The Ringer NBA Show - The Most Important Questions Going Into the Back Half of the Season | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Logan and Howard are joined by The Ringer’s own Tyler Parker to share and debate their biggest player and team concerns as we round the corner into the second half of the NBA season.(0:00:00) Intro (1:45) How effective will Jayson Tatum be in his return? (13:25) Which second-tier playoff team is set to play spoiler? (23:52) James Harden will ___ with the Cleveland Cavs (31:35) The Charlotte Hornets will win ___ playoff games (37:16) Which trade deadline move will have the biggest impact on the end of the season? (42:17) Who is the most disappointing team of the season? (47:44) What should the Vegas expansion team be called? (51:31) Quick-hittersHosts: Logan Murdock and Howard BeckGuest: Tyler ParkerProducers: Logan Murdock, Conor Nevins, Victoria Valencia, and Ben CruzVideo Producers: Victoria Valencia and Sarah ReddyAudio Producer: Chris SuttonGraphics and Show Art: John RichterProduction Supervision: Ben Cruz and Conor NevinsAdditional Production Support: John Richter, T. Cruz, Donald LoBianco, Nick Kosut, and Hannah Leikin The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit ⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping? Logan Murdoch here for Real Ones Live for Spotify Studios here in Los Angeles. I'm going to be with Tyler Parker and Howard Beck. In a few, we get into the biggest questions of the back half of the season. Get you ready for that. And then we're back to our normal cadence. I believe on Friday, Roger Bell will be back. Really, really fun conversation. I won't spoil it for you. I think you guys should get into it. But really, really fun and really great week here in Los Angeles. get ready for the episode. Victoria played the theme music. What's popping?

Real ones. I know it looks great over where we are live from Spotify studios here in Los Angeles. My name is Logan Murdoch. I am joined by my esteemed panel, Tyler Parker and Howard Motherfucking Beck. We are here to preview the backstretch of the season. Ask some real, real, real, real important questions for the next few weeks of the season. Probably make some predictions.

You guys ready to do this? We'll do it. Hell yes. That doesn't seem that enthusiastic back. Hell yeah. Fucking right. How about you? Are you ready to go?

Hell yeah. Okay. I'm not happy with that line rate at all. Jesus Christ. I got too into it. Let me take it back. Yeah, man, I'm so excited. Let's do it.

Okay. All right. That was enthusiastic. I think you came in with like a much more mellow or Logan energy. And like we just, we went and all went into like smooth jazz mode here. All right. What's popping? This is real ones.

Okay. Is everybody ready to go? There we. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go.

All right. Let's start with the first question. I think that is really going to be one of the bigger storylines over the next few weeks. Jason Tatum and his pending return from a torn Achilles that he sustained, what, it's definitely less than a year, but maybe what, eight months ago, something like that, more or less. Yeah. Do we think that he is going to be back and when he does come back?

How effective will he be? I'll start with Tyler Parker. There's a lot of smoke days. going to come back. It feels like he's going to give it a whirl if the Celtics are still in a position where they think they can do some damage. I think if some of the important Celts go down, then I, and they don't feel like they've got a shot out of it. I think they'll quickly, I think he'll quickly punt. But it wouldn't shock me if he comes back. I mean, if he does come back, how effective will he be?

He's a great shooter, and so I think that that makes the own ramp a little easier. You know what I mean? And I think that he'll be effective. I don't think he will be what he was. I think they'll still be needing to play through Jalen. But I could see him making some big shots in the playoffs. admittedly we're all doing like a little bit of like amateur doctor amateur orthopedist amateur trainer amateur psychologist every right and we're and we're tea leaf reading and we're

we're really just kind of trying to read into this but like if they wanted to rule him out or if he wanted to rule himself out could have done it a thousand times there's been like these little like little you know tea leaves here and there and even what tatum has said on the record um even what the reporting has been has all tracts to keep it a little bit shrouded, but that just makes me believe that much more that they're planning to do this. Like, unless some doctor raises a red flag at the last minute, it seems to me like this is happening, right? It's not just that they acquired Vouch before the trade deadline, it's that they also traded Anthony Simons. Like, to the extent that the Celtics have

been successful without Tatum, it's like a bunch of scoring from Jalen Brown, we get a little bit from Derek White, a little bit Anthony Simons. You just traded one of your best scores for a, you know, a jump shooting big. I don't think you do that when you're in the thick of things unless you know that you've got a much better score waiting in the wings, about to come back.

And my feeling has been this all along. I said this on Zach's pot a week or two ago. He's not coming back unless they clear him anyway. So I think we can all rest easy as fans of the game. Jason Tatum and the Celtics in concert with all their experts are not going to put him on the floor

if there's any danger of coming back too soon and re-injuring himself. That's part one. Part two is like the, yeah, none of us know what he's going to look like, right? But Jason Tatum at 80%, with a team that's already thriving without him and Jalen Brown having leveled up, is going to be damn good. And so even if he's at 80%, 90%, 87.3, whatever it is, is a huge net plus for a team that can absolutely compete in, have you heard the East is wide open? I've heard this. It's making the rounds.

Why not? There's one other thought I had, which is the last time, like a big, time star came back from an Achilles. The last one I could recall that was like of this consequence was KD, right? Duran was 32 at the time. Tatum is 28. Duran's first season back, I forgot just how damn good he was. Average 27, seven and five, seven rebounds, five assists, shot 45% from three and 58% from two. And they're all different. Every player's different. Every surgery's different. All good. But if that's the modern bar for being able to come back from Achilles in this age with all of the modern science and everything, that's a pretty good sign,

I think, for what Tatum could potentially do when he comes back. Well, I mean, yes, but it was also apples or oranges. I think KD also had a very extended time to rehab his. For sure. He sat out the season and the bubble season happened. So he didn't, I don't know, the month total, but he definitely had a longer runway to come back. Plus, he had the benefit of a training camp, which Tatum will not have with his team. and he had the benefit of being able to just play an entire season

and go through the ups and flows of the season. There was a different comparison that I had for what Tatum is trying to accomplish. So I don't know the month total. I think it's around, give or take eight months. But you know who else came back from an Achilles tear? Eight months after tearing their Achilles? Kobe Bryant. And that is somebody that Tatum looks up to, and I'm just speculating here,

but that is somebody that he looks up to, He loves the mythology of Kobe, which is weird being a Celtic and loving the mythology of the greatest Laker of all time, arguably. But I do see some symmetry there. And I do see Tatum pushing himself for whatever glory this looks like, right? Because I think in this era, more than any other era, I think that players are thinking about their legacy and their narrative at all times, especially in the current. social media landscape and beyond and just how we talk about these players. And I think that at least that what he would think is this would be a nods under his belt to come back so fast.

