The Ringer NBA Show - The Lakers Are Imploding. Plus: Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Kevin Durant. | Real Ones

Episode Date: May 3, 2021

This Monday, Logan and Raja are joined by The Ringer's Danyel Smith of 'Black Girl Songbook,' who tells them why she's so mad (0:23). Then they talk about the Lakers' implosion that we are all currently witnessing, even after the return of Anthony Davis and LeBron James from injury, with a little input from noted Lakers fan producer Sasha (6:25). Then they talk about the Bucks' victory over the Nets on Sunday night and who would win in a seven-game series if they met in the postseason (36:25). Last, but not least, Logan tees Raja up to rail against the lack of fundamentals in the league and among youngins these days after Steve Kerr’s comments to the same effect (48:35). Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guest: Danyel Smith 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 changed the landscape of American music forever. Check out Black Girl Songbook exclusively on Spotify. Hey, and welcome to the Mad Hooper segment. We have a very special guest, a town legend, the first female editor of Vibe, the host of Black Girl's songbook. I don't get why she is so mad.

We have Danielle Smith on. I don't get why she's so mad. Daniel, Danielle, why are you so mad? Oh, I'm mad. I'm like, for real mad. And I think it's finally time that... That's why I'm glad you guys are having me on the show because I think it's finally time for someone to speak up

on behalf of Reginald Rondo. A long time basketball fan here. I'm old enough to remember when Magic was playing for the Lakers, and I went to high school, actually, down the street from the Fabulous Forum when they were playing there. I was just speaking to the great Mr. Bell about his years of Phoenix and disappointed Nick's fan when I was living in New York. But then I came across in 2017, known as the Boston Celtics. And the reason that I started paying attention to the Celtics, and this is where I start to get mad, is because I'm a longtime Kevin Garnett fan. So when Garnett went there, I was like, okay, so you know what? I'm putting the jersey on.

I'm a Celtics fan now. I'm a Celtics fan. That's it. And I rode with that team until it kind of broke up, until a homeboy that everybody thinks is the greatest three-point shooter left the team. What's his name again? I can't remember. I feel like he was in a Spike Lee movie, but I don't really mess with him because he really

just completely like, I don't know. It was just meaning what he did by leaving the Celtics the way he did it. But the thing that I think that people are always asking is, is Rajon Rondo good enough to go into the Hall of Fame? And my thing is, yes, he's going to go in as the Celtic. He's going to go in as a Laker. He's going to go in as a clipper. And eventually he's going to go in as a coach and possibly an NBA executive. Rajan Rondo.

Rajan Rondo is an elite guard. He is a leader at the age of 22 years old. He took, and I say this with nothing but love. Oh, asked Kevin Garnett, crazy-ass Paul Pierce, wild boy. asked Kendrick Perkins, who else was on the team? I mean to tell you, like, and just led them to a championship. In the first year they were together, it wasn't as if there was this thing like, oh, well, you know, we need a season to jail as other big threes have needed a time to jail.

Rondo was basically like, we are going to do this and we are going to do this now. And he had some big wild personalities that he had to deal with. and they went to the championship. They went almost again, what, a year later? It only took Kobe to bring them down. Do you remember when Dway tried to break his elbow on the court and Rajan stayed in the game for a few more possessions, holding his arm all crazy?

Do you hear me? I'm losing my voice. Oh, and also, let's not even talk about what he did with the Lakers and how they had to go find his ass down in Texas and bring him back to the Clippers. I'm just saying, am I mad enough? Do I sound mad? You sound mad.

You sound angry. Yes. He sounds very better. I'm very better. But can I just tell you how it all came to fruition for me? Can I just tell you the quick. Tell us, tell us, Daniel. Personal, Rondo story that I have.

Yeah, tell us a story. Okay, so I'm at, this is pre-pendemic. And a friend of mine used to work at ESPN. And a friend of mine who still does work at ESPN, call me and say, hey, girl, you want to go to the game. Cool, cool. Come on, go to the game. She had good seats.

We're sitting down close. And she says, oh, my God, that's Rajon, Rondo. family right there. They're watching. It was Laker game. It was that season. It was that season when they didn't even make the playoffs, right? Was that that season? Okay. So, LeBron was sitting on the, yeah, right? He was sitting on the bench with a mask. No, he didn't have a mask on. He was just sitting on the bench. And she's like, that's Ronald's family. She knows them through her work. So Rondo's brother comes over to speak to us. And she introduces me to him. And she says to him, this is Daniel Smith.

She's a huge Rondo fan and she's just super happy to meet you. And she continues on and then he goes just wait, slow down.

Did you say that you're a Rajon Rondo fan? I said, yes, I'm a Rondo fan. He said, specifically to my brother, not like a Celtics fan or a Lakers fan,

but you are a Rondo fan. I am a Rondo fan. He said, please sit with us. Please join our family. Please come down and sit, closer and sit with us. And then afterwards, they invited me to go behind the scenes to the tunnels of Staples. And do you know who I met in real and true life?

Who does you meet? Who did you meet? I met Rondo. I met Rondo. Oh, man. Oh, my God. I met Ron. I'm no longer mad. I'm happy now. I'm happy now because I'm telling you, I'm telling you my favorite story. I met Rondo. And you know what he was? Super nice. Oh. Like super nice. You know how he seems kind of. kind of mean and kind of strict and stuff when you see him on TV. Sometimes he does. Right. A lovely gentleman.

And you know what he said to me? He said, my brother told me that you're a specific fan of mine. I was like, yes, he says, I don't really know if people have said that to me before. I don't know that that's been said. So this is me coming out as a Rajan Rondo fan, quite possibly the president and CEO of the Raycham Rondo fan club. okay. I don't even like the clippers. I can't really can almost say can't stand the clippers. But Rajan Rondo, you can take it from me right now. It's going to be in the finals this year. Boom, boom, boom.

Oh, okay. All right. That is the leader and perhaps only member of Rondo Hive. We'll be back. What's happening? Real ones. Logan Murdoch here. Roger Bell. Monday. We're here to pot. What's going on, Roger? We're potting. Fucking potting. We're doing it. We're doing it. It's potting right now. It's ready to go. We got Sasha in a minute. How's your weekend been, man? How you doing? I had a good weekend. Do you really ask me that? Do you like the stories? Like, do you like to hear like the shit that happens?

Or it's just your normal way? Is that your way of opening the pot? Because if you care, I'll tell you. It's twofold. It's one, it's a good way to open the pod. And two, I fucking love your homeowner stories. I love your homeowner beefs. I love the Homeowner Association Beefs. I can't lie. I love those. I love the world according to Rajah, the homeowner's world, according to Rajah. So, you know, yeah. Well, allow me to get into my bag then. So I'm in the shower Friday night, big weekend, right?

