The Ringer NBA Show - Warriors Trade Jordan Poole, and Picks for Chris Paul | Real Ones

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

Logan and Raja discuss the massive Warriors-Wizards 2023 draft-day trade that sent Jordan Poole to D.C. and Chris Paul to the Bay Area. Did it make sense for the Warriors to ship Poole off for an aging CP3, who's joining a team that's already old? And who’s running the operation for Golden State now that Bob Myers is out of the picture? Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Cliff Augustin Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, my name is Kevin Clark. I'm the host of a new football podcast called Slow Newsday. I want to tell you about it. On Mondays, Lindsay Jones and I will recap the weekend in football that was, as well as look ahead to what's next. On Wednesday, the normal Slow Newsday, the thing you've been watching for years, current players, current coaches, current analysts talking about the football world. And on Friday, it's a wildcard.

Could be some college football. Could be more pro stuff. It's a video podcast so you can watch it on Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Follow on Spotify. It's Slow News. Okay. What's popping?

Real ones. Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bill there. Roger. Roger. Roger. So full disclosure recording this at 119 Pacific time on the West Coast. We usually record these pods very early in the morning, as I'm sure every one of our listeners can tell by my performance in the morning.

So then Roger says, hey, I got to go do something. And let's push the paw back. And I'm thanking my lucky stars that he did that because we now can talk about a trade that is rocking the NBA world. Jordan Poole sent to the Washington Wizards for Chris Paul. Wait, let me revamp that. Jordan Poole blessed some picks to Washington for Chris Paul. Raja, I have a lot of thoughts. you have been driving on the turnpike or wherever you've been driving in Florida for the last 45 minutes thinking about this.

What are your immediate thoughts on this trade? Well, my immediate thoughts, I had a lot going on. So I didn't have time to digest it until I really got in the car. And it's kind of formulating an opinion, you know, kind of as we speak. My son, my middle son, Thai called me like 20 minutes out from here and told me what happened. It just dropped. He was like, quick, I'll just got. And my immediate reaction was like, what?

Like, why, what are we talking about? What, why would, why would Golden State need Chris Paul? But, but, but as I'm thinking about it more, as I'm thinking about it more, I do see other areas that I would hope that they could, could solidify. But if you're, if you're talking about an aging and just bear with me, right? Because I really am just off the top right here. If you're talking about, you know, Steph Curry and trying to maybe lessen the workload on him as a, as a, you know, ball handler, play creator and all that that entails on a nightly basis. If you're trying to lessen the load on him, you're trying to find someone else who can orchestrate and kind of create plays in a league where play creation is at a premium. I kind of get it.

So I could make a case either way. Ultimately, I didn't think that was a move that they need to make. I didn't think of the moves that could be made. Like, I didn't know that that was the most pressing thing to get a Chris Paul type of player. But I guess what I'm saying to you is I could see the rationale behind, all right, we still got, you know, we still got Wiggins on the wing. You know, you have Clay who's basically a spot up guy at this point. You have Draymond, who's a facilitator kind of playmaker. you bring in Chris Paul who plays great in pick and roll and can distribute and orchestrate

to take some some of the pressure off of Steph to have to do that on a nightly basis and freeze him up to just kind of be more off the ball. I understand what they were trying to do there. I thought there were other things that were more pressing for them though. So I think all the things you said are correct in terms of in theory, I can make a case of why they would want to make a trade for someone like Chris Paul, right? I mean, I watched the Warriors probably more than any other team I watched on a nightly basis, obviously, right, being ironed at bay. And the thing that they were missing consistently was a backup ball handler who can, who can,

the biggest thing is they could play in the non-steff minutes, right? And for his greatest scorer as Jordan Poole was, he did struggle being a point guard with the second unit. In some ways, they would have to, Steve Kerr would have to put Draymond into the second unit just to have a primary ball handle to do that. So for those reasons,

I see why you would want a point guard to be able to do that and like, you know, just offset stuff. And also, Chris Paul on paper, Hall of Famer, right? Has all the championship experiences and all of these things, right? But I don't seem,

my first thing is that I would love to hear you talk about this as the basketball mind here. But from my vantage point, I don't think Chris Paul is a fit because, one, he's 38 years old. Two, he is a pick and roll point guard on an offense that is a motion-based offense where it prioritizes movement on a consistent basis. Also, we know this. Chris Paul in every situation that he's ever been in has to be at alpha. And in locker room, that is not his, right? He's going to have to, that's one thing I'm curious about, right? Because I'm not going to put anything out that he can't do it.

I'm not going to say that, but I'm just saying history suggests that as an alpha, the orbit has to be around Chris Paul. Now, on this team, this is never going to be Chris Paul's team. This is Steph Curry's team and Clay Thompson's team and Draymond Green's team. And Chris Ball is coming into that. I'm very curious that adjustment for all parties involved of having a guy like that because, you know, the alfiness doesn't turn off. It just doesn't, it doesn't do that.

And did I mention the fact that he's 38 years old? Yeah. You did. And he's injured. And he's often injured. And he's often injured. I saw him in last year's postseason live and he was not very. very good. There's a reason why Kevin Durant and Devin Booker had to carry much of the offense

because there was no other offense to be had from Chris Paul. So for all those reasons, I think about it in theory of like, yeah, I get why the warriors would want another point guard to just offset the non-steff minutes because Jordan Poole, for his greatest he is as a score, just didn't fully do that. But I just don't think that this was the trade to do it, Ross. Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, 100%, right? Like, that's not what you did. you didn't go out and get a backup point guard that can offset the Steph minutes. Like you, you went in and got in the guy that you just described.