And then obviously to help his team, but to come back so fast to be a great player in the playoffs for the Boston Celtics and maybe go win another title, what gives me pause on all of this is it's one thing, like we said, for, you know, a Durant to come in in the beginning into the season and play a full season. But it's a really tall ask if he does, if Tatum does come back to expect him, one, he could be 85% of himself, but expect him to just fall in line with this offense and this team in this way. There's going to be some growing pains.

And it's a really hard ax to put a player of that caliber who has historically had that level of offensive responsibility to just shoehorn. himself into a team that looks, there's some things that are the same about their team, but this team dynamic is vastly different from the team that he left. And I do think that there's going to be some friction in there just trying to integrate him into this current flow. And that's what I'm scared of. I know we talked about last, last pod about Jalen and how they're going to coexist. I kind of softened my stance over the last couple of days, just thinking about that. I do think that he's going to have to fall in line, at least for this.

season behind Jalen, but it's really hard to find your flow going into a season when you're fully healthy. It's going to be harder to find your flow as you're going into the backstretch of a season when everyone is in shape and when everyone knows what their responsibilities are and kind of find your way not only in the back stretch of the season, but also going into a playoffs, which is a whole different beast. I think the reason that I'm not as worried about him being effective is because he's such a skilled offensive player and he's such a good shooter. I think he can function within an offense if he's not the primary ball handler like he likes to be usually. I think he's still got the goods enough to be able to accomplish what the Celtics

would need him to accomplish by bringing him back. I don't think it's some situation where you're bringing a guy back who's hyper ball dominant, who's got to have it and who's going to be dominant. possessions. I think that you can have him coming off screens. You can have him posted up outside, like hanging out, waiting for swing swings and shooting corner threes all day. You know what I mean? So I'm not as worried about him. I agree with you that guys these days are very concerned with their narrative. But I kind of thinking about it in another way where it's like, I don't think that he would mess around with coming back unless he was certain that. he was going to be able to be a version of himself that he could be happy with.

You know what I mean? I don't think he's going to take a chance on coming back and messing with this great chemistry and this great season that the Celtics have wound up having. I don't think he's going to risk being a player who's like, hey, you guys, I'm back now and then all of a sudden things are wonky. I think he's coming in pretty clear-headed about it. that's the way that I would gather he's operating.

He seems like a pretty even-keeled guy. And like every superstar in this league has an ego because that's how you get here, right? If you don't have a lot of that bravado to you and your personality, you're not going to become the star that you are in the first place. So I don't want to minimize that. But Jason Tatum does not strike me

as being the kind of player like Kobe was back in the day where it's like, it's got to be about me. He has the luxury of being to lean on another guy who can do all the stuff that he does differently. But like, still, you have the luxury of Jalen Brown having established himself as a number one in your place, who has been finals MVP with you on the floor next to him. That's a great luxury when you're coming back from an injury as serious as an Achilles. So, you know, I think about like Derek Rose coming back from the ACL way back in the day where it was like, remember, it was like really

controversial, really, you know, he took a lot of shit for like wanting to drag out the rehab because he did not want to come back until he could be Derek fucking Rose. Like I'm not coming back. I'm not on that court unless I look like me and play like me. To be fair about Derek Rose, he was in a bit of a different situation because the offense flow it was, he was the center of that orbit. But it was both things. It was I don't think he was thinking like I don't want to project that much. But there was definitely a huge ego element there was like I cannot,

he couldn't tolerate the idea of himself. And I think Kobe was often like that too. Now, Kobe did rush back from the Achilles. Kobe was 34 at that time, by the way. Like, see, he was like, that was a much tougher ask. But I don't, again, we're mind reading here. I don't sense that Tatum is the kind of guy who's going to be like, no, if I can't be 100% of me, I'm not doing this.

And clearly, the progress he's made, you know, within the last, you know, however many days it's been, where he went, go do five on five with the G-League team. Like, he is hitting all the milestones that you need to hit. and that clearly seems like that has intent behind it. You know, I absolutely think we're going to see him. And what level we'll see him at?

That's to be determined. But I think it's fantastic. It's a fantastic story, and it's great for Jason Tatum, and it's great for the Celtics. And it also just speaks once again to modern medicine because coming back that quickly from an Achilles once upon a time would have been considered insane or there's no way you'll be anywhere near yourself.

You know, this just speaks to how far we've come that the guy can even entertain this possibility. Adding to that, though, I just want to say, like, I love what the Celtics did this season. No matter what happens, they just went for the gusto, right? Yeah, we all said gap year. All said gap year. Everybody said gapier except for people in Boston, right?

And I really respect, especially, you know, in the time of tanking, and what we've talked about over the last few weeks, like, they're a team that was, hey, we're going to go for to Gusco, and we're going to figure it out. Okay. going to the second question that we have as a collective going to the backstretch of the season. Which second-tier playoff team do you think has the greatest chance to play spoiler? And by second-tier playoff team, we mean in either conference that is currently below fourth in their conference.

Start with you, Tyler. It was between the wolves and the Sixers for me. The Wolves are fifth in the West right now. Sixers are sixth in the East. I wound up going with the wolves just because there's a little bit more playoff bona fides for them than there are for this, you know, current iteration of the Sixers. I think that the Sixers with Maxie at the helm are going to be a little bit more consistent. The most exciting player in the league. As I said, thank you for remembering.

But no, the wolves, I'm, they've, they, it's been really cool to see. McDaniels kind of take a little bit of a step up offensively for them this year. That feels like a really big thing going into the playoffs because as much as I kind of distrust Randall in the playoffs, like when push comes to shove, he's always got maybe one good series and then he sort of falls off the face of the earth once his team bows out. I think that McDaniels being what he's been is huge for them. And I really, we'll talk about it later, but I really like the Dissunmu ad. I think he fits what they want to do very well. The shot has been fantastic this year for him.