My son turned 14 yesterday, going to have a few vaccinated friends over to celebrate because this would be a second like COVID restricted birthday. We didn't do shit on the first one. So we're kind of excited. Everything's got to be right. Got to get the house in order. I'm in the shower Friday night. And the shower goes cold.

And I'm like, uh-oh, that's not good. We have an in-ground propane tank here in Florida, like the fuels like my hot water heat. and my stove and my grill and all that. So I'm like, fuck. I go out, flashlight in the ground, like lightweight, afraid of snakes being out there, but I'm kind of looking in the meter. It's like zero.

So I'm like, shit, my wife's going to kill me. I wake up Saturday morning on the horn 8 a.m. No propane can be delivered until Monday. So we are literally, I am in a doghouse all weekend. And it's all your fucking fault. It's all my fault because I forgot to check the propane tank. I got no grill to cook on for my son's birthday, where everybody's coming over.

I got to go by a charcoal grill. I'm not great with the charcoal, so I'm burning chicken, taking cold fucking showers. You feel like a terrible father, husband, all the shit, huh? It was tough. But we pulled it off, dog.

But that was my weekend in a nutshell. So I'm waiting for the gas man. How often do you have to, like, re-up on propane tanks? Like, is this so new to me? Well, how much, what do you have to do? So this is a massive in-ground propane tank.

It's not like a little one that you, you know, set next to your grill. This is in-ground. And real talk. maybe once a year, Logan, and that's why it makes it difficult to, you know, I'm not checking that every month. It's a once a year deal, so it sneaks up on you, and just timing couldn't have been worse, right? But we pulled it off. My wife's a bee. She pulled it off. We salvaged the birthday. Young and had a good day, so it was all good. They salvage a birthday. No thanks to you,

Roger. No thanks to me, sir. See, this is why I ask, how was your weekend? Because you have really entertaining weekends. You just do. And for everyone but me? I was the mofo in the corner yesterday getting like side eye from everybody because the chicken was burnt and I fucked up the gas grill. Your pain leads to our entertainment is literally what happens. That's that's why we do it. That's why we do it. I'm glad I could be of some amusement to you, bro. Man, well, you know, propane will be back today.

You'll be okay. You'll be fine. You'll inch out of the dog house. You'll be a right. Man. So the Lakers are implicated. That's a great place to start. So the Lakers lost, I think it was 121, 113.

The score is irrelevant. They lost to the Raptors. But after the game, they were, you know, they are now six places in the West, a far cry from being the top team in the West before LeBron went down. And then he came back. And now they're Owen two. They're playing disconnected. They're quite frankly, they're playing like shit, Raja.

And so they are now at the sixth seat in danger of being into the play-in tournament. And LeBron James, after the game, says he's talking about his injuries, he's talking about the subject of the postseason. And then the playing game comes up. And he says, quote, whoever made that shit needs to be fired. He is the latest person to rail against the play-in format. the other person was Luca Donchich who railed against it but you know what they have in common

Roger? Yeah, they're in the playing series, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're in the bottom half of the Western Conference, right? They are, it's convenient for them to say the playing game shouldn't happen and the playing tournament shouldn't happen. It's very freaking convenient. I don't want to curse too much.

We're going to curse in the show. I don't curse too much yet. But they're in the tournament now and now it's getting a little harder. Now it's cool. What do you think of this? Does LeBron have a point? Or is he just salty right now?

He's salty right now. And he's allowed to be salty. Things aren't going great out there. They're feeling some pressure in L.A. Even LeBron isn't immune to feeling some kind of pressure. So, you know, this is it manifesting itself. Because LeBron knows as well as anyone that the league, the NBA as a whole is as successful because they have no problem getting creative and trying new

things and kind of stepping outside of the box. If they didn't have the ability to do that, one in Duns or straight to the league type of players like LeBron's would have never happened, right? So their willingness to kind of try new things and explores what makes it, in my opinion, you know, the greatest league in the world. And so LeBron knows that. But LeBron, is frustrated with what's going on in L.A. LeBron is frustrated that he's in a playing game and he knows his team isn't playing great right now. And there's kind of legacy on the line.

He'll be fine, but this is a little bit of pressure manifesting itself in these comments. It's not a great point. This is entertainment. At the end of the day, the NBA is about entertainment. It gives the fans something else to be entertained by. Let me give you a quote from 2020 before the last postseason, before they went to the bubble from LeBron.

James. He says, you got Portland, you got Memphis, New Orleans, and Sacramento tinkering around there. So if there's five games, five games, there are 10 games left, why not let these guys battle it out? Make them play each other all five games. It's a direct quote from LeBron James. He said that when there was the initial tinkering of this format and bringing the format to life. You know what the Lakers were? I think they were the top team in the Western Conference when this happened, Roger. That's strange. That's a bit strange, right?

He said it on the road trip and podcast, his podcast. Or not his podcast, but, you know, of uninterrupted. And he said that. That was very interesting. I'm just, just say for what it is. I don't like the playing game because now I got to deal with the playing game. And it's very possible that they make it to the playing game right now because here are their games remaining, Roger Bell.

They have the nuggets tonight. They have the clippers out. Playing great. They have the clippers next. Then they have the Blazers. Then they have your sons. Then they have the Knicks. Then Rockets, Pacers, Pelicans.

This is a fuck. This is a fucking schedule. This is a schedule down the stretch for the lake. I see why. I see why LeBron is feeling some sort of way. However, this is what makes it entertaining. This is what I thought. they keep the playing tournament for all of eternity.

This is awesome, you know, because if you slip up, you got to be on your shit. If you slip up, you could be play your way out. A team with championship aspirations, if they get it together like the Lakers could be out of the show. And I think that that is, those stakes are pretty fun. Are you all in on a playing game like I am? I'm all in on it. Listen, I like the drama.

I mean, I'm not sitting here telling you that if I, were on a team with championship aspirations, not playing my greatest basketball right now and maybe slipping into that territory that I wouldn't be singing a different tune. Roger, Roger. From what I know about you now, you would have been railing against that playing game

if you guys were a six seat. You would have been a hypocrite right there. I'm 100% saying that I could have been that guy. But as I sit right now on the other side of the microphone watching, I'm all for it. I like the drama. I like, you know, I always felt... You know, if you, I've been in the situation with Utah where I was a nine seed and it went right down to the wire where we were, we could get in.