And so, I mean, yeah, 38. What were we saying about the warriors at times in the Sacramento series? When Sac, kind of had their fangs in the Warriors. Like,

what were we saying about them? They looked too old. They looked old. Oldest fuck. Malik Monk was like, ah, ah, ah, ha,

ah. Did Deer Fox was oh excuse me It took a 50 point Fucking road One of the greatest performances of all time From Steph Curry for them to get out of that first round series Because they were too old Right they looked old

And then and then Hey my goodness Not even in that series right But we've talked at lengths about Golden State The championship window And what needs to be done to extend that window, keep it open for Steph and some of those guys. Every conversation revolving around

that specific topic includes getting younger players that you develop and they can come in here and continue to kind of take the baton from these guys as the tread wears thin on the tires. So like, again, I didn't think it was necessarily a trade, but I understand there's a part of me that sees what you're trying to do there. But let's just touch on the basketball part. and the human being part. You are correct in that, at least through this, you know, through so far in Chris's career, he's been on teams where the ball is in his hands. Relatively speaking, there isn't a ton of movement and he is in some sort of pick and

rule action and then he becomes the creator for whatever the end of the play is going to be. There will be opportunity to do that, but obviously he is going to have to change kind of his philosophy in terms of how he plays the point. He's going to have to play with more pace. He's going to have to be willing to get off of that ball. He's going to have to move in a way that teams haven't really asked him to move off of the ball. And, you know, he's, you know how much I love Russ. And I don't know that they're not the same human being. They're not the same player. But the point is, you're asking an old, an old dog to learn new tricks. Sometimes that's

not as easy as you think. And I would say that that part of it, the on the court, would be easier than asking that same old dog who's used to going into locker rooms and being the voice to go into a locker room. And while I'm sure he'll still have a voice, they're not going to ask Chris Paul to come there and not, you know, not be a part of culture driving and all of that. But you've got strong personalities in Draymond. You know, and stuff like that. So to ask him to turn that off is probably even harder than asking him to get off the ball and move without it.

Yeah, 1,000 percent. And I think that just from a standpoint of, I think we just saw this in spurts with Miami, right? And Miami's a little bit younger. But I think the best role that Chris Paul can play is the Kyle Lowry roll down the, you know, down the stretch of the season. And they need him for the postseason.

And I mean, I'm making arguments for, a deal that I don't agree with. So bear with me. I'm pulling the Raja devil's advocate right here. But like, on one hand, I do get it because you want to have, we all know that the playoffs are a different beast. And if you don't have guys you think you can depend on, you need to get a guy that is dependable in the postseason, right?

And a lot of that has to do with veteran guys. You get a lot of guys. But usually you get those guys for the cheap, Roger. Like, if you needed one of those guys, go to the buyout market. You can get a guy on a vet minimum. That's winning a title. Chris Paul has a gargantuous salary next year. And I mean, he earned that.

And I'm not pocket watching. But this goes against every single thing that the warriors have said that they've wanted to do over the last few years, Roger. And what is that? It's the two-track plan where we're going to phase these guys out. And we're going to try to get the championship core their rings while also bringing in a new generation of players. Right. That's on the one hand. on the second hand, the biggest thing that they've been trying to do is get younger.

And then they just pivoted and said, oh, we're just going to be older off the street. Like, man, I saw them last year get almost run off of the floor a lot of times, not because they weren't skilled, but because like, for instance, I think about the Sacramento series where the Warriors were, they would get big leads and they would lose them because they're, the older guys sometimes just couldn't keep up, man. They just couldn't keep up with a Malik Munger. In an era where they needed to get younger, they did not do that. And I think with this Chris Paul deal, man, it's just going to be interesting just how what this says about the Warriors going forward. Because there's one thing, Roger, they have a new front office person. They have a new general manager and Mike Dunleavy, who was an assistant general manager under Bob Myers.

And there's been a lot of talk, you know, I've been, you know, there were a lot of talk early on under Bob Myers. step down that uh that kirk lakov would be in charge right um that that's joe lacobs son he would be i think a lot of the stuff that i heard about um was that he might be a VP of uh basketball operations we don't know who is going to be driving this this front office going forward we don't know that yet we don't now we know titles that are in place but we don't know going forward who is going to have the biggest voice in that in that front office so it's going to be interesting how these types of play out whose voice wins out now that Bob Myers is not in the picture because I'll tell you what man, Bob Myers's voice was so big into that

organization that he's almost like a cult-like figure in there. And now it's like once he's out of the picture, everybody's trying to get position. And that's going to manifest in trades like this. That's going to manifest in signings that are like, what? Let me interject. Because there's not an exact one. Let me interject. Let me interject. I'm sorry. Let me allow me to do this for anyone that may be listening in the golden state. Like, whoever you listen to, whatever voice was listened to on this particular trade, listen to the other guy. That's where I'm, hey, listen, I reserve the right as we always do.

No, facts. Exactly. Listen to the other. Listen to him next time. It's just, I'm just going to be curious to this. see that, right? Because this trade just every time, even when we try to rationalize it, it's like, but this, but that. So we talked about the, we talked about the Chris Paul version and we'll probably get back to that as the pod goes

on, only 14 minutes in, but I do want to talk about the Jordan Pool part of this. And I feel for the guy because he got traded for no other fact than he got punched in the face. There's no other there's like, right? Like there's no other way to slice it. It is what it is.

get what happens in the preseason happens. It brings a divide around the team. And then the team who was going through a front office, how would you call it, transition, doubles down on the old big three and then trades the only promising, one of the only promising young pieces that they had. And it's interesting because I want to read you this quote, Roger, because this is how tough the NBA is. I talked to Jordan, like, a day after.

day after the season ended. And for a piece that I did, called the two timeline failed in Golden State. I'm going to read the quote that he said. He says, I don't know why I wouldn't be back. It wasn't a bad year. I mean, I had career highs in two categories.

