Raja Bell, King of Theatrix,

preseason game in Anaheim, California against Kobe Bryant. He fucking flops. Doesn't even get touched. And Kobe's looking at him in shame. You want to talk about theatrics? Bring up Raja motherfucking bell.

You're comparing apples and oranges. We're not talking about flopping. We're talking about, we're not talking about like gamesmanship and selling. Here's another thing I got to beef with Sasha. I don't know how you feel about this, but now I'm going.

I didn't have a problem with you flopping against me. And in today's NBA, like, the flops have gotten so bad and the fakes have gotten so bad that you could get people fine because they think it's a flagrant foul. Like, no one was ever out there trying to do that in our day. When you flop the way you flopped in that game? I was true. There weren't flagrants given out for those games. I was trying to get an offensive foul on Kobe. If I could get an extra offensive foul on Kobe, it kind of slows down his.

It was preseasoned, bro. I don't give a fuck. I'm, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Preseason. I'm just going to say this. I just want to say this. Like lighten up on Raja because it's preseason. All I'm getting from this, all I'm getting from this is that Raja listened to a lot of fucking hardcore hip hop when he was growing up.

He listened to a lot of DMX, listen to a lot of shit that makes you want to bang your head into a fucking wall. I still do. I was DMX on the stairmaster yesterday, bro. But what I'm saying, man, cats are different. Cats are built different. I am that old dude. But I'm trying to raise my two young ends like, listen, unless, if you. If your head is really messed up or you cannot get up because something is really injured, that's one thing.

But if you're just something is hurting or you're cut or something like that, me and mommy are not coming out on that damn field or court to get your ass. Get up and walk off. I want to respond to what Rajna said really quick. Go ahead, Sasha. Because he was talking about how they're now like people are acting so injured that they might be giving out flagrant. People are flopping so hard and going for the foul so hard. that they're injuring other people. That's fair.

Yes, that's fair. That is giving me a heart attack when these shooters are like diving into people to shoot and then knocking them over and like they're about to injure them. So that's the other part of this where it's like now we're just going too far in the other direction where we're flopping so hard and we're diving so hard into people then we're knocking them over and they're the ones you're supposed to get the foul on that. And it's just ridiculous. We're going to injure some people doing this.

ridiculous. Well, I like that he brought up Rudy Gobert as an example because, like, you know, Rudy Gobert do be flopping, but it's mainly the shooters these days. Like, Trey Young, especially, you know, get you on his back and then slow up, and flail to three-throwers. He probably says that when he shoots the ball. Do the sound again. What was the sound? What's the sound?

Uh-huh. It like, you know, and then like, Dame will come off the screen and as soon as you try to, you know, get over it. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, am I lying, though, Logan? Hey, Logan, am I lying? No, no, no. No, Logan, am I lying, though?

I don't know. It's one of the toughest plays a guard right now is going over the top on a good shooting ball handler on a high ball screen. Because you can't trail hard or he's going to stop and give you that. Exactly. And shoot it up. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Everybody does that. Trey Young does that.

I don't know if I've seen Dame Lillard. I don't have a beef. I don't have a beef with that play. I mean, it's, it's tough to. to regulate that. Because again, like, you know, you come off the screen, like, game shoots from wherever. So that's not out of his range.

But the NBA's got to look at, like, how you're supposed to guard that, right? Like, as a defender, how you're supposed to come off, you know, come and try and go over the screen on a guy you know who's shooting. Yet, if you even come close, either whether it's the defender

or you trying to make contact, gets three free throws. You know, so that's something that, like, hopefully, you know, the league will take a look at it. because it's not enjoyed about to watch people parade to the free throw line every night.

That's not, that's no fun. And then there's also just the like pain, the like, the aspect of this that's just like, are we soft with pain now? Like, is it just like, if something hurts,

you stay on the ground for minutes on it? And I do think the referees being at the table for 15 minutes every time, they need to like look at something. It adds to like players thinking, but that's like okay kind of. It's just like, It's not that maybe they think it's okay, but that's just the vibe of the game now is like,

let's take minutes out to just like do nothing. And as viewers were just like sitting on the couch being like, okay, like, is this season over? He is writhing on the ground. And then he just gets up and he's totally fine. And it's just like annoying how much stoppage of game. And they complain about the referees all the time. And it's like, you guys are also creating stoppage of game when you're riding around on the floor for something that's,

Now, I'm not saying that I wouldn't be writhing around on the floor if something like that happened to me. Yo, Raj, wait until we get to the one-on-one game. We're probably going to film it. Roger hits me with a bow. I'm knocked out. I'm gone. And I'm fucking suing. We got to have a medical standby.

What's the next? Like the duels. Yes. Yes. We're back. I'm the Duke. First of all right. Hey, I'm the Duke.