Like my first time in Utah was my second year there. So it was probably like, oh, four or five maybe. And we lost out, I think, by like a game. And so there was still some, there's still some, oh, shit, we can get in and it took us right down to the wire. So you're still invested as a player. I've also been on teams that are squarely in. And I've been on teams that are squarely out when I was in Charlotte. And when you get mathematically eliminated and you're the nine.

seed or the 10 seed and there's nothing there, you know, like it, it's tough. So I like, I like having those last four seeds having something to play for there, right? And, and leaving a little bit of intrigue. Maybe you can sneak into the nine and get yourself into the playoff game. I enjoy it. I just, I could be singing a different tune if I was playing, but right now I, I like it. Okay. So I like it too. Now, the Lakers are playing, one, they're playing garbage. And two, It just seems It just, it seems like, you know, there was always something that we would say,

like the Lakers can turn it on, at least I would say, Lakers will turn it on, they get it together, they'll figure it out, they'll figure it out. They have, you know, championship aspirations,

the defending champs, all that stuff. Now, I do, a part of me believes that, but after what I watched against the Raptors last night, they were all types of ass. They were bad.

It was all types of bad. They were all types of ass. Okay. Yes. Anthony Davis, you could still see that he is favoring that injury. I don't know how much does Achilles still hurts. I don't know how much that is affecting him, like, pain-wise.

But he's definitely lingering on that. That's something that he just, you could see he's lumbering all over the floor. They just look discombobulated as. as a whole staff record label in the crew. And I want to bring in producer Sasha, who is our resident Lakers fan, to talk us through this, to help us talk through this. Sasha, are you around?

Sasha. No, I'm here. I'm here. Now, Sasha watches a lot of Lakers on League Pass, and everywhere she can get her Lakers stuff. I have to have, like, four different subscriptions so I can get every game. I don't know. Maybe they should figure that out at some point.

Somebody should figure that out. That's a note to the NBA. based on what we're seeing right now, Andre Drummond has not been a thing, has not been, what are your initial impressions about the Lakers right now, Sasha? Right now, I am having a worse time than I was

when both Anthony Davis and LeBron James were injured. So I'm having a worse time right now than a couple of months ago or about a month ago, when it was like, oh man, like the Lakers have really been able to hold it down in the absence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That's so great. They didn't fall. How is it that we're falling into the play in after LeBron James and Anthony Davis have come back?

We didn't fall into it before. And now we're falling into it. So I don't understand. We just lost three games. I'm just tired of losing to teams that are. tanking is basically how I feel about this. I don't understand how we're losing the teams that are tanking. The Lakers lost to the kings who are clearly,

they're not going to be playing. They're not tanking, but they're like not good. They maybe should be. They might. They probably should be tanking, to be honest. So the kings and then they go against the Raptors who have all but like gave them up on the season with injuries. They are absolutely taking.

I just don't get it. I think that, Raja, we were talking before this pre-show, and I do want to get Sauter's opinion on this, on the Andre Drummond signing in what it's been so far. And last night, we saw Kyle Lowry just go bonkers on the Lakers. And obviously, there was a chance for the Lakers to get a Kyle Lauer. Or get Kyle Lauerie, right? What do you feel about the moves not getting Kyle Lauerie and now getting Andre Drummond right now?

Like, what do you feel about that? I already told you. If there was any truth to the rumors that Talon Horton Tucker held up to Kyle Lowry deal, then shame on you for the Lakers. Like I think he's a good player. I know LeBron likes him, but that was not going to hold up a Kyle Lowry deal, provided the rest of the deal was palatable, right? Like you weren't getting robbed to try to get him.

That was not, Kyle Lauer would have been a much better fit. I thought Andre Drummond could help. And they are the number one team in the league defensively. Like, you know, they rebound the. ball, they're big, they're stout defensively, even though Pascal Seaccom lit them up too last night. But offensively, they're just, it's not, it's not there. There's not, the chemistry doesn't seem to be there. And while this isn't the question you asked me, I'm going to say it.

Maybe I give AD a little bit of a pass because he's slightly injured. But his injuries play into what I'm about to say. I don't think he's the guy. He's not, he is a phenomenal talent. I've said this before. but I don't think he's the guy that LeBrona is going to be able to pass the torch to and he's going to keep your franchise in championship contention for the next decade. He's just he had opportunities to do that in New Orleans and you're going to tell me

at a bad team and this and that, but I'm going to tell you the same thing I told you about Kevin Love. Like you're good enough to get them in the conversation, but you got to be on a whole another level with the mentality and everything to have them vying for championships with you being the number one dude. And he hasn't done that. and he's always injured, and so I have my concerns. And Raja, that's why it's so important that we kept Tailing Horton Tucker.

Oh, because he's going to be that. You better stop, Sasha. Sasha, Sasha, Sasha. Here's a thing. This is the big thing. It's also not a one-to-one. It's not like we didn't get Lowry and we got, like, drummond in place of him. I'm like, I don't think that was a one-to-one necessarily,

but I agree that Drummond has not worked out. I'll put it there. I don't think it's a one-to-one, but he hasn't worked out. The reason I disagree with you on that point is that, okay, he, okay, THC could be great in five years. That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if he's good in five years. They need him to be all-world right now if he's going to be all-world right now.

It can't be averaging eight points a game. I have to at least be averaging 18 right now, right? Like he has to be, hey, hold on on, Roger, hold on, Roger, because I've been hearing this for Sasha and Jomey, and I'm freaking sick and tired of it, okay? You go get Kyle Lowry because you need another dude at point guard for the next two years and not the next five years. You need a guy that's going to help with this window.

Who gives a fuck about what's going to happen after this? We need someone, the Lakers need someone that is going to win, help you win right now. Thty the A points that's fine That's cool But you can't have him be 96 Kobe right now You need him to be 2000 And in 2001 Kobe This is not what we're doing right now

Roger, what's going on? What do we think? Dog, I'm gonna call co-sign on that And I don't mean any disrespect Tolland Horton Tucker Me either Who said he's gonna be fucking great Like I

Do you know what great means? When you reference 2001 Kobe There, Again, no shade. He could be a really nice player in the NBA. He is a really nice player. I don't think he is a franchise dude. Like, he's not a franchise guy.

So, like, the window of opportunity is the best thing that you said. Logan, it was the point. So you kind of took it out of my mouth. Like, you're trying to win now. LeBron is in win now mode. AD is in win now mode. Like, you need pieces that help you in that window. You're rolling the dice on that.

But again, I would say, as much as I like Talen Horton Tucker, It's not a piece that I don't think I can recreate with something else at some point or I can hit on another like diamond in the rough. I don't, I don't view him and maybe I'm wrong and he can throw it in my face in five years. I don't think he's going to be a great NBA player. Is Kyle Lowry 2001 Kobe? Because I think I'm going to confuse by the equivalencies here. That's not the. That's not the.