I was able to make history with Klan Steff. I had my first game winner. It was a lot of things that helped in this season. It wasn't a bad season. Yes, I'm in the fabric. Yes, I belong here in this. organization, bridging the gap. And I'm a young guy who was drafted here. We won a championship last year and we have another chance to do it again. And I don't know why anybody else would

feel otherwise. I don't think anybody else is thinking that. That is very tough. That's heartbreaking. Jordan, like, he just bought a crib out here. He was, despite all the stuff, was invested into the fabric. I wasn't, I wasn't Jordan pulled by any stretch of the image. I wasn't, Jordan pulled by any stretch of the imagination, but I know exactly how that feels. Right. Just got a, just got a crib out here is like, just about to start his extension. Also another thing, which is not good business when it goes the other day in that same press conference, Mike Dunleavy was asked about Jordan Poole and said, hopefully he's here for four more years until the end of his contract. A few days later, he trades the guy, right?

Not good business. Very, very, very not a great thing to be saying, right? And so all of that happening, Jordan Poole is like this avatar for what went wrong with the Warriors when in actuality, he's better than the return that you just got for this, right? You just said two picks out there with him. Yeah. Two picks out with him to Washington for this.

I just, it just doesn't make any sense, Rock. Yeah, that's a tough one, man. We're going to go a young 20 point per game score and two picks for a 38-year-old PG who doesn't play your style and is rarely healthy. And I love Chris Paul, but like we love Chris Paul. Hall of Famer. It just, oh, man, that's a tough one. And I don't mean it because, again, I'm telling you, I, while I sit here and give you

my gut, I'm also going to do what I do and tell you I could kind of see what they were trying to do, but, but, uh-uh, mm-mm. And you're right. Like I hate to boil it down to, hey, man, he got punched in the face. But, you know, between that and just not being himself in the playoffs, like, you know, he just didn't have a great playoffs. And, you know, that, that's a tough one. But 20, you know why, look, 20 points a game.

How hard it is to score 20, like, points a game consistently in the NBA? Like, when you, you know, you're not even, you're not the first option. Like, and you're, and you're able to score. and create the way he does. That's a skill. I feel bad for him because I feel like he's the type of player at the point in a career where the consistency and the stability of Golden State and the winning

was for whatever reason, this might not be fair to him, but for whatever reason I feel like it was specifically important for someone like him. And if you take him to dysfunction and to rebuild mode until we won't win a lot of games now, I feel like it's a pivotal moment in his career,

if that makes sense. Like this, you know, like you were on track to learn how to be a really good player on a championship level team and maybe at some point, if you continue to develop, have the mantle pass to you in that regard. And now you're going into like the abyss

where shit can get really squirrelly on bad teams, even for good players, that can score the ball. Like, you can fuck around and be looking up in three years. Like, what the fuck happened? Well, it's crazy because it's like, it's, people don't talk about this side of the NBA. Like, we're going, and this is, this is,

I should preface it by saying, this is like part of Washington. If you look at it from the other side, this is part of Washington, um, Washington rebuilding, right? And they, they, they're doing the right thing. They should rebuild it in the way that they do.

But the other side of, They have a new general manager and they have a new front office. And they are trying to build their own situation and finally get DC back on track from a basketball sense. But as a consequence to that, there's going to be, they might be the worst team in the league next year, you know? I'm serious. They might be the worst team in the league next year.

And for a guy that is just known to be compete for titles and then he's going to go into this situation, well, yeah, he's going to score. he's going to get his buckets, but he's going to be irrelevant. The team's going to be irrelevant. And he's going to be the face of that, a face of a franchise that is irrelevant now. And that is demoralizing. It's interesting. You know, Jordan, you know, one of the critiques of them, I guess, is at least from players in the locker room in Golden State,

was he was a guy. And this is a critique for him, but also critique for a lot of the guys that were in that locker room, is that these dudes don't know how good they have it because they are not in the real NBA. That was a common refrain from just warrior vets to the youngans. They don't know about the real NBA. And now JP is going to go to the real NBA, which is, you know, you're fighting for scraps.

You're going, you know, like the Wizards is the worst team in the league are probably going to just go through different iterations. There's going to be just some controversy trying. It's just hard. you know, it's hard to build a champion. And he's going to be that. Now, I'm curious to see how he responds to that part of it, where it's going to be tough.

It's going to be a lot of blowouts. You're just, you haven't lost this much in your life. Look, yes, that is a very, it's a very hard thing to gauge and to judge as to whether or not someone can function in that. And it becomes, I think, much harder when you come into a fully functional organization that wins a lot, and that's what

you calibrate to, and that's what you are used to, and that's how you are accustomed to things operating, and then you get dropped into something that isn't all of those things, and you don't know how to survive in that. Like, you've never swum in those waters. So, you know, I think, what number one by the nature of not having some of those guys you're going to have to take on more of a leadership role right and so you know if you can dig into why this is good for me like what are some positives about why I'm going why like being here what type of things can I take away from this if this doesn't wind up being the end you know a destination in my career like if you can dig into those things and kind of categorically go down them and really trying to try to

maximize you know in those spaces I think it could be okay but if you're just going there like yo hey man happy to be in Washington let's hoop and that shit hits you fast like oh it doesn't matter how I hoop we're going to lose oh like they're at my throat all the time because we're losing even though I'm scoring oh like this isn't as buttoned up like when I want to go talk to to X Y and Z like the they don't operate like they don't operate? like that here. Oh shit. The family room doesn't run like it used to. Like when all of those dominoes start falling, if you're not like locked in on, hey man, I'm here to work on being a leader. I'm here to work on, you know, if you are not dialed into what you can take away from that,

I'm telling you right now. I've been, I played on on really good teams to start my career and then was dropped into some situations where, and luckily for me, like Utah fell into this, Utah fell into this, right? Like I played for the Sixers, first experience. really quickly, you're in the finals. Next year, playoff team with the Sixers, albeit not as good. Then Mavericks, Western Conference Finals. And then I go to the Jazz. And the Jazz are, they had just, Stock had just retired.