He's going to guard. He's grimy. Like, I think he's, I think he is in line with their vibe. And he seems like the type of guy the Finch is going to love and is going to give plenty of minutes to. So I'm, they're, they're intriguing to me. Because I think they're going to have less on Randall's shoulders now. Yeah, absolutely. In past playoffs, like, he's not only had to be a big score for them,

but he's also had to be kind of a hub whenever it's not Edwards. And I think that there's going to be a little less pressure on him now. And, you know, and Edwards has proven like this, he's a playoff killer. He's game at all times, and he's going at your head. And, yeah, I think that there, super frisky, very dangerous. I like that. I mean, the biggest question that I've always had about the Timberwolves for the last few seasons,

even when they were winning 56, 57 games was who is going to take the pressure off of Edwards' offensively, right? Because he was, even when they were great, he was always the central hub and had so much responsibility for that offense. And now that he has help, I rock with that. I think that they'll be a formative team. Who's your pick? You know, it really kind of came down to basically the teams that Tyler mentioned. Like, in the east, it's Philly and the West, it's Minnesota. And part of this is because in the East, there just really isn't anybody you could possibly

trust. It's that kind of year, right? It'll be different next season when, like, Halliburton's back and everything and maybe Atlanta reformats a little bit. But right now, it's only Philly. The West was interesting because I was, like, trying to think, like, if you squint, could any of these other teams be spoilers? And it's like, maybe the Lakers.

but it's kind of cheating a little bit, they're only a game back of that fourth place cutoff. And hey, man, Luca in any series, forget whether LeBron is doing anything, Osteries. Like, it's, Luca is just always dangerous. Anything's possible.

The Clips would have been a great candidate for this before they traded Hardin. The Warriors could have been a candidate for this before Jimmy Butler went down with the ACL. Stop with the face, Logan. It was bound to happen. It was going to happen. It was about to happen.

It's not the sons. Sorry, Devin. Booker. It's not the Blazers. Like, there's just, it really is Minnesota in the West or Philly in the East. I was leaning Philly in the East only because the top of the East, have you heard the East is wide open? This is a thing. Maybe this is like the third time you said that in the last part. It's just a thing that's going around out there. It's something I've heard. The Grapevine says this. I don't know that there's any team I trust enough at the top of the East to be able to repel a fully functioning healthy Philadelphia 76ers team, right?

Like Paul George's suspension will be over by then. He'll be back and up and running and presumably playoff P. One of the worst nicknames than anybody ever came up to those. By the problem is not a particularly strong letter name. No. Like it just doesn't, it doesn't convey like power or it's not, no one's intimidated by a P. How are you not pushing P? Push and P.

Do you even know what that means? no. Okay. Like is Z, Z is a powerful letter, right? X is going to kick your ass possibly. K. P? Playoff P. I don't know. Sorry. Anyway. Paul George at full strength,

Joel M. B. to full, like who's going to deal with Joe L.M.B. In the, if it's the Knicks, like, Joel and Beds going to put Towns and Mitchell Robinson both in foul trouble or just knock their asses into the third row. Detroit's interesting because assuming Isaiah Stewart hasn't been suspended by then again.

or something. The Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren combo, that's the kind of physicality you need to try to keep Embed and check. But then again, Joel M.B.

doesn't operate in the paint quite as much as he used to. Maxine Edgecombe is such an incredible electric one-two punch. Any back court is going to have trouble with them. I don't think any of us

trust the calves. I don't think any of us know for sure how much to trust the Pistons as still kind of a younger team. I just think the Sixers, when fully functional

are a threat to any of those current top four teams in the east. No love for the Raptors. The Raptors are fourth though. Take them up. I think. No, no, no. At this very moment that we're talking,

they were fifth, when we first started discussing this, you know, yesterday and they might. They are fifth. They are two games out of four. Yeah. Okay, so there we go.

So, right, make the case for the Raptors then. If I just disrespected them. I just was, I'm just asking questions. Okay. No,

because I, I just asked questions for the basketball. He doesn't even have the courage. No, my thing, no. He's coming to you. I picked the Sixers. He's trying to get all Canada on my ass.

Yeah, no, I picked the Sixers. And no disrespect to Toronto, the greatest city and in the NBA. But like I think a combination of a lot of things of why, like, I like the Sixers. One, the East is down, right? And I think anything can happen within the East and the function, right? And I look, and I look on the teams and I'm like, what, what team do I know, do I think is just, right there and they're going to, and when we say spoiler,

we're not meaning they're going to win the championship. They're going to, it's basically literally spoiling another team. They're going to knock out one of the favorites. One of the top tiers. And there's no one in the East that I trust as a favorite at all. They all have questions for me, right? Like, when the Knicks,

they play three on five every game defensively, right? They can lose, I think, to anyone, right? Do not trust them. Boston. They could probably beat anybody, Right. Boston is going to be a little wonky list for what I just said before, right, with the integration of Jason Tatum and just the growing pains that could happen, right? There's a lot of questions there. Detroit, are they going to take advantage of the moment that they are in right now, right? Because last year was the vibes year, right, where they, you know, they had a really good first round series and, you know, maybe it could have gone either way, but they were a year ahead of schedule, right? And now they're playing with expectations on their back. How are they going to deal with that? We just don't. know that. The calves, I'm not going to bet on James Hardin and Donovan Mitchell when it gets

tight. I'm just not going to do it. The Sixers are in this weird space where they are prioritizing young guys while older guys are veteran guys are still on the roster, but it's still fun. And I think they have a grit to them. I could see them knocking off any one of these teams at a pert in time if just they get. on a heater. And I think that they have, I think that they do have the fortitude to be able to play spoiler. And to juxtapose that with the Western Conference, and I thought long and hard about the Timberwolves. But I just, if you look at the Western Conference, there's just, there's, there's teams ahead of them that I just do not see them beating. Yeah, the, the Rockets are the

four team right now as we speak right now. I think they could possibly eat the Rockets. I don't think that they can necessarily beat the nuggets. The spurs are, if they were any lower, I'd call them my wild card. And I think that they can definitely make a title run. And I think that they are a deeper team than Minnesota. I think that they have a, it remains to be seen if they have a better best player than Minnesota at this point. But Wimby, just because Wimby hasn't been there yet.