What I'm saying is. But I'm also hearing that we need Taylor and Horton Tucker to be 2001 copi. but we should have gotten Kyle Lowry, who is like 30 million years old. No offense to him. No, what I'm saying is. Of course, I'm respect and love, but no offense. What I'm saying is he's 96 Kobe right now in the sense that, right now he's 96 Kobe in the sense that he's a lot of potential.

He's a baby, though. That's what I'm saying. He's not a one. But this reminds me, this Talon Horton Tucker talk reminds me of like 06, 07, Andrew Bynum talk where it's like, we're not letting him do anything. when he's averaging like eight a game. We're not going to trade him to get like anybody because he's the crown jewel right now.

And I'm probably like, like, Chip Buss, he's averaging 11 right now, bro. Like, we could go get some, we can go get a piece if you just trade Andrew Bynum. Like, it's fine. Also, Andrew Bynum wasn't in our crunch time lineup. Okay, you put Lamar Odom down there and you can go trade to get a piece.

It's fine. But I just feel like that right now where it's one of those situations where a player is showing a lot of potential. But the Lakers are, need potential right now. They need bona fide dudes. That's my, that's my beef right now. This seems like a big, like,

woulda, could or shoulda conversation. And it's like, you can have your opinions about what they should have done, but ultimately right now we're dealing with the team that they have and they have their two best players back and they're playing worse. So my biggest

like beef or concern or just general feeling of malaise overall about this whole situation is that Anthony Davis has had like one game where he looked okay

and the other games he looked bad and then LeBron James is LeBron James but it's for whatever reason it's not having the effect that it has had and maybe that will change but we just lost the three games

that we needed to go three of three and we went at 0 of 3. And we lost both of the games to Dallas. So now we lose the tiebreaker. I'm interested to know what happens with this Blazers game because the Blazers have the tiebreaker on Dallas

and Dallas has the tiebreaker on us. So what happens if we get the tiebreaker on the Blazers, I actually don't know what happens there. But currently we're all tied and the Blazers are, it goes Blazers Dallas Lakers because of that tiebreaker situation. But if I don't know actually what happens if the Lakers get the tiebreaker

on Blazers. We'll see what happens with the Tybreaker situation. Roger brought up a great point though that I don't think we need to escape by the fact,

the AD conversation. This is what we're trying, this is what we need to have a conversation about the AD conversation because this is something that we have talked about offline for a few months now

and Roger has brought it to the streets, so now we have to talk about it. I am an agreeance where he definitely has number one talent. He definitely has number one talent, right?

No question. And body. Like the physical attributes he's there. And he even goes on runs where you're like, damn. Like he even did that in New Orleans where he goes on runs where he's getting 40 and 20. He's averaging that for like a 10, 20, 10, 12 game stretch, right? But there are some things that I can see people getting, people are getting frustrated with. Like there's just this time where like he's just so there's the rap on him.

him where he's so injury prone, but players get frustrated with what happens, right? Like, there's another, there was a time on Sunday night where he gets hit in the face and he lumbers for the whole time under the basket. And Vogel has to call a timeout. To that point, he just got hit in the face, right? And then when he comes back, you think like, oh, man, AD is hurt. AD, what's going to happen with AD? He comes out of the timeout perfectly fine.

Like, it's perfectly fine. And I think that those are these type of things that I think frustrate people in general. And like, I love AD. I think he's a great player. I think he's a great player. But I would like to explore. Is he a number two in your eyes, Rajah? Is he a, what is he right now?

What do you think he is? What you just described when you were talking about a guy who could go on great runs and all of that. But then it's relative, like, there's inconsistencies there. That is a very, very good number two. Maybe that maybe one of the- An overqualified number two. Well, absolutely. I mean, because if you're going to, someone in Brooklyn is a number two, right? Like, who would you characterize in Brooklyn as the number two?

Would that be Kyrie? Would it be James Hardin at this point? Would it be KD? But anyway, you pick one. They become a number two. And I put Anthony Davis kind of in that category where he is phenomenal, probably, you know, qualified to be a number one with skill set and ability to score the ball and all of that. But there's more that goes into that equation of being a number one than just your physical attributes and your ability to score basketball. Availability is one of the major factors in that.

Consistency is a huge component of being able to be a number one. Mentality, like the way you're built up top, what you can withstand, what you can take in terms of how thick your skin is, both from the media, from your coach, and from the players that you're playing with. All of that goes into being a number one. And I'm just going to say, I know that he is a phenomenal talent.

But I've always said, I don't believe him to be a true number one. Like, if you're a true number one, your teams are vying for things when you are at the helm. They are burgeoning on winning shit. His teams have never done that when he is the number one. They don't do that. You pair him with LeBron and those teams win. Why? Because he's able to just do what he does.

And you don't have to look for him to be the number one. That is LeBron. The problem for the Lakers is, and I'll use this relay, race analogy, you've got LeBron sprinting as like the third leg of a relay, right? And he's coming in with the baton and he's slowing down organically. He's got to slow down to pass that baton. LeBron's getting older. Like there's not enough juice left in the tank.

He's got to slow down. But that next guy's got to be building up his momentum before he gets the baton. And he's got to be ready to go. And AD ain't ready to go. That baton's not ready to go. So when you pass that baton as a Laker fan, like it's, he's not the guy. That was a take. So, like, my question is, like, if LeBron, my thing that's been disappointing with me,

if AD, you came back before LeBron should already be, there should be a run in place to help LeBron get through, right? And I know that there was minutes restrictions, there's things like that. But when the minutes restrictions are all, like, it's time to go. It's time to go. It's your time. I picked AD to be the MVP this year. I picked him to be the MVP. And it's kind of disheartening to be like, as I thought, hey, LeBron's passing a torch.

I need you to average 30, 15. You know who else thought that? Big boy stuff. You know who else thought that? Fucking LeBron. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

LeBron's like, hey, bro, I have to pass this fucking torch. I know it. I need you to average 30 and 15, please. I need you to be 2000 Shaq. I need you to be whatever, I need you to be 0304 KG right now. We need it. But it's been disappointing, man. Also, Anthony Dave, not Anthony Davis, the other AD, Andre Drummond.

I just, sometimes I feel like, you know, there's always the buyout market and there's always where in the moment you're like, yeah, everybody's trying to get this guy. We need to get them. Right. And, you know, Brooklyn was after Drummond, a few other teams. Lakers obviously were in there. Lakers got him. But it doesn't seem to be working to the point where it's like, where people are asking, should Mark Gassall be playing his minutes?