And Carl Malone had just, you know, left to go to the Lakers. Now, the difference is the jazz were run really well at the time. Jerry Sloan was still there. Larry Miller was still alive. you know, they had a veteran coach and staff. And I think they had guys, even though we were all young and we weren't winning as much, right? So this was the difference. We weren't winning as much as I was used to winning.

But we all were professional and we all had something that we were playing for and we understood what we were playing for. And we didn't make the playoffs, but we were able to kind of make the most of that, you know? And then I was in, you know, other situations where like, okay, when I was in Golden State the last time. Like, when I was in Golden State and Steph had just gotten drafted, that was a shit show. Like, do you know what I mean? And I had come from Phoenix and spent half a year in Charlotte where it was not as buttoned up as Phoenix and we weren't winning. And then I got to Golden State where, you know, it was a bunch of babies and Monti Ellis

and, you know, it was just early on in the process. Don Nelson, who would be like, yo, man, I'm about to go to Lake Merritt. Y'all run your own practice. Straight up. Nellie would be smoking a cigar. like in his truck on the roof of the Marriott seven seconds before practice started. And I love Nelly. But, but no, when you're accustomed to winning and those things kind of, when you get places

and it's not what you're, you expect, and it's not what you're accustomed to, and you don't have yourself buttoned up in a way that allows you to navigate that, it could be really hard to, to, you know, continue to be a good pro in those environments is the best way to put it. What do you think about the Washington Wizard's side of it, right? I'm not even just talk about this trade in a nutshell, this current one, because they have been in the news. I just said, like, before the Jordan Poole news dropped, we were going to talk about the Christophe's Porzengis news, right? And what Washington is trying to do.

They just got rid of Christops just for a shitload of picks. They're starting over. But what did you think of that overall trade of getting Christops to Boston and then getting And Bark is smart to Memphis, which I think is a really sneaky good deal. I think that's a really good, I think that was really, really savvy by Memphis to come in at the 11th hour and getting him. But what do you think about all those trades for all the people that are involved in those trades? Okay. Well, let's start with the Memphis side.

What have we said Memphis needs for a long time now? What were one of the things? A respected vet who could play. Yeah, with a little bit of shit about him that would allow him to stand up in the face of some of that. bullshit that's happening with those younger players and hold them accountable. And so I think Marcus Smart is a great, a great addition to that. Even if, even if it wasn't on the court, which I believe it would be a good fit there too, but just in terms of solid locker room, professional, no bullshit, had a level of success in the league, is played in big games,

understands what it's about. Boom, I think that's really good for them. And this is just in a vacuum, right? Because I'm not diving into how many picks people had to give up and all that type of shit I'm talking about purely. The Wizards had the Wizards, that's where you're at. As a new front office, as a new, as a new fresh look, like, you know, you're trying to get, you know, a young piece in Jordan Poole that can really go and score the ball, trying to get picks. You're trying to get young talent. And so I have no beef with that. I don't know where they're going to go. Like the next move in this or the next two moves will give me a little bit better idea of like what they're capable of if that makes sense and what their vision is. But right now I see

what you're doing like yo you're saying we're this is a frame off like we're we're taking this down to the studs and we're going to rebuild it i'm okay with that for boston it's it's it's it's kind of interesting my dad asked me this morning on our way down to to football camp like what does christaps mean for boston and i was like well i mean you know i don't i don't know and then i started thinking about i was like well that's another you know it's another shot kind of maker like he's injured a lot but they're they're really long logan like when i think about boston i think about their length, right? Like Jalen and Jason Tatum and, and, you know, they're bigs and they were long defensively. And I don't, he's not like a great defender or anything, but he's just, he fits the mold of

long, rangy and can score the ball. And so I think it's going to be okay. I think Chris Stav fits there. I think he fits. And I think in a series like the Miami series where, at any given time, Jalen was off or, you know, somebody wasn't. giving you to have another dude who you know, if nothing else, he'd get you buckets? You know, I think that fits for them. You know, I got to look at his around the rim. I think, around the rim, is he better than people think, you know,

in terms of rim protection and just being, he's fucking seven, whatever he is. He's, he's long. Yeah, it's, it's, well, another thing is he's coming off his best season of his career, and he's coming, he's going into a contract year, Christops is. So he's going to, he's going to, ball. He tried to get that back. He's going to ball. The interesting thing is

I just don't know when I don't know the biggest thing that the Celtics lacked last year wasn't talent with mental toughness. And maybe out Horford probably just goes into like the Andre Aguadala role of

just being the old vet who has all these guys and checks them and makes sure that their mental toughness is right. And it's also, I would say this is also happening before free agency. Like, just want to make sure that that is out there as well, right? Like,

these teams aren't their full versions of themselves yet, right? So there could be more people being signed. But I'm curious, just on a vacuum on this one, like, who's going to be the guy that is going to make, that beefs up their mental toughness? Yeah, the backbone guy? I don't know the backbone guy. I don't know who that is yet.