But from what I saw two nights ago, Wimby is that dude. And the Thunder, I just don't think that they have just the utter depth to do that over a seven-game series. So that's why I didn't pick the Timberwolves, just because I just think the Western Conference is deeper at this point. I'm about that. So I picked the Sixers just based on the fact that anybody in the East can be beat. And because you disrespect Toronto. I love Toronto, man.

No, I will never disrespect Toronto. Toronto's good, though. Scottie Barnes is it. I just don't know if they have. Scott Bones? Scott Burns. I just don't know if he is a bona fide number one that can be able to do it and carry a team over a series.

No, but let Brandon Ingram get hot for a little bit, you know? it's possible. I'm really, I just really love Brandon even grow, glow up. It's great. And I,

like, I just love guys that go on shit teams and just have the redemption story in a fully functioning organization. I just, I love that for every player that deserves that. Yeah.

I mean, when he finds a rhythm, he's a bear to deal with. I really, I still think that. Like, I, I,

I, I, he got a little shit with them too. You got a little shit to them too is well, I like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Shout to the Raptors. I hope I can go to Toronto soon. Okay, this is where it gets interesting. I think this was, this was Howard's messy ass, put this question. James Hardin will blank with the cavaliers. Let's start with your messy ass, Howard. What are you think is going to happen with James Hardin, Cleveland?

It was funny because, yeah, this was me. This was my suggestion. And I put that blank down with like the shift dash, dash, dash thing on my thing, and then I started staring at that dash. I'm like, what am I putting in that blank? Honestly, I ended up going with Thrive question mark. Thrive? He might thrive with the Cavaliers?

Like, it could. So here's the optimist view of Hardin with the Cavaliers is this. He has played very well at a very high level and managed to have a power sharing arrangement with some other very high level guards in the course of his career. early on Russell Westbrook and obviously KD there, not a guard, but still other top number one option scores. He and Chris Paul, though it did not end well, those guys, those were his best seasons. Yeah. I mean, they wore each other out eventually, but during the time that they were together, it worked fine.

And you know, the thing with the Cavaliers will be, I assume over time, we've only got a small sample size so far, that you'll do what they did in Houston, which is, One of these guys is always on the floor. We got 48 minutes. We're going to have a little overlap at the beginning because they're both starting. We'll probably have them finished together. But we can stagger them for a whole mess of the game. And at every single minute of the game, we have an elite option leading our offense who can score, play, make everything else. So the power sharing part of it, the sharing the ball, all that stuff, I don't think you have to worry about as much.

It's going to come back to how much do we trust James Harden in the playoffs, right? because that's the whole point of this exercise period. Forget what happens the next couple of months. When we get to mid-April and beyond, what are they? And I've always thought that James Harden, the track record is what it is. But as long as he's on a team with somebody else who can carry it in those moments, and I think we talked about this the other day too, I trust Donovan Mitchell. I do.

Like when Donovan Mitchell full strength, I'm fine with him. Trust him to go how far? I trust him to make the clutch plays that we often associate James Hardin with not making. So somebody's got to carry you home, right? You can have the greatest scores in the world. But if they tighten up in the fourth quarter and that is James Hardin's reputation, that is his track record. But I think Mitchell can.

Has James Hardin had just bad luck with co-stars that could be clutch, right? Because he had Chris Paul. Who else? He had Coahillan. I don't know. I can say that theory kind of falls flat. never mind. If we started listing the number of superstars that James Hardens played within the course of

his career with all the different teams that he's engineered his way to and from, they would be here for a long time. So he's at play. The common denominator, though, is usually him in a big moment. Yeah. And you cannot blame context for, oh, well, he never had the guys around it. No, he's had plenty of guys around him. This is, like, he has earned the reputation for not being able to come through in the clutch.

I think the problem is he's so talented and when he's on, that he's on, that when it is time for him to do it at the biggest moment, even if Donovan Mitchell plays great in a game seven, right? He scores 40, 40. And there's such a disconnect from the player that James Hardin can be in March or February or January that is expected in May in those types of games, that when you get into the final stretch of the season, I feel like his shortcomings when you need him the most just overcomes even the best of what his co-star can provide.

And I think that's the biggest problem throughout his career is that he is so, so good that it tricks you into thinking that that's going to be there. And you plan for that output to be there. And when it's not, you're shit out of luck. I mean, my word I put was tease. James Harden will tease with the Cavaliers. I think that he will have maybe even a few great playoff games. It's similar to the way he would operate with the Sixers, where early in some series you'd look up and he'd have 30 plus and 12 assists

and was just dealing. But yeah, I mean, I am not, this is probably a reductive way of thinking about things, but I am not, the next time I trust James Hardin will be after he has shown that he can do it once when the, a series is on the line in a, you know, playoff series that's somewhere beyond the second round. One of the biggest problems with him, like people focus on the miss shots,

or like him disappearing, turning the ball over, whatever, your playoff defense can only get to a certain level if he's playing heavy minutes. Yeah. I mean, yes,

they've got Mowbly behind. him. Yes, they've got Alan behind him. Those guys can clean up some stuff. Keon Ellis now. Like, they've got guys that... Love that pickup, by the way. It's great. They've got guys that can guard. But if you don't think teams are going to be spamming pick and rolls and putting him into it constantly, like, that's just what's going to happen. I think it's a similar, like, when you talked about with the Knicks earlier, you know, like, I think teams are going to be spamming Brunson and cat picking rolls in the postseason. I think, like, yeah,

as much as possible. And so it just, playoff basketball now, you, it is a, it's, it's a head hunting game, right?

Like it's, it's, it's less, um, flow and more like, okay, what is the matchup that we favor the most? All right,

let's pick on this dude until they have to pull him off the floor. And Hardin's just a prime candidate to get hunted, I think. And so it, that is my biggest concern with, him is that especially if he does start disappearing on one in like there's no reason he he can do very little else uh once he starts playing tight he's not contributing in in a lot of other areas you know what i mean raja always talks about in the playoffs how much stars just need to be stars and i know

that's a cliche saying but what he means by that is everybody's going to play their role like evan mowgli can be the best version of evan mowgli and you still need james hard to be who James Harden is. You still need a Jared Allen as best as he is going to be. He's still not James Harden, which is why the reason why they got him. James Hardin will be inevitable. Okay.

With the Cavaliers. It's he'll proven otherwise. Inevitable could be either direction. Either direction. He will be inevitable. Last question for you before we get to the next question. Do you think the lack of nightlife in Cleveland will help or hurt James Hardin? I think it's a benefit.