Should Mark Gassall be starting and Drummond coming off the bench? I don't know about all that, but I think that that shows where Drummond has come into this offense. Is he one of those guys that we talk about that isn't really good? You look up on paper like, damn, he's averaging this and this? And why isn't this, why is it this adding up? What do we think right here with Andre Drummond? How do you think about him as a player and what he can do for the Lakers? Do you think that it's going to be a thing where he can bring the Lakers over the top?

Or is there some work that needs to be done? Let me be clear. You take LeBron and AD as much as I just said, I don't think AD is a number one. I do think AD is a phenomenal player. There's a big difference, though, when you're talking about it. of number one. Having said that, you give me them in a seven-game series against most people, I'm not betting against LeBron James. So I want to put that out there. I'm not betting against them. But there are some real flaws in what's going on. I think that Andre Drummond does not help them

offensively. And that's where they need the most help. I think Marcus Sol's skill set, given the opportunity to be involved in that offense, being involved, accepted in the offense, and his ability to kind of facilitate and pass the ball, I think could be very, very valuable to a Laker team. I don't know why it hasn't worked. I'm not out there, quite frankly, I don't watch every Laker game, so I'm just speculating.

But I see their struggles offensively, and I do think his skill set would help them on the offensive end. Andre Drummond should have been looked at, and I know his numbers don't speak to this, nor the money that he's going to make. He should be an accentuating piece of what you're doing. He shouldn't be a focal part of what you're doing. you're doing on a team like the Lakers. He should be just a nice complimentary coming here,

defend, rebound, and get your 10 to 15. If you're relying on, you can't put a piece, a cog that big into that wheel and the style they want to play and think that that's going to work overnight. So here's the thing. And this is the conundrum that the Lakers face right now is that AD or Dr. Andre Drummond is playing for a contract next year. He's playing for a bag next year. And all the politics that go into that of him playing for a bag are coming into play right now, right? You want to put him on the floor, even if there's a better option because you made that commitment to him, right? And you don't want to necessarily lose him.

I don't know how long you can do that. And I don't want to say the sky is falling, right? There's a myriad of other factors that the Lakers have to deal with. But it's just a weird thing, right? Like if A, if Drummond continues to play like this, does continue to do the empty stats and does continue to play bad, it's going to be one of those things where it's going to be in a bow face where like, hey, you're just going to have to come off the bench. Maybe, I think, what do you think? Do you think that that happens or do you think that they just, politics is going to win in the end? I think you have to decide what you're after as a franchise because if it makes sense to bring them off the bench, fuck the politics.

Like, I'm bringing them off the bench because I'm trying to win a championship. I would say, like, if you're, if you're the Lakers and you want to retain, you know, the option of him returning on a new deal, you've got enough of a sample size of Andre Drummond. And I think this is a conversation that you can have. Like, listen, man, if we really do, I'm not saying I would, but I'm saying, if you're saying, hey, I'm going to bring him back on whatever deal he wants next year, Dre, listen, right now we're in the middle of this chase. Things aren't really playing out the way, you know, we need them to play out. We need a little bit longer of a time to figure out how you work in this, okay?

Having said that, we already know who you are, bro. You've made your money already by the stats that you've put up throughout your career. So feel secure in the fact that we're going to offer you to hold bag. You're going to get it. I don't know if that's it. I think he's trying to play his way out of town because I don't think the Lakers can keep him necessarily. So then the next point, if I'm the Lakers, I don't give two shits about what he's trying to do. You're already here.

I'm going to use you as I see fit to try to win this championship, understanding that I'm probably not going to sign you back next year anyway. Right? So, like, my point is in either case, you got to do what you've got to do if you're the Lakers to try to put the best product on the floor and give yourself a chance to win. You know who you owe that to? Yourself, your team.

Yourself and everybody else on the damn court, including LeBron James. Yes. Well, we just to spend 30 minutes on Lakerland. We're going to take a quick break, and we're going to talk about. some other generational superstars. And we are back. I said on the tease that we were going to talk about generational superstars,

and I'm not disappointing. Kevin Durant versus Janice, I did a cumbo on Sunday. Janus had 49. KD had 42. It was one of those games where it was like one of those regular season games that, I don't know if they necessarily means anything in the grand scheme of things. but it was a fun duel to watch. It was a great, great, great game to watch.

You know, Janus first play of the game gets an alleyup pass and dunks all over Kevin. It was nasty. It was nasty. It was fucking gross. It was great. But that happened. And then Janus is just bullied his way to 49. And Kevin was like, the Nets didn't play a great game.

all together and Kyrie struggled a lot. James Hardin didn't play. But it was one of those games where Kevin was like just going. He was dealing. He was hitting threes. He was fucking balling. And he didn't match Yonis, but it was one of those games where, you know,

you see a team, I don't know if the better team overall won on Sunday. Now the Bucks won on Sunday. Yonis balled out. Everything happened. But I just, I got the sense that they still weren't the best. better team. Have you ever watched one of those games, Raja?

Sure. And that happens. I would ask, what about Brooklyn suggested to you that they were the better team, though? Just a gut? Like, what's, what is your reservation about saying that Milwaukee, it was the better of those two teams or is the better of those two teams? Well, because even with, even with Janus's outburst, Brooklyn Nets like they could have still won the game. There was no, it wasn't a definitive win in the way that it was like, oh man, that they they kick, they demoralized Brooklyn.

No, it was that Kyrie was off. He still hit a couple big threes down the stretch. And one of the things that was really interesting to me when I was watching the bucks down the stretch now was how far they lay off of Janus with the jump shot. Now, Yonis, his jumper was on yesterday. But down the stretch, he did get a great up and under move against Blake Griffin. But there was a lot of other moves where he was just like they're leaving him wide open. I just wasn't confident that in a playoff series and a seven-game series that he's going to be able to win when there's a wall around the paint.

It was just nothing about this game even suggested that that was the case. Oh, it was just an all-night and he bawled. But I don't see that happening in a seven-game series. They're going to build a wall like they all. always do in front of Janus, and he's going to have to beat them shooting jumpers. And even after Sunday, I wasn't convinced that he could still do that. Okay. I think it's fair to not fully buy into the sustainability of Janus knocking down.

He has to prove that it's just that he's going to beat him. I think that I'm still in that stage where I'm just like, okay, he did it in a regular season game. Who cares? Yeah. Well, and I think that's a fair, you know, it's a fair concern given their recent track record in the playoffs and seeing what teams did to them. That's why I actually think it does mean something in the grand scheme of things because if you're Brooklyn, you know, you're taking a really good look, at least I would be, at what this looks like up close and personal late in the season, how they are playing, what they really wanted to. And then strategizing maybe I don't throw everything at you tonight in order to get the win right now. but I'm starting to develop my strategy for what it would look like if we faced you in the playoffs.