Christopps is a trade you absolutely should bake. That is something that was glaring for them. Their front court, you see a guy that's Al Horford, that is aging. You see Robert Williams, who was great defensively but can't stay on the court all the time as a starting center in this league. And you get Christopson into the mix. I think, Raja, and this might be a little blasphemous, but what I thought about this trade was it kind of had some vibes of the Palisal trade to the Lakers in 2008. And what I mean by that, Raja, is a guy that didn't necessarily win all the time, but had all the intangibles to make.

a good team great. And could pass, could be a, you know, could be a facilitator, but also get his own shot, but doesn't have to be the guy on any given night. I think because of that,

the Boston Celtics are again in prime position to win the East, but I think they need another extra guy for that mental toughness once they get to the mountain top of the Eastern Conference in the playoffs. Yeah, no, that's fair. I mean, there's work to be done on that roster.

Like, because you don't, I mean, what you're saying is, you're basically extracting there two pieces of backbone, right? Like Marcus Smart was that guy too. And if we're Al Horford, it's getting older, not going to be able to be on the court as much. Like, you know what I mean? Whatever role he's going to be playing there,

if you're missing like one and a half of those, let's say, you've got to be out looking for those high character, nut and bolts type of guy, right? Like you've got all of your, you've got all of your prolific scoring and all of that. Now you need guys that come in and just, you know, solidify and anchor, you know, that type of talent down. And so it'll be interesting to see what they do in free agency and to address that.

So I want to talk about the market smart angle of this, right? I think this is a really, really, really savvy move for Memphis, especially considering the fact that if Jock comes back, right, and we've all seen what Memphis has done without John the lineup, I think they can continue that trend of being good and holding down the fort until Jock gets back. And then once he gets back, they have a dude there that can, that is all the guys that we describe.

I think this is a great move for them and getting them into the thick of the Western conference. It's early and they still got the free agency. We got a lot of things that we need to figure out. But I think that was just in a vacuum. That was a really, really savvy move from the Memphis Grizzlies, especially given the fact that this was a complicated deal that they were putting in. together, right? Because this deal, at first, the Clippers were involved to trade Malcolm

Brogden and get him out. And then at the last minute, Malcolm Brogden, I guess the physical just didn't go through or for ever reason that he was deemed unhealthy to be a part of the trade. The trade falls apart. Memphis swoops in and says, and then they get Marcus Smart out of the deal. Very savvy. Just got to be on your toes. Like, what is it like that in the front office where you're just like, oh, I got to make this call. I guess this is happening. We're just, we're on a string right now. And we're going to work.

This is what's going on. It just seems like really hectic during this time while you're preparing for a draft. Yeah, it is. I mean, I never had to work any phones or anything like that. That was on my job. But I would be sitting in the offices when Griff's phone, when, you know, you're talking about on trade deadlines and around draft nights when a lot of things are going to happen. And, you know, those are.

phone call after phone call after phone call. You know, sometimes when you get off the phone with somebody, you can tell he was, he thought he was being fed a line of bullshit. Sometimes he felt like, you know, he was getting some genuine. Like, what's the smoke screen? What's not? Like, what's being put out there, you know, to try to get me off the scent? Like, it's a cloak and dagger game those dudes are playing, man.

So to be able to come in there as Memphis, sift through all the bullshit and get in on it and really grab a nice piece for your team. and a piece that you really, really needed on a lot of fronts. It's huge and really savvy for Memphis. You know, draft night was fun for me, like not to kind of segue, but like draft night. Draft night was cool because that's where I was really sitting. All the phones were on. Everybody was in there.

So I'm not just sitting there talking to Griff while he's on the phone. Like I'm watching five different people on their phones all talking and shit's buzzing and you're on a clock. And that really gives you a sense of like, I don't know, like you're kind of in a team that was like vying for it. I mean, when you got there, I don't know if Bronn, it wasn't even, because you only didn't then went there one season, right? So you weren't like, your draft time was like right before Bronn came, right?

So you guys even know what you guys were planning for, right? No, no, no, no. I got there. I got there. I did a little consulting work before LeBron got there. And then I was hired when LeBron got there. So I came in with LeBron. So I was there that first year.

So the draft. 15 was your. Your 15 was your draft then? Yeah, so we got Chetty O'sman, and I think we took Rakeem Christmas, and we might have taken a young inn from St. John's. It was a defense, Sir Dominic Pointer, I think, was the kid we took that year. So you guys were basically trying to keep a championship roster together and just improve on that, right?

Which is also a different experience during the draft, right? Yeah, absolutely. Trying to find some pieces that weren't like, you know, they weren't super high picks, but quality pieces that would fit the roster. Like, hey, you notice kids going to come in and they'll be able to defend, you know, at an NBA level.

And Rock was a, Rakeem Christmas was a grown man. It played a lot at Syracuse. You know, he can eat up some minutes, you know, maybe at the four. And, you know, Chetty was probably our, our most prize, you know, pick in that one. Like, because they thought the ceiling there was going to be pretty high. But I would say that, you know,

I did experience with the J.R. Smith, in Mon Schumpert trade. I was in Philly when that one took place. So I wasn't back at the office as I was with the team. We played Philly that night. And I don't remember if it was under the gun, but it was getting close. And people were really trying to pull that off.

So that one got a little hectic where I was on the phone a lot with Griffin and the decision makers in Cleveland. And what is, tell me the process of that, right? You get a call like, okay, we're thinking about moving this guy. And then you get a call like, we're, we're, we're, We're in, like, what is the, what is the first call versus like, okay, it's the deal's done now? Like, how, what is the hecticness from the beginning to the end? Well, I mean, so it started that morning, like after a shoot around for me with, you got

forgive me, this was a while ago, but it was in and about like, hey, what do you think about this, right? And so I imagine, you know, Griff has the guys that he really, really trust, they've done numbers, and he's asking a few of us, hey, what do we, what do we think, right? And so you go through what you, you know, kind of think. And then, you know, Griff takes it back to whatever he's going to do next. And then the next call will come through like, you know, well, what do you think for that? So here's what we would have to do to get that.