I think it's undoubtedly. benefit. I think that it can't be anything but, right? You're just hoping that whoever they wind up playing the first round of the playoffs, and it's not somewhere that's a good time to hang out. You know what I mean? It didn't necessarily help him in Oklahoma City. But I guess because they went to Miami. Well, hey, when he was playing in the playoffs with Oklahoma City, he was good up until they went to Miami. And then Miami made sure that he had a good time and he was pretty tired for those games. For sure. If you want to believe Kendrick Perkins. For sure.

The Hornets will win blank amount of playoff games this spring, Howard motherfucking Beck. I love my blanks. Love a good blank. The Hornets are going to win two games in the playoffs this spring, which is two more than they've won in like the last 15 years combined, I think. I didn't actually do the math on that Hornets fans. You can check me on that if you want to. They're going to be the seventh or eighth.

My first thought was like, are they going to, is this a zero? Are they actually going to make it? And I started looking at it and like, nope, they're making. making the seventh or eight seed. They're knocking out Miami or Orlando along the way. Like the magic are like one of the most colossally disappointing teams of the plan. They're just of the season. They're just destined to get their butts knocked out in the plan. I'm sorry, Orlando. The Hornets are going to make the playoffs. Whether the seventh or eight seed, we'll see. That means a first round matchup against, like to be determined,

right? If you're the eighth seed, it's probably Detroit, they seem fairly locked in, ish. It's a little early to be saying that. After what just happened, it would be so fun to see a playoff series between those. That'd be amazing. Could you imagine? I mean, oh my God. I feel for the referees already. I'm like, what a nightmare to have to be. Yo, I will say this, though, between Charlotte and Detroit, courtside is going to be fucking nuts. It's going to be nuts. Big Fendi is going to be courtside. The baby's going to be courtside. And then when you go to Detroit, just, I'm thinking about, Cardier Cliff's going to be courtside somehow with Babyface Ray. It's just going to be awesome. I was, I was thinking of court side, like, I'm now actually worried about the fans because like the shit is

going to fall into the, like, they need to put up like a little barrier. Don't worry, don't worry. In Charlotte and Detroit, I think the fans will be okay. I think the players might need to worry. But it's, but they're going to match up. Let's say it's like seven seed. So now it's either Boston, New York, Cleveland, right? Like, these are teams where I expect those teams to beat the Hornets in a best of seven series.

But could the Hornets get a game or two off of those teams? Hey, man. So I'm going to go to Tyler in a second, but I don't want to have two straight times where somebody takes my answer because I had two. I had two. There's not that many numbers to fill in this point. No, but I did it because I looked up at the Eastern

Conference and I was like, yeah, they're definitely getting to the playoffs. And if they play the Knicks, they could damn near get three, I think. Without how the Knicks play, they're going to, you talked about how an opposing team is going to spam picking rolls with James Hardin. The Charlotte Hornets are going to

spam all the picking rolls and say, hey, oh, Jalen Brunson, oh, you're coming? Oh, wait. Is Kat's going to? to help? Oh, I'm going right to the cup. So I saw that. I saw the cabs. I definitely do they can get it one or two of the calves for sure. Absolutely. It'll it'll work. The Celtics, I think they can do it. I think they can do it. I just want to see just utter carnage in the Eastern Conference. I think there, I think from a theater perspective, the Western Conference

playoffs are going to be great just for legacies sake, just but for utter just what the fuck just happened. I think the Eastern Conference has as a chance to just be just crazy. I don't, we're going to, later on, we're going to pick who's coming out of the, who might be the top team in the East. I'm very looking forward to that discussion.

Who is your, how many games are they going to win tightly? Give me three. Yeah? I'm, I'm feeling if I'm feeling Detroit, yo, it's, I think they're going to win three. I'm feeling feisty with the Hornets because every time I watch, they, they more than most other teams that

where they are in the standings are capable of just avalanching points at a certain point. They get hot in ways that not a lot of teams do. They get hot in the best way possible by doing bullshit. Yes. Just throwing up bullshit. There's a chaos factor with them that I think, and it can go one of two ways. They could fall flat on their face. That's totally plausible.

You could tell me they win zero games in the playoffs and it wouldn't surprise me. but there's just something about them. They are an offense first team that's also weirdly kind of grimy. You know what I mean? Like the defense can leave a lot to be desired, but they still play really hard. I like Charles Lee. I think that there's just something to this team. They might be in over their heads, but I don't think they will be scared.

And I think that that goes a long way in a series. Like there's some sort of young thunder-ish stuff to them a little, little bit. Like a tiny bit, like 2%. It's not the same thing. And the talent is not the same. But there is an enthusiasm to the way that they play. And there is a like, we don't know anybody. We're going to go as hard as we can.

Well, you start to see that throughout this season, right? Like the random wins that they have gotten, like even before this nine game. When they beat the thunder in OKC, sorry about that. No, they torched us. They just forged you guys. They took the bat to the skull. I mean, it was like, it was rough. The thing about them is they've got multiple dudes that can get super hot from three.

Yeah. And if you have a great equalizer. Yeah. If you have two of those dudes running hot at the same time, really anything is possible. So, yeah, I'm, I'm a big fan. Three is a very, like, opportunistic. I think they get three if they play the pistons.

I think they get three if they get three. I want to believe, I want to believe in good things. I want to believe that they can, you know, do some damage. Okay. Let's go to the next question. Which trade deadline pickable will have the biggest impact this spring? I'm going to go first because I feel like this is going to be, everybody's going to save this name.

James Harden, by far. And I think that that says a lot. I think that is because I think of all of the big additions, he is like the one that, one, he's the biggest wild card in general. Sure. And two, he's probably the most important player that's going to go far on a on a playoff team that was traded during the trade deadline, right? Like, I don't think the, are the Hawks going to make the playoffs?

Maybe, but like, I don't, like, is coming going to do anything? I don't know. But I think James Harden, for better or worse, what do you guys think? Is it? Who do you guys have? That's a good question. Like, what is the big impact, a positive one or a negative? Exactly. Yeah. It's going to be an impactful. It'll be impactful. He'll make a mark in some way, I'm sure. I mean, I already said this answer, and it's, it might be silly, but I'm a big Dissoumoo believer. I had Dissou for the wolves.