And I'm not going to give you a great look at that, but if I'm Steve Nash and company, that's what I'm starting to do. And so I do think it means something in the grand scheme of things, right? Because every time you play them, you know, especially when Janus goes off, you start to say, okay, this is what we're going to have to do. This is the way we're going to have to play this. And I also think the fact that they were bullied, so to speak, that's going to be an Achilles heel for Brooklyn. it is. They're just not stout around the rim. It doesn't mean that they can't win, but that is always going to be an Achilles heel. And if you're the opponent, if you can get to that Achilles heel, you're going to have a much greater chance of winning. Now, it's easier said than done, right, if this was a fifth. But if you could get to it, you're going to have an opportunity to expose them. From the other side, Logan, you have to be very careful if you're Mike Budenhoser because the man is so good and he's so dominant, physically. And he's so gifted with the combination of size, strength, and skill that you just

default to giving him the ball in the regular season and letting him go ham. They're not going to play you like that in the playoffs. They're not. And so you got to get the ball out of his hands. It's why you have a Drew Holiday. It's so much harder to account for Janus if he is not the focal point with ball in hand in an ISO. If you get him in some good action where he's, you know, maybe he screens and you twist, meaning you run something behind him. and you screen the screener on the backside of it, and you slip him in underneath. Just actions that can get him the ball

where the defense can't be loaded to him, I think that's going to be the way that you have to play in the playoffs because teams have showed you to your point what they're going to do to him if you just put the ball in his hands and ask him to beat everybody. Yeah, I think that's another thing. And I think matchup-wise, Brooklyn has a lot of edges on the bucks, one of which is they're going to have the three best players in the series.

that's one of the thing that who can, if one guy is off, there's not going to be a lot of nights where all three, James Hard and Kyrie and Kevin are going to be off. I just don't foresee a night like that. Also, I really like the addition of Blake Griffin.

I like what he does. He had a put-back dunk on Sunday. He played really well, had 11 points, seven boards. It was like really serviceable in 18 minutes. That's really good. What? Yeah.

So played really well down the stretch. And also like, the three stars, that's number one. Number two is we all, like to my earlier point, we all know that the Brooklyn Nets are going to wall off Janice and the paint. And I just don't trust, we talked about second number two guys. I don't think Middleton nor Drew Holiday are number two guys.

I don't, on that level, I just don't think that. So I think that. I'm going to give you a little pushback on that, bud. They're not AD. They're not either one of the three in Brooklyn that you would have to categorize as a number two. They're not the number two guys that you would need for an NBA championship, which is what the bucks are facing, right? I don't believe that. That's my point.

I don't believe that. I don't believe that. You don't believe me when I say that they're- I don't believe that either one of them is the best or second-best number two player in the league. I don't believe that. Literally, you need that to win an NBA title, though, Raja? No, absolutely. What do you mean?

What do you mean? You need your number two to be the best number two in the league to win a title? You need a championship level number two to win a championship. And I don't know if they're championship level number twos. Okay, I'm saying I believe them. I believe that they do have the capability to be a championship level number two's. I just don't know that they're the best number twos in the league. That's what I'm saying.

And you're doing a lot of, I want to defend Milwaukee because this segment turned into everything. You love playing devil's advocate. That is your bag. You turned a game in which Brooklyn, lost and Janice went for 49 into a Brooklyn conversation, right? And I do think, like, you turned it into a Brooklyn conversation. It's a Milwaukee conversation. My whole point is that I don't believe, even though that they won this game, that Milwaukee is a factor. That's my, that was my biggest thing. Okay, Yonis scored 49 points. They were a Kevin Durant three away

from going to overtime and Brooklyn potentially winning this even with, with Yonis scoring all points. You're acting like they were supposed to beat them by 50 just because like James Hardin was out of the game. That's not realistic. Almost all NBA games are in a range of winner loss. There's some outliers, but no one's going out there and getting racked every time just because I worry about Brooklyn.

I've told you this before. They're awful defensively. Now, they're phenomenal offensively. Okay, but you see how predictable the bucks? are? I have to believe. It's give the ball to Yannis offense, bro.

Especially when it's crunch time. Yes, and it has not worked. And so for that reason, if they do that again, there are no legs on that. I'm going to be the first one here to tell you. How many times? Okay.

Okay. What? I was like, how many times you got to see learn the same lesson? How many? With the bucks. How many times you got to,

it's literally the same? It's been two years now, right? It's been two years now. They almost won two years ago. Last year, you know, they just, Boonehosa got completely out-coached. I have to think that they're going to come in there strategically the same way I said Brooklyn didn't show you all their cards yesterday.

I have to believe that Milwaukee didn't show you all their cards. And they're not going to show people all their cards all year. I have to believe that. But, I mean, I could very well be wrong. You might be right. Okay. So, all right, we say all right to say, who wins in a seven-game series if they play against each other?

It's hard for me to get better against Brooklyn. Okay, then so that. It's hard for me to, but we wouldn't have a fucking show if I'm just sitting here talking about it. I know, I know, I know. You're fucking right. There's, there are no concerns. I know for facts, Steve Nash has concerns about them three not playing together for any extended period of time. We just talked about that with the Lakers, right? You need that continue. I don't think they only play like seven games together? Yeah, you do need that.

That is a concern. However, what's different about the Brooklyn Nets in regard, as opposed to the Lakers is, you know, the Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets still have a chance to, you know, get to the top of the, they still have a chance to be a top three and top one team in the league. So they can't afford to do that. Then they'll have a first round matchup, which is they're clearly better. better on talent, right? They're a half game out of first place. If they get to first place,

who would they play? They would play someone in the, like either of Washington, Indiana, Charlotte. Now, they don't want to see the Celtics, but if they do get like a Charlotte in the first round, okay. All right. Then they just, they work that out that way. Yeah, you're not tripping. You're not tripping if you're Brooklyn. I would say this to you, though, just because as I'm thinking about it, as things are kind of taking form, strategizing. to play Janice where you're going to build a wall and have him looking at that wall, requires you having willing participants defensively to, A, get back and do your assignment, right?

Like real focused on the task at hand defensive minds. Real focused on the task at hand defensive minds. That's not Brooklyn's strong suit. Like, I know Kevin Durant is a phenomenal player. I know Kyrie is a phenomenal player. I know James Hardin's a phenomenal player. their job description from game to game and what they focus on most of the time

is not loading to the ball defensively. They got other shit on their minds and rightfully so. But you got to have people really dialed into that game plan and then Logan, the last part is you got to have people that are willing to stand in there and let that man run you over, over and over and over again.