And you'd be like, well, you know, here's what I think. Then again, he's going back to his numbers, guys, what pieces need to be thrown into that? What pieces do you think you can extract from them that might not be in the deal right now? How does that look? So then, you know, then it's like, all right, we need to get on. with ownership and everyone's going to kind of of griff's, I don't know, let's say there were four of us that he really wanted to have opinions with Dan Snyder and brain trust with the owners. Now you're on there and you're selling why you think that'll work.

And they'll go around a phone and everyone's given their two cents as to why you think it will work, why you think it won't work. Then that ball's in their court now, right? So like I'm out of the equation. I'm going about, you know, making sure everything's okay at the arena. Because at this point, you're like kind of an advisor, right? At this point, you're like, okay, this is my two cents. Okay, now, like, I got to go on my day.

Yeah, I'm an advisor, but I'm also David Griffin's like proxy on the road, and we got a game that night. So while he's working phones and handling business, I'm essentially, I mean, I hate to say general managing because I really wasn't. But I was making sure everything was good on the road in the general manager capacity, right? Like, everything's tightened up. And so then, you know, I get a call as as the lights are going down for for the anthem. And Dion Waiters is at home. Now, Dion, if anybody knows Dion, I tell this story. Billy.

Billy, through and through. And, hey, shout out Cliff on the call, Temple University, buddy. Straight up. Shout out, Philly. But if you know Dion, well, I had to have multiple conversations with Dion that year about, hey, look, LeBron's here, Kyrie's here, Kevin loves here. It's not your ball, all right? There's no world in which it's going to be your ball, even though.

Is that the conversation at the Golden State Warriors are going to have to have next year? Sorry, go ahead. I mean, but Chris Paul's accomplished more maybe. So I don't know. But like Dion, I'm like, Dion, there's still a lot to eat. We're going to need you to come off the bench. There are a lot of shots there. And these are the conversation I have to have.

So when he's at home and we don't have LeBron and we don't have Kyrie, guess who gets to shoot all the shots? Oh, Deion Waiter. Deion Waiter. So this is the, I'm just painting the picture. We're in Philly. He's bought like 45 to 50 tickets and it's his ball because there's no LeBron and there's no Kyrie tonight.

And I get a call. He's about to get 40 tonight. Like he already has a look at his eye. I'm about to get 40. He's about to get 40, bro. I get a call as the lights are dimming. I shit you not. Get Dion Waiters out.

He can't play tonight. I'm like, what? And so I had asked them, sorry, let me go back. I had asked David Griffin, Trent Redden, and Kobe earlier in the day. Hey, guys, look. Because I was looking at this

from a player's perspective, right? They were looking at it through the business lens. And that's their job. And I was looking at it kind of through a hybrid lens. And I'm like, look, feels like this thing has traction. I only ask that if we're going to do it and if he's going to get traded, let's do it early. Let's not, let's do it so he can let his family know not to come to the game. Let's do it.

You know, so he doesn't have to go to the game. Let's just get it done. Let's get it done early. It seems like we're there. Let's do it. But it didn't happen until the lights went down. Get Dion off the court. So.

It's like national anthem. No, it is the national anthem. You got to find him. I walk out during the anthem. I can't pull him off. as the anthem's playing. So I got to stand there kind of at attention, let the anthem go off. We're the guest team.

We're the away team. So we get announced first. Guess who's the first fucking name called? Dion Waiters. Before I can get to him, it's Deon Waiters. And so I got to get like whoever, I don't know who on the staff. I was like, no, no, no, kill that. He can't go out.

So I had to literally pull that dude off after he had got announced in the starting lineup in Philly. And also, bro, Dionne Waders is Philly, bro. He is Philly. Straight up and down, bro. I felt terrible, man. I know Dion wanted to fight me. I had to take him back in the back.

And then the craziest part was I couldn't tell him where he got traded to because the deal wasn't like all the way, all the way done yet. And so I couldn't really divulge anything. And he was sitting in the back and he was miserable. And I finally said to Griffin them. I said, listen, man, I have to tell him. I can't watch this man sit back here wondering where he's going, not getting to play in front of his home team. His family's already here. He got to talk to his family.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so we wound up telling it. But that was my experience with like a trade like that. Tough, bro. That's tough. And like it goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning of the pod. Just, you know, you think you're, you think you're, that's the cruel part of the NBA. That, you know, it's, we, y'all get paid a lot of money. But like, dog, y'all go through a lot of shit.

You get paid for the bullshit is what, is what Dennis Robbins says, right? And like, man, to, he go. And then he thought he was going to be on a champion. Fortunately, he went to Oklahoma City, which was, he ended up in Oklahoma City, fortunately. But damn, bro, like that's, that's tough. It's tough. No, and I remember saying to him, I remember saying, hey, Dion, this is going to be a good move for you, bro, because there's going to be, there's going to be some food on a table. You can, you can actually eat in the way that you weren't going to be able to eat here.

I know it don't feel good, but you got to trust me on that, you know, and you got a dude looking at you. He wound up doing all right. He wound up doing fine. Yeah, Dionne is doing good, man. You know, straight. But it's tough. I told my story of shit. They were like, hey, we know you're about to get on this bus to go to the Staples Center.

And I got a call from one of my friends from the CBA. He was like, yo, you just got traded. I'm like, what? He said, yeah. I said, how the hell you know I got traded? Because I haven't seen or heard anything. He said, well, Jason Richardson's wife is one of my best friends and you just got traded for Jay Rich.