Like, he just strikes me as the kind of guy who has been hungry to play games that matter for a long time. he's finally in a place where that's going to happen. I think that teams are going to be loading up to worry about Aunt and Randall. I think there's going to be shots for these other guys. And yeah, just what he can do defensively too. I don't know. I think that he's a guy who you could look up halfway through the first round

and he's indispensable for them. Howard. It's funny because the trade deadline, We had all these fireworks going, but it was like, Anthony Davis to the Wizards and like, irrelevant to this question, right? Andy might not even see the playoffs again. I don't know when we will see him again or if it's still even in a wizard's uniform. Will we ever actually see Anthony Davis in a wizard's uniform? Actually, maybe, like, actually, though, the way they're going.

They seem excited behind the scenes. Like, of the stars, the big names are traded. Jaron Jackson, Jr., to the Jazz. He's out for the season now. Oh, Jazz. Surgery. I decided to shut him down. By the way, Jazz, if you're going to shut.

the guy down with a knee surgery that now we all have rightful, we all have right to be very cynical about. What? Just do that out the gate. Like, don't do the thing where you're benching him in fourth quarters for the express purpose of losing games. And then, like, after you take all the heat, go, like, let's put out a press release. It says he needs surgery to end the season.

Like, you got this backwards. Should have just done that from the beginning. So the big names that get traded, like, are mostly not relevant to the postseason. Even the flip side of the Hardin trade, right? Darius Garland. Are the clippers going to even make the playoffs? I mean, they may. Is Darius Garland going to play?

I don't know. So it leaves us with like, Vouch, Kevin Heter with the Pistons, Jose Alvarado with the Knicks. Actually, I was just going to say, like, I think Jose Alvarado would. You see him the other night? They're loving him.

And Philly? They're like, he's getting after you. The best answer to this question, the most logical answer is James Harden because of everything that is on his resume and the team he's playing for everything else. The most fun answer, I think, Osunmu. And the next best most fun answer is Jose Alvarado because, all right, much smaller

role than the other guys we're talking about. But that dude is annoying as hell in the best way possible. The garden is going to fucking love him. The garden's going to fucking love him. You just know, like, he's going to, he's going to potentially set off. If the Hornets and Pistons aren't brawling, the Knicks and Pistons are possibly brawling or the Nixon somebody and Jose Alvarado is going to be in the middle of it. So when we'd say make it the biggest impact this spring, it could be in any number of ways. He could also hit some big shots. He's got that nice little float game. He's going to get into guys defensively. He's going to make an impact.

So I don't know if he'll make the biggest impact, but I think he's like maybe the most fun option. Well, you know, New York is just going to blow everything out of proportion. Never. Score five points and have five assists. And it was like, this guy is, you know, Tim's in the air. Tim's in the air. I think he's going to be like a big jersey too.

I think a lot of, there's going to be a lot of people in Alvarado. Absolutely. The other guy that I wanted to mention, and it's because I'm so hornets pilled. Kobe White. I think Kobe White hasn't even played yet, right? I don't think so.

He's got the calf. Yeah. If he plays, I could see he is another guy who has been unable to play games that matter and they got a lot of people that you got to pay attention to

offensively. And him out there, I think he could, he's a guy that could get hot and win you a game. I'm kind of mad that Colin Sexton is no longer. Especially after the middle fingers of the room.

Like, that's what I want to see in the playoffs. Pretty great. It's what I want to fucking see in the playoffs. He's not. He's the first guy in NBA history that I'm aware of who got fine for flipping off the basket itself. Yeah. Not a fan, not the players, not everything.

I'm also, he was also the first, like one of the, I was sad that he got fine, even though I knew it was going to happen. You should get a free pass for flipping off inanimate objects. Yeah. I think if the thing you're, if the thing you're flipping off doesn't have feelings, then I think it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Who's the most disappointing team in the league so far this season, Howard Beck? I think it's the Milwaukee Bucks.

The magic are like a disqualification. like a dishonorable mention here in the east. There's at least four other candidates I thought about, but I think it's the Bucks because there was a best case scenario where Yonis never gets hurt in the first place, found money in Ryan Rollins, and you know, you've got just enough there, the outline that you should be, I never expected to be a contender, but the Bucks, no team with Yonis Ana da Cunbo on it and certain other guys in this league. You look at it and you have that player, you are obligated.

obligated to the universe to be a competitive top four, top five-ish kind of team. And the Bucks, we're now to worst-case scenario. The Ryan Rollins, that fun story of the first six weeks of the season, like, that's, you know, that's gone. Janus is halfway out the door. Janus is hurt. Nobody else has done anything. Turner thing has not worked.

The Miles Turner thing has not worked. Like, it's just, there's no joy there. so in addition to not being good or healthy, it's just, it is a slow moving disaster. So the bucks to me are the answer. Tyler Parker. He mentioned my answer,

and we talked about it a little bit earlier, but the magic, yeah, because there were people that were throwing them out as like a wild card finals candidate. You know what I mean? And so, like, thinking that Paolo's going to take the leave, obviously, like, you can't control certain things.

Franz has been hurt for a lot of this season so far. And when he was healthy early in the season before this, he was really cooking. But, yeah, the magic have been a real bummer for me just because I really liked what they were building. It felt like they were building this physical team that had a little bit of a defensive identity. They add Bain, who can give them some shooting. Franz finally kind of coming into his own. And yeah, but I mean, you know, like everybody else, Paolo has been just not fun this year.

You know, he's just, it just has not. I've been such a Paolo fan in the past. And if you would have told me last year at this time that it would be a little bit depressing to watch Paolo play offense, I would have thought you were insane. I mean, he has the goods and all the juice that you need in order to be an A number one on a good team. But yeah, the efficiency has been a disaster. The jump shot has not looked like what you wanted to.

And yeah, there just hasn't been, there hasn't been the kind of like bounce you want from him either. He hadn't got any wigglier with the ball. Like the handle's not quite right. You know, like, they're just, it's been, it's been frustrating. I really want them more for them. I love Anthony Black. I do want to say that. He's one of my favorite young players in the league,

and I think he's going to be something. But yeah, it's been rough this year. They're my answer. Okay, you guys got two of my answers. So I think I'm going to zag a little bit. How about the L.A. Clippers? Jesus. From like the scandal to start the season that's kind of just hovered over the season,

the way they did Chris Paul, no matter what you think of Chris Paul, was out of pocket the way they did Chris Paul. Yeah. Out of pocket. It's hard to disagree with it when they go whatever, 16 and 3 right after that. Like, it was clearly probably the ultimately, like, the right move. But to do that to, like, one of the few franchise legends you have, bad look, got to figure out another way to get that done.