You're going to be a fucking Duke. Fuck you. We're going to fuck you. We're going to fucking do it. Okay. We have one from Jaron. This is Jaron from Phoenix, Arizona. Or he was at least 13 years ago.

Hey, my name is Jaron. About 13 years ago in Phoenix, Arizona, I was in the Raja Bell Basketball League. It was a kid's basketball league here in Phoenix, Arizona. we were told that Raja Bell would be attending the championship game and meeting the players from both teams. My team ended up making but losing the championship game. But my question is Raja Bell never showed up to the actual Raja Bell basketball league championship games.

I just want to know where Raja Bahl, what Raja Bell was. Thank you, guys. so I'm going to answer my question. Bye-bye. Phenomenal. It's phenomenal. Was it Jared? Is that what he said his name was?

Jared. Jaron. Why are you scamming people, bro? No, it's okay. Roger was played in the finals that year, right? He was playing DVD-no? No. No.

Of the Roger Bell League, possibly, but not. Sharon, my man, first of all, apologies. I don't even remember having a league. like I was just going to keep it a buck. I didn't even know there was a Rajabelle league anywhere. He pulled it.

Certainly no one contacted me to go make an appearance at the finals because I would remember that. Bro, you pulled that. No, it really begs the question. I don't remember having a league, Logan. I never ran a league. This man, Jall rule. I remember.

I remember when I was a kid. I'm not going to, I remember when I was a kid. I'm not going to say any names. I promise you, I'm not. I don't say no name. But I went to this camp every year. And every year, this dude said that he was in a, like, you know, he was tapped. He was tapped into the league.

But every time he would come in, he would be like, yo, I'm bringing, I'm bringing such and such to the camp. Right. And every year, it would be like some big name. And every year, we would systematically like, so it was a week-long camp. And every year, he would make. excuses for why the person wasn't going to end up showing up on Friday just to like show why he's not showing up. So like Monday, yo, such and such showing up Tuesday, y'all being, y'all being bad. I'm not going to bring such a such. We're being fine. We're being kids. Y'all being bad. I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do it. Wednesday. Wow. I can't believe you guys are acting this way. I'm not bringing a person. Thursday comes around. He had, he was on the plane. I told him to go back. He ain't coming this year. phenomenal. It's a little going to call the whole league, the Raja Bell League, though.

And does not even... I mean, I'd like more information. Was it run out of like some sort of gyms? Like, was it like a L.A. fitness type of league? I don't know. I have no idea. How did I, like, this is a legal kind? How did I use your name without your likeness without you?

Can you sue for that? Like, what's going on? Yeah, but I'm having to imagine it went through someone somewhere that it got okayed, right? Like, I had a publicist, maybe there was a league, but I was not aware. I do camps all the time. Like, it was one of my things. Like, I love to be at a camp, meeting the kids, saying hi.

Like, it's kind of a way to give back. Seriously, I still do it. So I would have been there if I had known. I just had no idea. This man was hosting basketball camp Firefest, bro. Raj's a fucking scammer. Ross is. It's Rajah rule.

It's what this is. Let's keep it a buck. Rajah rule. Hey, Jared, my bad, bro. I don't know what to tell you guys, man. And all the kids have missed out. Email us at Real Onesmailbag at gmail.com and give us more information. Yeah.

Give us more information. We want to know who ran it. You know, what was the deal? Did they do that thing that Logan's counselor did where they were like, hey, he said he was going to come, but you guys have been naughty. So, you know, I told him not to. Give us some more information. As I'm an adult, that makes zero sense.

As I'm an adult, that makes zero sense. Because, like, if you're talking to somebody and you know as an athlete, Roger, you guys have to plan for stuff, especially in the offseason. If you plan months in advance, I'm going to go to this camp, especially if you're going to go from wherever you are to the Bay area to California, you're not going to cancel it just because somebody said, like, these kids are being bad. Well, then I'm just not going to go to the camp. I'm going to go to fucking the Bay. I'm going to go to San Francisco. I'm going to go somewhere else. You're not going to just cancel.

A fucking trip. Because somebody said kids were being bad. No. Bad-ass kids, bro. Okay. Okay, let's do one last one. This is the last one we're going to talk about, but I think it might be fun.

I had a couple of more that I wanted to play, so I might just play them at the end of the episode. Okay. And we don't have to talk about them because I just thought they were funny. Okay. So this is the last one we're going to talk about. Let's do it. All right.