So good luck. You're going to Charlotte. I'm like, what? Man, I got on a phone. Yeah, bro. Got traded to Charlotte. You got 24 hours to get back to, get back. to Phoenix, get all your shit, kiss your wife and kids, and report to Charlie.

Where was y'all at? Hey, where was y'all at the lows or was we were at the Beverly Wilshire, brother? Oh, no. Oh, no. Also, bro, like, I don't know how many people like know L.A. from where we're at, bro, but the Beverly Wilshire to L.A.X is tough. Especially like during rush hour, it's a, it's tough, bro. It's, it's, it's, it makes it, it makes an adult out of your ass just going through that traffic

especially. you, bro, you had to go, wait, did they at least give you PJ to Phoenix and PJ to Sarlet? What are you talking about me? What did they do? What they do? They don't do that for me. They did, they do a first class ticket, take your ass through LAX, bro. Good luck with that.

Damn, bro. Played that boy. Yeah, straight up. Me, Boris, and what was my young fellow's name, man? What was Sean's name from, from University of Virginia, man? but the three of us got traded together, man. It was, Misery loves company, right?

I felt bad, but when I saw Boris and Boris was looking at me all, I was like, man, at least somebody's going with me, bro. Fuck. Bro, I love Boris, bro. I don't know.

That has nothing to do what we're talking about right now when I love him, bro. He's such this mythical creature, bro. He's just this mythical person, bro. Okay, let's go. I know you got stories.

We haven't talked. We haven't talked. Full disclosure, everybody ruins. This podcast, is literally so me and Rosa can talk twice a week. I haven't talked to him in like a week. So I'm catching up with the rest of you guys. Tell us, tell us, Roger. What happened? I was out in Salt Lake vibes were high. You know, went to Walters, tapped in at Vultors,

had a nice meal. You know, Walters was fucking closed, All-Star Weekend, bro? They had just nothing but private events. That's why I was miserable in Salt Lake, bro. Like, there was nothing cool for me to do. Anyway, that sucks. Dee and I enjoyed a nice meal at Vultors. And then we, you know, Boris hit me and was like, yo, do you want to come by the crib tomorrow? I'm like, yeah, man, I'll come by what you got going on. He was like, well, I just, you know, chilling me and a couple friends. I'm like, bet. So we make our way down to Boris's crib, beautiful crib, up on the hill, glass, all of that.

And so, you know, a couple members of the jazz staff are there hanging out. And Boris is got his cheese laid out, right? Charcottery board. The charcutory board was laid. laid out and we were just going through different bottles. It was like a wine tasting at Boo Boo's crib. It was gorgeous, man. We were looking out on the city from the crib. The cheese, I don't eat cheese, but the board was, the board was great. And then Boris was like the Somalié, bro. He's like, he brought out a white. Then he brought out a red and he brought out another red. And then he's like,

which one of those reds did you like better? And then you're like, okay, I like the first one. So he brought that red back out. Then you're faded. Then like after you're faded. But I say all that to say I told him I had never told him before and everyone that was there. I said, Boris, just so you know, you're a podcast, like, legend. Like, on our show, people who listen and from between Logan and I, like, you are a, you're a podcast legend on real ones, bro. People love you. And he's like, what? Why? And I'm like, Boris, what, do you remember the stories you told when you hopped on here about fucking rhinos and hippos coming through the grass, though? Like, you're a legend. I think honestly bro I think Boris I would be curious to hear your opinion I think Boris and

Juan Tiscono Anderson are the best interviews you've ever done on this spot yeah we've think what at least they're at least they're my favorites what do you what other ones do I mean Tim Duncan is there too flex we got to do to flex Tim Duncan all real ones was great Tim Duncan was great um shit man uh tricks was a good tricks was a good trick's a good interview. I enjoyed the Steve Kerr interviews. I thought, I thought Steve was good.

But, but yeah, we've been blessed. I mean, we've been blessed, bro. I know, but like the ones that I came away like,

fuck, I was so happy. Like, the Tim Duncan interview was great because we got Tim Duncan and he was very great. But like, we, we,

it was interesting because people don't know this. We had to do this during January 6th, which you guys could just, you guys Google, whatever, have it on January 6th. So it was like a mind fuck. And then we had to,

and then like the audio was messed up, right? So like we, from all of us, like it was just kind of messed up. So like just like my head was all fucked up, that was like that was the only part. It wasn't like it wasn't physically fun because like you had to go to real life afterwards. And then the Steve Kerr interviews were fun.

Just because the second one, we always make the running joke. Every time I see Steve, like you always get in trouble immediately after. on our podcast. Like something bad happens because it was funny because we fucking

the first time we had Steve Kerr, we're rambling, we're 47 minutes in, we're talking, we're vibes. But anyway, I told Steve, like the first time

was when KD got in my mentions and was talking about, that's hilarious after the comments that Steve Kerr made about the seasons after KD left versus first and it was out of contact with the whole brouhaha with everybody,

though. And in the second one, like a week after he comes on the pod. George Poul gets once in the face. It's a bad omen. I don't know if he's coming back. No more Steve. You know,

it was fun talking to Boris up there not to go back to that because I mentioned that like, you know, some of the jazz staff was up there because Boris is really tight with those guys and stuff. And so it had been a while since I have been around the NBA. Did he play in Utah? Why is he? Yeah.

Like, does he just, he played? Yeah, he played well in Utah too. Secured a couple more bags, I think. I mean, I don't know. But he, they were, we were, we talked a lot of basketball, obviously. And Boris is heavily involved with the French national team. And so, you know, we talked about Wemby. We talked about some of the other kids they have in the draft process.