Because if you don't and you start like moving that shoulder out of the way, you know the classic like I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, and then at the last minute, oh, I'm just going to open up and let you go through, then you haven't done the job. of building the wall. So it's a concern.

It's not that you, we got it on paper. Can you execute? And on paper, I mean, on paper and on an eye sight, I see the, I say Brooklyn Nets 1,6. All right. Final segment of real ones. I want to talk about, Steve Kerr had some interesting comments after his team was outrebounded 5734,

in a loss of the timber wolves. I know Barf is really happy about that one. But what he said was he just railed against the fundamentals of the game now. And they asked him, hey, Steve, what the hell is going on with your rebounding? What's going on?

He says, it signals to me a modern team. This is the modern NBA. Guys don't box out. It's just the way it is. Every night on league pass, I see the same thing. Players let guys come from the week's and they think, I'll just get the rebound. It's a disease that's rampant in the NBA. The problem is, if you're a real small team like us, then it's going to hurt you more than it will hurt other teams. Most of these guys didn't have a high school coach or a college coach yelling at them for a combined eight straight years. It's a different world today. And players grow up feeling a different way in terms of their basketball background. The detail is often the thing that is lacking. What do you think about those words? Rajabelle?

I think they're very interesting comments because I've said this for years. Some people feel me. Some people do not. The grassroots basketball and the trickle-down effect that the way the game is played now in the NBA and what it's done to the grassroots level of basketball is taken some of the basic fundamentals that we started with as young players and they've taken them out of the game. And so they've been replaced now with high skilled combo moves off the bounce. And everywhere you go for a whole practice that I take my third grade or two,

all they do is set up a dummy or multiple dummies or multiple cones and teach them how to make it between the legs behind the back and then counter it and then counter it. And no one teaches them how to be in the gap defensively or how to play a pick and roll defensively. defensively, how to get up into your man and get over it, you know, how to load to the ball on weak side, how to box out. Those things are lost because for number one, trainers can make a lot of money training you to do the cool things with the ball. They're not going to get paid a lot of

money. Like, Logan's not paying for his son to go in the gym and get learned and get taught how to be in a defensive stance for an hour and box out. You don't know me. I am paying. Don't put that motherfucker to get box out. I'm an anomaly. We'll get to that in a second. Okay. That'd be great though, but most parents aren't. Most parents want to see little Johnny go out there and be able to shoot 17 threes in a game, which is another problem I have because analytically, that makes sense in the NBA. It does not make sense in a third grade game. I played that out over and over again.

They don't shoot it well enough to just come down on a three on two and tow the line every time when you can get a layup. And so they're teaching the game, like I'm on a rant, but they're teaching the game fundamentally different. So no, they're not teaching you to box out. They're not teaching you how to do the basic building block steps of developing. you know, basketball players. They are developing highly, highly weaponized skill levels for offensive players. Like, that's a fact. You see that scattered across the landscape of the NBA. These guys are phenomenal with the ball. They make shots. They score. They're creators. But I would say, and I mean, this isn't a shot at the NBA, that it is being taught a little different. And we are missing

some of the fundamental building blocks of teaching, you know, at the youth grassroots level. Yeah. What I think is a big thing with this is. And, you know, we all got people that are in the AAU level. There's not that much honestly, I know you used reference practice. It's not that much emphasis on practice and AAU, man. Like, especially during the summer, these kids are playing for like two, three different AAU team sometimes. And when they do play for a one AAU team, they're just flying out to different parts of the country and they're flying back home for a little bit. Maybe they'll get a workout and maybe not. And then they go back on the road again. Like, there's no real time to learn.

I hate it. I feel like. And it's, there's no, you know, I don't even know if there's watching film. It's literally, it's become just an arms race. It's become so monetized AAU has to the point where I just need this player. I don't care about his development. I just need this player so I can cipher him through this. I need this player so I can get him to this AAU team and then with this shoe company and maybe get him to this college. Or maybe not.

Maybe I'll get him to overseas. But there's, it's always, it's such a, it's become such a money grab in this point that it does not matter to the development of these kids. And you start to see that struggle to the league. 100. How many AAU teams did you play for Logan when you grew up? I played football. I didn't play in a season. I didn't play basketball. I played football. All my partners, all my all my all my, all my, all my, all my, uh, all my homies played basketball. They played, you know, yeah. I like the football model. Like, I signed my kid up for a football team. I don't, he doesn't play on four different football teams in the same season.

Mm-hmm. He plays, he plays, he learns, he develops within their system, um, and, and they try to teach him the best they can. And at the end of that season, that wasn't the place for him, then I'll move him to another football team. That's fine. I think the difference between football and basketball is, it's weird to call it, like, say, football and safety, but from a safety standpoint, it's just not feasible to have players play three or four for three or four teams, one, and then play, you know, like two or three games at day.

No, but it's not. And I think that's why that ends up happening. But I don't love, I'm just whatever, man, like philosophically. I don't, I, the kids in my program, I want, I run a free program if you want to play for me. And, you know, we like your game. Like you come in. I don't charge anyone anything. Only thing I really ask is that you don't go around playing for nine different travel teams. Play for us so we can develop some chemistry so we can get you guys, you know, taught how to play and we can play a certain way, right? It's the brand that we want to put out there. I meet parent

after parent and I lose kids because they want their kid playing all over the place. They want them playing every single weekend. And we play every other weekend, Logan, right? But they want the kid to play every weekend. In some instances, like six, seven, and eight games in a weekend. You extrapolate that out. Do you know how many games these kids are playing? It's unnecessary. It breaks their body down, bro. It's absolutely unnecessary. And most of the

parents think that they're listening to you and they're not listening to you. I was on with the junior MBA the other day like on a Zoom call talking about this very subject and how it's not being developed the right way. The grassroots is not being developed the right way. The premium is on playing games and just running around being a mercenary and just taking my limited skill set as a 12 year old because it is limited when you're 12 years old and hiring it out for like whatever team can use you. But what's missing in that equation is the practices,

man. It's it's the time in the gym when we're breaking things down and actually teaching you how to play. So you're essentially taking your 12 year old and you're saying, I'm going to rule, I want to use him up for for 12, 13, or 14 year old basketball because by the time he's 16, he's 16, he's you don't know shit. And it's going to be hard for him to play anywhere of any real substance unless he's just a genetic freak, which some kids are. But you're putting the cart before the horse. They should learn to play, man.