Logan, Roger, Real One, so I appreciate you, appreciate the show. This is Scott, Paulin, from the Chicago area, but I wanted to tell you why I'm mad. It's Draymond Green, all right? Draymond Greens, he puts his foot in his mouth

regularly. Sometimes it seems like the only time he opens his mouth is to switch feet, if you know what I mean. But this comment that he made on KD's podcast about how young players are too friendly, too soft, too anti-competition,

bro you won 73 games with the Warriors played in the finals lost the finals in seven games and then called Kevin Durant your friend from the parking lot and asked him to join your team

okay so you don't get to say that players are too friendly and anti-competition when you did the most friendly anti-competition act in recent memory. Like, bro,

the lack of awareness on Dreamline's part is wild. Like, how do it get more anti-competition more friendly than calling up the best player on a rival team that took you to seven games in the conference finals and asked him to join you?

Anyway, Logan, Roger, appreciate you. I want to hear your thoughts. A big, big fan of a podcast, first time to call her. I know that's a radio thing, who cares. But thanks for keeping it real, thanks for keeping it a buck.

We're forward to hearing from me. That was great. That was great. That was very messy. That was great. I will, let me stall Dre out real quick. Let me stall Drake out real quick.

I would say he's just taking the baton from hypocritical old heads. He is now a hypocritical old head. It's what it is. You know, Jordan and them said, Oh, we're not buddy, buddy with people. Meanwhile, this dude is out here golfing with Danny Ains before a playoff game, right? It's what it is.

They even acknowledge it in that same podcast that they're being, they're being old heads right now. Okay? It just is what it is. It's the baton. Now, everything that bro said was factual. But he's just taking the baton. I'm just trying to shoot my man's Dreemoss of bail right now. Hey.

Yes. Hey, look. I, you can't, I mean, what is there to say? Like he just, Draymond did what Draymond did. But I agree with you, Logan, as time goes on and a younger generation of player comes in, you transition into the next role.

And the role for them is elder statesman, like, you know, real judgey, judgy of the young cats. We all went there, right? And then when we retire. Also, who one of, openly one of Draymond's, I think also the, the argument they said on the podcast was you can be friends, but on the court, I'd feel like they're too buddy, buddy, buddy on the court,

was their argument on that podcast. That was their argument on a podcast. That's a thing, though. And he said that, like, when me and Kay used to play against each other, we used to be at each other's necks, which was all so true, right? So it's very nuanced. However, that was hilarious call, and I think our best call, and I think that he had made valid points.

Great points. Great points. Yeah, he made great points. You ain't got to keep trying to hedge for Dremont. You're good. He got him made great points. He called him out. Points for me.

Points for me. Points for me. Yeah. All right. Damn, that was, that was great. That was a great one, man. Let's not go too long before we do this again, man. The mailbag show was phenomenal.

Let's fucking do this again. Maybe some time before playoffs or something. I don't know, man. But thank you to Sasha. Thank you to Jomi. Thank you to Rajah. Thank you to everybody out there, man. Everybody who shot us a voice call or memo or whatever it was.

Yes. That was great. That was love. A lot of real ones out there, man. Thank you guys. Let's do this again sometimes soon. All right, man. And that was another edition of the Real Ones Pod, man.

And make sure you check us out every Monday and Thursday. Check out everybody on the Ringer NBA feed. That is group chat. That is the answer. Also check out the mismatch. Also check out Black Girl's Songbook with Danielle Smith Town OG. Make sure you check out R2C2 with who, Rajabelle. Baleo legend C. C. Sabathia.

Fucking right. Make sure you check out the Ringer music show. Also, one of my favorite podcasts right now is 60 songs that define the 90s. It is one of my favorites. I think it's one of the best that we have on the Ringer feed with Rob Horvella. I appeared on that podcast. I'm not saying it just because I appeared on the podcast. It's a really good show.

Also, check out TV concierge. Also, check out all the shows on the Ringerverse, including with Mallory. She takes on Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I'm pretty sure, which I just started. And Jomey, who was on this, also does the mailbags every Tuesday. And also check out the motherfucking Midnight Boys every Friday with Van Lathen and Charles Holmes, okay? Poo-Pee! And I just, I just put out everybody on the whole ringer feed, basically.

Make sure you check out all our ringer pods. We'll see you guys on Thursday. Ah. They're God awful. Like, I live here in the DMV area. I've been a Wizards band my entire life. I grew up loving basketball because of John Wall. Sorry, Logan, sorry, Roger.

But my God, bro. Tommy Shepherd is such an in a NEP GM. He doesn't know where the hell. The direction is franchise is. It just screams. Holy shit, we have Bradley Beale to do something. But we can't rebuild and we can't make fucking progress with this team because Bradley Beale's always injured now.

Russell's, like, trying, but the rest of our team is just dog water. I'm so frustrated with our team, man. I just want us to tank and get a draft pick like a Cade Cunningham, but you never know, man. Our mark is too small. No one wants to come over here. We just need a free Bradley Beatle and honestly free bruce, too. This is crazy. That's why I'm mad.

That's why I'm so mad. It's crazy, bro.