But also, I think, like, the problems that they have with Chris Paul, like, says a lot about the people in the locker room of the Clippers at that point, right? Because it wasn't, like, the last few teams that. Chris Paul have been on it's not like he just fully sabotaged all of them to start a season. No, but I think we also know that Chris Paul, I don't think it's like, I don't think it was- Chris Paul's very annoying, I think that as a teammate. I think that's been sort of pretty established. No, that is fair. But it has, I think with this specific locker room with James Hardin and Kauai Leonard, like I think it was bound to happen. But with other teams, it seemed to be fine. And granted, those were younger teams and not veteran-led teams, but even with the

Warriors, he was great with the words. They loved him. The young guys loved him. The older guys loved him. I think that when he was with the Thunder, it was like, it was, it was the total, like, sunshine and rainbows. Like, he, he was amazing. Yeah. One of my favorite moments of that time was, uh, Chris Paul did a YouTube breakout with, I believe, a friend of the show Gallo, um, and they were doing a film session.

It was great. It was like, it was one of the greatest pieces of the content. Oh, did with Nick Gallo. Nick Gallo. Oh, yeah. He was, that stuff was great. I love Nick Gallo. Big shout out to Gallo.

Big shout out to Gallo. who's getting all of his flowers and rightfully so. But I think just all the bad juju with the Clippers this season. And you're starting to feel that even during, as we get closer to this all's over. My only response to that, Logan, is like, should any of us really be disappointed in the Clippers anymore?

Like, they're just a perennial, like every year there's some version of a disappointment. Like, I just, this is actually kind of like the norm now. Their biggest disappointment, like three years running. Yeah.

Lifetime Achievement Award. Life-Mided, High Time Achievement Award. Jesus. Okay, this is a fun one. I think this was a, This is the last, like, question before the quick hitters. And this is from Tyler Parker's messy ass. Maybe this isn't a messy question.

If the, if the Vegas and Seattle expansion teams are announced this summer, obviously Seattle should just go back to being called the Supersonics. But what should the Vegas team name be, Tyler Parker? I thought about this a lot because, as you say, my messy ass did type this question. thought wild cards might be kind of fun, thought rap pack might be kind of fun. What I landed on, the Las Vegas thumbbreakers, I think. It should be. I think that that's what I think if we need to celebrate the organized crime that's existed in this city for, you know, forever.

And I really think if you, if you name the team thumbbreakers, they're coming with an identity immediately. And yeah, I mean, I want that merch. off the bat. They put a different meeting to the term fast break. Absolutely. The other one I had was house because the house always wins.

Wow. But that actually should just be the nickname of the stadium. Yeah, you're right. That's a good point. Great call. Great call. Good work.

Good work. But yeah. Thumbakers. There are so many awesome and yet awful, dangerous possibilities here. The gamblers is the most obvious one

It's kind of boring Wasn't that a name already? It wasn't like the The NFL or something shit Arena football league Maybe somebody was never Oh yeah you're right Yeah

The jackpots Could be kind of fun The roulette The buclerots The cacti I'm into that A big cactus A big cactus fan

Blackjacks would be actually kind of fun Yep Um this this this this might be a little too serious about the state of things sometimes in Las Vegas but the Vegas desperation the desperadoes the desperadoes the desperados the derelicts great but ultimately I think my favorite one and I this is the one I believe in the snake eyes snake eyes because like are you've got the dice aspect but then you can

think about the logos with like glowing snake eyes you get all the like the rattles. We've had like the rattlers. We've had other like snake type iconography. Right. The team names or whatever. But the snake eyes would be pretty badass. You do different activations with the Nicholas Cage movie, Snake Eyes. You could have Cage come out and introduce the team every now and again. A Nick Cage mascot would be like the scariest thing since the King Cake Baby in New Orleans. Incredible. Yeah. I was pretty boring with this. I said like the Spades. You were boring. You were boring. I don't spend much time in Vegas, nor do I really like it. But I just for the purpose of this question, I thought you guys are going to be way.

The other part that was hard was like the Las Vegas Aces kind of have like, it's a perfect name. It's already taken. Great name. They nailed it. Right. So I just don't know what like they, in terms of like how it reads. Because they also can't be the kings. God knows. God knows. Yeah. And it's like, you know, funny thing, uh, I remember back in the day, the kings actually because of the, uh, the Maloo family, they had the Palms Hotel. They would always play their preseason games in Vegas. Yeah, Kings Lakers was like a staple of the preseason. Yep.

I would just say, as a quick aside here, editorial comment, none of this should be happening because the league shouldn't expand. It's a terrible idea. There's not enough talent to go around. There's too many shitty teams as there is, and we already have a bunch of teams that don't point anybody. Just relocate two teams and no, I'm not going to say which two teams. We already know which one you says. Said it before the show.

Roll it. Okay, let's go some quick hitters. Who's winning in the East? Detroit Basketball. That's who I have, too. I mean, I think, I mean, they are, what are they, five games in the East? I don't think anybody is. They're clearly, they're five and a half as we speak right now.

As we touched on in another pod, I am a big K-believer, and I think that he's, I think that he's that dude. Like, I'm, yeah. Yeah, Detroit. Detroit, I could see that. The West is a little bit more. I say, I had the Pistons as well. What do we think about in the West?

You know, before the season, I did the thing where it was like, is it Thunder or the field and if it's the field, which is the way the things have been going for the last seven years, then I think it's the Nuggets. So that was my preseason pick was Nuggets. I think I'm going Nuggets over Cavs. I think I'm going to stick with the nuggets. Like the Thunder as we sit here right now, we're talking about the best record though. No, I thought what you're saying who's winning. Yeah, winning the East. Yeah. I mean, winning the West. We're doing our playoff preview later. So this is winning winning. Oh, you're just talking about like for the end of the regular season. Oh, you mean who has the best record? Yeah.