Yeah. And I think this also talks a lot about access to around this, the AAU thing, right? Because, like, say if you are, if you don't got the bread to, you know, play for one of these AAU teams, if you have the talent, too, but not the bread, you end up getting pimped out anyway because you get all these, you know, you get all these. these deals and stuff from all these players and this how you know you get all this stuff and you go for free and you go around the country but you don't really learn right you don't really have anything and then you see all these kids that can't afford a trainer you know i just feel like the whole system

is getting pimped out and no one all these kids are getting pimped out in a way that like it's not helping anybody but the people that are in charge i even think about like um when lebron was going up in aAU and i remember watching more than a game even when they were i think that you that was one of the last days where like this was a team that played together from the time they were like what fourth grade and eighth grade all the way up until they were in high school they were just really good that actually helps right that that helps because you have continued this is the same team he played with with his high school team right um and so and then you go back before then um you know lamar odum and and a metal world piece run our test they played on the same

team for years, right? But that really helps with continuity and also to learn the game. And I just feel like that's not happening. And honestly, that's when you get like the heavy ISO when you come into the league. There's not really, I think that's another thing like that's hard for Steve right now is that like he feels that he wants to teach the system, right? That helped the warriors get to a certain level, you know, guys back cutting, guys being smart. Guys playing without the ball. He can't really do that with this younger team

or it's taking a long time for a learning curve because he has to teach now. He has to teach these guys to, yo, find yourself in the defensive zone, you know? Find your, find, going to the dunker spot. Wait, what is a dunker spot? It's right here. It's right here.

Right. But you see all this. And I don't know if it's a good evolution for the game. But like, it's just, you know, it would be disheartening that, you know, guys don't know the game on a mental level in five, ten years. I do box out drills in my practice slogan with high school kids. They look at me like I have four eyes.

Like, no, the reaction that you were met with. Rebounding isn't sexy, Raja. Rebounding isn't the sexy thing. No. It's not. I had a parent call me, man. He was, I could tell his kid didn't want to do the drill. I won't say any names.

We did a load to ball drill. It's old school. It's a load to ball. So, like, balls on the weak side, you know, you're in the opposite corner. So you should be head under a rim, right? If you're being taught good, good solid man to man defense. Balls in the opposite corner, your head under the rim, right? Or balls on the opposite wing.

So we'll drive it. And you got to step over and take a charge. Okay. Now, not a charge like we're going to run through your chest and try to kill you charge, but you got to let it make contact and you got to condition yourself to know that that's what I'm going to do. This kid, I could tell he wanted no part of it. Thought he was going to, oh my God, I'm going to get hurt. Like, I don't want to do it.

I got to call for it. from the dad the next day. Like he shouldn't be in those, he shouldn't be doing those drills. Like he's, I'm like, sir. You don't help when you do that though.

You don't fucking help when you do that shit, bro. Oh, no, absolutely not. Like this is a philosophical thing about conversation, I mean, about parenting in sports. But, but the point is kids,

kids don't want to do that. And no one else is doing it in their lives. And so when you try to do it for them, like they're not willing participants. And, and if you weren't as hardheaded as I am, you'd probably stop because you'd be like, you know what?

I'm not getting shit out of these kids. But I take the opposite approach a lot and I'm like, well, fuck it, we're just going to do this. It's funny. Like you said that, I have a, I have a friend that coaches volleyball. And I don't want to say any names because I don't want her to get messed up, you know, with her volleyball coaching right now, you know, with their parents. But she talks about how, just how parents are doing a grave disservice to kids when they do that type of stuff, when they don't allow their kids to get coach.

I mean, like, bro, the kid is not going to agree with, the fucking coach. The 12-year-old is probably not going to agree with the 40-year-old, right? It's probably not going to happen. But you have to build that level of, I guess, mental toughness for the kid. If the coach isn't being an asshole, you have to at least just let him or her or they or whatever. Let them take the coaching. Let them take the coaching because when you do certain stuff like that and she's just been talking about her volleyball season and just been like, it's just a pain because the parents just are a refraff.

The kids are a reflection of the parents, and they are entitled because the parents allow them to be entitled, right? And I feel that way with, you know, when you talk about the coaching stuff with you, like, yo, man, if you have a kid, let them go through that stuff and don't let them quit. Don't give them, oh, dad, oh, mom, Coach Roger was being an asshole. He didn't tell me how to do a charge and I didn't like it. And like, then you go on the next day and be like, my son can't do that. That doesn't make any... I don't like that. That's such a bad president.

Because when they get to the league or when they get to these other places, they're not going to get coddled like that. They're going to be like, oh, you don't want to fucking do charge drills? Bye. All right, for sure. Go to the G league.

Learn it. I would counter that because I agree with everything you're saying with this. Anybody's parent calling about some charge drill or some shit like that, you ain't going to the league.

You ain't got to worry about it. You're not, you ain't got to worry about it. worry about it, bro, because that's not the way typically, you know, that's not the way that works, man. It's not. But I agree with you, man. My kids are told I don't give a shit what your coach

is talking about, and there are some coaches that are better than others, for sure, but you're going to stand your ass out there. You're going to look him in his eye. You're going to take whatever he's got to say, and you're going to say, okay, got it. Okay, coach, and you keep it moving. That's your job. Even if the coach has you fucked up, put that on the... That's your job.

Also, put that on the floor, like, ball out. I know there's been hell of times where you've been disagree with a coach and your fuck you to the coach is playing better. Like, you know what I mean? My son does it to me, bro. They get so angry at me when I'm coaching sometimes

that it's, yes, you're to take that energy and take that shit out on the other dude over there. And I know as a dad, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. No doubt. Yeah, but it crosses the line at some point. Like, I got it. I've learned over the years, man. And they're like, damn, that's little roger.

That's my son. I used to do that shit. I used to do that. For sure. Okay. Well, man, that was a fun edition. Another edition of the Real Ones podcast. Thank you to Raj. Thank you to Sasha, producer Sasha, giving us some Lakers stuff, giving us some Lakers

Insight. We will see you guys on Thursday. But in the meantime, make sure you check out all of our Slate on the Ringer podcast feed. We got, obviously, the real ones. We got mismatch. We have group chat. We have the answer. And then check out some of our other pods.

We have R2C2 with who, Raja Bell. Vallejo legend C. C. Sabathia. Damn right. And we also have Black Girl's songbook with who, Rosabelle? That would be Bay Area legend, Danielle Smith. Mm, town legend, Daniel Smith. But yes, we're working. We're working. Town legend, my bad. We're working. We're working. We're working through that. We're working and grooving and moving. And go check out the Midnight Boys on the Ringerverse. That's Van Lathen and Charles Holmes. Make sure you also check out the Ringer music show with Charles Holmes.

I made an appearance on the Ringer music show that's going to be coming out pretty soon. You guys should go check that out. I don't know. It's going to be coming out, I think, next week. You guys will go check that out. And also shout out to Danielle Smith, who is our Mad Hooper. We will see you guys on Thursday.