You know, the jazz brass that was there was talking about some of the, they have so many picks in the draft that they've had, I don't know, 100 and change workouts they were telling me with with these college kids. So it's been exhausting their process, trying to get eyes on all of these kids. And so, you know, it was cool for me because it gave me a little fix. Like I don't get it all the time, right? Like, I got a little MBA fix. I got to sit around and talk.

I wasn't talking like 13 and 14 year old hoops. I was talking grown man hoops a little bit. And that made me happy. That's awesome, man. We got to get you out to, bro. I know I get it. It's hell of pack. Bro, we got to get you at least one or two Miami Heat games this year.

What the fuck are you doing? Yeah. No, I owe it to the heat. Man, they've been, I owe it to the heat, okay? They've been too good. They're too consistent franchise. They throw me some parking passes. I don't even need tickets.

You give me some parking passes, and I'm good. It's the parking for me, Logan. It's the parking. Bro, they give you parking passes and a ticket. You'll be fine. Didn't you get parking passes when you went to go see Brooklyn two years ago? Did you get parking passes for those? No.

No, I had to park, damn it. I had to park at Bayside. Anybody knows Miami, like I'm parking across the street at Bayside, waiting 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot once the game's done. I miss me with that. Bro, I had to take some family to the fucking Oakland A's game a week ago. And man, I fucking hate driving to the coast. I fucking hate it.

Anyways, that's our show. We got anything else you want to talk about? Any more trades that we want to do? No, I'm just really excited. Hey, look, I'm waiting. I'm just the countdown is on for that number three pick and Portland, bro. That's what I'm waiting for.

I want to see what happens. I am locked in and away. Okay. What do you think? What does the spec of prediction? I don't know. What's going to happen? What you want?

I have no idea. I have no feel on it. And I have no idea. Bro. I'm just, this is what I want. Can I just tell people what we're talking about Miami?

Can we just... Tell them what you want, son? I don't give a fuck. I don't tell me what you want, son. I want Dame Willard to go to Miami. Can we just make that happen, please? Can we just fucking do it? Can we just figure it out?

I don't know. Can we just fucking figure it out? I don't know. That'll get me to a heat game. Yeah. You know what I mean? That'll get me to a heat game. I'm trying to go to a heat game too.

I'll try to go too. Shit. Wow. Let's get to a, it's Thursday. I haven't seen a butt in a while, but get to a little segment we like to call a real one of the week. I got two real ones of the week.

That's what's up. One is Janet Jackson. I saw Janet Jackson last weekend at the shoreline. Man, what a great performance. I felt honored. It was pretty great. Ludacris opened up. It was just a great vibey show.

It was awesome. It was like, I don't think I need to have to say this to all my rural ones, but if Janet Jackson is in your city, you should probably go see her. I'm just throwing that out there. One of the best to ever do it. And another I want to do is one of my poddens. I'm really, really, really, really, really excited for. Kayla Johnson of Together.

She is with Together now. I think she executive produced a film called Phenom for Paramount Plus. Kayla is one of the best in the business. She kicks ass. She's doing a great job and she's doing everything that she wants. Fucking Sue Bird, another friend of the show showed up to her premiere in New York last of this film, Phenom. So maybe you got to go check out Phenom. shout out Kayla Johnson

who's a motherfucking legend and those are my two real ones of the week Kayla Johnson and Janet Jackson you know so who's your real one of the week who's your real one of the week Robert I'm going to do two as well one is going to be a team

it's going to be the U.S. women's national team and friend of the show Meg Rapino and company Alex Morgan Julie Ertz and the and the crew. That our Trinity Robben in the building.

Yeah, it is one of my favorite. Like, you know, I love World Cups and stuff like that, but I specifically love the women's World Cup. My wife was a big soccer player played in college or stuff like that, so I've always enjoyed watching our national team playing women's soccer in general. So they'll be a real one of the week for me.

And then my second one, if you'll allow me to do it, man, it's going to be my young buck Diabelle, who has been a... What a fucking week for the God, Dia Bell. Yeah, it's been a big, It's been cool traveling around the country with him going into a sophomore year, going to these camps, meeting these amazing coaches and seeing these amazing institutions and facilities. And it's just been really good, you know, dad and sun time, man. And he, as humble as he is, has been doing pretty well, man.

So shout out to Diabelle, real one of the week for the last week, man. If you want to see why he's real one of the week, just Google Diabelle. Look at the news on Dio Bell. Okay, go ahead. I just want to say, man, shout out to you, Rob, bro. Because, like, I've been, we've been seeing your fucking journey as a dad and going to recruiting trips and shit. You guys don't see the fucking, the real ones chat all the time where we just get the

random tweet of his son highlight tape. But, like, bro, I don't have kids. But you have been really just, like, you know, an inspiration, just like a good guide of a father to see, like, how a motherfucker just raises his kid and just be a good dad. So, like, your shout out to you. bro. I appreciate that. I'm really being honest, bro. You're too kind. Any parent knows this. You see the good times, bro. There's plenty of, you know, like that shit ain't all roses. No better roses, as Freddie Mercury said, right? No pleasure cruise. Take the compliment, Ra.

Take the compliment, raw. But I'll take it. I'll take it. We love you, bro. I'm excited. I get to go watch my young buck, Ty Bell, up in Gainesville. My fave? Yeah, he's live period with his high school team. So as soon as we get off this pod, we're picking Dia up from football practice, and we're on our way back up to Gainesville to watch Tides High School High School basketball live period team camp. There you go, man. We'll see you guys.

Let's get Rai right, out of out of here. That was our Thursday edition of Real Ones. We'll see you guys on Monday. If this is any indication, I can't wait to talk Monday because it's going to be lit. Okay, tap in, all the shits, bye. Bye.