I thought we said like winning the conference, like going to the finals. That's what we do for our playoff preview, which we're going to be doing in April during playing. Yeah, but that's a different time frame. Jesus. I was, because I was going to pick the spurs for the West. Do you think we got to run in them? Do you think they can catch the, well, they could catch the thunder though. I think it's so fast.

The thunder have just, it's been like, I. You know, they're five. They just been eyed over this last few stretch. They don't seem as dominant as they were. They've been super dinged up. I mean, it's been like there's, for sure. They're like they've lost the third most games due to injury. like it's, you know, they've, they've, it's been rough.

And they've been right. And the spurs are surging. I think there's a chance that they can win the West. I totally could. Three and a half games out, right? I can say the Spurs went in the West, absolutely. Big Nuggets, believe or two. But yeah, I mean, I'm rolling with the thunder.

Really? I think that these. Could you ever bet against the, like, what was the set of circumstances do you think where you would actually? At the start of the last season, whenever, like, my preseason pick was actually Knicks over Thunder in the finals, which did not wind up happening, thank God. But the, but like, the, the Thunder not having the best record in the West would not be shocking at all to me. I think it's totally plausible. I've been very encouraged over the last couple of weeks with the way that the teams acquitted themselves since Shea has gone out

with this abdomen injury. I kind of thought that they were going to sink a little. bit, but the way that Isaiah Joe has looked, the way that Aaron Wiggins has looked, the way that, like, this new Jared McCain edition has been really nice. Well, you know, the team has looked high on Jared McCain, so I think you should be scared. I'm terrified. I'm terrified. But the, but I, I've, I've, I've really, uh, I think it's, I think it's, uh, it's, it's, it's making the team sharper. I think it's, it's making the role guys have to do a little bit more, which is going to be good when it comes to the playoffs. So yeah, I'm still, I'm still feeling good. Now Jalen Williams is back and he's looked good.

He's starting to get his rhythm back. Chet's still chet. I've been, I'm still pretty encouraged. Okay, okay. But like I say, totally plausible that the spurs do it. Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Same with the nuggets. Agreed.

All right. Before we get out of here, I wanted to just pose a question to you guys and just, you know, keep you on your toes, you know, because you guys didn't just study for this one. which team do you think has like the most potential to just fall off a cliff over the next that that is established that can just fucking fall off a cliff uh over the next few weeks so we're talking about like one of the top teams and one of the two like a top four-ish kind of team yeah who have expectations who have expectations like the rockets feel like they're they've been a little volatile lately already you know fred vendlitz's been out the whole season they never did decide to plug that hole they decided we'll just do this by committee will be fine and i think there are times when that is is is backfiring on them, not having it. And then Stephen Adams goes out. So now you have like two pillars at the, you know, the two ends of the lineup there, uh, who were really key for them last season, we're both gone. Kevin Durant's had like some really high minutes games and like dude is up there with, and he was supposed to be on that team like as a ringer, right? Like, okay, we have this

really, really talented team. And if we need Kevin Durant, he can deliver. Right, right. We'll have Schengun and Amen do a lot of this. And then Durant just has to be like even almost kind of complimentary on some nights he can lead the way, but not every night. He has to do it, I think, too often. And so, yeah, I think there's just between the youth and the age, right, the two ends there. How much can you really rely on the young guys? How much can you really rely on the 37-year-old star? And there's just not enough in between. So I think they're the volatile one. I see that their offense is just so predictable. And that was a concern that I had going into the season, right? It was just the past the ball, you figure it out offense. And at times it's awesome.

Like when Shandong just takes the ball full court, it's great. It's great. But in the postseason, it's a different beast, right? Like your teams are going to game plan against that. And they just don't, I don't think that they have a second gear or a, or, or retort to any of that right now. I think it's going to be a slog for them in the playoffs. I think that teams are going to

really load up against Durant, even more than they already are. And they're going to need guys to hit jump shots that have not shown they can do that consistently enough. And they're going to ask a men to be a point guard in a playoff setting. I mean, I love, I love him in.

So it's, I don't, I don't, I don't want to disparage him too much. But it, uh, my, my biggest thing with Durant is I think that when they brought him in,

they were expecting that they'd be able to rest him a lot more than they have been, which is not at all. And I, I, obviously like, I want every player to stay healthy and you don't, you know, I don't even,

you feel bad even like putting the, the, the, of injury out into the universe, but it is something that concerns me with them. Durant over the past, you know, what, like five years? Like, he just, he gets injured every year at some point. And if he goes down, that's, that is scary for that team, I think. It, it, and so, hopefully that doesn't happen, but history tells us that he is going to miss some

time at some point. And if that does happen, like you say, they're teetering already, you know, stuff could get ugly. Hopefully, hopefully he's good and it's, it's all, it's all gravy. But yeah, that's, they're concerning. Is there a team in the Eastern Conference that would disappoint you over this last time? The East is so volatile, right? Aside from the Pistons, like, if a team just went on a down streak, would that surprise,

what team would surprise you? I mean, the thing is we've already, that Cleveland's already done that, right? They've had to pick themselves back up. And then you have this wild card of throwing Hardin in there, which could push them in any particular direction. They don't know. They have like last year Warriors vibes to me, where they can just make a run just down the stretch of the season. Right. But like the Knicks have like through the roof expectations, right?

You know, the owner goes on radio a couple months or six weeks ago, whenever it was and says, we're winning the championship. This is all of the, this is all we care about. We ain't hanging. We ain't hanging no NBA Cup banner. And look, the expectations were already through the roof. They fired the coach who got them to the conference finals for the first time in a thousand years. And, you know, they've got on paper and phenomenal starting five. They've got depth.

And now they've just picked up Jeremy Sohan. Like, they've got the depth. They've got the high-end talent. They've got the role players. And New York is dying for this. So any misstep by them, even slipping to third or fourth in the east might be considered disappointment at this point. Yeah. Well, see, good job.

Great job on the fly. That was really good. We know how to do this thing. We're all right. You know, you know. All right. They pay us for something. Tyler Parker, man.

It's been great. Thank you for having me. This has been great. I loved it. I loved it. Thank you. All right. That's Real Ones in Los Angeles, man.

We'll see you guys. I will see you from my desk next time we see you around. Roger will be back next episode. Yeah, man. That's all we got. Real ones, mailbag at gmailback. At gmail.com. Real ones mailback at gmail.

Real ones mailback at gmail. at jemot com tap in i i all the shits talk to y'all soon bye